Chương 48: Chapter 41 – Harmonics of the Storm

The wooden rungs were slick beneath his fingers. Each step upward pulsed with anticipation. The static in the air prickled louder in his ears the higher he climbed. Up ahead, the amber glow pulsed brighter in rhythm with the electric tension in the air. Cade gritted his teeth and pushed upward, the ladder creaking faintly beneath his weight as he rose through the tight shaft. After several meters, he spotted it. The light wasn't coming from above.

It bled through a sidewall up ahead, dim at first, then flaring as another pulse of static charged the air. Cade stopped at the level where the glow spilled through the wood, narrowing his eyes as he turned his attention toward the source. The ladder continued up into darkness, but the light came from a nearby stretch of wood that looked wrong in texture. Unlike the rest of the smooth shaft, its surface bulged, warped and fractured.

Splinters curled outward from hairline cracks like something had rotted from deeper within. Cade reached out, fingers trembling from the hunger he felt cloying from every cell. That same deep cellular pull, the gnawing sense that something vital was just behind that wall. He held the ladder with one hand, braced his feet, and drove the other into the rotted wood. It tore like wet paper. Fibers peeled away in strips, damp and pulpy. The scent of rot hit him immediately but he paid it no mind.

The glow flared brighter and brighter as the static in the air surged in intensity. Then as if a switch was flipped, Cade was left in complete and utter darkness. A moment later the thundercrack of lightning echoed from below, rattling through the shaft. Cade flinched, blinking in the sudden black, heart pounding. The glow and the lightning? They have to be connected. His fingers dug in again, peeling away chunks of soft wood in the dark. The sidewall gave way easily, crumbling under his urgency.

The glow returned, faint at first, then swelling slowly again into visibility. Dim amber light returned to the shaft as Cade tore away the last of the rotted wood and pushed through. The space beyond was small—much smaller than he'd expected. He crawled in and had to hunch over, his head nearly brushing the low, uneven ceiling. Like the shaft he just came from, this chamber felt grown rather than built. Its walls warped inward as if the tree had reluctantly made room for whatever occupied this pocket.

The air inside was dense with that same static feeling he felt outside. Every breath sent faint prickles across his tongue and down his throat. The amber glow filled the chamber. Cade's eyes fixed on the center of the room. A single drop of glowing amber hung suspended from a narrow protrusion in the ceiling. The growth tapered down to a blunt tip where liquid trembled as it gathered mass, slowly swelling, its glow waxing brighter with each passing heartbeat.

Directly beneath it, growing up from the floor, was a lightning bolt made of wood. It rose jaggedly from the chamber floor as if frozen mid-strike. Splintered angles shot upward in irregular paths, edges serrated and raw like freshly broken heartwood. The grain twisted along visible channels in the wood. At the top, the bolt opened into a shallow, naturally formed basin. The drop above swelled further. As it did, the amber light intensified, flooding the cramped chamber.

Static crawled across Cade's skin, popping faintly in his ears. His hunger surged again, sharp and confused, tugging at him from every direction at once. What does my body want here? he wondered, unsettled. The drop trembled—then fell. It struck the basin with a soft, wet plink. The amber liquid vanished into the wood as if swallowed. Veins ignited instantly, starting at the basin's rim. Red flared first—dark and visceral—spreading outward in branching lines.

Beneath it, orange bloomed, then yellow, then dark green, before finally changing to a deep cobalt blue, each color lighting in sequence as the glow raced downward through the wooden bolt. For a heartbeat, the chamber was washed with color. Cade stared, awe cutting through his hunger for the briefest moment. Then the entire structure flashed violet. The light drained downward in a smooth, decisive flow until the chamber was pitch black. A fraction of a second later Cade heard the crash of lightning below.

He stood frozen, chest tight, ears ringing. Then understanding clicked into place. This is it, he thought. This is what's doing it. The pulses of lightning outside had to be traced back to this small, hidden chamber and the impossible construct growing from its floor. The glow returned faintly as another drop began to form overhead, barely enough to illuminate the jagged silhouette of the wooden bolt. Cade swallowed hard, eyes locked on it. Before the next cycle could complete he sent out an [Identify].

Stormsap Crucible — A heartwood construct that collects volatile sap. Its channels align the sap, transmuting it into volatile lightning. Warning: Unknown corruption detected. Cade let out a slow breath. This couldn't be natural. How could a natural growth take the tree's raw sap and turn it into violent lightning strikes below? And why? Then again he was inside a corrupted dungeon in the Tutorial after being abducted by an all powerful System.

His view of what was normal or natural no longer represented his new reality. He leaned back against the chamber wall, careful not to scrape his head on the low ceiling, and forced himself to ignore the hunger and think instead of taking hasty actions. With no leech snapping at his heels and no immediate threat bearing down on him, he had time to mull the problem over. As he did, the pieces began to line up.

The Second Elder had sent him and Pearl to the Great Tree Trials where Pearl would be tested in the three paths the frogs followed. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The mist-filled maze had led to this tree. That had to be the trial meant to test Mistweavers. Assuming that was true, this had to be the location that would test Stormcallers. The frogs had said he lacked affinity for their paths, but Cade wasn't convinced anymore.

Not after the way his body had drained the lightning from the Stormseed. Not after the way his body was reacting now, how it pushed him to launch himself at the Stormsap Crucible and somehow consume the power coming from it. Was it the result of the body tempering he went through right before meeting Pearl? The hunger inside him was coiling tighter making it harder to concentrate. Cade slid down into a seated position, legs crossed awkwardly in the cramped space.

The cold wood beneath him vibrated faintly as another drop of sap began to swell overhead. He watched it grow, pulse by pulse, amber light reflecting off the jagged edges of the wooden bolt below. The drop fell and the wooden bolt lit up with a rainbow of colors. Red flared followed by orange, yellow, green and finally blue before the entire Stormsap Crucible flared with violet—and then darkness. When the colors flared he felt nothing. No buzz crawling through his body like it had with the Stormseed.

Just static in the air and the echo of distant thunder below. Cade frowned. Another drop formed and he watched it cycle through again, more intently this time. Still he felt nothing but the hunger inside of him. His body still urged him towards the crucible.

"I must be missing something," he muttered. Then he remembered he hadn't felt a connection to the Stormseed either until he made physical contact with it. He hesitated only a moment before leaning forward and extending one hand. Carefully, he placed it near the top of the crucible, just beneath the shallow basin where the red veins had ignited before. He waited and a few moments later the next drop fell. The instant the red veins lit, Cade gasped. A buzz erupted in his fingertips, sharp but controlled.

Energy slid across his skin and sank deeper, settling into his bones as a gentle vibration. His hunger eased—just a little—before roaring back as the red faded and the orange veins lit below. The buzzing disappeared before he could fully grasp it, slipping away as the energy flowed onward through the crucible.

"That worked, but it wasn't enough," he whispered. He watched the remaining colors ignite in sequence, felt the hunger claw at him as the energy passed beyond his reach, down the tree, and into the stalactite waiting below. The glow faded and again he was plunged into darkness. Even in the dark Cade stared at the Stormsap Crucible with a burning behind his eyes. His understanding wasn't complete yet. But this was a step in the right direction. He had a theory now.

If he wanted more—if he wanted all of it—he'd have to make full contact with every part of the crucible and take it. Cade shifted forward and wrapped himself around the crucible. The jagged bolt pressed into his skin as he made contact but thankfully it was solid enough to lean against without bending. Using the growing light of the forming drop above, he pressed himself to the strange wood, adjusting until his body was braced against its twisted length.

One palm pressed near the top where red first lit, the other against the lower section that had pulsed orange before. His forearm touched the vein that had once run yellow. His chest met green while his legs wrapped around the section that would glow cobalt blue. He felt exposed and, for a moment, he second guessed this decision. The sap above him trembled, swollen and golden, casting warped shadows along the chamber walls. The drop detached and the moment it struck the basin, Cade felt it.

The red veins flared and his hand sang with energy. It crawled through his skin and into his bones again—so vivid and full it nearly made him gasp. Then orange lit beneath his other hand, but the energy didn't enter. The buzz was there but it was different from the red, a strange hum that didn't meet his body's natural rhythm. The light continued to descend through the crucible.

When yellow lit up a new vibration stirred where his forearm pressed against the wood, a higher-pitched buzzing that set his skin tingling. But again the energy did not transfer into him. It just continued on into green and down into blue. Each section buzzed in its own unique frequency that sang through his skin but refused to enter. Cade felt the final shift as the full spectrum flared and then collapsed inward into violet. A burst of deep purple light, color, and charge drained downward.

Then came the thunder from below, muffled but still immense. Cade remained pressed to the crucible, breathing hard, every inch of his skin was now tingling with static. The hunger inside of him grew more intense. He felt like he was so close. The energy from the red channel had easily flowed into him and effortlessly merged into his bones, but the others hadn't. Instead, they had resisted entering his body. But why? He exhaled slowly, calming his pulse and willing his ever growing hunger to wait.

He needed to focus. If he could just focus he could figure this problem out. For the first time since he had created the skill, Cade willingly triggered his [Hyperfocused Meditation]. The hunger gnawing at the fabric of his very being slipped away. His thoughts cleared and the chamber narrowed. All that remained was the Stormsap Crucible, the drop of sap above, and the breath in his lungs. Cade closed his eyes and opened his mind to the sensations of his body.

The next drop formed overhead, glowing stronger, swelling with every pulse. Its weight bent the narrow ceiling root until gravity pulled it free. It fell into the crucible and red ignited. This time he felt the flow of the energy as part of it moved through his hand and into his bones. A frown formed on his mouth as he realized that he only took a fraction of the energy. The majority of it still flowed down through the crucible. Then it was cut off as the red channels faded and orange flared to life.

But in his focused state Cade felt it. A new hum that was only slightly off from the previous. Like a musical note just out of tune with the one before. He didn't fight it. He didn't command it to change. He just sat there and let it ring through his body. Time seemed to stretch. Within [Hyperfocused Meditation], Cade floated in a chamber of light and tension, each heartbeat separated by miles of sensation. The red lightning that had resonated and flowed into his bones was gone. But now orange was singing to him.

His other hand buzzed, but it wasn't the same frequency. It was sharper, tighter, like a plucked wire held too taut. Cade felt the resonance hum against his skin but not through it. His body didn't reject the energy—they simply didn't match. My own frequency is off. The orange light dimmed and yellow surged in next, lighting up his forearm. The buzzing shifted again. Higher and brighter than before. This feeling was more nimble. It was fast and agile. Speed and motion were coiled inside the buzz. Green followed.

Its tone was deeper than the others, mellow and rooted. A grounding force, calm beneath his ribs. Blue struck last and created a rumble in his thighs that felt like it somehow tied the rest together. Cade's mind catalogued every shift in tone, every flicker of energy that passed over and through the Crucible. Each segment rang out its own unique note. This… this is a scale, he realized. The Stormsap Crucible wasn't just a conduit—it was a song.

A living sequence of aligned resonances, each layer flowing into the next, transmuting as they went. Cade had only absorbed the red because it matched his body's base frequency. But the others… they could be learned. Then he felt the entire crucible flash violet and the note that rang out nearly broke his mind. A screeching and discordant sound reverberated through him and shattered the harmony that had been created. He knew immediately that something was wrong, that this one didn't belong.

The sound strained his mind and it took everything Cade had to just withstand the assault. Then, as quickly as it had come, the sound cut off. The crucible flashed and discharged down below. Even through his [Hyperfocused Meditation], Cade reeled from the experience. His head pounded, and his body trembled with aftershocks but he didn't move from his position wrapped around the Stormsap Crucible. Its twisted shape still pressed against his skin, every inch of him buzzing with lingering dissonance.

Through the pain, through the uncontrollable shaking, his hunger surged. It had tasted power, and now it demanded more.