The entrance to the Elemental Depths was almost disappointing in its look. A simple cave opening at the side of the small mountain range that covered much of the Earth Island, the only obviously impressive thing about it was the rapidness with which the inside turned pitch black. Even John’s vision could not pierce further than twenty metres into the cave. Beyond that, it was as if a curtain of darkness had descended, swallowing the light touching it.

Next to the Gamer, Gnome swallowed nervously. “Something the matter?” he asked.

“I just… it’s… you know?” She made a couple of vague gestures.

John understood. Despite being by far the most normal out of his elementals, their true bonding moment refused to happen. Perhaps it was because she was so normal. Salamander, Undine, Siena and Sylph, the understanding with them had come about because John shared a moment of them that was hitched on their character. Indulging in Salamander’s need to prove herself against all odds. Sharing with Undine a moment of merciless concentration of what must be done. Bringing Siena to a more moderate understanding of the world, culminating in her accepting that she could be truly happy loving someone (which had crystallized in a blowjob of all things, but John wasn’t complaining). Lastly, engaging in the same whimsicalness as Sylph for cuddles.

It was all in line with their quirky characters. What particular quirk did Gnome have? Her shyness? Adorable, yes, but also something that had only surfaced when she evolved to Tier 2 and had since diminished to more manageable levels. Her patience? That was the virtue displayed when she had reached the elemental wisdom of earth, but he had a hard time imagining how he could share a truly patient moment with her. Did he just have to wait? Gnome didn’t seem to think so, given her own eagerness to find their true connection.

The Autumn Elemental Summoning Skill had maxed out, he could buy an SEP whenever they needed it, all they needed was that spark. Uncertainty about whether or not it existed was far from a pleasant feeling. John had reassured Gnome a while back that this wasn’t an issue for him. He hadn’t lied then. He wasn’t going to forsake his adorable earth spirit because they were experiencing difficulties in getting her to the last Tier. It was, however, a hindrance and they acknowledged that.

“Well, standing here won’t get us any further,” John said and gestured at the tunnel. “Shall we?”

“One moment,” Gnome requested and took a deep breath. Pumping her fists, she muttered to herself, “You can do this! You can do this. You… can… do this? Yes, you can do this!” She got progressively redder as she went through her little ritual. By the end of it, she grabbed John by the arm and pulled him along as she hastily strutted toward the tunnel.

John obliged with a smile, freeing his arm from her embarrassed claw-grip at the first opportunity and putting it around her waist. Alone together, they stepped into the darkness.

The ground under their feet changed from stone to a level something. It was hard like stone or concrete, but there were no echoes as they continued on. It reminded John of the void of an empty Illusion Barrier. A space that had the potential to contain anything conceived in Gaia’s dream. All that John could and could not imagine.

“We can do this,” he whispered to her as they continued walking through this impossible space. Only well learned or extremely talented Fateweavers could usually create it, and having it exist, without clear separation, inside a larger Illusion Barrier should have been unachievable. Much about the Elemental Islands and the Guild Hall should have been impossible. Whether this spoke to the inconsistency of the rules, a breaking of them, or that they just didn’t understand them properly yet was up for debate. John leaned heavily towards the latter, despite knowing what this reality was founded on. The middle option was also likely, given other abilities John had.

The depths swallowed the light of the tunnel behind them, fully engulfing them in black. There were many different kinds of darkness John had encountered, friendly and hostile, and this one just lacked any emotion at all.

“Nobody seems to be watching us?” Gnome raised her voice in a confused tone.

“Indeed,” John could not help but be similarly surprised. The attention of the leaders of the elements had been obvious in the trials Rave had been presented with. Right now, they were given no attention at all. “It is… no, irritating isn’t the right word…” the Gamer tried to put a finger on why this seemed odd to him. “I just thought they would be more invested in us.”

“Yeah,” the autumn elemental gave a firm response and they continued on.

With nothing else to do, they kept walking. Walking and walking. They chatted about this and that at first, but eventually they ran out of things to say. Talking for talking’s sake could have worked, but Gnome wasn’t the type who enjoyed that. They just continued on.

For hours.

Neither of them brought up the possibility of turning around. John would have been fine with it, but he could feel that Gnome refused to leave without any form of progress made. The uncertainty they felt originally grew more and more intense. Planless movement was against John’s nature. Gnome needed something. Her body felt more and more rigid in his embrace.

There was some relief when the world around them finally started to change. The immaterial ground under their feet began to crunch. Crystals of light appeared along invisible walls. Distant sounds of waving water and flickering fire reached their ears. The air carried the smell of flowers and a touch of electricity John could feel in his short hair.

Spreading out in a cone shape as they advanced, the landscape peeled out of the retreating Abyss. A path of dirt and sand under their feet cut through a growing ocean. It was incredibly shallow and came surging forwards in small waves, as if the flood had just begun to supersede the ebb. It never progressed enough, however, to reach the duo’s feet. The spume of each wave was a line of fire. Whimsical winds played with the tongues of fire and moved clusters of golden crystals along. Beyond this landscape lay the darkness. It never left, only ceded more space to the other elements.

They continued on. Stubbornly, patiently, uncertainly, they kept walking, waiting for something to happen. John lost track of time, listening to the calm waves, holding his first elemental. He closely noticed her growing more and more strained, however, as they kept marching on. Mentally and physically, she kept growing more distressed.

Their path of sand led them to a mountain. It was impossibly tall to fit under the Guild Hall, much less the Elemental Islands. Sand was replaced with solid dirt as they ascended up a crack in the dark brown and grey rock. Some parts, they had to climb over. Others, they could just walk. Neither served to calm Gnome’s nerves.

In the end, they arrived at a cliff. A sudden drop, past the tip of the mountain. A balcony attached to its back, that overlooked a desert. Spheres of light, golden, purple, red, blue and green, were visible in the darkness that swallowed the horizon. The wind played through long strands of cloth and crystals below, singing as if brushing past chimes. A calming melody, played by the forces of nature. Tranquil, clear, and completely unpredictable in its complexity.

John stepped up to the edge and peeked down. About halfway down, a dune leaned against the mountain. The angle was perfect to gradually slow a fall. “Should we just drop down?” he suggested and then turned around. “We can keep go-“ He stopped immediately when he saw his Gnome.

The brunette stood there, her bare shoulders trembling, the skirt of her dress of fused autumn leaves swaying in the wind. She was beautiful, her brown eyes downcast, her yellow-gloved hands rising to her face. “I don’t get it,” she said, rubbing her eyes between rapid blinks. “What is it? Why don’t I understand what I need?”

With two quick steps, the Gamer was by her side and embraced her just as the first tense sob pulsed through her body. The sound her red lips formed when she hid her face in the crevice of his shoulder broke John’s heart. So miserable and weak, filled with uncertainty. It didn’t stop at the one. Gnome kept crying, without stop, even as John guided her to sit with him.

Each new sob wrenched his heart. He felt helpless, just holding her while she held onto him. “I don’t get it, I don’t get it…” she whispered over and over again. The uncertainty of the trip, of the last few months, it all unloaded in these few minutes. Grains of suffering piled into a desert of sorrow. “Do I have to do something reckless? Do I need to expose myself to corruption?!”

“No!” John was hasty to nib that thought in the bud. “No, no, Gnome, don’t suggest that in a hurry. We don’t need to do anything reckless.”

“Yes, we do!” Gnome shouted, raising her face from his stained shirt. More tears immediately ran down her beautiful face. “I want to be the best I can for you, John! We can’t delay that.”

“I won’t mind if it takes you longer to figure out how we can get there,” John pushed back. “It doesn’t ma-“

“Yes, it does, John,” Gnome interrupted him with a sniff and a defiant expression. She seemed angry with him. Genuinely pissed off by what he said. The Gamer didn’t even know how to respond to that emotion radiating from her. When had the earth spirit ever been wrathful? “It does matter. You can’t lie to me, I know you’re irritated. Don’t act like none of this matters!”

“I’m irritated, yes, but that’s not what’s important!” John pushed back the second he found his voice again. “I just want you to be happy, Gnome. If you need time, then I will give you time!”

“I KNOW!” she screamed and collapsed into a miserable pile, slumped against his chest. Her fists drummed on him with impotent strength. “I don’t get it, John… I don’t get what I need… your patience hurts me… and I hate that. I hate that it makes me feel that way.” Her punches stopped. She raised her face again. Desperately, she tried to wipe away the tears. “Why? Why can’t I just understand what is going on? Why do I want you to be mad at me for something I can’t do anything about?!” An intense sob burst out of her, an ugly, guttural sound, so in contrast to how beautiful she was. “Please don’t hate me.”

John didn’t know what to say. Assuring her did nothing good and confirming her suspicions would have been a lie. All he could do was hold her and say what was evidently true. “I’m here,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m here.”

“I don’t get it…” she mumbled. “I just don’t get it. I love you. I want to do the best I can for you. I- I can’t keep pushing this off. I hoped this would be the day but… I don’t know anything… Mother… anyone… tell me what I need to do…”

Her pleas remained unanswered, the presence of the elemental rulers missing. It was just the two of them, sitting atop a landscape that could have been generated at random or with purpose they didn’t understand. John made calming sounds, swayed her in his arms and waited for her tears to end. No sooner could his heart be mended.

Suddenly, she shifted in his arms. Her hands moved to the zipper of his pants, her head down. Her intent was clear before she had even freed his dick from the first layer of clothing. “Gnome,” John said in a stern tone. “This isn’t going to work.”

“It worked for Siena,” Gnome shot back stubbornly. It was as if all of those bad sides, sides that never would have surfaced in their happy, daily life, came out to rear their ugly heads at this moment. With furrowed eyebrows and tears still rolling from her eyes, she defiantly moved between his legs. “I can-“

“You are not Siena,” John told her off. There was no way he could entertain this scene. Even if he did let her go on, he wouldn’t be able to perform. Not even he was enough of a sadist to get off on watching a woman, especially one of his dearly beloved, suffer in this manner. “You’re not Sylph, Undine or Salamander. You’re you! What worked for them won’t work for you!” He didn’t mean to shout, but the agitation of the moment got to him. “You won’t become happy this way.”

Gnome knew that. She dropped the attempt with another sob, buried her face between her hands and cried tears of shame and agitation. “I don’t get it, I do not get it…” She sounded so tired about the world. John would have conquered a thousand kingdoms to bring her the answer she sought. “Why… Why do you even wait for me? Why do you think you can just… tolerate such a miserable loser like me? First of your contracts and last to even gain the potential to evolve… I’m just a failure… I don’t get why… why would you…?”

“Because I love you.”

For this answer, he didn’t need to conquer anything. He didn’t have to search outside him. He didn’t even have to look inside him. The answer was always right there, on the tip of the tongue at every moment they spent together.

There was more, much more that he could have said. He could have flooded her mind with his emotions, let her feel the depth and earnesty of that emotion. Yet, he just let those four words ring with all of the truth the human voice could convey and hoped that would be enough.

Gnome stared at him. Blinking the tears away, unsuccessfully. Opening and closing her mouth, uncertain what to answer to what she already knew. Then, slowly, uncertainly, she put her arms around his neck. Slowly, uncertainly, she leaned closer. Quickly, certainly, John pulled her into his embrace. Quickly, certainly, he made her look at him. Slowly, certainly, their lips came together.