It didn’t take him long to make his way back to the small island that held the temple. Nothing had changed during his absence. After entering the temple, he passed through the anteroom and moved into the expansive main chamber.
Jake looked up at the towering, dormant portal, noting the five-pointed star etched into the floor. The portal stood at its center, while four cylinders emerged from the tips of the star. The fifth one had retracted into the floor, becoming flush with its surface, after Jake inserted the rune stone, which bore the symbol that matched the one inscribed on the cylinder, during his first visit to the temple.
One by one, Jake walked to each of the remaining cylinders. After examining the symbols etched into their surfaces, he retrieved all the rune stones with the matching symbols from his Inventory and inserted them into the indentations of the cylinders. He repeated this process for each cylinder, causing them to retract into the floor.
Once all the rune stones were inserted into the cylinders and they retracted into the floor, something happened. At each of the five points of the star where the cylinders had just been, flared to life a magical sigil. Jake took a moment to examine each of the five newly materialized symbols.
Each sigil measured roughly three feet in diameter and displayed a different color: orange, blue, red, green, and yellow. Each of the five sigils depicted a unique image: the orange one resembled a flame, the blue one looked like a shard of ice, the red one symbolized an explosion, the green one appeared as a splatter of liquid with steam rising from it, and the yellow one took the shape of a bolt of lightning.
Just as Jake finished examining the glowing sigils, a swirling riftgate ripped open in the air several feet above the floor. One by one, five ash imps emerged from it. It took Jake only a moment to connect the dots. To open the portal, he needed to activate the symbols inscribed on its surface, and to do that, he likely had to defeat the newly spawned ash imps, each with a different elemental power.
He decided to test his theory. Morphing his left hand into a grappling hook, he launched it toward one of the winged creatures. Once he snagged the ash imp, he pulled it toward himself and grabbed it with his right hand, holding it by the nape of its neck. The weak, diminutive creature writhed and squirmed but was unable to break free from Jake’s strong grip.
As he drew the ash imp closer to his face, he opened his mouth wide, revealing his large, jagged teeth. The creature let out a terrifying squeak, likely thinking he was about to take a bite out of it. However, Jake had other intentions in mind.
At his mental command, a glob of acid formed in his mind. He opened his jaws wider and, in the next instant, hurled the projectile straight at the demon’s face. The acidic liquid stuck to its flesh and immediately began to eat through it. The dying creature thrashed in his hand, squealing in agony for a few seconds until it finally stopped moving.
Jake glanced at the sigil depicting an image of a smoking splatter. It was still glowing green on the floor, showing no signs of change. He turned his gaze to the towering arc of the dormant portal, where the arcane symbols carved into its surface had yet to activate. Jake was confident that his theory was correct, though. Perhaps he just needed to kill an ash imp with acid while standing right on the glowing sigil representing the same elemental power.
He was still holding the lifeless body of the ash imp he had just killed. He dropped the dead creature to the floor and glanced up at the four other winged beings flying in circles over the dormant portal. Just as he looked at them, a swirling gateway ripped open in the air, and another ash imp emerged. Once again, five winged creatures circled above him, which confirmed his theory that he needed to kill each of them using a different type of the five elemental powers.
One of the ash imps suddenly swooped down at him, intent on slashing its claws across his face. He easily dodged the blow and caught the brash creature with his right hand, squeezing his fingers tightly around its thin neck. Ignoring the creature’s futile attempts to break free, he strode toward the glowing green sigil and positioned himself squarely on it.
He prepared another acid projectile. Once it took shape in his mouth, he launched it at the creature’s face. The acid ate through the flesh of its face in mere seconds, exposing the bare skull within. As soon as the creature died, the sigil beneath him faded, vanishing completely. At the same time, one of the five symbols on the portal’s arch activated, flaring to life.
So his theory had proven true. To activate the other four symbols, all he needed to do was simply eliminate the remaining ash imps, dealing each one a different type of elemental damage while standing on a sigil that matched that elemental power.
He looked up at the four ash imps spiraling above the chamber. No gateway opened to release another winged creature, as that was unnecessary. With one symbol activated, he only had to do the same with the remaining four, and the four ash imps present were enough to achieve that goal.
However, if he made a mistake and killed one or more ash imps in vain, he was certain the riftgate would rip open again to release the necessary number of ash imps needed to solve the puzzle. Also, there didn’t seem to be a specific order for killing the ash imps. Or perhaps there was, and he had just been fortunate enough to figure out which elemental power to use first. Still, he believed it was the former.
While there might not be a specific order for using elemental powers against the winged creatures, this puzzle might still be time-sensitive. The symbol on the arch of the portal still glowed, but if he didn’t eliminate another ash imp with a different elemental power soon, it could go out, and he would have to begin all over again.
The only problem was that acid was the only elemental power he currently possessed. Fortunately, he could fix this problem quite simply by retrieving something and bringing it back to the temple.
One of the remaining ash imps pounced on him, but he easily dodged the attack. Instead of retaliating, he pivoted toward the exit and moved across the chamber. Though he could hear the fluttering of wings behind him, none of the winged creatures pursued him out of the temple. Taking a moment to gather his bearings, he set off.