Your head swims as you climb the last of the stone steps. It's becoming harder to think clearly, and your companions are struggling now as well. You've been exposed to the corruption too long you are sure of it as it is not just you and can't just be the lack of water.

Around you is an empty room. No sign of the sibling of light you seek. Your heart sinks. What are you supposed to do now?

"There's one more shard, over there, in the wall" Talik says. "It's worth a shot, right?"

Haden takes the shard and activates it, and you brace yourself as a memory forms around you. But to your surprise, you remain in the same room. It's clear of corruption, but dust and debris shower from the ceiling, like there was an earthquake and the structure had been shaken. The walls splinter as a deep rumble shakes the tower, and lava seeps from cracks in the floor.

In the chaos, the sibling of light stands in the centre of the room, he remains calm. He releases the memory shard in his hands, then walks to a panel near the wall. He presses it and vanishes. Not like he's being teleported, but … just disappears.

The memory fades, but you can still feel the tremble beneath your feet.

"That must have been when the tower broke," Alster says. "The sibling ... could he ...still be here?"

The walls are covered in corrupted flora. Haden looks around the room, "There, in that spot — that's where the panel was." She says certain it was the right place.  You all rush over, working together to clear the growth of corrupted moss covering the niche. You pull weeds from grooves and symbols and as you uncover the niche something activates and a stone panel like a tablet falls out of the wall at right angles to it and the panel glows with a green blue crystalline power. Haden sees in the panel and handprint and nine stars, three rows of three in a square, presses her hand to the panel but nothing happens. "Maybe a different Guardian cast needs to put there hand on this thing?" Haden thinks aloud. Alster comes close and examines the tablet. As he moved his finger over the stars a trace of faint light followed the trail of his finger. Alster did this a few times until he says; "Its a pattern, you have to draw a line with your finger in a pattern and then put your hand on the tablet. "Well that's a step forward but what pattern do we use? Says Haden a little frustrated. "Great question, Haden, I have no idea, anyone?" Alster looks around. Talik shrugged and started looking around the room for ideas or clues. You pushed your lips together and stared hard at the floor hoping to think of something. "What about an symbol or letter? Alster wobbles his head and starts attempting alphabet and symbols he knows. Haden watches for a while, "What if it is an old Voek symbol we don't know? She says filling Alster with dread who says, "let's just try this for a while." You start to cough and you can hear Talik has a definite wheeze now. I don't think we have much time to solve this one." You say. 

"Well, I am doing everything I can think of." Alster fires back. Talik had been moving around the room looking up and down and was tiring quickly. She sat down on the floor and put her head forward struggling to breathe. Then to take in a deep breath she rocks her head back all the way so that her face was looking drirectly up at the ceiling. She breathed in deeply and then froze. "Are you ok," you said to your fellow mage, you assumed she was in pain as she had not moved or blinked and had a contorted look on her face and then she cocked her head slightly and blinked. "Is that a map?" she said. You all look up and lo and behold there was definitely a map up there. It was overlaid with a pattern of stars. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Talik asked all of us. "That we are gonna die in here?" Haden responded. 

"No, that the pattern is related to the map!" Talik says. 

"I think we all made that jump but it doesn't help us to know what pattern is,  the combinations are endless." You say disparagingly. 

"But did you see the word up there?" Talik says with an air of confidence. 

Alster looks up, stopping his finger from entering the outline letters and looks hard at the ceiling. "Where? What word?" 

There in runes it says "The way you did?" Talik translates.

"No, that says the way you... came." You say quite sure your translation in more accurate. "Ok." says Alster. And he starts to draw line from the bridge to the the main trail to the tower. Nothing happened. He tries other patterns and still nothing. 

"What about if it means the way 'we' came?" asks Haden. 

You respond with "That's ridiculous, how would it know.."

"Got it!" Alster interrupts. 

"What do you mean you got it? You ask for clarification.

"Well, we crossed at the river, walked around the tower and cut back through the center. Like this.." He demonstrated again the pattern you had travelled and again the light on the finger trail stayed on.

"But how does it know?" you ask. 

Haden was annoyed with all the questions and said, "Not everything is in books you know and slapped her hand onto the lit panel.

A flash fills the room.

The corruption is a lot like real world conditions. Using the information you have learned about the corruption research the symptoms on WebMD. WEBMD Add the condition or disease you think corruption is like to Thy Quests Below.

Next: E6Q2 A Source of Healing