It had been a week since Amaya bad begun her intensive training regimen; time was running short, and Frost felt she had improved dramatically. It was time for an exam.

"Ready?" Frost asked, Amaya nodded. They were in a training room in the temple, the four guardians stood watch. Pritsua, the ice guardian and Amayas initial teacher had not been pleased with the young dragons decision, but they had all agreed that given the unique deadline, this was the best option.

Without warning Amaya opened her mouth and sent a spray of icicles at Frost, who countered by flaring his wings, releasing a wave of icy energy that stopped the deadly storm in midair.

Neither of them moved, Everyone knew of Amayas physical abilities, they weren't here to test her evasion skills. They were here to test her elemental strength.

And test them she did. Opening her mouth she focused on a constant output of energy and a white beam shot from her mouth, absorbing all the heat in it's path. Frost ducked, the beam sailed over his shoulder and struck the far wall, giant ice crystals growing from the contact point. The path that the beam travelled became a column of fog as the water in the air had frozen and sublimated directly to a gas. Frost stood back up, a thin layer of ice cracking and falling from his shoulder.

"Nice." he commented, "You learn fast."

Amaya felt her pride swell in her chest and was about to say thank you when suddenly her paws felt numb. Looking down she saw they had been encased in ice.

Frost smiled "But I'd be a poor teacher if I didn't have some tricks left."

Leaping forward, frosts tail blade glowed with the same white energy Amaya bad fired a moment ago, unable to move, Amaya countered by raising her wing blades and channeling her energy into them, they began to glow just as Frost brought his tail down. The two strikes clashed, a shockwave if energy was blasted in all directions, shattering the ice that held Amaya in place and throwing her back. Recovering in midair she flew at Frost, claws flowing white and trailing snowflakes.

Frost ducked again and brought his head up as Amaya sailed overhead, catching her in his horns and throwing her to the ground.

Turning around Frost was met with a hail of icicles pelting his side and knocking him back several paces.

Making eye contact with Amaya, he grinned and was met with the same. It had finally come down to this, one final contest of strength. They would finally know who was better.

As Amaya began to hover and give off an aura of blue energy, Frost waited and allowed her to charge her fury before starting his own, which he knew would have a shorter charge time.

The guardians ran for cover as both furies went off, Frost was surrounded by sharp jagged spikes of ice which began spinning at great speed before firing in every direction and curving, homing in on their target.

Amaya opened her mouth and a beam of aurora shot towards Frost, he rainbows beam freezing the ground it passed over, which exploded as the ice within shattered. There was a great flash of white light, and for a moment everyone was blinded as the two furies collided.

When the flare had faded the guardians returned from their cover to discover the entire room was encased in a thick wall of ice. Huge icicles hung from the ceiling and what appeared to be a wall of ice stood between the two combatants where the furies had clashed and released unbelievable energy. Both Frost and Amaya had been caught in the blast and had been frozen where they stood. Encased in solid foot thick ice prisons.

The guardians looked around the room in wonder. In all their years they had never seen two furies clash, and results were beyond their expectations.

Opening his mouth, Mormaren released twin fireballs that consumed Frost and Amaya, melting the ice and dying out before either dragon sustained burns.

With a final crack the thin layers of ice that still coated them shattered and they slumped to the floor, gasping for breath. After a moment They had caught their breath and rose to their feet.

"Are you two alright?" Mormaren asked.

"Who... won?" Frost asked. Looking at Amaya, Mormaren saw that she too was waiting for the answer.

"I'll take that as a yes." Mormaren said. "It was a draw, now clean this up."

Frost looked at each other in disbelief. And not just because they had to somehow clear the room of this ice, they had given it their all, and they had tied!

After the guardians had left they began trying to chip away at the massive slabs of ice that covered every surface. Eventually Amaya said "So? How did I do?"

Frost shook his head. "I always thought the stories about purple dragons were exaggerations, but you've advanced in a week to the level that I was at after training for years. You still have a lot to learn about discipline and technique, and only Pritsua can teach you that. But for now I'd say your strong enough to do what you need to."

Relieved to hear this, she looked around at their hopeless task. If they had a fire dragon this might be possible, as it was the ice would disappear by melting long before they ever removed it by force.

Turning to Frost she said "Well you can stay here and try and melt this stuff, but I've got bigger fish to fry. See you around." Then she turned and walked out, leaving Frost alone in the training room.

Amaya felt the usual thrill of bucking authority as she walked through the hallways. Forgetthoseoldbags. Amaya thought, Idon'thavetimeforthat.

Passing through the main gate she took to the air, Soaring towards the edge of the mountain plateau that had been her entire world for as long as she could remember. She would finally be able to leave it all behind and explore the world outside the cloudy domain she knew. Smiling as she could almost feel the bad memories fall away as she got closer and closer to the city walls.

Suddenly she stopped in midair and hovered there, confused about a new thought that had entered her mind. He would leave behind her past, but also the friends she had gained these past couple of weeks. Could she really just forget about Frost and Ohmea? Especially after all they had done for her.

Shaking her head she realized the reasons she had for wanting to leave no longer applied. Her life wasn't pointless anymore, and she was no longer alone. She would have to leave to accomplish what the Chronicler told her, but she now had a reason to return.

Confident in her decision she continued her flight, soon reaching the edge of the plateau she dove, racing towards the clouds that had served as a veil between her world and the rest of the world. As she entered the cloud cover she was greeted by even more cold that se was used to as well as water that collected on her scales out of thin air, growing ever larger until the wind stripped them from her body.

She flew blindly through white, her only sense of direction being up and down, but that was all she needed. Amaya couldn't help bug remember Ed fight with Palatinae, she clearly remembered setting the injured dragoness on a ledge, but when Pritsua had gone to retrieve her, she was gone. Could she really have fallen? Amaya tried not to think about it.

Breaking through the clouds Amaya was greeted by a sight she had longed to see her whole life, and bad caught but a fleeting glimpse of a few weeks ago: The world.

Sprawled out before her was a seemingly endless green blanket. Far larger than anything she could have imagined. She had thought Neo Midnight was large place, but it paled in comparison to this. The fields stretched as far as her eyes could make out, until it faded into a band of white which faded into the blue sky, so much bluer than the sky she had grown up under. She really felt like she had entered another world entirely.

Her mouth open in awe, she realized she could spend her entire life exploring the earth and only discover a fraction of what it held. In addition, although she didn't quite remember where her dream had told her to go, she felt like she should go south. But this raised a new question she hadn't thought to ask before.

"How am I going to get there?" she wondered out loud. She had never hunted before, she wouldn't k ow how tofu d shelter at night, she didn't even know the kinds of hazards the wilderness held.

"I'll help."

Spinning around, Amaya saw Frost hovering behind her, who laughed. "Surprised to see me?"

Amaya realized her mouth was open and quickly shut it. "Wh-why are you here?"

"Same reason you are." Frost answered. "That room will just have to melt."

"No really." Amaya asked.

"I figured you were jumping into this without thinking, so I figured you could use some help."

A part of Amaya wanted to tell him to go back, that he should mind his own his business, but as she looked at the impossibly vast earth below, she realized she would need his help. "I... Thanks." she said, which earned her a smile.

"Anytime Amaya, that's what friends are for, right?"

Amaya nodded. "People who can rely on each other."

"So which way?" Frost asked. Amaya motioned southwards and they took off together.