p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: large;"Chapter 32/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"With the party being separated, four to five, things were gonna get rough for both sides. While Bereit was more than happy to be with less, knowing he could protect them, he was worried of what lengths the others would have to go to catch up. He prayed they would make it. He'd never forgive himself. Nor would Tier, knowing she could have left her sister to her cold and slow death./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"But for now, the separated party focused on their own survival./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Select a path to follow first:/span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit, Tier, Scharf and Zelkova -/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen, Imbir, Strake, Kurve, Vanessa/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (General, Party 1)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party of four continued their trek up the brutal cold mountain. Occasionally, they slipped from the frozen ground, trying their hardest to maintain a good grip, only to fail continuously./span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Of all the damn things it could track us by, it's fire. The one thing that keeps us warm." Tier groaned, rubbing her shoulders rapidly, trying to warm herself./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"It would make sense to have it as such." Zelkova remarked, even if he shouldn't have. "Perhaps what we're facing is far more intelligent than we imagined."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit huffed quietly. "Great. Clever and powerful. The best combination to have for your enemy…" Bereit commented sarcastically, rubbing his hands together. "I hope the others got the memo that using fire means you're getting targeted."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I think the example Ifrit became was more than enough for them to realize we're being watched." Tier remarked, looking where the last few spears came from./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party continued on their trek. But it sure felt like there was no progress being made whatsoever. Just constant higher and higher climbs with constant slipping and falling. It almost left the party of four in a state of hopelessness. Like there was a chance they weren't gonna make it out of here alive./span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Zelkova slowly fell down on the snow, everyone turning to the sound of him falling. Bereit walked to his side as quick as possible, his entire body shivering. He reached down and picked him right up. "Come on, Zelkova, I got'cha." He told him. Even in his state, he was gonna carry him. Even if it would tire him out even more./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"He placed Zelkova on his back, holding him up by his legs./span/span/p
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p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Hey! Look over there!" Scharf spoke up, pointing ahead of them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"br /Bereit and Tier looked ahead, seeing there was some kind of entrance. And two giant pillars that were decorated with cloth furiously flapping from the strong winds./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party of four walked ahead to get a better view, to find out they were approaching some ruins. Or perhaps, a still standing temple. Possible shelter too./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"We can probably go inside there and rest." Scharf suggested to Bereit and Tier./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Tier nodded. "Yeah. Let's take a look."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party soon walked right into the temple that stood in front of them. The first thing they were met with other than the winds hitting their backs like never before was a dark interior coated with ice all over the place. Along with eerie rumbles coming from below./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"They looked around the place, finding something rather interesting. "Wow, look at this." Tier said, as she pointed to the walls. Bereit and Scharf both looked where she pointed to see what she was looking at. And what they saw was incredible. Carvings depicting some kind of story. A tall, long haired woman looking upon a dragon. The expression carved on her face looked like a serious one. Though it was hard to tell./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Wow." Bereit commented, looking at it all. "What is this?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Looks like some kinda prophecy. Or at least it looks like one. Like the carvings you see in pyramids and what not." Scharf commented, looking at it all up close. "Think it means something?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Well…" Tier walked up to it and pointed to the woman with long hair, along with the dragon. "Kinda reminds me of Shiva." She then brought her index finger to the long hair. "The long hair, and she looks pretty tall… hold on." She banged her fist on the snow covered ice that was next to the tall woman. And what was revealed was a woman carrying a staff, raising it high up./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"What the hell?" Tier whispered. "Is that… no that can't be."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen?" Bereit spoke up, the two thinking the same thing. "It's kind of a stretch but-"br /br /"Guys, you might wanna look at this." Scharf spoke up. Both Tier and Bereit turned around to look where Scharf was, to see even more of those carvings. And they looked identical to what they were looking at, but with different dragons. One with fire around it, and tall buildings are the smaller woman. And another, with a dragon with spikes about it's back. "Remember when I said it looks like some kind of prophecy?" Scharf reminded them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I don't wanna believe it… but…" Bereit stated, examining what they were looking at. "Something tells me we're apart of some twisted fate." He continued to look around the place, finding one of the same woman, theoretically being Fallen. But she was holding a person in her arms, the person leaning back with their eyes closed. This left Bereit with a sinking feeling in his heart. He could only imagine who'd that be. No… he'd rather not imagine it. He shook his head and gently set Zelkova down. "You guys think we're safe in here from the spears?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The two he asked were silent, looking by the entrance. "Well… I don't see it sending them to us like this. Plus…" Tier looked above herself, seeing the ceiling. "We're completely covered. So we should be safe."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Let's just hope spears is all it'll bring of us." Bereit sat on the cold floor and crossed his legs, putting his hands forward. A fireball began to form, and slowly approached Zelkova. There was the eerie silence that filled the temple they were sitting inside, until they heard the muffled sounds of spears coming down above them. They all looked up as they heard it, Tier chuckling. "Guess we're safe after all." Tier then looked at Bereit. "Think you can make that fire bigger? Let's warm up for now."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit nodded. "Coming right up." He soon made another fireball to float in front of the three for themselves, while Zelkova got his own flame. Bereit quickly looked towards Zelkova, seeing he was still breathing. His hot turned cold breath was visible with the heat in front of him. At least it helped Bereit know he was still alive and well… hopefully./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party stayed in there for a while, their body temperatures reaching more desirable levels./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Tier sighed quietly, gently rubbing her hands together. "You guys think the others are doing okay?" She asked them, turning to Bereit and Scharf./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I'm sure they're doing alright. With Strake escorting them, I wouldn't worry all that much." Bereit answered calmly. "I know it sounds ignorant to say, but I have faith in them. We made it this far."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Tier's eyes went back to the fire, slowly nodding. "Yeah… you're right. Though… I hope they find us."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit looked up at the ceiling, still hearing the constant spears coming down. "We might have some sign for them… if they get close enough." He pointed to the ceiling, wordlessly clarifying their 'sign.'/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (General, party 2)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The second party of five would slowly make their way through the storm. Fallen had summoned Shiva to help with the cold. She was taking most of the cold for everybody, her skin noticeably changing colour. Closer to purple. Even Shiva barely withstood this level of cold./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir was carrying Kurve on his back, him having passed out of the cold being too much./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Strake and Vanessa stood close to each other, as did everyone else. But Strake took point to escort every as planned./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"How much closer until we reach that place you were talking about?" Vanessa asked Strake./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"We're almost there. I'm sure of it." Strake assured the party. "We just need to keep going."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The entire party kept going forward. With each step, it became harder and harder for them to take another. Nothing but white snow and storm filled their sights. And no fire to keep them warm only added salt to the wound. It all seemed pretty hopeless./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"They continued forward, Strake being their path to follow throughout. She was standing tall to remain visible to everyone, until she suddenly tripped and hit the ground, cursing under her breath./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen walked to her and knelt down, going to help her up. "You okay?" Fallen asked./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Yeah, I-" Strake's lion-like face turned to look where she tripped, seeing some piece of metallic debris. There was a hope filled expression. "We're here." She stated, getting up immediately./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen was taken aback slightly from the change in mood Strake suddenly had. But it was with good reason, so she didn't think anything of it./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Thanks to Shiva absorbing in most of the wind that blocked their line of sight, they could see more as they approached what was ahead of them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"And what the party would see is some kind of lift/minecart system. All sorts of wood and metal covered in deep blue ice. Coal and other kinds of metals were filled in the carts, along with the lifts having some tools in them. There was a set of paths that were made of wood with metal nailed into the corners of each square./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Wow." Fallen said in awe./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Indeed." Strake spoke up. Looking upon it all, it gave her a nostalgic feeling… but the ice made her sad about it too. "Come on. This will lead us closer to the top. But there might be some climbing gear around here. Chances are it's scattered about." Strake turned to look at everyone. "Let's split up and look around."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Everyone, in their shivering and cold state, began to scatter and searched for any climbing gear that Strake spoke of./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Vanessa simply looked up the lifts, being rather intrigued by it all. She wonder why Holhen didn't have any of these. If they had them back then when they stilled mined that place to hell, it would have been a lot easier for them. And maybe not so many lives would have been lost./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The others kept at it with their search for the climbing equipment they seek. But so far, there were no results. Only finding ice, ice and more ice./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"As for Imbir, he found a building completely covered in ice. It looked like some kind of shack. He raised an eyebrow, thinking they might be in there. Or it would just be wise to check. He gently set Kurve down on a wall, facing him away from the cold wind. He quickly adjusted his hat so it wouldn't fly away./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"After that, he stood right up and faced the building. He looked at his gun, seeing the metal was beginning to have frost coat his gun. He then looked back at the building, thinking he was gonna have to bust it open. He just hoped that this wouldn't cause it all to collapse. He reached into his bag and loaded a bullet that was made to pierce armour or anything thick. He aimed and shot right towards the door, leaving a deep hole, where the hole and bullet could be easily seen./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Alright…" Imbir said, as he then took a fire bullet. He walked up to it and then twisted it. He slid the bullet-now-grenade in it, running back to get some distance./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The grenade exploded in a fiery blaze, slowly melting the ice on the door, and around the shack. He sat down and waited for it all to go away, sitting by Kurve's side. But the moment he sat down, he realized he shouldn't be using fire. It would call down the spears of Shiva./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"As he realized it, spears came right down. He was worried it would break through the building and break the equipment they needed./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The spears kept attacking right where the fire was that melted the ice. But… ironically enough, the spear would actually break through the thick ice, leaving the door ice free, except for the little shards of ice./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir raised an eyebrow, as he eyed the ice-free door. "Oh…" He said in a dumbfounded surprise. He then shrugged. "Well, looks like my luck's beginning to turn." He commented, as he then walked right inside the shack, taking a good look at what residing inside./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir would find all kinds of tools and equipment inside the shack. Pickaxes, snowshoes and helmets. And then among the those tools, they found what they were looking for. The climbing equipment. Spikes shoes, ice picks, along with rope and a hook. He frowned, seeing there was only enough for one./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Hey!" Strake spoke up, appearing by the door, with everyone else behind her. "You okay? We saw the spears come down."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I'm fine." Imbir answered. "I used a fire grenade, but I remembered the spears were gonna come down on us. But…" Imbir scratched his ginger hair. "Ironically enough, it helped us in the end." He explained to them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Oh." Strake said, sounding surprised. "And the climbing equipment?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir looked behind himself, as he then got out of the way. "It seems we only have one left. So… we're gonna have to figure out a way to send it back and forth without losing them." Imbir explained to the /br /"Crap." Strake commented, gently running her claw-like hand on her chin. "Then getting to the top is a problem too…" She sighed, before she turned to everyone behind her. "Any ideas, anyone?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen raised her hand, being a bit strange since she could just speak up. "Maybe one of my summons could do the trick."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Which one?" Imbir asked./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen scratched her head, trying to think which one would be a good idea. She was silent for a few seconds, seeing Imbir walk past her, going to get Kurve from where he was sitting. "Slyph could probably conjure something that can place it up there."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Like what?" Vanessa asked. "A clawed Gorilla?" She asked sarcastically./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen was about to object for a second, before she brought her staff to the ground and summoned the small Slyph. "Well? Can you?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Sylph in her familiar green form shivered as she was summoned to their side. "Y-y-yeah. Leave it to m-m-me."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Oh!" Vanessa said in surprise. She didn't think she could, given there's no such thing as a clawed Gorilla. At least, as far as she knew. "Though, if that's the case, why don't we summon something big and have it climb us to the top?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"It might be able to sense high levels of magic too. I think we shouldn't risk it." Fallen explained to Vanessa. "We should play it safe."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Sylph soon summoned the said beast they wanted. First a big puddle of darkness, now formed up into a big, muscular gorilla with long claws./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Vanessa raised an eyebrow from the muscle definition from the beast. Her head slowly turned to Sylph, as did Strake and Fallen's head. "What's with the muscle?" Vanessa asked awkwardly./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"He's gonna need it." Sylph simply answered./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen sighed quietly. "Whatever helps us make it to the top. "Thank you, Sylph." She then gently patted the inside of her fur coat. "Get in. It'll keep you warm." And Slyph went in her coat, covering herself in the fluffy fur. She had a happy and relieved look on her face./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party would soon bare witness to the Gorilla's strength. Once they handed the hook and rope to the big shadowy beast, it began to run up the icy slippery path they needed to get to. It's claws on it's hands and feet would cling onto ice like a tick on a monkey. It cleared the path up like it was nothing. It placed the hook right against the ground, digging it deep and tugged on it to test it's strength./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"It's all done!" Sylph called out from Fallen's coat, with a tiny thumb up./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Hearing that, Fallen looked up the tall icy path they needed to take, only realizing now how far this went. She was glad the rope was able to reach this far. She gulped nervously, before she looked back at everyone. "Well… who wants to go first?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I will." Imbir spoke up, with Kurve on his back. "I'll try my best to get to the top. And when I do, I'll scout ahead for any kind of shelter."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Strake eyed Kurve, seeing he was getting pretty cold, with ice beginning to form on his body. "We need to hurry. He doesn't look so good."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen noticed it at that moment as well. She looked down at her fur coat, thinking there was a choice to be made here. She took a deep breath, and took it right off. She approached Kurve and gently wrapped it around his head, removing his big hat./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"There. He needs it more than I do." Fallen stated boldly./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"You sure, Fallen? That's a little much, don't you think?" Vanessa asked Fallen, wanting to make sure she realized what she was doing./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen pointed to her cloak, the one she got from Shiva. "This is more than enough for me. I'll be okay."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party looked among each other, unsure if she was being truthful. But then again, that was Shiva's gift. It was made to resist the cold. But this was beyond what it could handle. But it provided protection at the very least./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (Imbir)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I believe you." Imbir stated, before he put the ice-shoes on and attached it to his boots. On top of that, he made sure Kurve was secured tightly on his back. He then looked at everyone, waving his hand. "Wish me luck. I'll toss the shoes down when I can." He told them, slowly starting his ascension./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"He looked back at Kurve, seeing he was really starting to look bad. It was getting really concerning. "I need to find shelter… fast…" He whispered to himself. While he made his way up, he made a discovery that some animals were frozen underneath the ice. It was shocking to see that. "So this isn't even near the ground…" He whispered./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"After a while of climbing up that steep path of ice that was the lifts, he made it to solid and flat ground, testing the ground to make sure it wasn't ice. "Alright… good." He said to himself, before he flipped the shoes upside down and sent them down the icy path, along with the ice picks. With that, he turned around and made his way to whatever was ahead./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"And what he saw left him awestruck. What seemed to be ruins of a temple. And oddly, continuous spears coming down to the other side of it. Although there was faint noises of what it seemed to be. "Shelter… but maybe they're here…" Imbir thought to himself. Holding onto the sliver of hope that he could reunite with the others, he slowly walked forward, entering the opened entrance to it./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"But, he was immediately met with the sound of a roar, and loud stomping. A tall, gigantic monster appeared with a huge, snow covered beard. It seemed to be a frost giant./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"You've got to be kidding me." Imbir said. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking he could buy himself some time. He put Kurve down on the ground, trying his hardest to quickly load an explosive bullet in his gun./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The frost giant ran at Imbir, before he watched Imbir fire a shot at the ceiling, causing many bricks to fall on top of it, the dust and snow getting in it's eyes./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"There. Now to get the hell out of here." Imbir said, as he picked Kurve /br /"Yo! Imbir!" A voice called out from the top. Imbir looked up, to find Bereit and the others, an expression of relief appearing on his face. "Oh thank god!" He shouted in happiness. "Mind giving me a hand with this thing!?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit nodded, as he drew his sword. "One Frost Giant kill coming right up!" Bereit called out, as he then jumped down and sunk his sword deep into the beast's hand that guarded his eyes. He soon cut the palm wide open, jumping away from the attempt to hit him./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"All the others jumped down as well, Zelkova being left there with his own flame to warm himself up./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit shot bolts of lightning at the giant, catching it's attention immediately. "Imbir, I'll keep it's attention! Cripple the legs so I can go for the kill!"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Got it!" Imbir said, as he then placed Kurve at the corner of the room, so she was out of danger. He loaded a piercing bullet into his gun and took aim./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Scharf could be seen above, having his sniper ready. "I'll take the one on /span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"your /span/em/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"left." He informed Imbir. "I'll take the one on /span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"your /span/em/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"right!"/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir nodded once more, before he fired a piercing bullet, going right through it's big /br /The Frost Giant held it's leg, seeing a big hole in it's knee. It then felt it's other leg get shot as well, leaving it down on it's bleeding /br /Bereit ran right for the giant's head, going for the killing blow. But the Frost Giant swung it's arm at him, Bereit jumping over it with ease. But it followed up with an open palm push, knocking Bereit back./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"While Bereit had to get back into the fight, Tier stepped in and summoned a pack of wolves. She sent them it's way, as they all latched onto it's arms and tore into it. It swung it's arms wildly, trying to get them /br /"Now's your chance, Bereit!" Tier told /br /"Yeah!" Bereit knew, as he rushed right for the monster, jumping up and ramming his blade into it's skull. The roars came to a stop, as it went limp./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit swung his blade, getting all the blade off of it. He then sheathed it, turning to Imbir. "It's good to see you're doing alright… but where is everyone else?" He asked him./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'll explain everything… but we need warmth. And given we're sheltered…" Imbir implied they were safe in here. And he sure wasn't wrong./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Save your game up to this point?/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"No/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"With the party being separated, four to five, things were gonna get rough for both sides. While Bereit was more than happy to be with less, knowing he could protect them, he was worried of what lengths the others would have to go to catch up. He prayed they would make it. He'd never forgive himself. Nor would Tier, knowing she could have left her sister to her cold and slow death./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"But for now, the separated party focused on their own survival./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Select a path to follow first:/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit, Tier, Scharf and Zelkova -/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen, Imbir, Strake, Kurve, Vanessa/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (General, Party 1)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party of four continued their trek up the brutal cold mountain. Occasionally, they slipped from the frozen ground, trying their hardest to maintain a good grip, only to fail continuously./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Of all the damn things it could track us by, it's fire. The one thing that keeps us warm." Tier groaned, rubbing her shoulders rapidly, trying to warm herself./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"It would make sense to have it as such." Zelkova remarked, even if he shouldn't have. "Perhaps what we're facing is far more intelligent than we imagined."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit huffed quietly. "Great. Clever and powerful. The best combination to have for your enemy…" Bereit commented sarcastically, rubbing his hands together. "I hope the others got the memo that using fire means you're getting targeted."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I think the example Ifrit became was more than enough for them to realize we're being watched." Tier remarked, looking where the last few spears came from./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party continued on their trek. But it sure felt like there was no progress being made whatsoever. Just constant higher and higher climbs with constant slipping and falling. It almost left the party of four in a state of hopelessness. Like there was a chance they weren't gonna make it out of here alive./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Zelkova slowly fell down on the snow, everyone turning to the sound of him falling. Bereit walked to his side as quick as possible, his entire body shivering. He reached down and picked him right up. "Come on, Zelkova, I got'cha." He told him. Even in his state, he was gonna carry him. Even if it would tire him out even more./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"He placed Zelkova on his back, holding him up by his legs./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Hey! Look over there!" Scharf spoke up, pointing ahead of them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"br /Bereit and Tier looked ahead, seeing there was some kind of entrance. And two giant pillars that were decorated with cloth furiously flapping from the strong winds./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party of four walked ahead to get a better view, to find out they were approaching some ruins. Or perhaps, a still standing temple. Possible shelter too./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"We can probably go inside there and rest." Scharf suggested to Bereit and Tier./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Tier nodded. "Yeah. Let's take a look."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party soon walked right into the temple that stood in front of them. The first thing they were met with other than the winds hitting their backs like never before was a dark interior coated with ice all over the place. Along with eerie rumbles coming from below./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"They looked around the place, finding something rather interesting. "Wow, look at this." Tier said, as she pointed to the walls. Bereit and Scharf both looked where she pointed to see what she was looking at. And what they saw was incredible. Carvings depicting some kind of story. A tall, long haired woman looking upon a dragon. The expression carved on her face looked like a serious one. Though it was hard to tell./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Wow." Bereit commented, looking at it all. "What is this?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Looks like some kinda prophecy. Or at least it looks like one. Like the carvings you see in pyramids and what not." Scharf commented, looking at it all up close. "Think it means something?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Well…" Tier walked up to it and pointed to the woman with long hair, along with the dragon. "Kinda reminds me of Shiva." She then brought her index finger to the long hair. "The long hair, and she looks pretty tall… hold on." She banged her fist on the snow covered ice that was next to the tall woman. And what was revealed was a woman carrying a staff, raising it high up./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"What the hell?" Tier whispered. "Is that… no that can't be."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen?" Bereit spoke up, the two thinking the same thing. "It's kind of a stretch but-"br /br /"Guys, you might wanna look at this." Scharf spoke up. Both Tier and Bereit turned around to look where Scharf was, to see even more of those carvings. And they looked identical to what they were looking at, but with different dragons. One with fire around it, and tall buildings are the smaller woman. And another, with a dragon with spikes about it's back. "Remember when I said it looks like some kind of prophecy?" Scharf reminded them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I don't wanna believe it… but…" Bereit stated, examining what they were looking at. "Something tells me we're apart of some twisted fate." He continued to look around the place, finding one of the same woman, theoretically being Fallen. But she was holding a person in her arms, the person leaning back with their eyes closed. This left Bereit with a sinking feeling in his heart. He could only imagine who'd that be. No… he'd rather not imagine it. He shook his head and gently set Zelkova down. "You guys think we're safe in here from the spears?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The two he asked were silent, looking by the entrance. "Well… I don't see it sending them to us like this. Plus…" Tier looked above herself, seeing the ceiling. "We're completely covered. So we should be safe."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Let's just hope spears is all it'll bring of us." Bereit sat on the cold floor and crossed his legs, putting his hands forward. A fireball began to form, and slowly approached Zelkova. There was the eerie silence that filled the temple they were sitting inside, until they heard the muffled sounds of spears coming down above them. They all looked up as they heard it, Tier chuckling. "Guess we're safe after all." Tier then looked at Bereit. "Think you can make that fire bigger? Let's warm up for now."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit nodded. "Coming right up." He soon made another fireball to float in front of the three for themselves, while Zelkova got his own flame. Bereit quickly looked towards Zelkova, seeing he was still breathing. His hot turned cold breath was visible with the heat in front of him. At least it helped Bereit know he was still alive and well… hopefully./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party stayed in there for a while, their body temperatures reaching more desirable levels./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Tier sighed quietly, gently rubbing her hands together. "You guys think the others are doing okay?" She asked them, turning to Bereit and Scharf./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I'm sure they're doing alright. With Strake escorting them, I wouldn't worry all that much." Bereit answered calmly. "I know it sounds ignorant to say, but I have faith in them. We made it this far."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Tier's eyes went back to the fire, slowly nodding. "Yeah… you're right. Though… I hope they find us."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit looked up at the ceiling, still hearing the constant spears coming down. "We might have some sign for them… if they get close enough." He pointed to the ceiling, wordlessly clarifying their 'sign.'/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (General, party 2)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The second party of five would slowly make their way through the storm. Fallen had summoned Shiva to help with the cold. She was taking most of the cold for everybody, her skin noticeably changing colour. Closer to purple. Even Shiva barely withstood this level of cold./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir was carrying Kurve on his back, him having passed out of the cold being too much./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Strake and Vanessa stood close to each other, as did everyone else. But Strake took point to escort every as planned./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"How much closer until we reach that place you were talking about?" Vanessa asked Strake./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"We're almost there. I'm sure of it." Strake assured the party. "We just need to keep going."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The entire party kept going forward. With each step, it became harder and harder for them to take another. Nothing but white snow and storm filled their sights. And no fire to keep them warm only added salt to the wound. It all seemed pretty hopeless./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"They continued forward, Strake being their path to follow throughout. She was standing tall to remain visible to everyone, until she suddenly tripped and hit the ground, cursing under her breath./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen walked to her and knelt down, going to help her up. "You okay?" Fallen asked./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Yeah, I-" Strake's lion-like face turned to look where she tripped, seeing some piece of metallic debris. There was a hope filled expression. "We're here." She stated, getting up immediately./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen was taken aback slightly from the change in mood Strake suddenly had. But it was with good reason, so she didn't think anything of it./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Thanks to Shiva absorbing in most of the wind that blocked their line of sight, they could see more as they approached what was ahead of them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"And what the party would see is some kind of lift/minecart system. All sorts of wood and metal covered in deep blue ice. Coal and other kinds of metals were filled in the carts, along with the lifts having some tools in them. There was a set of paths that were made of wood with metal nailed into the corners of each square./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Wow." Fallen said in awe./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Indeed." Strake spoke up. Looking upon it all, it gave her a nostalgic feeling… but the ice made her sad about it too. "Come on. This will lead us closer to the top. But there might be some climbing gear around here. Chances are it's scattered about." Strake turned to look at everyone. "Let's split up and look around."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Everyone, in their shivering and cold state, began to scatter and searched for any climbing gear that Strake spoke of./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Vanessa simply looked up the lifts, being rather intrigued by it all. She wonder why Holhen didn't have any of these. If they had them back then when they stilled mined that place to hell, it would have been a lot easier for them. And maybe not so many lives would have been lost./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The others kept at it with their search for the climbing equipment they seek. But so far, there were no results. Only finding ice, ice and more ice./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"As for Imbir, he found a building completely covered in ice. It looked like some kind of shack. He raised an eyebrow, thinking they might be in there. Or it would just be wise to check. He gently set Kurve down on a wall, facing him away from the cold wind. He quickly adjusted his hat so it wouldn't fly away./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"After that, he stood right up and faced the building. He looked at his gun, seeing the metal was beginning to have frost coat his gun. He then looked back at the building, thinking he was gonna have to bust it open. He just hoped that this wouldn't cause it all to collapse. He reached into his bag and loaded a bullet that was made to pierce armour or anything thick. He aimed and shot right towards the door, leaving a deep hole, where the hole and bullet could be easily seen./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Alright…" Imbir said, as he then took a fire bullet. He walked up to it and then twisted it. He slid the bullet-now-grenade in it, running back to get some distance./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The grenade exploded in a fiery blaze, slowly melting the ice on the door, and around the shack. He sat down and waited for it all to go away, sitting by Kurve's side. But the moment he sat down, he realized he shouldn't be using fire. It would call down the spears of Shiva./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"As he realized it, spears came right down. He was worried it would break through the building and break the equipment they needed./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The spears kept attacking right where the fire was that melted the ice. But… ironically enough, the spear would actually break through the thick ice, leaving the door ice free, except for the little shards of ice./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir raised an eyebrow, as he eyed the ice-free door. "Oh…" He said in a dumbfounded surprise. He then shrugged. "Well, looks like my luck's beginning to turn." He commented, as he then walked right inside the shack, taking a good look at what residing inside./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir would find all kinds of tools and equipment inside the shack. Pickaxes, snowshoes and helmets. And then among the those tools, they found what they were looking for. The climbing equipment. Spikes shoes, ice picks, along with rope and a hook. He frowned, seeing there was only enough for one./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Hey!" Strake spoke up, appearing by the door, with everyone else behind her. "You okay? We saw the spears come down."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I'm fine." Imbir answered. "I used a fire grenade, but I remembered the spears were gonna come down on us. But…" Imbir scratched his ginger hair. "Ironically enough, it helped us in the end." He explained to them./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Oh." Strake said, sounding surprised. "And the climbing equipment?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Imbir looked behind himself, as he then got out of the way. "It seems we only have one left. So… we're gonna have to figure out a way to send it back and forth without losing them." Imbir explained to the /br /"Crap." Strake commented, gently running her claw-like hand on her chin. "Then getting to the top is a problem too…" She sighed, before she turned to everyone behind her. "Any ideas, anyone?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen raised her hand, being a bit strange since she could just speak up. "Maybe one of my summons could do the trick."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Which one?" Imbir asked./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen scratched her head, trying to think which one would be a good idea. She was silent for a few seconds, seeing Imbir walk past her, going to get Kurve from where he was sitting. "Slyph could probably conjure something that can place it up there."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Like what?" Vanessa asked. "A clawed Gorilla?" She asked sarcastically./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen was about to object for a second, before she brought her staff to the ground and summoned the small Slyph. "Well? Can you?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Sylph in her familiar green form shivered as she was summoned to their side. "Y-y-yeah. Leave it to m-m-me."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Oh!" Vanessa said in surprise. She didn't think she could, given there's no such thing as a clawed Gorilla. At least, as far as she knew. "Though, if that's the case, why don't we summon something big and have it climb us to the top?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"It might be able to sense high levels of magic too. I think we shouldn't risk it." Fallen explained to Vanessa. "We should play it safe."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Sylph soon summoned the said beast they wanted. First a big puddle of darkness, now formed up into a big, muscular gorilla with long claws./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Vanessa raised an eyebrow from the muscle definition from the beast. Her head slowly turned to Sylph, as did Strake and Fallen's head. "What's with the muscle?" Vanessa asked awkwardly./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"He's gonna need it." Sylph simply answered./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen sighed quietly. "Whatever helps us make it to the top. "Thank you, Sylph." She then gently patted the inside of her fur coat. "Get in. It'll keep you warm." And Slyph went in her coat, covering herself in the fluffy fur. She had a happy and relieved look on her face./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party would soon bare witness to the Gorilla's strength. Once they handed the hook and rope to the big shadowy beast, it began to run up the icy slippery path they needed to get to. It's claws on it's hands and feet would cling onto ice like a tick on a monkey. It cleared the path up like it was nothing. It placed the hook right against the ground, digging it deep and tugged on it to test it's strength./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"It's all done!" Sylph called out from Fallen's coat, with a tiny thumb up./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Hearing that, Fallen looked up the tall icy path they needed to take, only realizing now how far this went. She was glad the rope was able to reach this far. She gulped nervously, before she looked back at everyone. "Well… who wants to go first?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I will." Imbir spoke up, with Kurve on his back. "I'll try my best to get to the top. And when I do, I'll scout ahead for any kind of shelter."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Strake eyed Kurve, seeing he was getting pretty cold, with ice beginning to form on his body. "We need to hurry. He doesn't look so good."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen noticed it at that moment as well. She looked down at her fur coat, thinking there was a choice to be made here. She took a deep breath, and took it right off. She approached Kurve and gently wrapped it around his head, removing his big hat./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"There. He needs it more than I do." Fallen stated boldly./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"You sure, Fallen? That's a little much, don't you think?" Vanessa asked Fallen, wanting to make sure she realized what she was doing./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Fallen pointed to her cloak, the one she got from Shiva. "This is more than enough for me. I'll be okay."/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The party looked among each other, unsure if she was being truthful. But then again, that was Shiva's gift. It was made to resist the cold. But this was beyond what it could handle. But it provided protection at the very least./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"3/span/spansupspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"rd/span/span/supspan style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;" person (Imbir)/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"I believe you." Imbir stated, before he put the ice-shoes on and attached it to his boots. On top of that, he made sure Kurve was secured tightly on his back. He then looked at everyone, waving his hand. "Wish me luck. I'll toss the shoes down when I can." He told them, slowly starting his ascension./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"He looked back at Kurve, seeing he was really starting to look bad. It was getting really concerning. "I need to find shelter… fast…" He whispered to himself. While he made his way up, he made a discovery that some animals were frozen underneath the ice. It was shocking to see that. "So this isn't even near the ground…" He whispered./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"After a while of climbing up that steep path of ice that was the lifts, he made it to solid and flat ground, testing the ground to make sure it wasn't ice. "Alright… good." He said to himself, before he flipped the shoes upside down and sent them down the icy path, along with the ice picks. With that, he turned around and made his way to whatever was ahead./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"And what he saw left him awestruck. What seemed to be ruins of a temple. And oddly, continuous spears coming down to the other side of it. Although there was faint noises of what it seemed to be. "Shelter… but maybe they're here…" Imbir thought to himself. Holding onto the sliver of hope that he could reunite with the others, he slowly walked forward, entering the opened entrance to it./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"But, he was immediately met with the sound of a roar, and loud stomping. A tall, gigantic monster appeared with a huge, snow covered beard. It seemed to be a frost giant./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"You've got to be kidding me." Imbir said. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking he could buy himself some time. He put Kurve down on the ground, trying his hardest to quickly load an explosive bullet in his gun./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"The frost giant ran at Imbir, before he watched Imbir fire a shot at the ceiling, causing many bricks to fall on top of it, the dust and snow getting in it's eyes./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"There. Now to get the hell out of here." Imbir said, as he picked Kurve /br /"Yo! Imbir!" A voice called out from the top. Imbir looked up, to find Bereit and the others, an expression of relief appearing on his face. "Oh thank god!" He shouted in happiness. "Mind giving me a hand with this thing!?"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit nodded, as he drew his sword. "One Frost Giant kill coming right up!" Bereit called out, as he then jumped down and sunk his sword deep into the beast's hand that guarded his eyes. He soon cut the palm wide open, jumping away from the attempt to hit him./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"All the others jumped down as well, Zelkova being left there with his own flame to warm himself up./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Bereit shot bolts of lightning at the giant, catching it's attention immediately. "Imbir, I'll keep it's attention! Cripple the legs so I can go for the kill!"/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Got it!" Imbir said, as he then placed Kurve at the corner of the room, so she was out of danger. He loaded a piercing bullet into his gun and took aim./span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"Scharf could be seen above, having his sniper ready. "I'll take the one on /span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"your /span/em/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"left." He informed Imbir. "I'll take the one on /span/span/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"emspan style="font-weight: normal;"your /span/em/span/span/span/spanspan style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"right!"/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Imbir nodded once more, before he fired a piercing bullet, going right through it's big /br /The Frost Giant held it's leg, seeing a big hole in it's knee. It then felt it's other leg get shot as well, leaving it down on it's bleeding /br /Bereit ran right for the giant's head, going for the killing blow. But the Frost Giant swung it's arm at him, Bereit jumping over it with ease. But it followed up with an open palm push, knocking Bereit back./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"While Bereit had to get back into the fight, Tier stepped in and summoned a pack of wolves. She sent them it's way, as they all latched onto it's arms and tore into it. It swung it's arms wildly, trying to get them /br /"Now's your chance, Bereit!" Tier told /br /"Yeah!" Bereit knew, as he rushed right for the monster, jumping up and ramming his blade into it's skull. The roars came to a stop, as it went limp./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Bereit swung his blade, getting all the blade off of it. He then sheathed it, turning to Imbir. "It's good to see you're doing alright… but where is everyone else?" He asked him./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;""span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"I'll explain everything… but we need warmth. And given we're sheltered…" Imbir implied they were safe in here. And he sure wasn't wrong./span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Save your game up to this point?/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left" /p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"Yes/span/span/span/span/span/span/p
p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;" align="left"span style="color: #000000;"span style="font-family: Constantia, serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"span lang="en-US"span style="font-style: normal;"span style="font-weight: normal;"No/span/span/span/span/span/span/p