Chapter -127: Cold Reception
It was a short walk out of the village to the Wilds, all things considered. And the change in mood was seen through the shifting of lighting in the air.
Instead of fog there were these light, fluffy flakes of cold water falling out of the sky, making everything look bright white, even on the tree branches.
The sky was a muted gray with the sun just barely poking through. It was a little surreal to wander through here, with the winds that once felt comforting now coming across as eerie.
The snow was getting deeper too, covering the three's ankles and slowing their pace.
They may have covered their bodies but that didn't help Sarajin's feet. Justek had his shoes and Temporis made her own out of aura, but he was bare-footed and it sent a terrible shiver up his body.
"H-Hold on a second...!" He stopped in place with the other two ahead of him. He sat down in the snow and raised his feet up. They were looking very pale and warrant some immediate warmth lest they turn purple.
With his breaths foggy and shaky he struggled to concentrate on going into his Nature Conduit Form. Once he did he thought of making a few bare vines to wrap around his feet. It was weird but it worked well enough to keep the snow off.
He then hopped back onto his feet and after pacing around a bit to test it he wandered up to his friends and said, "Ok, I'm good!"
"I can hardly see anything," Justek commented, squinting as best he could, "How will we know when we'll have found a creature?"
Temporis closed her eyes and said, "Yeah the snow's so thick it's even throwing my aura senses off."
She then nonchalantly mentioned, "A bear could suddenly lunge out at us and tear us to shreds. So Sarajin, you'll be ready to stab it in the throat if that happens, right?"
When she looked beside her shoulder at him she was met with an empty pair of eyes and a lack of movement. His mouth opened but not a word to speak of came out.
Justek proceeded to brush the back of his hand against her face and mutter, "Read the mood for once, pixie. Can't you tell this is tough on him?"
Temporis raised a brow and muttered, "What's the big deal? He's just got to use a knife and-"
Justek glared at her then nudged his eyes at Sarajin, who was having a rough time just holding onto the knife in its sheath without shaking.
"...Oh," Temporis dropped her arms and gestured her hand out at Sarajin, "Right, sometimes I forget your people had the least involvement in the war. This is your first time wielding any sort of weapon?"
Sarajin diverted his attention from the knife and nodded.
She then crossed her arms and blurted out, "Well CRAP..."
"Do you know how to use a weapon?" Sarajin wondered.
"I do, but not a knife!" Temporis spread her arms down by her hips and remarked, "Here, lemme show ya what I got."
With a light twist of the wrists a glint of light summoned forth a small metallic bow atop each wrist, each one held in place by a brace.
Justek's eyes widened and Sarajin recoiled in surprise.
Temporis then laid a hand on her hips and swerved around, showing off her weapon at all possible angles, "I made myself a pair of crossbows gauntlets! Pretty neat huh?!"
She then laid her eyes on both of them and tilted her head going "Eh?" before steadying herself and declaring, "Oh. I get it."
She then raised her arms and both dispelled and resummoned her gauntlets in quick succession with a squeeze of her fist, "All Aurians can summon a weapon on command."
"Wow...!" Sarajin was agape with awe, "W-What can yours do?!"
"Hmm?" Temporis' eyes briefly widened as she adopted a smile and told him, "Heh heh! Watch THIS!"
She turned around on the spot with her arm stretched out in front of her face and her eyes level with the bow. She held herself down and particles of aura began to combine into an arrow within the bow, it's length stretching to pull the string back.
She aimed at the nearby tree and fired, her arm flying up in recoil as the arrow pierced a spiral tunnel through the snowy veil and sliced the top of the tree right off.
"Heh heh!" She laughed confidently.
Sarajin started clapping and giggling happily while Justek clapped at a slower pace, muttering under his breath, "Fine, I'm slightly impressed..."
Some of the icicles attached to the lower branches fell off and spread apart as a pair of wings. Bat wings, to be precise, each attached to a snowy white body with frosty fur and cold blue pupil-less eyes.
"Uh oh." Temporis chuckled.
Then the whole flock of them angrily shrieked into their ears as they dove at them. The three ducked into the ground so they would harmlessly pass them by.
Once the sounds of their bitterness were a distant memory the three stood up with Sarajin's heart racing.
"I-I couldn't even tell they were there." He said, a little fright in his voice.
"We'll have to be careful going forward." Justek remarked.
Meanwhile though Temporis was off in her own little world, a proud smile on her blushing face as she boasted about her weapons, "Not only can they fire off large arrows but smaller ones too. They're fast and good at close and long-range, though I'd really like to add some claws, oooh, maybe make them into gauntlets so-"
"Ok enough," Justek put his foot down...About as much as you could do that in the snow anyways, and she was silent on the spot, "It's a neat trick but I fail to see the relevance to Sarajin's current dilemma."
Temporis immediately threw her hands up by her face and groaned, "Well duh, of course not, but I sure as heck don't know the first thing about using knives!"
Justek waved his hand out and asked, "Does anybody else in Sancturia use them?"
"Off the top of my head, one of dad's colleagues does."
"Gabriel?" Sarajin remarked.
"Ehhh? Gabriel wields a sword, doofus." Temporis said, holding nothing back, but punctuating it with an endearing chuckle.
Sarajin nervously rubbed the back of his head and murmured, "I-I just assumed all sharp weapons were the same."
"Nah there's a lot of differences between a sword and knife," She waved her hand in the air dismissively, "Something about different weights and the feel of it in your grasp or some baloney."
"Does it really make that big a difference?" Sarajin wondered.
"Of course! If you're going to fight you should be using something you're comfortable with. I use crossbows because they're light and easy to use while on the move!"
"True, you never stop moving." Said Justek with a chuckle. She stuck the tip of her tongue out at him.
Sarajin then asked, "What about Gabriel and Auris?"
Temporis closed her eyes and rolled her wrist around, "Gabriel likes his katana because it's swift and his precision lets him get the most out of it."
She then put both her hands behind her head and lean back, "Big sis though, she uses a sword AND a shield-"
"T-Two weapons?!" Sarajin blurted out excitedly.
Temporis dully raised her brows, "It's not impressive."
She leaned her head back with her eyes closed and chuckled, "She only chose the shield because of vanity anyways. It's kind of cute how hard she tries to keep her looks up."
Sarajin looked back down at the knife sheathed in his hands and pulled it out halfway. The closest feeling he could draw on in relation to this weapon was when Gabriel had pointed his sword at him.
Even without making contact Sarajin could feel how sharp it was. The knives that he used to eat meat back home couldn't compare, and it felt sharp enough to cut the very air in half.
Temporis walked on up and pulled the knife the rest of the way out of the sheath and then forced it into his grip gently.
She then looked him in the eyes and said, "Just hold it tight like you do your fishing rod and then when a beast comes...THRUST IT."
She backed away and shrugged, "That's about the best I can offer you."
Sarajin squeezed his hand around the knife's handle until his bones cracked, a visceral sound that was unpleasant to his ears.
Nevertheless, he stared straight ahead and thrust the knife out with all his might. It felt as light as a feather and he had ample time to pull back and thrust it again before he blinked once.
He left his arm outstretched and caught his breath. There was this exhilaration in just taking a weapon to the air without fear of hurting someone.
But this wasn't what this was about. He would have to plunge this blade into a creature's body soon enough.
A big creature, a small creature, it didn't matter the size, age or strength. He would have to end their life and deliver their body to Colrez to show that he wasn't the kid he perceived him as.
What does it FEEL like to take a life though...He's seen fish gasp their last breaths on the docks, but he didn't snuff that breath out. He's seen cows and chickens be put down for meat, but he's not their butcher.
With this knife he'll finally learn this feeling, the thought of which made his heart pound heavily against his chest.
He saw Justek looking out at him from the corner of his eye and his expression was that of concern. He leaned in closer and whispered, "Are you sure you can go through with this?"
Sarajin squeezed his eyes shut and slid the knife back into his sheath, forcing himself to say, "I have to do this, Justek."
He then walked past him with Temporis to go deeper into the Wilds, with Justek lingering back, whispering to himself, "'Have to', he says..."
Rubbing the side of his head in irritation, he let out a growl and then caught up with them.
The snow only got deeper as they kept going, but their trip to the Atelier proved beneficial in the long-term in keeping them protected from the cold.
They couldn't shake off the snow gently falling onto their clothes though, but the miniscule touch of every flake made Sarajin happy to be here at that moment.
It was like bits of cold cotton were falling out of the sky, and then melting on his skin.
He looked around and saw Temporis leaning her head back with her mouth open, letting the snowflakes fall onto her tongue.
She looked at him and then swallowed the melting snowflakes with a smile, encouraging him with a cheer, "Try it out! It's delicious!"
Sarajin smiled and mimicked her actions, enjoying the surprising delight of cold snow for the first time. It was just water in the end but it was the sensation of it melting that made it special.
He then passed on this feeling of enthusiasm over to his best friend, telling him, "Come on Justek, you too!"
Justek brushed a hand up beside his chest and dismissed the enthusiasm with a soft remark of, "I'm fine, thank you."
Sarajin frowned a little then resumed catching snow on his tongue. When Justek was assured he wasn't looking though, he stuck the tiniest bit of his tongue out to catch a snowflake, then withdrew his tongue with a smile and warm color in his cheeks.
But this wasn't a playground. This was the "Wilds" for a reason, and the sounds of nature began to stir to remind them of what they were up against.
Sarajin and Temporis were startled out of their fun times by the sound of hooves galloping through the icy snow.
In the distance they could faintly make out a four-legged creature that reminded them of Ividae, only made of wintery mint skin and a fluffy coat around it's neck that went down to the front of it's chest. It had antlers that stretched behind its head in an arch, with crooked protrusions coming out each side in an alternating pattern.
Behind it were two smaller ones lacking antlers. The big one thrust it's head up in their direction and went motionless, letting their eyes meet for a long, tense period before it shot off under the veil of snow with its babies in tow.
Sarajin rested his hands down by his sides and his cheerful expression began to fade. He took a deep swallow and ventured out ahead of his friends.
There was more wildlife lurking in the shadows of this white veil, a lot of them looking imposing and gargantuan even if a lot of them were just nibbling through the snow for food.
The roar of a mighty bear echoed out from a distance, forcing some of those ice bats to scurry off the trees and swarm the skies in a panic.
Sarajin froze in place and shook, his heart racing and then quieting over the span of seconds.
Temporis waltzed up next to him and looked out in the distance, "Maaaaybe we should try to avoid the bears."
She then casually patted him on the back to push him forward with a pretty bad attempt at encouragement, "Well, good luck!"
In his hesitation to really venture out there and hunt, Sarajin didn't really pay attention to anything but what was ahead of him.
He was shocked into recoil by his foot sliding off the ground, only managing to jump back at the last moment. He looked down and saw that the ground was breaking off around here, with platforms of snow-topped ice blocks scattered over a cold, watery expanse.
And it was very big too. Not sea size, but something more akin to Pulsa Minoria or Sancturia's level, as far as he could imagine.
The ice blocks were being bobbed by the subtle ripples the sea life were causing underwater.
"Fish live out here too?" Sarajin wondered. He was curious to find out what they looked like but the water was so cold it made it hard to see them.
All he could make out were these grotesque silhouettes of somethings that vaguely resemble fish in shape...Maybe it was best if some questions remained unanswered.
Temporis caught up to him and closed her eyes, reopening them right away and saying, "Yeeeah I wouldn't try to cross this unless you're confident in your reflexes. There's some ugly bastards down there waiting to drag you underwater."
She then licked her lips and grinned, "Bet they taste good though!"
Justek winced and uttered, "That's disgusting."
Temporis glanced aside her shoulder and said, "Et tu, raw meat eater?"
So with their path to the other side of the icy sea cut off by it's ugly denizens, they were forced to keep crawling through the snow to find some creatures.
But it felt like whenever they were getting within sight of a creature's shadow they ran away from them.
They were constantly on the move but were careful not to wander too far away from the mountainside. It was their only guide back to the village right now.
They encountered more patches of broken ground full of icy water along the way, a couple of their own making.
Occasionally Sarajin would pull out the sheathed knife and stare at it without a word.
Far to the left of the mountain was a forest of trees deprived of leaves. Instead a bunch of see-through dangling icicles with a light, lilac hue hung from them, giving the forest warm and relaxing vibes.
But they didn't want to head that way. Lurking near the forest were a few bears just like the ones Colrez and his men rode into battle. Even the smallest ones would be able to bite Sarajin's neck off.
Divorced from the carnage of war though they didn't even seem that scary. They were just another creature, minding their own business, with cubs they cared for and needs that needed to be met.
If there was any creature Sarajin would've felt the least guilty about killing it might've been them but now, seeing them in their natural habitat? How could he?
"Animals haven't done anything wrong..." He whispered under his breath, "So...is it even right to hunt them?"
Justek glanced at him from behind and narrowed his eyes, letting out a slight groan of discomfort when he saw Sarajin pull the knife out halfway.
Suddenly Temporis waved her hand out in front of Sarajin and let out a whisper, "Shhh, look!"
...Well, a whisper by her standards.
Not very far ahead of them, as visible as could be, was one of those four-legged horned beasts they had found earlier. It was by itself, neck bent down and nibbling on what little grass was poking out of the snow.
It chewed and chewed and didn't care about its surroundings.
"Now's your chance," Temporis said to Sarajin, "Remember, just hold the knife in one hand, and THRUST."
She gave him a couple pats on the back and Sarajin, shaking from head-to-toe, cautiously advanced towards the beast.
He pulled the knife from the sheath and held it in his shaking hands, gripping it as hard as he could.
The beast stayed still, and he tried not to spook it.
His heart was pounding, "All I have to do...is thrust it in."
It would be quick and done in a moment. That's all he had to keep telling himself.
But nature abhorred hesitation, and was ready to punish it.
The beast suddenly thrust it's head up and looked behind itself. Before the sound of it's charge could be registered, a large bear leaped out from the snowy veil and dropped its weight on top of the beast, biting down hard on it's nape.
The beast screamed and cried in agony one last time before the bear plunged it's claws into it's stomach and then ripped out it's neck.
The beast's body squirmed a couple more times but then fell limp into the snow, which turned red from it's blood.
Sarajin gasped and then pulled away slowly, his heart beat hitting his chest harder, harder, harder.
The bear raised its head with the beast's intestines dangling off it's jaw. It's bloodshot pupils shrank and with a deep growl it pulled itself off it's meal and advanced towards Sarajin.
It saw its territory being threatened and acted accordingly, sharpening its claws and raising it's icy fur to try and ward the intruder off.
But Sarajin responded by drawing the knife in both hands before his chest and gritting his teeth, his smile doing nothing to inspire confidence or dissuade the feral lord of winter.
The bear lurched down and tore through the snow like an avalanche, leaping high into the air and drowning Sarajin's whole body in shadow.
Sarajin froze and kept repeating Temporis' simple instructions, but to no avail. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a panicked groan, as the bear let out it's last roar...
Suddenly a quick breeze shot past Sarajin and the bear's roar weakened into a pained groan, as a deep, squishy sound filled his ears.
He opened his eyes to find Justek standing sideways in front of him, his right arm turned fully draconic and plunged so deep into the bear's body it pierced the other side.
Justek's expression was bitter and detached, as he forced his eyes shut and then silently tore his arm from the beast's flesh, leaving it to collapse atop it's spilled guts.
Justek then slashed the blood off his arm and returned it to normal, holding his hand up and grabbing hold of his wrist to stop it from shaking.
Sarajin was panting heavily as Justek turned around and looked at him with eyes flared. He then grabbed hold of the blade and threw it far up the mountainside with an angered grunt.
Sarajin's heart continued to race until Justek put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with his lower lip puckered.
Then, following a huge sigh, Justek glared over him at Temporis, whose hand had been hovering over her bracelet for a while now.
She smiled and said, "Wow, I didn't think you had it in you four-ey-"
"Of all the stupid ideas you've had...!" He growled at her.
Temporis dropped her hands and arched her brows, "Hey, I was just trying to help him get in good graces with the leader!"
"By making him take a life?!"
"Well duh! If he's going to get through to people like Colrez he's going to need to learn to fight for his life first!"
"There's a far divide between learning to fight and taking a life," Justek narrowed his eyes and murmured in a deep, biting tone, "Have YOU ever taken a life, Temporis Aurora?"
"..." Temporis' eyes stayed affixed in a blank stare and she bit her lower lip, spitting out in disgust before throwing her hands forward and shouting, "Well what else is he supposed to do then?!"
"We'll figure something out," Justek took his hand off Sarajin and muttered, "Something that doesn't involve putting a weapon in his hands."
"I-I'm sorry..." Sarajin said, cuddling his arms against his body.
"Forget about it, Sarajin. Let's just worry about getting back to the village for now." Justek replied.
As they were about to move they heard movement through the snow coming towards them. But it was no threat to them, just Cecilia Frost, looking as stoic as ever.
She paused and looked at them all momentarily and remarked, "You're still alive? Color me surprised."
She went only a few steps further before noticing the bear lying on the ground. She then looked around, eventually focusing her eyes onto Justek with a tiny smirk that unsettled him.
She then walked on up to the bear and reached for her back, pulling out a small, slightly curved sword attached to her back by ice.
It was then the three noticed that the bear was still twitching, gently clawing at the snow with a pitiful whimper coming from it's a face.
But Cecilia quickly and decisively stabbed her sword into the bear's skull, making the three of them wince. As the bear's eyes rolled into its head, it let out one last gasp before Cecilia twisted the sword to silence it for good.
She then ripped it right only in one clean stroke, with the viscera freezing onto her sword right in time for her to stick it onto her back.
She then glanced aside at them, her eyes looking more or less the same despite the merciless way she dispatched the beast.
"In a fight for your life, you can't hesitate until your enemy dies," She then focused her eyes onto Sarajin and told him, "Father can easily tell the difference between a warrior and a coward and you...Are a coward."
Sarajin bit his lower lip and Justek put himself between him and Cecilia, looking her square in the eyes as he said, "Just because it's easy for you to take a life doesn't mean you get to judge others for hesitating!"
"Yes, I can," Cecilia retorted without breaking her calm, "Because hesitation is the difference between taking a life and losing yours."
"..." Justek went silent, letting her continue.
"This world is a battleground. Someday, I'll take part in it alongside the men of Cryofloe and when I do, I can already tell you three will stand in my way," Cecilia then skated along the snow in a single, graceful motion, forming a blade of ice in her hand that grazed the skin of Justek's neck. Then, with cold and concise words, she told him, "But I won't hesitate. I plan to make my mark in the history books, just like my father, and your blood shall be the ink that mark my name down forever."
Justek didn't flinch and had his hand raised beside her head, the crackle of flames coming from his palm.
She looked at it briefly and then withdrew with a smile, gesturing her sword away, "Feel free to keep wasting your time attempting to convince my father though. I'm sure it'll work out someday."
She then turned around and grabbed the bear by the claw, hoisting it over her shoulder and using it to drag the creature through the snow.
Temporis crossed her arms and while tapping her foot commented bluntly, "And that's the leader's daughter?"
She turned to Sarajin and told him, "I'm sorry Sarajin, but I don't see how you're ever going to get through that thick wall of ice. I doubt even the Titans would be able to do it."
Sarajin suddenly sprung up from his sour mood and shouted, "T-Temporis, that's it!"
She flinched and said "W-What is?" before Sarajin clenched his fists into determination and declared, "Maybe I can't get through to Colrez, but the Titans could!"
"Ahem," Justek coughed, "I know you're desperate for a solution but have you forgotten already that both the Titans of Cryofloe and Canofloe were fighting each other?"
"It doesn't sound like they'd be willing to broker peace talks."
Sarajin hung his head in thought over those words until Temporis added her own view to things, "Hang on, the Titans are fighting each other? That doesn't sound right."
Sarajin looked at her and she continued with a perceptive if not blunt comment of, "I thought they had some big important balance to maintain or whatever."
"There's a few strange things about these two Tribes," Justek said, nudging his glasses up, "Like how they're allowed to still fight despite that monsters' edict to the world, or how, as you say, the Titans are fighting each other."
Sarajin waved his hand out and remarked, "So it sounds like we'd get our answers if I went and talked to one of the Titans."
"Hmmm, possibly." Justek remarked.
"Yeah, good plan," Temporis put her hands behind her head and hastily pointed out with a murmur, "'Cept for the part where both are on top of two very inhospitable mountains...!"
Sarajin remarked, "Shouldn't our clothes protect us?"
"Magic doesn't solve everything," Temporis pointed out, "This protection has to have an upper limit."
"Hmmm...Maybe if we added more aquamarines to the cauldron it'd buff our clothes further?" Sarajin then looked at Temporis.
She raised her brows and wondered, "What?"
"It sounds like you knew a lot about alchemy. Would that work?"
She closed her eyes and groaned, "I only know the basics from when I snuck into my dad's workplace when I was younger..."
It seemed like a touchy subject for her and so she quickly shifted focus away to another point, "Even if it DID work, why would the Titans not just attack you the moment you reached the top?"
Justek commented, "Because he has parts of the Wellspring inside of him. If it's anything like Voltneir, they'll recognize the intent and realize Sarajin isn't a threat."
"Oh yeah, that would make sense," Temporis said with a nod, "But that means we won't be able to help him climb the mountain."
Justek crossed his arms and grumbled aloud, tapping his fingers atop his elbows.
Temporis put her hands behind her head and remarked, "You think you can handle that, Sarajin?"
Sarajin didn't take long to decide, "I should probably think it over first."
Justek gestured his hand up and sighed, "Honestly that's probably the best course of action for us all."
"Yeah you're right," Temporis agreed, "Let's get the heck out of here and go somewhere where you can clear your head."
Thus they began their arduous trek back out of the harsh Wilds, where Sarajin has learned yet another lesson about the struggle to survive.
Yet he continues on with determination, taking these lessons to heart so that someday, nobody else will have to struggle.
For he could not let his heart become as cold as the ice around them...
Next Time: The Peak of the World