Xenotober Day 6. Danger

Two young High Entia get lost on Valak Mountain, experience a blizzard, and get to see a most beautiful sight.

Related to a small chain of side quests in Alcamoth is the game.

Enjoy!

Day 6. Danger in the mountains

"Come on Vidian, hurry up," Lesunia tries to get her friend to hurry, as the younger High Entia keeps lagging behind, casting glances at the rest of the group, who are all blissfully unaware two of the students have left to explore on their own. "We got to go before they notice we're missing."

"I'm coming, Lesunia," Vidian says, jogging to catch up with her friend. "I just feel kind of bad just sneaking away..." Despite her words, she keeps following Lesunia, rather than turning back or telling the teacher about the sneaking away.

"Don't worry," Lesunia tells her, grabbing her hand to drag her along. "We'll be back before they even know we're gone." With that said, they set of toward a certain snowy peak and Befalgar Pedestal that sits there.

It had been surprisingly easy to break away from the group without being noticed. As the rest of the class were listening to the teacher prattle on about the difference between the climate, weather and wildlife in Valak Mountain and Eryth Sea, the two had carefully and quietly snuck away without anyone paying attention. And if anyone did notice them distancing from the group, they probably just though they found a pretty stone or something and would catch up soon enough. The advantage of being part if a fairly large class is that it's not immediately noticeable if one or two students are missing.

Lesunia isn't just wanting to run away from the group for the fun of it, though. She has heard of what's supposed to be one of the most beautiful materials in the world; Morning Dew Ice, which can only rarely be found at the Befalgar Pedestal on Valak Mountain. That is what she's hoping to get her hands on. Vidian, being her best friend, decided she wanted to come along, as she was worried something might happen to Lesunia if she went off by herself.

So here they are, sneaking away from their group to explore the mountains. Luckily, there aren't a lot of aggressive creatures around here, so they are mostly safe from those, as long as they are careful not to step on any tails.

After a bit of walking, they reach the base of a cliff that should be leading to where they're going, if the source Lesunia found is accurate. The cold wing causes both of the girls to pull their coats tighter around themselves. No amount of warning could sufficiently prepare them for just how cold Valak Mountain actually is.

There's a narrow path, rather hidden as it blends into the side of the cliff, but after a bit of searching it's found and they're climbing up it. Vivian is holding on to Lesunia's sleeve as she tries to avoid looking down.

"I think this is a bit more excitement than the school intended for the trip, don't you think?" Vivian says, seemingly trying to distract herself from the long drop only inches from her feet.

"Yes," Lesunia agrees, trying to sound braver than she actually feels. "Imagine how jealous the others are going to be when they find out we had a proper adventure and all they did was follow the teacher like baby Bunnits." The mental image is rather funny, causing both of them to smile before continuing.

Eventually the narrow path seems to simply come to a sudden end, only to continue several feet away and above them. It's not reachable by simply jumping. They have to either climb, or turn back.

"What now?" Vivian asks, looking up at the ledge they're supposed to reach somehow. "Do you really think we can climb that?"

"I think so," Lesunia replies, looking at the wall, noticing several rocks and bits of the cliff sticking out in plenty of places. "There's a lot of things to hang on to here, so climbing shouldn't be too difficult." She looks down at what appears to be an endless abyss. She can't even see the bottom. "Just don't look down, and we should be fine. I'll go first, so just follow my lead."

Then she starts the climb. It's not a long climb, but she has to be careful not to slip or lose her grip. The rocks are jagged, cold and slippery, so she has to get a proper grip before putting her weight on them. She takes her time, making sure to be as careful as possible. Once she makes it across, she motions for Vidian to follow her. Vidian follows, a bit hesitantly, and takes an even longer time to cross than Lesunia did. But eventually, they've both made it across.

"We made it!" Vidian celebrated, hugging Lesunia in relief, clearly ecstatic about making it across their first obstacle. Her hands are freezing, as she seems to have forgotten to pack proper gloves with her. "Let's go! Let's find that Morning Dew Ice you're always going on about!"

"Yes, let's go!" Lesunia agrees, keeping a hold of her hand as they keep climbing the mountain, up the path.

It's starting to become evening. The sun is close to setting, and everything is getting darker. They have made it past the narrow path, now on a much more spacious ledge, overlooking a good part of lower Valak Mountain. The view is amazing, but not what they're here for. They make their way around some Nebula, being mindful to not use any ether in order to not attract them and keep going. There's a small cave entrance, or maybe a tunnel. They head there.

Throughout this all Lesunia can't help feeling a bit off somehow, like there's something nagging at the back of her head. Like something's about to happen. She takes a look around but doesn't see anything unusual. Just the snow, the Nebula, the darkening mountains and the cold winds. Darkening mountains and cold winds...

"Lesunia?" Vidian sounds worried, also having been looking around and must have noticed the same as Lesunia. "Valak Mountain isn't supposed to get dark like this, is it? The crystals are supposed to glow at night, lighting the whole place up." They both look at each other as they seem to come to the same realization at the same time.

The only time the crystals at Valak Mountain don't light up is during a blizzard.

"Come on, let's go," Lesunia drags Vidian with her to get to the cave/tunnel before the blizzard hits. Like everywhere on the Bionis, the weather on Valak Mountain changes quickly and suddenly. They're lucky they got the warning in time.

Moments after they make it into the cave, the blizzard hits, and hits hard. Deafening winds are howling, and there's an almost earie, blue glow in the air, due to the ether. They get deeper into the cave, trying to get as far as possible from the blizzard. But no matter how far they go, there's no getting away from the cold. Even though Valak Mountain is plenty cold normally, the temperature plummets during blizzards. They don't even have anything to make a fire to keep warm, and all they can do is huddle together and hope to make it.

"Vidian," Lesunia says to her friend after what feels like a few hours, slipping down where they're sitting against a wall, resting her head on Vidian's shoulder. "I'm feeling tired."

"You can't fall asleep, Lesunia!" Vidian shakes her friend until she sits up again and opens her eyes. "Remember what they taught us at school? You can't fall asleep in a blizzard, or you die!" If she was scared before, when the blizzard hit, she's absolutely terrified now. What if Lesunia falls asleep and dies and she's left alone with her best friend's dead body as her only company?

"Right," Lesunia says, shaking herself, trying to stay awake. "We'll have to make sure we both stay awake."

They try their best to keep each other from falling asleep, poking at each other, moving around to get some warmth, and eventually just huddling together, talking about anything and everything that comes to mind, no matter how minor or trivial.

Lesunia's head keeps nodding down, like something is weighing down her head. She tries moving her wings, but the snow that has landed on them has melted and then frozen, making them completely immobile, not to mention cold and heavy. She tries to rub them a bit to melt some of the ice, afraid they might shatter like glass if she tries bending them or chipping the ice off.

Vidian soon notices what she's trying to do, and joins in, warming Lesunia's wings between her hands, a little bit at the time. As soon as a part is defrosted, she takes her time to smooth out the feathers and pick out any loose ones. It doesn't take Lesunia long to figure out exactly what she's doing.

"You don't need to do that," she says, looking at her friend. "They're going to get messed up again soon anyway. Not designed for this kind of weather."

"I know," Vidian admits, stopping for the moment at least, but doesn't let go of the wing, stroking her fingers along the edge. "I just- I thought-"

"What is it?" Lesunia asks, not used to her friend sounding so hesitant when it comes to telling her something. "You can tell me."

"It's just... Your wings are so beautiful, and big," she eventually says, looking down, a bit embarrassed. "And mine are so small, it's embarrassing."

"And I was always so envious of your wings," Lesunia blurts out, causing Vidian to look at her with clear confusion. "I mean, I have to sometimes spend hours taking care of them to make them look even somewhat presentable, and they get in the way all the time. Yours must be so much easier to maintain, and much more convenient. Plus, they're really cute!"

"Oh?" Vidian looks at her like she's never seen her before. "I guess I never thought of it like that." She strokes her own wings, which are easily fitting into her hood and doing much better that Lesunia's. "I guess there are some advantages to both."

Lesunia is about to comment on Vidian's notice but is interrupted by a loud roar from somewhere outside. They both look at each other for a second, before curiosity gets the better of them and they both scramble to the exit at the other end of the tunnel, quickly climbing up another, much smaller cliff, before making it out again.

As they step outside, they see it's nearly dawn, and the blizzard is calming down. When the roar sounds again, they look up at the sky, where a huge, black dragon is flying overhead, towards south.

"Wow," Vidian breathes out. "I didn't know there were any dragons here." The creature looks incredibly dangerous, but also amazing, and seeing one truly feels like something special.

"Yeah," Lesunia agrees, following the creature with her eyes as long as she can still see it. She then turns her attention to their surroundings and gasps audibly. "Vidian, look!"

Lesunia just laid her eyes on what she believes just might be the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. Laying in the snow, is what can't be anything but the very Morning Dew Ice she came here looking for in the first place. It's glistering and sparkling, like frozen crystals, reflecting the golden light from the morning sun.

She has to pinch herself to make absolutely sure she didn't actually fall asleep or something.

"It's so beautiful," Vidian whispers beside her. Lesunia turns to her and they both just smile at each other, barely able to believe they not only made it through the night, but actually managed to find what they went out to look for in the first place. "I can't believe we actually found it!"

Lesunia then decides to go fetch the Morning Dew Ice, before anything has a chance to sweep it from right in front of them. Soon they hear the distinct sounds of transport vehicles nearing them. Apparently, the class did eventually notice them missing, and a rescue patrol was sent out to find them. It's almost a bit embarrassing, but at least they'll get back to Alcamoth without having to track all the way to Frontier Village to get to Eryth Sea, to then get to Alcamoth.

"Our mums are going to be so angry when they find out what happened," Vidian suddenly remembers. They look at each other, imagining just how angry they will be, and what kind of punishment awaits them when they get home.

"Maybe we should have stayed on the mountain. An angry mum is far more dangerous than any blizzard or dragon could ever dream of being."