"I'm bored already," Ceae said. He was in the rear behind Keia and I.
"Oh, but Ceae! This'll be much more fun when we get to the Plains, I promise," I said.
"Actually, I think things are going to get interesting right now!" Keia shouted and pointed up the cliff wall. Two fairly large boulders were rolling down at an accelerating pace down on top of us.
"No time to think! Run!" I shouted. The three of us began to run down the mountain path as quickly as we could while trying not to stumble.
"Those boulders are catching up with us!" Keia screamed. Ceae turned around to look but tripped in the process.
"Ceae!" I stopped running forward to go back and help him up. Keia was smart enough to stop and avoid running ahead without us. She ran over to us and watched the boulders quickly approach…
I looked up in time and shouted, "Freeze!" A stream of ice left my fingertips and created a solid wall of ice in front of us. The boulders hit the wall and stopped rolling. Keia, Ceae, and I were breathing heavily as we all stood up off the ground. "Hah! That was close!" I laughed. "That was too close! Hah!"
"Cryos…" I turned around to look at Keia. She was pointing at the boulders again. I turned around and looked at them. They were moving as though they were shivering against the ice. Suddenly, they leapt up into the air and over us. When they landed, they unfolded to reveal a couple of fairly large rock creatures.
"Um… I think it would've been a great idea to stop by the library first and pick up a monster guide before we left the castle," I said.
"No problem!" Keia pulled out a large book. "I did the honors."
"Oh."
Keia fanned through the pages and stopped on an entry. "These things are Boulder Lords. They aren't going to be easy to kill because they're not the lowest level creatures out there… It says they're weakened by ice magic and absolutely hate water magic."
"Since we only have ice, it's time to put the freeze on these things," I said. Ceae stood back out of the way.
"Good luck, Cryos," Keia said. "I can't do anything until they are frozen."
I nodded. I drew my sword and readied myself. One of the two Boulder Lords moved forward for an attack. Actually, it moved very slowly. 'This is too easy.' When it got into range, it lifted up its arm and prepared to strike. I lifted my hand and blasted its arm with a jet of ice wind. Its arm froze and then broke off under the weight. When its arm hit the ground, the arm shattered. While it was confused, I froze the Boulder Lord entirely.
"Keia, have at it!" I yelled to Keia and went to the other one. It eyed its frozen partner and then looked at me. I could sense a fear. The Boulder Lord rolled up and got away as fast as it could. 'That made this battle much easier,' I thought. I turned back around to see the other Boulder Lord in pieces. "That was fast."
"I told you I've been practicing with my bow! A few shots to destroy the head, and the rest of the body fell to pieces. It was nothing," Keia said.
Ceae walked over to join us. "I'm sorry that I didn't help…"
"We had it covered… Just, in the future, at least try, okay?"
"Yeah…"
"Ceae, do you know magic?" Keia asked.
Ceae looked up at Keia. "Just a little bit of water magic… I'm not skilled."
"If we ever get thirsty," I said, "we have you. Let's get moving… We're pretty close to the foot of the mountain." Keia nodded and collected her arrows from the pile of rocks left over from the Boulder Lord. We all continued our trek down the mountainside.
At the bottom of the mountain path, an increasing amount of vegetation began to appear. Just ahead on level ground was the start of the large expanse of green fields known as the Draconian Plains.
"It's a lot larger up close than it seems from the city," I said. Keia silently nodded.
"There! Off in the distance!" Ceae shouted and pointed at what appeared to be a city on the horizon.
My eyes lit up. "That is our first destination," I said. "Any objections?" Keia silently shook her head. Ceae smiled. I turned to face Keia. "Is something wrong?" I asked. She had a look of worry in her eyes.
"Uh, no, no," she said and shook her head again. "It's just… I saw this place in a dream. It was out here on the Plains, the ruins of a great city… The towers made of stone were covered in plant life… We were all there, the three of us… It was quiet, and then one of us found something that looked important… I remember a flash of light, and then I woke up."
"Something important?" I asked. "What did it look like?"
"It was silver… Resembled a helmet almost, or the faceplate of a helmet. I remember a very long antenna-looked thing coming out of the top."
"Well, that was in a dream… It probably wasn't anything we should worry about. Right now, we should worry about getting to that town." I started to walk, followed by Ceae, and finally Keia.