Two Destinies Chapter 14: Climbing Celsius' Cliff
Author's Preface: This is gonna probably be my last chapter up before school begins. I might put this project on hold soon. Especially when I hit the end of Part 1, which is gonna be pretty soon. I predict only two more chapters after this one until the end of the part. Unfortunately, this chapter's kinda short... So, enjoy this while chapters are still coming out! :P Write reviews!
"Well, let's get going." Farah said. "I mean, we can't waste time here."
"Yeah." Keele said. "The longer we dawdle, the heavier the snow storms are going to get. I don't see this storm letting up any time soon."
"Not only that…" Kyle said. "But Reala's waiting for us back in Peruti. We shouldn't keep her waiting for too long."
"Right." Farah said. "So, what are we waiting for?" The team looked through the raging wind towards the top of the mountain, and then started forward to ascend the cold peak. Due to the snow raging all around them, visibility was quite limited, but thanks to Keele's spell, the team was able to travel somewhat comfortably despite the fact that all six of them had to stay somewhat close together.
Just then, a chilly gust of wind penetrated the barrier from behind the adventurers and caused them all to recoil from the cold. When the barrier kicked in again, everybody straightened up. That's when Chat realized that her hat had blown off in the wind.
"W-where's my hat?!?" She yelled. "I can't lose that hat! That hat belonged to my great grandfather! It's a family heirloom!"
"Wow, so that hat's older than you are?" Reid said. This caused Chat to take a Pow Hammer out of her bag and used it to whack him, who recoiled in pain, despite his hat taking most of the blow.
"That's besides the point!" Chat yelled. "Find my hat!" The team started looking around for the missing hat, when, all of a sudden…
"Look!" Kyle yelled, pointing towards the top of a bunch of rocks that were piled up like stairs. "There it is!" Sure enough, there was Chat's hat, stuck on a snowy branch of a tree.
"Let's go get it!" Meredy said. The team started up the natural stairs for the blown-away hat, Chat leading the way. About halfway up the stairs, however, Chat screamed and sank down into the snow.
"Somebody help your captain out of this hole!" She yelled. "My foot went through the rocks!" Farah and Meredy gathered around Chat to start pulling her out of the hole, while Reid ran up to the tree where the hat was and grabbed it just before it had freed itself to blow away. Keele stood somewhere between Chat and Reid in order to make sure everybody stayed within the protection of his spell. Hat in his possession, Reid leaped down the snowy stairs to where the rest of the team was and got a strange glare from Keele. Reid ignored him as he put the hat back on Chat's head.
"Okay, Chat. We almost have you out of there." Farah said. Just then, there was the sound of something growling nearby. The two swordsmen instantly unsheathed their swords.
"Oh, great…" Chat said, still in the hole. "First mission with you guys and I'm already in danger…"
"Don't worry, Chat…" Reid said. "Kyle and I can take care of this." Reid fired a Demon Fang in a random direction and Kyle sent an Azure Edge in another direction. Just then, the growling got louder.
"I'll help you guys." Keele said, taking out his staff. "It sounds like there's more than one of whatever's making that noise…" All of a sudden, there was a bone-chilling howl and, seemingly out of the blue, something knocked into Kyle, sending him down into the snow and down a couple of the stone steps. Reid turned around after seeing his friend getting attacked and launched another Demon Fang. However, whatever had knocked Kyle over had moved, and the Demon Fang hit Kyle by accident.
"Ow!" The fair haired boy said as he sat up and brushed the snow off his coat and threw the scarf back over his shoulder. He rubbed his head. "Watch where you're aiming that Demon Fang, Reid!"
"Sorry…" Reid said, helping Kyle to his feet. Seconds after Kyle was standing again, Reid was knocked face-first into the snow. Kyle had to jump backward to avoid getting knocked over like a domino. The attacker had finally made themselves known. It was a wolf with blue fur, and it stood on top of Reid, growling at Kyle. It then turned its head towards Chat.
"Flame Drive!" Kyle's spell rammed into the side of the wolf, which focused its attention once more on the boy in the green coat. The wolf lunged once more at Kyle, who deflected the attack with a sword slash. However, a second wolf leaped over the other battlers and went to attack Chat, who was still stuck in the hole.
"Guys!" Chat yelled as the wolf started to sniff her. Farah punched the wolf in the nose, temporarily disorienting it. It shook its head in surprise and proceeded to bite Farah's poncho in an attempt to rip it off. However, when Chat finally removed her foot from its 'trap', the rest of the team was able to put their full attention into fighting. Meredy and Keele proceeded to begin casting spells while Farah attacked the wolf from a close proximity (as soon as the wolf had let go of her poncho) and Chat attacked from a distance with her throwing spheres and Pow Hammers. Higher up on the steps, Reid and Kyle were still fighting with the first wolf, hammering the enemy with relentless sword attacks. It wasn't long before the battle was resolved, with both wolves defeated. After a momentary recovery, the team regrouped and proceeded with trying to get to the top of the mountain.
Soon, the team came across a large red icicle sticking up and blocking the route to the other side of the mountain. Regardless of which spells Keele and Kyle cast on the icicle, it would not melt. The team wondered how they were going to get past this temporary setback.
"I think our best bet right now is to look for something that will help us get by…" Farah suggested.
"But what should we look for, Farah?" Meredy asked.
"Honestly, I don't know…" Farah said, shrugging. "But there's gotta be SOMETHING that can melt this icicle…"
"But neither Keele's nor Kyle's magic could melt it." Chat said.
"Maybe we can use our spells together, Keele?" Kyle asked, looking at the blue haired mage.
"Nah, if our spells alone couldn't melt it, what effect would more spells have?" Keele said.
"We need something other than magic to melt this…" Reid said. "But what's stronger than their magic?"
"Perhaps if we had something to amplify the effects of our magic…" Keele said, scratching his chin as he usually did when he was analyzing the situation. "…But what?"
"I think we should try looking around for something that can be used to get by this icicle." Farah said. Having no other choice, the others agreed and they went to look for another route.
Eventually, the team found themselves at the bottom of a very steep slope on the other side of the mountain. The team stopped because they were surprised by the sudden change in slope. It seemed like the mountain wasn't supposed to be climbed much farther from this point.
"We still haven't found anything that can help us get past the red icicle…" Reid said. "Let's see just how far we can go and see if anything is up here that can help us with getting rid of our obstacle, I guess." The team agreed and began to slowly ascend up the steep climb.
About halfway up the hill, there was a small rumbling sound. Everybody stopped. "W-what was that?" Chat asked. "I-I hope that doesn't mean an avalanche is about to occur…"
"Relax." Keele said. "It just means that we are too clumped together. The cliff can't handle a huge amount of weight right in the middle of it. We just need to redistribute our group's weight, that's all."
"So, what's the plan, Keele?" Farah asked. Keele scratched his chin.
"I'm not positive, but I think putting our lightest two party members, Meredy and Chat, at the edges of the formation would be best. The rest of us should just try to stay as far apart as possible to spread out the weight."
"Whatever…" Reid said. "Let's go." The team spread out more, with Chat and Meredy on the sides of the formation, and they continued to walk. However, not much later, there was a scream from Meredy. The rest of the team went to try to see what happened, but the ground began to shake a little. Nobody dared move, thinking they might start an avalanche. However, Meredy continued to scream, so Keele finally decided that he would save Meredy, being the closest to where she was, and ran over to where she had been to find her hanging onto a ledge for her life.
"Meredy!" Keele as he grabbed her hands. "What happened?!?"
"Cliff collapsed under Meredy!" She said. "Meredy needs help! Get Reid or Farah!"
"I can do this!" Keele said, trying to tug on Meredy to bring her back to safety.
"Keele is not strong enough to help Meredy!" Meredy said.
"Yes, I am!" Keele said, continuing to struggle to save Meredy.
"Wow…" Reid said. "He's so determined to help Meredy… It's like he… likes her…"
"You're an idiot, Reid!" Keele yelled as he tried one final time to pull Meredy back up. This time, however, he succeeded. Keele fell backwards and Meredy fell on top of him.
"Hey, he did it!" Kyle said, somewhat surprised that Keele was able to muster up enough strength to save Meredy.
"Are you okay, Keele?" Farah said. Just then, Meredy opened her eyes.
"Keele saved Meredy!" She said. "Thank you, Keele!" Just then, she jumped back onto Keele, who grunted from her weight landing on top of him. Meredy then proceeded to give Keele a big hug. Keele's face changed to the color of Reid's hair, but he returned Meredy's hug, nonetheless. The other two guys started to snicker. Keele shot them a dirty glance, still blushing.
"At least I'm getting a hug from a girl, Reid…" Keele said. This comment caused Reid to stop chuckling and he stared at Farah. Both of their faces turned red. "And Kyle, you don't see me laughing at you when you and Reala hug…" Kyle stopped snickering. Keele smiled. He had finally shut both Reid and Kyle up when they were teasing him for once. Keele and Meredy finished their hug and got up, brushing the snow off of their outfits. The team then continued to go up the slope.
At the top of the slope, there was a small container of a liquid sitting on a ledge. Chat picked up the container and examined it.
"It says 'Toto Oil' on it." She said as she showed it to the rest of the group. Meredy smiled.
"Baiba!" She said. "Toto Oil is famous in Celestia as a fuel for fire!"
"Great!" Reid said. "Then you think we can use this to melt that red icicle?"
"Yep!" Meredy said. "This as well as Keele or Kyle's magic will surely melt the icicle!"
"Then let's head back to get by the obstacle." Farah said. Everybody started to walk back down the hill, which was a much easier task than going up the hill, when, all of a sudden, there was another rumble, but much louder this time.
"Uh oh…" Reid said. "That doesn't sound good."
"Guys! Run!" Kyle said. "There's an avalanche coming this way!" Everybody took a small glance back at the top of the mountain, and, sure enough, a large amount of snow was coming rumbling down towards the six of them. They all started to dash down the hill to get away from the snow. However, Keele tripped over his long cloak and started somersaulting down the hill. Soon, he slammed into the others and they all started rolling down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, everybody lay sprawled out and dazed. Not soon after, the snow swallowed up the six adventurers. However, the avalanche was not very big, and only a few inches of snow piled on top of everybody.
The first person to appear above the snow was Reid. He looked around for any of his friends, but didn't see any. "Aah!" He said. "Did everybody get buried by the snow?!? Dammit, Keele... This is all your..."
A blue haired head appeared above the snow. "Hey, don't go pointing blame at me..." Keele said, shaking out his head and standing up. "It's these stupid robes... They're just way too long..."
The purple haired head appeared next. "Meredy is okay!" She said, waving at Keele. Reid stood up and started walking over towards Keele. Just then, as he was crunching through the snow, he stepped on something that didn't feel like snow under his shoes. There was a muffled squeak from beneath the snow, and Chat sat up, causing Reid to leap off of her in surprise.
"Reid!" She yelled. "You just stepped on me! Now, where the heck is... Ah!" Just then, Chat's arm appeared out of the snow holding her hat and, after shaking snow out of it, she put the hat back on her head.
Kyle appeared next. His normally spiky hair was covered with so much snow that it lay flat against his head, even after shaking his head out. He stood up and looked around. "Well, that was not what I was expecting..." He said. "Hey, where's Farah?" As if his words were a cue, Farah reappeared.
"Ugh..." She said. "Let's not do that again..." Farah shook out her poncho. Just then, Keele's face turned pale as he looked at his Craymel Cage.
"Guys!" He said. "This is bad! Efreet's spell has worn off!"
"Well, at least it's not snowing right now..." Reid said, holding out his hand to see if any snow would fall onto it. None did.
"We should hurry to find Celsius before it snows again!" Meredy said, starting to skip away.
"Meredy's right." Keele said. "Let's hurry and find that red icicle again." The rest of the team followed behind Meredy as they walked away from the scene of the avalanche.
It wasn't long before the team had rediscovered the red icicle. Once there, Keele examined the icicle again. "Now..." He said. "I think the best bet for getting past this thing is to slather the whole thing with the Toto Oil."
"The whole thing?" Reid said. "What about getting to the other side of this gorge, Keele?" He pointed to the deep ravine that lay below. "It's too far to jump across, but if we melt just the bottom of the icicle, we can use it as a bridge."
"I-I don't really think this icicle would make a very good bridge..." Keele said, gulping as he looked down into the ravine.
"Why not?" Farah said. "If magic alone can't even melt it, it's gotta be sturdy."
"That's not what I'm worried about..." Keele said. "I'm more worried about the width of the icicle and its shape..."
"We can cross one person at a time!" Meredy said.
"Still... What if it rolls when somebody gets on it?" Keele said.
"Keele..." Kyle drove his arm onto Keele's shoulder, nearly knocking him down. "You need to stop worrying. I mean, has worrying ever improved the situation?"
"Well, no..." Keele said, rubbing his sore shoulder.
"Ready!" Chat said, giving a thumbs up. The container of Toto Oil lay near her legs. She picked up the container and tossed it into the ravine. "Don't worry, it's empty." She said after Farah and Reid gave her a weird look.
"Looks like we didn't have enough oil to cover the whole icicle anyways..." Farah said, shrugging. "Oh, well..." She turned to look at the two magic users. "Keele? Kyle? We're ready."
"Okay then!" Kyle said. "Do you wanna do it or should I, Keele?"
"Whatever..." Keele said, looking into the ravine again. Kyle shrugged, and then his Lens, followed by his hand, began to glow red.
"Flame Drive!" Three fireballs came out of his hand and, sure enough, ignited the Toto Oil. The oil burned fiercely, and the icicle began to melt.
"It's working!" Meredy said, dancing around. Soon, the icicle had melted to a point where it fell over, bridging the gap over the ravine. Everybody smiled.
"Well, let's go." Reid said, crossing the icicle first. After him, Farah, Kyle, Chat, and Meredy crossed. Keele was still a little nervous about crossing.
"W-what if I fall?" He said.
"Keele, don't look down." Farah said. "Just look ahead and you'll be fine. Now, come on! We need your fire magic!"
"Ugh..." Keele said. Taking Farah's advice, he refused to look down into the ravine as he crossed the icicle. However, at the last second, he looked down. He yelped and jumped off the icicle and onto the other side of the ravine where his companions were.
"Well, at least he's over here..." Reid said, sighing. "Let's go find Celsius." He and the rest of the team headed off for the Greater Craymel. Small snowflakes were floating down upon the heroes as they walked forward into the unknown.
Author's Nota Bene: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D Now, time for a funny story regarding this: While writing this chapter on Word, I discovered that there is another type of "correction" besides the red squiggly underline (misspellings) and the green squiggly underline (grammar errors). I discovered the purple dot underline when I wrote "Flame Drive"! XD Apparently, Word thinks Flame Drive is somebody's street address, not Kyle's spell… LOL! Also, I found another reason to hate the English language: Disorienting vs. disorientating… They're both considered "correct"… I went with "disorienting" after asking more than 3 people, my younger (and by younger, I mean only 11 months younger) brother included… XD So, the team gets to fight Celsius in the next chapter at last! Also, I'm gonna address what happened at the end of the last chapter in my next chapter, so keep your eyes open! Thanks for reading!