The Infi Map zoomed across the endless green skies, moving with such speed that everything melted into one dizzying blur of colors. Chrysal could only pick up erroneous flashes of color, a corner of a purple rectangular door, a single column of the Ancient Greek realm, a lick of blue flame from Ember's lair. Gelid had squeezed his eyes shut once the map had yanked them out of the cavern. The map whisked them from one end of the zone to another before yanking them through a hexagonal purple door and dumping them in the middle of a golden field.
Chrysal, an experienced lieutenant, struggled to her feet, dizzied by the journey. Nonetheless, she immediately rolled up the Infi Map and tucked it into the discreet tube attached to her belt. Turning her furry head to the side, she shook her head at the sight of Gelid, who was currently dry heaving into the grass.
Turning away for a moment in exasperation, she took in their immediate surroundings. This does not look like the Ghost Zone, she thought. The skies seemed endless; robin egg blue and dotted with splotchy white clouds. Sunlight shone down on the field, turning the knee-high grains of wheat a soft golden color. Nearby was a dense green forest, thick with trees that would dwarf even the tallest yeti in the Far Frozen. The air was uncomfortably hot for Chrysal, whose thick fur was a liability outside of the subzero temperatures of her home. She turned back to Gelid, who was still dry heaving.
"Get up, Gelid," she frowned. "We do not know if it is safe here, and we still need to find this Wulf."
The yeti groaned. "I feel sick, Chrysal."
"You will feel worse than mere illness if someone comes along to attack us. I do not think that we're in the Ghost Zone any longer." Chrysal pointed out. At that, Gelid's white and gray-speckled head popped up from where he'd tucked it between his knees, blue eyes wide as he took in their surroundings.
"Are we on Earth?!" Gelid exclaimed.
"I believe so. Now come, Wulf must not be far." Chrysal murmured. Gelid stumbled to his feet, following after the other yeti as she headed towards the forest. The duo didn't get very far before Gelid noticed the growling.
"Uh, Chrysal, I think–" the boy started, but was interrupted by a giant werewolf bursting through the trees, large and snarling, with glowing green eyes and ecto dripping from his fangs. The yetis' ghost senses triggered belatedly. Chrysal immediately drew a dagger from somewhere on her person, shielding the pup from the new ghost, who continued to growl ferociously.
"Are you Wulf?" Chyrsal asked in Esperanto. "I am Chrysal, of the warriors of the Far Frozen, allies of Phantom."
At that, the werewolf stopped in his tracks. Settling back on his haunches, he grumbled.
"Phantom is my friend. What are the warriors of the Far Frozen doing here on Earth?" Wulf asked suspiciously. The yeti knew that it was a fair question. The Far Frozen was infamously isolated from the more populous areas of the zone, and the yeti rarely ventured far from it–and never to the realm of the living.
Chrysal straightened her posture. "It is true that my people rarely leave our realm, but we believe Phantom needs our help. He usually visits the Far Frozen every three weeks, but he has now been missing for five, and the Fenton portal has disintegrated. We know that you can easily travel between the realms, and we were hoping that you would be willing to escort some of our allies to Earth to assist the Great One and help him if he were in danger."
Wulf squinted suspiciously at the duo. "I want to help my friend, but why do you need my escort? You found me here on Earth."
Chrysal and Gelid exchanged glances. How would they explain the Infi-map?
"Our method of transport is…inconsistent. We used a natural portal, and did not know that we would end up here," Chrysal turned to gesture at the natural portal behind them, which was improbably still open. "Our allies are a halfa and a few other ghosts who would need the extra help."
Wulf still squinted at them. "You're still not telling the whole truth."
Chrysal rolled her eyes. "Certain artifacts cannot knowingly leave the bounds of the Infinite Realms, Wulf. That is as much as I can convey to you."
Wulf grumbled, considering. "I understand." Changing the subject, he said, "The warden Walker still wants to imprison me."
"I can deal with that fool. He has tried to extend his influence to the Far Frozen in the past, and failed." Chrysal said dismissively.
"We can?" Gelid asked hesitantly. Wulf turned his large green eyes on Gelid, who squeaked.
"Yes, Gelid. Wulf, this is Gelid. He is a pup." She said by way of explanation.
"I am not a pup!" Gelid argued, but both adults sent him skeptical looks.
"I will help you. The trip back to the Far Frozen from here may take us close to the area that the warden usually patrols. I can open the portal, but both of you may need to be ready to fight." Wulf explained.
Chrysal nodded curtly. "I have been training Gelid to fight. We will do what is necessary."
Without much fanfare, Wulf pivoted and tore his claws through the air, creating a slash of a portal. Bright green light spilled through the portal, illuminating the forest around them and bouncing off of his simple green outfit and the yeti's light fur.
"Come on." Wulf gestured, ushering Chrysal and Gelid through the portal ahead of him. The trio was soon back in the Ghost Zone, with Gelid casting one last look at the field as the portal closed behind them.
The trio stumbled out onto a desolate floating island, covered in dull rocks and soil as far as the eye could see, with only occasional patches of greenery.
"Where are we?" Gelid asked. "This doesn't look like home."
"Few ghosts have visited the Far Frozen, the path is supposed to be confusing. I have explored some of the areas around us in the past Gelid, I believe that we are a short flight away from our realm." Chrysal explained succinctly.
Wulf was frowning. "I usually get closer than this, something is not right."
"I do not think it is anything of your own doing Wulf, this part of the Realms can have a mind of its own." Chrysal pointed out. "Now, this way." She gestured to the right, floating off with haste. Gelid and Wulf followed behind her hesitantly.
The island was bigger than it had initially seemed, the rock formations seemed to be endless, growing in size until the group was passing through a small, icy canyon. Small skeletal bird ghosts floated overhead, flitting from one dead tree to another. Their crows echoed in the valley, which seemed to grow darker by the minute.
"This place is creepy Chrysal, are you sure that this isn't the Fright Knight's haunt?" Gelid asked.
"No, Gelid. This is the Valley of Amber. All you need to do is cross the valley to reach the other side, and the way to the Far Frozen will be clear from there." Chrysal said dryly.
"Can't we fly over it?" Gelid whined.
"No Gelid, it is enchanted to ensnare any who would try it. The Valley of Amber will allow us to fly straight into our village. Before we entered the Valley, we could have flown off and around this island to enter our Realm through the Snow Drifts, but that would have taken longer than simply passing through the Valley of Amber." Chrysal explained, exasperated. "Didn't you pay any attention to Silanthe during your schooling?"
"Wulf could've opened another portal." Gelid mumbled under his breath, peeved. Chrysal and Wulf kept moving forward, ignoring his grumbling. As the unlikely trio continued through the valley, the air grew heavier around them. Even the sound of the birds dissipated as they ventured in, and their surroundings grew darker. Wulf and Chrysal tensed mere moments before an ectoblast whizzed towards them. Wulf spun around as Chrysal dragged Gelid to the side with one hand and drew a dagger with the other.
"Do your best to stay here unless absolutely necessary!" Chrysal ordered, before dashing forward to join Wulf, who was clawing at the lone prison scout. The yeti coated her dagger with a sheath of charged ectoplasmic ice before heaving it at the guard whose shield was being shredded by Wulf. The dagger was small, but the charged ice exploded on impact with the ghost's steel chest plate, small shrapnels of ice exploding in many directions. The dagger fell away as the chest plate cracked in two, causing the scout to snarl in anger as he jumped back, wildly waving his baton at the other two ghosts.
"Under Walker's authority, the fugitive Wulf must be remanded to my custody!" The scout declared. Chrysal and Wulf's gazes met, incredulous.
"This idiot thinks he can hold his own against a yeti and a wolf?" Chrysal said in Esperanto. Wulf shrugged, claws extended from his paws. From behind them, a bright icy ectoblast went careening towards the scout, hitting him squarely in the chest. Chrysal didn't bother to turn before she lashed out, a snarl affixed to her maw.
"GELID! I TOLD YOU WHAT TO DO!" she shouted at him without losing a moment's focus to fling another few ecto blasts at the guard.
"I'm trying to help!" he protested. Gelid continued to fire off a barrage of ice blasts and ecto.
Wulf slunk closer to the guard, who was frantically trying to dodge Chrysal and Gelid's blue ectoblasts. With a mighty lunge, the werewolf swiped the electrified baton from the scout, who squeaked in surprise and tumbled to the ground. Wulf deliberately stepped on the guard's exposed cloth uniform.
"Chrysal, how badly do those fancy beams of yours sting?" Wulf asked casually. The guard, unable to understand Esperanto, whimpered at Wulf's growling.
"You can find out afterwards," Chrysal said, rolling her eyes. "Open a portal so we can dump him somewhere and go. The entrance to our village is not far from here–Gelid, get back here, Silanthe and I are going to have words with you when we get back." The imposing yeti patted her belt, where the Infi Map was still secure in its' tube.
Wulf obliged, slicing through the fabric of the realm and opening a portal to Dora's realm. Tossing the screaming guard through, he sealed the portal nearly as fast as he'd opened it.
"Where did you send him?" Gelid asked.
"To Dora, the Dragon Queen's kingdom. She is no fonder of Walker and his goons than we are." Wulf explained, fangs glinting sharply as he smiled.
"Let us depart," Chrysal demanded, gesturing sharply as she strode deeper into the valley. "I am tired of this."
Earlier…
As they left the cottage, Jason, Johnny, and Kitty were greeted by harsh winds, which bit at their faces as they floated along the main path. The cottage, which was slightly isolated from the other yeti's homes, was surrounded by large, snow-covered boulders and a rolling, snowy hillside. Other cottages of varying sizes were scattered across the landscape in the valley below. A few feet down the path, Jason stopped.
"Hey, I know you guys wanted to see if Chrysal left, but where would they even be?" Jason asked.
Johnny stopped in his tracks to look at the halfa incredulously, almost tripping over Shadow. "Aren't you the one who's lived here for six weeks?" Jason flipped him off.
"Fuck off, Avalfirn is huge, they could be anywhere." Jason retorted as he crossed his arms petulantly.
Kitty rolled her eyes. "There's only so many spaces in this city, it shouldn't be that difficult. C'mon." Jason and Johnny grudgingly followed after Kitty and Shadow.
Though the Far Frozen was a maze of mountains, valleys, and caves, it didn't take very long for the group to wind their way over snow-packed paths to the relatively small crossroads at the center of the village. There was an almost comically tall signpost with signs pointing in each direction. Jason unsteadily floated up to read them.
"Yo, do any of you read yeti?" He shouted at them. Rather than respond, Johnny and Kitty floated up to him.
"...What are you talking about, I don't think the yetis have a special alphabet," Kitty laughed, realization washing over her face as she flew closer to the sign. "Wait, you seriously can't read the sign?"
Jason made a face. "Am I supposed to be able to? It looks like a fancy version of hieroglyphics."
"Interesting…I didn't know halfas would have to learn Ghostspeak" Kitty thought aloud.
"Ghostspeak?" Jason asked.
"That's what it translates to in English, but yes, we have our own language. It's written like that," Kitty explained, gesturing at the sign at their sides. "Phantom will have to teach you, I guess. Most ghosts are fluent from the moment they come to Be." She shrugged.
"The caverns are that way, let's go" Johnny said, flying off in one direction.
After a clumsy start, Jason was trailing after the others, the snow and hills blurring below him as he picked up speed. Instinctively, he flew in a loop around the side of a mountain, letting loose a carefree whoop. Despite the wind rushing in his ears, he turned on a dime at the sights and sounds of the Grand Cavern. With loose limbs, the halfa gradually descended some distance away from the entrance.
"Are you sure that this is the entrance, kid?" Johnny asked.
Jason shrugged. "Yeah. It feels right…and Frostbite told me during the tour that this is where they have their important meetings at."
"So why did we stop if you knew that this was where the important meetings are?" Kitty rubbed her temples in frustration.
"Hey in my defense, there's more than one cavern—WOAH!" The halfa was cut off by a bright shockwave tearing across the landscape, kicking up snow and knocking him out of the air. Spitting out a mouthful of snow, he looked up at Johnny, Kitty, and Shadow, who'd been knocked back but remained airborne.
"What the fuck was that," Ears ringing, Jason struggled to his feet. "Does the Ghost Zone have speedsters now?" Met with confused, blank faces, he shook his head. "Never mind."
Yards away, small groups of yetis were beginning to file out of the cavern. "That was weird." Kitty said with a frown.
"Somehow, I think that Chrysal's already left." Jason mused, the bright lights of the shockwave niggling at his intuition.
AN: Jason's almost on his way! And even though they ran into one of Walker's goons, the yetis have learned to be very selective about using the Infi Map after the Vlad incident.