Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Monster Hunter, only how the story goes. The characters and world of Monster Hunter belongs to Capcom. The only thing that I do own are the OC's of the story. I do apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: This chapter is a bit of a foreshadowing. It has a special appearance of a key player.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight: An Icy Dream, An Icy Wind

During the night as they slept in a large pile, the Jagras would twitch a little as they slept. And underneath the pile, Jacob's face would scrunch up before relaxing for a moment and then repeated again. He shook his head as he lightly mumbled, "No. No, no. No."

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Jacob's Dreamscape…

Jacob found himself sitting in the middle of the Rath nest at the top of the tree. He didn't see any sign of the Rath family and stood up to look around. But as he took a step towards the edge, his foot ended up snagging on a rock and he fell over the edge. The teen yelled as he fell all the way down and landed in the pond at the bottom with a big splash. He surfaced with a gasp and stood on his own feet. He felt it kind of odd that the pond felt a bit deeper than it should given that the water was up to his stomach instead of his knees. He became a little worried when the water started to rise and he moved to swim for higher ground. The dreaming teen came to the wall of vines that would bring him to the fork in the road before the shaded forest area. Pulling himself out of the water, Jacob looked back to see the water stop rising.

A little weirded out by it, Jacob turned and went down to the shore. He was met by a peculiar sight. All those he knew, from here and from home, were standing out on the surface of the sea. His family back home consisting of his mother, his father and his uncle and those he considered family, the five Raths, the Jagras pack, Grumper, Nana Diabla, Valiantops and Boltia. As Jacob took step after step down towards the beach, he was a little confused by how they were looking. They all looked rigid, like statues. But when he stood at the water's edge, he was shocked to see that they were completely encased in ice. The frozen water covering their bodies with only their faces to be seen, completely intact. Looking down he saw that the ocean was completely still as it too was covered in ice. The ice spread out to the horizon and perhaps beyond it.

He tried to see if he could walk out on the ice, but he tensed up as he felt as if his body were being shocked by something. Jacob struggled to move, but stopped when he heard the sounds of cracking ice. Looking out to the sea, he saw large cracks in the ice racing for the shore. Jacob wanted to try and save his family from falling into the depths, but the hold on his body was too great. Soon the cracks reached the shore and they went under the frozen's feet. Jacob shook his head, "No. No, no."

A moment later, each one fell through the ice. Jacob managed to lift his arm as he hollered, "No!"

He was knocked off his feet when something big rumbled nearby. Lifting his head and looked to his left, he gasped when he saw what appeared to be a large land mass moving inland. Another rumbling made him look to the right to see a large serpentine form moving from the sea and up through the forest. A multitude of shadows passed over him and when Jacob turned his head to the sky he gasped when he saw a great many beasts flying overhead. Some looked like those metallic dragons he had run into the other day, others were dragons that had variously different forms.

But before he could stay and watch or try to run and hide, even though it was a dream, he felt something press against his cheek and it suddenly started to feel wet. Jacob placed a hand and found that it didn't feel wet to him, but it happened again.

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Jacob woke up to feel the something stroking against his cheek. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked to see Juno lightly licking him as if to comfort him. A soft growl from the side made looked to see Jupiter looking to him with one eye open. He felt Juno gave him a light nudge with her head to his before laying it down on his chest again. He looked between the two of them and with a single stroke of his free hand on Juno's head he told her he was all right. Both her and Jupiter seemed to relax enough as they let their eye lids droop.

While he waited for sleep to come again, Jacob wondered about what all he had seen in the dream and thought to maybe consult the journal when morning came and when he got back to the boat. But for now, he, Jupiter and Juno all silently drifted back to sleep.

…

The next morning, Jacob woke to feel a lot of shivering and opened his eyes to see all nine of the Jagras slightly shaking. They were all huddling closer to get warm as they were sleeping. Jacob released a single breath and became surprised when a cloud exited from his mouth. Small cool clouds came from the Jagras' nostrils as they breathed. Trying to sit up, it got all nine of his new friends to wake up and they moved off the human. Getting onto his feet, Jacob grabbed his pack and his weapons to go out and see if this had anything to do with his dream.

(Cue The Bird at Daybreak from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne)

After a short walk, Jacob emerged from the cavern with the nine Jagras behind him. Their breathing still produced chilled breaths and Jacob wondered why it was happening. When he took a step forward, his foot crunched on something that didn't sound like a stick or bone. Looking he his eyes widened when he saw ice at his feet. And in the middle of that ice was a large footprint. It didn't look like any footprints that he had seen before.

Looking at the direction of the print, Jacob saw another not too far ahead. A trail of tracks led from the Jagras' spot and went around the slope. Curiosity compelling him to follow, Jacob walked along the trail. The Jagras behind him looked to each other before slowly following after the human teen.

The trail of icy footprints led to where the fork led to either the shaded forest or down to the sea. The tracks then went up into the shaded forest and to the east that would take them to the clearing that they had found the Aptonoth. When they reached the edge of the clearing, Jacob slowed down when he saw something standing in the middle of the clearing. The Jagras peeked around the teen to see what it was. They were all wide-eyed from what they were seeing.

Standing in the middle of the clearing was a large dragon with an upright body structure like that of the metallic dragons he had seen before. The scales and shell of the dragon were a unique crystalline blue. And upon the head lay a tiara-like crown of horns. Jacob almost thought that the dragon was made out of ice.

The dragon appeared to not have noticed them while having their head lifted up to the sky. The group all tensed up when the Elder Dragon turned their head in their direction. Clouds of cold air escaped the ten's mouths as they waited to see what the dragon would do. The dragon turned their great body in their direction and began staring intently at Jacob.

When they realized just what the Elder Dragon was looking at, Jupiter and the Jagras pack started moving in front of the human. The dragon seemed to grow a little agitated by this and started to open its maw. Not wanting them to get hurt, Jacob quickly moved in front of them and held a hand to keep them from trying to attack, "Stop."

While confused, each of the Jagras looked to each other before keeping back. Jacob turned his attention back to the Elder Dragon to see it closing its jaws again. While a little nervous, Jacob slowly walked out into the field to meet with this new creature. He didn't blame any of the nine for being worried when he heard light growls from behind.

Soon, Jacob stood but a few yards from the dragon and they in turn looked down at him with a curious look. When the human tilted his head, the dragon would follow his movements with their own head. Jacob moved his head in the other direction and the dragon's head moved as well.

Jacob became a little worried when the dragon came closer and lowered their head towards him. But as he looked into the great dragon's eyes, he felt a sense of calm like he had when he had been saved by Mama Rath that day. He slightly flinched when the Elder Dragon blasted a bit of cold air into his face. The great beast took a sniff of the human and Jacob felt compelled to reach out to touch it. Moving slowly to avoid agitating the great dragon, he lifted his hand. The icy dragon didn't move as their gazes remained locked, only blinking when they needed to. Jacob's hand lightly brushed against the dragon's snout under the horn on the nose for a moment before they raised their head and taking a step back from the human. The icy dragon really surprised him by giving him a slight nod before extending their wings and taking off into the sky.

(End of track)

The nine Jagras quickly came up to join him and they all watched as the dragon gaze down at them once more before turning to the north. The dragon didn't look back as it disappeared over the tree tops and who knows where.

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Author's Note: This is the shortest chapter out of the whole story. I thought to do this as a bit of a tease, sorry to all of those who might have been expecting more. Especially to my good friend Lukas. But worry not, Velkhana will return later on. I should let you all know that I will work on the next story arc, but I also need to get back work on other stories that need my attention so new chapters might be a little slow being added. But the Song of the Sea story arc is coming. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See all of you next time.