Chapter 2

Eternus squeezes his dad tightly as he starts to ball his eyes out. [Rome]: What's wrong?! [Eternus]: S-Some girl.. Put some blue thing on my wrist. Eternus keeps crying as Rome consoles him. [Rome]: What girl? no one is here. [Eternus]: There was! I swear! Eternus keeps crying for a while, and once he calms down he and Rome sit down to see what the blue stone and watch that formed on his wrist is. Eternus gives his hand to Rome for him to inspect. [Rome]: Where did you find this stone? Rome rubs his head trying to console him. Still sobbing Eternus replies [Eternus]: O-on the ground... Rome tries to touch the stone and instantly it pushes him back, Like the 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 Between the two is increased. Rome is thrown high into the sky as Eternus stares in shock and horror, almost falling off the mountain Rome just barely grabs onto the mountain's cliff, the impact dislocates his shoulder and a branch stabs into his arm leaving a large gash on him. [Rome's thoughts]: D-Damnit... What the hell was that..? Rome grunts and struggles to pull himself up, Rome pulls himself up and Eternus rushes over to Rome to check on him. [Eternus]: DAD! Are you ok? As Eternus rushes over to his dad, Rome's arm looks as if it's going to fall off, Eternus panics and starts digging through his bag and then he realizes that they didn't bring any medical supplies. Eternus grabs the water they brought to try and clean his wound as best he can. After he puts the water on his wound he grabs Rome's arm trying to think of how to treat his wound. And when get grabs his arm the blue stone he found starts glowing blue and then suddenly Rome's gash disappears and his shoulder relocates itself. With a shocked face, Rome Says in a quiet tone slightly frightened [Rome]: What... Rome moves his arm around and it seems his arm is fixed. [Rome]: How did you... Do that..? [Eternus]: I don't know... But it was cool! Eternus starts waving around his hand trying to see what else the stone can do. [Rome]: Eternus, Stop! don't mess around, that thing is dangerous! After a while Eternus stops and Rome tells him that they should go. [Rome]: Come on Eternus, Let's go back home, We need to check on your mom and sisters. [Eternus]: Ok Dad... The two of them start their descent down the mountain, having to jump over holes, snow, and debris that fell during the avalanche and from the shockwave, Rome slips and almost dies 2 times over some ice and snow and manages to grab a hold of a branch and the side of the mountain or after about 𝟐 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 they reach the bottom and see their home covered in snow, rocks, and parts of other buildings, While Eternus stands there in shock at what happened to their home Rome rushes to their house and says [Rome]: Eternus help me! Rome starts digging up the snow in a hurry, and Eternus quickly follows in pursuit. As Eternus and Rome Eternus starts looking around for a shovel. [Eternus]: Dad, Is there anywhere you might have left a shovel?! Eternus tears up as Rome shakes his head no. With confirmation that they won't have any shovels, Eternus runs as fast as he can to start digging up the snow, after 𝟏𝟓 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬

Eternus slowly loses hope and starts tearing up, and when he starts tearing up he starts digging a little faster, and the stone starts to glow slightly, with the increase in speed and desperation to get rid of the snow the stone glows and Eternus's hands heat up, and before he knows it, a good chunk of the snow is melted, Eternus notices and he stops digging for a second, and as he stops the stone stops glowing [Eternus's thoughts]: Whys it melting so fast..? after a while Eternus opens his eyes wide. [Eternus's thoughts]: Is... Is it the stone..? after a second Eternus would try putting his hands to the snow and thinking about fire. after a while, the stone begins to glow again and his hands and his surroundings start heating up, melting the snow faster as Rome looks over in shock as he stops digging. he finishes melting the snow, just enough snow to get inside the house. [Rome]: G-Good job Eternus... I think... The two of them rush inside to check on their family. When they enter they don't find their family. Eternus starts looking around frantically but Rome stops him, [Rome]: Eternus, stop, if they were here we would have seen them, they must have left the house when the snow fell. [Eternus]: Yeah... you're probably right. The two of them leave the house and start to travel to the main village trying to see if maybe their family had hidden there. On their way, Eternus starts messing around with the stone on his wrist trying to see what else it can do. He waves around his hand a little trying to get his hand to heat up again, but instead of just heating his entire arm bursts into an inferno. [Eternus]: AH. Eternus starts shaking his arm around. [Rome]: Eternus! what the hell happened?! Rome quickly gets to Eternus and starts patting his arm trying to put out the fire. As he starts trying to put out the fire Eternus accidentally sets a nearby tree on fire. [Rome]: Eternus Just stand still and don't touch anything, I don't want you to get hurt! Rome rushes to the tree to put out the fire and when Eternus starts to panic the fire on his arm dies down, once it does Eternus rushes over to help Rome put out the fire and once Eternus touches the tree the stone glows dimly and the fire starts to die down. The tree is completely burnt and seems to be dead Eternus gets on his knees and puts his forehead on the tree and says [Eternus]: I'm sorry... [Rome]: Eternus... It's not your fault, you didn't mean to... How about you stop messing around for a while... Eternus decides to stop messing around for a while. They continue to walk through the forest to the village, as they walk Eternus stares at dead flowers, trees, and the dirty river, and it's obvious he's sad about the forest's current state. [Rome]: What's wrong Eternus? Eternus walks up to a tree and says [ Eternus]: It's just... The forest used to be so beautiful... But now... The trees have fallen... The rivers are dirty now... and all the flowers have died... And it used to smell so good... of fruits and flowers... But now it smells of oil, smoke, and fire... Rome puts his hand on Eternus's head. [Rome]: Don't worry... once we find Your mom and sisters we can go around helping, I hate seeing our home in such a ruined state just as much as you do... Eternus smiles and says [Eternus]: Thanks, Dad...When Eternus and Rome get to the main parts of the village they look around for a while and find a small group of people hiding in a bakery. [Eternus]: Are... you ok? [Woman]: We're fine child, thank you... Rome walks forward and asks them if they know where their family is. [Old Man]: Hmm... what do they look like? [Rome]: First we have my wife, Daisy, She has the most beautiful snow white hair and the most enchanting Violet eyes, with a gaze that makes the word stop and- Before Rome can continue on his rant Eternus steps in [Eternus]: I think they get it, dad. [Rome]: O-oh... With an embarrassed face, Rome tells Eternus to describe his sisters. [Eternus]: OK, first there's Sage, She has long White hair and blue eyes, and then there's Helia, She has medium brown hair in a ponytail, and the tip of her ponytail is white, and then she has dark purple eyes. The man starts thinking for a while [Man]: Hmm... I believe I have seen Sage, she was running as the snow fell and I saw her run into the blacksmithing building. Eternus grabs his hand and thanks the man. after Eternus and Rome thank the man they leave for the blacksmithing building. As they walk there Rome and Eternus talk some more. [Rome]: We never finished our conversation on the mountain, so, how's that new teacher of yours? [Eternus]: Shes nice! But she gives us too much work. [Rome]: Well that means you'll be smarter. Rome rubs Eternus's head and says in a mocking tone, [Rome]: Maybe then you won't fail everything. [Eternus]: You're mean Dad... After a while, the two of them arrive at the Blacksmithing building where Sage was last seen. They enter the building and find another group of people, a group significantly larger than the one they found before, and amongst them they see Sage going around helping people giving them food and water. [Eternus]: Sage! You're not dead!

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Sage turns around and smiles for a second and then runs up to Eternus and Roem and hugs them both. [Sage]: where have you two been!? I was so worried when the snow fell! Sage sobs louder as Rome rubs her head consoling her. [Rome]: We were still on the mountain when the avalanche happened. We hid in a cave until the snow stopped falling. Rome hugs her and Eternus tightly and tears up a little bit. [Sage]: That must have been scary... [Eternus]: Yeah It was, but found a cool sto-! Rome covers his mouth and whispers to him [Rome]: Be quiet! Don't tell anyone about it until we know the stone isn't dangerous anymore... Eternus nods and stops talking. [Sage]: Well... How was your hike? Before the avalanche at least... [Rome]: It was nice, besides Eternus's complaining. [Eternus]: Yeah! I found a cave! [Sage]: well I'm glad you two had fun. [Eternus]: Sage, Do you know where Helia and Mom are? With a sad face and a low tone Sage responds [Sage]: No... we were splitting up the errands and were on separate parts of the village... [Eternus]: Oh...well, me and Dad were looking for you girls, so can you come with us? Sage looks back at the little shelter and sees a few other people helping out around the place. [Sage]: *sigh* Well... sure, the family should stick together anyways. [Eternus]: Yay! Eternus grabs her hand and goes to Rome. [Eternus]: Dad! [Rome]: Hold on Eternus, this man said he saw Daisy. [Eternus]: Really? [Man]: That's right, I saw her and another girl with a brown and white ponytail helping some of the small children into the town hall. [Eternus]: That sounds like Helia, dad! [Rome]: Yeah, I was about to go and check to see If they were still there. [Eternus]: OK, let's go! Eternus runs out of the building quickly and Rome and Sage follow after him. The three of them walk through the village finally letting the realization of what happened sink in, the once luscious and beautiful gardens were all destroyed, the small buildings in ruins, and dead bodies at every turn. Sage spends a minute or two with all the bodies they encounter asking the gods to let them pass on peacefully. [Sage]: May your journey to the afterlife be peaceful. May you find comfort in the embrace of the divine and rest in eternal tranquility. Farewell, dear soul, may your afterlife be serene and filled with grace.

-𝐄𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐 (𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞)