Meanwhile, an unnerving calm was prevailing on Hare Hill. Life seemed to have found its balance once again. Ben spent his days looking through his old books, watching the grass move in the breeze, or watching the leaves of the trees sway in the wind. He would detail how the light was interspersed, among the tops of the pines, maples and oaks, and formed luminous figures in the flowering grass.

Like a breathtaking agony, she went out to see from her house how the homes of her neighbors, Vanessa and Mrs. Irma were, but absolutely nothing was happening. The clouds reflected on the outside walls, and the spring vines emanated a multicolored glow. Like an unseen enemy stalking him, Ben immediately set out to go down the hill, for he felt that something was not right, but he did not know the nature of the feeling that was suffocating him.

"Overwhelmed by the calm, Ben comes down the hill.

In haste and desperation he moved

Because nothingness choked and suffocated him.

Not knowing what was going on disturbed him greatly.

He ran into the unknown, not knowing what he would find.

Halfway through, a written message would see

I had never read it, nor knew it existed.

A lot of confusion was caused by this mishap.

Something you never thought you would one day read

That terror in old oak and maple wood.

Written on a yellow door in a garden

With letters as red as blood it showed

A message of terror and anguish overflowed

A phrase that should convey calm and peace

With boards on top, Ben of all hid it."

Ben stood thinking for a few moments trying to assimilate the information, there, halfway down the hill of the hare. And immediately he hurried up the hill. He turned back, but not to his house, he knocked hard and desperately on the door of Vanessa's house. The door was answered by little Valeska, who called insistently to her mother. Vanessa exalted and terrified asked Ben what was going on, he only said, "Valentina's documents for military retirement, the documents!" Vanessa looked confused for a moment, but then went for the letter for the registration of where Valentina was supposed to be right now.

Upon seeing the document, Ben immediately corroborated that something was wrong, since he knew how these activities worked for enthusiasts not enrolled in the Lebrassia army. "Valentina is in danger, she's with Kramer, I'm going to rescue her, I'm going to fix it." Kramer passed back through the gate between the grass that was beside the path down from Hare Hill, checking that it was covered so that no one else would see it.

Meanwhile at Castle Black, the girls were doing various activities, when they began to notice movements at the main gate of the fortress. The army of Lebrassia had deployed men to guard the entrance.

From a window high above, smiling, Kramer watched. "What is it my lord?" asks Valentina to Kramer. "He's coming for you," he replies.

Ben arrives next, and finds all those armed men in front of the castle gates, while a smiling Kramer, with Valentina at his side, and the other armed priestesses, all watching Ben from behind the old gate leaves.

One of the soldiers approaches and tells him that this fortification is protected, due to its strategic importance, since it is at the northeast end of the nation, and borders to the north with the forest of the bears. That the army will protect the south gate of the black castle. Ben looks up to the opposite wall, facing the bear forest, where the army would not intervene, then looks at Kramer and he says "I wish you a good trip".

The bear forest is bordered to the northwest by Lebrassia and to the east by Oldania. To get there, the way is not easy, since he would have to look for the entrance to those lands, far away from where he is, cross all that territory, and thus, reach the black castle through its northern wall, which, unlike the southern one, would not be protected by the army of Lebrassia.

Upon returning to Hare's Hill to prepare for the trip, Irma asked him for a few moments to talk to him.

"A thousand years ago, a princess reigned,

In a kingdom to the west that existed at that time.

Beautiful white skin and blue eyes she had,

A long dark hair as dark as the night flaunted

Of glaciers and extreme cold, his kingdom rebounded

Great kindness in his heart showed

Until one day his anger would awaken.

The dead lands died that day,

When the air was transformed into ice,

Every life, no matter how small, came to an end,

It came from another continent,

The rage of a grieving princess. "

After saying goodbye to Mrs. Irma, Vanessa and her daughter Valeska, Ben would go north to Fressen, a town near the gateway to the dead lands. Fresen, a cheerful and wintry place, white snow, strawberries, cherries and red banners. Lights like stars adorned the whole place, high on a snowy hill, overlooking the distant stormy sea, beyond the dead lands.

Ben then made his way to the railroad station to urgently board the ironclad train to Fresen. He passed through the brewery, and went to the left, into the middle of a wooded park, filled with tall orange and yellow pines and maples. The breeze was hurrying, Ben was hurrying to save his neighbor's daughter, held by Kramer.

In a grove of trees that the sky covered,

Of the colors of dawn shone

The trees in the park Ben would arrive at

A surprise he did not expect

It is that an enemy would be found there.

Ben was confused, it was Renata, one of the young women who were in the black castle with Kramer. She was tall, with a very tiny waist, and a very athletic and slender figure. She wore, as he had noticed before, a very special colored uniform, a metallic turquoise light armor, very sleek and tight fitting, with red harnesses, boots, jockstrap, and red pads, which contrasted with her abundant wavy blonde hair, and matched her turquoise eyes. Renata stared at Ben, as if making him understand that she was not going to let him continue on his way.

"I don't mean to hurt you, please step aside," Ben told him by way of ultimatum.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

- "This is the end of everything for you, you will not pass, you have already gone too far and I will not allow you to continue getting in the way," Renata replied.

She unsheathes a sword, and to Ben's surprise, it is identical to his, but with one difference, the activation button on this one is not red, it is turquoise.

Renata senses Ben's confusion as he reveals his weapon, and tells him, "It's not a pyro-sword like yours, it's a cryo-sword." She activates the button on the handle, and activates the magic system. This time no flames come out, but a heavy white mist that reaches down to the ground, like the chasm of a glacier. Renata points her sword at Ben using only one hand, and presses the button again, effortlessly directing all the thick, white cold towards him, with great force, like a blizzard.

With great difficulty Ben manages to partially dodge Renata's attack, but part of his armor is damaged and frozen. Ben counter attacks with a great storm of fire at the hands of his pyro-sword without any contemplation for his rival, a whirlwind of ascending fire was heading towards her, but Renata takes her icy sword with both hands and counteracts it frontally, freezing Ben's flames and hitting him directly. He shoots backwards violently and collides with a tree, partially breaking it and then lies devastated on the ground.

Ben is unconscious for a few moments and tries to get up with great difficulty, he tries to locate Renata, who is untouched and completely calm.

The sight with all its surroundings has turned to ice and frost, the yellow and red leaves have been encapsulated in frozen crystals, icy spears are sticking out of the ground, and a thick mist is sprinkled all over the flowered grass. The faint rays of sunlight reflect off Renata's turquoise light armor, and illuminate her hair, like a goddess, as she walks slowly, approaching Ben.

He looks at her from the ground to his sword that is to the side, trying to reach it with one hand, uselessly, unable to move, while Renata steps on his hand with her red boot, causing him enormous pain.

"Soon your blood will freeze, you have been touched by the most intense cold, one that does not come from this world, you will die and you will no longer be a hindrance, but I recognize your constancy."

Ben watches as Renata turns around and leaves, while everything goes dark, and darker....

Until he suddenly wakes up... And he is in a room, still in pain, covered with blankets, with a large wooden window in front of him. From one second he saw red and white banners, snow and houses in lustrous maple wood. A great arc of bluish light was visible over the rooftops. He was in Fresen. Somehow he had gotten there. -Is this real, or did I die?

Behind the door of the room, Ben heard murmurs. There were people talking on the other side, but he could not make out what they were saying. Ben remembered some moments of the fight with Renata, how he was easily defeated by her. He had never seen in practice the use of black magic and cold, he had only read about it in the military academy. It was said that handling non-human magic was very dangerous, and those who tried it suffered great deformations and even died in the attempt.

Ben fell asleep again, he was exhausted, and could not move easily.

A few maple leaves reached up to the window, some still covered with snow.

Then the door of the room opened, there were three people, but one of them stole all his attention. Of the three young men, one was the most beautiful she had ever seen in her life, she had big green eyes, like a cat, with long eyelashes, and straight hair as red as cherries that reached her neck. They kept talking to each other. That girl came in and approached Ben, kept looking at him and smiling, walked up to his face, and asked him if he was okay. He had drawings on his arms and neck, on his white skin. There was also a black necklace right in the middle of his neck. She checked Ben's bandages. "-We know about the message written on the door, and we went to look for you, rest." She touched ven's hair with her hand, and smiled warmly. "You're going to get better, you'll see."

Ben tried to get up on his own, all his joints were hurt, and he couldn't seem to move without help, and he fell asleep again. When he woke up again, he heard the same murmurs behind the door, it sounded like they were getting ready to leave. He asked to be taken outside with them. Limping, Ben, accompanied, walked through the streets of Fressen. Elegant stores, restaurants and refined commerce. A magnificent red and gold city on a plateau of blue ice. They stopped at an open-air event, where they heard sweet and cheerful music from some young people.

Ben kept looking at her, and she looked at him and asked him how he felt. He asked her name, to that red-haired girl, "Luzea, that's my name, come...". Ben was led by her to a higher part of the city, from where he could see the land without owner, just in front of Fressen. From the distance a dark and gloomy landscape was dazzling, and then, a completely black sea, impossible to know where the water ends and the sky begins. That was where Ben had to go, to reach the back of the castle where Kramer was waiting for him.

In the distance, the land that no one owned could be seen,

Eternal darkness and settled fog,

In chaos and conflict they all lived

Without a proclaimed king to rule,

Since it was forbidden, Because a war would be avoided.

Luzea took him to visit the great statue of the scarlet knight, a monument carved in blue ice (on which the city of Fressen was built), representing one of the four statues (so called these high class warriors guarding each of the four cardinal points of Lebrassia). It was at the highest point of the city, as the city was built from west to east, and rose to the east, on a steep rise. Many tulips were everywhere, and the air had a pleasant, slightly sweet, floral, perfumed scent.

After a couple of days, Ben began to feel better, and headed for the Fressen gate in the west, to follow that course into the no man's land and through it, keeping himself alive. Luzea accompanied him, in the dark, there. After a couple of hours, they arrived at the archway that indicated the entrance. She was dressed completely in black, only a little of her red hair was visible, in front of the hood.

And there was Ben, in front of the entrance, a huge destroyed stone archway with warnings, embedded in a modest delimitation of dark stones. As it passed, each person would be responsible for himself. You could feel the ocean breeze, a smell of salt and mud. Luzea bids him farewell, but not before handing him a packet with food and vivieres for the road.

It was a slight slope, with wet earth from the cold, stones, and some mud. There were no oaks or maples, not even a small bush or grass, just a sad panorama of desolation.

After advancing for a few moments, Ben was startled by a great roar in the sky. A huge lebrassian flying fighter craft was above him! Targeting him with its multiple cannons, and dazzling him with red targeting lights. The great turbulence generated by the unit was as strong as a blizzard. The craft approached the ground, and unfurled a platform silhouetted with the silhouette of several men.

They were middle-class soldiers, just like Ben, who, when they hit the ground, march towards him, several steps away. Ben takes up a defensive position. The men in front of him break ranks, revealing a man in red armor. Tremendously tall and slender, he revealed long golden hair down to his back. His helmet did not hide his face, very young and with deep blue eyes, like sapphires.

With a very serious attitude, and determined, he tells Ben "This has gone far enough, it's time to put an end to it". At that moment Ben identifies him as the statue of the west, the high class military man. He unsheathes an impressive pyro sword, which has a red light sight, which is pointed directly at Ben, and before the latter reacts, a thin blast of red fire goes through the side of his torso, ignoring his armor.

Ben falls to the ground writhing in pain, while his opponent looks down on him with disdain. Everything happened so fast that he could not even react to the attack of the western statue, the scarlet knight. Ben is knocked unconscious and begins to die. But just before he returns to the ship, his enemy, with his back turned, looks over and sees Ben resisting death on the ground. Angered, he kicks him so hard that he throws him forcefully through the air against a large rock, breaking the latter, and causing Ben to vomit a large amount of blood.

"You have come quite far, it is to be admired, now you will have the honor of dying at my hands, Rubicom of the western statue", Lo stares at Ben, and that moment, Rubicom notices the similarity between the latter and the ice princess of the myth, remembering a painting similar to the one Ben's elderly neighbor, Mrs. Irma, had.

"It can't be, it's too much of a coincidence...", "I get it..." stammered Rubicom. "You have terrible enemies Ben, did you know that?". The scarlet knight turns around, turning his back on Ben, approaches the flying craft, and gives the order to return, without him. The great craft takes course for Fressen, as Rubicom approaches Ben, places his hand on his wound, and with warm heat heals his wound incredibly. "Fire can hurt as well as heal."

"Why did you save me what do you wish?" asked Ben. "I disobeyed a direct order to kill you, now we will both be killed, no matter my rank, the command comes from far above, now we must hurry."

Ben did not have many options left, if he wanted to kill him Rubicom would have already done it, so he had to trust him. Ben and Rubicom were hurrying towards the west, when a red light illuminated them from behind, "it's already here," exclaimed Rubicom, with concern on his face.

As Ben turns his gaze, he notices a huge metallic humanoid, a motorized armor, gleaming dark green, with a red eye in the center, and legs with the geometry similar to those of a rooster. With a lightning voice, he orders both fugitives to surrender. As they both take defensive positions, the metal mass launches a flurry of self-propelled projectiles towards them, causing successive explosions of great intensity. Ben and Rubicom each rush to one side of the enemy and cut him with their flaming pyro-swords, but do not manage to do any more damage. The envoy continues with his massive attack, exhausting them, and in the next attack he knocks Ben down terribly. In the silence, while Ben is knocked down, he suddenly hears Vanessa's voice, asking for help.

Ben stands up determined, picks up his pyro-sword and leaves the trigger depressed, as he watches his enemy prepare to strike his final blow.

At that moment Rubicom hits him with his incandescent sword, cutting him with flaming flames at high speed, until the mechanical monstrosity takes him hand in hand, testing their strength against each other. At that moment Ben activates the spark of his pyro sword generating a great column of flames, he throws himself against the enemy and cuts him in half, Rubicom releases him and the two parts of the mechanical envoy explode one after the other.

In this way, Ben would have found, by now, a powerful ally, it seemed. As the two of them went into the dark lands without an owner.

Meanwhile, in the black castle, Kramer was preparing for "the final rite", with which he would open a dimensional door to the elven lands of the east. From this moment on, he would be in charge of impregnating all the women residing in the black castle, with the aim of replicating himself, and promoting the birth of a new race, the "numans".

Dressed in redeemer's cloaks, his round glasses and with his red hair down to his neck, he promulgated the beginning of a new era. "-They will give birth to gods!" exclaimed Kramer full of joy. Gathered all together, in the chapel of the black castle, dressed in their military costumes of light armor, they performed strange praises and rituals, all directed toward Kramer. Surrounded by oil paintings, where Kramer descends from the heavens as a savior, flowers, and candles.

Rose petals and other flowers were thrown at Kramer in a circle, with him in the center. The final procession had begun.