Chapter 22 Snow, Snow Everywhere! Part 4

The snowfall grew heavier, and the cold wind relentlessly whipped against us, obstructing our sight. The elf covered his face with his hands in a vain attempt to protect it from the biting cold.

“Hmm, he won’t last long in this cold.” With that thought in mind, I started to control the snow around us, turning it into a small tornado with us in the center.

The elf looked perplexed as he put down his hands, no longer needing to shield his face, “You can do something like this?”

“Of course I can!” I said proudly as I came up with another great idea. “Here, hold out your hands.”

The elf did what I said with a question mark plastered over his face, then I pulled something out of my storage and let it fall into his hands. I wagged my tail in satisfaction over my ingenious mind.

“A fountain pen?” He looked at me in confusion as he held the black pen, ingrained on it a golden abstract pattern that meant to resemble fire.

“It’s not just a normal pen; did you not notice?” I paced through the snow in anticipation.

The elf made a surprised face as he finally realized, “It’s warm; I’m not freezing anymore!” He looked at the pen and then back at me, “Is that a magical item?”

I nodded, “Isn’t it cool! Its name is “Taschenwärmer” and this isn’t its only function! You see, you can also write with it, but instead of normal ink it uses heat to slightly burn the paper! So, you run never out of ink!” My tail moved in excitement as I passionately explained the pens functions.

After I finished, he spoke up, “It does sound practical, but why do you have that? I mean no offense, but you can’t use it with your paws, right?”

I looked at him with big eyes and a loss for words, then let my head and ears listlessly hanging, “You don’t have to remind me of that…”

“A-Anyway, this is a beautiful pen… Um…” The elf tried to save the situation and waved his hands around, attempting to change the subject.

“Isn’t this storm a bit weird? It feels like a lot of mana is concentrated in it, and it gets thicker the further we walk in.” He said finally coming up with a different topic.

“That’s because we are on our way to the center, to the spirit who is causing all this.” I and the elf proceeded walking.

“But it isn’t that far from the village; why did no one ever find the spirit? Is the heavy storm meant to prevent anyone from getting closer?” Now that he didn’t had to worry about the cold, he let his thoughts rumble.

“That’s one reason; the other one is that even if you get through this storm, if you can’t see spirits or aren’t invited, you won’t be able to find the entrance.” I walked calmly through the snow, enjoying the feeling of my paws sinking into it.

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“What entrance?” He looked at me, filled with curiosity.

I ignored his gaze. “You’ll see.” And continued walking.

***

After a while, a silhouette resembling a big mountain became visible through the snow curtain. I wandered unimpressed toward it while the elf stood still for a moment, in awe staring at it. “Is this the entrance you spoke of?”

“Yup.”

We came closer and closer until we finally stood before a big hole. So big in fact even a giant could walk through it comfortably, but it seemed to have been crudely smashed into the ice mountain. “Is this really it? It looks like a cave to me…” The elf, not completely convinced, glanced at me.

“The one who built this has no sense for aesthetics, but once we are deeper in it will improve; after all, I went over it when I first came here. Unfortunately, I had no motivation left to redo the entrance as well; maybe I will do it at some point…” I let my eyes wander, contemplating the design.

“I-Is that so…”

“Anyway, let’s go in.” I said in an earnest tone, and we resumed our walk.

As soon as we entered, the elf spoke up. “What was this feeling?”

“Hmm, you mean the shift in mana density? Thats because we are in the spirit realm now, or at least a close-off part.” I leisurely replied to him.

“W-What! Is it fine to bring me here?” He took a step back in utter shock.

“It’s fine; don’t worry. This entrance can’t lead to anywhere else but this specific location; like I said, it’s a closed-off space, and they can’t complain anyway since they opened this entrance in the first place.”

“If you say so…” The elf, still not sure, slowly followed me as I kept walking.

“Jeez, I know that the elves see the spirit realm as something sacred, but it’s still annoying sometimes… Now that I think about it… Is it a good idea to bring him here…? He might get a heart attack…” I thought to myself, slowly getting uncertain about my choice.

The further we walked, the more the cave transformed into a hallway, its ceiling so high that you couldn’t see it anymore. The solid ice walls had simple yet elegant pattens chiseled into them, and evenly spaced blue ice crystals protruded through the walls, spending dim cold light.

The elf looked festinated at my works of art; in satisfaction, I let my tail wag slowly. “Finally, someone appreciating my work. It took me what felt like an eternity to get this done…” I thought to myself.

After walking for a while, we finally saw a bright light in the distance. As we were just before exiting the hallway, I spoke up:

“Are you sure you want to go further…?” I paced around him nervously. “We can turn around, you know…”

“I already made my decision. I won’t turn around now.” The elf said resolutely.

I paced around him, my nervousness rising further…

“You absolutely sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Really, really?”

“Yes…”

“Absolutely, definitively, really sure you want to do this?”

“…”

He plucked me from the ground and looked at me, “That’s enough, Nox! I don’t know why you are so worried, but whatever it is, I can handle it!”

I let my ears hang after hearing his unwavering voice, “Fine, I won’t stop you anymore, but it’s not my fault if you can’t handle it; make sure to tell your mother that.”

He sighed and let me down, “Are you worried about me or that my mother might get angry at you?”

“Both, of course!” I exclaimed nonchalantly.

He shook his head as I looked at him innocently, “Let’s end this conversation here and go in…”

The elf walked through the bright light, and I quickly followed him.

“…” He stared into the distance, saying nothing.