A Meeting Upon the Mountain

In the morning, Kris woke up, still engulfed in the fluffy burrito. However, after some effort he was able to squirm out from under Celica without waking anyone, and went to grab a couple more pieces of wood to throw on the fire. As he was, he took a moment to look around the area of the mountain pass they were on.

This is really beautiful, actually. If it weren't so cold, it'd probably be a nice place to live. Well, the cold and the wolves... He briefly thought of the fenrir's from their last trip. Hopefully they're doing alright. I'm glad we didn't have to kill them, and we haven't gotten any reports-

His thoughts were cut off as he was suddenly engulfed in shadow. Is it going to storm? But there isn't any other clouds in the sky... He started to get a feeling he was being watched, and turned around. Behind him, up in the sky, was not a cloud, but a colossal mass flying between him and the sun. After a moment, the mass had moved far enough the sun was visible again, and Kris could clearly see the obstructing object.

It was, unmistakably, a dragon. Or at least, it looked exactly like a what's Kris's concept of a dragon was. From where he was standing, he had trouble gauging it's actual size, but he could clearly see it's purple scales reflected in the morning sun.

Kris watched in awe as it flew past. It seemed to be descending, until it alighted on a distant peak. Now, he could tell it was probably the size of a city block, and probably a few stories tall. It seemed to be looking around.

Kris suddenly felt worried it might be looking for him, and ran back inside the cave.

However, the other three were in the process of waking up and getting out of the cave.

Mibu, rubbing her eyes, asked, “What's wrong?”

Kris said, “I think I saw a...dragon.”

“Oh...” she replied, seemingly unconcerned, and fixing her bedhead.

“Isn't that, like, a big deal?” Kris asked, a bit incredulous.

Mibu shrugged, “They're kinda rare, but my family used to see green ones in the forest.”

Celica nodded in agreement. “We saw one overfly our village once or twice a year while it was migrating hunting areas.”

Paddy grimaced a bit. “We saw them a lot where I use to live. They like to perch in the mountains for their nests. What color was it?”

“Purple.”

Paddy thought for a bit, “I don't remember ever seeing a purple one before.”

Kris tried to instill the seriousness of how he felt. “It looked like it was hunting for food, though.”

Paddy nodded, “It probably was.”

Mibu seemed to catch on to Kris's worry. “Ah, Dragon's don't normally eat people.”

“Normally!?”

“Yes, they normally want meatier food. I think we're too little meat to bother hunting unless it was desparate, especially given how hard we fight back. They'd rather grab a goat or a boar.”

Kris nodded in understanding. “Are dragons intelligent?”

Paddy and Celica looked at him confused. “Of course...” Celica replied.

Kris blushed in embarrassment, “Sorry, I didn't really learn a lot of the basics of the world growing up.”

Mibu patted his head, “It's okay. We'll teach you everything! It seems like you've been doing better lately, I haven't had to explain as much.”

Paddy seemed to understand, nodding, “This is probably your first time seeing one then?”

Kris nodded.

“If we don't bother it, it shouldn't bother us.”

With that understanding, they grabbed their things and continued through the mountain pass. The dragon was gone from the peak it had been on, and Kris couldn't help but dart his eyes around sky, looking around for where it may have gone. However, as the morning wore on, the once crystal clear sky became cloudier and cloudier, until even if the dragon was flying around, it wouldn't be seen until it was in bite-range. Of course, that meant it also shouldn't be able to see them.

Eventually, snow started falling, and the wind kicked up. Kris got flashbacks to their first time on the mountain, when they had been attacked by a would-be robber and the fenrir.

Mibu shouted over the wind, “Kris, we're going too far south.”

Kris pulled up his map and nodded, correcting their course to a more eastward one. He looked back to check on the others. Mibu was right behind him, with Celica behind her, walking in the path Kris and Mibu were making. Paddy was bringing up the rear, seemingly unconcerned with the weather, despite snow sticking to her hair and ears.

Another hour of walking later, and the snow started to pick up even more. “Should we find a cave and wait this out?”

Mibu looked around, “The snow is so bad, I can't see anything.”

Kris gulped. If Mibu can't see anything...

As he was considering the next course of action, a loud howl engulfed them, echoing around the pass.

“Is it the fenrir?” Kris asked.

Mibu shook her head. “No, I don't recognize it.”

Paddy, however, was unslinging her ax. “That's a yeti.”

Yeti!?

There was another howl, this time sounding more guttural, and a lot closer. Paddy turned to the south, walking a few steps away, and bracing herself for combat.

Trusting Paddy's instincts, Kris took out his sword and went to drop his bag.

“Don't drop your stuff, or we'll never find it,” Paddy shouted.

Kris nodded, wrapping his bag around him and walking next to Paddy. It'll be a hindrance fighting, but it's better than winning and starving to death.

After a moment, there was another howl, causing his eardrums to rumble, and he saw a figure looming through the snowfall.

Before Kris could react, Celica sent two Air Slash's towards the figure. It seemed to hesitate slightly, then roared again and started running at them. Kris could see the giant figure looked like a bipedal ape, except with white hair covering everything, and fangs the size of a tiger's. It was much taller than even Paddy, probably twice his height or more. He could see where the Air Slash's had cut him, but it seemed to barely draw blood at all.

Scorch! Kris sent at the yeti, singing it's chest. It roared in pain, but barely flinched before running at him.

Paddy slid in between them, blocking a punch with the handle of her ax. The force still caused Paddy to slide into Kris, who caught her, and both managed to stay on their feet.

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Mibu started sending arrows into the yeti before it could punch again. Several bounced off, but a couple stuck into it's chest and shoulders.

While Mibu was distracting it with arrows, Paddy swung her ax, hewing into the yeti's side and causing blood to spurt out. It grunted in pain from the attack, before grabbing the ax and pulling.

Paddy tried to hold on, but was pulled face-first into the snow and lost her grip on the ax.

The yeti bent the ax handle together before throwing it onto the ground. It then went to stomp on Paddy.

Kris leapt over Paddy, stabbing up towards the yeti's foot. It seemed to catch onto the bottom, but didn't break the rough sole of the yeti's foot, only causing it to pull back and scream at Kris again.

Celica hit it with another Air Slash and Mibu used a couple more arrows in an attempt to distract it.

Paddy was pushing herself off the ground, shaking off the snow. Seeing her ax was destroyed, she grabbed her shield and started running to place herself between the yeti and Kris again.

Kris used Scorch twice more, missing one but hitting it in the face with another, causing it to howl in pain and clutch it's face.

As Paddy got between it and Kris, the yeti took a step back, before holding it's hands out.

What is it-...is that magic!?

As Kris was thinking this, a cold wind, biting even more than the natural wind, started flying towards them from the yeti. Even behind Paddy, Kris could feel the wind pushing against him, and ice crystals were forming on him and Paddy.

Kris looked back at Mibu and Celica. Mibu had run out of arrows, and had grabbed Celica, who looked like she was going to be blown away. Celica raised her wand, and suddenly the wind stopped. Kris assumed she had cast 'Silence'.

The yeti looked momentarily confused, before raging once more, aiming a punch at Paddy.

Paddy blocked it, but was slid back again. Since Kris was right behind her, he was sent flying back into the snow.

“Kris!” he thought he heard Mibu shout, and he felt someone grabbing his arms and pulling.

“I'm fwine,” Kris said as he spat out snow.

Mibu helped him up anyway as Paddy was blocking blows.

Celica seemed to be nervous, hesitating on if she should cast anything, presumably managing her mana.

Kris quickly looked at his own. I have another two Scorches, probably, but... Looking at the yeti, it seemed to be favoring the side Paddy had hit it with her ax earlier.

“Distract him on the right Mibu, and I'll stab his wound,” Kris explained.

Mibu nodded, quickly running over the snow and casting Ice Spike. This seemed to irritate the yeti, and it instead focused it's attention towards her.

As it did, Kris stabbed where it was bleeding.

The yeti was noticeably shaken by this, immediately turning towards Kris and barreling towards him as he tried to back away. Paddy tried to intervene, but the yeti shoved her out of the way.

As Kris braced himself, he heard another howling, this time behind him. Before he could react, three blurs pounced over him.

Fenrir!? Three fenrir ran towards the yeti, two smaller ones biting it's legs, while a larger one bit onto it's bleeding side.

The yeti started punching the larger one until it let go, though tearing out a chunk as it did, and kicked it's legs until the two smaller ones flew off, one flying into the snow and the other hitting a rock.

Kris took a moment to recover, as he had been frozen while watching the fenrir, but quickly realized the yeti had started to breathe heavily, noticeably panting as it lost more and more blood, even holding it's side as if to try and staunch the bleeding.

It's definitely hurt, we can do this! Kris thought. He saw the other three had recovered, Celica raising her wand and Paddy and Mibu inching closer.

Before any of them could take an action, a huge shadow appeared behind the yeti. Kris instantly recognized the silhouette. “It's the dragon!” he shouted at the others, as he ran towards them.

Suddenly, the dragon's neck and head came clearly into sight, chomping onto the yeti, who screamed before going silent. Kris was stunned looking at the purple scales, which glistened even in the snowstorm. For a moment, he saw it's eye rotate towards him, purple pupil staring for just a moment, until he saw the wings start to flap, kicking up snow everywhere, until the silhouette disappeared, crunched yeti still in it's mouth.

Kris took a moment to react, but then quickly recovered. “Paddy, Mibu, Celica!” he shouted, fighting his way through the snow.

“Kris!” he heard shouted from different voices. They continued shouting at each other for a few moments, until they had found each other, huddling in the snowstorm together.

Kris felt the tension leave his as he realized they were all alright. “Do we have everything?”

They quickly took stock. “Just my ax is gone,” Paddy said, looking sad.

Kris scratched her ears, “We'll get you a new one, I'm just glad we're not hurt.”

At that point, the large fenrir and one of the small ones approached them through the snow.

“Is that the same ones?” Kris said, grabbing his sword.

The large fenrir growled, but looked at Mibu.

“Yes. She wants me to help her pup,” Mibu explained.

The two fenrir turned and started walking briskly, with Mibu following after. The other three looked at each other.

Kris shrugged, “We can't let our selves get separated,” and so they followed after.

A short walk away, the other smaller fenrir was laying against a rock, breathing heavily. The large fenrir licked it's face, but it kept panting.

Mibu walked over, a green glow coming around the fenrir as she leaned over to heal it. After a few moments, the pup's breath became more regular, and it opened it's eyes, whining a bit.

The smaller fenrir nudged it, but the one lying didn't move, just shaking a bit.

“Sorry, that's all I can do for now until my mana restores,” Mibu explained.

The large fenrir growled.

“It's other pup is gonna take us to a cave while she watches this one,” Mibu explained.

Paddy slung her shield, then walked over and picked up the injured fenrir. “I can carry it. It'll be safer if we're all together.”

The large fenrir growled again, although it seemed less aggressive, and turned to start walking.

After ten or so minutes of walking, they reached a cave. The snowdrift had gotten so bad, Kris was carrying Celica on his back so she didn't get buried, and they had to dig out the cave entrance a bit as it was half-buried.

Inside, they took out their lanterns and took stock of their situations. Paddy and Kris had lost a bit of health from being knocked around, but were mostly fine. The other two fenrir seemed fine, and after another round of healing from Mibu, the third one seemed to be okay, able to walk slowly but forced to rest by it's mother.

Celica had been shivering, and cuddled into Paddy, eventually falling asleep. Paddy blushed a bit at this development, and wrapped her arms around Celica and started nodding off herself.

Kris was keeping Mibu company, who seemed more worn out then any of them, presumably due to the healing.

“Mibu, you should sleep too,” Kris said, grabbing her shoulder.

Mibu shook her head. “It needs a bit more healing.”

Kris sighed, but nodded. It's not like I want it to die, and they did help us. Actually, why did they help us? “Do you know why they would help us fight it off?”

The large fenrir, which was sitting near the cave entrance seeming to keep watch (the smaller one was cuddled next to it's injured sibling), growled a bit.

“Fenrir hate yeti's, since they prey on fenrir's sometimes. They heard our fight and smelled blood, so they thought maybe the yeti was attacking one. Then they recognized our smell once they got near.”

Kris squinted his eyes at the long explanation. I...guess that makes sense. “Are we fine to stay here for now?”

The fenrir growled some more, and Mibu nodded. “Yes, anyone who fights yeti's is a friend of fenrir.”

Before Kris could say anything else, the fenrir growled again, looking at Kris this time. Mibu giggled, wrapping her arms around Kris and giving him a kiss.

Kris was taken aback at the sudden affection. “Wh-what!?”

“She wishes you were a fenrir instead of a human, since a male brave enough to fight yeti's like that to defend their pack would be a worthy mate.”

Kris blushed, not sure what to say, “I-...I'm honored.”

The fenrir looked at him again, then turned around and looked back out the entrance.

After one more round of healing, Mibu seemed to think the injured fenrir should be good, and fell into Kris's arms.

Kris helped her over to the wall, and they cuddled up next to Paddy, before falling asleep form exhaustion.

Kris was woken in the morning by someone licking his face.

“Awuh, what? Why are you licking me? Just-” he started, before realizing the licking was being done by a giant wolf. One of the smaller ones was licking him, while the other was licking Mibu.

“Hey, Kris, stop!” Mibu said, giggling.

“It's not me...” Kris said, trying to calm the one licking him.

Mibu opened her eyes, before realizing it was one of the fenrir and petting it.

The two 'smaller' fenrir started happily running around the cave, Kris not even able to tell which of them was the previously injured one. Mibu's healing magic is pretty amazing.

The commotion led to Paddy and Celica waking up, Celica slightly embarrassed at being woken up in Paddy's arms. However, after a moment she smiled, and looked at Paddy, “Thanks for keeping me warm.”

Paddy didn't seem to know how to respond, just blushing and smiling back.

Seeing this interaction, Mibu went up and hugged both.

The large fenrir came up and nuzzled into Kris's hand. Kris was a bit tense, but the large fenrir seemed to just be greeting him, before giving a small growl.

“She's going to help guide us out of the mountain,” Mibu translated.

Well, we have our status screen map, but I'm not going to complain about having three friendly wolves keeping us company.

Once they had gathered themselves, they headed out of the cave. It was just barely dawn, the sun still obscured by the peaks, but it was light enough they could make out mountain pass, covered in show. It was seeming to compact slightly, but it was still slow going trudging through it.

After a couple hours, they took a turn, and followed a small path going east with tall cliffs on each side. The path started going downhill, until after a turn, it opened up.

Below them was the slope of a mountain, and in the distance, a solid blue body of water.

That must be the sea! We're not so far off, then.

The wolves walked with them a while longer, until the rocky outcrops of the mountain became fewer and they entered into a grassland towards the bottom of the slope.

The small ones licked Mibu again, and the large one even came over, licking Kris's face before growling a bit.

Mibu giggled, “She says she hopes you visit again.”

Kris delicately petted the large fenrir, who seemed to enjoy the attention. “Well, we have to come back through once we're done.”