The mushrooms shake slightly as the MULE moves behind me. Above, Zack jumps between the caps, keeping an eye out for danger. The creature Zack had sensed seems to have disappeared. Whether that's a good thing or not, only time will tell. As we've trekked deeper into the mushroom forest, the air has gotten thicker and thicker with spores. Azu says there's nothing to worry about, but that doesn't make it any less uncomfortable. Every breath has a bitter aftertaste to it, and the air is extremely humid and heavy, like breathing in soup.

Much like the previous days, there isn't any activity from outside threats. No shells or other monsters. Just the sound of the MULE and the occasional bird or woodland creature. It keeps me on edge. It's almost like the forest is holding its breath in anticipation.

The day goes by in this tense silence, but just when the sun starts to wane, the air gets bitterly cold—unnaturally cold. A shiver runs down my spine as the cold seeps into my armor, and the mushrooms change from brown and white colors to blues and grays.

"Where getting close to the next sector, keep an eye out for ice." I look up at Zack and nod, his head peeking over the edge of a mushroom top. I keep walking. According to Azu, these bodysuits have a heat function, so I shouldn't worry about freezing to death. Several minutes go by, and the air temperature seems to stabilize. I check my glass. Twenty-five degrees.

I'm still staring at my glass when my face slams straight into a massive block of blue stone. "Oh shit!" I jump back as a cold stings my face. I gasp as my eyes travel up the perfectly smooth rock till they stop just above the MULE. My face reflects perfectly in the blue material, almost as if it were a mirror.

Azu lands beside me, "The frost oaks." She places a hand on the ice pillar. So this is ice. I've only ever seen it as cubes. Calypso is too warm for ice, and I never saw it back when the mansion was still standing. I shiver as a gust of wind blows straight through my clothes. My bodysuit heats up in response, and steam rises as the two temperatures collide.

Hearon walks up behind us, "Good; we managed to get here without much trouble. Hopefully, whatever was tracking us will give up the chase once we cross sectors." The large man taps the ice with a knife, and a dull thud can be heard. It has a strange distortion to it, however. It's almost like a metal wire snapping after too much tension is built up. He grunts and walks around it, Azu following. I hesitate, looking at myself on the ice one more time before following.

Much like the line that separated the pine forest and Mushroom Valley, there is also one here. The squishy moss is replaced by hard ice, but it's so perfect it looks unnatural. Azu and Heraon haven't crossed the threshold yet, but I do out of curiosity. As soon as I step on the ice, my foot slips, and I fall onto my back, my sword digging into my spine.

"Ouch," Zack says as he walks up to me. I lay there dazed. He holds out his hand, and I begrudgingly take it. He hands me a pair of metal spiked soles. "Put those on your boots. They'll help with traction." I do as he says and stamp my foot on the ground. This time, I don't slip. I glance up, and Zack has already moved to talk to our two companions. Ahead, there is nothing but the ice pillars and gound. Not a tree or bush to be found. The pillars are cone-shaped, tapering off to an intimidating point at the top.

I join the group in front of the MULE, crossing the border into the Mushroom Valley. "Looks good so far," Zack replies to a question Hearon had.

He nods, "You two will take the rear; Silen and I will take point. Make sure to keep your eyes sharp and your ears sharper." the two reply in confirmation and move to the back of the MULE—Hearon motioning for us to head into the ice-covered land as they leave.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Why haven't we seen any ruins?" I blurt. it's been bugging me for a while now. If there had been enough ruins to keep the divers occupied for thousands of years, I'd have thought we would have come across one or two by now.

He hums thoughtfully, "That is mostly because we purposefully avoided most of them. There was an entrance or two we passed on the way through, but you would not know it unless we pointed it out. Most ruins are underground, you see."

"They are?"

"Yes. Many of the ruins we have found have even been connected. It is almost like this entire forest is one giant connected city. In fact, finding an aboveground ruin is rarer than finding an entrance to the underground."

That's weird. So, the underground is connected? I wonder why. Who has the tech to do something like that? Then again, I shouldn't underestimate the ability of humans to build amazing things with very little technology.

"We should be out of this sector by the of the day. This particular section is very thin."

"Great," I reply. I hate the cold. We continued to make headway in the ice-covered forest. The silence is deafening. It's so clear and defined, but there's nothing out here. If I was alone, this place might make me go insane with how silent it is. Every "tree" reflects my face back at me, like the entire forest is made up of blue mirrors.

I must have zoned out while walking as I ran head-first into Hearon. I open my mouth to protest angrily, but Heraon is so still that my guard automatically goes up. Something is wrong. I glance around and see Zack and Azu perched on the MULE. "What is it?" I whisper to Hearon.

He starts to respond, but something catches my eye. A reflection several hundred feet away. A reflection of my brother, his spiky blond hair and electric blue eyes looking as bright as they were before he died. My blood goes cold. My mind must be playing tricks on me. I blink hard several times, and sure enough, it's gone. No...there it is again. This time, it was a few more feet away.

I take off after the reflection, my feet moving on their own. This can't be real. The forest must be playing tricks on me. The trio calls after me, but it's distorted. Muffled even in the dead silence. The reflection disappears and reappears only twenty or thirty feet away, causing me to accelerate. It disappears behind an ice pillar, the desperation growing in me. I round it and freeze.

There he is, inspecting an ice shard. Time stops as I stare. His face is glowing with excitement, his delicate lips turned up in a smile. His face is as perfect as always, not a blemish or wrinkle to be found, and looks as if a god sculpted it. He wears blue dress pants and a blue tuxedo with tails on it. Black dress shoes accompany the outfit.

"Silo?" I say, my voice cracking. He drops the shard and looks at me, a hint of recognition in his eyes.

"My, if it isn't Silen. What a surprise to see you here, of all people."

I take a hesitant step toward him, emotions running through me like a hurricane. Disbelief, worry, happiness, uncertainty. "You're supposed to be dead. I watched you die. I even buried you myself."

Silo smiles, his perfect teeth flashing in the sunlight, "Silen, my dear brother, do you truly not remember?"

I look at him, confusion marring my mind. A memory tugs at me. Something important that I shouldn't forget. But it's gone almost as soon as it appears. "No?"

Silo sighs in disappointment, "If you truly do not remember, you are worse off than I had expected."

I take another step toward him, "What do you mean? What did I forget? Why does that matter? Silo, please, why are you here? Why did you not come find me?"

Silo looks at me, a hint of sadness in his eyes, "Oh Slien, you naive brother. If you cannot remember, then you do not deserve to know. Well, we will meet again; I truly hope you remember. For your sake."

"What?" I step forward, only a few feet away, when an earthshattering boom echoes above me, and the ice pillar shakes. I duck and run backward. Silo looks at me with a disappointed expression as a large crack appears in the pillar and shatters, the ice glittering as it falls between us. Silo turns his back as the ice tree falls, cutting us off.

"SILO!" I run around the fallen ice, but he's nowhere to be found. Gone. Like he was never there to begin with.

"SILEN, LOOK OUT!"