Sapphire and Winter rested in the woods for the night before setting once the sun rose high above the horizon. Neither of the two found itself in them to speak since the moment the woke up, not even by the time the sun shone directly above them. The previous day left deep marks on both their hearts and brains, both of them deeply injured, physically and mentally.
Winter felt more concerned about Sapphire than ever before, knowing very well Sapphire won't easily show her pain even if near death. She found it harder after seeing just how close Sapphire and her parents were. She knew it would be hard for Sapphire to not having been there when they died, not even knowing what happened with them.
Winter herself did not leave unscathed either. Having seen so much death and carnage on the battlefield, and caused a good amount of it, only to find what the elder she looked upto did at the end, betraying an entire species and slaughtering them. Winter felt even more responsible belonging to the same species as that very elder, but Sapphire didn't bunch in Winter with the other Winter Wolves. Sapphire knew Winter would go to any length for her, and stay by her side forever, no matter what happened, and make sure she never loses again no matter the cost.
Sapphire also felt responsible for looking after Winter, being the stronger of the two, and the one because of whom Winter left behind her pack. Sapphire knew Winter will follow her no matter what, so deciding the right path came upon her, something she did not have any experience with. She has never been a good leader, nothing she could do would bring her even close to her father's leadership skills.
Both of them were consumed by worries of the future, willing to go to any length to keep each other safe. Sapphire still focused on other goals however, finding the guardian and taking it down being her primary concern now.
"Sapphire." Winter called out, sitting in the plain snowy ground as Sapphire looked around. "Where are we headed? And what is your plan?" She questioned.
"To the guardian, I am trying to find the way with Appraisal's help." Sapphire sighed.
"You really think The Creator will help you defeat that guardian thing?" Winter inquired.
"No, he won't, and I already know it." Sapphire replied. "He won't save me from trouble I am getting myself into off my own accord."
"What if the guardian is too strong for us?" Winter inquired.
"Won't be a problem, I can regenerate infinitely so I don't have to worry about any attacks," Sapphire answered, taking in a deep breath. "And you are not coming."
"What?" Winter exclaimed. "I am not letting you go there yourself, what if you can't beat it by yourself?"
"Then I won't be able to beat it with you there either," Sapphire pointed out. "And it will very likely go after you first, as reducing the number of enemies is the most reasonable response."
"But-" Winter argued.
"No," Sapphire denied, cutting her off. "I don't want anyone else close to me dying." She mumbled, a teardrop glistening at the corner of her eye.
Winter sighed and fell silent, understanding the reason very well, even though she didn't wish to let Sapphire go alone. *She has fought everything else by herself mostly so far, she will be fine, no need to worry, she will be fine.* Winter repeated in her mind trying to calm herself.
"First let's go do something else," Sapphire offered.
"And what will that be?" Winter inquired.
"I don't really want to fight that guardian as I am, I would prefer to find more ancient dragons for their crystals and more artifacts too preferably," Sapphire explained.
"Always following you, so lead the way." Winter bowed as she gestured Sapphire ahead.
Sapphire led the way westwards, hoping to find a city marked on the map she still carried. It happened to be an uneventful journey of two days. Most monsters were also scared of Winter and Sapphire, easily being able to feel their presence from afar, running away as soon as they neared.
They reached the city just before sunset, the sun hanging just above the horizon, the bottom of the red disc in the sky touching the horizon. The sky seemed covered by waves of clouds making it look like a sea in the sky due to the reflecting sunlight. The winds were strong and cold, blowing from the north-east.
Sapphire found the adventurer's guild of the city and stood outside it. Winter looked at her expectantly. "Stay right beside me and don't do anything," Sapphire ordered her.
Winter nodded and followed Sapphire inside as she opened the door and slid in. Sapphire led Winter to the commissions board and stood there for a short while, checking every piece of paper pinned to the soft board. After a short while of looking she led Winter back out of the guild, leaving the some of the adventures which noticed her confused.
"What were we here for?" Winter inquired.
"Information, which I acquired, so let's leave for our first destination," Sapphire informed.
"You memorized all the symbols from the board? And you know what they mean?" Winter questioned.
"Yes, I know what they mean, and no, I did not memorize them. I marked them down on the map so it will be easier," Sapphire explained.
"But you didn't have the map there," Winter pointed out.
"One of my Shadow Warriors marked it down as I told it to." Sapphire informed with a shrug as she led Winter away from the city.
"Oh, makes sense then." Winter nodded as she followed behind, both of them quickening their pace.
They left the city and walked towards their first and closest destination, a dungeon. As it happened to be both of their first time in a dungeon, they were hesitant to enter at first, but the commission mentioned a relic, and Sapphire found that information enough to change her mind.
They reached the entrance of the dungeon around midnight, the moon being halfway down in the dark sky, shining behind the entrance, it's light blocked every now and then by the clouds. The dungeon's entrance shone brightly in the moonlight, a staircase leading down with a roof above it, causing the inside of the staircase to be extremely dark. There were doors, but they appeared to be already open, left like that by whoever came here last.
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.*Or whatever.* Sapphire thought, keeping her senses on high alert.
The two nodded to each other and slowly descended down the steps, the surroundings steadily becoming barely visible even to their night vision. Winter missed a step in the dark, nearly sending herself tumbling down the steps if not for Sapphire grabbing her before that could happen. Sapphire's night vision, being much better than Winter's allowed her to see to some extent. It did not take much for her to realise that any darker and even she would not be able to see any longer. The uneven heights and shapes of the steps made the descend far scarier. She used a fire spell to set her left hand on fire, the flames too weak to burn her, but enough to light the way.
"Send a fire spell downwards so we can see how far down it goes," Winter suggested.
The flame on Sapphire's hand only lit up till about five stairs down, making it hard to guess how far down the end really happened to be. Sapphire shot a weak fireball downwards, lighting the way as it moved ahead, descending slowly. It hit the flat ground just about ten steps lower. Both Winter and Sapphire sighed on realising they were just ten steps from the end by the time they thought of all this. Descending the last few steps they stood in front of a gate of iron bars, the lock on it broken and the gate flung open.
"Shadow Play," Sapphire called, "keep an eye in all four directions around us." Four Shadow Warriors appeared from the ground and disappeared into the shadows in the four directions around the pair. "Don't let your guard down still," Sapphire warned Winter.
Winter nodded, her senses on high alert, gestured by her slightly pinned backwards ears. They walked through the gate down a long dark hallway. There were wooden pillars carved into the walls at regular intervals through it, the floor and remaining part of the walls made of stone bricks. There were some low hanging lights made of Mana Glowstones every now and then, some fitted into the walls on the sides, most extinguished however.
A Shadow Warrior alerted Sapphire of something in the wall, an item of interest, but not specifying it's nature. Sapphire cautiously approached it, using the fire on her hand to illuminate the area around herself. It seemed to be a chest, made of wood with a metallic lock and linings, glowing in the blue light of the flames in her hand.
Sapphire and Winter exchanged glances as a Shadow Warrior came up beside Sapphire. It held a long stick with a thick wooden bulb at one end, wrapped in cloth. Using the fire on Sapphire's hand it lit up the stick, handing it to Winter before disappearing back into the shadows to stand guard.
"That's a smart one," Winter breathed.
"Yeah, Shadow is the smartest one, she knows a lot," Sapphire shrugged.
"Wait, you didn't tell it to do that?" Winter exclaimed.
"No, all Shadow Warriors have their own will too, I only named Shadow so far because she is the first and smartest one so far." Sapphire explained as she pushed the chest open.
"Anything useful in there?" Winter inquired.
"A katana for you." Sapphire answered, tossing a katana over her head.
Winter barely grabbed it with her free hand as it fell towards her head. Though sheathed, it would have still hurt due to being fairly heavy. Rolling her eyes at Sapphire, Winter inspected the katana, handing the torch to a Shadow Warrior that appeared from the shadows to hold it for her.
The saya of katana seemed to be white with a slight hint of blue. The handguard being in the shape of a snowflake, a wolf's head carved into the hilt, light blue gems adorning the eyes. As Winter unsheathed it, the white blade with hints of blue all through it glimmered beautifully in the blue glow, getting shinier further from the sharp edge.
"That is a cool katana." Sapphire complimented, crossing her own with it.
"Might not be as cool as yours," Winter shrugged.
"Suits you better than mine would still. What does Appraisal think?" Sapphire inquired.
"It suits Winter better," Appraisal agreed.
"Why can I hear your Appraisal thing," Winter questioned.
"A new thing Appraisal got apparently, it can also be heard by those who I want to hear it," Sapphire explained. "And I meant appraise the katana you knowledgeable fool," Sapphire scolded Appraisal.
"Blade of Forgotten Tundras, level 1, bound to: none," Appraisal informed.
"What object is required to bind it?" Sapphire inquired.
"Ice spell activation while holding the katana," Appraisal explained.
Winter formed a small snow ball in her hand and thew it at Sapphire's face, earning a glare from her.
"Blade of Forgotten Tundras is now bound Winter Wolf (unranked), name: Winter."
"What does unranked refer to?" Winter inquired.
"Nothing important." Sapphire reassured as she brushed the bits of snow out of her hair.
"Appraise." Winter called out, holding her hand up, pointed at Sapphire.
Sapphire tilted her head with an 'are you serious' expression.
"Midnight Wolf (Survivor), name: Sapphire," Appraisal informed.
"It worked." Winter exclaimed just as Sapphire hissed at Appraisal. "I will kill you, Appraisal."
"Anyways," Sapphire called out, "let's get going, this isn't a very safe place."
"Right, I forgot about that." Winter sighed as she followed Sapphire, placing her katana in her belt.
They continued through the darkness, the small area around them illuminated by their torch, being the only visible area for them. The walls on either side were lit up by the torch, the Shadows keeping an eye on the walls along with ahead and behind for attacks and any valuable things. They found a few more chests, though they contained nothing of much value to the two. There were some trinkets but nothing worth keeping for them. As they walked ahead the Shadow Warriors informed her of a path on the left and right, helping Sapphire realize they were on a crossroad. They could continue forward, or go left or right, presenting her with a wide range of weapons.
"Shadow Play, explore the three ways." Sapphire ordered, summoning the remaining shadow warriors. The one named Shadow and another one waited with Sapphire and Winter as three groups of nine Shadow Warriors explored the three paths. All of them quietly waited for any information, occupied with their own minds while waiting. "Starting with right, we will go left last. Shadow Play, six keep an eye on the left path, stand guard and warn us if it comes our way." Sapphire ordered as she led the way.
"What is *it*?" Winter inquired.
"I don't know, my Shadow Warrior died before it could get a look. The left path is the longest as well so we shouldn't have to worry just yet, and the right is the shortest," Sapphire informed.
Winter slowly nodded and followed Sapphire. Two Shadow Warriors now watching each side of the two, whatever she saw having sent Sapphire on a higher level of caution. The right path didn't have much except a small room behind a metal door covered by some vines. They slowly pushed the door open and entered the room. It contained a small brewing stand, a bed on one edge, a chest on a gap in the wall along with a small cooking furnace in the wall. The walls were the same as the outside, stone bricks and wooden pillars. The weirdest things in the room were flowers, healthy flowers, confirming that someone happened to have been here not very long ago.
Sapphire and Winter left the room after closing the door to make it seem like no one wandered in there. They did inspect the chest, but found it filled with fairly normal and useless equipment and materials, along with a couple of human bones, nothing much of notice to them.
Returning back to the crossroad they went in the direction they were going before, the Shadow Warriors having seen nothing near the left path yet. There were some chests on that path, but nothing useful to them. Even Winter didn't want the trinkets, her reason being they didn't suit her. Sapphire not wanting them as they didn't give any advantage, being nothing more than a hindrance.
They returned back to the crossroad again, preparing themselves to go down the path with the danger, and most likely the useful things. Sapphire and Winter exchanged glances and went down the path, five Shadow Warriors on each side of them, Shadow walking right beside them. Sapphire even sent eight ahead to find out the exact location of the danger, and possibly figure out it's identity, as fighting anything in the darkness would be very disadvantageous if it could see clearly.
After a short while Sapphire confirmed that whatever it is, it's capable of movement as the Shadow Warriors found nothing where one previously died. Both Sapphire and Winter were on edge, having only ever heard of tales of the monstrous evils sealed in the dungeons during their long journey, knowing they will soon find one such thing.