In the morning, Alan called the two of them to meet him near the tundra wastelands. When they got there, they found him sitting on a boulder with a dead tree branch in his hand, drawing something in the snow.

"You might be wondering if I wanted just your answer then why did I call you all the way out here, is it a trap or something, well, it isn't." He mumbled as if having read their minds. This was the second time he did that, it made Snow curious if he could actually read minds, but she knew Dark Dragons could not. "Well, before I explain why I called you here, I need your answer. Do you wish for me to protect you no matter what in exchange of you following all my orders, or do you want me to abandon you?"

Snow found him fairly irritating at this point, but, she still chose to remain silent. She didn't know the extent of his power, it would be too risky to just charge at him, and he seemed too cautious to be caught by a surprise attack.

Crystal simply continued staring at him for a while, before looking at Snow and nodding as she stepped closer to her. That made Snow really want to protect her, but, even Snow remembered by now it just happened to be something unique to blood wolves that made her want to protect Crystal. When blood wolves are scared they release certain pheromones which usually calms the mind of those near them, and even makes them want to protect them. How it exactly works has still not been discovered, or a way for it to be used by someone else, but it is well known fact that blood wolves have such an ability.

Alan gave a sinister smile and threw something towards them, a gem, a ruby, a very small one, roughly the size of a tooth that landed in the snowy ground in front of their feet. "Memorize it. What I want you to do is find a charm, a pendant to be precise. It would have similar rubies and sapphires of the same size in it with a larger ruby, sapphire and an emerald in the center.

What he needed her for became clear. She did remember hearing that many artifacts from millennia ago were buried in the snow, sand and ground of the area around the stronghold. The rumors said they held power incomparable to those of artifacts of the current era. They were charged with a masking spell, masking their presence from magic sense, detection spells and even sense smell.

How can Crystal find them then? It is quite simple yet complicated. Blood wolves were capable of picking the scents of not only certain creatures and people, but also emotions from objects. These emotions usually belong to the owner of that object. Artifacts have emotions, feelings and ambitions of their original owners stored within them. The masking spell they are charged with doesn't mask their emotions. Due to this reason, only a blood wolf is capable of finding these artifacts easily.

Crystal took a good look at it, if the ruby was more pinkish it would have looked like her eyes, shining in the sun's light. After standing there for a while, when a gust of wind came, carrying a scent, she bolted in the opposite direction of the wind, showcasing her agility. She ran for a bit and then came to a sudden stop, sliding in the snow blowing a dust cloud. Snow went there to check it out, only to find Crystal trying to dig with her hands, but human hands weren't as suitable for digging, neither did they work in quite a similar way.

Walking to the two Alan gently pulled Crystal to Snow and pointed them to stand a bit further behind, which they did. Alan raised his right hand in the air, about to punch the ground. The blue patterns on his coat started to glow, from towards his heart to his right hand. As soon as they reached near his wrists, he smashed his hand on the ground, causing a small explosion. Snow could tell that was a powerful blow, capable of killing humans in one hit, though many monsters would still survive.

When the snow and dust in the air settled down a bit, they could see Alan holding a pendant in his hand, standing in fairly deep and steep crater in the ground where he punched. It seemed big enough for an elephant to sit in, with some extra space. The pendant in his hand also seemed beautiful, though Snow couldn't tell it's function. Artifacts usually increased mana, physical strength, magical affinities, endurance, etc. but for some reason she felt like this one did something greater.

They spent the rest of the day looking for more artifacts, finding some goblets, charms, headpieces, and bracelets. It seemed like they were lucky on the first one that the wind had blown in the right direction. On the rest the wind either continued blowing in the wrong direction, or they were too far away for Crystal to be able to sense it. In total they found sixteen artifacts from morning to night, around fourteen hours. Alan still carried pieces of ten more artifacts which he said they will search for tomorrow.

They went back to their rooms, tonight Crystal wanted to stay with Snow for some reason. Snow dropped Crystal off at her room, but she kept coming back to Snow's room. In the end, Snow gave up and let Crystal stay for the night in her room. Snow didn't trust Crystal completely but she trusted the little girl more than Alan, or anyone else there.

At first, she thought of him as one of the quiet, brooding types, who are usually nicer than they look. Alan on the hand, proved to not be quite nice, and she started to think he didn't feel much different from Obsidian. It also occurred to her that maybe Obsidian wanted her for the same purpose, to find artifacts. She didn't know what his plan would be, but she knew she needed to stay on guard, there were many who would prove very troublesome for even her.

As Crystal lay on the bed, Snow noticed a few more things. One, a sword shaped red mark on the back of her neck, a weird symbol. The next, the girl's canines were much longer than her other teeth, very unusual for Blood Wolves which are mostly herbivorous, very rarely eating anything other than plants.

Putting her thoughts and worries aside, Snow went to sleep, waiting for the next morning. The next morning Snow woke up unusually well rested, probably because of the soft creature she slept with, which didn't wish to let go of her at all even in the morning. She got up, despite all the resistance, and decided to get fresh.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

When she returned after dressing up, she saw Alan simply sitting near Crystal, patting her on the head gently. He didn't look sinister or like he wanted to cause her any harm, which he did for the past few days.

Just as she pondered that, another thought occurred to her. The doors of the dorms were charged with special spells to keep the students safe, it wouldn't be easy to break in without breaking the door or wall. Snow's ears were sensitive enough to be able to hear that, but she didn't. The door also looked completely fine, and so were the walls, then the question remained, how did he get in?

"How did you get inside, without permission nonetheless," Snow questioned furiously. She felt angry that he just welcomed himself into her room, no permission or prior notice. Dragons are territorial, and this happened to be the equivalent of her territory being invaded, which she did not like at all.

"Just a simple dispel and some lock picking, nothing much." Alan shrugged casually, as if that made it better. When he turned to look at her, he noticed the furious look on her face, which probably made him decide to change what he said. "I just wanted to check on the two of you, just making sure that Obsidian hasn't done anything."

It seemed like a good excuse, and it could have worked on a six year old Snow, but not now. Being mad wasn't going to take her anywhere so she decided better if it and calmed down, she didn't want to die of anger. "Let me check the wound on your head."

That got her to see his shocked face, seeming genuinely surprised she said that. "So, you are not mad at all about everything I have done?" He questioned in confusion.

"I am."

"Then why do you want to check on my wounds?"

"To make sure you are alright."

"Still doesn't understand why."

"I am worried about you, is that a good enough reason?" She shouted that last one, noticing Crystal curl up into a ball because of the loud sound. She found the look on Alan's face to be somewhat weird. It looked happy, shocked, in disbelief, all at the same time. She sort of understood he wouldn't expect someone, who he just did all that to moreover, be worried about him.

Crystal also got up a moment later, laying down her head on Alan's lap and going back to sleep. Now, Snow felt even more unsure of his goals. She knew he didn't plan on hurting them from the start from his reaction just now, but why did he treat them like he didn't care about what happened to them yesterday and the day before yesterday.

"You can check if you want to, I am quite sure it would have recovered by now." He muttered, almost sounding regretful.

Snow found him really hard to understand. She unwrapped the bandages, not having any ulterior motives for this, except one. She thought she had seen something when she wrapped them but didn't feel certain of it, but now she could ascertain her doubts. She ran her hands through his hair holding to the side to get a look at the wound, which already healed. Snow also saw what she needed to see to clear her doubts, white hair.

Drakes of a species only have a certain range of hair color. White for Ice and light, Black for Black and Dark, Red for fire and magma, blue for sea and water, green for nature, brown for earth. Alan on the other hand, possessed mainly black hair, with some white hair. It confirmed one thing, he couldn't be a Dark Wyvern as he claimed to be. She also felt sure of the fact that he was a Drake, but not sure what kind of Drake species is capable of having black and white hair.

"Have you gotten a good look?" Alan inquired, returning to his serious voice. It made Snow jump, and also confirmed for him that she has seen it. "Well now that you know about it, what should I do?" His blue eyes were terrifying as he turned towards her, they looked similar to an ocean about to drown and devour Snow without mercy.

She knew she made a big mistake, she could only think of one way out of this. She can't be threatened if the one threatening her doesn't survive, a good but risky strategy. With a sigh she looked down, slowly walking towards him, having already seen his quick step. She knew she needed to get really close if she wanted to land a hit on him. Without knowing the cooldown of the skill, she can't let any chance pass by.

"I am sorry, I won't tell anyone," Snow mumbled, sounding like she is about to cry. "Because there will be no need to." She turned her cold blue eyes up, staring into his.

Multiple giant icicles emerged from near her feet, prepared to impale everything in front of her. They were lucky for her room to be on the very side. The icicles burst through the walls, sunlight falling into the room, the wall completely destroyed and making an easy way to the outside. She knew the teachers won't be too pleased, but they must have known things like this would happen sooner or later.

Snow made sure to not let the icicles get too close to Crystal, who also seemed to be wide awake by now. "Stay inside until I say it's safe for you." Snow ordered before bolting outside.

She isn't fast so she needed another spell prepared to make sure he doesn't land a hit on her, though it seemed like she worried over nothing. Alan stood a bit further from the dorms, looking to have been impaled by a couple icicles, but he already healed those wounds.

"Are you certain you wish to fight me?" Alan questioned her in a threatening tone of voice.

"Are you sure you want to fight me?" Snow inquired as ice formed on the ground around her.

"I planned to spare you if you surrendered," Alan sighed.

"Seems like you won't have to, because you won't be surviving this," Snow snarled.

Alan charged at her as soon as she finished saying that. He seemed fast, not fast enough for her to not be able to block his attack however. With a swing of her hand she created multiple icicles, a sure hit if he used flashstep earlier, which he didn't.

He flashed right behind her and landed a punch on her body, a charged hit, which he earlier used to dig for finding artifacts. It flung Snow very far away and she crashed into a boulder, the impact strong enough to give her a concussion and create a large dent in the boulder. Struggling to not faint, she slowly pushed herself up, her eyes out of focus and the pain tremendous. When she looked up she glimpsed a fist coming right towards her head before blacking out.

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"It seems like there are some troublemakers who might interrupt you." The voice informed, sounding quite amused at the happenings on the surface. "Regardless, there is no need to eliminate anyone yet, if needed then you should stop the fight."

As the days passed the voice grew clearer and more amused. Not having anyone in close proximity for a long time made it nearly forget how to connect to others telepathically. The happenings on the surface were also getting more amusing by the day. Such an odd bunch being put together in such a small area. It knew what everyone's goals were, and how far they were willing to go to achieve them.