After three whole days of dragging his unconscious friend, Marsh finally reached the boundaries of Rainbow Taffy Grounds. Right ahead them was a vast land filled with white and red striped Peppermint hills and candy cane trees, the view was ought to be lovely, however the weather seemed hostile, it filled the sky with dark grey cotton candy clouds raining with blueberry flavored shaved ice.

“We made it… we finally made it! Choco, look!” Marsh turned to look at Choco who was still asleep, he knelt down and gave him a good slap to wake him up.

“Ouch!” That woke Choco up instantly, he rubs his cheek and glared at Marsh, “What was that for?”

Marsh grinned, pointing at a direction. “Dude, I said we’ve reached Peppermint Hills, look over there!”

Choco sat upright and saw the view, he was amazed to see a whole new terrain for them to explore. “Woah, it really is Peppermint Hills. I always thought I’d die before we can even get to that place.”

“Things aren’t looking good though; I’m already getting chills from the low temperature.” Marsh shivered and hugged himself as he felt the minty cold air, “Alright, let’s get those herbs and cure you right away!” He takes Choco by the legs and continues to drag Choco.

Peppermint Hills is also known to be a very cold place, most of the living creatures in that land have thick fur to survive the harsh weather conditions. The Royal Cupcake Knights sent by the King always roam this land wearing multiple layers of clothes to avoid freezing to death.

Although there were a few tales about daring Knights from different generations, they would venture into Peppermint Hills with only an armor or a thin set of clothes. However, their attempted act of bravery was taken for stupidity as the stunt led them to their demise. To this day, their stories were used as an example to other Knights that will someday be a part of the Herbal Expedition.

Coming unprepared to venture Peppermint Hills could mean a cold death, and rushing to the land with nothing but their ragged clothes, Marsh was more focused on finding herbs to cure Choco. Oblivious from the fact that exposing Choco to the cold can worsen his condition.

“Now where’s that stupid herb they’re talking about.” Marsh looked around, trying to see through all the shaved ice blocking his sight, and as he saw the first plant his eyes came across with, he rushed to pick some and ran back to Choco. “I think this is the herb, come on Choco, you gotta digest this…”

“Ugh, Marsh it’s so cold.” Choco shivered, he wrapped his arms around himself as his eyes slowly started closing. “I still feel sleepy Marsh, I’m going to take a nap for a bit.”

“No!” Marsh held him tight and tried to keep him conscious, “Choco, no! You still have to eat this, it’ll cure you! Come on!” His desperate pleas have done nothing as Choco return to his slumber, and possible slowly freeze to death. “Choco, don’t leave me alone in this cold place.”

Then all of a sudden, the storm intensified as the wind grew stronger, and the amount of shaved ice raining down on them increased. “Crumbs!” Marsh began to shiver as well, his teeth chattering. “We gotta get back to a warmer place!” He instantly thought of going back to Rainbow Taffy Grounds, but he can’t the way back through the harsh storm.

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“No, no, no! Which way is it?!” He panicked, though he decided to head towards a random direction in hopes that he’ll end up coming back into Rainbow Taffy Grounds. But he didn’t long from the cold when his whole body started to feel numb, his lungs started to freeze from the cold air, and he then fell to the ground but still clung onto Choco. “I-I’m sorry, C-Choco… I’m a failure even as a friend.” He cried, regretting his idea of putting their lives at risk to reach this cruel land.

He knew he should’ve gone back to the Sweet Kingdom where Choco can get proper care and treatment, but his pride and ego struck him into this situation where both of them might freeze to death. Even in his last moments, Marsh still tried to crawl while dragging Choco with him, hoping that his efforts will make a miracle and bring them both back to a warm place.

And at a near distance, some figure spotted them. It went to their direction and Marsh saw it coming, a huge figure rushing through the storm. “Holy Sugar! It’s the Minty Witch!” Marsh panicked, he quickly took Choco’s sword in attempt to protect themselves, but as he turned to the beast, it was already standing tall in-front of him.

The shock and frustration made him faint, leaving themselves completely vulnerable to this beast.

Not much have encountered this guardian candy beast they named the Minty Witch. People don’t know what it looked like or what it can do, but there were a few people that came back alive after coming face-to-face with this beast and they were able to describe its appearance and abilities to other. Although considering the fact that some have survived after meeting the beast, they think the Minty Witch isn’t as bad as the other guardian candy beasts – or those claims were a bunch of lies coming from phonies trying to make themselves seem impressive.

Until now, there’s no concrete information that can be said about the Minty Witch unlike the other guardian candy beasts.

And so, Marsh woke up feeling warm and comfortable. He found himself cozily laying in a couch covered with a thick warm blanket. “Hm, this is nice.” He snuggled in his position and tucked himself comfortable, but something felt off. He sat upright and looked around, “How strange, how did I wind up here?” He wondered.

Marsh tried remembering the last thing he saw, and it came to mind, there was a huge figure standing tall and near him earlier which caused him to faint from shock. He started to panic once again when he remembered his ill friend. “Choco! I have to find Choco!” He started rummaging through this strange place to find him.

It was a small house made out of chopped candy canes, with a few rooms and only one entrance or exit to go through. The place was filled with furniture and useful tools laying around, as if someone is actually living at a place located in the middle of nowhere. There was also a bunch of shelves filled with books and sugar glass containers that had some suspicious substances in them.

Marsh paid no mind to these things and focused on searching for Choco, he goes to the first room he laid his eyes on and opened it. “Dude!” There he finds Choco laying in a bed, still asleep but he was looking better than ever. Marsh smiled and ran up to Choco’s side, he gently shakes his friend to wake him up. “Choco, hey! Wake up!”

“Hngg, what?” Though Choco couldn’t be bothered to open his eyes.

Hearing him respond, Marsh felt overjoyed and relieved. “Sweet lord, thank goodness you’re alive! Do you know how we got here? – wait, is that really you? Or are we actually dead? Is this the afterlife!?” He had a lot of questions, but Choco was too tired to talk and turned his back on him.

“Wake me up when supper’s ready…” his tone still groggy.

“Hold on, Choco, do you know how we ended up in this place?!” He asked, but Choco fell back to sleep and started snoring loudly.

Marsh groaned as he was left to wonder how they got into this place. There was no one else there beside them, can this be a miracle granted to them by pity? Marsh dismissed the thought as it was too ridiculous.

He began to check the stuff inside the house, but ended up getting stuck on browsing the books on the shelves. “Interesting…” he uttered; the books contained various information. Most of it were medicinal books that teaches recipes that can cure specific illnesses or diseases, and some were uninteresting romance novels.

And there’s one particular book that caught Marsh’s attention, it was a thick old book that discusses a lot of things outside the Sweet Kingdom. He takes the book to the couch with him and skimmed through the pages, “Woah, it has information on everything… Spicy Kingdom, Pasta Kingdom, Beverage Kingdom, and even the Veggie Empire…”

He touched the illustration showing the Veggie Empire, he looked hopeful as he gazes on this picture, “Can I really reach the Veggie Empire someday?” He asked himself getting lost in his train of thought, but he was quickly distracted at the sound of the entrance door shaking, it was most likely the owner of this house and the very person that saved him and Choco.

“Coming!” He announced.

Marsh quickly ran to the door and open it, he was planning to express his heartfelt gratitude to this person, but that was until he found the very same figure standing outside this door. This time he can clearly see up close its terrifying features, and it gave him goosebumps to see another pair of eyes peering through the mouth of this beast.

“Oh, you’re finally awake!” It even spoke!

“Ugh…” Marsh faints from shock and terror once again.