“We probably can’t stay here for long,” Ingrid murmured, examining the totem. They didn’t have any true confirmation that this was causing the Dark Zone, but ignoring the strange rune-carved totem radiating so much magical energy it gave her a headache was probably not the wisest course of action. Given what she knew, she wasn’t sure what else it could be. Just being near it made her vision fuzzy and put a distinct ringing in her ears. She wasn’t sure if that was an effect it had on her specifically or if it was causing physical phenomena. Natalia hadn’t brought it up, and she wasn’t sure how to broach the topic.
The illian made a brief attempt to destroy it, but it was best if neither of them wasted too much energy on that while there was still a dragon that they had to deal with in some manner.
“It’s the dragon’s damn lair, it’s probably on its way up here now,” the illian huffed. “I’m not sure if that ‘feeling’ of yours did anything to prevent that, but we should be thanking our lucky stars.”
She was probably right. They likely had no chance of outrunning or outmaneuvering the dragon conventionally. Making tunnels every time it showed up wasn’t going to be a consistent method of escape either.
“We should find another one of those rooms,” Ingrid started. “Obviously we need Alice and Kallen, but if we can get to one of the rooms, I can try to shatter the floor. It would likely take everything I have left to accomplish, but it would give you all solid ground to stand on without slipping around. Even if it’s uneven.”
“Would something like that work better in the tunnels? There would be less space for it to move around. It would probably abuse its flight and range in a room like that.”
Ingrid blinked. That was a fairly obvious realization that she hadn’t come to. She mentally kicked herself. “You’re most likely correct,” she admitted.
“What’s that look?” Natalia raised an eyebrow. “You’re learning this stuff. Don’t get embarrassed because you don’t grasp everything immediately.”
It was a surprising statement to hear so casually. She was about to refute it, but stopped herself. Now was not the time to get stuck on random comments. She could do that before bed. If she lived that long.
“Right. Regardless, the first step is finding the other two. I’m going to be honest, I don’t even know where to begin. One of the rooms might at least be more locateable for them rather than a random place in the tunnels.”
“We don’t exactly know where any rooms might be. Or if there even are any more. Can you detect them? They’re living creatures after all, aren’t they?”
“Potentially. It’s a lot harder to sense life when it’s all encased in stone. Piercing through it is a struggle,” she sighed, then gestured to the totem. “Not to mention, it’s hard to do anything with that around. I feel like I’m getting a headache.”
“Ah, so it’s not just me,” Natalia joked. “Well, any bright ideas of what to do with it for the moment? Kallen can probably break it once we find her.”
Ingrid moved closer to examine the device. It wasn’t particularly large, just tall and thin. She cautiously reached out a hand to touch it, yanking her hand away the moment she did in case it reacted. Nothing happened. Reaching out again, she gingerly placed her fingers around it and attempted to lift it. It wasn’t very heavy, but it did feel heavier than it should have been.
“Maybe we could put it in the dimensional bag? It’s the only thing I can think of.”
“It’s better than nothing,” Natalia sighed. She helped Ingrid lift it, grunting in surprise at the weight as they maneuvered it into the mouth of the bag.
As soon as it was fully contained, Ingrid hoisted the satchel back up and over her shoulder, no heavier than it had been before. The incessant ringing noise mostly faded as it was secured, which was another bonus. Lugging it around would have been even more of a pain if she had to listen to that at full volume. Still, proximity to the totem was giving her a strange feeling of unease. Hairs prickled on the back of her neck, and her entire body felt tense. A shiver ran down her spine as they began walking. She hoped they could at least find their companions quickly so they could be rid of this thing.
Another long stretch of walking proved unfruitful. The upside was that they hadn’t been found by the dragon. The downside was that they hadn’t managed to find any sign of Alice or Kallen. Ingrid didn’t know how much longer they could last until the dragon tired of letting them march around its lair and decided it was hungry. All she wanted to do was rest and recuperate, but that was practically suicide in their current situation. The fact that they’d survived their initial one was yet another stroke of luck that made her question when it was all going to come crumbling down around her.
She could tell Natalia was beginning to get tired as well. That was a bad sign. When uninjured, the illian never seemed to even get tired at all. She rarely needed to even sleep due to her magical biology. Fighting the dragon head on was seeming like less and less of an option.
As they continued, Ingrid’s ears flicked as she heard a sound. Motioning for Natalia to stop, she remained perfectly still, making sure she wasn’t imagining it.
Wind.
The uneasy feeling left by proximity to the totem was quickly overshadowed by excitement. Even if they didn’t know where they were, they were close to an exit. That was something. It was incredible, even. Natalia’s feathers ruffled in anticipation as she looked around, trying to detect where it was coming from at the forked path. Ingrid placed her finger in her mouth to wet it, then held it up. It was faint, but she could feel air coming from the path on the right.
“This way! Maybe Alice and Kallen are there too!” she said excitedly, almost slipping as she hurried along the path.
“Don’t fall and break your neck right after getting out of this maze please?” Natalia chucked.
“Oh? I thought you were the one who said slipping on ice would be nothing more than a nuisance to people like us?” she teased back.
“At least you’re in a better mood,” she smiled. “Let’s get the hell out of here. I don’t want to deal with this place any more than I have to. Not being able to fly makes me anxious. Seriously, how do wingless people deal with this?”
“You know, you walk most of the time we’re with you. It’s not that different.”
“Yes, but I can decide not to. Having the choice made for me just doesn’t sit right, you know?”
“I guess. Like when someone sticks me in a room with no plants. It feels lonely.”
“You know, part of me wants to say that’s probably unhealthy, but the other thinks that I don’t have the necessary information to make that call.”
“Well, we both have our weird parts I suppose. After being on the backs of those wyverns though, I definitely realize the kind of appeal flying has. Who knows, maybe Alice would be more okay with it if she flew with her own wings instead of riding on something?”
“Try asking her, I’m sure she’d just love to have that brought to her attention.”
Ingrid felt lighter as she walked. After their couple of hours wandering aimlessly, actually having a concrete path felt like a dream come true. It wasn’t some abstract presence or wild hunch, it was actually there. Even if it wasn’t a proper entrance, it was at least a passage that she could shape to give themselves a way out.
They continued their on and off banter as they followed the wind to their exit. The mountain breeze strengthened with every minute they continued, bolstering them even further. Ingrid made sure to still be careful. The stupid ice was as thick as ever. It did little to dampen her spirits however, even if it was annoying. The question of where their other two companions were still weighed on her, but that was something they could start addressing once they actually made it outside.
After a few minutes, she could see the tunnel they were following open up into a large room. Given the snow being blown around on the ice, she could say with assurance that they had found the exit. Relief washed over her as she quickened her pace, eager to take a breath of fresh air.
She had already checked for signs of life a few times by now, but came up empty each time. Hoping that perhaps Kallen and Alice would be waiting nearby, she began to reach out her mind, searching for anything living in close proximity. The survey had barely begun when she clicked her tongue. When they had fallen into the mountain, there was barely any ice aside from the cover of the hole they’d broken. The ice didn’t thicken until they continued further in. Presumably, that was one of the symptoms of there being a dragon living here. The ice hadn’t thinned out in the slightest here however. In fact, judging by the sensation of the stone beneath and around her, it might have been slightly thicker. Concerned, she stopped, holding up a hand for Natalia to do the same. Her heart sank as she opened her mind once more, now hoping that there wouldn’t be anything nearby.
She could sense one creature.
Above them.
Something very, very large.
Her mouth felt dry.
“Ingrid! Snap out of it!” Natalia bellowed, shaking her back into reality.
She became abundantly aware of the rumbling sound coming from above and behind them. She cast a glance backward just in time to see the tunnel they’d been following start to collapse. Heading into the enormous room with an angry dragon was just about the last thing she wanted to do, but a cave-in was much more of an immediate threat. Not needing to be told again, she hurried forward, yelping in fear as chunks of the ceiling rained down and threatened to turn her into paste.
Rushing into the room, both she and Natalia fell to the ground as they attempted to skid to a stop. The cave-in stopped perfectly at the mouth of the tunnel, like the structural integrity of everything around them was still perfectly sound.
Groaning and rubbing her head, Ingrid managed to dig the toes of her boots into the ground and prevent herself from sliding too much further. She wanted nothing more than to just lay her head down on the snow and ice and take a nap, but that was very clearly not going to be an option. Rolling herself onto her side, she forced herself to look upwards. They were in another large, cylindrical room that tapered off into a cone towards the top. Sunlight shone down through a large hole that led outside. Around the room were scattered spires of ice and large banks of snow. Her vision settled on the dragon, however.
Clinging to the wall like an insect, it stared down at them with those cruel red eyes. Ingrid could count her own heartbeat as she made eye contact with it, neither of them making a move aside from its tail swishing gently side to side along the ice.
“Na–”
She couldn’t even get a full syllable out as it let out a roar so loud she could feel her bones shake. It launched itself off of the wall, Ingrid barely managing to summon a powerful gust of wind to blow both her and Natalia away before it squashed them like bugs. The ice where it landed shattered under its weight, two craters left where the two women had been just half a second before.
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Ingrid summoned a spire of rock to break through the ice and strike it as she scrambled to her feet, but the crack of the ice before it rose gave the beast ample time to notice and smash the spire effortlessly.
“Dammit!” she hissed, rushing to hide behind one of the spires of ice. A torrent of cold air washed over her as white mist parted around it from the dragon’s breath. Her heart pounded as ice crept along her hair and arms. Desperately huddling into herself, she was able to weather it, though she felt like she’d just taken a bath in ice water. Icicles formed horizontally around her, almost caging her in. The light from above sparkling off of them came with a glimmer of hope. The stone she summoned to block the attack froze and shattered. When it was used on ice, all it did was create more ice. There were actual pieces of cover they could use.
Excitedly, she rushed out to relay this information to Natalia, but saw that the illian was very much occupied. She and the dragon were engaged in an aerial battle that mainly consisted of Natalia using her comparatively diminutive size to weave in and out of the gnashing teeth and claws trying to turn her into mincemeat.
Beams of light shot out from Natalia’s hands whenever she had a free moment, desperately trying to find contact with a more vulnerable part of the monster’s hide. Most of the quickly charged blasts bounced harmlessly off of its scales. Without the ability to focus her magic properly, she couldn’t hold the beams of light on target for longer than a fraction of a second. Her large blasts and pillars of burning light were all quick to charge, but every time Ingrid had seen them in use, Kallen or Alice had made space for her. Here she didn’t have a moment to stay still or breathe as the dragon continued to swat at her like a fly.
Ingrid felt useless. Natalia was moving around far too quickly and far too close to the dragon for her to make any sort of attack without risking hitting her. Even if she could, the thick ice that she had to force the stone through gave an enormous tell before each and every strike. Not to mention, it made actually shaping the stone significantly more difficult. For the second time when watching one of her companions fight, she felt like she’d be more of a burden than a help if she tried to interject.
Her heart sank as she continued to watch the otherworldly display of both grace and brutality. Where the hell were Kallen and Alice?
Kallen struggled greatly with boredom. Wandering as much as she did, it was a very familiar sensation. She thought it would have gotten easier as she became more used to it, but it never did. Forcing herself through it wasn’t a problem, she’d had to countless times on the road, but that didn’t exactly make it enjoyable. Spending time with and traveling with people was always much better when she had the chance to do it. She could pass the time by talking about anything that came to her mind with them, or listen to whatever came to theirs. More stories than she could count occupied her brain, collected over years of meeting strangers on the road. Some had malicious intent towards her, especially when she was younger, seeing her as an easy target for whatever they hoped to gain from her. The fact that her glaive often looked far too large for her back then may have helped. They probably assumed she wouldn’t have been able to use it properly. They would quickly be proven wrong.
Even the people who had swapped stories with her as they lured her into an ambush or trap or whatever they had come up with at least entertained her though. She would have much preferred them to be nice, she wouldn’t have had to fight them if they were, but it was something to occupy her time and stave off that ever-present threat of sheer boredom.
It was why traveling with Alice was so taxing. The thinly veiled animosity towards her aside, the silence took away her only solace from the dullness of just walking. The dark elf refused to exchange any more words with her than absolutely necessary, and what few she did were either shortened or flat out telling her to shut up. Not exactly conversation starters.
This monotony went on for well over an hour. Multiple hours? It felt like days. It definitely wasn’t, but that didn’t stop her mind from wandering. They marched aimlessly through the tunnels, any actual routes or paths Alice may have been taking completely unknown to her. Any attempts to find out were met with pretty much the same response she expected. The dozens of questions she had about how Alice knew the things that she did were also likely going to remain unanswered.
After the veritable eternity of walking around and doing nothing, a rumble shook the tunnel they were in, sending bits of ice crumbling down from the ceiling. The sound of crashing rock and ice could be heard in the distance as well. She exchanged what might have been the first non-hostile look with Alice that she ever had before they wordlessly burst into a sprint. The sound echoed, but she could definitely pick out the general direction it had come from. Alice must have been able to as well, given the way they continued to take the same paths despite running perfectly in line with each other. Kallen could have gone faster, but she didn’t want to lose her footing. She wondered if Alice had similar thoughts.
With every twist and turn the passages took, the sound of loud roaring became more and more audible. Maybe the dark elf was right about her bold claim on there being a dragon. Kallen could barely contain her morbid excitement. She didn’t want anyone in the group getting hurt, but the thought of seeing a dragon in person? Potentially even fighting one? It was hard not to have a little bit of anticipation. When she saw Aurelia again, she was definitely going to have to tell her about this.
The sounds of Natalia’s blasts became louder and louder as they approached until finally, they found themselves at the edge of a sheer cliff. Slamming her glaive into the ground to stop herself, she grabbed Alice by the back of her coat to prevent her from having to slow down. There was a grunt of something that almost sounded like thanks. Deciding not to dwell on it, they both peered down into the large, cone-like room. They were quite some distance up, a few hundred feet at least.
Below them, Natalia was a blur of light and movement, like someone waving a sparkler in the air as she wove in and out of the dragon’s attacks. Clearly she couldn’t keep anywhere close to as much distance as she wanted, so she seemed to be trying to stay close enough that she could use its reach against it. It must have already been a minute or two of this by the time they had arrived. After holding out for so long, the illian hesitated for the briefest of moments before attempting to fly to safety. That was all it took.
The monster didn’t manage to connect with its claws, but it did manage to swat her brutally out of the air. A trail of light zipped downwards, ending in an explosion of ice and snow as Natalia slammed into a section of the wall. Kallen couldn’t afford that moment of hesitation if she wanted Natalia to get out of this alive.
She could hear Alice shouting curses at her as she leapt off the ledge, twisting her body into a dive to fall faster. The dragon began making its way towards Natalia, unaware for at least the moment of the puny human plunging down towards it.
As if on cue, the dragon stopped, then turned to see Kallen. Spinning in the air, she grabbed her glaive, using a mix of her strength and momentum to slash at the claw that frantically moved to try and intercept her. Like with many things, the blade met minimal resistance. With how dense the scales were, she could tell she was going to have to put in even more effort than she had against the skolopen. However, this much speed made it feel like she was slicing through butter.
Speeding past the dragon, she braced herself as she slammed into the ground almost as hard as Natalia did. Ice all around her shattered and buckled into a crater, several chunks of it sticking straight up around her. The impact was jarring on her legs and the arm she used to steady herself, glaive raised behind her head. She was going to be feeling that later. As the adrenaline started to kick in though, the pain was nothing more than a dull throb, like she’d stubbed her toe the day prior.
Another slam shook the ground next to her, though not with enough force to break any more of the ice. Glancing over, she grinned. Sliding along the floor next to her in a puddle of dark blue blood was a clawed toe the size of her. Yeah, she definitely succeeded in getting the dragon’s attention.
Leaping away before one of its claws turned her into a red stain on the ground, she looked around for Ingrid or Alice. Off to the side, she could see Natalia groaning as she pried herself out of her personal crater. Blood stained her clothes, a large gash on her forehead covering nearly an entire half of her face in it as well. Some of it had already dried, sealing her eye shut. She looked like she had seen better days.
Kallen parried another strike out of the way, a small yelp escaping her throat as she lost her footing, falling to one knee. Frost billowed out the sides of the dragon's mouth before it unleashed a jet of ice towards her. Before it could turn her into a popsicle, something tackled her from the side and dragged her out of danger. She looked up to see Natalia, teeth clenched. They didn’t make it far before the illian collapsed back to the ground, dropping Kallen as well. Both of them tumbled across the ice until they were stopped by one of the small spires. Natalia let out a pained groan before her wings slumped to the ground, unmoving. It was hard to tell if she needed a moment or had completely passed out.
“Kallen!” a desperate voice cried.
“Ingrid!” she said cheerfully, happy to see her elven friend okay. Parts of her clothes were frozen, but she didn’t look even a quarter as bad as Natalia. “You guys holding up okay?”
“Please tell me that’s a joke?” she whined, glancing at their unmoving companion. “Where’s Alice?”
“I think she’s making her way down he–” her statement was cut off by a prickle of cold on the back of her neck. Immediately grabbing Ingrid and the unmoving Natalia, she dove behind the nearest solid object just in time to keep them all from being flash frozen. The moment it stopped, there was a violent gust of air as the dragon took to the sky. “Uh oh. You got a plan?”
Ingrid gulped. “I can break the floor, force as much stone up as I can,” she said quickly as the dragon swooped towards them. “It won’t be even ground, but it won’t be slippery! We need to move though!”
Nodding, Kallen scooped Natalia up onto her shoulder and rushed in the opposite direction to Ingrid. Clearly, the dragon saw her as more of a threat. It landed, swiping a claw out at Kallen. She could see it also swinging its enormous tail directly at Ingrid. Bracing one foot on the side of a spire, she braced herself to take the hit. The palm of the claw hit her harder than Berith had, sending a wave of shock down her entire body from where she had blocked the strike. The spire wasn’t as durable as she was however, and the force of the strike shattered it, sending Kallen and Natalia skidding across the ground once again. She managed to twist and brace her feet against the wall before she hit it, but Natalia wasn’t so lucky. The illian let out another groan of pain as she slammed into it. Groaning was good though. It meant she was at least alive.
Casting a glance to where she’d last seen Ingrid, there was no bloody stain on the wall, which was probably a good sign. Behind the dragon she could actually see Alice, her lover scooped into her arms in a princess carry. Kallen smiled. Another person in the fight gave them significantly better odds. Ingrid already appeared to be channeling magic into her staff as the dark elf planted a kiss on her cheek and rushed to the nearest cover.
Dodging out of the way of two more attacks, Kallen tried to keep as much of the dragon’s attention as she could. Ingrid needed time to set up what she was doing, and Natalia needed to not be in danger for a moment. Every available opportunity, she flicked her glaive out to counterattack, putting (comparatively) small cuts into its claws, feet, and limbs. They were all far too shallow to do any real damage aside from maybe making it lose a little blood, but they pissed it off, made it focus more on her. Natalia’s unconscious body was no longer in its place against the wall. She was going to hope that meant Alice had pulled her out of harm’s way.
Ceasing its assault momentarily, the dragon launched itself into the air just as the ground beneath Kallen began to shake. The sound of ice and stone rending and shattering briefly deafened her as the floor of the room exploded. It wasn’t as violent of an explosion as she would have expected, and bits of stone were forcing their way on top of the ice as if they had a mind of their own. The new wasteland also provided them with ample new cover. Ingrid sprang her plan.
Unfortunately, the new terrain did nothing to slow the dragon in the air. It slammed down into the rubble, sending a cloud of dust up from where it impacted. A claw swiped out at something, probably Alice, judging by the black and purple blur that dodged out of the way. Ingrid wasn’t so lucky. The monster’s tail swept towards her, shattering the wall of stone she summoned like it was nothing. She was sent hurtling into the wall, falling limp nearby.
Kallen charged again, trying to draw its attention away from Ingrid’s (hopefully) unconscious form. It snarled at her before unleashing another jet of ice at her. Stabbing her glaive into a large chunk of ice, she hefted it in front of her like a shield. The impact of the breath was far more intense than she expected, almost knocking her makeshift shield away and sending her flying. It shoved her back for a moment before she steadied herself on the uneven ground. Bracing herself, she could feel all of her muscles straining to maintain her position. She forced her legs forward, taking a single step forward. Then another. Each one felt like she was fighting against a hurricane. Cracks began to form where her blade held up the chunk, spreading further with every second that passed. Just when she was certain it was about to shatter, the overwhelming force of the breath stopped.
No longer held back, Kallen surged forward, smashing her way through the remains of her shield and regripping her glaive to swing at its eyes. She didn’t pull her strike at all. Even as it wrenched its head back, she felt her blade slice through the armor and meet flesh. After the initial resistance, she could hear the sound of splattering blood as her weapon glided smoothly through the flesh under its left eye. It reeled back, flying to recover as blood gushed from the wound.
Taking the moment, Kallen rushed over to Ingrid’s body, checking her pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled her hand away. Still, she wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.
“Is she…?” Alice’s terrified voice came from behind her.
“She’s fine, just conked out,” she said cheerfully as she moved her behind another outcropping of ice and rock. “We might want to figure out what we’re doing. I don’t think Natalia is going to be that much help right now.”
Alice gritted her teeth, glancing up at the thrashing dragon. “We actually have a chance.”
“Hm?” she tilted her head.
“It’s actin’ like a fucking lunatic. No talking, no strategy, just flailing around. We’d probably be dead otherwise,” she said quickly, glaring at Kallen.
What was she mad about this time? “So does that mean you have a plan?”
“Kinda. You’re gonna promise something though. Got it?”
Kallen furrowed her brow. This was wasting precious seconds before the dragon looped around and started trying to kill them again. She recognized that tone as well. This was a threat. “What am I promising?”
“You aren’t gonna say a fuckin’ word about what you’re about to see,” she growled, fiddling with the wrapping on the hilt of her knife.
“Um, can I ask why that’s so important?” There were dozens of better ways to use this time. Was she even going to get an explanation of the plan?
“No. Make your choice. Now.”
There wasn’t any room for debate. She sighed. It was better to just appease the girl and get everyone out of this alive. Despite how lackadaisical she was, dying wasn’t exactly something she was in any rush to do.
“Okay, I promise. I don’t say anything.”
Alice nodded, glancing back at the dragon as she finished pulling the wrapping from her dagger. Embedded in the handle were two brightly glowing stones that Kallen had never seen before. One green, one pink. They were only visible for a moment as Alice tossed up the dagger, throwing her hair back over her shoulders before catching it.
“Then let’s get to work.”