Eto stood up and looked at Vieli.

'Show us where we can find this professor. We need him to get me back home,' he said, suddenly very seriously. Veronica was surprised by Eto's sudden change of attitude but she agreed with him. They had to find a way to keep going.

'If you want to,' Vieli said before he stood up. He struggled a bit because of his old body.

He pointed towards another door, opposite from the one they came from.

The door through which they entered was connected to the landing platform.

Odilia already ran to the other door and opened it, letting light come in with a breeze.

The weather outside was sunny but with a cold wind going through the town.

Veronica stepped outside , holding her jacket tight and looked at the buildings.

They were all shaped differently with round and straight shaped houses. Most of them were covered in a thick layer of ice and even though it wasn't snowing at the moment, a layer of the stuff was laying on the street.

When Eto walked outside, the snow made a sound under his boots which took his attention.

'What is this?' he asked, walking up and down to hear the snow crack under his boots.

'It is snow,' Veronica said and at that moment she didn't know what to think of Eto.

He seemed to know enough of the world but sometimes it seemed like he didn't know anything. It was hard for her to understand what was going on inside that head of his.

'Oh, so this is snow?' he said while looking at her and back to his feet. He kept walking to hear the sound.

'Grandpa had told me about snow but I could never imagine what it looked like.'

'Are you not cold?' Vieli asked while he and Odilia walked out wearing a thick coat.

Eto looked at them and realized with their question, the cold temperature he was standing in with his short sleeves.

'No, I'm good,' he said, not feeling the cold that much. It took Veronica and the old man by surprise as Odilia ran down the street.

Vieli led Eto and Veronica through the streets to the center of the town, keeping an eye on his granddaughter.

'Is it always so quiet in the streets?' Veronica asked while she looked at the houses. She noticed how some doors and windows were frozen in, like Vieli mentioned with the professor.

'Not before Ased came. The town was flourishing with people and everybody was always helping each other. Now they stay indoors. Some by choice, some because they are stuck.'

'Like the professor?' Eto asked and Vieli nodded.

'Most people stay indoors, keeping the heat in and waiting. Waiting and hoping for Ased to go away for some reason.'

Vieli sighed more and more when he told the story, releasing steam with every word he said.

Odilia walked in front of them, running through the snow. Veronica looked at her and when she was out of ear range, Veronica stepped next to Vieli.

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'I'm sorry to ask but where are Odillia's parents? Shouldn't they be with you?'

Vieli heard her but he didn't look at her. Veronica saw a little tear appearing in the corner of his eye.

'When Ased came and searched for the professor, nobody helped him. When he tried to threaten or hurt people, some townsfolk came into resistance but Ased proved to be too strong with his star shard powers.'

Veronica didn't ask but she kept hearing her question about Odilia's parents in her mind.

'They resisted to Ased, and they didn't make it,' Vieli said with a heavy heart.

'I'm so sorry,' Veronica asked and she looked at Odillia who was still jumping around playing. She almost regretted asking it.

'They are away, to gather an army,' Vieli said and he and Veronica looked at each other.

'That is what Odillia knows. I didn't have the heart to tell her yet that her parents are gone.'

Veronica felt the same feeling when she had said goodbye to her parents and she nodded that she understood.

After a while they came into the center of town, where a big plaza was. It was decorated with trees and benches but they were all frozen in by the ice.

Eto was struggling keeping balance on the stone ground which turned smooth because of the snow.

'How come the cold came here? You told us it came when Ased grabbed authority of port Perdita?' Veronica asked, still baffled by how the whole town was almost covered in ice.

'That is his power,' Vieli said while leaning on a bench to rest.

'The ice,' he said. 'That is his power.'

'You mean to tell me that he froze the whole town with his power?' Eto asked, getting closer and Vieli nodded.

'What kind of a man would do such a thing?' he asked, thinking about his grandpa and what he taught him about using your powers for good.

'An evil man,' Vieli said with anger to Eto and after that he called Odilia. When she came back, Vieli held her by the shoulder.

'From now on, I want you to stay with me. No doubt Ased is watching us from the castle.'

Slowly both Eto and Veronica looked up.

On the horizon beyond the town was a huge blue mountain. Towering above the town on the foot of the mountain they saw a blue castle, probably covered in ice.

'Could he?' Veronica asked. She noticed she whispered. Vieli looked over his shoulder to the castle. It almost looked like he was afraid.

'We are not sure but for the past months we had the feeling he could tell what was going on.'

Veronica felt scarred, feeling like she was being watched but she couldn't tell from where.

'The professor?' Eto asked, wanting to move on. He didn’t seem to be affected by the atmosphere for too long. Vieli looked again over his shoulder but then responded 'this way.'

They passed the plaza and walked to a large building that appeared in front of them.

It was different from the houses they had passed.

It was round shaped with another floor above that made it higher. It was completely covered in ice and in front of them was a huge round door made of iron, also covered in thick ice.

'The professor’s house. This was the last place the professor was before Ased covered the whole town in ice. Even though the ice grew more and more the past months, this building has been covered and trapped from the beginning.'

Veronica walked to the door, slowly touching the ice and she felt how the ice would try to freeze to her hand.

‘If this one was frozen from the start, you think Ased knew where he could be?’ she asked and Vieli raised his shoulders.

`We don’t know if he was still in there when the ice came. All we know is that we haven’t seen him for some time.’

'No way of getting in?' she asked and Vieli shook his head.

'Me and other townsfolk tried it many times but after a while we stopped. Nothing seemed to work and we don't know if the professor is holding up there.'

'Hmm,' Veronica mumbled while holding her chin with her hand.

'Let me try,' Eto said and he pushed Veronica gently to the side.

He formed a fist and took his arm back, as if he was ready to punch the door.

His arm started to glow again like Veronica had seen when he was fighting the knight. Again, it took her attention as she was curious what his powers were.

'But that is,' Vieli said but he stopped because he was too baffled.

'A star shard power?' Odilia finished the sentence, also looking baffled at the arm of Eto.