My sword lit with a burning with inner fire, hot and angry. I turned to face a bounty hunter standing over Cliff. His eyes widened at the sight of the blade, realizing the danger, yet still he attacked. My hand closed around the hilt of the Inferno's Edge, and I felt its magic come alive as it glimmered red. The large bounty hunter rushed at me, swinging his ice blade down with brutal force. I parried the blow with my sword, instantly melting a chunk off his weapon. His eyes widened in shock as he saw the Inferno's Edge in my grasp. Undaunted, the hulking figure charged again, stabbing at me with his blade. I swiftly dodged the attack and swung the Inferno's Edge in a burning arc, slicing a deep gash across his arm. He howled and dropped his sword, clutching his wound. Before he could recover, I kicked him hard in the chest, knocking him to the icy ground. I swung the my sword once more to finish him, but he rolled out of the way. As he tried to get up, I plunged the blade into his belly. He let out a gasp as the fire sword seared his insides. I yanked my blade free and the bounty hunter collapsed, unmoving.

I turned to see Cliff fighting the second bounty hunter. He was being steadily pushed back, desperately dodging each swing of the hunter's ice blade. I rushed to Cliff's aid, intercepting a savage downward slash meant for his head with the Inferno's Edge. The bounty hunter's blade shattered on contact now weaponless, the he conjured a javelin of ice and hurled it at me. I deflected it with my fiery blade, melting the icy projectile in an instant. The bounty hunter summoned another ice spear and hurled it at Cliff. I intercepted this one as well, melting it before it could find its mark. Enraged, the demon charged at us with his fists. Cliff and I stood back to back, defending ourselves against punishing blows with our swords. The bounty hunter attempted to block our attacks with his thick arms, but my sword seared straight through his armor. With a savage two-handed swing, I severed his head from his shoulders and Cliff finished him with a blade through the back, piercing his heart. We stood victorious, the Inferno's Edge still smoldering in my hand. The bounty hunters' ice swords had proven no match for my enchanted fire sword. We grinned at each other, relief flooding through me as we caught our breath.

The two ice demons lay unmoving on the frozen ledge of the maze, slowly melting into a pool of viscous blue liquid. Where their bodies had been, a large icy blue gem appeared atop a stub of jagged white crystal. I cautiously approached the gem, still gripping the hilt of my sword. Cliff followed close behind as we stared at the teardrop-shaped stone. Luminescence cycled through the crystalline interior of the tear in pulses of aquamarine, as if urging us to take hold of its frozen facets. I reached out and grasped the gem. The moment my fingers wrapped around it, the deep voice of the game system spoke,

Congratulations you have found the Ice Dragon's Tear

"This tear was shed by the Frostwyrm, a mighty ice dragon, who used its piercing gaze and frigid breath to freeze its enemies into eternal ice. Whoever possesses the Ice Dragon's Tear gains the power to freeze foes in place or summon shards of frost to attack from afar."

"The tear has no limit on its power, it continues drawing magic from its original source, the ice dragon that wept the tear. As long as the dragon lives, the tear functions, but if the dragon is slain, the tear instantly loses all magic."

BEWARE:

"The tear's magic draws ambient heat from its surroundings freezing portions of the landscape, or trapping your foes, with ice after each activation. You risk trapping yourself as well, if this item is used too many times in one location."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

CHOOSE WISELY!

An image of the frostwyrm dragon appeared, shedding a tear now in my hand. The gem thrummed with a frozen power, like it was begging to be unleashed. But something held me back from absorbing the dragon's magic directly. Instead, I took out a small leather pouch from my pack and gently placed the tear inside. I would study it further once we were safely together again with Sam and Tyler.

Cliff looked at me questioningly. "Aren't you going to try out the tear's magic?" he asked.

"There will be time for that," I said. "For now, we need to find our friends and make sure they're alright. They went on ahead, so they're likely further into the maze by now."

Cliff nodded in agreement. I tied the pouch holding the Ice Dragon's Tear to my belt; its frozen gifts would have to wait. Then the two of us headed deeper into the treacherous maze. Cliff and I climbed carefully up an icy slope, searching for any sign that Tyler and Sam had been this way.

Suddenly, Cliff called out in excitement. "Look here!" he said.

I made my way over to where Cliff stood, peering closely at the three shallow grooves carved into the translucent blue ice wall. Within the grooves were etched simple stick figures, each roughly six inches in height. One figure showed a stickman with a round head and short lines indicating curled hair, representing Tyler. He had etched his figure holding in both his hands what looked like the faeries pendant. Next to him was a second figure with long straight lines for limbs and no distinctive markings for the head or hair, This one was Sam drawn with simple efficiency. This one held it's hand outstretched, the palm forward in a fashion that signaled "halt". Was Sam trying to warn us about something? We couldn't be sure, we would have to continue with reserved caution from here on out. The precision and crispness with which the figures had been carved indicated they were recently made, perhaps mere minutes before we had come across them.

Cliff looked over at me. "Tyler and Carter passed this way recently," he said. "Based on how fresh these markings appear, I'd wager no more than a quarter hour has passed since they etched these stick figures."

I nodded in agreement, feeling hopeful that we had found our first clear sign that our friends journeyed ahead of us through this treacherous maze. We pressed onwards. A short distance further, we came across more signs of our friends' passage. A muffled handprint melting into an icy ledge, and a few scraps of cloth torn from a cloak and caught on an stalagmite. It appeared they had been running frantically through this portion of the maze, hastened by some unknown threat or danger. The handprint was smeared across the snow covered ice formation. One of them had pushed away recklessly, without care for stealth. The torn cloth scraps were ragged, forcefully torn from the cloak rather than catching gently on a stalagmite. Cliff and I picked up the pace. Whatever had caused our friends to run through this area could still pose a threat. We climbed rises and navigated turns in the maze, scanning for clues. A few disturbed snowbanks and freshly broken icicles indicated Tyler and Sam had rushed through this section of the maze. they seemed to move in a panicked dash, having no time to avoid anything in their path. In the distance the sound of howling pierced the cold air, something akin to wolves. Tyler and Sam had clearly been chased through this section of the maze. Cliff and I quickened our pace, senses on high alert for any sign of our friends. We navigated a treacherous path up an ice cliff, searching for any sign of our friends. Suddenly, faint screams pierced the cold air, full of fear and desperation. They could only belong to Sam and Tyler. Cliff froze, listening intently as another scream sounded, closer this time. We looked at each other, our concern turning to alarm. Without a word, we hurried forward, scrambling up the path as quickly as we could. The screams grew louder with each passing moment. All we could see ahead of us was the twisting path and the ice walls on either side of us. the maze offered no clues as to what threat our friends faced or where they might be. As we rounded a corner, one scream came so loud and close it seemed to echo inside the icy walls themselves. Their screams spoke of danger, of fear, and of needing help right now. We broke into a run, our only thought to reach our friends before... before what? we did not know.