Oden: “Careful Sorn!”

It had been five days since the group had eaten the goats at that cave. Since then, they had made considerable distance. Unfortunately, the weight of the long trek was beginning to push all of them down.

As the weather became worse, food became scarce. They had gone from hefty, hot meals to whatever edible raw parts of the nearest animal they could find. It had become very clear to all of them why the Ice Elementals had chosen the northernmost region to use as their base. Despite the harsh temperatures, Sorn still remained the only one bothered by it. He could no longer hide it either, the fatigue and shivering was blatant to all. The simple Marauder uniform he still had on simply wasn’t equipped to protect in such harsh climates.

The conclusion had long been made that Sorn just physically was not equipped to handle harsh temperatures, whereas the rest could likely stand naked in the middle of a blizzard and walk out unfazed.

Sorn did his best not to slow everyone else down though. Lack of good food and a place to rest had lowered everyone’s morale down. Even Aria and Crystal, the most upbeat and loudest of the group, hadn't uttered a word for the past hour.

Sorn had just slipped along the edge of an icy slope. They had chosen the path that seemingly required the least elevation. Unfortunately, this meant they had to travel alongside the border of the island. The layers of clouds far below served as a reminder: don’t fall if you don’t want to die. Kaen and Aria were the first to react, grabbing each of his arms.

Aria: “I know you’re tired, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a dumbass.”

Even Crystal looked disappointed.

Crystals: “We can’t be losing you like this.”

Toren peered over the edge curiously.

Toren: “Aria is immortal, correct? What would happen if she were to jump off the island? Could she not see what’s below and survive as well?”

Aira, whom Sorn had noticed was closest to Toren among the group, kicked him in the back of the leg.

Oden: “The information isn’t common knowledge, but one of the books I found at the Frost Archive had some interesting information. It was a list of a select few who could use their abilities to fly and were also courageous enough to try a plunge to discover what was under the clouds. Every attempt had one common conclusion. The moment they went underneath the clouds, they were never seen again.”

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An unsettling silence fell across the group. Aria folded her arms across her chest.

Aria: “It doesn’t matter anyways. No way I’m ever getting down there.”

Toren pointed at Keilan.

Toren: “Look, the schizophrenic is at it again.”

Aria gave him a death glare, but Sorn didn’t find the term to be inaccurate. Keilan had been staring into the horizon for the entire morning, walking almost aimlessly. Truthfully, they had just been blindly following him for the past few hours. Often, he wouldn’t reply when he was spoken to, or he would just give a dismissive simple answer if he was pestered enough. Even Crystal had little idea what was happening with him. Toren genuinely believed he had been possessed by Varian’s angered spirit, a theory that was quickly shut down by Kaen.

——————

A few hours later, Keilan stopped before a large hole, one in which nothing could be seen inside of it.

Oden: “So this is where you were leading us too.”

Keilan: “I’m sure of it. The feeling I’ve been getting is coming from here.”

Crystal: “Don’t tell me you want to go down there, right?”

Oden had a frown across his face.

Oden: “This doesn’t make sense. We should be able to see more than what we can. Even if there’s no light source in the bottom, we should be able to see a decent amount into this. The fact we can see nothing is cause for concern.”

Aria: “Um, guys? Guys!”

All eight of them turned around to suddenly see a large avalanche falling down onto them. Keilan brought out his ice wolves, Oden prepared to swing a large ax, and Crystal had an arrow pointing towards the approaching wave of snow.

Just as quickly, something hit them, launching them backwards into the hole. Sorn turned around, noticing Aria and Aira also falling backwards as he did.Toren had dodged whatever the attack was, but as a small pebble-like object was fired towards Kaen, Toren tackled him out of the way, and both of them fell into the hole as well.

Sorn turned towards the assailant. Before him was the first individual without light blue hair. As the avalanche made its way nearer, the man raised a strange weapon at him. It was a long rod with a handle, with a hole in the middle of the rod. That hole was pointed directly at Sorn’s forehead. Sorn deduced that this strange weapon was the cause of the projectiles.

The man himself had slicked back brown hair, mostly hidden underneath a strange brown hat with a large rim. The clothes he wore looked extremely comfortable. A thick woolen brown coat. Sorn was a little envious. Most curiously was perhaps the large “X” painted across his face.

Sorn: “Who are you?”

The man didn’t respond, only pulling the trigger. The projectile was quiet and quick, but Sorn found himself dodging effortlessly since he knew it was coming. Steam emerged from the hole of the weapon, and the man leaned it up to his shoulder. He had a goatee that matched well with his mischievous expression.

???: “You should be following your friends.”

Sorn: “You didn’t answer my question.”

Wisps had already appeared around his limbs. He would beat out the answers from the man if he needed to.

???: “I’ll give you this much information. I am one of the Devil’s Apostles. We exist to serve the Demon Lord who fell to the Omnipotent Angel centuries ago. Our goal is simple. We want to see this world be destroyed.”

Sorn had no idea how to process this information, but the man turned the other direction, beginning to walk away.

Sorn: “Wait, where are you going?”

???: “Away. Where does it look like I’m going?”

Sorn: “Weren’t you just trying to push me down into the hole as well?”

???: “Nah, I already achieved my original goal anyways. So I’ll be leaving now, ya feel.”

Sorn had gone from confused to somewhat angry.

Sorn: “No, I’m not feeling. And you won’t be going anywhere until I get some answers out of you.”

The man sighed, seemingly defeated as his weapon arm dropped.

???: “Now that’s a real shame. But it looks like you got too distracted.”

The man pointed to their left, and Sorn turned to see the avalanche was quite literally upon him. He was hit hard by the snow, and he fell into the hole as well.

End.