The wind was still fresh with ash and cinder from his previous attack, still lingering in the air. Kaelin since yesterday had fallen silent as she meekly trailed him. Since then the pair hadn't encountered another beast.
"Well if you were going to fall silent then I would have reconsidered on picking you as my partner." He taunted, eliciting a yelp of shock from her. "W-What? Oh, my bad…" She looked to the side, her words low and unenthusiastic.
Jarren noted the whole scene, musing in his mind. "If you want to be of some importance then you should work more on just your elementals. Last night when it came to close quarters, you were lacking in more areas than one. Sure recuperation is important but with high skilled partners then it proves to be rather pointless. But your biggest flaw is range and malcore."
"As impressive as your defense is, you burn through malcore way too quickly and lose your resolve way too fast. As for range, it would be better for you to take a weapon to help you with that, maybe a bow an arrow or something of the sort. With the integration of technology, I'm sure that there should be a weapon for you." His words encouraging making her face him.
"It's… I'm not like you. With such a refined glyph or with a calm and composed air around me. It would be better for me to simply follow your lead." Jarren paused, looking at Kaelin past the simmering fire from last night. "It would be better for you to first focus on your glyph formation before delving into the arsenal best suited for you."
She fell in thought, contempalting the night he had gifted her some wise words. "Are you always so calm like this with condescending words? Because if so then it should be rather annoying to be around you." A jab he laughed off.
"Condescending? Well if you put it like that then I should take back my words." The two shared a nervous laughter that eased the air between the two. "Very well, then I'll keep it to myself then." The two broke off into a familiar chuckle that lasted for far longer than it should.
"The facility should be coming up." Jarren mused, his gaze shifting to the cliffs above. The sun had already risen, the two nestled in their camp as they finally rose to their feet. "It's the plateau above the ark facility should be difficult to navigate, not because of the cold but also the availability of game to hunt." She said, her eyes landing back to Jarren's figure.
With the cold temperature, it would be harder for the two to find any game whatsoever. A few feet away from them were the carcasses of the needle-back apes, perfectly cooked strung on makeshift hangers. "We don't have any storage for the trophy we have." She sighed, bothered with the ludicrous amount of meat that would go to waste.
"There should be something that I can do." His fingers flickered revealing his mind boggling glyph which swalowed the cooked meat with ease like a miniature blackhole. "That should help with the food, as for the heat. My flames shold cover that." In his other hand he showed his flames, quietly burning away.
"Wait?! Won't the meat spoil with time. I'm sure that by the end of the day that it should go wrong." She quizzed, her tone filled with wonder. "I'll take care of that so don't worry about that. And besides, if it does then I'm sure that something should come up. I hope that you have an appetite for human flesh."
Kaelin's face contorted into that of shock, wondering whether he was taunting her or he was serious. "Oh come on, you really don't think that I would kill the rest of my fellow students." His words containing a hint of playfulness that was far darker than it needed to be.
"I really don't think that you're joking." With his methods and brutalities, if he resorted to cannibalism then it wouldn't be that much of a shock to her. Unnerving but not surprising. "What about Serrant, are you going to kill him?" Her words sharp making Jarren chuckle.
"Kill him? No. I wouldn't take such an easy fate for him to face. It has to be much sweeter than that." Kaelin innocently brushed it off. "…I'm sure that we should start making it to the top." And with that the two went trodden on with their journey.
*Four Hours Later*
"We're finally here." Kaelin sighed as she glanced around. "Congratulations on making it here, now you have the rest on the mountain to scale." Eric mused, seated on a lounge chair lightly sipping on whiskey. Kaelin looked at Eric, his face calm as he watched others make their arrival.
"Since you're all here, you should dress for the task to come." A row of clothes were presented to them. Heavy fur coats, all monotonous gray as they all blended with each other. Each donning them, it was hard to determine one's gender. "I wish you all good luck however Jarren, try to regulate your malcore outbursts. Who knows what damage you may cause in the days to come."
Some stole glances towards Jarren, inwardly baffled that he was the one responsible for the explosion the night prior. Those who had laughed the pair off now wore grim faces, dripping with fervence.
Grazilla merely flashed a smile, eliciting out a laugh. "So it was you. I'm startung to see how Serrantlost to you. Hopefully you wont come to meet your end at a mere cold." Eric watched the two, intrigued with the result if a fight came to be.
As for Callista and Diana, their presence despite their statuses were nothing more than a whisper in the wind as they quietly left as they came. "Well the cold won't be as terrible as I thought it would be." Kaelin chuckled as the two began their trek.
Unlike before, the pair weren't as eager to get to the top. "What?! Why aren't we leaving?" She quizzed, watching the rest make their way up the mountain."I'm sure that you're not aware of avalanches. Troublesome to deal with when caught off guard."
Kaelin however let out a helpless sigh. "Some times I wonder whether you make some of the things that you say or not." She chose to wait alongside Jarren right outside of the Ark Facility.
…
"Uh, sir. We have a problem. Not exactly one but a peculiar one." One of the staff buzzed pulling up a screen showing Jarren and Kaelin who camped not that far from the facility. Eric hummed with curiosity, perplexed with their move.
"Sir Eric. We may have a slight issue." Another echoed through the room showing an aerial map of the mountain. Satellites orbiting far above Arcania's surface reflected more than just the ants that dominated its surface. "Thanks to Jarren's attack, a massive shift of snow should come down the side of the mountain. Should we have the students pull back?"
Eric paused, lightly tugging on his goatee before finally coming up with his conclusion. "No, let's see what they would do in such a situation. Also have the pair move up."
…
(DING:IT IS REQUIRED OF YOU TO SCALE THE MOUNTAIN. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT WITH A HEAVY PENALTY)
Jarren's reception to the message was impartial, Kaelin bothered as she grit her teeth. "Well I guess we should start with our trek." He chuckled, realizing the weight if the situation that was coming for them.
They were the last of the pairs to scale and if they were to be caught by the avalanche, not only would they not receive any immediate help when the avalanche hit but also bear the full torrent of the tumbling snow.
The two began, the coldness slowly seeping through their skin and nestling deep in their bones. Jarren had a row of fire balls surrounding them to cover for heat, the sun's rays overtime becoming more and more absent.
*Grumble*
"Humph!" Their figures were launched onto a cliff, below dropping into a chasm that had no see-able bottom. "Couldn't have we taken a much more safer route?" Kaelin asked, her breathes short as she supported herself with her knees.
"Safer routes won't be as pleasant when it hits. You'll thank me when it comes to pass." Above them the mountain towered over them, mighty and imposing before Kaelin noticed something off.
With her affinity to earth, she could easily sense vibrations from afar before looking up. The jarry sides of the mountain rumbled and looking hard enough she saw a pair, their movements frantic. "What is going on…"
Her intrigued face was replaced with that of shock as she saw a wall of snow tumble down the sides of the mountain. It was both dangerous and yet alluring as it swept everything off it's path. Be it thicket or rocks, they could barely hold their own before they were swept away by the wave of snow.
Looking at the path ahead, Kaelin was both pleased and disgruntled with what fate had in store for them. Sure their path was already hard to traverse but now with the snow, it definitely would be harder. "The rocks that jut out should providde enough cover for us." Jarren mused, his tone calm as he pointed at a massive boulder sticking out.
"Well I hope that you're right." She murmured before nestling under the massive rock. The ground rumbled, the loose pebbles vibrating as the wave drew closer. Jarren lightly shot out his arm revealing a glyph that held the bouler in place.
Horrors of tentacles shot out of the ground, pinning the boulder in place. Minutes passed before the wave of snow made its' arrival at the two. Kaelin couldn't help but coil inwardly, reflexively shutting her eyes waiting for the wave to pass.
Jarren stared at the girl, his mind devolving into thoughts, some sadistically playful, others malicious and others helpful for the girl. Sure he knew that he was under surveillance and with his presentation with Eric, he knew that Eric wouldn't believe him.
The wave lasted for two hours before it came to pass. Twitching her eyes open, she looked around only to be met with a sweet and tantalizing aroma of flesh sizzling. Jarren was busy digging into a bit of flesh, a small bowl constituted of earth acting as a bowl heating fresh snow boiling it down to clean water.
"I was wondering when you would come out of your shell, turtle." His words playful as he handed her a plate of meat, still fresh and alluring. "Thanks, but I'm not a turtle!" She remarked, biting into her meal.
"I apologize for my own fault. You're clearly a tortoise." Kaelin wanted to bash Jarren however her hunger denied her as she dug into her food. "Well thanks to the wave the day has been spent away." Jarren sighed, his words flat as hi looked into the distance, the clouds painted with an orange and yellow hue.
The snow melted ever so slowly as time passed. "It would be better if we waited here for the night to pass away." Kaelin mused as she drunk a gulp of water, her eyes locked with his.
"No, we have already wasted enough time by waiting for the avalanche to pass. If we spend the night here then we won't make it to the top in time." His hands stretched out to her, clearly ushering her for the two to get on their way.
"But seeing how weak you are, I can carry you till you fully regain your strength." Kaelin nearly choked on the water she gulped down but the silence that followed assured his words. "You're actually serious?!" She said as she closed her distance with from Jarren.
'Well since you're offering, it would be rude of me to turn you down.' She spoke in her mind as she offered her hand. In a swift motion, Jarren placed her on his back in a piggy back manner akin to a child.
"I just hope that no one sees us." Her whispers audible to Jarren. "Why? Are you not swoon by my charms?" Jarren poked at the girl on his back. His hands wrapped around her thighs, making her pause in response. "Don't get too full of yourself Jarren." Burying her face onto his back forcing Jarren to focus with the path ahead.