The winter snowstorm continued.
Two Injured girls, Soryn and Bell, huddled together in a small cave, away from the ice and snow.
Although only a temporary rest, it was these short periods of warmth that kept them going.
In a dispute with Rachel, the half-mad tower mage, Soryn was stabbed in the back. Rachel had used her wand like a dagger, piercing it through her body. As for Bell, she received a deep cut to her right arm, leaving it completely unusable. As a right-handed mage, Bell's magic was stuck in a weakened state due to her inability to use her staff.
Their supplies ran short, and the temperature continued to decrease.
Without access to food and water, their rations wouldn't last long.
Both girls were tired and exhausted.
"We need to find a landmark soon. We can't just continue to walk around like this." Said Soryn.
Bell nodded, agreeing. "We only have enough food and water for two more days."
Looking through the small hole that led outside the cave, Soryn frowned.
The violent storm blotted out the sky.
With nearly no visibility, finding their direction became difficult.
Even the sun was concealed behind the snowstorm.
With the added problem of avoiding the Demon Hunter, escaping the forest was difficult.
Although Soryn could just leave Bell behind, she wasn't that kind of person. The church of light was a very unreasonable organisation. It was likely that she would be branded as 'evil' for just knowing Bell. Not just her, but the whole expedition team. This had happened before.
Although their influence didn't reach the Cross Continent, that didn't mean that there weren't stories.
Soryn would rather trust this cute girl next to her than the holy land of light.
Soryn got up. "Let's go, there's no point in waiting."
Bell nodded and followed the pale skinned girl.
The two disappeared into the sea of white.
* * *
Somewhere in the snowstorm, two black clothed men were slowly walking through the wind.
The man in the lead wore a long leather cloak overlapped with a billowing black mantle. Hidden beneath his cloak was light silver armor, engraved with complicated and dense elvish runes. His belt was filled with twelve black daggers, and to his side was a long white sword. The man's waist length black hair was tied into a ponytail, and his radiant golden eyes pierced through the snowstorm. He emitted a cold and ominous aura, leaving onlookers with the feeling that they were looking at a slumbering serpent. He had no emotions, only duty in his heart.
Behind the man was a younger boy. The young boy had an expression exceeding his age, showing a maturity that did not match his face. His short brown hair was tied into a bun, and his hollow black eyes were covered by a blindfold. He wore a black cloak, following the hunter closely with each step.
"Master, I smell it, the 'Blackened' is about two days ahead."
The Hunter nodded, changing his direction to the place pointed out by his Tracker.
The two increased their speed, slowly closing the distance.
Although the mass teleportation was surprising, it actually helped them isolate their target.
This young man, the 'Tracker', seemed to be unimpeded by the snowstorm.
The mass teleportation happened a day ago, but the position where he and his target had appeared was relatively close. After quickly finding the Hunter, the two began to move. For him, the smell of darkness and evil was no different than a bright light in the night.
Although this was something to be celebrated, the Tracker was not excited.
In fact, he was frowning.
What bothered him was this strange 'smell' a few days away from them. At first, it seemed like one of the Witches, but as he analysed it more and more, it began to feel like something different. It even made his nose sting slightly.
He looked through the snowstorm, slightly worried.
His target seemed to be wandering around aimlessly, but in fact, they were unknowingly approaching that unknown smell.
* * *
Bell and Soryn walked through the snowstorm.
The wind was like an ice-cold razor, cutting into their skin like thousands of tiny blades. Although their clothes could warm and protect them, it was not difficult for the extreme weather to overwhelm the low-level runes that were engraved in their robes.
They walked in this world of white for an unknown amount of time.
Their direction was chaotic, the strong wind making it difficult to stay in a straight line.
After a long time, Soryn caught sight of something moving in the snowstorm.
She signaled Bell with her hand, and the two girls approached slowly.
Just as they were about to reach the strange black shadow, Woosh!
From the blinding snowstorm lunged a pair of razor-sharp teeth.
An ice elemental, shaped like a wolf, shot out of the snow and bared its fangs, biting down towards Soryn's head.
Soryn jumped back and drew her sword.
Waves of ice blue energy flowed down the blade, before… Swish! A clean trail of blue light cut through the ice wolf. The ice elemental fell to the ground, twitching a few times before dissipating back into the snow.
Soryn's face grimaced.
Before the girls could even find a moment to talk, the sudden symphony of countless howls rang throughout the snowstorm. Dozens of blue eyes lit up, piercing through the blizzard.
Bell's face turned pale.
Soryn gripped her blade tightly. "Run!"
The two ran with all they might, hoping to distance themselves as far as possible from the ice wolves.
The snow impeded their vision, leaving the girls no different than two little lost mice running around in the dark.
From the side came a blue flash.
Soryn swung her sword and slashed the incoming ice elemental in two. She grimaced. The wound on her back suddenly started to hurt. With each counterattack, Soryn could feel her injuries slowly worsening.
Bell was not much better.
Her right arm was too weak to lift her staff, and without her staff, Bell's magic casting ability was reduced by almost half. This was one of the greatest weaknesses of mages who relied too much on using external tools.
"Ah!"
Bell heard Soryn's cry.
When she looked over, Bell was quick enough to see the ice wolf rip a chunk of flesh from her calf and disappear back into the snowstorm.
Soryn gritted her teeth.
She was forced to use her sword to support herself.
Bell ran over, slinging Soryn's arm over her shoulder.
"L-let's go! We can't keep fighting!"
The two girls staggered through the snowstorm.
After another ten minutes of being relentlessly hunted by the wolves, Bell and Soryn were covered in wounds.
Bell had moved Soryn to her back, giving her a piggyback ride. The young tower mage was using everything she had to just keep moving forward.
Soryn's pale skin became even paler.
"Hang in there! I think I can see something ahead!"
Soryn's consciousness was already fluctuating in and out of darkness.
Bell used the last of her energy to increase her speed for one last sprint.
When she arrived at the 'thing' she had seen through the snow, Bell felt her heart drop. She only had the energy to look up, helplessly watching the massive 'thing' move.
What stood before the girls was a large beast.
Instead of calling it a large beast, it was better to call it a moving mountain.
Although the majority of its body was concealed behind the snowstorm, that did not stop its silhouette from blotting out the sun.
A towering beast with white fur, occasionally scarred with streaks of golden lightning-like patterns. Its shape was like a llama, but with an eastern dragon's spine. Its body was massive, blocky and muscular, its every step like thunder, shaking the world.
Two balls of glowing white light peered down, seemingly gazing at Bell and Soryn.
The beast tensed, then…
"Ohooooooowwwwwwww!"
It roared with a might so great that it shook the forest.
The ground cracked like a spiderweb, looking like a meteorite had just fallen. Everything was blown away in its explosive-like roar, reshaping the landscape in an instant.
The surrounding snowstorm was pushed back for a mere moment, allowing Bell to see the full form of the titan. Her eyes widened before passing out.
The girls lost their footing.
Ice and stone shattered as the ground split apart.
An unseen ravine was split open by the earth-shattering quake.
The two girls fell into the darkness below, their screams being drowned out by the roars of the earth.
-
A few days later, the Demon Hunter discovered the remains of the battle with the ice elementals. Despite the blood being covered by snow, both the Hunter and the Tracker had no difficulty in following the 'sent'.
They followed the path of blood, eventually arriving at the edge of a massive ravine.
The Hunter looked at the Tracker.
The Tracker nodded.
Without a word, the two jumped down.
* * *
An unknown time earlier, Soryn and Bell had woken up, buried in a mountain of snow.
When Bell dug herself out, she examined her surroundings.
She had no time to worry about her wet clothes or empty stomach.
The cave stretched endlessly both forward and back. Above was an endless ceiling, only ending with a small speck of light in the distance.
Looking up, she frowned.
It didn't matter how they survived the fall, only that they did.
Now they had to worry about finding their way out.
Bell quickly woke up Soryn.
After the two girls stabilized their injuries, they picked a random direction and began walking.
After some time, they came upon a cave opening that led deeper.
They walked.
The cave was dark and cold. The smell of iron permeated their nostrils. The silence was occasionally interrupted by the sound of dripping water. There were no beasts, but the occasional bug would crawl past the cave wall.
Bell took the lead, helping Soryn forward.
The two only stopped when they arrived before a large stone 'door'. The door was broken, leading into an unusual room. The room was extended, clearly looking artificial.
Bell looked around, feeling uneasy.
Since awhile ago, the young tower mage had felt like she was being watched.
They staggered forward, moving even slower than their original pace.
The cave was dark, illuminated only by the blue light of Soryn's remaining magic.
They took slow steps, staying alert for anything that was lurking in the darkness.
When they reached the end of the cave, they discovered another large door, only this one was intact and open. This ancient door stood over four meters tall and split open down the center.
Soryn and Bell staggered in.
The duo continued down the dark path, their magic slowly running out.
After another hour of walking, the two girls sat down next to the cave wall to have something to eat. They sat in the darkness, not starting a fire, and slowly ate while taking turns to guard the surroundings.
After they finished eating, they continued forward.
The seemingly endless hallway had no signs of life.
Although the girls could not see a way out, they continued forward, following the slight incline of the tunnel.
After another ten minutes, the tunnel suddenly opened up into a large space.
Bell's eyes widened at what she saw,
This was a large stone dome with a diameter of a few kilometres! The ceiling of the dome was engraved with massive runes that didn't match the style of the High Elves.
Soryn didn't think much of it, but Bell exclaimed in amazement.
Soryn looked at her, asking for an answer.
Bell nodded, quickly explaining with a bit of excitement. "You've heard of the Elfefalein Empire, right? Well, there was actually quite a long history before that. We currently live in the 'Reclamation Era', and we're reclaiming the land that had been abandoned for millennia. Between the disappearance of the Elfefalein Empire and now, we call this the 'Desolate Era', a long period of thousands of years where the continent was left abandoned. The Elfefalein Empire spanned across the 'Golden Era', a period of technological advancement and growth. Before the Elfefalein Empire was the 'Age of Chaos'. Most people assume that this long period of monster kings and devastating wars was the earliest period. In truth, there was an even older civilization that existed before the Age of Chaos. We don't know anything about them, but we know they were called the Void Walkers and they lived in the 'Primordial Era'."
Bell pointed at the massive runes that stretched across the ceiling of the stone dome.
"These massive runes are the only indicator of the Void Walkers."
Soryn suddenly had a new appreciation for history. She nodded, eagerly awaiting what Bell would say next. "Ok, so how does this help us?"
Bell pursed her lips.
Soryn frowned. "What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing. It's just...." Bell didn't finish, she just shook her head. "Let's get out of here first, this place probably isn't too safe."
Soryn agreed.
The two girls continued forward.
* * *