"This place is a bloody mess," Lunara muttered, stepping over a scorched piece of metal. She looked around the ravine, which was now a chaotic disaster zone filled with cratered dirt and the scattered remains of the attackers.
Cid stretched his arms over his head, a smug grin plastered across his face. "Hey, don't look at me. It's been a while since I've had this much fun. My new concussion spheres work beautifully."
"Sure, whatever. Let's get moving," Lunara sighed, waving off his enthusiasm. "More of them are probably already on their way. We can't afford to get pinned down here a second time."
She turned on her heel and adjusted her cloak, picking up her pace as she headed down the mountain path. The three boys quickly fell into step behind her.
"So... where exactly are we going?" Alger asked, his eyes still bright with excitement from the spectacular fight he had just witnessed.
Light looked down at him, his golden sword now dissolved back into thin air. "If my sister's tracking the safest route, we'll probably be heading far into the North."
Alger's excitement faltered for a second, replaced by sudden recognition. "The North? Where the never-ending frostlands are?"
Cid turned his head back, nodding in approval. "Smart kid. You're right. Frostheim is gripped by a permanent, unforgiving winter all year round. Due to the extreme sub-zero temperatures, traditional farming is impossible—nothing grows in that frozen soil. But the North isn't completely helpless; they have a massive monopoly on rare glacial ores and deep-sea beast hides, which they exchange for food and luxury goods from the southern realms."
Cid's green eyes narrowed slightly as he kicked a stray pebble down the path. "The problem is the supply routes. Because those food shipments are worth their weight in gold, bandits and Nihilist cells love to ambush the convoys. If we're going there, we aren't just fighting the weather—we're going to be fighting the locals, too."
Lunara looked back over her shoulder, her calculating silver eyes brushing over the boys. "It'll take us about three days to get there if we manage to secure a carriage. By foot? We're looking at a solid six days."
"S-six days by foot?!" Alger gasped, his jaw dropping in sheer shock at the daunting length of the trek. His legs already felt heavy just thinking about it.
Cid leaned back, linking his hands behind his head as he walked. "We could probably shave it down to four days if we push through the night and don't take a single break. But you're still recovering from those nasty seals, isn't that right, Alger? We aren't trying to walk you into an early grave."
Five Days Later...
The lush green plains of the southern territory had long since withered away. Now, the earth beneath their boots was hard, cracked, and dusted with a pristine layer of frost. The air grew so sharp and bitter that every breath they exhaled escaped as a thick plume of white mist.
"Are we almost there?" Alger asked, his teeth chattering slightly, though his purple eyes were bright with genuine excitement. Despite the exhaustion of the five-day march, the thrill of seeing a completely new land kept him moving.
Light stopped, lifting a hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the pale sun. He pointed toward the horizon, where a colossal, jagged peak tore through the gray clouds. "Look over there. See that massive mountain? Once we cross that rugged pass, we'll officially enter the land of Frostheim."
The mountain was a breathtaking but intimidating sight, draped in an ancient, heavy blanket of snow that gleamed like diamonds in the distance.
Lunara called a halt, her gaze shifting from the steep mountain trail back to Alger, whose pale face was flushed red from the biting wind. "The altitude is going to make the air much thinner up there, and the temperature will drop instantly. Shall we take a final break here and prepare our winter gear?"
Dropping his heavy leather satchel onto a flat rock, Cid eagerly unbuckled the straps. He began rummaging through the chaotic clutter of gears, loose crystals, and metallic parts, frantically muttering to himself. "They should be here... come on, where are they? I know I packed them..."
After a few moments of aggressive digging, his face lit up. "Ah! Aha! Found them!"
Curious, Alger walked over and peered into the bag. "Found what?" he asked, looking at the small, metallic objects Cid was proudly pulling out. They were smooth, silver discs about the size of a pocket watch, each etched with faint, glowing orange runes that thrummed with a gentle energy.
"These beauties right here are one of my premier inventions," Cid gloated, holding a disc up to the pale sunlight. "I call them Thermal Badges, or 'Body Warmers' for short."
Light looked at the small devices, crossed his arms, and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Don't feed his ego, Alger. It's just one of his many obsessed heater inventions. He designs them to emit a constant radiating heat so a person can feel completely warm, even in the middle of this miserable frost land."
Lunara stepped closer, staring skeptically at the dust covering the silver casings. "Do they even still work? You haven't been to the North in years, Cid."
"Of course they work!" Cid snapped, his emerald eyes flashing with irritation as his pride took a hit. "My inventions are built to last, you know! They run on compressed thermal mana-cores. They don't just leak energy over time like standard southern magic trash!"
To prove his point, he aggressively pressed the center of one disc and tossed it to Alger. The moment Alger caught it, a wave of soothing, ambient warmth surged through his hands and rushed up his arms, instantly melting away the biting chill of the mountain air.
Alger's eyes went wide. "Wow... it's like holding a tiny fireplace."
Cid handed out the remaining Thermal Badges to Light and Lunara. The moment the silver discs were pinned to their cloaks, a comfortable shield of warmth enveloped them, driving away the harsh mountain wind.
With the chill taken care of, Lunara reached into her travel pack and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle. She unwrapped it to reveal a fresh batch of the bread she had baked back at the shop before their sudden escape. Each roll was stuffed with different savory fillings—smoked meats, spiced cheeses, and sweet roasted roots.
"Let's eat quickly, and then we can continue our journey," Lunara said, passing a stuffed roll to each of them.
Alger took a bite, his eyes lighting up as the rich, savory flavors burst across his tongue. "Wow... these are delicious, Lunara!" he praised, eating with a newfound appetite. The warm food combined with Cid's heater device made him feel truly safe for the first time in days.
Once everyone had finished eating and packed away their supplies, they stood up and stretched their legs, facing the steep trail ahead.
"Remember to keep those discs on you at all times," Cid reminded everyone, checking the glowing orange runes on his own badge one last time. "If you drop it up there, your fingers will freeze solid before you can even bend down to pick it up."
With Cid's warning echoing in their ears, they began their grueling ascent. They trudged up the winding mountain path for hours, watching the earth transition from rocky dirt to solid, unyielding sheets of ice. The wind howled through the stone crags like a dying beast, but the group pressed on, protected by their divine resilience and Cid's magitech.
Finally, the steep path leveled out, opening up into a colossal stone archway naturally carved into the peak of the mountain. Pushing past the heavy curtain of swirling mist, the four companions stopped dead in their tracks.
Spread out beneath them was a breathtaking, endless white void. Jagged ice spires rose like skyscrapers from the valley below, and a relentless flurry of heavy snow danced across a vast, frozen kingdom that stretched as far as the eye could see.
They had officially reached the entrance to Frostheim.