Later that Night.
Southern Mountains – Half way up the mountains.
Outside the carriage, the scenery had shifted. It was still, for the most part, the same rocky, mountainous scenery as before, however now most of the road was covered in light snow, with heavier piles of snow piled up on the sides of the road. From above them, cliffs with thick piles of snow sat, while long icicles hung from the cliff edges.
We had been journeying up the mountainous path for hours at this point, yet, if they were reading the map correctly, they had barely made it halfway up the mountains. There was still a long road ahead of them.
"I believe we should find a place to stop at and spend the night." Odale stated, looking back inside the carriage at me. Avy was still asleep on the other side of the carriage, a blanket pulled tightly around her. Meanwhile, I sat closer to Odale, map in hand, staring at it. For a moment, I remained silent – then, I let out a small exhale before folding the map up and looking at Odale, nodding. "Agreed. The path is rough enough as is. Plus, it'll get colder the higher we go. We better only travel during the day."
"Then I shall look for a more stable, flat part of the road to stop at."
"Right." I replied, before standing up and moving across the carriage, kneeling down over some of our own bags, placing the folded up map inside one of them. After closing up the bag, I looked at my hands. They were slightly trembling.
"Ever since the road got colder, my body has begun to feel as though it is weakening…"
That'd be because of your species.
Snakes, by nature, are cold blooded. Surely you knew that already.
"I did, but I didn't expect to be affected by the cold in this form…"
As you do not possess any special resistance to the cold or have any clothing specifically designed to resist the cold, it is no surprise that it affects you. Remember Master, just because you look and feel like a human, doesn't mean you are one. 'Mimic' is incapable of actually changing what species you are. It only creates an avatar which mimics other species for you to 'puppet'.
Guess that makes sense.
Since I am a snake now, colder environments will affect far more now compared to when I was a human in my previous life. Though, that does make me wonder – How badly does it affect me?
That depends on how cold it gets.
Luckily for us, the Southern Mountains don't get nearly cold enough to affect you critically – even at the highest parts. At most, while journeying through the Southern Mountains, you'll feel your body become weaker and your combat abilities will be weakened.
You'll also have a harder time utilising your skills, as the cold will affect the speed at which you can move and use skills.
That's… quite annoying.
Then again, I suppose it should serve as a lesson – After we make it to Yiinao and deliver what we need, I should look into clothing or equipment that can help me resist the cold.
As a temporary solution, you can for now rely on the heat given off by Miss Avy's body or the flames that Sir Odale conjures. That should allow you to minimise the effect of the cold, though, it won't nullify it completely.
"Got it… I think I'll just Odale to make me a flame in a lantern to keep close to me. I don't exactly feel very…. Comfortable about the idea of using Avy as a heater." I exhaled, before standing up once more, throwing a look at the sleeping Owl Princess. She looked so peaceful while soundly asleep…
Looking at her also reminded me a little bit of my past life – specifically my childhood. Good memories, this time. After a bit of gazing, I shook my head lightly, before moving back to the front of the carriage, planning to join Odale's side outside, however as soon as I took a couple of steps forward…
The carriage shook violently, before stopping completely, swaying down a little bit on one of the carriage's corners.
I barely managed to maintain my balance, throwing a look around for a second, confused. "The hell was that..?" I thought, looking towards the front of the carriage. Odale was looking around, as if trying to check something on the carriage from his seat. "Odale, what happened?"
"I believe one of the carriages wheels were caught on a particularly sharp stone in the road and was broken, however I am unable to verify that from here." The lich responded. I sighed heavily – just what we needed. The carriage got damaged? Seriously? Well, it'd explain why it swayed down slightly on one of its corners I suppose…
"I'll check, hold on." I responded to Odale, before moving to the back of the carriage, moving carefully to not step onto Avy – who somehow was still soundly asleep, despite the violent shake that the carriage just experienced – and hopped out of the carriage. Brushing off my clothes gently, I kneeled down, resting my right hand against the carriage before looking at the wheels underneath.
Using 'Enlightened' I was able to sort of 'bypass' the darkness with my vision, by simply focusing on what 'Enlightened' could see instead of my eyes. With that, I was able to easily observe the wheels of the carriage and, unfortunately for us, it seemed as though Odale was right.
The right, back wheel was damaged – part of it shattered and now resting onto the ground. "Great… Just what we needed…" Standing back up, I moved to the front of the carriage, Odale looking at me. "Well?"
"The back wheel on the right side of the carriage is damaged…. Or rather, a part of it is completely shattered. Safe to say that we won't be moving anywhere until we fix that." Odale went silent, thinking as he gently scratched the chin of his mask. "That certainly is not good news to hear…"
"I'm going to take a guess on the fact that we don't have the materials to fix it."
Odale shook his head.
"Stuff like that is not something you can fix on the road. It most of the time requires you to have a dedicated craftsmith who can fix the wheel."
I thought about it for a moment. "What about a potential spare wheel? Does the carriage have that anywhere?"
"I have… Never heard of such an idea before. A spare wheel?" Odale crossed his arms, before laughing lightly. "Well, isn't that a good sounding idea? Curious how no one has thought of that up until now."
"That basically answers my question…"
I sighed heavily. Guess I shouldn't be too surprised. This world seems to be leaning more towards that 'medieval' age, so I suppose a 'modern' idea such as a 'spare wheel' in case something happens to one of the four wheels already on the vehicle while on the road wouldn't be a thing yet.
"Guess we have no choice but rest for the night here and think of something in the morning." I stated. Odale nodded gently, before looking towards the horses that were pulling the carriage. "The horses should also be fine to rest for the night. So I suppose we can make a quick, makeshift camp here." Odale replied, before hopping off of the carriage. "Would you mind looking around to see whether you can find some sort of dead bushes or twigs we could use for a campfire?" Odale asked me, resting his arms behind his back.
"Sure… I could give it a try – though, I doubt I'll find anything."
"That's fine. In the worst case scenario, I'll come up with a different solution to ensure we don't freeze to death during the night." I nodded gently in response to Odale, before looking around for a bit and then closing my eyes, activating 'Overworld Detection'.
"Ancient One, can I look for dead bushes or twigs via this method?"
I can certainly tweak the magical energy that the skill is picking up to only show that which belongs to what you're searching for.
"Do it." That will make my life a thousand times easier.
Right away.
After a moment, I could feel the skill 'shift' as all the magical energy I previously was picking up vanished, leaving me in a sort of 'void' – as if the skill was telling me that there was nothing around me. Then, after a bit, several small magical energy 'pings' appeared.
"Seems like it managed to find some."
Opening my eyes, I sunk into the shadows, before moving swiftly forward. The second I had entered the Shadow Realm, the weakening feeling in my body felt as if it had disappeared instantly. Now my body felt like it usually did.
The Shadow Realm, while yes, a reflection of our world, still is its unique domain.
Concepts such as 'heat' or 'cold' do not exist either.
"Concepts don't exist here?" I thought about it for a moment while I moved swiftly to the first ping that 'Overworld Detection' had picked up. "Would that also happen to include—?"
A common misconception, but no, not exactly.
'Time' still exists here in the Shadow Realm, however, it isn't exactly one to one to our world's time. Depending how much time you spend here, 'time' can feel the same as our worlds or feel as though it moves significantly slower.
It's a little hard to explain the exact workings of it, since they are not clear even to me, however you could think of it as a side effect of the Shadow Realms' uniquely distorted state.
I see… A little disappointing, but I suppose it makes sense.
If 'time' as a concept did not exist here, I would have realised it by now.
Shaking my head lightly, I cleared my head from what I was just discussing with the Ancient One, refocusing on my goal for entering the Shadow Realm in the first place. "Not too far now…. And…. Here." I thought, before leaping out of the Shadow Realm, landing onto a thicker layer of snow, on top of a cliff that wasn't too far from the carriage. Looking around, I spotted a rather large, dead bush with a little bit of snow on it.
"There it is. Now to just bring it back to—" Right as I approached the bush, about to pick it up, a loud shriek echoed in the air around me. I flipped around, throwing my gaze all over the place. "What the hell was that–?!" I shed a slight sweat.
"Ancient One—"
Already altering the skills function.
Moments after the Ancient One cut me off, 'Overworld Detection' returned to normal functionality, showing me all the magical energy around me. Once it did, I turned its power to maximum output, to cover as much area around me as possible. And… I did notice something. There was a strong magical energy signature, up higher, on a different cliff.
Flicking my head up, I reached down to the shadows around me, forcing the shadows to shoot up and into my hand, before forming a spear out of them, which I gripped tightly. "What is that thing…? Its magical energy reserves are huge…"
I tried to adjust my vision with 'Enlightened' to hopefully make it easier to spot whatever the hell was higher than me, however, no luck. It was too dark, and even if it wasn't, the magical energy I was picking up was way too far away from me, meaning that it wouldn't be possible to even catch a glimpse at the thing.
I stood there completely still, my eyes darting around as I tried examining the cliffs that I could make out in this darkness – sweat forming on my face. However… Nothing. "...Did I imagine it…? No– That's not possible. If I had imagined it, I wouldn't be picking up that massive magical energy signature higher up—"
My thought process would be cut off by a sudden drop in temperature.
Shivers ran down my entire body, before I suddenly fell to my knees. "What the…? I suddenly feel so much weaker than before…" Followed by that, I noticed my entire body trembling even more. It got colder and colder….
Then, something completely unexpected happened.
From the darkness around me, a sudden blizzard struck – a powerful one at that. I was barely able to stay on my feet, using 'Shadowlord' to 'anchor' myself to the ground via shadows. The spear I had just formed disappeared as I hugged my own body. It was freezing cold now.
"What the hell is going on…? Where on earth did this blizzard come from…?"
Master, I suggest you enter the Shadow Realm this instant.
This blizzard isn't—
Before the Ancient One could finish his report, I saw Odale fly up, a ring of fire spinning around him. Upon spotting me, he dashed down towards me, landing next to me. "Lord Faofa, there you are." He stated, before expanding the ring of fire around us into a small 'dome' shaped shield. I felt the cold temperature rise again, allowing my body to regain some of its strength back.
"Thanks… Odale…"
"No worries. We must get you back down to the carriage, now. Miss Avy is waiting—"
Odale was cut off by another loud shriek, followed by something landing in front of us. A massive shadowy silhouette loomed over us, staring down with a pair of shining white eyes. The silhouette stared down at us for a moment, before raising its arms up and smashing them into the shield Odale had formed, easily shattering it.
Odale grabbed hold of me, before helping me leap back, avoiding the next attack that the silhouette threw out. I felt my body weaken greatly once more. "What the hell… is that.. Thing?"
"Trouble. That's what it is."
Odale responded before four massive red magic circles formed behind us. "Stay close to me Lord Faofa, I'll get us out of here." Four spears of pure flames came out of the magic circles, floating in the air behind us for a moment, before Odale extended his left arm towards the silhouette.
Flame Spear Crash.
In an instant, the spears dashed towards the silhouette, melting away at the piled up snow, before causing an explosion at the spot where the figure was, shaking the entire cliffside. A cloud of dark smoke was left behind, slightly illuminated by the now fading fire of the spears that Odale had just sent forward. Moments later, the silhouette leapt up high into the air from the smoke, letting out another shriek, as it flicked its body around.
Above it, several bright, light blue magic circles formed before a barrage of what looked like icicles shot down towards us.
Icicle Barrage.
Odale scoffed.
Then, a large red magic circle formed directly above us, before a barrage of flaming arrows shot up from it, blocking the falling icicles.
Flame Arrow Barrage.
Then, before we could react, the silhouette suddenly landed next to us, catching us completely off guard. "Wha– It used the icicles as a distraction?!" Odale thought, attempting to quickly cast another spell to intercept the creature, however was a few moments too late, as the silhouette managed to land a hit on Odale, knocking him away, while I fell to the ground, into the snow, separating me from Odale. I felt my body tremble more and more. I feel even colder now.
My strength was being drained from my body.
And it was happening fast.
Odale quickly recovered, dashing towards the creature as he formed a massive flaming lance in his hands, gripping its handle with both of his hands before crashing into the silhouette.
Flame Lance.
The shadowy creature easily blocked the incoming attack, holding the flaming lance down. The light from the flames illuminated its body, allowing a better sight at what the thing was, though, in the heavy blizzard that surrounded us, it was still a little hard to completely make it out.
Skeletal, animalistic, antlers on top of the head and what looked like a pelt drooped over its torso and thighs… That's about as much as I could make out in my situation.
Master, don't lose consciousness on me.
I know that the cold is weakening you, but if you fall unconscious, who knows what could happen–
The Ancient One's voice slowly was beginning to fade.
"So cold… So very… cold.." I thought, my vision blurring a little. Odale continued exchanging blows with the mysterious monster using the flaming lance, however the creature was tougher than it looked, easily holding its ground against Odale.
It was strong.
Very strong.
And to think we would be so unfortunate to encounter something like this while trying to make our way through the mountains… I mean, I wasn't expecting a smooth journey, but come on.
Odale managed to push the monster back with a strong thrust of his lance, even leaving the beast partially damaged, as it fell to its knee, clutching its stomach area. Ceasing the opportunity, Odale flicked around and quickly dashed towards Faofa. "I must grab Lord Faofa and get out of here as soon as—!"
Before he could get to Faofa, the beast suddenly roared.
Then, the blizzard intensified by at least tenfold, before the beast flung its arms back and threw what seemed like a powerful force of wind, which kicked up even the snow on the ground – quickly forming a 'wave' of snow. The snow reached Odale fast, knocking him to the side and extinguishing the lance he had held. Odale hit the ground hard, rolling a bit.
However, after a small groan, he managed to push himself back up. "Damnit..!" He looked around searching for Faofa. "Lord Faofa, Lord Faofa – where are you?!" He thought, before the beast suddenly appeared from behind, swinging down its left arm at Odale, the lich barely evading the attack.
"Damnit… I don't have time for this… If I don't find Lord Faofa fast, he'll potentially die due to this cold!" Odale thought, before flicking his right back. In an instant, three more flaming lances formed. He quickly grabbed one of them, before dashing towards the beast, the other two lances launching at the same time as him.
Tri-Flame Lance Thrust.
Odale crashed into the beast with a powerful force, creating another explosion at the impact spot, engulfing both him and the beast in black smoke.
Meanwhile…
As soon as the blizzard intensified and the powerful 'wave' of snow was sent, I was hit hard by it – sending me flying across the cliff before flinging me off of it, sending me down towards what looked like chasm, though, I was basing that off of my already blurry vision, which wasn't helped by the darkness of the night around us. All I remember was a helpless feeling of falling down, snow falling after me.
Thankfully, the blizzard didn't seem to follow me, and the temperature around me quickly rose again – however that didn't help me. I had already stayed in the low temperature of the blizzard for a long time, and being hit by a more intense and even colder blizzard that replaced the initial one, only made it worse.
While falling, I could see spots on my hands which were frozen.
Inside my body, I could feel this strong 'coldness' – as if ice had directly struck my insides.
And finally, I could hear the Ancient One shouting something, clearly distressed – however, my consciousness was far too 'faded' for me to make out anything he was saying at that time.
The last thing I remembered before going fully unconscious was hitting something soft underneath me, with the snow that was falling after me piling on top of me slightly, lowering the temperature around my body once more. Then, everything went black and silent. I couldn't feel anything, sense anything or hear anything. It was obvious – I had lost consciousness, something that the Ancient One had tried to warn me against earlier.
…
While Faofa laid unconscious in the snow, surrounded mostly by darkness with only a few rays of moonlight finding their way into the chasm where he was, a cloaked individual carrying a lantern passed by – noticing him. At first, the cloaked individual dared not approach the unconscious Faofa. However, after a moment or two, he did.
Examining Faofa, the cloaked individual let out a small groan.
"...Poor soul. You're lucky I was on my patrol."