Chapter 16

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A biting cold froze Cerrin to a halt. The icy mist sent shivers down his spine. He breathed white clouds. His eyes were wide not only because they were stuck there with frost but because of the sudden change in surroundings. One second, he was falling into the abyss and the next second, he stood on a crunchy ice floor, his body assaulted by the cold.

The first thing he saw after his eyes readjusted to the new surroundings was a wooden ladder that was near white blue in colour from the ice forming over it. However, it was when Cerrin stumbled to the ground, still getting processing what had just happened, that the real sight was burned into his eyes, freeing them from the frost.

"Ugh..."

Freezing spikes jutted out of the ground around him, each one plagued with crimson blood. The earthy walls that made the small square room were missing lumps of rock, each side riddled with icy cracks. The icy cracks reached the wooden ceiling where they intertwined with lumps of ice and icicles that cut through the gaps between each floorboard, each marred red.

Cerrin's body was frozen. Not because of the cold. Not because of the sudden teleportation. It was because of the unsettling feeling that oozed from those floorboards above. Cerrin wasn't one to be scared, and he wasn't, but he needed to be cautious because although the chilled room didn’t ooze death, for all he knew, an icy death was waiting for him atop those ladders.

“Cerrin,” a warm voice called out, "look here."

"H-Huh?" Cerrin let out as the sudden voice surprised him."Renalia?"

"Yes. It seems that abyss teleported us together, probably because we were touching."

"Ah, yes, ha ha," Cerrin shrugged as he walked over to the small girl who was draped in a sky blue robe with the golden alliance's sigil embroidered in the middle, trying to laugh off the questions rushing his mind as his companion seemed so calm.

He peered around the girl's witch hat and

"Well..." he exhaled with a tut.

Before the two of them was a body chilled into a block of ice that jutted from the ground, it’s now blue hand the only part not encased in ice.

"Seems like some sort of magic but..." the girl started as she stroked the bloody ice.

"But not ours." Cerrin nodded.

"Plus, it should be recent so I think we should stay down here for a while and figure some things out."

Cerrin nodded as the girl turned to him, her big eyes staring into his. He crouched to the ground, tracing his finger over the icy floor and pondered for but a second.

"Nah. We can't do that."

"Wh-why?" the girl lost composure for a split second.

"I feel a bit weird but y'know I can't just sit back and let weird shit happen, especially when we need to find out what happened just now with the abyss. We ain't figuring shit out by sitting still."

He jumped back to his feet with a wry smile as he looked around the cold room and back to the girl in front.

"I... I suppose you are right. I merely suggested that lesser option because I'm not as capable as you are without magic so i was sc-"

Cerrin raised an eyebrow.

"Ahem- sc- sc- scouting out the possibilities." She stated with a straight look and firm lips.

"Ha ha, nice one!" Cerrin chuckled to himself as he patted her on the shoulder. "Not like you to make me laugh. Now let's get up there.

The two passed the crimson ice and chilled bodies towards the ladder with the cold, that was now almost biting, failing to stop them.

Heaving themselves onto the upper floor, they found themselves in a barren room. It was lit up just barely by a slight orange glow atop a small round wooden table. Despite the cold, the light came from a faint flame pattering on a candle.

"Seems cosy." Cerrin joked.

The walls were made up of shoddy wooden planks. The floor was made up of shoddy wooden planks that creaked with each step due to poor support from pillars connecting the basement to this floor. The only thing saving it from being completely barren was the small table the candle stood upon as well as a small wooden chair that was leant against the wall next to it. Then again, the fact that there were no windows didn't help their case.

“Well, guess we go through here then,” Cerrin stated exhaling white clouds as he walked over to a wooden door with iron fittings, the cold even more present despite the lack of ice pointers like there was in the basement. “Or not…”

As Cerrin moved his hand towards the iron handle he noticed something. The gaps that separated the door and the wall were filled blue. That was undoubtedly ice. As knight touched the iron handle, the cold bit his flesh.

There was a reason it was iced off, and Cerrin wasn’t sure if now was the time to find out with the bloody ice below. Despite this, he moved his hand back and forth between the handle and his sword, debating whether or not it was worth it when he was forced to a decision.

“This way.” The girl said as she opened another wooden door on the other side of the room.

“Ah, yeah,” Cerrin muttered with a slight frown as he scratched his stubble and followed his small companion. “Better not I guess when our bodies are feeling off- fucking hell.”

As Cerrin walked through the doorframe and his feet crunched on snow, a cold air hit him that was much more freezing than the air in the shack, forcing him to wrap his arms around his chest.

The wind was icy but nothing as bad as what Cerrin had endured back when he travelled up the reverse mountains and felt its freezing wind at the peak. However, it might not have been a peak of the reverse mountains, but his eyes were hit with a bright light from above that shimmered a haze of clouds to his gaze below.

“Okay. This ain’t the DragonLands.” Cerrin stated as he looked around the snowy peak that was barren except for the wooden shack they came from.

He shovelled the snow with his feet as he walked to the edge and peered down. It wasn’t that steep of a drop surprisingly, but the snow-covered grey rock below further proved he wasn’t in the DragonLands, never mind the sky above the ocean. However, what caught his eye the most was the odd shape of the peak. It was extremely flat, almost as if someone had sliced the very tip, the actual peak of the mountain. Clean off. This was also further proved when he walked around the shack. It was quite big to be a so-called peak.

“Must be in a new world of sorts.” The girl said quietly, barely reaching Cerrin’s ears.

“Uh?”

“No other continent in our world has floating rock and land formations like that.” She pointed a small finger to the sky where she stared. “Well, not that high up, nor without the aid of mana crystals like where the guild is located in the DragonLands.”

"Whew, that does look otherworldly," Cerrin chimed as his gaze moved to the floating rocks and land high in the sky. "We can only just about see it and we're all the way up here, past the clouds. But yeah, ya right. It’s definitely nothing like this where we're from nor on the other continents. Although maybe another world is a stretch because we don't know about the demon continent... although I guess if Knight-bro is from another world then..."

Before Cerrin could spend too long scratching his head and wondering where they were, a voice rang out.

“It worked?”

Cerrin slammed his hand to his sheathe and span around to the door of the shack slammed shut.

“Oi-” His shout was cut off as he tried lifting his foot to make a step towards the shack. “Huh?”

Suddenly, a snap of cold erupted from his foot.

He looked down to see his foot frozen to the ground.

“What the hell?!” he shouted, the air chilling his lungs, “What…the…hell?”

His whole body went stiff as he gasped for more and more freezing air. The biting cold ate his senses, numbing his touch and freezing his vision. He tried warming up inside and blowing flames from his hands but nothing happened except his heart beating faster for but a couple of seconds, fighting the cold before slowing down again. The only sense that Cerrin really had left was his hearing as a cackle fell into his ears.

“I suppose it’s no fun when a lamb freezes before it has the chance to mature,” a voice spoke to himself, chilling Knight’s ears. “Turn around, little lamb.”

With his body relaxing and his feet regaining blood flow, Cerrin turned around to the source of the frost. However, the cold had done more than create cloudy breaths with only the small figure of the voice appearing in the frosty mist, assumably right in front of the shack door.

“Oi,” Cerrin spat with a scowl etched into his face. "Little lamb? Chance to mature? Judging from your voice and the shape of your body, it seems that you are the little lamb that needs to mature. I've been around the lands long enough."

“Ha ha, right." the voice gave a theatrical chuckle and sarcastically agreed. "Yes, you might be mature in age and fighting experience..." it paused, almost as if it was debating which choice in a visual novel it wanted to choose."...but you have zero experience with that here. Although I guess you do have good senses for a lamb, despite them being so easily frozen.

"The fuck are ya on about!?" Cerrin shouted as he unsheathed his steel katana and walked forwards.

The voice in the cold mist simply sighed with "oh well." Then, with a patronising voice, it said, "it does take newborns time to adapt. Let me fix that for you,” it finished, pointing its fingers in the mist which dispersed as they clicked.

It blew right past Cerrin who threw his hands to his face with a "huh?"

After protecting his face from the freezing wind, his eyes creaked open. A few metres away was a small, slender girl clad in an all-black one piece dress. Her pale blue hair reached her fur-covered shoulders in length. The girl had the audacity to wear a black cape accented with white fur, merely a suggestion of protection and warmth from the cold environment. It was safe to say that the girl’s outfit matched the aura she oozed, despite her small frame - overwhelming narcissism with the power to match.

Cerrin gulped as he acknowledged that fact. He was reminded of female demons that plagued his journey to saving the DragonLands, often with weak looking bodies yet held the intimidation of a seven foot bear berserker man. It was a different kind of intimidation, but Cerrin knew she was a big deal. He wouldn't normally gulp though. He had faced much worse. However, something wasn't right. His body had felt weird since the abyss had suddenly changed to an icy and bloody room but now, he was sure. He was sure that he couldn't use magic.

Despite, the worrying gulp, Cerrin chuckled and opened his mouth to say, "ha ha ha, and you called me the little... lamb?"

His voice trailed off as his eyes moved next to the narcissistic girl, his attention was frozen on one thing. What got his’s attention was the ice sculpture the girl's gloved hand rested upon. A sculpture of Cerrin's companion.

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Despite the intense cold the new girl exuded dissipating back to the natural cold air, Cerrin was frozen.

The frosty silence was broken by a cold, piercing laugh, “do you like my sculpture? It’s far from my best piece but she’s definitely much cleaner in there.”

“How did you d-do that…?” Cerrin shakily asked and clenched his katana hilt tightly as he gave a fiery stare. “Who are you?”

“Did I say you could speak?!” the girl snapped back with a flash of anger.

“…”

“That’s more like a lamb, good,” she smiled with the tilt of her head.

Cerrin did not know what to do apart from wearing a flaming expression and clench his katana with one hand and make a fist with the other, letting his skin almost boil.

He knew that whatever the girl had done to Renalia that she could probably do it to him.

Cerrin balled his fist even tighter, almost drawing blood. Then, he sighed. It was no use. He could not muster any flames but he knew his mana was still there, his body wasn’t hot just because of anger and frustration after all.

He scrunched his lips with no idea how to act. Normally the girl would be dead but he wasn’t so sure he could slice her in half with his raw ability before either he was iced over, or Renalia was gone for good. There could still be hope for her, after all. With another sigh, Cerrin slightly relaxed his grip knowing there wasn’t really any way he could fight back unless the world’s magic awakened inside of him. Yet, what else could he do? He for sure wasn’t going to turn tail and run because aside from having no idea where to run to, he was never going to back down from a fight with a friend in peril.

“Ahhh, I do pity you lambs. I really do. You don’t even have the guts to save this golden lamb. Such a shame,” the girl spoke with his consistent noble attitude, there was no sign of murderous intent despite the frozen girl. “Orrr,” she looked Cerrin up and down with a frown, “you’re telling yourself I’d be dead on any other day if we were in the place you came from. Peh,” she scoffed. “You’re a bit more of a new born than I thought… and I thought you’d have the third best chance of adjusting to the environment.”

Cerrin didn’t quite catch the last bit muttered under her breath as he slammed his fists shut yet again, opening his mouth to say something before just squashing it shut in time. It wasn’t like Cerrin to keep his thoughts to himself but he’d apparently learned a bit since the last time that had cost him, instead of shouting inside his mind. What does he want? He can’t be punishing me for escaping the prison, it’s as if he’s playing with me!’

“Well, I guess two little lambs making their way to the black world themselves deserve some sort of a gift. Although… I guess this little lamb already has her present,” the patronising girl giggled.

“The black world?” Cerrin grinded his teeth as he spoke.

“Yes, the black world…” the girl paused as she looked to the ground and smiled, almost as if she was basking in a hopeful pleasure before she shook it off with a wiggle of her shoulders. “Well, it’ll be the black world when…” she trailed off as she remembered something. “Heh, you will know eventually. You’re on the path of a sacrificial lamb after all.

“S-sacrificial?” Cerrin’s mouth fell open in surprise, his anger cooling down for not even a second.

“That’s what I said. You made yourself over here to be a sacrifice, right?”

“What? N-no!?” Cerrin shouted, confused. “We didn’t choose to come here on our own nor did we ever choose to be a sacrifice.”

The girl smiled from ear to ear, letting out an, “ohh?” as Cerrin closed the distance between them to a couple of metres. “Think that if you want, I guess but we’ll see what you say when you’re drowning in the abyss once again.”

“Once again? You know? D-Do you have something to-“

“Why of course I know.” the girl said, a smug smile covering her face, “I know everything. Be it otherworldly or not.” The smile grew bigger. “But thanks for offering yourselves, we need some new sacrifices…” she trailed off and muttered the last part under her breath. “…although we only got our first a few years ago, after hundreds of years trying other methods…”

Cerrin’s confusion vanished along with his questions as his anger boiled again. “We ain’t ya sacrifices!”

“Ah, you ain’t a sacrifice? Such a shame,” the girl faked a frown, barely suppressing another grin after hearing from the middle-aged man. “Do not worry, I’m a girl, a demon, and a sinner true to my word… if I decide to be. Oh.” Her smile popped back onto her face as she remembered something. “I forgot, I promised you a gift.”

What the hell is happening? Don’t know where I am, why my magic ain’t working, nor who this bitch is or what she wants.

“Your gift iiiiiiis…” the girl stopped stroking Renalia’s frozen head and took her gloved hand from the ice statue she was bound in and stroked her soft face. “Going to be… survival.”

“Eh?” Cerrin was taken aback, unsure how to take the good news, still itching to slice her in half. “Then why the fuck would ya attack us and spout a bunch of nonsense.”

However, it seemed Knight wouldn’t be able to decide as the man scoffed in response, “it seems as though lambs are far from human comprehension. You think a peasant lamb like you could be rewarded with such a good gift?”

“Shucks, you are more boring than I thought,” the small girl sighed. “I’ll be nice though.”

“What?”

“Oka, I guess I could make it a bit easier. A better wording for my git would be… a trial.”

“What?”

“Same reaction twice…. Not exciting.” The small girl sighed again. “Look, you and the girl can walk on out of here alive, no question. However, that is if you save here. And that part is the trial.”

“That’s not survival… Why don’t you just let us go. You know I…” Cerrin turned his head to the side and scrunched his face and fists, finishing the sentence in his head. won’t be able to get the girl from you… what am I doing? Acting like I did when I was young… I’m supposed to be the strongest fairy with a sword and the guild master of the adventure’s guild…

“Oh, the lamb got his attitude back… although it isn’t as fiery?” she giggled. “Well, I think it could be. But I did change it to trial, so you can’t complain. Anyways, I see that you’re feeling a bit conflicted,” she let out a grin as she pulled a black glove from the inside of her dress. “To be honest anyone could tell by how you handled yourself. You’re strong. But it seems you don’t belive in that strength all of a sudden. You’re confidence has been fading second by second here. Well…” she trailed off and pondered for a few seconds with a smile. “…I will barely spare any of my strength… you have a decent chance, trust me and… believe in yourself.”

Cerrin did not like what she said. Not the fact that she had read him like an open book. And not the fact that she belittled his wavering decisions on mere confidence. He didn’t like that she was right about him not being sure he could complete her trail and even though there was one thing he could still put some confidence in without magic, he didn’t like that he still couldn’t leap at her with no worry. He hadn’t felt like this since he had struggled in the fight to repel the demons from the DragonLands with the golden alliance.

“…believe in yourself. If you’re still scared then look, I’ll swear on all the Gods and not just my own.”

Schwing

Cerrin exploded in anger, whipping his sword out from it’s sheathe and parrying the cold air as he thrust it at the small girl.

“Oh, the lamb is approaching me?” The girl chuckled as she took a half step to the left.

Cerrin had no time to question her lackadaisical attitude as he envisioned the obvious outcome. He yanked his arm to the left in pursuit, the steel katana tip on target to pierce flesh when.

Crash

A wall of ice crashed from the ground and pounded the katana to the right.

Cerrin stumbled as he landed awkwardly from the sudden impact.

“Nice, nice!” she smiled as she pulled the black, scaly glove over her left hand. “That was all the strength I spared for you, so take the free hit!”

Cerrin twisted his body to the left and threw himself at the girl, arcing his sword from behind his back to slice her head clean off.

“Ugh!” but instead his necked snapped back as the girl simply lifted a knee, allowing his chest to come crashing into it.

Stumbling back, Cerrin wiped the fresh blood trickling from his nose. Fuck, I really haven’t practices without magic in a while… He looked back up and started into the girl’s small icy eyes and then back to his sword. He threw his sword to the side. Staring into the girl’s cold face only made Knight more confident that he could do something with his fists. That smug smile needed to vanish.

The man threw a loose jab, only to find the scaly grip of the girl’s glove. Cerrin was surprised but he couldn’t and didn’t let that deter him as he threw a sudden kick into the thin shin of the girl, hitting its mark. Yet, to Cerrin’s surprise again, the girl didn’t buckle but she simply scoffed and tightened her grip instead. Cerrin took the damage from his kick instead. The girl defied the logic of her small frame.

Cerrin might have only expected her to be powerful in magic and not physically, but he was too experienced in things of that nature to let it hamper him mid fight. He spat it off and didn’t spare any time crying over his mashed leg, twisting his body away from the girl before snapping it back and sending his limp arm flying. Only to reach a scaly grip.

“Wow, that was rather innovative. Well done.”

‘What the fuck?’ he scrambled his head for ideas as he struggled to free his useable hand, finally falling to annoyance and confusion. ‘I ain't kicking that again… what can I do?’

Suddenly, his hands dropped from the girl’s cold clutch, her face frozen with confusion and shock. Cerrin spared no time over what had happened and let out a nasty left hook, finally connecting with the girl’s pale skin; then letting out a right kick to the middle of the girl’s legs, aiming to buckle her knees. However, that was a bad idea as the connecting with the girl’s bones was like connecting with rock, as he snapped his leg back in pain, even more shocked at the girl’s toughness than he was before.

However, that shock disappeared as he saw the busted lip on the girl’s contorted face.

“YOU LITTLE-” the girl snapped before cutting himself off, staring at Cerrin’s arms.

Cerrin didn’t know what the man was shocked about, and he didn’t care. Instead, he simply gritted his teeth as he unleashed another right.

Crack

Yet, a wall of ice erupted from the ground, bloodying his knuckles as they collided with the strong ice, only just cracking it.

“FUCKING MAGIC” Cerrin shouted, tossing his left arm at the girl.

“I hate to say it but there’s been a change in plans,” the girl said, another wall of ice erupting to block the flailing arm.

Ignoring the girl’s words Cerrin threw another hook, dodging the previous walls. This time no ice burst from the floor to protect the girl from the oncoming fist. It was going to find its mark. Yet, the man simply smiled.

“I said there was a change of plans, strange lamb,” the girl repeated himself as he trapped the fist again.

“How?!” Cerrin shouted.

The girl simply sighed, “Let me end this and be on my way. I’ll be back to see you soon though, because you passed this trial to pass as a sacrifice.”

A snap of cold surged through Cerrin’s right arm, chilling his whole body.

“Wh-what…?”

Ice shards protruded from the girl’s fingertips, covering the entirety of Cerrin’s arm and piercing the air. The sharp edges cut into his face, only to freeze the dripping blood in place.

His eyes widened as they stared at a cold, blue ice covered arm.

“Shit!” He screamed when his arm suddently shattered into a million pieces of ice before him like smashed glass. He didn't even have time to process the fact his arm was frozen before another fact came. His amr was no more.

“Stop crying. You won’t die. Your wounds frozen over so you won't lose too much blood… I keep my promises, as I said." The girl generously reminded the man in excruciating pain before she chopped his neck with a thud, sending his vision into darkness.

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