Oliver was standing behind a tree. Observing the bird-like Elestia that was in the middle of drinking water at the river. Seeing that the Elestia had not noticed him he enacted his plan. With all his might he threw the brown Draconid Gem in the air and watched as it flew in an arc.

When it came close enough to the wild Elestia he yelled. ''Sandy come out!'' The gem stopped in mid-air and let out a beam of brown energy unto the ground. The energy shifted and took the form of a young fawn. After a full night of sleep inside her gem the Elestia had completely healed from her encounter with the fire lion from yesterday. ''Kill that bird as quickly as you can!''

Sandy proceeded to summon a single vine from the dirt and it latched unto the Elestia before it had time to fly off. She then used the vine and slammed the bird against the trunk of a tree. The bird died on impact with a crunch and Sandy released the dead body on the ground. Oliver winced when he saw that the impact had created a massive hole the size of a basketball on the trunk of the tree. At that moment he was glad the young Elestia was on his side.

Without wasting any time Oliver returned the fawn into her gem and then took the bird's limp body and dragged it back to the cave. As soon as he entered inside Clara made a disgusted face as she watched him come back with the bird's carcass. ''When you told me to go fetch wood I didn't think it was to cook an Elestia.'' Oliver shrugged before taking a large knife from his backpack and cutting up the bird. She instantly looked away from the gory display and tried to not lose her nonexistant lunch.

Oliver didn't know why but Elestia became really easy to cut once they died. But while they were alive the knife could do absolutely nothing to them. Maybe someone smarter than him knew the reason why, but he certainly didn't. ''I was kind of hoping for a bigger catch but we still can share.'' He said to Clara once he was done with taking out the organs.

At that she instantly turned green and shook her head. ''You can keep it, I don't eat meat.''

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that. ''So you're a vegetarian? No offense but how the hell did you survived this long? In this world you can't really be picky about what you eat.'' Clara didn't respond instead she decided to leave the cave. Oliver assumed she was trying to go search for food she would actually like and decided to leave her alone while he cooked his meal.

Fortunately they wouldn't need to search for food for Sandy. The little fawn was more than happy to simply graze on grass occasionally. She would also feed on berries when they were lucky enough to find them. But it seemed like her favorite source of food was the sun. Everytime she was outside the young Elestia would stand in the sunlight with a content look in her face. Oliver knew Earth Elestia were part plants but he didn't know they could also do photosynthesis, Elestia really were mysterious beings.

Once he judged the bird Elestia had been cooked well enough he eagerly took a bite out of it. Unsurprisingly it tasted a bit similar to chicken. But there was also a bit of a weird taste acompanying it that he couldn't place. But it was similar enough to make Oliver remember when he and his father would go out at their favorite restaurant.

Finally he let out a sigh once he was done with the meal. It had been a long time since he ate that well. Maybe having an Elestia wasn't so bad after all. His calm demeanor disappeared once he heard the sound of footsteps coming toward him. But he relaxed when he saw that it was just Clara coming back. But then his eyes widened when he noticed she had a large backpack with her filled to the brim with all sort of food that would last a really long time. things like oats, dried fruits and canned beans was filling almost all of the bag.

''Where the heck did you find all this?!'' Oliver asked in shock.

She laughed at his reaction. ''I paid for it, apparently they use empty cans of food as currency here and I knew that the CGO hideout was full of it. So I 'borrowed' them and paid for all this stuff. It was surprisingly cheap. I guess the people in town feel so safe they don't think they will need this in the future, oh well if anything happen it's their loss I guess.''

''Wait you returned in town?! You know we're supposed to be fugitives right?!'' He shouted in concern, now he was wondering if they should make a run for it before a bunch of angry townfolks come at them with torches and pitchforks.

''Correction you are a fugitive. The people in town didn't even remembered who I was when I was there.'' She said with a proud smile.

Oliver sighed in defeat, he guessed it would make sense that people would only remember the guy with the Elestia rather than the girl following him. ''Fine, fine I guess I should thank you for buying for all this. Now I won't have to risk my life hunting for Elestia every days.'' Clara smiled proudly at that, he wondered if she was proud because of his praise or just because she had managed to stop him from killing more Elestia for food. ''Well I guess we should go then, we've wasted enough time in this forest we need to make our way to the Ding Dong Community.''

With a nod from her head they began to walk to the west. They didn't have much resistance from Elestia which was not surprising. The Knights of Humanity had wiped out most of the dangerous Elestia in this forest. All that was left were the more dociles ones. But even dociles Elestia could be their death if they felt threatened by them. Which is why they made many detours everytime they saw a creature in the way.

''So what is it like in the Ding Dong Community? I only read about it in on a newspaper, but they didn't say much about it. The writer was too busy bashing them for being Elestia lovers.'' She said with a roll of her eyes.

Oliver put both of his hands on the back of his head as he walked. ''Well if rumors are to be believed the Ding Dong Resistance is one of the most powerful group in Orchestralia along with the Knights. And just like the Knights they keep a lot of the Elestia population in check. The major difference between the two groups is that the Ding Dong Resistance will go out of their way to spare Elestia if they can. But they're not above killing creatures that are deemed too dangerous for the settlements safety.''

Clara nodded seeming satisfied with the answer. ''Do the Resistance and the Knights fight often?''

At that Oliver chuckled and shook his head. ''It happen sometime when they meet in the wild. But the Knights are too afraid to approach their community for any real fights to occur.''

Clara rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Is the Resistance really powerful enough to make a group like the Knights of Humanity afraid?'' She asked in an impressed tone.

Oliver shook his head again in response. ''Don't get me wrong the Resistance is powerful. But the Knights would be brave enough to fight them if their community was just a normal settlement. But even they wouldn't dare approach Ringabell City.'' He said in a grim voice.

Clare looked at him in confusion. ''What does Ringabell City has to do with this?'' She asked him.

Oliver stared at her incrediously. ''So you don't even know where their community is?'' Clara shook her head sheepishly. ''Well the Ding Dong Community is right under the ruins of Ringabell City.''

Clara nodded but still look confused. ''I guess that's something, but I don't see why that would make the Knights afraid. Ringabell City is just a massive ruins right?''

Oliver sighed in exasperation. ''Man you're really sheltered aren't you?'' At that the girl looked away in embarassment. ''The reason why the Knights are scared of Ringabell City is very simple. It's because it's Boreas territory.''

At that the girl stopped walking completely and her face became pale. ''Wait... You're saying we're going straight into the Winter's Dragon's den?!'' She asked in alarm, Oliver nodded in confirmation. ''You could have told me this sooner! How the heck are we supposed to go there without dying?!'' She glared accusingly toward him.

''Hey! I thought this was just common knowledge. How the heck was I supposed to know you knew nothing about the outside world?'' He asked defensively, she only huffed in response. ''Beside it's not as dangerous as you think. People have been monitoring the Dragons for years and they found that Dragons usually sleep for almost three weeks per month. The Ding Dong Resistance keep a close eye on the Winter Dragon and has placed alarms everywhere in the city to warn people, so if the Dragon is awake we'll know instantly and come back another time.''

''Fine but if I die I'm coming back to haunt you.'' She said in her best menacing voice.

''You can't haunt me if I'm dead too.'' Oliver responded cheekily which resulted in another huff from the girl. Their journey in the forest continued in silence, it took them most of the day to cross it and when night came they managed to find a old abandoned car where they slept for the night...

- - - - -

''Welcome to Fluoti Town? Do you know of this place Oliver?'' Clara asked him.

He nodded his head with a nostalgic look in his eyes. ''This is where I used to live when my mother was still alive. She died when I was four years old and I was sent to go live with my father in Ringabell City. This was one of the first town to fall when Boreas invaded ten years ago. It has been abandoned ever since.''

''Oh... I'm sorry.'' She said while bitting her lips..

But he only shook his head and gave her a sad smile. ''It's not your fault, maybe that's a horrible thing to say but I'm happy she died before the Invasion. At least she didn't have to live in this hopeless world like me.'' He said in a bitter tone.

Clara didn't know how to responded to that so she stayed silent and followed him as he walked into town. As they entered into the limits of Fluoti Town Oliver felt a cold shiver into his spine. There was something off in the air he couldn't explain. Both teenagers froze when they heard a low moaning coming from further away. ''What was that?'' Clara asked in a fearful voice. Oliver could only shrug in response.

And then something rounded the corner and both of their face went pale. The man, if you could even call it that, was a walking rotting corpse. They could see some of it's bones coming out of it's side and one of it's eyes had fallen off. He was missing many patch of hairs on his head and his teeth were almost completely black. As soon as it had spotted them the creature began to shamble quickly toward them.

With a scream both Oliver and Clara started running in the opposite direction. Only to find more rotting corpses blocking the exit of the town. Taking Clara's hand Oliver began to run into town and ran into a small back alley. They met a few Elestia rodents in the way. But fortunately for them the Elestia just ran away from them when they saw the duo approaching.

They could still hear the creatures moaning in the distance but they didn't dare look behind themselves. Oliver tried to open a door to a apartment building, but much to his dismay the door was locked. Shaking his head he tried another door and this one was locked too. Deciding to give up on the apartment buildings the two of them began to run away once again into the back alleys. Much to their horror one of the undead was blocking the exit of the back alley. Oliver quickly took his Draconid Gem and yelled out Sandy's name.

The fawn instantly appeared and took a defensive stance in front of the shambling abomination. ''Sandy get it out of our way quick!'' The Elestia stomped on the ground and vines came erupting out of the concrete with a loud crack. Then the vines slapped the undead with multiple heavy blows that sent it flying unto the opposite wall. ''Thank you Sandy, return!'' The fawn was sent back into the gem with a brown flash of energy and the two teens started running again.

They came across an old worn down libraries. When she saw it Clara eyes instantly lit up. ''A libraries! This is the perfect place to hide!'' She said with so much glee that Oliver was almost questioning her sanity. Normally he wouldn't really have considered this place to hide but he didn't think he could convince her of the contrary even if he tried. He tried to open the door but with a hopeless feeling in his gut he realised it was locked too. He was about to give up on the library, but then Clara noticed a small writting at the bottom of the door. ''Oliver look at this!'

He looked at the writting in confusion and then looked at her with a deadpan expression. ''I can't read, remember?''

At that she blushed in embarassment. ''Oh right... It's says knock three times if you're alive. Maybe there's still someone inside!'' She said with a hopeful expression. Oliver did as the writting suggested and anxiously waited in front of the door. Finally they heard a click coming from the other side and an old man holding a baseball bat opened the door. But he lowered his weapon when he noticed the two of them.

''Oh real people!'' He said joyfully. ''I thought for a moment those damn corpses learned how to knock at doors, come in quickly!'' The two teens quickly made their way inside and sighed in relief once the old man locked the door behind himself. ''My goodness it's been an eternity since anyone came around these parts. I am Timothy Wood I was a librarian here before all this happened. Most people have left a long time ago but I was too attached to this place and decided I would live here until the day I died.'' The old man chuckled. ''People always used to say I was a stubborn old prune, I guess they were right.''

Oliver looked at the old man with a disbelieving stare he had stopped listening once he had said his name and now he had to ask him something. ''Umm Mr. Timothy did you used to know an Isabelle Wilden? She used to go by Wood before she married.'' He asked with a hopeful expression.

The old man stopped in his tracks and turned toward the boy and saw him in a new light. ''You're Oliver aren't you? I-I thought you were dead all this time, I'm sorry I didn't look for you.'' He said barely containing the tears from escaping his eyes.

''S-so you knew my mother?'' Oliver asked in shock

The old man nodded with a smile on his face. ''Of course I did, she was my niece. Your mother was loved by everyone in town. The town never really recovered after she died. And then those Dragons came out of nowhere and I heard that both you and your father died. Is Franklin still alive as well?'' Oliver shook his head sadly. Timothy sighed in disappointment. ''I'm sorry you had to go throught all that alone.'' He said with a crestfallen expression.

During all the talking Clara had stayed silent but she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard something banging loudly on the door. Followed by a guttural moan. ''What are those things? They look like zombies, like from these old horror movies.'' Clara said with a shaky voice.

Timothy shook his head. ''I don't really know, these things showed up about a month ago. The town was pretty peaceful before this. The only thing I had to worry about were small birds and rats Elestia. But I recognise some of these undead. The other day I saw the corpses of the old mayor and the old sheriff walking around town. My theory is that a powerful Elestia wandered into the cemetery and somehow woke up the dead.''

Oliver shook in anger as he heard that. ''Those damn Elestia, it's not enough they kill hundred of thousands of us each years. Now they have to disturb the rest of our dead too?!''

Timothy put a hand on the shoulder of Oliver. ''I know that the Invasion has cost us a lot. But you shouldn't let anger cloud your judgement. Not all Elestia are hell-bent on killing us, in fact from my experience Elestia are very similar to animals. That is if animals had the power to shoot fire balls and bolt of lightnings with a single thought. In fact here take this, it should be really useful to you.''

The old man walked away into another room and Oliver and Clara followed behind him. Clara eyes widened in wonder when she entered the room and saw rows upon rows of books. There was books from anything from fantasy and science fiction, to history, romance, comedy, police novels, etc.

The old man stopped upon a newer looking book than the rest of them and proudly gave it to Oliver. He instantly gave it to Clara who squealed in joy. Finally calming herself she readed the title of the book outloud. ''World of Elestia: A Basic Guide For New Chosens by Benjamin Dogwood.''

''People from the Ding Dong Resistance gave this to me when they came here on a supply run. It has helped me avoid a lot of troubles ever since I read it.'' Timothy said with a smile.

''It's a dumb name this is not their world it ours!'' Oliver said with a frown on his face.

At that Timothy sighed sadly. ''I don't think this is what he meant when he wrote the book. But either way I think the title is right. As much as it pains me to admit it, this is not our world anymore. It's the world of the Elestia, it has been since the time every major cities fell to the Dragons.'' Oliver didn't respond but he was seething at the old man words. ''Anyway you should still read the book even if you don't agree with the title it will prove invaluable to you if you plan to go back on the road.'' Oliver grumbled something under his breath that vaguely sounded like 'don't know.'

''What was that?'' The old man asked quizzically.

''I don't know how to read alright?! I never learned to, so that stupid book is useless to me!'' He exclaimed with a shameful expression.

Timothy looked confused at his declaration. ''You don't know how to read? Didn't your par- oh right. Sorry I have a bad memory these days, I would forget my head if it wasn't attached to my neck.'' He said while looking anywhere but in the eyes of the boy. ''Well there's no way I'm letting a member of my family be illiterate for the rest of their life, stay here I have something that might help you.''

Timothy walked toward a section of the library simply labelled as 'kids'. He came back with two books one of them had various picture of smiling farm animals which made Oliver cringed as soon as he saw it. The second book had a picture of a child falling from a ravine and landing on top of yellow flowers.

''These books helped me learn how to read when I was young. The one with the far, animals is a very basic book for toddlers.'' Oliver gave him a glare at that. Timothy shook his head and stared back at him. ''Look I know you don't like it but you must begin at the very begining, if you start with the more complicated stuff you won't get anywhere.''

Oliver sighed in defeat and took the books in his hands. ''Fine thank you for the books. Uncle Timothy.''

Clara put a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. ''Don't worry I'll also help you learn how to read . But in the meantime I'm going to learn all I can from this book it will be very useful on our way to the Ding Dong Community.''

Timothy looked surprise at the girl's words. ''You're going to Ringabell City? Forgive me Oliver but you don't look like the type to go to a place like that. They don't really... Share your disdain for Elestia.''

Oliver sighed before retreving the brown Draconid Gem from his pocket. ''I know but I don't really have a choice, the Knights saw I had this.''

Timothy looked really concerned as he looked down on the faintly glowing gem, but reluctantly he nodded. ''Yes the Ding Dong Community would certainly be the best place to escape those extremists. But I should warn you since you have a Elestia with you, they're probably going to try to draft you into the Ding Dong Resistance.

Oliver shrugged at that. ''Honestly I don't really have anything else to do with my life so maybe it could be good, you know being part of something bigger than myself. I still don't don't know how to feel about working with people who actually like the monsters that destroyed our world thought.'' At that Clara shook her head at him but decided to let it go for now.

''Well it could be worse, at least they don't worship the damn Dragons like that crazy Cult of The Great Ones.'' Timothy said with disdain. At the mention of that name Oliver could see Clara flinch in the corner of his vision.

''Yeah CGO, I used to think they were just a small cult hidden in a hole somewhere where they couldn't hurt anyone. But the other day we-'' Before he could finish what he was saying Clara put a hand over his mouth to stop him from talking. He looked at her in confusion. She raised a finger toward her lips in a silencing motion before releasing him. He decided to follow her order but he was confused as to why she didn't wanted to share that information.

''I think the undead have calmed down enough, we should really leave town while we can.'' Oliver said after a while, but just as he was about to walk away he was stopped by Timothy.

''No, you should stay until the sun go down.'' Seeing their quizzical expression he continued. ''I don't know why but during the night all the undead leave the streets and go back to the cemetery my guess is that they go see the Elestia that control them. For what purpose I don't know, But the night is the safest time to go outside.''

Oliver rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Weird usually in all the stories, night-time is when the monsters are the most active.''

Meanwhile Clara had opened up the book she was given and read it at an alarming speed. ''This book really don't have much information on Elestia it basically only tell to be careful around feral ones and when you become a Chosen you should take care of your Elestia by feeding it daily and making it feel loved. Any decent person would arleady know to do that.'' She said in a disappointed tone, but then her eyes lit up when she turned another page and saw a picture of a familiar Elestia. ''look! I found an entry about Sandy's species! It says here she's what is called a Fawna.''

Oliver groaned at the name and Timothy chuckled. ''Yeah from what I heard Professor Dogwood is big fan of puns.'' The old man said with mirth in his voice.

''What about your precious mouse, does she have an awful name too?'' Oliver asked snarkily.

''Well like I said there's not much information on Elestia but let me see...'' She quickly flipped the pages until she found the image of the familiar winged mouse. ''Ah ah! It says here that her species is named Rodair.'' Oliver proceeded to slam his head unto a table with a loud bang.

Just as the old man as suggested they waited until the night to leave the library. They slept the rest of the day away so they wouldn't have to sleep as soon as they left the town. Timothy surprised Oliver by giving him a bone crushing hug before he could leave. ''I wish I could do more for you, if you need of anything you can come back here anytimes, alright?'' The brown-haired boy reluctantly nodded and then departed into the night with Clara in tow.

- - - - -

Travelling on the road during the night was a new experience for Oliver. Usually he would find a place to hide as soon as the sun disappeared. Afterall dangerous predators often lurk in the dark. As if to prove his point both teenagers heard the sound of a heavy pairs of wings flapping into the sky. Without hesitation both of them hid themselves behind the wall of a building and much to their horror they saw something huge land into the streets with a loud crash.

The creature was a towering monstrosity that vaguely resembled a bat with razor sharp teeth. As if that wasn't enough It had a long scorpion tail trailing behind it and large red glowing eyes that sent shiver down Oliver spines. The monster sniffed around and then roared as it found something. The two teens thought their day had come, but instead of coming for them the large creature ran toward an abandoned car and effortlessly tossed it away with one of it's leg.

Hiding under the car was another much less intimidating Elestia. It was a small black feline similar to a cat with blue glowing eyes. It had large ears that were almost bigger than it's head and on it's forehead there was a gem glowing with the same blue color as it's eyes. The cat-like creature hissed toward the huge predator before the gem on it's forhead began to glow brightly engulfing the entire street into a blue light.

The giant bat and the two teens had to close their eyes as the light overwhelmed them. As soon as Oliver opened up his eyes again he felt something drop into the pit of his stomach. Standing where the cat used to be was a massive snarling dragon that proceeded to roar loudly toward the gigantic bat. The monstrosity screeched in alarm and flew away with it's tail between it's legs.

As soon as it was gone the Dragon was engulfed into a blue light and it returned back into the form of a black cat. Oliver turned to Clara with a disturbed expression. ''Did that cat justy turned into a Dragon?'' He whispered as silently as he could.

Clara looked at the cat with interest before taking the book she had just received and flipped it to a specific page. ''It say here that Elestia with the Mind Nature can create illusions to scare away predators. We should move away from here before that other Elestia realise he's been fooled.'' With a nodded Oliver walked away with urgency in his steps. He had learned his lesson he definetly didn't want to travel at night anymore.

The rest of the night was spent without much more incident. They had managed to leave the town and now they were on a large highway that had not been used since the Invasion. The road had many cracks on it and some patch of grass could be seen poking from a lot of them. Eventually they were forced to cross a bridge above a river. Oliver did not like that at all. He had heard that sometime lake would be home to large monsters that would come out and attack travellers like them. He watched the water warily the whole way thought, but all he saw were some fish Elestia who didn't pay them any mind.

As they came closer to their destination the temperature gradually became colder and colder until eventually they could see snow falling from the sky. Clara looked at the sky in confusion. ''What the heck, why is it snowing? I thought we were in the middle of spring.'' She asked in bemusement.

Oliver clenched his jaw and glared angrily toward the sky. ''Ringabell City and it's surrounding has been stuck into a permanent winter for the last ten years. It's because of Boreas influence, everywhere he goes winter follow him.'' As they continued on the road they a massive worn down sign that proclaimed 'Ringabell City two kilometers.' Oliver turned toward Clara. ''I think we should stop here for today.''

Clara looked at him in shock. ''What why?! We're so close to our destination we could sleep on a bed tonight if we continue to walk.'' She said in a protest.

At that Oliver chuckled which made her even more frustrated. ''Sorry to disappoint you princess, but Ringabell City is massive. They're a very good chance we'll get lost in there. And I don't know about you, but I arleady feel tired from walking all night. I don't want to arrive in front of the Resistance dead on my feet. I trust them as far as I can throw them and it wouldn't leave a good impression.''

Clara sighed clearly disappointed at his words. ''Fine but we should find a warmer spot to sleep it's arleady pretty cold around here.'' At that Oliver nodded. They managed to find a old abandoned gas station that also served as a convenience store close to the road and decided to stop there for the night. Most of the food inside had either been looted or had rotted a long time ago. But they managed to find a few cans of beans that they decided to take with them. They also foud a very convenient portable stove. The stove needed alcohol and not gas to work which was very convenient since most of the gas had rot a long time ago.

Oliver and Clara used the stove to cook a can of bean. Oliver had never been a fan of the taste but he had eaten way worse than this to survive. The stove also helped for heating up the building a little bit. Once they were done there was enough beans left so Clara decided to give some of it to Marie. Reluctantly Oliver also decided to give some to Sandy the little Fawna did not seem to like the taste of the beans however and decided to try to get as much sunlight as she could outside.

Then the two of them brought out their sleeping bags. Clara had bought the sleeping bag while she had been shopping at Melody Town. It was a good thing too, they would need all the rest they could have for tomorrow. There was no telling what they would find inside the frozen city of Ringabell...

- - - - -

The next day the two teens were climbing over a slope. Both of them caught their breath as Ringabell City finally came into view. The city was hard to describe into words. You could be forgiven if you thought that the city was a huge sculpture made by a mad artist with way too much time on his hands. It was as if the city had been litterally frozen into a specific moment in time.

But Oliver could not admire the art displayed before him. For he knew that millions of people had died to make it happen. The skyscrapers looked like giant upside-down stalactite reaching high into the sky. The many cars in the street were all covered by a deep layer of snow that made them barely recognisable. And what made Oliver's blood boil was that he could occasionally spot people eternally frozen into the last moment of their life. Most of them had a look of horror upon their face but a few of them could be seen frozen in mid-step with a calm expression as if they died before they realised anything was wrong.

''This place... It's a graveyard.'' Clara said barely above a whisper.

''Let's go we need to find the Ding Dong Community before night-time.'' Having said that Oliver searched through his pocket and retrieved the familiar brown gem where his Elestia was held.

Clara looked at him in confusion. ''What are you doing?''

At that Oliver's expression grew stern and he looked at her. ''Even if he's not here right now this is still Boreas territory. Which mean it's going to be crawling with Ice Elestia. Sandy will be able to detect danger way before we do and she will be our best line of defense if something find us... Speaking of that, your Elestia should also help in case something happen.''

At that Clara grew protective and she held her pouch against her chest. ''Marie doesn't fight, she can be our eyes in the sky but she won't be able to help if a fight break out.''

Oliver looked at her quizzically. ''What do you mean she doesn't fight? She's an Elestia of course she can fight!''

Clara shook here head with a sad expression. ''Marie... Doesn't have any powers.''

Oliver was stunned at the revelation. ''What?! I have never heard of an Elestia without powers how did that happen?''

Clara sighed bitterly at that. ''CGO happened.'' Was all she said before she walked away. Oliver wanted to ask what she meant but he recognised that she didn't want to talk about it right now so they stayed in silence as they slowly made their way inside the city.

''Brrr, It's really cold here we should have bought a coat.'' Clara said while trying to warm herself up by rubbing her hands together.

''Unfortunately any coat there was in this city probably froze solid along with anything else.'' Oliver said with a frown on his face. Sandy ears suddenly perked up and she looked up toward an alley with a defensive stance. ''Look like there's something in that alley, let's go around it. I want to meet as few Elestia as possible.'' At that Clara nodded and they made a detour. Oliver caught his breath as they arrived in a very familiar street. Without thinking he began to walk foward and stopped in front of a frozen figure.

Clara was surprised at Oliver actions but she quickly catched up to him and saw that he was looking at another frozen person with barely concealed tears. The person in question was a middle-aged man dressed into a white suit. The man was glaring into the sky defiant until his last moments.

Before she could even ask the question on her mind Oliver answered her. ''This was my father, he sacrificed himself so I could run away from Boreas. I hated him for a long time for it. I wished that he would have tried to run away with me and if we died well. I always thought it would have been a better fate that being alone in this world of monsters... But my father was always an optimist I'm sure he thought there was hope for me and that's why he sacrificed himself. I don't know if his hope for my future was misplaced or not but I hope he was right. Since I met you and Sandy I decided I want to change this world by any means necessary. I can't handle to live in this world without any hopes anymore. I have to do something even if it's hopeless at least I will have tried.''

Clara didn't know what to say to that so she stayed silent as Oliver continued to look at the frozen figure of his father. Suddenly they heard a cry from an Elestia far in the distance soon more and more Elestia joined in into the cry creating a cacophony of animalistic sounds ''What the hell is happening?!'' Clara asked with a panicked expression.

And then as if the sound of hundred of screaming Elestia wasn't enough a loud alarm began to blare in the entire city and at that sound Oliver face paled to become as white as a sheet. ''The Winter Dragon is waking up!'' He yelled in horror before grabbing Clara by the hand and making a run for it. Sandy was not far behind them the poor little Fawna didn't know what was happening. But she knew it wasn't anything good and so she decided to follow Oliver example.

Then a loud roar echoed into the ruined city, louder than any other Elestia. And a familiar serpentine body came into the sky. It was a figure Oliver had seen very often in his nightmares and so he instantly recognised the Dragon in the distance. The boy froze in his track not able to move a single muscle. Clara saw the look of pure dread upon Oliver's face. ''Oliver we need to hide!'' But he did not responded instead he stayed frozen on the spot.

Summoning all her strength she grabbed the arm of Oliver and pulled him and herself behind a frozen car. Then she took the brown Draconid Gem from his pocket and hid Sandy back into her gem. The Dragon flew over the sky and sniffed into the air. It could smell that something new had entered inside the city. But it could not pinpoint what or where it was, not yet. Boreas continued to search for the smell. Finally he found the source of the scent behind a frozen vehicle. With a roar he quickly flew toward it and effortlessly tossed it away with it's tail.

Upon impacting the ground the car exploded like it was made of glass sending shards of ice everywhere in the streets. Clara looked up in horror as the Dragon looked at them with a predatory gleam in it's eyes. Boreas opened his mouth wide open exposing his razor sharp teeth to the girl. Then he lunged for the kill, but just before he could reach them a cloud of fog exploded into the Dragon's face and he growled in anger.

Clara could only look in confusion at the sudden fog that had appeared out of nowhere. That was until a group of four men wearing light armor with an insignia of a red fist painted on the surface of a bell ran toward her. All of them had an Elestia following them obediently. ''Are you insane wandering in this city like that?!'' A blonde man exclaimed in both angrily. ''Come with us right now or else you will die!'' The man said. Oliver finally snapped out of his shock and nodded sheepishly toward the men along with Clara.

The armored Men were quick and effective, unlike Oliver and Clara they didn't take any detours when they encountered wild Elestia. Any creatures foolish enough to attack them was blasted into next week by their powerful trained Elestia. The Dragon was frantically searching for it's escaping prey but somehow it had completely lost their scent after the fog had appeared. After a while it decided to give up deciding that two kids was not worth all the effort it would take to find them.

Finally the group arrived in front of the entance of what used to be a metro. Clara was confused as to why they had come here but the men said nothing and dragged them inside the underground station. Once inside she was shocked to see what the metro had becomed. What once was a place for transportation had been transformed into a small community full of tents. They were many stalls selling various items from food, to guns, to armors and there was even a fancy looking stall that was much bigger than the other and they were selling Draconid Gems at a high price. Oliver never saw people selling Draconid Gems before. He thought they were very rare but maybe these people had found a way to find more of them. One of the men smiled at the two teens as they saw their amazemenet.

''Impressed? This is just a small part of the Ding Dong Community. If you follow the rails you'll be able to visit the other branches or as we call them 'stations' of our community. All the metro stations of Ringabell City has been turned into a small settlement like this one and together we are fighting to reclaim our world.''

An effeminate male voice cut him off before he could continue. ''Dave my darling leave the poor little dears alone. they just escaped Boreas they don't need to hear your propaganda right now.'' The man known as Dave glared toward the man who had interupted him.

Now that they were calm the two teens took the time to look at the men who had saved them. Dave was a young looking man in his early twenty. He had blonde hair and brown eyes. He along with the other men were wearing what looked like riot gear suits. The man who had interupted Dave had long curly brown hair. Under his vest they could see that he wore a pink shirt and on his ears there was a pair of pearl earings. He had a constant smirk on his face and Oliver had to fight back an embarassed blush when he teasingly winked toward him.

The third man looked like the youngest of the group he was probably around eighteen or nineteen years old. He had dark hair and wore a pair of thick glasses. He had a slightly darker skin than the other men surrounding him. He also had the trademark almond-shaped eyes typical for people from the Elementean continent. He seemed to want to act professionally but he smiled a little bit when he caught the two teens staring at him.

But the person that caught the attention of Oliver and Clara the most was the last man. He was the only one that had not looked at them at all ever since they entered the metro. He wore black sunglasses and a hood over his head along with a large black raincoat. As if that wasn't enough the man also wore a black cape behind himself which almost made him look like a supervillain. Oliver was instantly wary of him, why was he the only one of the group that tried so hard to conceal his features? He knew that the Ding Dong Community was known to accept outcasts. So it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that this man was a criminal trying to not be recognised outside of the Ding Dong Community.

Dave collected himself and proceeded to turn back toward the two teens his professional smile sliding into place. ''Now can you tell us what the two of you were thinking wandering around Ringabell City like this? This is not a place for kids you know. This is a Dragon territory, if you wanted the Resistance to do a mission for you there are many settlements in Orchestralia where you can send messages to us.''

Oliver shook his head and prepared himself for what he steeled himself for what he was about to say. ''We came here in hope to join the Ding Dong Community.''

The four men lookes at each other with surprise on their face. Dave frowned and looked back at Oliver. ''Well it's not often that two kids come here alone to join us, usually they come here with parents. Tell us why do you want to come live here? This place is one of the most dangerous settlement in the country. Not only that but if you come here wether you're a civilian or a member of the Resistance you will be expected to work hard for the betterment of the Community.''

''I don't have anywhere else to go.'' Oliver said before retreving his brown Dragonic Gem from his pocket. ''Sandy come out!'' The Fawna came out of the gem letting out a loud grunt as she was released. The four men tensed a little bit when the Elestia had emerged from the gem but relaxed once they saw that it was docile.

''I see, so you're a Chosen huh? That explain why you wanted to come here so badly, I can count on one hand the community that would accept a Chosen into their wall.'' He then turned toward Clara. ''What about you? Are you a Chosen too or did you just decided to follow your boyfriend?'' He asked with a raised eyebrow.

At that Clara face turned as red as a tomato. ''He's not my boyfriend!'' She yelled clearly embarrassed about the whole situation. Opening her pouch she presented Marie to the blonde man.

Dave nodded as he saw the small Elestia in the hands of the girl. ''I see so you're a Chosen as well. Well I guess I have no choice then, come with me. We will go see the mayor of Ding Dong. That's the person who will decide if you can stay here.'' At that both teens nodded. Really hoping they wouldn't be kicked out of the Community and made all this journey for nothing...