Both girls blinked in their mutual moment, their surroundings around them going an absolute sheet white and fading away like all of creation had taken that moment to blink. Just as quickly as it had happened, the effect faded away, leaving both girls to continue to grieve.

Lyun’s sharp hearing picked up in that moment that she was not actually alone. Searching around quickly, she discovered the fallen frame of another human collapsed and weeping on the other side of the pedestal. The most alarming part about such a human was her complete and utter lack of any possessions whatsoever, not even the clothes on her back. Considering the heat of the environment, that would alone be highly unusual. However, what drew the most attention was the ashen pale left arm very visible on the human, an almost mirror of her own sudden circumstances. The added reminder of her circumstances simply made Lyun feel even less comfortable. This place was just continuing to get weirder and weirder, she would have time to grief later after she escaped. Of course, escape was the original problem before she had lost Yhzia to this madness, but her circumstances were still decidedly questionable. However, maybe that’s when her newest company would provide some good news. If they had shown up so suddenly, then maybe they were aware of another way out.

“Hey! Hey!” “AH! Wait, where am I? Oh hell, from the freezer to the oven, how is this place so insufferable hot? How could anywhere be this hot during the noctal season anyway?” “Oh, so things are still getting weirder, then. Should I even bother asking why you’re speaking with the most convoluted accent I’ve ever heard in my life.. as well as spouting pure and absolute nonsense?” “Okay, yeah, I’m obviously nowhere near home now. This place is strange, this heat is strange.. you’re strange. Wait, what happened to your ears, they look like they got stretched out.” Lyun was impressed at just how strange the human woman was becoming, it almost authentically sounded like she had never seen an elf before. Then again, everything about the woman seemed wrong too. She quickly took a moment to readjust her headwear, it having fallen aside in her grief, then returned her attention to the human in consideration. A quick review made it clear that such a person was probably around the same size as Yhzia. Protectively withholding all of the other possessions, Lyun submitted at least all of Yhzia’s clothing, especially the protective gear. It was in this instant that her guest appeared to have become aware of her current state of attire, too. Yes, something about her was clearly very wrong, and in her state she would be completely useless in an escape. Comfortably though, having at least provided the bare essentials to survive, Lyun saw no issues with just leaving such a stranger to her own devices. To her, this whole complexity was enough to not leave her wanting to know more. After taking a moment to compose herself in her blob of an outfit, she set off back the way she had originally come from, with luck she would find an alternate way out and maybe not misplace Yhzia’s determination and even pull off not getting caught.

“Hey, wait up. I don’t even know what’s going on, don’t leave me here.” “I don’t know you, don’t follow me. That gear should help you beat the heat.. for a time at least. From here, you’re on your own. Best of luck.” “That is totally not fair. My word, how do you move in this thing, it’s so thick. Wait, why isn’t this making me even warmer? Why does absolutely nothing make sense anymore?” “Obviously because something has just decided that the both of us are deserving of its pure contempt, isn’t that why you showed up? Now again, bye.” “Hey, even if I’m not walking with you, it’s not like I’ve got another path to take.” The infuriating human had an insufferable point that Lyun could not refute, so she simply started to ignore said human. However, as the gears started spinning in her head, she realized that she may have stumbled upon yet another possible worst-case scenario. In this situation, she could manage to actually survive and escape without getting caught.. but she could find herself still having to deal with this new headache. Losing Yhzia was a big enough headache as is, and the fact that their protective gear made it impossible to tell the difference almost made it feel like Yhzia was still following her. However, that wasn’t Yhzia, it was some really awkward human with the most insufferable accent imaginable, like she was suddenly inventing sounds into the words she spoke. It wasn’t even obvious what the girl was even trying to say as a result, as it was also clear that the same confusion worked both ways. Communication was a waste of effort.

A few more steps forward, she suddenly found everything getting worse, the uniform of a warden appearing at the far end of the corridor. She turned to bolt, seeing that the warden must have been elven too, they were both also spotted. She spun around the human, making a desperate dash in the reverse. Of course, this was hopeless, the corridor was a straight line back to the pedestal chamber. Running out of breath in the process, that human managed to quickly catch up to her. So, ignorant, but not stupid. They were both in this together now, and returning to the pedestal left them none the wiser. What was clear in turn was that their pursuit was really also an elf, the girl had also run out of breath. She took a moment to honestly ponder overpowering the woman, but wardens were not only far better trained in combat, they were also generally armed.

“I.. I have you trapped now… Please.. please surrender.. peacefully a-and don’t make.. this any harder for.. either of us.” The warden was clearly exhausted at least, actually doing much worse than she was. She had probably been making her rounds at a much more brisk pace, which would then explain her current state. Meanwhile, her newest companion had gone completely quiet, watching for Lyun to lead by example. Lyun really could see no good place to hide, nothing here would work at all. Quite honestly, this place sucked for her current circumstances. If only she was anywhere else right now, she might have had a chance.

Without warning, their surroundings suddenly went stiff and ashen white, as if the entire world had fallen to the same Kyuemu petrification that had claimed Yhzia. The two girls then backed deeper into the room, concerned about what might be even going on as they found themselves back at the pedestal. Then, the features of the world itself faded away too, leaving a blank expanse of pale nothing. Both girls collapsed in a sudden surge of pain, as the colors of the world gradually returned to them.

Kori looked up again, seeing herself at least back in the cold cavern from earlier. Her initial concern was that her entire experience earlier was nothing more than a hallucination, and that she had simply just woken up. Sure, that intense heat had felt real, but it made no sense at all. Her resolve in such beliefs continued until she noticed she had a guest choking on the dust and shivering in the cold, wearing absolutely nothing for herself. The human looked almost the same as the one from before, with only slight variations. The thing that stood out the most was the fact that this human also had the same sort of frozen arm she herself had to deal with, just on the opposite arm. Having just been in the girl’s shoes, she had a pretty good idea what the experience would feel like. Not wanting to leave a debt unpaid either, Kori also went to recover Fiona’s old clothes, which surprisingly enough looked like they would be a perfect fit. Even in these small moments, she was getting the impression that she really didn’t want to leave momentos of her departed friend in a strange place like this, so instead she packed away everything else of Fiona’s along with her own stuff.

“You, again. Wait, where is this now?” “The place I was brought from, it seems you followed me back here. I have no idea how we got back here though, but you’re going to need to put something on before you catch a cold.” The human looked back at the clothes, reluctantly complying with Kori’s instructions. The absolute strangeness of the situation had Kori convinced, this was absolutely no place to grieve for Fiona. First, she needed to actually get out of here somehow, hopefully before something even worse decided to happen. Fortunately, the path did not end with the altar, there was a path going further beyond it. Kori set off along the new path, making sure to be careful with any passing winds. From here, the path became absolutely crazy and narrow, pure cliff drops on both sides. Meanwhile, the human wasn’t far behind her, clearly going in the same inevitable direction. However, Kori could tell the whole situation hadn’t proven to yield the best of first experiences, this was probably going to become a meeting in passing, someone she would soon never see again. The girl probably just thought she was an airhead anyway, much like any other human still alive.

“Wh-why do you have a gem on your forehead anyway? I don’t think I noticed that earlier.” “Because I’m an airhead, of course.” “Air.. head? Do you mean like, elementally?” “What? You mean like the periodic table? Yes, it’s oxygen, though I thought everyone knew that by now. Old jokes get old.” The human went quiet at that, clearly perplexed by Kori’s statement somehow. Frankly, that wouldn’t make sense, everyone on Aestus knew the joke already. However, as she continued to scale over the steep path, she took a moment to account for her own experiences in that last while. All of Aestus was flash frozen because it was currently Noctal. Knowing that, the simple idea of where such a complicated monument she had seen earlier would remain in an area infused with such incredible heat.. nothing like that could possibly exist anywhere in all of Aestus. When also accounting for the strange dialects, it got even more suspicious. Seriously, not just this girl, but that all too obvious security officer were both speaking in the strangest form of english she had ever heard of before. It was like they had problems making the ‘o’ sound at all, and had substituted it for a gallery of invented other vowels. Quite honestly, nothing was adding up correctly.

“Such powerful winds, such mighty frost, such rich stone.. almost like the void phase has neglected this place completely. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t Ruixse, is it?” “I don’t even know what a Ruixse is. Right now, we’re deep under the Diamond Falls, middle of nowhere really. Then again, I get the impression none of that might be familiar for you either. Do you at least know which planet is Aestus?” “About as well as you know my world of Ruixse.” So the human really did come from some other planet, a planet Kori had actually taken a few minutes to herself visit. Void phase, that was probably an important term from her own homeworld. With how intense the human’s accent was, she wasn’t even certain how she was supposed to even pronounce such a planet, Roiks? After a few moments more of consideration, she realized the error of her ways. Of course, such a place’s culture included their pronunciation, it wouldn’t be proper to force her own pronunciation upon them, that was repeating earth’s mistake for herself. Clearly the cold was only getting to her, she just needed to set aside such confusions for when she could relax in safety once again.

The reality of her circumstances came back to haunt her then, as she got to witness one of Fiona’s final concerns in full expression. The path ahead of her had actually crumbled into pieces, collapsing into the chasm below. The good news was that everything was still in places that looked rational to scale, but the bad news was that the stones were probably all loose, ready to slide at the slightest provocation. This was going to be exceptionally dangerous, no questions there. Her newest companion for this challenge paused in reflection too, clearly at least also aware how bad things were as she visibly considered turning back. Kori pressed onward regardless, already aware how grim her options remained. Carefully moving from one stone to the next, knowing that picking the wrong stone could have the entire pile shift beneath her, she eventually noticed she was still being followed with an equal degree of care and concern in the path taken. However, today just hadn’t been their lucky day, for either of them, really. Not even an eighth of the way along, Kori gently shifted her weight onto a particular rock.. one which shifted several other rocks in turn. She knew right then, she had screwed things up, the whole pile was going to slide now, and they were both going to be crushed. As the pile slid downwards, she inwardly screamed her refusal, demanding that the whole thing just stopped.

A wash of intense chill overtook them both, a feeling that passed through her warm layers like such did not even exist. After that was nothing but still and silence. Kori opened her eyes and looked around, gasping. Every single thing around her was frozen in a pale sheet, even stones that remained floating in mid air. Meanwhile, nothing else changed. It was a world washed in white, all over again, something that seems to happen of late by some means. However, unlike previous times, the objects of the world were not also fading. It means they weren’t being brought to somewhere else, this was more of a technical bug in reality. However, much like the other times, this certainly wouldn’t be a bug that would be left to remain for much longer. Switching from care to haste, Kori picked up the pace and started dashing along the frozen foundation, not even finding it slippery. The human behind her had quickly caught on to the same line of thought and was making haste to cross as well. Kori lept from the last stone to the firm path on the other side just as the pile of stones restored their sense of color and resumed their tumbling activity. The human however was behind her the entire time, meaning she had not made it yet. Kori turned around in time to see the woman make a desperate leap, her final ditch effort to try and grab something sturdy with her right hand. Kori intercepted such a hand with her own left, the two hands locking together in a moment of frost.

It was a new experience, she knew she had grabbed onto something, but her body did not need to brace for the extra weight. Her hand meanwhile couldn’t move at all, like it was suddenly frozen in the same way as the other stones had been. This wasn’t just awkward for Kori, visibly the other woman was finding it weird to have her one arm suddenly suspended in it’s space, herself dangling from it freely otherwise. With some visible difficulty, she managed to build some momentum in order to have her body shift enough to grab on to the cliff edge with her other arm. From there, she realized she was in no way a skilled enough contortionist in order to bend herself in the angle needed to pull herself up with her arm suspended where it was. Instead, she took careful timing with her momentum, built up some upwards momentum in the instant she tried to let go with her frozen arm. Both arms resumed motion again, the human having finally successfully reached the rest of the path for herself. The remainder of such a path became generally uneventful for a while, tension having kept everything quiet for the final stretch. Then, Kori found herself before a fitting sight, a familiar slippery intersection, the same spot Kori and Fiona had originally fallen from. She had finally found it, the path that led to the waterfall.

Such still presented one last final challenge. This surface was very slippery, with a sudden misstep taking her right back to the very beginning all over again. Meanwhile, they still had nothing on hand to deal with such a slippery surface. So close, yet so far. Kori’s hand twitched in aggravation, and in response a faded holo display appeared before her with a very simple message: [Are you okay?]

“Oh my word, my little ones actually found me here. Yes, thank you. Now, let's see.. I’m going to need some equipment materialized, stuff to handle this ice. The ice is also really really slick, so we’re going to need some excellent adhesive qualities. Now, do we have stuff like that in stock? Yes, awesome. Oh, and please be certain to outfit the lady with me as well.” “Who in the world are you talking to?” “Ah, I guess from an outside perspective that might have looked awkward. Let’s just say that I used some of the stuff we use on my planet to organize a bit of a rescue team.” As Kori explained such details to the human, various styles of equipment started materializing out of thin air. Kori made sure to secure everything on herself first, then started passing the extra equipment to her companion. The human at least didn’t find much difficulty in emulating her own preparation. After making sure everything was done properly, Kori led the way through the tunnel, finally returning to the pitch black night of the surface.

The moment she arrived on the surface was the same moment her thoughts contemplated that one of them had still not made it. Fiona had still perished, she was gone now. Crumpling into a pile of snow at the ice’s edge, the tears finally returned to her. However, she quickly discovered she wasn’t alone in such either, the presence of tears reminding her companion that there was one other good reason for tears, one other who had perished that night. They remained there for a time, until a holo display suddenly appeared before her, giving her an indication of general body temperature and a handy prompt for materializing another quick heat source. Of course, her nanites would get worried that she was just going to get sick if she just kept neglecting herself like that. On that matter, it might be a smart idea to get a full health update on herself, figure out if it was already too late for that.

She glanced over a handy little holo of her own medical condition, with everything generally reporting she was still doing okay, a brief overview of her body temperature flickering just below her name in the display. It wasn’t as if everything was perfect though, her nanites were reporting that the body temperature of her one arm was as low as absolute zero. The flickering around there was proving her nanites were generally confused and concerned by that result, such did not make sense and they were hoping to learn why. Sadly, she did not know the reason herself either, it was also confusing and concerning for her.

The human with her had meanwhile calmed down as well, turning her curiosity towards the variety of displays appearing before Kori. The human meanwhile looked like she couldn’t make any sense of anything present. Well, at the very least, Kori should at least look into the health of such a human too while she was at it anyway. Bringing up another view, she noticed that the human with her had thus far managed to stay healthy, with exception to that frozen arm problem. However, she was startled when the name line at the bottom was not as blank as she would have expected, the person with her actually had a name on file, Rosalia Chalcedony. Kori refreshed the holo, certain that such was a mistake. Chalcedony was Fiona’s last name too, just what kind of coincidence was that, this had to be the worst kind of joke. Doing a name lookup though, she found the same name in the directory, Rosa Chalcedony, sister of Fiona Chalcedony, same birthdate.

By the time their ride home had finally arrived almost half an hour later, Kori was absolutely livid. She would absolutely get to the bottom of this, there was no way she would allow such craziness to make a mockery of her departed friend.