//------------------------------// // Adventure: Cold Reception // Story: My Own Wings // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// The trio swiftly made their way back to the Snowhorn Wastes, finding the locked gate almost immediately upon exiting the tunnel that linked that area to Thorntail Hollow. As predicted, the key was for that gate, opening easily to grant ready entrance to the new area. They stepped through the gate into a wide plain with a deep pit almost entirely covered over with ice in the center, with only the trunk of a Snowhorn sticking out through the small hole in the center. As the trunk scented them, a deep voice bellowed out, "Over here, youngsters! Hurry!" Fox, Sunset, and Tricky immediately rushed over. "What happened?" Fox demanded worriedly. "The Sharpclaw tribe imprisoned me in this infernal cave!" he explained, the tension of his situation warring with his relief at finally getting help. "If you can bring me Frost Weeds, I'll be strong enough to get myself out. The young prince should be able to find them. Please hurry." "Is that strength to get up out of the pit, or just to break the ice?" Sunset asked curiously. "Because if it's just the ice, I have a strong magical fire affinity, and could easily melt it-" "Remember what the Queen said about that?" Fox chided her. "That was about mechanisms," Sunset countered firmly. "And about large magical discharges. There's no mechanism here, and all I'll be doing is heating the ice up a bit at a time until it can't hold its structure anymore and cracks and collapses. It's no more magic than lighting up the sunstones in a dark cave, it'll just take longer." "If you can weaken the ice without over-exerting yourself," the Snowhorn spoke up, "I won't require nearly as many Frost Weeds to break through it. But whatever you do, hurry. The Sharpclaws are sure to have heard our discussion, and will be on their way to investigate." "Sunset, you weaken the ice but do not try to breach through entirely with only your magic," Fox ordered swiftly. "Tricky, see if you can find those Frost Weeds. As soon as you find one, drag it over to Sunset so she can give it to him. I'll stand guard to keep the Sharpclaws at bay-" A wild cry came over the drifts, and several blue-skinned Sharpclaws swarmed towards the group, armored in hardened scale garb and holding spiked maces. "Go!" Fox cried out as in a desperate gamble, he jammed one end of the staff into the edge of the cracked hole in the ice and activated the launcher magic he'd gained in the old well. It managed to work to a certain extent, just enough to rapidly propel him towards the rushing Sharpclaws to keep the battle away from the sealed cave and the youngsters. "There are Frost Weeds on that tree," Sunset told Tricky as she placed her hands against the ice, pumping her flame magic into it while keeping the amount small, spreading it evenly throughout the ice. "Ram the tree to make them fall, that should be enough force." "On it!" Tricky called back as he charged the tree, slamming into it with his head lowered to maximize the impact force. He staggered back a bit dazed afterwards, but managed to catch sight of the fallen Frost Weed - in appearance, little different from a tumbleweed - and push it over to the hole in the ice before it blew away. The Snowhorn immediately pulled it in to devour it just as four Sharpclaws made their way around Fox - who was surrounded by six of them who had encircled him to trap him without actually charging in to attack - made it to the frozen lake. As one raised his mace over Sunset - who wasn't able to pull her magic back from the ice fast enough to defend herself - the ice under his foot cracked, causing said foot to sink and throw him off balance. As soon as he noticed this, the Snowhorn reared up, smashing through the ice and seizing the attacking Sharpclaw in his trunk before hurling him at the group besetting Fox, sending three on one side sprawling. No longer having to watch his back, Fox quickly dispatched the other three as Sunset clung to one of the Snowhorn's huge upward-curved tusks, just below where metal wrapped around the upward curve. As the Snowhorn settled, Sunset was able to see that he wore an intricately designed metal decoration over his shoulders that - in appearance - could only really be called a harness. A matching helmet rested atop his head. "So you be Sunset, then?" he bellowed out as he climbed out of the hole. "Ah see why the Queen speaks so highly of ye. Brave and clever of ye to find that shortcut here without riskin' too much. So what brings ye, yer father, and th' young Prince here?" "You're Garunda Te?" Sunset asked hopefully. "We came to find you, to get into the Darkice Mines. We're chasing General Scales." "Ah, a Grand Adventure!" the Snowhorn declared expansively. "Aye, I be Garunda Te, Spellstone Gatekeeper of Darkice Mines. As a Gatekeeper, I'm supposed to guard the lands in which a Spellstone is forged. General Scales learned of this, and delivered an ultimatum to me...allow him to take the Spellstone back into the Sacred Lands...or he would destroy my tribe." "Why did he want to return the Spellstone to where it was forged?" Fox asked curiously. "Tis the only way to deactivate the power within a Spellstone once it is activated," Garunda Te explained. "Had he not done so soon after removing it from the Force Point Temple, the Stone would have begun to devour the inner magic of the one who held it until they were mere husks, and used that power to return to its proper place. Knowing this, I was ready to refuse him to protect my planet...but my daughter also bears the power of the Gatekeeper, and she acquiesced to his demands. As such, my tribe is now enslaved, and the Spellstone back in the sacred land." He hung his head. "My daughter has dishonored me. Had we but stood strong, he would not have been able to break the world, for as long as one Spellstone remained active, the planet could have held." He shook his head, trying to dispel these unpleasant thoughts. "Hurry to Darkice Mines, and seek out the Spellstone. Return it to the Volcano Force Point Temple, and its power will return. It will be the first step in restoring the planet and thwarting General Scales. Allow me to open the gateway." Lifting his trunk, he sent a flow of power into the sky, and a wormhole appeared in the air. "Fox!" Slippy called out through the comm. "The energy fields around a floating chunk of the planet have stabilized! If you've managed to gather enough Fuel Cells for your Ar-Wing, you should be able to reach it from orbit!" "That must be the Darkice Mines," Fox deduced firmly. "Plug in the new coordinates to my Wing's onboard nav computer under that designation. We'll be taking off in a few minutes." Sunset sat in Fox's lap as the Ar-Wing turned back in towards the Darkice Mines. The under-nose cargo bay was really only large enough for one, and as such Tricky took priority there. As a result, she found herself strapped into her father's lap and staring out the window as he dove in and about small floating chunks of the planet, aiming for one of the larger ones that held an atmosphere. In addition to those obstacles, small mines of unknown design also littered the path, detonating if Fox flew too close. Focused points of magical energy were marked on the in-flight HUD as gold rings Fox needed to fly through to gather the energy to penetrate the force field that held the atmosphere inside the Darkice Mines. As they landed, they discovered that - despite the name - the Darkice Mines was actually filled with flows of magma. The heat was nearly stifling, making the very air waver before their eyes. As Fox opened the canopy and removed the safety straps, Sunset found herself literally floating out into the air, the proximity to such a strong source of planetary living fire drastically amplifying her magic as she was surrounded by a golden glow. "Well...this is going to be difficult to control," she murmured worriedly, the sunstones in her outfit already blazing as they tried to expend the excess energy. Fox quickly tapped his communicator. "Slippy, I need you to run a scan of Sunset's magic as compared to the ambient magic of the environment," he requested firmly. "We're rather close to magma flows, and that's causing her to react like we were in orbit around Solaar." "Scanning..." Slippy replied immediately. After a time, he spoke again. "Fox, I'm not picking up Sunset's magic at all. The reason her power is reacting this way is because the Darkice Mines are some sort of sacred source of fire magic, which she's naturally attuned to. Even with her levels of output, as long as she doesn't damage any part of the mines themselves, the magical fields will just swallow up her larger discharges once expended like drops of water in the ocean." "So in other words, while we're here she doesn't have to worry about large discharges as long as she abides by the 'don't circumvent devices' directive?" Fox clarified. "That sounds about right," Slippy confirmed. Fox felt himself getting a tad nervous at the sight of Sunset's grin turning vicious.