//------------------------------//
// S1 Episode 1: Time Drifters 
// Story: Journey To Hearth's Warming 
// by Lighttone GryphonStar 
//------------------------------//

Little to no warning was given as the icy wind tore the warm evening air. It attacked the heat and shredded every piece and quickly swallowed it with no hesitation, leaving a blanket of graying darkness without end. Faint white crystals swept over every remaining warmth as they cowered in place.

The snowflakes fell over a small ancient village on the outskirts of the Unicorn Providence to the north. The village had been around for many centuries and was a border place long before the unicorns claimed this land. It had sturdy stone structures lining the center like a circle, an altar that had long lost its use when living sacrifices became less decent during the last two millennia. A tall clock tower stood behind it, it was relatively new compared to even the outer parts of the village. The outer parts of it were mostly wooden and more modern enough to differ from the stone structures, but old enough to have their age to them.

The snowflakes drifted back and forth to the sounds of blades clashing as they flew over the area in the westernmost part of the village. Finally, they landed around a brown spider as he watched a battle from atop a wooden warehouse. He shivered and knocked off the snow before crawling closer to get a better view. The two mares fought in a small pasture of uneven grass between the warehouse and the back of an old tavern.

On one side, a lavender alicorn mare with a purple eye and blue eyepatch was slightly covered by a spiked-up navy blue mane, who wore bits of unevenly sparse armor. The armor’s style was more like a knight. Under it, she wore a long sleeve light blue shirt and a purple skirt with a pair of light blue leggings and purple tall shoes with bits of armor on them. She wielded two kopises. The blades of the kopises were a bold blue, and the handles were purple.

On the other side was a light purple unicorn with light blue eyes and a long purple and turquoise mane, with the front part on one side. She wore a bit more even armor but still sparse. Her armor was more eastern-like in style. Under it, she wore a thin purple jacket and a teal long-sleeve shirt, and gray torn jeans with a pair of short purple steel-toe shoes. She wielded a single gentlemare's sword with a purple blade and a teal handle.

The unicorn struck from above. The alicorn swung her left kopis up to meet the attack, then went in for a stab with her other kopis. The unicorn jumped into the air and flipped over the alicorn. The alicorn tried to grab the unicorn with her wings, but the unicorn saw this and lit her horn up. This pushed the wings to the side, allowing the unicorn to land behind the alicorn.

As the unicorn landed, she crouched and quickly swung her leg around, knocking the alicorn off her feet. The unicorn followed this by jumping and spinning around to face her opponent as the alicorn did the same and aimed her gentleman sword at the alicorn’s throat.

She stopped her attack centimeters from the skin. The two looked at each other for a moment as the snow that had been kicked up from the grass by them settled to the ground. A momentary silence fell over both of them, as they didn’t move a muscle. It was so quiet that the only thing they could hear was the snow hitting the ground. 

“Looks like I finally won. Huh, teacher,” the unicorn's boastfulness finally broke the silence.

“Not quite my young student.” The teacher’s single working eye looked down.

The student followed her and saw that both of the teacher’s kopises were in the perfect position to cut her in half. She frowned upon seeing this while sucking in her gut tightly.

Moments later, they retracted their weapons and began laughing. The brown spider wiped his head of sweat and knocked more snow around before leaving.

As they finished laughing, an old gold earth pony with apple red eyes and braided, slightly graying red mane in an old gray thick dress, white stockings, and old brown boots walked with her ivory cane swinging about as she carried something. “Twilight, Starlight enough for now. You two are too darn good at that fancy schmancy swordplay.”

Starlight and Twilight got up and dusted themselves off as they looked toward the old mare. “Hello Granny Apple,” they greeted her as she walked up to them.

“That should be enough training for today. We need to get the place ready before the evening rush arrives.” She handed Twilight a cloak.

Twilight unhooked her armor and pulled in her wings tightly. She took the cloak and wrapped it around her wings, tying a thin rope around her gut. Once she was finished, they walked into the tavern.

The two entered through the door and ducked their heads a little to not hit the stuffed deer's head above them. They set their armor aside in the backroom and then went to fix the place up.

The tavern was three stories of thick brown oak with a tough silver wolf’s head standing over the outside of the front door and a metal golden lion's head standing over the outside of the back door.

It was called the Wolf’s Apple and was a cider and eating stop for workers and travelers as they entered the Unicorn Providence. Ponies and other creatures would stop here for a drink and some food and despite the place being on the outskirts, it would occasionally get plenty of customers.

Starlight went into the kitchen to cook while Twilight took a wash rag in her magic and moved it across every table. Granny Apple walked over to a sink full of dishes. As they were working Twilight jumped at the sound of the bell ringing with the opening of the front door.

A tall light green young stallion with rusted silver eyes, a medium-length shining silver mane with a few cracked ends in a brown trench coat and red tunic with dark silver slacks and shined silver toe boots walked into the tavern carrying a newspaper. “Hey, mom I'm sorry for picking up the evening edition, but you have to see the crazy stuff happening in it.” He set aside his coat on the hanger.

Granny Apple walked up while wiping a cup in her hand, "Let me see Silver Pear.” She put the cup down and took the paper. “Hmm, our Princess Platinum is fighting with the alicorns again, wendigoes and changelings are on the rise and there has been another sighting of the mysterious faker prince. This isn’t crazy, this is the usual stuff.”

“No not that. Check the final page.” Silver Pear walked over and bowed to Twilight. Twilight rolled her eye at his gesture.

“Fine,” Granny Apple flipped and began reading. Quickly her left eyebrow raised. “Moving sculptures, that's impossible.”

“I know right?” Silver Pear laughed as he walked over into the kitchen. The kitchen was filled with an incredible aroma of boiled carrots and freshly chopped celery. He knew the smell well but he was after a more… plump prize. Getting as close to Starlight as before being noticed he reached out to grab...

"You know Twilight can't stand it when ponies bow to her." Starlight smiled and Silver Pear hesitated.

"What can I say? I love to knit pick, right, Lovely?" Silver Pear grinned bigger as he continued his advance.

She frowned in annoyance at the nickname he had for her. Yet before he could claim his prize, she shoved a spoonful of boiling liquid right into his mouth. “Flirt with me all you want. don't even think about grabbing my ass.”

Silver Pear fell backward in pain but kept his eyes on that rear of hers. He ran over and poured out some cold water into a cup and began gulping.

Once his tongue had cooled off, he walked back over slowly, humming with his eyes closed. “You could at least try to give this lone stallion some attention back.” His catch failed and he dropped to the ground. He opened his eyes and looked up in confusion, only to find that Starlight was gone.

He got up and looked around. She was nowhere in sight, but the stove fire had been put out. “She must have teleported away from me again. Will I ever get another chance to touch that soft...” He hummed with delight and turned to the food before sneaking another spoonful into his mouth, only for it to burn again.

******

As Twilight got done setting the tables, a noise by the counter perked her ears. She turned to see Starlight set up the drinks, “I thought you were handling cooking this evening.”

“Well, Teach, I got done and thought I would head out here to help you.”

Twilight smiled and walked over beside her to help. “You know, you can’t keep turning him down without a reason.”

“This coming from the mare who keeps turning down any stallion who makes a move on her. Besides, it’s not like I’m the only mare he flirts with?” Starlight waved the cup in her hand through the air in distress.

“Yes, but you are the only one who gives him plenty of fight?” Twilight laughed, “Stallions like him prefer a challenge.”

“Okay, then why doesn’t he go after you then?” Starlight glared at her.

Twilight laughed. “Oh yeah, right? You know very well I don’t fit his… taste.” She tossed her glare back at her.

Starlight dropped her bravado. “Fine, but then comes the next question?”

“And what is that?”

“We're from the future. What if he’s related to me?”

Twilight laughed even harder. “Oh, come on. You know the legends state that your relatives would have either dark or light magic in them. Silver Pear and Granny Apple don’t use either. That's why I knew we could trust them.”

“Hmm, I guess you're right.” Starlight placed down the empty cup.

“Besides Applejack and Pinkie Pie, once dated, and they are related.”

“What?!” Starlight dropped the cup.

“Well, it was only once. And truth be told, it was way before they found out they were related. Plus, the date didn’t go any further than the dinner table.”

Starlight grabbed a towel and cleaned up the mess she made. “Well, what happened?”

“Applejack broke it off when Pinkie Pie ordered a two-foot tall cake and three pies for them to eat. She simply could not afford such a dinner.”

“Maybe I should make Silver Pear pay for a two-foot tall cake and three pies as well,” Starlight snickered.

“Yeah…" Twilight's laughter simmered down, "Look there should be no problem with the relationship between distant family members as long as the line isn't direct.”

“Direct, hmm.” Starlight gave a clever grin. “Is that why you keep turning down every stallion?”

“Wait what?” Twilight’s face went red, and she dropped the stuff in her hand and jumped at her words.

“Oh, come on, I was there too when Realta told you that your previous incarnation’s father lived in this timeline.”

Twilight’s face now went a distinct pale. “No, no, no, it’s not like that at all. I know his name so all I have to do is stay away from anypony with that name.”

“To avoid time paradoxes, right?”

“Of course, a meeting or…” She gulped heavily, “a relationship with such a direct family member could remove me from existence.”

“Fine.” Starlight dropped her grin but laughed on the inside at the sight of her teacher’s face. “That still doesn’t answer why you won’t date stallions or even mares?”

“Wait a minute.” Twilight’s eye narrowed tightly, “When did this turn into an interrogation of me over you.”

Starlight gave a cheeky grin to her teacher. Eventually, though, Twilight dropped her look and busted into laughter as well. The student pursued her teacher’s example.

Outside, the snowflakes on the window loosened up. Out of the flurry flew a distinctly lone snowflake. This lone snowflake flew very separate from the others and even had a different color, a very unique red. It moved onto and above the road as a glowing hue covered it. Without warning, it flew upward into the sky.

******

The uniquely red snowflake tore through the winds and floated on higher into the sky as the Sun sat on the edge of the Cerberus Plains, a dark blue grassy patch of land that was covered in much smaller ruins. Ruins so old that they could barely be seen from that height. Wastelands of an ancient kingdom long forgotten.

The red snowflake drifted higher and through the upper atmosphere and into a far-off land away from the ruins and village. It passed over more villages that seem to pepper the plains with more ruins between them; a young world trying its best to prosper. Finally, it arrived outside of the Cerberus Plains and came upon a more rocky and volcanic environment.

The ice within the red snowflake got heavier as the heat rose from below. The red snowflake melted as it fell into a massive caldera. Deep within this rather stable caldera was a city, a city made of gemstones. 

The city shined with hues of red and purple with patches of green and black. Fire sprayed over many openings along the buildings. Ponies with fiery manes walked through the flames with little care in the world. The still glowing now red raindrop fell through the sky, catching the attention of a few onlookers. They thought it was rather strange for a drop of rain to make its way in there. In this city, only more acidic liquids could survive.

They watched it as it floated across the winds until it finally landed on a castle of pure white gypsum with a massive immaculate colored window as well as several smaller windows that surrounded its tallest point. The colored window showed a black alicorn mare with massive wings and a purple mane flowing around her like fire.

The red raindrop acted strange as it sank into the wall of the castle. It crept through the microscopic cracks to find its way inside. Beyond the walls, t fell onto a fine, clean, plated floor in a splash. There it stayed still for a moment until…

A black high heel stepped down and barely missed it. The heel belonged to a fiery green stallion who wore very mare-like clothing. He walked around a beautiful rose-pink dining room with dark red fire-covered spikes peppering the walls and a stainless tungsten table in the center with a random amount of charcoal-colored chairs around it.

As he walked, he traced his hand over every chair until he found a mare and another stallion that was tied to chairs facing away from each other.

The tied-up mare was a seafoam green unicorn with light blue eyes and a short green mane in a brown hooded cloak with a light blue tunic and blue slacks over a pair of black old-fashioned overshoes.

The stallion was a grayish-brown batpony with bold green eyes and a spiky black mane in a white top hat and a reverse white and black ballroom suit with bright white dress shoes.

The seafoam green unicorn seemed rather annoyed as she scowled in all directions, while the batpony had an almost clueless look to him. The batpony looked a lot younger than the unicorn, she didn’t seem that old herself, late twenties, while he looked like he had gotten out of high school.

The fiery green stallion walked around them twice before stopping in front of the unicorn’s chair and grasping the end. He leaned over the unicorn’s body and sniffed her face, taking any scent of perfume with great taste. The seafoam green unicorn pulled away and twisted more in her bindings.

“Okay, this isn’t going according to plan,” the seafoam green unicorn leaned her head back to the grayish-brown batpony.

“Very true. But at least, we got a meeting with the legendary Annity Dutchess Claymore,” the grayish brown batpony spoke with a very french accent and played up his words to perfection.

Annity turned to the brown batpony while the seafoam-green unicorn’s eyes wandered across the walls. Annity reached around and pinched at the grayish-brown batpony’s cheek, making him pull away as it burned. “So this cutie knows who I am?”

“Of course... milady, who hasn’t heard of the famed queen of drugs hiding under the ifrit’s thumb. I feel sorry for you if you feel like that… the beautiful face should never be hidden.”

"Oh, don’t be too flattering." Annity pulled away from the grayish-brown batpony and leaned away from the seafoam-green unicorn. He pulled tightly at the mare’s mane, making her grit her teeth. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said about you." Annity smiled and pulled tighter as he drifted away from the chairs. “And who said I was hiding? The ifrits have long forgiven me and my curious ways. The best thing about my species is their longevity and their forgivingness.” Finally, he let go of the hair as the pain brought out a single tear from the mare’s eye. Annity pulled back his hand and let loose a wicked smile. “Give them enough time and they will forgive anything.”

The seafoam green unicorn pulled her face down as the tear dropped to the fine-plated floor. She hid her face with her mane as she looked around the room once more. She scanned until she saw the entirety; in particular the shadows, before finally looking back at her captor. The mare gave a teeth-gritting smile and spoke, “Even the fact that you are currently working for the deadly Indigo Fros--”

“Oh no, oh no, that be wrong little mare.” a crooked seeming repetitive voice interrupted the unicorn. Both the grayish brown batpony and seafoam green unicorn turned toward the voice and their eyes widened. “He is Lord Frost to you mortal ponies,” spoke a short black earth pony stallion covered in bleach white stitches with copper red eyes and bright blue clown-like mane in a black clown costume with green buttons, blue frills, and big blue shoes. He rode over to them on an almost demonic-looking black and silver unicycle.

The seafoam green unicorn’s face fell, and her eyes went back to work. Meanwhile, the grayish-brown batpony spoke up as he turned his face sideways. “Seriously, now we meet the disgusting Carnival Carnage.”

“Complements, compliments for the drag queen, but none for me.” He snickered, “You will call me Carny. And who are you two?” Carnival rode over in front of them and looked them over extremely closely, more so than Annity had already. He was so close that they could smell the bad breath.

“Mon Grand Etalon, batpony Frenchman,” Mon tried giving his best bow while tied up.

Carnival seemed to ignore him and raised his hand to the seafoam green unicorn’s face. He pulled her to face him as he moved in so close that their faces were almost touching. He smiled so largely that his large, very unkempt dark green teeth and blackish rotting gums could be seen as clear as day. “And what is your name, beautiful?”

The seafoam green unicorn veered back as best as she could until she saw something sparkle in a shadow on the other side of the room. She let a smile slip out as she spoke, “Who am I? I’m going to be your worst nightmare if you don’t back off.”

“Oh wow, oh wow. Was that a threat?”

“No, it was more of a demand.” On that, the seafoam green unicorn smashed her head into his. Using the force of pushback, she knocked the chairs sideways toward the ground.

Suddenly, silver chains flowed out of the shadows and flew across the room. Annity jumped over the chains, while Carnival, being too slow, was wrapped up and tossed to the wall.

“What is this? What is this?” Carnival struggled.

The seafoam green unicorn smiled as a pair of charcoal-colored hands reached out of the shadows around her and Mon. The hands undid the binds and vanished back into the shadows. The two got up and turned their attention to Annity. “Our backup got here, so there's no escape.”

Annity smiled, “What backup? You are a unicorn. Do you think this is my first time dealing with a telekinetic?”

“Really? But Clover is terrible at telekinetic magic,” spoke a voice from nowhere.

Annity spun around. “Who are you? Where are you?”

“Who am I? That is a good question,” the voice continued as every shadow in the room moved on its own. The shadows swarmed to a center point. All the shadows collided, and every light source in the room went out.

Chains shot out of the center point and anchored themselves around everything and a shadowy figure grew out from the center as all the light source returned and the chains unanchored and flew around him.

Annity and Carnival came to attention at the sight of a tall thin charcoal stallion covered in many blue Arabian-style cloths and scarves wrapped around his upper body, broad shoulders and arms, and around his neck and forehead. His face, short unkempt navy blue mane, and the abs along his thin belly were the only things exposed. Below he wore wide, long white trousers with the bottoms tucked in his black stringless shoes, along with many silver chains wrapped around his complete form, especially over his arms.

Annity’s face was covered with sweat as he backed away from the charcoal stallion. “It can’t be Rex Moba, the alicorn's warlock knight!” He raised his hands upward and flames shot up from the ground around Rex and engulfed him.

The fire spun around like a tornado as it reached the very top of the ceiling. Annity smiled as things around the tornado melted from the heat. After several moments, the tornado depressurized; revealing a ball of silver chains over the spot where Rex stood. The chains pulled away to show Rex still standing unharmed.

Annity’s eyes lay wide open as he backtracked even more. He looked around in all directions. His eyes loosened their wideness as they spotted a vent. He smiled at Carnival and jumped far back, “Sorry, Carny, alicorn is far less forgiving than ifrit.” Fire shot out of his back like wings and he took to the ceiling. He looked toward the opening of the vent and flew over to it.

Rex shot a few of his chains at him, but he escaped. He gritted his teeth and turned back to Clover and Mon. “Mon, Clover, she got aw--”

“You're late!!” Clover slapped Rex across the face. “You realize that Carnival could have easily raped me while you were taking your sweet time getting here.”

Rex pulled his face forward as he retracted his stance. “Well, I’m sorry. Do you realize how hard it was to place all of those shadows in such a fiery place?”

“And why would you need to place so many?” Clover took a step forward.

“Fear is an excellent tactic in battle. Now that drag queen is running scared.” Rex leaned in.

“So you willingly let him escape, huh?” Clover smirked at him as he retracted again.

“What…. I mean… Fine, I guess I could have moved faster.” Rex raised his hand to his face and leaned his head into it. “I’m sorry.”

This time Clover’s face retracted and her mane fell over her eyes, “Be better next time.”

“Are you two done with your banter yet?” Chuckles from Mon broke their thoughts.

Mon held his hands up to the dark glare, moving them back and forth as he backtracked and turned toward where Carnival was being held. Mon's eyes widened, “Lady… Sir?”

“What?” they both answered in unison. Their eyes widened too at what they saw. While the lower half of Carnival was still chained up, the upper half was flat-out gone.

Clover walked over to the chains, “How the fuck did he do that?” She punched the body. It fell from the chains, yet no blood flowed forth. “The body is an empty shell. There aren’t even organs in this.”

Rex frowned as he pulled back his chains. “The reports don’t mention Carnival as any form of undead.” He raised his hand into the air as a shadow stretched out to Clover and Mon. “He may simply have all his important organs stuffed into a certain part of the body while leaving the rest of him hollow.” His eyes glowed and weapons floated out of the shadows by Clover and Mon. Clover took hold of her bow staff, while Mon took up his cutlass.

Clover gripped her staff tightly. “Well, with his legs here, he couldn't get that far. We can handle it from here. How about you capture the one you let escape?”

Rex gave a begrudging grin. “Okay, remember we need them alive.”

“Said the stallion who killed our last target,” Mon chimed in.

“Fine.” On that, Rex fell into his own shadow and vanished.

******

Annity flew through the vents until he found her way outside. Feeling the warm winds on his back, he smiled. It quickly faded as he felt the frigid grip on the chains ripping him straight down. He winced in pain from the hard thud as he rolled across the roof of the highest part of the castle. Pulling himself free of the chains, he stopped his rolling and jumped to his feet. Swinging back and forth, looking for the source of the chains, he found nothing but an empty void.

“Where are you--” Pain under his chin stopped his words as he was tossed upward by a fist while Rex landed beyond him.

Rex raised his arms outward and his chains pulled back around his arms. Once the chains were back in place, he folded his arms over and slowly walked to Annity. “I suggest you give up. We want your leader, but the Order of One would want to meet you and your sister.”

Annity frowned at the idea. “I see that you have done your homework. Vanity and I left that life behind long ago when I found being a drug lord paid so much better. Besides, it's not wise to turn against Indigo Frost.” He threw his hands outward and flame whips shot out from them.

"Really? Is he that terrifying?"

"He's a monster with no bounds or chains to hold him down." Annity charged at him with a few swings, only for Rex to spin in the air, and slide between them. “He would sooner feast on my liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”

“Fine, have it your way.” Rex landed and shot his chains outward and wrapped them tightly around Annity’s arms, making the flame whips go out. He pulled on the chains, knocking him down where his face hit the ground.

Annity ignored the blood pouring over his face and stood back up, laughing. “We have been talking about my past and what I is, but what about you? Some call you the last kind of shadow, while others call you a murderous shade. So which is the real?”

Rex's face fell, “It’s a little of both.”

Annity glared with a smile and heated the chains wrapped around his arms. Once the heat became too much to bare even for an ifrit, he charged right at him. Rex gave no reaction to his chains melting away. However, he did duck under Annity’s attack and threw him over his shoulder.

The ifrit clawed at Rex’s head as he flew over, yet still no reaction. He gritted his teeth on landing upon the other edge of the roof. The movement knocked over a small rock. Bouncing off the edge of the roof and then off the edges of the colored window below and falling toward the ground, shattering like glass.

Annity pushed himself up but constantly lost balance. “What's happening? You barely threw me?”

“Fear, that's what happened.” Rex pointed toward Annity’s shaking legs. “While you thought you could scare me with the mentioning of my past, I was setting my strings tightly over your legs.” His hands raised and the dimming sunlight shined over every string that stretched from his shadow to Annity’s legs.

Annity’s eyes widened at the numbness of his legs. He tried to straighten his footing, but his legs continued to fall out from under him. “But how? I thought your only weapon was...”

“You thought wrong.” Rex charged right at him.

Annity fought through the pain enough to throw some more flames. Unfortunately, these were much smaller. Rex went through the flames over the building’s edge. As he fell, he pulled on the strings tied to Annity’s legs.

The ifrit gritted in pain as he shot flames over his legs and burned off the strings. Rex felt the gripping of his strings vanish and he continued to fall.

Annity turned around and blew a fiery kiss at Rex as he watched him. “Bye, bye--” He stopped at the bold smile on Rex’s face.

Waiting until the very last second, Rex then shot chains off his arms at high speed. The chains shot straight upward and stabbed right through Annity’s shoulders. The ifrit coughed hard as they dug through and tied around his back.

Rex used the leverage to land softly on the ground. Once on the ground, he yanked hard. Annity screamed had held himself into place.

Annity gritted his teeth and filled his hands with fire. He placed them over the wounds; burning them shut. Afterward, he moved his hands over the chains, grasping. He smiled as the feeling in his legs returned.

“My turn.” Annity pulled at the chains and ran in the other direction. Rex’s eyes swelled as he felt the ifrit yank him back up.

Unfortunately, Annity was so distracted, and his legs were more damaged than he realized. He didn’t see or even feel which direction he was even going, as before he could even stop himself, he toppled over to the other side.

As Rex landed on the roof, Annity swung through a small window into the floor below as the chains ripped out of his shoulders. The ifrit finally realized what was going on and tried to stabilize his flying. He ended up crashing through another window, this time, the giant one with the alicorn on it. Rex jumped around and reached outward to grab Annity with his chains.

Annity knocked them away, still not fully seeing where he was still flying to. The ifrit winced when his back hit the wall of another building, knocking his flaming wings out. Unable to control his flying, he fell right downward, smacking right into the ground.

Rex pulled back and raised his hand to his face. He retracted it as he felt that the wrapping around his head was gone. He quickly looked around but stopped as he heard ifrits, down below, walking around and shouting. He turned back around gritted, seeing other witnesses around the crash.

The ifrits walked around, looking over Annity's mangled body. All of them whispered back and forth to each other the closer they got. A large one in what seemed to be a police uniform walked over to Annity. He placed his hand over the neck before pulling it away with a clenched fist. “Who did this?”

“Up there.” One of the ifrits pointed. “He did it.”

The large one looked up at Rex, and his eyes widened. “A glowing curved horn?” His hand raised and pointed to the blue horn on Rex’s head that had been hidden under the cloth. “He’s an umbrum. He’s a murderous shade.”

Rex pulled back upon the large one's words. He looked to the other ifrits as anger grew in their eyes. His face could only flinch erratically at them before pulling back completely and turning away. He stepped off the edge and walked faster than his feet could take him. He stopped as he saw Clover holding the cloth that was usually used to hide his horn. Her face was lowered.

She handed it to him with a sad smile, “You dropped this.”

He wrapped it back over his head. “Thank you.” He tied the knot up tight. “We need to go. Where is Carnival?”

“We didn’t find him. But we found something worse.” She turned around to lead him when she was stopped by something that hit her nose.

“What's wrong?” he questioned.

“I don’t know.” She raised her hand to her nose. “Did I feel… rain?”

“Impossible. This city is built inside a caldera. Maybe it was ashes.” He walked over in front of her and scanned her. His eyes stopped on her face and on an ice droplet that tipped her nose. “Wait, that isn't rain… that’s--”

He was cut off as they both saw a snowflake fall between them and hit the ground before evaporating in the heat of the city. Rex quickly viewed the sky and his eyes stretched upon seeing several snowflakes falling over the fiery city.

“Snow and cold shall always follow in his wake. Be warned, for the first sign of him is a snowflake.”

Rex backed away from the edge slowly. His face was pale as could be. Clover grabbed his hand, but she winced as it was ice cold. “What is it? What is causing this?”

Rex gripped her hand tightly as he tried to pull the cold away. “It’s as the legend says… He’s here.” The two ran out of there as fast as they could.

******

Down below in the room, the red raindrop glowed even brighter. Eventually, the echoes of footsteps filled the room. Voices barked back and forth, followed by the sounds of an opening. The red raindrop jolted and twisted, rising into the air. The raindrop got colder and colder until it returned to its red snowflake form while flying.

Soon it flew past a charcoal arm and into a brand-new pathway. The arm vanished from sight and a wall replaced it. A jolt of wind hit the red snowflake again, knocking it to the ground. There it lay for several seconds until it changed shape.

******