“Alex, is this safe?”
“Absolutely not,” Alex replied, “but it’s fast. These hairline cracks run all across the face of the mountain, and sometimes climbers use them to reach the top within hours as opposed to days.”
Alex had his fingers locked into the inch-thick cracks in the ice, and his feet on the larger crack below. Every now and then he drove a Shroud tentacle in to keep his balance.
Weapons become utilities in times of peace…
With one final hard pull, Alex forced himself up to the next ledge, and, amazingly enough, the billowing smoke from Glacia City’s chimneys could be faintly seen, several thousand feet further up.
“We’re getting closer,” Alex said. “Not long now.”
“I only wish I had the power to create another portal,” Midna sighed. “I hate for you to expend energy you could use in a fight if we were jumped.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Alex replied. “Carmine’s miles away, and he has no idea what direction we went in. He’ll probably assume we went through Vandrin.”
“Alex, Glacia is your home! That’s the first place he’d want to look!”
“Then you better be grateful there aren’t any gaslights up here,” Alex shot back.
“True, true…”
The two had taken shelter within a cave after a particularly severe blizzard kicked up, as they often do on Glacia. The Demon Heads, no longer quite so aggressive, actually set themselves down on the ground for the first time.
Surprised? I would assume so. Comfort is seldom an attainable commodity, so it is vital to improvise…are you comfortable?
Truly a peculiar sight! These demonic manifestations showing compassion for the bearer of their power? One head shifted position to lay near Alex.
The true comfort is that of confidence.
Midna had since drifted off to sleep. The cave was unusually warm.
The girl…so delicately innocent…you two are bound by legend, but something more lies within. Love, perhaps?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alex denied softly.
Come now. I know all of your secrets, and some that even you yourself may not know. Your feelings for her are to me as obvious as your qualms with my serenity. Why do you hide it so?
“I can’t afford for feelings to get in the way of keeping her safe…it’s my job. My destiny.”
Perhaps she may feel the same way?
“Then it’s mutual. She’s done so much for me, things so great no amount of gratitude would suffice.”
Gratitude is one thing. Compassion is another. What does it feel like to have someone care for you?
“It’s something everyone needs, I suppose.”
Does someone care for you?
“I’d guess so. Kleiner and the other scientists want me to end this war, so do the Twili elders…Midna knows what we have to do.”
Does any one person care for you even more? To an extent to call them a loved one?
“…I can’t really say…I never knew my parents, and the old man who did bring me up died before I could really get a chance to know him.”
Do you care for anyone?
“I’d say I do.”
Why is compassion or caring important?
“Because…well, what confidence would anyone have if no one cared about them?”
Are you confident?
“Yes.”
Then you are indeed comfortable. You are the personification of tenacity, yet persistence can only go so far. Rest is vital. I will be waiting for you when you awake.
Finally, for the first time in ages, Alex felt like he could sleep easy.
And so he did.
“Hey, Carmine,” Hannibal said.
“What?”
“Remember when that Amon guy did the thing to Asgarnia? Where there was obsidian everywhere? That wasn't magic...”
“So what the hell was it?”
“I picked one up to take a look at it. They were shaped like feathers, and judging by the size, from a pretty large bird. There's only one creature I know of that grows feathers that big - I saw them once on the west coast of Kandarin.”
“What beast could grow something like that?”
“I don't know what they're called, no one believed me when I told them. Amon referred to them as ‘Children of the Night’... I guess we could start there.”
“So what exactly does this mean for us?”
“Creatures which come during the cover of the night, bringing about a hail of razor-sharp obsidian, then vanish as mysteriously as they enter. Do the math.”
“Excellent. Where do we start?”
“I saw them on the west coast of Kandarin. Asking the locals would be... difficult, as you can imagine, but I think that if we go west of Kandarin, we should hit the spot.”
“Then that’s our next stop.”
Carmine turned to his men.
“Okay guys, we have a new objective. I’ll tell you about it on the way. Let’s break camp and load up.”
