Together they traveled the mountains hoping to find the ruins and complete the quest. What didn't cross their minds until they realized it, they were completely unprepared and have no plans on where to start searching.
While aimlessly wandering in the mountains, the darkness fell. They entered a cave to spend the night in and taking the opportunity to get some rest.
The cracking of the fire and howls of the creatures outside the cave filled the night
.
"Anyone have any idea where to start looking?" Asa asked the group
They all exchanged glances and shook their heads "Well that's just great..." he sighed
"You guys are hopeless...It's a legend, right? Why not read it first?" Kishi suggested
Everyone looked at him first then turned their glances at Zakia. She immediately got the messaged and performed a spell. An old book magically appeared in her hand, glowing silver-azure. She opened it carefully the read.
"On a land vast and prosperous, there was once a village of great treasure. The people lived in great harmony, everyone is wealthy and is showering in gold. The village is surrounded in snow, located in the mountains where there's no spring. The great Ice dragon protected them, and the people respected him and treated the dragon with utmost care."
"It was a beautiful place, a happy place. The people could wish nothing more. It was, until such time, a traveler came to the place. They treated him with hospitality and welcomed him in their home. In exchange for their kindness, he taught them many things. He taught them sorcery and alchemy. As time passes, the people of that village grew strong. A difference between power had divided them. The equally shared treasure had been divided into several parts and the most was given to the powerful while the weak was given only a few, and sometimes none." She continued
"Greed filled the previous harmonious place. The Ice dragon warned them, but none listened. They were now powerful; they need no protection from the dragon any more. And so, they thought of something."
Zakia looked at everyone, and then proceeded "They shall slay the dragon. They believed that they would be free this way. And so, they attacked the dragon. The village was set in flames, screams filled the air. Many have died in the battle as blood covered the land. Anger and betrayal were felt by the dragon. It does not understand why thing have to go this way. But the village and the people it used to love was no more. It was now a village soaked in blood and filled with greedy people. With a single blow, the village was covered in ice. Everything was frozen, none was spared."
"The dragon still protected the place, remained there and mourned. From then on, the village was closed from the outside world and never to be seen again. But as time passes, the dragon is getting lonely, it wished to be slayed and join its late family. Thus, he opened the place every year when most of Harmonia was covered in snow. The great treasure of the village was offered in exchanged since it holds no value for the dragon."
"A quest to search for the Frozen ruins of the old village and to slay the great Ice dragon, for then the treasure will be released from the cage of ice and misery. But only those who found it was worthy of facing and slaying the dragon who yearned death."
She faced everyone again, but all remained silent. Kira hugged her knees and said softly "The traveler was a demon"
Everyone looked at her with troubled faces, as if she had spoken a taboo. She asked them "If power only bring sorrow, then why are we born to posses it? It doesn't make any sense"
"Er, Kira, it's only a legend, don't take it seriously" Mythica told her
"But all legends are true" She said
This has settled them all again. That's right, all legends are true. If one says power only brings misery, then it also meant that it's true. So, why are there magic in the world to begin with? What about the powerless? Are they happy? As the thoughts came to mind, it felt more worse.
Kishi sighed then embraced her. "It just says that power isn't what's going to make us happy. It's the least important, so never forget to appreciate those that are around you, and cherish them forever. Instead of worrying about meaning less things such as power. It will never make you happy." He gently explained
With his words, their troubled hearts just faded away. How can they forget about it? Of course, that's what it meant. Without worrying about who's powerful and weak, all can easily accept everyone and love everyone. But if they started to mind their power, it will only bring greed and envy. They would start to divide themselves, and endless conflicts would start appearing one after the other. Blood spill will occur, and after, nothing is left but emptiness.
What's the point of having powers if you can't protect anyone? What's the point of having it if it'll only harm those dear to you? Wouldn't it all be meaningless? Alas, the same thing has been happening time and time again.
"Going back to our problem, where would we start searching for it?" Asked Umi "Any ideas?"
Again, no one answered. "can I have a look?" Kira asked politely. Zakia looked at her first, then gave her the book. They peaked at it confusedly.
The language used was Dragon script. The letter looked like triangles and a bunch of lines. Only those who studied it enough will be able to read it. Disappointed, they just sighed and turned away. Kin, Kishi, and Kira, on the other hand, just stared at it.
The letters are glowing and so is the book, there are also pictures that are very difficult to understand. The tree of them stared at the picture of what looked like a fighting scene. They seemed to notice that something was off.
From a different angle, it looked entirely different. Something like...a rock?\=
"That's it!" The three of them shouted. Making the others jump. Kin quickly lifted the book and turned it upside-down. It looked like a rock that formed a strange shape, that when upside-down, looked like a fierce dragon breathing ice, fighting humans.
Delight filled their adorable little faces. Tomorrow they will set out and look for this strange rock. It might sound like false hope, but they just knew that that was it.
Next morning, they started their real hunt. Once again, they searched in the groups to expand their search area. And just like back in the town, Kira, Kishi, Airi, Rex, Lune, Yin, Yang, Mythica, and Bubblegum searched together.
Walking over a thick layer of snow, the nine of them encountered walking snowmen. They vary in size, but all looked harmless. Rex and Yin was about to approach them, but Airi stopped them with a warning.
"They may look harmless but they can kill you if you piss them off" he added, "Oh! You're not allowed to just walk pass them too. Well, that's if you wanna die."
The two of them backed off carefully. "How are we going to get pass them then?" Rex asked
"Let the bunnies deal with it" Kishi suggested
He was eyeing at the white bunnies hiding behind the rocks and piles of snow. Their eyes glistening red of killing intent.
"Nisan, that's brutal" Kira pouted and he just shrugged
"How about obliterating them? What do you think Yang" said Yin
Before he could answer, Mythica disagreed "That's not anything different than letting them get killed by the bunnies! Besides, they're still cute!"
"Cute? I wonder what you'll think if they were covered in your blood?" Yin mumbled
Bubblegum sighed in their hopelessness. Could they actually be more dumb? She asked to hold each other's hand then told Yang to do his thing "Yang, the lights" she said
Everything was completely enveloped in darkness. Yang is the only one who can see through that pitch blackness, so he guided then pass through the pack of walking snowmen.
"Ouch! Rex, that's my feet!" said Airi
"This is me, stupid!" said Yang
"idiots be quiet!" Kishi hissed them
After walking pass through the deadly snowmen, they began exploring again. Pass the forest and across the bridge. They found themselves in the edge of a ravine of great height. They doubted at first, but there's something in that deep darkness is calling them.