You'd think it would be hard to get to the super special ancestral curse mountain. I wish it was. It would've given me a good excuse to quite while I was ahead.
I probably wouldn't have when lives are on the line but…still. It's a nice thought.
I could be back at the castle, warming myself by a fire, eating something. Instead, I'm at the base of the snow peaked mountain.
It was actually rather easy to get here. We weren't far at all from the mountain castle the Frost family reigned over, and we were instead just a couple of minutes behind it, part of the large range which encased the town. A few signs and labeled trails led me where I needed to go, at least, I hope.
I never got a chance to go hiking in my past life, so maybe something good would come out of this little adventure. Still, I can't help but be a little peeved that Yuki ran off. I mean, hopefully we all have plot armor, and none of us actually have to worry about death. But, I'd really, really rather not test it out. So as far as I was concerned, this was basically attempted suicide.
It's not so much a trail like the kind you would hike, as much as it is one straight line which has been cleared of all plant life larger than a blade of grass. Looking up, I could almost see the peak of the mountain up, but I just couldn't, blocked out by surrounding trees and greenery.
Lilith's nose twitched. "She was here recently."
"You…can smell that?"
"Yeah? Can you not Poe? She has a very distinct smell, like…mhm…snow?"
"...She smells like snow?"
"Yeah."
Do I smell like something? Not important. Looking up, it's clearly a rather massive thing, not quite an Everest from my world, but probably closer to a Fuji. The base up will be full of trees and wildlife, before eventually it gets high enough that the oxygen gets thin, and the air gets too cold to support large plant life, that's around where the snow sits for every day of the year.
Being fully honest, as I was, attempting to climb this thing with no equipment would be 100% fatal. Luckily for me, I could cheat. "Think you can get me to her in one piece?"
Lilith nodded her head. "Mhm!" She outstretched her arms towards me.
Swallowing my pride, I hopped into the smaller girls' hold. Why exactly it had to be bridal style, I didn't know. She giggled, then started running.
With my weight holding her back, it was probably taking longer, but she still hustled up the trail without much issue at all. If I hadn't been in a rush to stop Yuki, I would've enjoyed the natural beauty of the mountain side quite a bit. I'm a sucker for a good view after all.
But, most of it just looked like a blur, as I was carried off upwards at sprinting speed.
I saw Yuki's back, steadily ascending the mountain, which the two of us were hurtling towards. "Lilith! Slow down?"
My words were lost on Lilith, who was humming happily to herself, as her eyes locked onto Yuki. She dashed straight by the girl, turning and sliding on her heels as we came to a rapid stop right in front of her path.
I felt my face go a little green, and my stomach clenched at the rapid motion. I was going to be sick. "Ugh." Lilith let go of me before I was ready, and I hit the ground with another groan.
Yuki's face pulled into a frown, and she solidified another blade of ice to her side. "You two…Move."
I frowned, using a tree to help myself up. "Ugh, don't be rash, the sword isn't going anywhere, and there's no pressing need for you to get it. Don't recklessly endanger yourself!"
She clicked her tongue at me. Honestly, I was getting tired of dealing with temperamental children. "Of course all you can consider is power. Do you know what it's like?"
I shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"
She pointed the blade at me. "Do you know what it's like, to wake up, freezing cold every day? To not feel the rays of the sun on your skin. To not know what the licking flames feel like? To be able to throw yourself onto a fire, and have the fire extinguish before it grants you even an instance of warmth?" She was clearly frustrated, and the ice blade was starting to grow more jagged, and less refined. "That curse, the one placed on my family. Warmth. Do you think that only means flame? Only means heat, and fire? Warmth means love, it means affection, it means comfort in another. I, no, we, are incapable of it."
Lilith moved between me and her, her lips peeled back slightly as she snarled. "Don't say that! You-you have no idea what it's like to have no one who loves you! H-How-?! How can you not see that your father cares about you?"
"How could he!?" She shouted abruptly, frozen tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes. "I'm not a product of love. I'm not a child! I'm a burden, a weight dragging him down!"
Lilith picked her own voice into a shout. "Don't talk like that!"
"It's the truth!" She let out a shuddering breath. "We can't feel love. I've never felt that warmth towards him. But-but if I can do this, if I can let us both feel that warmth we've been deprived of…"
I pushed whatever odd swirl of emotions her breakdown was bringing me, and finished her statement for her. "You'll be happy?"
She nodded resolutely, words seeming to fail her. Lilith seemed unconvinced though, and continued frowning. "I don't believe you. Thats…! Love doesn't…! It isn't…!" She gripped her own hair and let out a frustrated shout. "Ugh! You can't just assume that!"
It was evidently the wrong thing to say. The air cooled down once more, and the still glistening dew on the grass froze, and the leaves of trees began to curl in on themselves, attempting instinctively to retain heat. "I'm not assuming anything! You're the ones assuming things!"
Yuki dashed forwards, and Lilith raised her arms to block, as an ice blade slammed into her crossed arms. The two held for a moment, the blade of ice cutting a small tear into Liliths sleeve.
Lilith threw her arms up, sending Yuki off balance. "I know what it's like to have nothing! You're the one not appreciating what you have!" Lilith took a solid step forwards, and struck straight, attempting to hit Yuki in her chest. A spear of ice shot straight up out of the ground, hitting Lilith's fist away, though unable to pierce the skin.
Lilith gnashed her teeth, and struck out with her other hand, fist curled into a claw-like scrape. Yuki raised her own arm, and Lilith's claw met a gauntlet of ice, before Yuki's own fist slammed into Lilith's chest, sending her stumbling back a few steps.
I got between them, holding my hand out so both would stop fighting. "Hold it! Both of you!" The two were both breathing heavily, Lilith's hands curled into claws, and Yuki's arms encased in ice, her ice blade now lying on the grass.
Yuki let out an angry exhale, her eyes closing for a moment as she once again tried to compose herself. For a character who was supposed to always be composed, she seemed to spend a hell of a lot of time trying to get back to that state.
My mind was whirling, as I tried to figure out how to compromise things. "Ok, ok, everyone calm down. We don't have to fight each other."
Lilith's face was uncharacteristically angry, I'd have to talk to her later, and her eyebrow twitched. "I want to fight though." Seriously, wasn't she just happily talking about the two sparing? Where was all of this coming from?
Yuki's ice was likewise becoming jagged again, blades and sharp protrusions growing out of the gauntlets. "I'm not turning back. I will claim my birthright."
"Alright! I think I get that!" I let out my own angry huff. "...Then we're coming as well."
"What?!" Oh, at least the two could be in sync about something.
"There's nothing saying you have to defeat the guardian yourself. You just have to master the blade it defends alone. Lilith and I have already proved we're about your equal in combat, let us help."
Yuki, tentatively, lowered her arms. "You're just going to try and stop me."
I raised my hands defensively. "That's part of the deal. I think this is a bad move, I'll be honest about that, and I'm going to keep being honest about it. But If I absolutely can't stop you," I turn to Liltih. "Without fighting you, I'd rather be there to help."
Lilith pouted, and crossed her arms. "I don't wanna help her!"
"Lilith, please?"
She slowly uncrossed her arms. "Fine." She turned to Yuki. "But only because Poe is asking me!"
The cold woman scoffed.
Great, now I just had to walk up a mountain with two, superpowered, antagonistic, preteen girls. You know, I thought being transmigrated would have a lot more…I don't know, super powered fights, fantastical beasts, magic and systems and stuff. I didn't think there'd be much, if any, teen drama.
I guess that's really on me though. I can't wait to be an adult again.