High Tensions

"Start talking," Zerat said, raising a glowing palm to Garrett. "How dya know to throw me into the pile of armor?"

"Hero Garrett, what's going on?" Iadre asked from inside Garrett's shirt. "Who is that?"

Garrett bit his lip and tried to think about what and how to say his next words. He cursed himself silently for having knowledge of previous timelines. Well, this was as good of a time as any to try it out.

"Okay, I'll explain," Garrett said before crossing his arms over his chest. "But first, can we get out of here?"

Zerat paused for a few minutes before nodding. "Fine. Let's hurry up and get outta here. I'll blast away the ice and we'll book it." Zerat aimed its hands over towards the ice block, but Garrett held up his hands quickly.

"Hang on, we still have to find the Key to Warmth. It might hold a secret to being able to unlock the stone door."

Garrett looked around the room. Most of the gear the adventurers had wasn't anything of worth, nor did it seem like it would be better than what he had. Slowly, his eyes turned to the far end of the room, which had been blocked previously by the serpent's body.

There, along the far wall of the room, was a metal chest encased in a large crystal of ice. It was unopened and sitting on a pedestal. Garrett gathered up the rest of his equipment and then made his way over to the chest, Iadre fluttering along with him and Zerat following close behind.

"Think this is the 'Key to Warmth' the door was talking about?" Iadre asked as she looked over the chest. There weren't any markings or anything on the chest that either of them could discern.

"Worth a look." Garrett looked down to see that his jewels were still recharging. "Zerat, can you break the ice for us?"

"Ain't a problem." Zerat aimed its hands at the ice and fired a beam of energy, shattering the ice into fragments. Garrett reached for the chest, surprised to feel that it wasn't that cold. Still, he wrapped his hand in his coin pouch and lifted the chest up. It was surprisingly light, as he could lift it with just one hand. He set it down on the ground and looked it over.

"There's no lock on it. I wonder what's inside," Iadre said, fluttering around it before Garrett put his hand around her.

"Zerat, can you open it? It might be trapped," Garrett said, stepping away from the chest.

"Oh sure, I'm the expendable one here." Zerat complained but approached the chest anyway. Garrett tucked Iadre close to his body and held up his shield in the event that something happened. Carefully, Zerat lifted up the lid of the chest and peered itself. "All clear."

Garrett and Iadre went to see what was inside of the chest. Sitting at the base of the chest was a large stone with a sun engraving on it. The stone was even bigger than Iadre. Garrett lifted the stone out, looking it over. On the back was a moon engraving and stars.

"All dat for just a rock?" Zerat said, looking at it.

"There has to be something more to it," Garrett said as he stared at it.

"Well, whatever it is, can we figure it out after getting out of here?" Iadre said, the rush of excitement having now faded and the chill of the air setting in. She crossed her arms over her chest and shivered.

"Alright, let's go." Garrett tucked the rock into his bag and the three of them headed toward the exit. Zerat aimed its palms toward the ice and blasted away the barrier. They all hurried out of the cold and Iadre immediately flew over to the warm stone door.

"Ah, warmth! Please never leave me again," she said as she spread out like a sunbathing lizard.

"Time to talk," Zerat said, raising a glowing palm to Garrett.

Gently, Garrett brought his hands up and slowly lowered Zerat's. "Easy, you don't have to threaten me. I'll tell-"

"Ha! There you are, vile fiend! You thought that you could escape me?"

Garrett felt his wounds flare up as he noticed a gaudy-dressed lizard charging towards him. Having barely recuperated from the ice serpent, Garrett was in no shape to try and fight Lyman. He tried to raise his shield to defend himself, but the adrenaline of the serpent fight was gone. Lyman lunged towards Garrett, rapier ready to stab through Garrett when a blast of energy shot through the air.

Zerat, glowing palm outstretched, blasted Lyman into the opposing wall. "Hey, don'tcha know it's rude to interrupt when people are talking?"

"Ah, so you ally yourself with this fiend? Then I, the one and only, illustrious draconian Lyman Ochao, shall defeat you! Have at thee!" Lyman charged once again, rapier ready, but this time towards Zerat.

"Fiend?" Zerat said, turning its head towards Garrett.

"I can explain," Garrett said, as he watched Lyman try to attack Zerat, only for one of Zerat's arms to grab Lyman and fling him back into the wall again. The cave shook a little from the impact, but Lyman easily brushed off the attack.

"You dare put your hands upon me? I shall teach you a lesson then! EN GARDE!" A burst of powerful air rushed out of Lyman's mouth, crashing into the armored body of Zerat. Zerat barely managed to hold its body together, the seams of Zerat's magic showing from the impact.

"Hey, this thing's brand new! Don't you go smashing it!" Zerat aimed all six of its arms at Lyman and fired a concentrated beam of energy. It was far stronger than the blasts Zerat had previously fired, but Garrett also got a sense that it wasn't Zerat's full potential.

Lyman must have noticed the same thing as he puffed up his chest with air. "PATHETIC!"

A steady stream of air burst forth from his mouth to meet Zerat's beam head-on. The two attacks collided in mid-air, splitting up both attacks in random directions. The caves shook more violently as the beams and air bursts slammed into the walls and ceiling.

"Alright! That's enough!" Garrett shouted at the top of his lungs, causing both Lyman and Zerat to halt their attacks. Iadre, barely having avoided being hit by anything, immediately flew over to Garrett and held close to him. "Not only is your two fighting loud enough that I'm sure anyone in the entire Darge could hear, but you also nearly hit Iadre with your childish antics!" Zerat and Lyman both looked at the terrified pixie, then down at the ground in disgrace. "Now, let's talk about this. I owe all of you an explanation."