The Rocky Mountains of Vermel: Part Three

=The Habitants' Area=

The dawn is near and still there is no Ray on sight.

Nympha: "I'm starting to worry. Maybe I need to go up the summit."

Celsius: "Okay. I'll wait he---"

Nympha: "Ssh…" She sensed something.

Celsius: (What is it?)

Nympha: (Someone's coming.)

Celsius: (Maybe it's Ray.)

Nympha: (No.That's not a sound of a stomp coming from a mere kid.)

*Dug! *Dug!* *Dug!*

Celsius heard a loud stomping. This creates small quakes on the ground.

Nympha: "PROTECTION!" she quickly casts her skill.

*BAAM!*

A giant chuck of iceberg lies in front of them. A large hairy figure appeared.

"HOO! HOO! HOO!"

A huge creature stood. Nympha and Celsius look like an ant compare to its humongous size. Its body is covered with hard and gray thick fur, with two large fangs on its mouth and a large coil white horn on its head.

Celsius: "This---this creature looks like a very old habitant."

Nympha: "Yes. It's a Primordial Ram."

Primordial Rams are known to be one of the oldest living habitants in the realm. They are known for their timid personality. This creature can live in any place since its fur can change and it can adapt to its living environment.

Celsius: "It's rare to see one."

Nympha: "Uh huh. I thought it got extinct five hundred years ago."

The Primordial Ram looked at them.

Nympha: "Hold my hand, Celsius."

"HOO! HOO! HOO!"

It started making noise and tapped the iceberg twice with its large hand.

Celsius: "They are considered as kind creatures, right?" He's starting to doubt.

Nympha: "Let's see." They observe the creature without blinking.

After it finished doing its strange act, the Primordial Ram looked at them one last time and disappeared.

Celsius: *sigh* "I thought my heart would stop beating."

Nympha: "Lucky for us, it just went away."

Celsius: "It left its giant iceberg…and now it's melting." He went to where the iceberg is and saw something inside. "Nympha! Come over here."

Nympha: "This disrespectful kid…"

Celsius: "Enough! Just come!"

Nympha: "Okay. Okay." She went to the iceberg.

Celsius: "Look. There's a human inside."

Nympha: "What?…" She looked closer. "Isn't that Ray?!"

Celsius: "It is him!"

Ray's body was completely frozen.

Celsius: "What on earth happened?"

Nympha: "He must have been caught by a blizzard in the summit."

Celsius: "So the weather changes at the top, huh."

Nympha: "Yes. It shifts from time to time."

Celsius: "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get him o---"

*Flick!*

Nympha: "Celsius, get away from it!"

A sudden flash of light energy glows inside the iceberg.

*CRACK!!*

The iceberg was broken into tiny ice particles and flew from different directions.

Celsius: *cough* *cough*

Nympha: "You okay?"

Celsius: "I got used to this."

Both went to see Ray's unconscious frozen body. They were surprised to see his appearance.

Celsius: "What is this?! Did he just morphed?!"

Aside from the horns on Ray's forehead, his teeth became sharp and some parts of his skin had thick dark scales on it.

Nympha: *sigh* "Let warm him up first." They put Ray on a smooth slab of stone and covered him with thick blanket.

Dark clouds suddenly enveloped the entire mountains and all of the habitants' tremble in fear.

===============================================================

=Underground City of Ambeist; Madam D's Apartelle=

Vienna: "Kukuku…looks like change is about to happen.

A.I: "Why are you talking by yourself?"

Vienna: "Oh nothing, sis…I just felt the direction of the winds suddenly changed."

A.I: "…it is…"

Vienna: (Kukuku. A dark raging storm is coming.)

===============================================================

Soon, Ray regained his consciousness. He was surprised to see Celsius staring at him up closed.

Celsius: "Good, you're awake. For the record, this is the second time you lost your consciousness. I can't believe you're still alive."

Nympha sneered at him.

Nympha: "And how many times did you faint?"

Celsius: "Tch! Drop it." He went to focus on Ray's present appearance. "Anyways…we almost never recognized you."

Ray: "Hey, this is still me."

Nympha: "Let me check something."

Nympha held Ray's hand. She felt a collision of energy surging inside Ray's body.

Nympha: "What do you feel?"

Ray: "I feel like my energy is growing."

Nympha: "The change of your appearance is the same from the prior incident that happened back in the Ghost Dessert of Sahara. Only…it's more developed. What can be the cause of it?"

Ray: "I…I'm not sure."

Celsius: "Maybe we'll about to find out as we go along the way."

Ray: "Haha…yes."

Celsius: "But man, your horns are fascinating!" He went on his way to touch one of Ray's horns. "It's dark and pointy."

Nympha also went to touch. She quite exerted some pressure.

Ray: "Ouch! You'll break it, sis!

Nympha: "Oops. Sorry."

Ray: "Okay, enough. Stop touching my horns." He rubbed them slowly. "Anyways, how did I come back? I'm supposed to be…"

Celsius: "…at the top of the freezing mountain. Enjoying a large scoop of ice block on your head. Oh don't be shy, I just finished the sentence for you." He ended with a sarcastic statement.

Nympha: "Ehem!…Ray…A Primordial Ram saved you."

Ray: "Primordial what?"

Celsius: "Not what. It's ram. Primordial Ram."

Nympha: "How come you got buried in the snow?"

Ray: "Well when I reach the summit and placed the two void gates in their expected location, the weather got harsh and I was caught up by a snowstorm."

Celsius: "So that's why you got frozen up."

Nympha: "Thought so."

Ray: "Well, I somehow lost it when a big pack of snow hit me. It's cold…but it's soft."

Nympha: "Sometimes, I can't follow your train of thought."

Ray just smiled.

Celsius: "Well Ray, have you had enough rest already?"

Ray: "Uh-huh."

Celsius: "Okay. This is the moment then."

Nympha: "What moment?"

Celsius: "For you guys to see how amazing my invention works."

He went to look for a clear spacious area.

Celsius: "Behold and start to be amazed." He put two void cubes on the ground and took a small controller device out of his storage crystal.

The device is square-shaped with a series of buttons.

Celsius: "Here we go." He pressed one of the buttons.

The void cubes broke and a purple mist came out.

Nympha: "We already saw that."

Celsius: "But not this." He pressed another button.

The purple mist became thick and transformed into a portal.

Ray: "So not only the void cubes can teleport us back to the main entrance but it can also function as a dimensional gate."

Celsius: "Uh-huh. Now you're thinking."

Nympha: "So that's why you call it void gate."

Ray: "I understand it now. I thought you just named your invention randomly."

Celsius: "You just don't know how to appreciate stuff." He rolled his eyes.

Ray: "My bad."

Celsius: "Let's just go."

"Go where?" Nympha and Ray asked in unison.

Celsius: "Inside, where else? We're going back to the entrance and prepare ourselves to catch the Inoki."

Both didn't argue anymore and pass thru the void gate.

Ray: "Phew! Thank goodness, we're save from vomiting."

Celsius: "I made some modification. I don't want to go through that again."

Nympha: "Now what?"

Celsius: "We need to prepare for the remaining time. We still have two days before the Full Moon. Oh since you're the one-in-charged, I will leave it to you."

Nympha: "Yes, yes. I know."

Ray: "It's getting dark soon guys, I'll go hunt some food."

Celsius: "Okay."

Nympha: "I'll go with him."

Celsius: "Nympha…before you go, I need to ask you something."

Nympha: "What is it?"

Celsius: "Did you successfully put the two void cubes in the Swampy Lands of Mocust?"

Nympha: "Ah…I---I did."

Celsius: "Okay."

================================================================

*Flashback*

Nympha quickly rushed her way to the Swampy Land of Mocust. With her swift feet, she was able to reach her destination.

Nympha: "Great, I can see it near."

Tall aged mangroves surround the area along with the mossy slimy wet swamps. Right before she stepped into the swamps, she smelled a terrible odor that almost made her stomach swirled. It smells like a dead habitant!

Nympha: "Ugh…" She covered her nose but the smell penetrated her nostrils. "What's this foul smell?…"

Nympha scanned her surroundings and at the very entrance she found a large dead willow tree. There's a huge hollow on its center.

Nympha: "I'll just leave it here." She tossed the two void cubes inside. "It's better to save Ray rather than entering this messy place."

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Ray: "Sis Nympha?"

Ray didn't receive any response.

Ray: "Hey sis…" He tapped on her shoulder.

Nympha: "Oh, what is it?"

Ray: "You seem preoccupied. Is there something wrong?"

Nympha got struck by Ray's statement. She's worried that she didn't succeed in her mission.

Nympha: *sigh* "I just---I just hope, I made the right choice."

Ray: "Right choice?"

Nympha: "It's---it's nothing…Nothing."

They started hunting for food.

Nympha: "Look, Ray. That's quite delicious." She pointed to a large golden brown habitant with a tree-looking horns. It's about six feet tall.

Ray: "What is that creature?"

Nympha: "It's an Elk. You need to be careful. Its horns glow and emit invisible gas that causes hallucination."

Ray: "I see that all creatures above the plains are unique but at the same time dangerous."

Nympha: "Correct. Okay enough of that, let's concentrate. Don't lose your sight of the creature."

Ray: "Okay? But we can always hunt for something else, though."

Nympha: "Elks are rare delicacies. We may never eat them in our lifetime. We need to give it our best shot. Besides I'm getting hungry."

Ray: "I got it. I'm up for the challenge."

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