Into The Frozen Forest (Part 7)

Onyx of The House of Dragon walked behind his group patiently, as they covered a surprising amount of ground over the span of a single morning.

Summer was humming anxiously, as she walked closest to their leader.

Dragon would have said this made him angry, but he was no fool; however, the events that had played out last night were the most unexpected.

There was no possible way for a Frostfang assassin to even know about Task Force Unity's infiltration yet... Unless...

Dragon eyed both Summer and Talon, watching every one of their moves.

Surely it couldn't have been Summer, the two had practically been in love at one point, and nearly taken down Frostfang Academy together at one point in time.

Had it not been for their fallout in the most important match of their lives, they would have just as much praise as Chase and his company.

But that was just not the case, it never was.

Onyx then gazed at Talon.

It was no supposed to play out like this, and ended up being quite strange the next day.

Chase had not spoken a word yet everyone followed his every move, as if somehow his unstable mental state gave him even more authority.

Which Dragon had met very few people with that type of power over people.

One of them was the man they called the faceless, who had joined the Everfrost Knights as a way of redeeming his past actions, and other was Dorian of House Graves, who had become one of the newest Paladins after slaying three of them in the warmth their own homes.

Chase's eyes had lost their pride, as well as the unspoken energy that he carried with him, that innocence if you will.

And all of it was used up on the wrong first kill...

It was supposed to be Sazir on the night of a thousand sieges, and it was supposed to be legendary.

A fight that would be foretold for centuries, as well as the day that Chase would finally tap into his mother's lineage.

Or at least that is what Leander had prophesized, and Dragon desperately hated seers, but he couldn't deny their power in this world.

Even though both Seers and Healers were exceptionally rare, Onyx had spoken to several of each in the last several days.

He even knew that the Frostfang war would just be a stepping stone to a much larger scale war to come, thousands, if not millions would die in the coming years.

The continent of Vallmora would be consumed in rage and wrath, and there was only one man who could save the entirety of the world.

And that man was inevitably leading a group of students and outcasts into the first war of their lives.

Only he was no man either, he was a boy, a boy who had cheated death on several occasions...

He says that he is fifteen, but when Onyx looks into his eyes he only sees the maturity and wisdom of an ancient scholar.

He sees Blaze...

He lied about one thing, in fact two things.

Onyx had been the one tasked with stopping the Frostfang onslaught at Willowmere, but he had arrived far too late.

But not late enough to meet the once praised last heir of Phoenix, who had spoken some terrible truth to the matters of their future.

'Chase is no heir to my clan, as much as he carries my blood, his mothers will override it, and he will become far greater than any of the great clans... A god if you will...'

The word god rung through his ears with such power, that it could almost drive him crazy.

It was like speaking the name of the eternal gods, it could do so much damage to the human brain just by thinking their names.

So why did it already hurt so bad when he spoke Chase's name.

Dragon was supposed to carry the blood of the divine, yet he felt like an insect in the company of a child.

The four finally made it to the village, and found a small tavern where quite a worried Danny was waiting outside of the tavern doors.

His eyes were wide, as if he had seen a ghost.

Dragon felt a familiar terror run through his blood.

"Summer, go inside the tavern, and fast... You as well Chase."

"I don't take orders from you..."

Chase said blatantly, but Summer had already started speed walking toward the tavern door.

"You will if you care at all for your own life."

Chase turned toward the tavern, and followed Summer as well.

Onyx gazed into the eyes of Talon, the man who had been quite mysterious since the start of the journey.

"Tell your master that I do not play games..."

Talon shrugged.

"You can tell him yourself."

Onyx began to draw his blade on the suspected traitor, before he felt a cold chill run down his back.

"Sazir..."

"Onyx..."

The sick voice echoed from behind him, like metal scratching against a chalk board.

"You are mistaken to join this fool's quest..."

The Wendigo chuckled.

"Then what is stopping me from freeing your head from its shoulders and ending the quest here?"

Dragon said, slowly turning toward the general of Frostfang.

"Common sense? You would kill a leader of this wonderful nation in front of his own people?"

Dragon growled.

"Did that stop you from striking Blaze down in front of his own people? Sorry, forgot that he nearly ended your life, and if it weren't for your medaling queen you would be rotting in the depths of Tartarus..."

Sazir's permanent burn marks were fully visible underneath the bright clouds of Frostvale, and his eyes showed no signs of accepting the insult from Onyx.

"Perhaps you care for more burns from the sigil of the Phoenix before you finally decide to lie down and die."

Sazir turned away, and began stepping farther and farther away from Dragon.

"Watch your silly task force, as they are watching you much closer than I am..."

Dragon was clenching his fist so hard that blood began to soak the snow below him.

...

Once Onyx and the untrusted Talon walked into the room that the other members of the team rested in, he was greeted with several somber faces.

In the bed of the tavern room, rested a terrible looking Gabriel of House Envixity; however, he was not dead, in fact far from it.

Summer turned toward him.

"His inhuman energy capacity has kept him alive, although no human should be able to survive a blade of paralysis tearing through their chest, especially a boy as fragile as this one."

"Do not insult my men..."

Chase spoke, his eyes somehow darker than they were before he entered the tavern.

"Come with me Chase."

Onyx said, tugging on the center of his catalyst, where his true Lumen rested, awaiting the day that the Void Spear finally got to see the light of the waking world.

Chase slowly turned toward Onyx, his eyes resting on the center of his chest.

Lifting the blood soaked fur coat, a topaz dagger hung from a single strand of leather on his waist. 

"And take this outside...?"

Suddenly the tension in the room got to a breaking point, and both Equan and Michael stepped between the two.

Michael summoning a frozen scythe and pointing the blade at Chase's throat.

And Equan drawing a very familiar bow, with sparks flying off the single arrow nocked, and aimed directly at the throat of Dragon.

"How about you both discuss what this offers to our quest? Before you both go and kill each other..."

Michael's voice was stern, and quite demanding as was any child of the Everfrost clan...

"Fine..."

Chase let go of his fur coat, letting it fall over the dagger once more.

Onyx put his hands up in surrender, and gave a simple smile.

"That was not my intention, but there is something of the matter that I would like to discuss..."