Path of Dragons

Book 5: Chapter 41: Extermination

Book 5: Chapter 41: Extermination

“This place is amazing,” Elijah said, leaning close to inspect the wall. Like the rest of the fortress, it was made of mostly featureless stone. However, it had the distinction of being run through with geometric patterns of white ice. “These look like snowflakes, right?”

“They look cold is what they look,” Kurik growled, rubbing his own arms with a thick blanket thrown over his shoulders.

“It’s not that bad,” Elijah responded, looking from one member of his party to the next. Dat had a blanket over his shoulders as well, and Sadie had donned a heavy and hooded cloak, the edges as well as the inside of which was lined with thick, white fur. Still, he could see that her lips had turned slightly blue. The same could be said for the other two, though aside from Kurik, they’d borne their obvious discomfort silently. “How cold do you think it is here?”

“I went to Siberia in the middle of Winter once,” said Sadie. “I was volunteering to help the natives – called Nenets – with addiction issues. Alcohol wasn’t introduced into their culture until fairly recently, so the theory is that they don’t have the generational defenses built up to combat addiction. Couple that with their way of life – which was built around a nomadic existence herding reindeer – having been snatched away from them, and they had serious issues. My partner at the time was a sociologist, so...anyway, this is a lot colder.”

“That’s a long way of sayin’ the obvious. It’s cold. Don’t need no fancy story to know that much,” Kurik said. “You humans get so obsessed with numbers and such. Cold’s cold. Hot’s hot. Don’t need no arbitrary numbers to tell you that.”

“Kurik,” Elijah groaned.

“Bro.”

“What?” the dwarf demanded. “It’s too damn cold to lollygag ‘round here. We got Mr. Distracted Druid over there inspectin’ the wall art, little Miss Shining Knight talkin’ about reindeer herders, and...and meanwhile, I’m sittin’ here freezin’ my damn beard off. I got a right to be a little annoyed.”

Elijah was about to respond, but then he thought better of it. Often, he forgot that, because of the Cloak of the Iron Bear, he didn’t have to worry too much about extreme temperatures. Certainly, its Temperate effect likely had a limit, but he’d yet to find it. But if the buff he got from it was any indication, the temperature in the lower reaches of the Ice Fortress were predictably severe. If it wasn’t at least twenty or thirty degrees below zero, he would have been incredibly surprised. The only reason the others hadn’t already succumbed to frost bite was because of a combination of three factors. First, even the least enduring among them – Dat – had the benefit of a superhuman Constitution, so they were all shielded, at least somewhat, from the biting cold. Second, there was Ward of the Seasons, which normally wouldn’t do much to protect someone from environmental factors.

Ward of the Seasons

Harness the power of the seasons, increasing resistance to elemental damage.

It was clearly intended to shield someone from hostile spells, and the fact that it helped against the biting cold within the Ice Fortress suggested that was what they were dealing with. It was an artificial environment, and as such, Ward of the Seasons helped quite a bit. Without it, things would have been much more difficult.

The final reason no one had frozen to death was Elijah’s efforts healing them. Throughout their time in the Ice Fortress, he’d cycled Soothe on them, one after another. When one cast of the spell ran its course, he’d use it on the next person in line, returning them to perfect condition. However, the fact that their bodies degraded at all under the effect of the cold told him that it was much more serious than even they knew.

Thankfully, using Soothe was not very ethera-intensive, and he was able to keep the cycle going indefinitely. Largely, that was due to his Quartz Mind, which allowed him to refill his core at an alarmingly fast pace – at least compared to the rate at which he spent it. Would that change as he evolved his spells into more powerful versions? That was what had happened when Touch of Nature had become Nature’s Bloom. That spell was now much more potent than its predecessor, but at a far higher cost.

Regardless, Elijah’s spells were thankfully quite efficient – at least at the moment. Hopefully, that would continue to be the case.

“He’s right. Sorry,” he said, glancing from one companion to the next. “I’ll try not to get distracted.”

“And I will refrain from telling superfluous stories,” Sadie added, her voice flat and emotionless.

“Ah, don’t be like that. I’m just ornery ‘cause of the cold. It ain’t natural.”

“It’s fine,” she responded.

At least Kurik had the grace to look a bit embarrassed for making her feel bad after she’d opened up a little. Sadie wasn’t precisely closed-off, but she also didn’t go out of her way to share stories from her old life. So, being berated after doing just that probably meant that, at least in terms of their relationship as a team, they’d taken a bit of a step backwards.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Does that mean they’re people?” asked Dat.

“I think so,” she answered.

Dat’s shoulders sagged. “I don’t like killing people, bro. Monsters are fine. Same with undead. But people...that’s not cool.”

“I know, Dat. But we don’t have a choice,” Sadie said. “These creatures, they’re clouded in sin like no one I have ever seen. I could smell it before I even saw them. They’re not just murderers. They have committed atrocities the likes of which none of us have seen.”

“I’ve seen some pretty bad things,” Elijah said, remembering the dungeons below Easton.

“I...I’m sure you have,” Sadie responded. “These creatures are evil.”

“Like I’m evil?” he asked softly.

“That’s different.”

“Is it?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she turned her attention to the fallen group of serpentine people. Kneeling beside them, she rifled through their clothing, clearly looking for anything of worth. They had no valuables, though. No weapons. Just the clothes on their backs.

Elijah searched one as well, and though he found the act of looting corpses detestable, and for a variety of reasons, he refused to shy away from it. He discovered nothing of note, aside from a more thorough examination of the creatures’ bodies. They were androgynous, and though they had similar features, they were as distinct from one another as human beings were from each other. In addition, despite their serpentine appearance, they lacked scales. Instead, their skin was pliable and rubbery, not unlike what one would expect from an amphibian.

“That’s gross, bro,” Dat said as Elijah opened one of the creatures’ mouths to inspect its teeth. They were sharp, but there were no discernible fangs.

“We need to know what we’re dealing with,” Elijah responded without looking up.

“What have you found?” asked Sadie.

“They’re warm-blooded. Not venomous. They’re unlike anything I’ve seen,” Elijah said. “I’d have to cut them open to find out more.”

“Please don’t,” Dat pleaded.

“I don’t intend to, but I think these might be the natives of this world,” he explained. “At least one group. Just after arriving in the Trial, we encountered some others with similar characteristics, though they had legs. I don’t know what that means just yet, but my working theory is divergent evolutionary paths. That’s just a guess, though. I’d need a lot more information before I could turn it into a proper theory.”

“Interesting,” Sadie said.

“Yeah. Really interesting,” Dat agreed.

Kurik rolled his eyes and blurted, “Don’t matter what they are or where they came from, does it? We still gotta kill ‘em. So, can we move on from this little science experiment and get to the real job at hand. There’s stairs up ahead, and I think that’s the obvious way we’re s’posed to go.”

The others agreed, and soon enough, they mounted the stairs leading them to the next level.