The RP

[Tetra]

Evie shivered again, slightly pushing her back into Ezra for warmth. It had been long travels and she just asked Charlotte if they could look for the missing knight. However, she either ignored her or couldn't hear her over the wind, as nothing was ever said. So she just continued on in the direction she was told, hoping he would appear. She looked back towards Ezra, making sure he was doing okay, taking the fact of fire being his favorite Element into consideration, and wondering if he was always warm, or if this was dreadful for him.

[Nobody]

Ezra looked down at the ruby laying against his mailed chest. It had been a gift from his mother, and a big part of his proficiency with fire magic. It stored solar power as heat energy, letting him use the gloves he wore as a focus without burning them out. Mages had told him it had to do with the purity, size, and cut of the gem, but his dad always told him it was proof that his mother loved him even if she couldn't be with them in person.

"Your mom is a fiery kind of woman," he'd said. "Only fits that you'd be such a natural born hothead."

Ezra flexed and a burst of warmth flowed from the ruby into the party's bodies, fighting the cold back for a moment.

"Charlotte, how much longer, do you think? I'm running low on juice, I can't keep us warm for a lot longer, and Evie was shaking pretty bad a minute ago."

[LuciasFalkner]

Adminius backed up a bit. "H-how do you know my...?"

The woman blinked and stood. "Wait, do you really not know who I am?" She pouted, that youth showing again. She looked up at the sky as if looking for an answer. "Besides you and your friends, who would, in their right mind, set foot in this frozen parad- wasteland." She gave a dorky smile and waited for Adminius to respond.

Adminius just stared at her in confusion. He felt rather stupid, like he should have recognized this woman, though he realized that woman wasn't exactly the right word, considering that she looked like she could be Aoife's little sister... In age. He thought through the hints that she'd given him and finally came to the realization, feeling even dumber than he initially had. "You're Shirahime," he delcared, coming to a knee and bowing, "Goddess of Winter, Ice and Snow."

Shirahime threw her arms up in excitement. "Bingo!" She moved the snow to adjust him so that he was standing. "None of that formality rubbish. Like my brother, I hate it." She motioned for Adminius to follow her. Without waiting for a response, she started to walk off into the darkness. Adminius, though confused, hurried to follow her.

She led him in the direction that he'd gone on his previous venture out, and as they walked, she began to address him.

"Do you know the story of what happened to this country?" She asked Adminius, casting a sideways glance at him.

He blinked, caught off guard by the question. He thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I'm afraid I can't say I do. Why?"

Shirahime looked forward once more and stayed silent for a moment. Her face showed that she seemed to be thinking about what to say. After a moment, she began to speak once more.

"Setsugen was a highly advanced country, using Magitechnology to power their daily lives. You see that even now in your modern day, though not nearly on the level of these people. It's likely beyond what modern-day countries could currently imagine." She shook her head. "But that's beside the point. These people began to experiment with things that they shouldn't have. They experimented with Caen."

Adminius blinked. "Caen...?"

Shirahime snickered. "Wow, Arviragus really doesn't have magic does it?" When she noticed Adminius feeling embarrassed, she wiped an eye and continued. "Caen is the Chaos rune, developed by Seth." She looked at Adminius and, sure enough, he was confused again. "Seth was once our brother. Or... Their brother. He found Chaos and made a rune to manipulate it as an object. Setsugen's people began to experiment with it. It began to affect not only them, but Seth. The Gods left it alone at first, but eventually, things fell apart. The corrupted peoples joined Seth and a war broke out. Of course, not everyone sided with Seth, but... That didn't save them. The war was devastating, and no one survived."

Adminius blinked. "Wait... You keep talking as if you aren't a God. Saying 'the Gods' and 'their brother'. Why...?"

Shirahime gave an awkward smile. "Well... No one but one little girl survived. The snow Goddess at the time, Aurora, found this dying girl and saved her by giving the girl her powers. I don't know why I'm talking like this still. It's obvious that I mean me..." Shirahime drifted off into thought, falling silent as she looked off to the side. Adminius waited in an awkward silence for the girl to continue. A minute passed without a word, and shirahime suddenly stopped, clearly too focused on her thoughts. Adminius just waited, not sure what was happening. A few minutes passed before Shirahime suddenly rebounded and began speaking again.

"Anyway!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms out and accidentally smacking Adminius in the chest, sending him falling backwards into the snow. She blinked and looked at him, giggling when she watched him struggling to get out of the snow drift. She helped him stand once more. "Sorry about that. But we're here anyway!" She took Caladbolg from him and waved it in front of the structures. Rhe plaque that Adminius had found with the name was lit up. She turned to Adminius and smiled.

"This was my home," she explained. "It was also where Aurora found me and saved me. This valley is very important to me. It was my home, and it was where Aurora died. This..." she handed Caladbolg back to Adminius and motioned to the valley. "Is my sacred ground. I put up this particular blizzard around this valley to protect it from archaeologists and travelers. They end up in the blizzard and end up somewhere else."

"So how did I manage to end up here?" Adminius asked, rubbing his chest.

Shirahime blushed. "Well... See... The thing is, when I was guiding your friends out of the blizzard, I didn't exactly realize that you'd gotten separated. It wasn't until the next day that Antevorta informed me of such, and I didn't even think to check here."

Adminius smiled awkwardly. Shirahime was quite the character.

She shook her head. "Well, I just wanted to tell you some of this, keep you informed. Now, I suppose I'd better get you back to your friends."

Adminius nodded. "Thank you, Shirahime. For... Informing me and in a way, saving my life. Even if you did indirectly endanger it."

Shirahime pouted. "Is that really how you show gratitude?!" Adminius burst out laughing, amused by how much like his group the Goddess was. If she weren't a Goddess, he wouldn't have minded having her join them, though he was sure that Charlotte would.

"Well," Shirahime relented, "it's time for you to go back. Tell your friends I said hi!"

Adminius smiled. "I will. Thank you again."

With an excited wave, Shirahime snapped her fingers, and Adminius disappeared in a flurry of snow.

[sunter]

Charlotte had been lost in thought ever since the crossed into the badlands. The word had felt more like a memory than reality. It barely even registered when Adminius had disappeared two days before. Which was approximately how long it had been since she slept last, if you can consider ten to fifteen minute naps sleep, which brought hem to the present. Ezra's voice pulled her from her trance, if only temporarily.
"We're here." She stopped in front of a stone staircase. "There's a temple here. It will allow us cover from the storm." Without another word, she hopped of her horse and led it up the stone steps, disappearing through a stone archway into the large building.
The walls were covered into carvings, worn pictures of past battles, civilizations fallen and destroyed, and a stone door at the far end of the room inscribed with the symbol she was seeking. Oddly enough, she completely ignored all of that in lieu of something far more mundane. She slumped down in front of a circle of stones on the ground, an obvious scorch mark left from a fire which he once been there.

[LuciasFalkner]

There was a flurry of snow over the scorch mark, completely covering it. It spun a couple of times and Adminius began to materialize within the snow. He finished, and his continuing scream finally began sounding sounding throughout the temple.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh........" He quieted down as he realized that he'd reached his destination.

[Nobody]

Ezra threw a hand up to vaporize what was doubtless some kind of ghost materializing from the snow. His glove sparked--and fizzled out. Then the snow cleared and it was only Adminius. Ezra immediately relaxed. "Oh, you're alive!" He embraced his friend.

[Tetra]

Evie was confused then elated as the knight appeared. "Oh my goodness! You're okay that's fantastic!!" She sang and hugged the boys.

[LuciasFalkner]

Adminius blinked and did his best to return the hug under the restraints that the two unintentionally put him under. "Yes... I am alive. Oh! And Shirahime says hi."

[Tetra]

Evie let go, smiling warmly. "Oh thats nice...did you have a fun journey?" She stood, going to her horse and grabbing out a bit of food. "Are you hungry?"

[sunter]

"You meet one God, you've met them all." Charlotte mumbled, still sitting in front of the empty pit. "Did she say anything else or was it idle chit chat?"

[LuciasFalkner]

"She said a lot, but with the way she rambled on and on in that giddy way of hers, it felt like idle chit chat." He rubbed his head.

[Tetra]

Evie waved the food around. "Aaaare yooou huuungry??"

[LuciasFalkner]

Adminius just looked at his stomach as it growled loud enough to reverberate through the temple. He'd been so focused on waiting for help that he forgot that food even existed. He ran over and took the food, munching on it as he went to find a nice corner to rest and warm up

[Tetra]

Evie giggled and pat his head as he took the food and ran. "I knew you'd be hungry. Anyone else hungry?" She pulled out a bit more.

[Nobody]

Ezra raised a hand. "I am starving, actually. What's there still to eat? I want to get full before all the spooky hocus pocus starts happening."