It would not listen, it would not obey. Despite Alan’s best efforts to keep it restrained, to bend it to his will… It would refuse. Like it had a mind of its own.
“Hey… aren’t you making it a bit too big…?”
From the sides, Sabrina’s concerned voice could barely be heard, the torrent of mana that engulfed the warehouse drowned her voice in its furious roars… A chill so ancient and horrifying spread throughout the warehouse. It was not cold, it was something else, something much more profound.
“I am… trying…!”
Alan’s struggle could be visible, despite the blue light that had drowned the area, one could make out his vague silhouette kneeling towards the portal that had opened, obeying its will. Initially, Alan had wanted to make the portal as small as he could to prevent Lanekia’s atmosphere from entering Earth… but…
He failed, he realized this too late, and when he tried to close the portal and try again… He could not do it. The portal that was supposed to close only grew in size, it consumed his mana like an endless hole that could not be filled. His dragon heart, both excited and drained, did it’s best to provide that mana.
The portal to Lanekia, the home of the frost dragons, refused to be reduced to the small size Alan had originally planned for it. As if it was a sentient being, it thought of it to be a humiliation!
“Alan! The entire warehouse is freezing!”
‘Freezing? The entire place is already covered in ice!’
Alan could see that, and feel that the entire place was covered in thick sheets of ice, and pretty soon the entire building would be affected, it was a matter of seconds.
“Enter the damn portal, now!”
He urged, thinking that he could close this thing if he transported to the other side. One by one, the entire team entered the portal, bearing through the chill with their artifacts and heavy clothing.
Alan was the last one to enter, he forced himself through the portal as he heard a strange voice in his mind.
A voice that was kind, gentle. Like a mother, and it was beckoning him to come over… To come home.
He exited the portal, and fell on the solid, cold ground below. His hands touched the hard surface and Alan took a deep breath, his eyes were closed…and he relished in his actions. That single breath had filled him with so much…energy!
He took one more… The air was so pure, so clean, so refreshing. The air was filled with mana of a familiar kind, a cold mana that was ruthless to others, but to him? To a frost dragon? It was a gentle wind, a mother’s embrace.
The others, felt as if their lungs had been pierced by a bunch of small blades, each breath was laborious, each breath was torturous. But not to Alan, who finally opened his eyes, eager to see heaven itself,
He saw…well, not the pearly gates and a land made of clouds filled with trees and greenery. He instead saw a blue, hardened floor beneath him, flawless, like marble. It seemed to be a brick of gargantuan size.
To his side, Maxwell activated an artifact and Sabrina cast a spell, the combined effort made it so that the cohort could finally breathe well. Emma and Olivia heaved a sigh of relief. Kazikato, Alexander and Edward relaxed a bit. They weren’t really disturbed by the breathing experience, but even they knew it would be troublesome if left untouched.
As Alan continued to relish in the world, taking in deep breaths as if he was in a trance, the rest looked around, all they saw was a…void.
“… Holy shit.”
Maxwell cursed, he could not see anything in the sky, or around him, only the blue land beneath him.
“We are on… a bridge.”
Kazikato said, as he used his dragon eyes to pierce even further, but even his dragon eyes could not pierce much into this frozen world. Alexander, likely, was even worse off. The ‘spirit’ he had contracted was now present, resting on his shoulder. It appeared to be tense, and stared at the ground for a while before saying.
“… So this is what happened to you… Pathetic. The Frigid queen truly does take after her mother.”
Alexander spared him a weird glance, and urged him to explain something. He judged the wolf would be more help than the intoxicated Alan right now.
“What? We have successfully stepped foot on the home of not only a supreme being, but one of the major planets of house Shivalkulan, and also the home to every frost dragon that exists.”
Festul sighed and went back to sleep, or at least he pretended too. Alexander could see that he was wary, his hairs were on end, not due to the cold but because of something else.
‘… He’s wary, huh.’
He thought, before looking at Olivia to confirm whether she was ok. Sabrina, meanwhile, broke Alan out of his trance.
Emma, and the rest took in the sights with excited eyes, although they could not see anything like land or other landmarks in this void like area, they could see mana.
Mana so thick, so dense that it took a corporeal form and floated in the air, in the form of snowflakes. Perhaps floating was a wrong term…they were stuck in place. It was as if…
“The cold has stopped time itself…”
Olivia muttered, Festul awoke from ‘slumber’ and laughed out loud.
“Cold? This can be considered an oven. The frigid queen does know how to take care of her guests, at least.”
Everybody looked at Alexander with a strange gaze, He coughed and told Festul to calm down…and more importantly keep his mouth shut! Alan had woken up from his intoxicated state, although he still took in deep breaths with a smile on his face, he had regained clarity.
“Let’s go forward.”
He opened his inventory and took out the Arctic titan 5000, much due to Maxwell’s surprise and glee, who hurriedly got into the cockpit and ordered everyone to get inside. Alan jumped
on the roof of the vehicle.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
Alexander asked, everyone else had already retreated to the warm interior of the Arctic Titan.
“No… I wish to enjoy this for a bit.”
“Suit yourself.”
Alexander didn’t bother wasting time trying to convince Alan, he got inside and embraced the warmth present inside.
With a low roar, the Arctic Titan began to move, a gleeful laughter could also be heard from the driver’s compartment.