Black goop leaked from his cracked shell onto the broken skulls. He hopped across the platforms floating suspended in the void when a black shape darted into him, knocking him into mid air. What was making them? Vessels? Shades? Were they echoes of voices long forgotten? Or were they something else entirely? Memories he had rather disliked flooded back to his mind as if the door he had opened was a dam that released darkness upon him. Inside, quiet whispers that he could not identify came from the other side. I feel like I need to be perfect.” “That would explain a lot.” Lacewing replied. I just feel like I never want to make mistakes. “The thought that my failure might have ended up costing so many lives haunts me. Would all the pain and suffering have never happened?” Darner replied. I’ve wondered a lot about what would’ve become of the world had I succeeded. Couldn’t you have just come to terms with your losses.” “It’s because It was because of my failure that we ended up in this situation. “Y’know, I cant really seem to understand why you decided to come here seeking this person. They paused for a bit doing their own things before lacewing spoke. They’d just met and didn’t feel comfortable sharing. Lacewing was laying on one of the two beds in their room. He was sitting at the desk looking at the route they’d take. “So, I guess we’ll be changing up our route then.” Said darner. The two travellers retired to their rooms. The tavernkeep told them there was, and they agreed to stay there. At the end of the night they settled their tab and then asked if there was a room for them to stay the night in.
They told him about how to get there and what they should bring. They might know who the weapon was made for.” Darner questioned wether or not it would work, but it may have been his only lead. “You say that they had a serratun that was made with precision? There are lots of master weaponsmiths down by the molten rivers. He explained his reasons to have come there and his dreams he had had upon his arrival. They stayed and tried to eke out some information, while also trying to have as good a time as he could. The liquid was bitter and slid down his throat in a strange way. We might find some information inside” said lacewing, pulling him in through the door.ĭarner rarely ever had alcohol, only drinking at special occasions. They came to one that read “the frosty centipede tavern.” “This way. The signs hung out into the streets and boulevards. The streets were lined with flakes of crystallized water all piled up high. “Kindness? More like blatant stupidity” lacewing replied. “What are you annoyed about now? Me trying to be kind” Darner said. Lacewing walked up to him, sighing and facepalming. It took me hours to make that.” Said the grub. His joints felt stiff: “What would possess you to just smash another bugs ice cocoon like that. It immediately retaliated with a strange thread which sloppily wrapped around his body and covered him with a thin layer of frost. Darner charged up to one, shattering the ice around it. There stood a few grubs that were partially encased in ice.
They crossed the gates and looked around the town. A big stone sign that read “welcome to iceburrow” stood in front of it. The cold, icy walls of a city came into view. How could you not know that?” “There wasn’t snow back in hallownest” Darner retorted. “Where does all this ash come from? Did something die here?” “No” lacewing told him. They walked through the snow, darner tailing behind trying to waddle across the ice. “Not enough to walk on” he replied, although too muffled to make out. “Have you even seen ice?” Lacewing asked. He slid crown-first a short distance before becoming lodged in a snowbank. His feet slipped out from under him and flew up as his face collided with the frozen ground. He had thought the ground wouldn’t be slippery. It looked like massive crystals made up the landscape. The caverns grew colder and the ground was covered in snow and ice.
The light at the end of the tunnel lay straight ahead. There was a duplicate lever at the top of the shaft. In front of them laid a lever labeled “lift” was dimly illuminated by the light above it. Darner landed to fast and collided with the ground in a heap, whereas lacewing landed gracefully and gently. They both jumped down one after the other, fluttering their wings to slow their descents.