【Re:Freezing】 | Gray Fullbuster x OC

12. Three Ice Mages

Karissa was next to Gray and simply gazed up at the demon silently while she lied flat on the ground on her back. He sat on the edge of an inclining rock, hunched over with his elbows on his knees. She knew he was both sad and angry since she felt somewhat the same with the first being the stronger emotion within her.

Thankfully, Lucy, Natsu and Happy were asleep in the back. Just moments ago, the blonde wizard thought it would be wise to play some soothing music with the help of one of her celestial spirits named Lyra. A stupid idea honestly. Karissa wondered why she couldn't simply deal with her boredom by trying to sleep like Natsu. Time would pass much faster for her. Gray had put a stopped to it when his sniffle echoed throughout the cave, telling them that it would be best to keep quiet. It was a little after he said that when Lucy and Happy simply gave in to sleep, leaving the two ice mages on look out.

Karissa narrowed her eyes a little and she sat up.

Ouch.

Gray shifted his head a little to glance at her when he heard her sharp inhale behind her teeth. She had her elbow on her knee while her forehead was set firmly in the center of her palm, her face wincing a little. She let out a shuddering breath.

"What's the matter?" he asked softly to not wake the others.

"... Head hurts a little." She replied in the same tone, lightly shaking her head to try and feel better. The sharp pain was slowly fading, just not fast enough for her liking.

"Sleep it off." He suggested. "You can lay down and rest. I'll keep watching out for them."

She presses her lips together. Sleep. That sounded quite nice actually. She and Gray had been sitting in silence for what felt like an eternity. It also didn't help that there was no way of telling what time it was down below. Still, she didn't feel right about falling asleep right in front of Deliora. It only made sense for her to feel cautious in the presence of destruction incarnate.

For all she knew, that thing could break out of the ice and just stomp on her while she slept.

Karissa sighed and scratched her head. "No, I'll stay up." She peered up.

Gray observed her for a while in silence. If they were going to face some enemies the moment the moon came out, he didn't want her being at a disadvantage from some headache.

All of a sudden, there was some light rumble.

Gray looked around.

Karissa put a hand on the ground cautiously. The rumbling got a bit stronger.

The rumbling continued and then there was a loud sound of shifting rocks. Karissa's head shot up when she heard it coming from above. The ceiling above Deliora was creating a hole right above the monster, allowing purple light to shine down on the monster. The others had woken up and noticed the same thing and was baffled at the sight.

Gray clenched his fists and stood up. "We have to find where the light's coming from!" he said urgently.

The group followed Gray's lead up some stairs. As they passed the other floors on their way up, they found the floors in the same state as the ceiling underground. All the temple floors had the same circular hole. The purple light was coming from outside.

That was when Karissa remembered the time she was on the boat tied up with Gray. She had noticed light shinning at the top of the island. That must have been the reason why moonlight was shinning down on Deliora.

Once they arrived at the top, they found a group of people dressed in dark cloaks and masks, and they were chanting something in some ancient language that none of them knew.