What Is Done

Chapter 38 - Empty-Handed

Wangji was probably correct about Firestarter, yet I still wanted to see the empty pedestal for myself. We traced the way Wangji had pointed. Our trekking had become much easier. Our bodies weren't freezing. Sellion explained that the heat spell would last until we stepped out of the extreme cold. Though, considering we spent two weeks in below freezing temperatures, we all still likely had hypothermia.

The snow building on our shoes wasn't an issue and we could speak without swallowing brisk hair that froze our lungs. Sellion used the same heat spell to unfreeze our food that had turned to blocks of ice. He would also go teleporting ahead of us to scout the wasteland in front of us. Essaerae and I were both very happy when he reported that Wangji had pointed us in the right direction and the cave was only a mile away.

We no longer cared about the shelter from the never-ending snow storms that flooded No Man's Land. I was one step closer to my goal with every step I took.

Eventually, we reached the icy cavern that Wangji had spoken of.

It had been like Wangji described. Icy and barren, devoid of anything just like the rest of No Man's Land. The cave itself was above ground and free-standing as if it were a carved out glacier. Someone could have easily done that if they wielded Firestarter. When I was small, my father had told me Firestarter could cut through anything, wood, metal and even the toughest of stones. Its blade burned with the hot fury of a thousand suns. 

Even with Sellion's heat spell, we were all glad to step inside the cave, taking a break from getting snow blown into our eyes.

Sellion kicked the snow that had gathered on one of his feet off, and his boot went flying. Essaerae and I had to keep ourselves from laughing. He wasn't wearing socks so his foot immediately turned red from the cold as he hobbled over to his footwear. We didn't say anything about it. He tucked the leg of his pants back into his shoe and continued ahead.

The cavern was long. It felt as if we were walking all the way through No Man's Land again. The whole two weeks until we met Wangji.

My eyes were focused on the icy walls of the cave. A part of me was expecting to see something staring back at us. It felt like we were being watched. I concentrated on the squishing of the snow under our boots. The snow in the cave was hard and undisturbed, as if no one had walked on it for a long time. I watched the walls as we walked. 

Then I saw it.

I tapped Essaerae on the shoulder and pointed to what my eyes were glued on. She shrieked upon seeing it. Sellion turned around at the sound of her panicking.

Sellion chastised us for suddenly stopping in our tracks, probably annoyed that he'd almost run into us. "What? What is it?" 

In the icy walls, I saw a man frozen in the ice.

The man was dressed in armor, holding a sword pointed at his feet as if he were a statue of a hero. Across the breastplate of his armor, there was an emblem none of us could recognize. His eyes were wide open but his pupils were small.

"Is he alive?" I asked. 

I was ready to jump behind Sellion if he moved even a fraction of an inch. Sellion only raised an eyebrow upon seeing him.

"I doubt it..." Sellion trailed off. "He doesn't look like he's from this era."

"You're right," Essaerae added. "So he's dead then?"

Sellion turned away. "If he's been frozen solid for more than five years, he probably froze to death in that ice." 

"Let us continue then. I simply was not expecting to see anyone else here," I said as I recovered from a near heart attack.