Coldsnap: Harbinger of Ice

Chapter 38: Ignicion's Incursion

Soon, Coldsnap and Firebird had arrived at the Firelands and quickly rushed to Keena's aid. As Firebird tried to calm down the agitated crowd, Coldsnap ran up to her partner and made sure she was okay.

"You good? You look a bit exhausted," she snarked.

"Thanks for noticing," Keena replied. "These guys are insatiable! They've been hurling insults and threats at me for the past hour! Are we even going to get them to join our side? They seem like nothing but a bunch of loose cannons to me."

"Shhhh! Don't let them hear you say that; you'll just trigger them even more. Just stay beside me; I'll take it from here," Coldsnap assured.

She looked over at Firebird, who gave an understanding nod before making her way over to the stage as well, pushing her way through the chaotic assembly.

"Okay, okay, okay! Everybody SHUT UP!" Coldsnap roared, causing the fire mages to fall silent instantly. "....Thank you. Now.....it's been a while since I've been here.....does anyone remember who I am, by chance?"

One of the other Fire Sect mages raised his hand. "You're Coldsnap. Frost King Alpin's brightest pupil and the most powerful Mage Aspect to ever be conceived by the Ascendant."

"Exactly," the heroine replied.

"Do you want to explain what all of this is?!" he continued. "We've already got enough on our plate as is.....our leader turned traitor.....one of our own, Leo, has perished after losing his way.....Alpin has unexpectedly moved into the Inferno Fortress and is taking up two whole bedrooms for himself.....this had better be good....."

Coldsnap did a double take. "Right, that's why we.....wait, what?! How do all of you already know about all of this?!"

"Over the past few days, we've noticed that Flamestar and Ignicion have made themselves very scarce," the spokesman explained. "They hardly train with us anymore.....much less talk to us. At first, we didn't really think anything of it; perhaps Flamestar was just going through a rough time. And then we received word that Aurora Keep had been destroyed, Alpin was moving in to the Inferno Fortress, and that Flamestar had even made an attempt on Coldsnap's life."

"You didn't answer my question," the icy heroine pointed out. "How do you know that all of that happened? Who informed you of those events?"

As if on cue, Firebird cleared her throat.

"......You told them already?!" Coldsnap exclaimed in disbelief. "No way! How?"

Her friend smiled. "After we rescued Geode from Aurora Keep and took the following night to rest, I spent part of the evening writing a letter to the Firelands that explained everything to the other mages. I snuck out of the Grand Terminus inn and headed over to the post office, giving special instructions that the message be delivered to anyone but Flamestar or Ignicion, and, judging by the audiences' anger, it would seem like it went through perfectly. When I came back, though, that's when I discovered that Leo was on his way back to our room from failing to assassinate you."

The heroine stared at her companion with wide eyes. ".....And how come I never knew about this?"

"Because you were on your little date with Keena at the Lantern Festival," Firebird finished.

"Enough about that," said the fire mage who spoke for the audience. "It matters not how we know. What matters is what we are going to do about it. We're already aware of Flamestar, Ignicion, and Alpin's treachery. The question is......how come you haven't done anything about it? You spent two years on Earth living life without a care while allowing their plans to proceed unhindered. And even with your return.....it's been several days, and all of them are still active. So....what gives? Aren't you supposed to be, like, the hero to end all heroes? Or are you secretly aligned with them? Before you left, you seemed to serve Alpin pretty fervently...."