Coldsnap: Harbinger of Ice

Chapter 44: Last-Minute Save

After what seemed like forever, the noise of collapsing debris finally came to an end, and the smoke clouds dissipated. The Inferno Fortress was now nothing more than a pile of ruins on the ground at the highest point in the Firelands, its once ornate and highly-decorated halls now reduced to splinters.

Firebird, Keena, Geode, Sledge, and the rest of the Fire Sect mages kept their heads down for several seconds, their eyes shut tight as they waited to be inevitably crushed to death.

But to their surprise, everyone was still alive.

Keena was the first to become suspicious of the supposedly-delayed impact, and cautiously perked her head up to look around. What she saw utterly amazed her, and she tapped Firebird on her shoulder to notify her as well.

"You guys, look!" Firebird called to the rest of the party, who slowly pulled themselves back up, too.

They were surrounded by a massive dome-shaped shield made of ice, which had protected all of them from the fortress's collapse.

Keena gasped. "....Wait....that means...."

She turned to her right, and lo and behold, bore witness to Coldsnap---now fully recovered---using her magic to keep the barrier up without even breaking a sweat.

The icy heroine turned her head around to face her companions. "Everyone okay?" she asked.

Keena wasted no time, immediately rushing over to her partner and embracing her tightly, a gesture that Coldsnap was quick to return.

"I thought we were done for....." the water mage said, her voice still shaking somewhat.

"I'll say."

Coldsnap looked around the area for a few moments, surveying the damage.

"All that action, and you didn't involve me in it?" she snarked jokingly. "How dare you!"

Keena chuckled. "Yeah, you missed quite a bit.....but it's okay! I'm sure you did something else amazing in the meantime."

The heroine grinned. "You bet I did. I went toe-to-toe with the Ascendant himself."

Everyone stared at her with a shocked expression.

"Yeah, you heard me. Didn't stutter."

"Coldsnap take on Aspects' creator?" Sledge inquired. "How you survive?"

"And isn't the Ascendant good? Why would he attack you?" Firebird added.

Coldsnap took a deep breath. "Everyone gather around," she ordered. "It's going to be a long story."

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Once she had finished telling everyone about her experience in the Ascendant's realm, the Fire Sect mages were immensely impressed, giving her a round of applause and cheers.

"I knew you'd come out on top," Keena remarked proudly. "Now you know exactly what happened to me earlier! .....Kind of!"

"Did you actually see visions of us while you were in there?" Firebird asked curiously, to which her friend nodded. "Whoa.....sounds like quite the.....'out-of-body' experience."

The entire party groaned collectively.

Coldsnap chuckled. "Yeah! I saw you, Keena, my friends and family from Earth.....they motivated me when I was on the verge of giving up! That was when I knew I made a mistake. So I went and made him give it back to me."