We last read Chapter 10, where Keena and Coldsnap regrouped with Firebird following her harrowing encounter with Forgemaster Emberson. After realizing that Firebird had just dispatched the only person who knew a lot about the workshop, they decide to simply search around, eventually coming across a large portal terminal similar to those found in the Grand Terminus. As they search for a way to activate it and see where it leads to, the President of the United States and his advisors deal with the fallout of the Louvre Museum bombing back on Earth, and Commander Windsor Galeforce uses his right-hand woman, Typhoon, as an elegant illustration of his grand plan. This time, we meet back up with Keena, Coldsnap, and Firebird as they come across a crucial piece of information.....one that may enable them to make progress towards activating the mysterious sixth portal.....
***********************************************************************************************
-Emberson's Workshop, Firelands, Elemental Realms-
Keena, Coldsnap, and Firebird were still searching Emberson's archives for possible instructions on how to activate the sixth portal terminal, but Keena soon found herself unable to concentrate. She tried her best to focus on her task, thumbing through the off-white folders and scanning her eyes across their contents, but within seconds, she ended up flashing back to her trauma and suffering that she had endured at the hands of her own fellow Mage Aspects earlier, following the Grand Terminus flood.
Their damning words reverberated in her mind, with there being seemingly no end to their taunts and jeers.
How could you do this to us, Keena?!
You could never hope to lead us! You will never be as good as your mentor!
Murderer! Traitor! You're a disgrace to the Aspects!
For a few fleeting-but-impactful seconds, she even saw a vision of her murder victim, Hydraxus.
You soil my legacy with your little flood; pretty soon, your reputation will be nothing but mud!
"N.....no.....! NO! I didn't do it.....I didn't do it!" Keena suddenly wailed, dropping her file and sobbing. "Or.....did I? I don't even know anymore....."
She was so distraught that she had begun to question her own memory at this point; maybe she had accidentally done it and just didn't recall it. Maybe she was just in denial. Or maybe she should've just confessed instead of putting herself through all of this.
Coldsnap waved her hand up and down in front of Keena's face. "Hey.....are you okay?"
"I.....I can't do this right now. I need to take a break," she decided, leaving the cabinet and departing the workshop entirely, much to Coldsnap and Firebird's confusion.
Coldsnap immediately halted her own search to ensure that her girlfriend was all right. "I'm going to go talk to her," she told Firebird. "Mind continuing here?"
"Yeah. Go ahead."
"Thanks."
The icy heroine then also left the workshop, with Keena's health being the only thing on her mind at the moment.
***********************************************************************************************
Thankfully, Coldsnap soon discovered that Keena hadn't gone too far; she was still in the Firelands, sitting miserably on a blackened bench a few feet away from the workshop.
Tears constantly streamed Keena's face as her traumatic flashbacks continued.
The ice ship crash-landing with her and Coldsnap on it.....right when they were in the middle of their two-year anniversary celebration.
YOU ARE READING
Coldsnap: Storm's Call
Teen Fiction~PARAGON CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: PHASE 2, BOOK 5~ *This novel serves as the 5th novel of Phase 2 and a sequel to "Coldsnap: Harbinger of Ice" and "The Paragons".* "The Ascendant has abandoned us! Were we not good enough for him?! Is that it?! Must we no...
