Coldsnap: Storm's Call

Chapter 41: A Fate Worse Than Death

We last read Chapter 40, in which The Ascendant barges in during the Battle of Skycrest and enacts his "final judgment" upon the entirety of the Storm Sect, forcing the rest of the Mage Aspects and their allies to flee their capital city, Skycrest, before The Ascendant completely destroys it and whisks its remains across the stars. Thankfully, all of them---as well as all of the major characters---manage to make it out okay, with Coldsnap even making a detour to save Typhoon and Galeforce, too. However, at the end of it all, Skycrest is ultimately obliterated by The Ascendant, with its floating islands being shattered beyond recognition, its remaining Storm Sect mages killed, and its portal thoroughly destroyed. This time, we witness the aftermath as the Mage Aspects celebrate their victory, and watch as Galeforce is subjected to his rather-embarrassing fate.....

***********************************************************************************************

-Firelands, Elemental Realms-

Once every last Mage Aspect and ally made it through the Skycrest portal, it shut down permanently for the final time; The Ascendant's destruction of the region meant that it would be useless for anyone to even try and visit, anyway.

Mages from all four factions wept happy tears and celebrated their victory with great relief, just happy that they were back together.....and happy that they had survived such a hectic battle. Some were openly embracing each other, others were checking their fellow Aspects for any wounds, and others were dancing and cheering.

However, there were also others who, though having survived the fight, were still left with lingering doubts towards The Ascendant's seemingly-rash behavior. Could there not have been a better way? To smite the Storm Sect mages but leave the capital still standing? Or perhaps to allow some of the Storm Sect mages to join the rest of the Mage Aspects; those who wished to defect from Galeforce and serve the Earth's well-being? At any rate, they brushed those thoughts aside for right now. They were lucky to have gotten out of that mess alive; thousands of other Storm Sect mages weren't nearly as fortunate.

Coldsnap, Typhoon, and Galeforce gently hovered to the ground on Coldsnap's ice dragon, with the heroine helping Typhoon and Galeforce off before briefly leaving them to their own devices.

First, she met up with her adoptive family and friends; she thought that they should be the first people to talk to since they weren't permanently anchored to the Realms. Sooner or later, the Primordial Juice would run out and they would be automatically transported back to Earth.

Coldsnap, Alexis, Mike, Rosie, Kat, Alexa, and Michael all engaged in a huge and firm group hug, not only glad that she had emerged the victor, but also elated that all of them were still standing.

"You know.....I'm starting to think this whole 'adopted sibling of a superhero' thing has its perks," Alexis said half-jokingly. "I wouldn't have wanted to work with anyone else."

"I have quite the young daughter, don't I?" Mike added, looking into Coldsnap's eyes. "You're certainly not just any average girl, I'll say that much....."

Coldsnap smiled. "Yeah, I kind of figured that. Had it figured out for a while now, actually."

"Of course. I couldn't be more proud of you."

Then, Rosie and Alexa---the logical and emotional duo---approached her.

"That was insane!" Alexa declared excitedly. "We should do something like that every year!"

Rosie rolled her eyes. "Once again, Alexa.....we almost died."

"But we didn't! Look on the bright side!"