The Heroes of Aeseganora: Part 1 - The Oca-Tree

The Heart of the Aulorna

Peso had his eyes closed in preparation for the pain of hitting himself on the ground.

However, he didn't.

The falling sensation had whipped around him for a few seconds longer than it should have, and when it stopped, he landed on his feet, not his face, for a moment.

His feet slipped on the ground, and he opened his eyes just as he landed on his rear end. He used his flippers to help himself sit up, and he felt ice underneath them.

Ice.

Ice?

When he properly sat up, he realised that he had landed in the middle of a frozen lake - this was a lot more different than the wondrous Palace of Ocalihalla where he and the rest of the crew were approximately ten minutes ago.

"Flappity flippers!" He carefully scrambled to his feet, powered by his usual nervousness, afraid that the ice will crack underneath him and that he will fall into the freezing water.

His flipper reached out to pick up his Gate, which was lying behind him, before he got himself together and started walking on the ice. As he did so, he quietly observed his environment. Everything around him was really still. There wasn't a single breath of breeze, warm or cold, to be felt. It felt as if the air was frozen, although the moon was cold as it shone overhead.

He looked around, and he could see that the lake was in the middle of a snowy forest. Its snow-blanketed trees stood as tall and brave as a bunch of hungry and tired Emperor Penguin fathers protecting their eggs whilst waiting for the mothers of their unborn children to return home.

With each step Peso took, he slightly giggled as his feet practically turned white; not from the freezing cold, but from stepping into snowflakes, some of which slept upon the ice, whilst others playfully danced into the deep, dark depths of the trees.

However, the giggles soon turned into a gulp when he felt a small crack underneath him; the ice was beginning to melt.

He began to pick up speed as the crack slowly grew larger, and he knew that his earlier worry about falling into the water was about to become a reality.

Eventually, he reached the shore without falling into the lake, and he could see that the ice was breaking apart and melting into a liquid which looked absolutely freezing, so much so that it could freeze into ice again in the snap of one's fingers. He sighed in relief, and joined a trail of some of the other snowflakes on their journey deep into the forest.

The path of snowflakes gradually disappeared as he descended deeper into the woods, and fear churned in his stomach as he noticed the gnarled, twisted trees, their branches completely bare as an arctic gust of wind blew away the last traces of blankets of snow.

OK, this is the opposite of the gorgeous snowy forest I landed in, Peso thought to himself. Come on, Peso. It's nothing to be afraid of. We just need to find the treasures and get out of here.

Just as he took a deep breath to compose himself, a chorus of creatures awakened, chittering in the trees, rustling in the bracken, and he looked around as if inky black eyes were watching him.

But amongst all the other animal sounds, there was also the sound of a voice singing, seemingly calling out to him.

Peso looked around as if to follow where the voice was coming from, before he saw an orange and blue light appearing, which then disappeared as he stepped closer towards it.

"Huh?"

The light (which, of course, was a sunglow spectre) appeared again before a trail of lights appeared, which Peso followed, forcing his way through razor-sharp brambles, snagging on the vicious thorns (and injuring himself in the process), fighting his way towards the icy turquoise glimmers of...