The Place Before the Core (Reprise)

Chapter 11: The Icy Land of Kristmus

Slashara hauled her chest over to the area of the now nude jester. It was rather heavy and it rang with bells as it was moved. Surprisingly the chest was unlocked and very easy to open, as if the lid was made of paper. Yellow hue shined as I peered into the box. I reached in, seizing a couple of coins from the chest. I brought them up to my face and examined them. On the coins was an engraved profile picture of a maiden with her hair in a ponytail. The coin was meticulously made with every facial feature; I even saw some bruises and cuts done.

"Now that was your mother when she was here," Galactus said sneaking up from behind "But turn the coins over."

I did as I was instructed and the gold brightness vaporized and was replaced by a grey but almost black radiance. On this gloomy side was the face of mine, but one distinct difference. This one had a scar on her neck. It was the exact coin Mr. Self had in school. I returned the coins I picked up, expect for one. I flipped the extra coin, when it hit the ground the gloomy side faced up. I stared to no avail at the grounded coin as it stared right back up.

"Don't worry; it'll always land on the dark side. It is magically rigged that way. It used to be fully gold until Alys changed it. Just to remind us who's in charge." Galactus explained once again to a clueless blonde.

"How much do you think is in there?" Slashara asked eyeing the chest as the rest of us did.

"156,248£." I blabbed out unexpectedly getting odd looks from everyone, even the crowd who hadn't moved a muscle.

"That's an awfully specific guess." Cecil said poking at the jesters with her staff, making sure they weren't going to get up.

Galactus began to chant something, again. Soon the number 0 appeared over the chest and it began counting upward. As it got higher in the numbers, the change sped up, and soon it was going to fast to be read. Then the money floated out of the box and then the number counting stopped in less than a nanosecond. It showed 156,248£. Again I received the forever joyful curious and odd stare from others. As the money hovered over the chest, something white, clean, and new looking was lodged in the case. I reached under the floating currency and removed the thing. It was a note made with some type of paper that was soft as silk. I opened it and began to read.

'Hello, again. Congrats on your victory! And also for listening to me before! Recheck the carriage for a gift for your win and for trusting me when all was lost. I bid you farewell and the gift shall do you well on your next destination. Good luck once again! ~ The Giver'

"Again?" Jepidity questioned.

"Oh yeah. When I first landed here, in the desert the same person sent me a note. I put it in my..." I trailed off as I realized I didn't have my pouch. And my comb! But as soon as I thought of it something patted my side. I looked down and saw the pouch with the note and a comb and rubber bands lodged next to it. I pulled out my note and comb, handed the note to Jepidity, and began to comb out my messed up hair.

As I combed my hair out, Jepidity read the note, while Galactus and the rest handed out %50 of the coins to the people of this town. Their expressionless face had changed drastically, and a lot of them have a grand smile worn across their face.

"I didn't think you could do it but you did." A voice said from behind.

I laughed "Yeah I get that a lot, Gareth."

"I haven't seen most of them smile like this in a long time. And it's all because of you and your guild." Gareth said antsy.

I nodded as I began to walk to the carriage, which held up to twenty jesters. I strode in to find not another clue on how they all fit, but a long, rough fabricated long coat that contained a hood and the back of the robe ran down farther than the rest. It had a bluish color but mostly shown white, with a hawk emblem engraved on it. Around the waste was a strap that was able to hold up to three weapons or what not. The coat itself gave off a badass aura. I wanted to put it on so bad, but my eyes wandered onto another note. It was in a pocket along the side of the coat. I removed it and read:

'This is yours to keep. I think that you'll like it! It was worn by someone who was very special. It can morph into armor, a suit, a dress, and it has wings! It has a lot of unique feature; you just have to find them out. Now you must head over to Kristmus, right this second! Don the long coat on and leave immediately! ~ The Giver

P.S. Prepare for some magic!

As instructed, I removed my current armor and enrobed the well made fabric. As I finished putting it, I was lifted a couple inches of the ground. Then, around my chest flew sparks of blue, green, and red. All that circled my floating body and it picked up speed and soon I was emitting light from my body. My arms and legs went into a spread eagle position. Something metal shot out of my sleeves and attached to my legs. Then it unattached itself and flew back into my arms, making them recoil. I slowly lowered to the ground while the sparks finished their race but something abruptly flew into my chest. I fell to the ground, on my knees, in a new costume.

My arms were covered by an eloquent see-through silk, with the top of my arms covered in grey metal. My chest and partially my stomach were covered by metal corset, while my pants were also made of silk. My feet surprisingly were also covered by some flat sandals that had metal straps like flip flops that size of my thumbs put together. I stood up in the most comfortable clothing I have ever worn in my life, as people ran in the carriage.

"What's the matter, we just saw light from the carriage and heard metal hit something?" Galactus said frantically.

"Oh, just putting on a new outfit. We got to go, like, right now! Saddle up! Kristmus waits!" I said walking by the dumbfounded crowd.

After saying our goodbyes and getting Gareth to promise to help us anytime we needed, we rode off.

*

After an hour or so of riding, we came up to distinctive division of land. The part we were on was hot and musty, but just before us was a blizzard. None of the ice touched us yet it was blowing ferociously in front of us. I reached into area and my hand was pelted by some of the ice and snow. My costume immediately changed into the long coat and I wore boots now. The hood now went over my head and covered my face. Galactus created a cloud of fire for the rest of the guild and himself, as we strode into this icy abyss.

We seemed to have been walking for days, and then I saw off in the distance another wall that belongs to a kingdom. It hinted to be a shorter time to get over there. As we got the closer, the storm died down. The doors to this kingdom were also wide open, and beckoning for our arrival. Our horses, seemingly unaffected by the cold, strode nice and smoothly to the doors. When we reached the door, sirens blared in the kingdom. Inside the kingdom was a nice winter wonderland, with the snow not dropping to hard but it was cold and foggy.

As we walked further in the kingdom, the sirens rang louder and louder yet no one was seen. We looked around but nothing was insight. I was promptly shoved to the side by nothing. I turned around as a girl began to appear; she turned around and looked at us. Her hair was feathered and was the color of white. She was the color of the disaster outside. Her albino looks suited this area though, and I had a feeling it was the look of most of the residence here. Her feathered hair bounced as she inspected.

"You guys don't look like you're from here," she examined but then she saw light form from where she came running from "Follow me! Now! They'll arrest anyone who is out right now!"

She began running and we had no choice but to follow.