Destiny (Volume I: Shur'tugalar)

Chapter Seven Part LXIV (ED)

"The Dragon Sisters" banner featuring Saphira and Luminous above.

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"But I can't feel her," Nia persisted, her brow furrowed. "Her body is still giving off an energy signature that we can detect, so she's alive, but Ren's essence - her mind - is...missing."

"How is that possible?" Rose managed to choke out from where she kept her face pressed into her beau's shoulder.

"It could be this 'ice'..." Nicholas hypothesized, frowning thoughtfully. "Nia, try to manipulate it."

"Alright." The girl scooted forwards to press her left palm on the ground over Renata. The moonstone on her charm bracelet flared briefly as steam rose from the floor. She stopped suddenly, raising her violet eyes to gaze into green ones intensely. "This is a lot harder to melt than normal ice; I think magic is infused within it."

"But you can still melt it, right?" Nathan asked, clutching the blonde in his arms tighter as she shuddered violently.

"I can, but the rate would be too slow. My power would burn out before I'd even melted an inch around her entire body."

"How about using another element?" Nick suggested.

His sister rejected that idea as well. "I don't think combining elements would work very well, and I have a bad feeling that tampering too heavily with the magic would cause more harm than good."

"So don't use another elemental power - just use your own."

She was shaking her head before he had finished speaking. "Again, we'd run into the problem of burning out - except it would be me instead of an element."

"All of us together?" Rosaminda chimed in.

"Still not enough," Nicholas groaned, bending lower so that his forehead touched the floor. He stared through the enchanted ice, torment clear in his shadowed eyes. "I can't - I don't know what to do. Oh my gods, I don't know what to do. What if she's like this forever? What if she doesn't wake up?"

"Nicholas!" Niaomi said sharply, slapping his hands down as he began to wrench his curly hair. "Why are you doubting yourself now, when Ren needs you most?"

"Because she isn't here!" he yelled, his voice amplified by the small antechamber. "She's not here for me to bounce ideas off of, or to tell me what I'm doing wrong, or to help me figure out the solution. She's. Not. Here."

"But you are!" the girl argued fiercely, silver flecks flashing. "You're smart enough to figure out the solution. It doesn't matter that Ren's not here..." her voice grew gentler as she took her brother's hand in hers and whispered, "because you are here."

His breathing grew steadier, and the green gaze lost its tormented gleam. "You - you're right. I am here. And I can do something."

Nick closed his eyes in concentration as he rose to his feet to carefully pace back and forth along the slippery ground. "Okay, so we can't use our own powers or any of the elements except ice. That means we need to find an alternate source of energy to either power Nia or melt the ice itself. Do any of you have spare energy resources to tap into?"

Nate shook his head. "I've got nothing."

"Me neither," Rose said in a broken whisper, wiping away a tear.

"And I don't - " Nia paused, her jaw dropping slightly. "Mnemosyne take me, how could I not have remembered? The magma, I still have the energy from draining its heat!"

"That should work, as long as you ration it correctly," Nicholas excitedly informed her. "After all, we only got one shot at this. It's probably best if you disperse the heat around Ren, slowly manipulating it to melt the ice while simultaneously using your elemental power to help speed along the process."

"Perfect," his sister said with a grin before her face fell. "Except for one problem: I can't control heat and ice at the same time. It's too distracting, especially since they're opposing elements."

His frown returned for a brief moment before his fingers snapped. "I've got it! Nate, Rose, and I can control the magma's thermal energy while you handle the icy business."

Snorting, Nathan interjected, "'Icy business'?"

"Oh, just shut up and get over here," Nick shot back. "It's not as if we've got all day."

Wiping her eyes, Rosaminda gave a weak smile and said, "Actually, we probably do, seeing how my sister is frozen and all."

Throwing his hands up in surrender, he complained, "Will you all stop criticizing my word choice and just do as I say?"

"Bossy," Niaomi teased lightly as the other two slid onto the floor. Once they'd fallen into position, she positioned their hands around Ren before gesturing for Nicholas to begin drawing the magma's power. A red stream of energy flowed into his palms from her bracelet, which he directed towards their brother and godsister so that three could begin spreading it over the ice in a circle.

The stark aqua shade took on a reddened hue above the entrapped blonde as steam began to rise once again. With a flare from her charm, Nia added her power to the mix, and water began to pool as all four melted the ice. The layer above the girl thinned, and the tip of her nose began to emerge.

"Slow but steady," Nick encouraged as the ice melted further, freeing her face and hands. Her chest followed, then her legs, and finally they were done.

Ending the spell, the boy moved to hug his beau to his chest tightly. Beside him, his sister winced as the moonstone flared before turning black. Rose scurried forward to touch her twin's hair, her eyes pooling with tears. Pulling back, Nicholas to softly stroke a cheek and gently called, "Ren? Ren, wake up. You're free now."

She did not respond, eyes still closed and arms limply hanging at her side. Noticing the distortion of her left limb, he gently cradled the broken arm in his hand and said, "Waíse heill."

As the bone straightened, Renata gasped before blinking rapidly, her gray irises startled. They focused on her beau's weeping green ones, tracing over his face before she weakly lifted a hand to do the same and asked hoarsely, "Nick?"

Sobbing, he grabbed her hand and pressed it against his cheek, kissing the palm. She merely smiled in reply and said drowsily, "All this cold is making me tired, so I think I'm gonna go back to sleep now..."

"No!" Frantic, Nick shook her until her drooping eyelids rose once more. "You can't sleep here!"

Pouting, Ren whined, "But I'm tired."

"It's trying to reclaim her," Nate said with dawning horror as the water rippled, tendrils beginning to wrap themselves around the yawning blonde. "We have to get out of here!"

His brother yanking his beau to her feet as they all began to try and make their way towards the exit. But with each step they took, the slippery floor made it a struggle to maintain their balance. And the water was still surging towards Renata, tearing her from Nicholas's grasp back onto the floor.

"Ouch!" The fall caused the girl to wake up further, and she frowned and batted the tendrils away. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Ren!" her twin cried as the floor trembled, the melted puddle growing as the floor sank lower. Looking up, Ren gasped at the massive wave rising overhead. "Ren!"

As it began to fall, Rosaminda shoved her sister out of the way and screamed as the water washed over her, tugging her downwards. Nathan surged forward to grab her flailing hand, wrenching his beau free from the icy depths and pulling her to the exit. His brother dragged Renata along in the same manner as Niaomi turned around to raise her hand and shout, "Brakka du adurnas sharjalví!"

The translation - "Reduce the water's movement!" - appeared at the bottom of the mirror while as the water slowed in the reminiscence, giving them all time to reach the other side and make it through the exit, the antechamber sealed itself shut behind them.