Frozen Tears

Chapter Three

Hayden and Yelia make it back with Maple Flower drinks. I turn to Hayden and Yelia, taking a deep breathe and getting ready to tell them the big news.

"I am going with Zyde on an adventure."
"What? But we just got together and you don't even know him!"
"Broski, you can't leave your fam ham."
"I'm going to finish what my father started. My father found something, something very secret, so secret that he got killed over it. You guys can come and you guys can stay but I am going and I promise that when I come back, I'll make it up to you guys and to my mother."

Silence begins to lurk in and after a few minutes, Yelia kisses me and tells me to go and that she will stay here to take care of my mother. Hayden tells that he is coming with me. Zyde looks at me and nods that it is okay for Hayden to come and we decide to enjoy the celebration.

"Cerux, Hayden, Yelia, we should leave tomorrow morning. It would be rude for me to ask to leave now during such a lovely celebration. Let's enjoy the night and worry about our new adventure tomorrow, so shall we enjoy tonight?"

We all nod and Hayden passes at the Maple Flower drinks. These drinks are only on this day and they are the sweetest elixir in the world. They taste like maple syrup and cinnamon mixed together with a sweet milky texture, similar to a description called ice cream. A lot of ancient foods and desserts only exist in the kingdoms, not the districts. Zyde tells us that he wants to take us out to a the fanciest restaurant in our district. I tell him that there is a restaurant called "The Big Flower" but it is only for wealthy people. He insists that we take him there so we walk there. What ends up happening is that Zyde got us in and treated us to meals that we never tasted before. He explains to us that he lives in one of the Kingdoms and that's why he can afford all this food. After dinner, me, Hayden, and Yelia head home. Before we leave, Zyde tells us to meet at the park at five in the morning so we can leave before sunrise. We all go home and start packing for the day ahead.

The next morning, I get up at four and get ready by four thirty. I grab my bag with food and head down stairs. To my surprise, my mom is waiting by the door.

"Um... Hi mom, what are you doing awake so early?"
"I would ask you the same but that random stranger you brought over explained everything to me so be safe."

My mom hugs me and gives me a kiss on the forehead. I make my way outside to see Hayden waiting on the street for me with his bag ready. Me and Hayden walk to the park, with the cold fog around, to find Zyde sitting on a bench with a sword next to him. He hands Hayden the sword and tells me that I have a greater weapon within myself. Zyde explains that we are leaving S101 before seven and we are making our way to where my dad died. We start walking north to head towards the exiting gate to enter the Southern Planes. The Southern Planes is miles of land between district and is quite dangerous. A lot of bandits who are thrown out of districts live in the Planes to rob and kill travelers for the materials. The mining area that my dad died in is next to N207 which is really close to a minor capital called Scap-Scorn, which is closer to S101 than it is to my birthplace. After a hour and a half, we finally make it outside S101. Zyde tells us that there is a cave 20 miles away from where we are and that's where we are camping for the night. We continue our way north, trying to avoid any cracks in the ground. The cracks in the ground are caused by earthquakes that happen on the Planes. The districts are built on a special type of ground that absorbs the shock from the earthquakes so it doesn't disturb the district. We continue for about five minutes until stopping between a few rocks. I sit down on one of the rocks, I open my bag and pull out a water.

"Zyde, why is it so hot?"
"Yeah Zyde, it is so crispy out on the grass yo, crispy like bacon strips."
"Well you see, unlike districts, Planes don't have invisible domes to maintain temperature control. On the outside, there is no domes so the atmosphere is real. You and Hayden are just not use to the atmosphere out here yet.