RE:WRITE

56.0 Ignis_Chapter 10: Determination

I woke up in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was on the verge of rising over the horizon, and the sunlight began melting the upper layers of snow and frost that had accumulated over my blanket. Having found myself in strange places before, I wasn't surprised by what I was seeing. What did surprise me was something that I couldn't see.

Or more specifically, someone.

His side of the blanket was still warm so he hadn't been gone long. I decided to search for him but just as I prepared to blast off the mountain, I caught a delicious smell wafting through the air. I followed it, and found Kai sitting in a cave, tending to a fire with a pot over it.

"Good morning darling, I hope you'll forgive me for the Spartan breakfast I've prepared, but finding the others is our top priority for now," he said, stirring the pot with a large wooden spoon.

"No, not at all," I replied, sitting myself down on a rock beside the fire. "Any idea where they are, yet?"

"I'm afraid not. We'll just have to follow the ring for now," he said. "And here you go. Some hot soup to drive away the cold!" He poured some soup into a bowl and handed it to me.

Driving away the cold huh... I thought, staring into the bowl.

The soup was clear enough for me to stare back at myself. Kai ate his soup quickly, and I snuck a few glances at him as he guzzled it all down. Some of it dripped off his chin before splattering on the ground. He wiped his mouth and cleaned the pot, before turning to see me holding onto a cold bowl of soup.

I met his gaze, and held it for a while. A cold gust of wind blew out the fire, scattering its ashes and embers. He looked away first, resigned to the fact that he couldn't paint over last night with a smile and a bowl of soup.

"Fine, everything I said last night was true," he said. "I love you. Always have, always will. But we need to get a move on if we want to save the others."

Honest and straight to the point. Perfect.

I nodded, downed the soup and walked up to him. I stood close enough that his warm breath washed over my face. I handed him the bowl, turned and walked out of the cave. At the cave's mouth, I looked back and saw his surprised face.

"No time for mushy stuff," I said, smiling. "Let's go."

He blinked and caught up to me. We climbed down the mountain as fast as we could, not stopping for anything. We didn't kiss or hug along the way. In fact, it was almost like last night had never happened at all.

Almost. We still ended up holding hands, after all.

-

We raced along the winding mountain trails and dirt roads. The Earth Kingdom didn't have much in the way of infrastructure despite the plentiful slave labor they possessed. We passed scores of mines and factories full of slaves, but we couldn't stop to save them all. However, we did make sure to knock out as many of the owners and cut as many chains as we could.

By the time we reached the capital, Fugard, rumors of a strange wind that attacked mines and factories, had already begun spreading among the nobility. The National Guard had already been dispatched to guard the major mines, and we even ran into a few of them but brushed them aside easily.

It was nighttime when we jumped over the crumbling walls of Fugard and faded into the shadows of the commercial district. The shops were closed and boarded up; the entire city having gone to sleep due to the curfew imposed by the government. Not even slaves were allowed outside this late at night. Nevertheless, a few hunched shadows huddled together in the dark alleyways and secluded corners of the streets.