A Case of Catastrophes

X. Unveil a hidden city and wake the mountain

I woke up and didn't find Cypress in the tent, so I cleaned my self up and went outside.

My face was slapped by the strong and cold early morning mountain winds as soon as my head peeked out.

"Spark!!" Cypress called, pointing at the hearth surrounded by some rocks.

I pointed at it and shot some fire, lighting it up. I blew the smoke coming out of my finger and put my gun-hand back into my pocket-holster like I was some big shot cowboy.

"Thanks!!"

I sat on one of the seemingly undestructive boulders around the camp that was near the campfire. Cypress was poking a stick at the fire.

Torrent had decided that none of us would be the winner of the exam, which was absurd because without Cane, we wouldn't have found the box. But I didn't mind, since I thought of it as Torrent's way of keeping all of us from hating each other because of a stupid competition. I'd like to think of this so called "quest" were on as a journey to becoming better individuals rather than a competition.

Our camp was set up several meters up the base along a ridge of the so called "Mt. Dementia." Sounds ominous right?

"So where's everyone?" I asked Cypress, seeing no one around camp.

"Bay and Cove are probably still in their tents, the twins are out back, and Flow and her manager are scouting the mountain." She smiled at me and held out her hands towards to fire to warm herself.

Right, Flow... The bad-mouthed, spoiled and stubborn instructor for the Stone Course who barely does anything but slack around and is basically just being dragged around by her coy, little doll of a manager, Gema, telling her to do stuff. I almost forgot to tell you that she was a selfish rockstar who, I have to admit, has an awesome set of pipes.

I told Cypress that I was going to check on the twins and she nodded her head drowsily. Cypress, by the way is a heavy sleeper. Sometimes I even hear her speaking in her sleep. This girl must have some issues.

The twins were facing outward from the edge where the mountain sloped down. They looked like they were tinkering with something.

I tiptoed up toward them, hoping they wouldn't hear me. When I came close enough, I crouched down behind them. And just when I was about to pounce, "Hey Spark..." Ty caught me. "The wind bent around you so I knew you were there." He explained while he was intently folding a paper plane.

"What are you doing??" I asked them.

"Sending a package..." They both said, still not looking at me.

Cane was holding something box-like that was wrapped with different kinds of paper and tied with a string. Meanwhile, Ty was attaching several paper planes and birds to it.

"There. All done." Ty remarked.

At first, the paper planes and birds hung down the sides of the package. But with one swipe of his hand, Ty made them float upwards, like helium balloons. He gathered them closely to his face and breathily whispered, "Silverina Frost." The folded papers roared to action and flew away instantly as if following Ty's orders.

"Who's Silverina Frost?" I asked them.

Cane looked at me like I was crazy.

"Silvie, you dummy." He patted my head.

"Your family name is Frost??" I asked again with a goofy smile, thinking how cool it was.

"We abandoned that name years ago." Ty said with a grim tone.