Warmth ~<GreenWind>~

❄️{Three

Lloyd found himself racing down the halls, gathering people he saw and shouting out orders quickly.

This was all sort of happening. He had no time to think about it. He didn't mind the strange rush of control out of nowhere but it was definitely weird, it being there when he didn't even know he had it.

Soon the castle was empty and Lloyd had his team with him searching for a water source, having found the map he remembered about.

All he heard around him was panic. Everyone was frightened. He tried to lower his voice down a bit so he wasn't yelling like a maniac, making it worse.

"Um...Sir?" A lady stepped forward from a different direction.

"Mhm?" Lloyd looked at her.

"We found a well." She sounded like that was a bad thing.

"What's wrong?" Lloyd questioned. "That is a good thing, isn't it?"

"It is, but...We only found it because Dareth...He kind of...Fell in?" She rubbed the back of her neck and awkwardly smiled.

Lloyd sighed and facepalmed. "Is he out safe?"

"Yessir."

"Good. We should stop the fire immediately."

"Aye!" She then lead the group to the well, beckoning others they saw along the way. Buckets were passed around and filled and then passed back. Lloyd took charge to approach the strange fire and check the area to see if the culprits were still at large somewhere.

As the fire died down into smoke from being splashed upon with water, Lloyd noticed something peculiar.

He stepped a little closer and waved the smoke away, staring at the buildings in front of him. There, carved in the ice-made homes was a simple message- "You should have stopped while you were ahead". Lloyd squinted. What was that supposed to mean?

It then occurred to him that if that message was there, there might be more hidden somewhere on other damaged houses and buildings.

His thought wasn't wrong; on the very corner building there was indeed a message there- and a longer one at that, too- this one probably scared him the most.

"You sent out your strongest leader; but with no directions on where to go. You should have seen that his arrival will be his own demise".

Lloyd knew exactly who they were writing about.

Why?

Was there another enemy out there hiding, just waiting for the kingdom to fall vulnerable?

Dareth came pushing through the crowd, wrapped up in blankets. "Lloyd, hey Lloyd, you won't believe what happened! My trophies, they were stole-"

Lloyd looked over his shoulder, "We'll find them." He looked and sounded determined. It wasn't just trophies he needed to find.

"I'm holding a meeting in the evening. All are welcome but not required to attend. I have a lot of business to go over." Lloyd said, facing the crowd, pulling his jacket up higher confidently.