Permafrost

51: Igloo

⭐️Chapter 51: Igloo

The Infernos stared at the scene in front of them. The whole kingdom was covered in snow, and a soft, slow, snowfall fell over the whole place. The dark clouds creating the snow were visible in the sky, and the only light that could really be seen were lamps of sorts, housing flames that would be extinguished in an instant if they weren't contained. The whole scene was absolutely beautiful, almost like a location from a fairy tale. In fact, everyone was so caught up in it, that Jack nearly forgot the main question they were supposed to ask Corrin about. He cleared his throat in an attempt to get the others to focus, the leaned in towards Corrin.

"So...why'd your dad send the Frost Army to our village?" he asked in a very accusing tone.

"It's...ugh, it's this prophecy this spirit made up or something," Corrin replied, making it clear he was annoyed at the topic.

Silvia had been almost caught in a trance from staring at the kingdom, but that word made her turn her head.

"Spirit?"

"Yeah, she's an ice spirit named Misty and the majority of this place worships her like a god or something. It's practically religion, and I find it icky. Just because she helped us win some wars doesn't mean-"

"What's the prophecy?" Ryn suddenly interrupted.

"She helped you win wars?" Silvia mumbled.

"What is she like?" Cosmo asked.

"Agh, too many questions at once! I'll answer the easy ones first. She's all about being royal and upper class. She's fancy, but she's also really cold and usually doesn't react over certain things. She helped us win wars by making these ice weapons called the "Nitro Weapons". They're capable of freezing almost anything solid if they come in physical contact with them, and they were how we won our wars with the Skylings. Not the Pyrolings though, they were immune to it," Corrin replied.

"Then why is Tempest in this kingdom?" Jack asked.

"How did y-oh right, you actually had to pass her to get here. She's here because a few Skylings decided to switch to our side last second in the war as they were losing. we decided to spare their lives in exchange for their services. Anywho, where was I-"

"Prophecy," Ryn reminded him.

"Ah yeah. Misty predicted that a creature of fire, presumably one from the Fire Kingdom, would come here and destroy us or something. Dad took it seriously and decided to kidnap everyone in towns with ties to the Fire Kingdom. Pretty stupid, right?" Corrin explained.

"That's exactly how you start another war," Fang grumbled.

Cosmo gasped lightly at that. Not what Fang had said, but what Corrin had said.

"Wait, but that means..."

"There are more people trapped than we thought...and I suppose we should free them too..." Silvia said worriedly.

"See, aren't we glad we went to my room instead of going straight to the cells? Now, let's get back inside before someone sees you all."

Corrin escorted the group back into his room and closed the doors. He then turned to face everyone.

"We need a change of plans now that you want to save more people than just your townsfolk," he stated.

"Well Kagayaku probably won't be able to transport all those people down to safety...we don't even know where they all live!" Silvia exclaimed.

"Maybe we can create some kind of path from the way we got in? The dungeon one, I mean," Jack suggested.

"But we're so high up! It's not like we could just build an ice slide down the mountain! Unless...maybe we could?" Cosmo said, very unsure of what was a good idea and what was not.

"Should we just flee out of the front gates to this place then, and use pieces of ice to sled down the mountain?" Fang asked.

"While I would say yes to that, the front of the castle and the entranceway here is heavily guarded. There would be no way my other friend could help," Corrin replied.

"How many friends do you have?" Jack asked.

"Zane, Jay, and Rehl. Rehl's a mimic ocsnowling and he got me past the guards once...but then I met you guys and you all kind of forced me to walk back up," Corrin explained.

"Hehe...sorry," Ryn said sheepishly.

"Maybe we can just...convince the king that this is stupid? Or we can fight that spirit, she sounds like bad news," Fang suggested.

"Nooooooo, we are NOT doing that!" Corrin exclaimed, eyes widening.

"And why not?"

"We're going for sneaky and sly here, not outright attack the big boss!"

"But what if it's our only choice?" Ryn asked worriedly.

Corrin put his hand to his forehead. This was harder than he'd initially thought. He needed more time to figure this out.

"You know what? You guys need rest. I'll figure out something and get you guys food, okay? Hide under my bed if someone comes in," he said.

"You sure about this?" Cosmo asked.

"Yeah, now get some rest. You can use my pillows and blankets, I don't mind."

Corrin headed over to the door as everyone began shuffling around. Fang didn't budge as the Infernos made themselves comfortable. Corrin sighed as he put his hand on the doorknob. Turning around, he took one last look at them before he left everybody alone in his room to sleep.

Hopefully they'd be okay while he was gone.

-----

Naturally Fang had used this chance to finally check out that weird door, since the Infernos had actually decided to sleep. Now that he had nobody with him, he could do what he liked as long as he was careful. He remembered the way back based on portraits on walls and statues and such. He found the hallway with ease, and nobody was around. He'd figured he could hide in one of these rooms if someone came by.

Turning his attention back the door that he was looking for, he put his ear up to it to see if the thing moving was still there. Sure enough, it was. Well, he had his brella if he needed to defend himself. He took in a deep breath, and then exhaled. Slowly, Fang reached out to the doorknob, and turned it clockwise.

He pulled open the door, trying to prepare himself to see something he most likely wouldn't be prepared to see.

He stared in shock at what he saw in front of him.