Not a Hero

Part 4: The Snowy Mountains

Night fell, and the group once again slept on the dirt and grass. It didn’t bother them as much it should have, but anything else would have been favorable compared to the mud that stained their clothes. Once the fire died out, soft twilight reigned. It was during this time under the blue moonlight that Oliver could dream again.
He was back at the city of Asbaratus, standing on top of the wall to the Grey District. On the prisoner’s side, resided the essence of suffering, a dark amorphous mass of frustration, pain, and fear that filled the prison district like a sea of unwanted feelings. On the other side was the scapegrace, black book in hand, staring at the wall for fear of his life being taken from him. A flame lit in the hand of the scapegrace. A fearful fire that grew and continued to grow until it was lobbed at the wall that Oliver stood on. The wall crumbled under Oliver’s feet, and he fell into the sea of negativity that flooded into the city, washing over him entirely. Beneath the black depths, he saw no sky. After all the negativity washed away, Oliver found himself standing inside Prisime’s throne room. In front of him, he saw himself and his friends. The four of them were frozen in place, with their hands in the center. The moment they committed to their quest was saved like a picture so Oliver would see it again. Feeling a presence come up behind him, he turned around and saw the scapegrace painted black from the sea of unwanted feelings. The scapegrace merely stared at him like he was the wall, smiled a wicked smile, and wagged his finger at Oliver. Suddenly, Oliver was outside the front gate of the castle, looking down the stairs at the city, submerged in unwanted chaos. With one push, the scapegrace knocked Oliver down the stairs to the castle, and he began to tumble down to the city of his creation. Oliver’s eyes opened, and the city was gone, replaced by reality and a blue morning sky. While his life was important to him, this dream frightened him. He didn’t want to transform into the scapegrace, and vowed to protect his mind from hatred, from an evil Oliver.
He heard Casey’s voice say, “Come on, sleepyhead. We can’t save the world in our sleep so get up already.”
Oliver did his best in his groggy state and stood up without a fuss. Then, the group continued their journey to the mountains where they could hopefully find Pristime, and stop his evil plan to invade Earth.
Over time, the terrain became steeper and the temperature fell. Eventually, snow became part of the scenery, but that meant that our heroes were now in need of heat and warmth. To combat this overlooked requirement, Oliver cast another fireball spell and kept it in his hand to warm himself and his three companions that proceeded to huddle around him.
Eventually, the party came upon a village of red houses and dwarves wearing thick coats to ward the cold. At first sight of the newcomers to their village, one dwarf dropped a pile of sticks he was carrying and ran at them with open arms. He caught Casey by the waist and gave him a warm hug.
“I think he likes you.” said Drodin.
Then, more dwarves from the village joined in and surrounded the group, giving them all hugs, even the reluctant princess. At some point, the group was stuck in the middle of the crowd of dwarf villagers who hugged them and each other.
“Okay, I think that’s enough.” said Casey trying to get back on track.
Oliver liked the situation. It had been a while since he’d met such friendly people and said, “I don’t know…. I think this is nice. I kind of want to just stay here like this.”
At last, after two minutes of hugging, Aster got some relief when the dwarves finally let go of them.
“Welcome to Dedradoron.” said one of the dwarves.
“We hope you like your time here.” said another.
“Is there anything we can do for you?” asked yet another.
“Yes, there is.” said Drodin. “We’re actually looking for somebody.”
The dwarves nodded to show they understood, and one said to the humans, “Then you will want to meet with the Oracle.”
“Who’s this Oracle?” asked Aster. “Are they your leader?”
“No! They live at top of mountain!” said one dwarf.
“They very wise!”
“Yes! And very nice!”
“Dwarves give Oracle food, and Oracle warn dwarves of danger so we can hide.”
“They love to help find people too!”
Casey was satisfied, “That sounds good. We’ll go see the Oracle now. Thank you.”
“Wait!” cried one dwarf carrying a stack of thick and heavy coats. “Before you go, take these. They keep you warm.”
The humans each took a coat from the dwarf and put them on so Oliver didn’t have to hold a flaming ball of destruction anymore.
Then, a small hand tugged on Aster’s dress. Aster turned around, and a dwarf woman was standing in the crowd with an even smaller dwarf next to her holding a patchwork doll made of rags and hair. “Ma’am, this for you.” The dwarf woman held up a beaded necklace with a blushing pink gem. “Me and my daughter made that together. We want you to have it.”
“Why me?” asked Aster.
“Hmm…. We don’t know why. We just think there’s something special about you.”
Aster didn’t know what to do. She’d never been offered a gift before by anyone, even Orkus. The princess let her hand out, and the dwarf woman put the necklace in it. Aster didn’t really know how to show gratitude other than to say thank you, but something in her didn’t want her to do that. Instead, the princess knelt down and looked at the little dwarf girl in the eyes. She expected some hidden motive to give her a reason to hate, but Aster saw nothing but soft innocence and eternal love in those eyes. Not knowing what to do with herself at all, she wrapped her arms around the child and gave her a warm hug. Oliver and Drodin could hardly believe it.
“One more thing!” one dwarf mentioned. “The way to the Oracle is dangerous. The ice, it can move and trap you. If you no careful, you could….” The dwarf stopped there, afraid of the next word to come.
“Thank you. We’ll be sure to be careful.” said Drodin being handed a hand-drawn map to the mountain
The group of humans walked past the dwarves of Dedradoron to the edge of the village. The dwarves waved goodbye to their new friends and they waved back before leaving to continue their journey and head up the mountain.
The map indicated three landmarks that they had to pass before they would see the Oracle’s hut. First was a waterfall named the Waterfall of Eternity. The group had to climb a ridge to find it, but the effort was well paid with the view of a cascade of water frozen in time. How it got there is anyone’s guess, but there was no denying it was breathtaking. The next landmark was the skeleton of an ancient dragon that perished long ago. After making their way up through a side path near the waterfall, they found themselves on top of it. At the top was a frozen lake, smooth and glaring. It was ten minutes of walking across the lake, and the skeleton was nowhere in sight. It was only until the group looked down, within the ice, did they find the long dead dragon resting with its bony wings stretched beneath the entire crystallized tarn. The final marker, an extended overpass made of ice, could easily be discovered at the far end of the lake hanging over a bottomless ravine.
“We should be careful here.  If the bridge breaks, we’ll all probably die.” said Casey looking over the edge of the gorge.
Oliver raised his hand and said, “I just want to say that I have a bad history with holes in the ground.”
“There’s no other way to get across. Not unless we go around, but that’ll take too long.” said Aster.
“Fine.” grunted Oliver.
The four of them walked onto the ice bridge and began to cross with Casey and Drodin in front and the anxious Oliver behind with Aster. The bridge was surprisingly sturdy and didn’t make walking hard. A third of the way across, everything seemed to go well. Then, the group heard something crack behind them.
“What was that?” Drodin asked.
They turned around, and the bridge was still solid.
“Nothing. Keep going.” said Aster.
Another louder cracking noise came from behind them. They turned around, and this time, they saw it happen. The ice from the lake was sliding closer in their direction, and the bridge was collapsing in the process!
“Run!” screamed Oliver.
The group raced to get to the other side, but the ice gained momentum as it was sliding towards them. Another problem arose when the group found it much harder to run than to walk across the ice. While walking across the ice bridge was easy, running felt like you would slip at every step. Oliver had the hardest time keeping up, and it wasn’t long before he tripped and fell. Aster immediately turned around to try to save her master and grabbed his arm before he plummeted. She was able to fling him back up past her but didn’t have enough time before the ice beneath her broke apart.
Oliver called out, “Aster!”, and instinctively leapt over the edge without a plan.
Casey and Drodin finally made it to the other side, but only then realized that they weren’t being followed, and that the top of the gorge closed shut.
Falling inside the chasm, Aster’s final thoughts were peaceful and kind to her. She kept her promise, and her master was safe. Even if she did consume her life to do so, she was content, so long as she knew Oliver was safe. Of course, all these thoughts instantly turned to frustration when she saw him falling with her.
At sight of him still in danger, Aster grasped the Hellion Blade and pierced the wall with it to stop her descent. She waited for him to fall into arm's reach, and grabbed him just as he came close to her.
There was no time to rest however, as the ice holding the sword started to crack from the weight of two people. Dread set upon the pair that feared for their lives. The ice broke, and the pair were dropped down, but miraculously survived thanks to the snow at the bottom of the canyon that had piled up over the years.
Scooping herself out of the snow, Aster furiously said, “What were you thinking!? Why would you come after me?”
Oliver did not know how to respond. He tried to save Aster, but wound up needing to be rescued himself. To him, it all happened so fast he didn’t have time to think.
Oliver wasn’t responding, so Aster pulled him up from the snow, shook him, and sternly asked, “What is wrong with you?”
This time, Oliver answered, “I’ve been asking myself for a long time.”
In her frustration, Aster took a deep breath and walked away without saying another word. They were alive, and Aster hoped that by walking along the frigid canyon, they could escape. Following that same logic in his own head, Oliver followed from behind but kept some distance between them. He wished that Aster could find a way out soon, and hopefully forgive him.