Frontiers Unexplored

3) Arctic Legend

A few hours had passed since the group first began to walk away from the tunnels where the fight against Raremon took place. Takuya's feet were starting to throb, and he was doing everything in his power to bite back a bitter complaint about how long it was taking them to arrive at their destination. They weren't even there yet, and he could tell that his patience was bound to run out soon.

Takuya was on the verge of finally snapping and saying something sarcastic about his aching muscles when Bokomon smiled and threw his hands up in the air. "Perfect! We've arrived!" he declared.

Takuya paused for a moment. He looked around, his gaze falling to the ground before them. While it was no longer made out of black metal, it was still little more than ashen concrete. He didn't see any traces of a village nearby. There was a chasm not far from where they stood, but what could survive down there?

"Look down," Bokomon replied, pointing down the cliff with one hand. "There's a village of Candlemon at the bottom."

Takuya looked at Bokomon for a moment, wondering if the small Digimon could possibly be serious, before straying closer to the edge. Sure enough, there was a staircase leading down to the bottom of the cliff. On the ground, a series of buildings could be seen, and a few flickers of flame were scattered around the area.

"Huh. What do you know?" Junpei muttered. "I guess that we should start walking... The sooner we get going, the sooner we'll be able to rest for the night."

Takuya nodded and started walking down. The staircase was on the narrow side, and there wasn't a guardrail to keep people from plummeting down the chasm. He stuck as close to the cliff's wall as possible, brushing his hand up against the dirt beside him. Tomoki trailed behind him, followed by Junpei, Neemon, Izumi, and finally Bokomon.

The trek down the chasm was mostly silent, and exhaustion was starting to set in for all of them. They had been moving for hours without a break since the fight with Cerberumon that evening. It was hard to believe that everything in the Digital World had happened within the span of six hours. Judging by how much Takuya's feet were throbbing, his body was convinced that it had been much longer.

So much had happened since they first arrived in the Digital World. On the train, he got to know Tomoki, Izumi, and Junpei. Once they got off, Bokomon and Neemon showed up, and then they were attacked. The truth of their shared destinies as Legendary Warriors came out, and two battles took place. It was crazy to Takuya that this had all happened in less than a quarter of a day, and his head was spinning just trying to keep it all straight. He could certainly use a night of sleep to set himself on the right path for the continuation of their search the following morning.

At long last, Takuya's feet touched the bottom of the cliff, and he let out a sigh of relief. He stepped off to the side and waited for the others to all follow his example in arriving on the ground. When Bokomon stepped down, he gestured for everyone to follow him. They did so without any objections, all too tired to say anything snarky on the matter.

Bokomon brought the group over to where a Digimon was standing. The creature resembled a candle, and the stand for the wax was a golden color with elaborate engravings along the side. The candle segment was a creamy white color, and the texture of the monster's skin appeared to be like wax. A flickering orange fire sat on top of a wick on his head. The creature's arms were the same white as the rest of his torso, and his eyes were red. The orange flame atop the wick, on the other hand, had piercing blue eyes.

"Greetings, Candlemon," Bokomon began. Takuya assumed that this Digimon was known as Candlemon, and he nodded to himself with the realization as Bokomon continued to speak. "We are weary travelers who come from Flame Terminal. We were running from Cherubimon's minions. Would it be too much to request if we asked for a place to stay for the night?"