Will of a Prince

Days had passed of the same relentless cycle: walk, kill, eat, drink, then walk some more. They were fortunate enough to have only stumbled into weaker beasts while travelling. Their physical tole was much less strenuous than it was before. They would all take brief rests every now and then, but only when someone in the group couldn’t walk anymore or if they fell asleep on their feet, which had happened to Jacob more than twice already.

Jacob stayed close to Maria. The fur that covered his body was much thinner and seemed to be quickly fading. However, Jacob didn’t notice much of a difference in temperature as his fur shed off his body.

"Does anyone else think it’s getting hotter?"

Maria slowly allowed some of her pelt to leave her body.

"I do feel much hotter than normal. I thought that was just me."

Slimo’s eyes squinted as he looked further in the distance.

"I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The weaker monsters, the warmer air, I think land may be close."

Jacob’s heart swelled with happiness. They were finally going to leave the hellish wasteland of ice. However, they were all going to be entering uncharted territory. None of them had any clue what the lands of this continent would look like, if there were any people still hiding anywhere, or what kinds of monsters were the cause of its downfall. He began to wonder if he would end up missing the ice.

Suddenly, the ice under Slimo cracked slightly. He stopped and looked down at his feet, raising an eyebrow. Then, his whole body fell through the ice and into a massive body of water. Lidia rushed to grab his arm before he could sink further in. Slimo spat out the salty water and thrashed his legs to keep himself afloat while Lidia held on to him.

"What the hell?! There’s water under the ice!!"

"Shit. The warmer weather might be affecting the ice now."

Lidia tried pulling Slimo up, but he was far too heavy with Jacob’s armor on.

"You need to lose the armor! It’s way too heavy for me to pull you out!"

Slimo didn’t hesitate to throw the armor off himself. He let go of Lidia’s hand and quickly threw it over his shoulders before grabbing back on. Watching his dragon armor sink into the dark depths of the ocean made Jacob feel a little sorrowful. He and Maria had worked so hard for it and its quality was almost unmatched. If they were not in such a horrible condition from their travels, there was no doubt either Jacob or Lidia could have pulled him up even with the armor still on him.

Slimo was thrown out of the water and stood next to Lidia shivering. Lidia threw off the pelts covering her and wrapped them around Slimo.

"Don’t you need these?"

"I should be okay. I’ll let you know if I need to warm up for a bit."

"Thank you. I think I see something in the distance. We’re so close I can almost smell the fields from here."

Everyone looked forward to see what Slimo was talking about. Far out on the horizon was a massive, dark mountain. Jacob smiled warmly at the sight and grabbed Maria’s hand. They had survived the brutal journey across the frozen ocean. As for why the ocean was frozen, he decided to think about that another day.

Slimo raised his hand and signaled to the group to follow him.

"Anyone too tired to make the final stretch?"

No one said a word. In fact, Squabee shoved Slimo forward angrily in response to the question.

"Keep it moving slowpoke! I could have been off this damn ice by now!"

Slimo rubbed his neck and gave Squabee an annoyed look before continuing to walk. Jacob saw the white sands of the beach resting comfortably against the thin layers of ice as they approached. He sprinted past Slimo and jumped into the sand as fast as he could. A plume of dust kicked up around the spot he landed in. Jacob scooped up a large handful of cool sand and allowed it to flow through his fingers. He held back tears feeling the firm ground beneath him for the first time in forever. No one had any idea of how much time had passed, but it felt like years had been taken off their life from the experience alone. Sarah laid her back in the sand while staring up into the sky, panting heavily.

"We survived. We really survived."

Everyone joined Jacob and Sarah in the sand by either sitting or kneeling down.

"We can’t let our guard down. Let’s rest here for a moment before we start exploring this place. From the looks of it, that mountain we saw earlier looks much smaller up close."

"Yeah. And since when do mountains not have pointed peaks? It looks more like a giant hill to me."

"Should that be our first destination then? Climb the mountain to get a good view of the land?"

Lidia nodded her head.

"That’s a really good idea. That way, we won’t have to worry about seeing what will be ahead of us too much."

Jacob quickly sat up and walked over to Slimo before kneeling next to him.

"Slimo, I know this is really soon because we just got off the ice, but what exactly should we do now?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I mean, we survived an encounter with a providence deity, but are we just going to hide the rest of our lives now?"

Slimo rubbed his chin.

"To be honest, I never thought much beyond trying to escape from those dangerous people. But you are right. I don’t think we can simply hide. That would only work for a short period of time before all of us are hunted down by Zalo himself. I think we need to fight back."

"Fight back?! Against Zalo?!"

"Who else?"

Jacob felt like passing out.

"Are you crazy?! How can you say that so casually like he isn’t a modern-day god! We don’t stand a chance against him!"

"Then that means we have to find people who do."

"Who in this world can possibly stand up to Zalo? We’re all that’s left!"

"That may not be true. You are forgetting a few important people."

Jacob’s heart dropped after finally understanding what Slimo was getting at.

"You mean we have to look for the Sacred Trio?"

"What other choice to do we have? And we know now that they must exist after seeing the Profane Trio in person."

"But still... is that really a good idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Slimo. Our powers, the Zalo’s that we carried have all magically disappeared. Sure, it may have been Garno’s doing, but what if it wasn’t?"

"What are you getting at?"

"What if Zalo’s reincarnation sapped everyone’s Zalo from them? What good would finding them be then?"

"You have a point, but who do you think put Zalo down in the first place?"

"Exactly, we don’t know who did!"

"Are you trying to say the Divine and Profane Trio didn’t have a part in his downfall?"

"I’m saying that we don’t have all the answers, and I find it a little odd that people who have a power named after Zalo himself want to see him dead. How would Zalo even allow that anyway? It just doesn’t make sense!"

"Wait, are you saying we can’t even trust the Divine Trio?!"

"We should at least be skeptical. If possible, I would love to have their help, but I don’t know if I can trust someone with a Zalo ever again. No offense Squabee."

Slimo raised his head after Jacob’s last comment.

"Is Squabee’s power really a Zalo power?"

"Well, she has something called Zalo’s Blessing, so I assume she would have to have a Zalo, right?"

"Why the hell would Zalo bless someone who he can’t do anything against? That’s like giving an enemy archer the sharpest arrow you have."

"Because maybe it wasn’t him who gave it! Besides, doesn’t that power fall more in line with Lidia’s strange light powers?"

Slimo nodded his head and looked into the sky, lost in thought.

"You’ve brought up a lot of good points, Jacob. However, what is it you suggest we do then?"

"I think we need to look more into Lidia’s power. She is the only one capable of curing corruption. If we really are going to fight Zalo, that’s where we need to start. However, it wouldn’t hurt to try and recruit the Divine Trio if you truly think we can trust them."

Slimo stayed in silence for a few moments.

"This is too big of a decision to make on my own. What do you all think?"

Everyone else remained quiet as Slimo eagerly waited for a response. He looked over at Maria and Squabee to see what was taking them both so long. However, they were both passed out in the sand snoring loudly.

"W-What the hell?! This is a very serious conversation! They couldn’t stay awake for just a few more minutes?!"

He sighed deeply and looked at Lidia and Sarah instead.

"What about you two?"

Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

"I’m fine with whatever decision you all make. However, I think Lidia’s voice will carry some weight since she holds the special power."

Lidia nodded her head.

"After hearing both of your sides, I think I agree with what Jacob said. Maybe we should look into my power a bit more. Maybe there’s more serpent statues we can find on this condiment."

"It’s continent, Lidia."

"What did I say?"

"Never mind. I think that makes it final. Our best bet is to look for more signs of the Serpent’s powers. However, I still believe we should travel to that mountain to get a good look of what kind of terrain we will be dealing with."

Jacob nodded his head in agreement.

"How do we know where to look for information if there’s no one here to tell us where to look?"

Slimo rubbed his forehead.

"Let’s rest and we can discuss that during our travels."

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