Celia glanced at Xan and Irin as she and Verbena followed them out of the subterranean complex. After resting for a few nights in the caves, all four of them were all well rested and ready to take on the rest of the journey.

Celia glanced around the horizon, as she had not paid much attention to the landscapes around the island when they first arrived. As she looked eastward, white dominated the land, but when she looked towards the west, she jumped a bit at the sight of a mass of black fog not far from the island. "What is that?!" Celia gasped.

Xan blinked and looked to Celia, then followed her gaze, "oh, that is just the edge of the world." Unlike Celia, Xan did not react to the sight of the black haze that obscured the horizon.

"The end... of the world?" Celia slowly repeated.

'Not the actual end of the world,' Irin rolled his eyes, 'Just the end of Roahla. Supposedly on the other side of the haze is the rest of the planet.'

"If that is the case, why didn't everyone flee there when the light was stolen?" Celia looked to can and Irin.

"You can't," Xan stated with a hint of bitterness in his tone.

'Things like sea dogs and fish can come in, but nothing can exit.' Irin elaborated, 'anyone who enters the darkness from this side blindly flies in a circle until he emerges right back where he started. We tried once to escape, but Roahla is an inescapable trap.' Irin intensely stared at the wall, 'this land is a death trap.'

He swiftly changed the subject, 'the wind is against us, but not as bad as it was in the Ulven lands,' Irin stated. 'We should be able to pick up the edges of the storm winds if we ascend high enough. If they are not currently northbound tailwinds, crosswinds may be better than a headwind depending on the angle.'

"We should head northeast until we find land, then head due north," Celia suggested as she clutched her compass in her gloved hands. "that way we will not have to worry about not having a place to land." She glanced to the northeast, then slipped the compass back into its proper place and secured the precious directional guide into Verbena's saddlebags.

Verbena nodded in understanding as she adjusted her wings and began to increase in altitude. "No use stalling anymore, let's go." Both dragons rose the sky and headed northeast to continue the quest all members vowed to finish.

For a long while, only the fragmented and refrozen sea ice sat below them, but eventually, the smooth outline of snow-covered land appeared in the distance. Verbena released a slight sigh of relief at the sight of land, as she was worried of having to land on the jagged field of sharp fragments of ice.

Celia surveyed the land below as it receded and the snow-covered landmarks became even more indistinguishable from each other. Even if she wanted to, Celia could never see her home mountain. Not even a creature with the keenest of sight could see the mountain in the distance Celia and Verbena had traveled.

As she stared into the east, she noticed a strange glimmer in the distance atop one of the mountains. "What is that?" Celia blinked as she studied the glowing in the distance. "Could that be Urre?" She paused, then frowned a bit, "but it is still night right now, our ray of light is not glowing at this time.'

Verbena glanced at the same glimmer, 'that is suspicious,' she agreed. 'What could that be?' She turned her attention to Irin, 'Irin, do you have any idea what that light over there is?'

'hmm?' Irin shifted his focus to Verbena, then to the glimmer in the distance. The male dragon telepathically spoke into Celia's mind since Xan's actual voice had little chance of being heard over the winds. 'That is the temple on top of Mount Jara. It has magical spheres of light, and that is the light you are seeing.

'Now that I have seen a real piece of the sunlight, I will admit the light from the temple does look rather similar to real sunlight, but I know for a fact the lights are actually small jars of magic. We have been close to it before, and the people there are not friendly to dragons. There is no need for us to go near it.'

After a short pause, Irin spoke again, 'I think I should warn you about what dangers we hopefully will not find out here.'

'Like the black dragon in the town with the light in it?' Verbena shuttered slightly as she flew alongside the male dragon.

'Yes, but creatures larger and more dangerous than members of our kind are thankfully few and far between,' Irin replied in a calm voice, 'but I do agree that that monstrosity should be avoided as much as possible. Legends I heard from other dragons say it is a ghost ice dragon that guards the town because that is near where its final resting place. Luckily for us, it cannot seem to go farther west than beyond the peak of the main line of mountains.'

'However, I was more speaking of the other aavens that live in territories spread across the land, and the dragons in those aavens can be territorial since resources tend to be scarce. Luckily we have avoided the largest aaven that lives close to Ulven territory, but the aavens near here are also a bit more territorial.' He glanced around as if watching for strange mounds in the snow that could mark the presence of another dragon.

After silently studying the landscape for a few moments, the dragon spoke again. 'Do not try to fight, it is best if we just flee.' Irin instructed, 'most dragons see Xan and Celia as keeping us as slaves.'

'But we not slaves!' Verbena snorted, 'They are our Chosen! We chose them to be our partners! Celia would never hurt me! I know that for an absolute fact! Why would anyone think that?'

Irin paused as if the term was unfamiliar, then accepted it as applicable to his relationship with Xan and nodded in agreement. 'Overall, most humans and dragons do not tend to get along. For now, we need to fly as far as we can. Typically, aavens will leave us alone as long as they do not spot us on the ground or hunting, but I would rather not make any more unnecessary risks."

Celia glanced down to the ground below and attempted to use her mind voice to communicate with Irin. 'Is there anywhere safe we can land ahead?' She focused her message toward the male dragon's mind. However, he never responded, so Celia deduced that though she could hear Irin's mind voice, he could not hear hers.

'Is there a safe place to rest ahead?' Verbena roared and released a low rumbling from the back of her throat over the winds since Irin could hear her roars and growls over the rushing wind.

The dragon paused, 'there is a place to stop near the town of Hael that I have never seen an aaven in, but dragons tend to avoid human settlements. I do not think I need to explain why,' Irin fell into silence.

They flew for a while in silence for a while as the dragons flew above the ice-covered Roahlan land. Though Irin and Verbena were not flying as fast as Verbena's frantic dash to escape the Ulven's Territory, the slower flight speed allowed them to fly farther with less energy.

'I believe I see a place we can rest,' Irin shifted his wings and began to descend, 'there is an alcove we can stop and recover in for the day. Tomorrow, we can continue on our journey north. At this rate, we will be on the northern end of the mountains in a few days and to Hael the day after.'

Verbena nodded in understanding as she adjusted her wings as she followed Irin's descent. Soon, she spotted the alcove he mentioned previously and adjusted accordingly to give Irin more space to land.

Celia attempted to spot it herself but struggled to pinpoint the cave entrance in the white expanse below. Though she initially struggled, after a few more seconds of thoroughly scanning the ground, she spotted the aforementioned large recess. "I see it now," she spoke to herself.

Irin landed in the snow by the massive entrance first, and Xan dismounted while Verbena landed in the snow. 'Irin, can you make sure the cave is safe before we go in?' Xan looked to the blue ice-armored dragon.

'I will,' Irin nodded, then stepped towards the cave and his nostrils flared. 'I can faintly smell something.' he noted, 'but I am going in deeper to try to catch a better trace of the scent.' He silently crept deeper into the cave.

After Celia dismounted from Verbena's back, she warily trudged through the snow and approached the entrance. Once she arrived at the frame of the hole, the human female peered inside the cave and surveyed the inside.

Snow marked with Irin's footprints carpeted floor of the first couple of feet into the cave. As far as Celia saw into the darkness into the cave, shimmering white ice continued deeper into the cave. Except for the sounds of Irin's serrated claws clicking against the ground, the tunnels seemed empty and quiet.

After a few more moments, the clicking pattern of Irin's footprints paused and for a brief moment, no sounds came out of the cave. 'Both of you, quickly mount Verbena and hide on the other side of the ridge.'

"What?" Xan gasped with his mouth agape under his scarf. "Wh-why?" In his surprise and worry, he forgot to speak only through his mindlink.

'Just do it!' Irin barked in a frantic tone.

Verbena jumped over to Xan and Celia and forced them to clamber onto her back. Once they were both secure, the green dragonet leaped into the air. With a few flaps of her wings, she flew up the side of the mountain and landed on the ridge. 'Hide behind me,' she instructed as she laid down on with her body laying on top of the ridge. Her ice armor camouflaged her to any creatures that attempted to spot her. 'I will watch for Irin for you and keep you updated on what happens. I will help him if he needs is, so, for now, please just try to stay hidden.'

Celia swiftly slid off of Verbena's back, then glanced back and saw a shocked Xan still on Verbena's back. "Xan!" She forcefully gripped his arm and roughly pulled him into the snow.

Xan blinked in surprise and was about yell in exclamation, a mighty roar silenced his objection. "Irin!" He attempted to scramble through the snow to look over the ridge, but Verbena knocked him off his feet with a wing. He rolled down the slope once, then came to a dizzy stop.

Celia closed her eyes and focused on Verbena's vision just in time to see Irin burst out of the cave with a large, scaled monster erupted out of the cave behind him. Celia gasped and briefly lost her balance, but managed to remain upright.

As Irin fled, the beast blasted a plume of ice at the smaller dragon. However, despite taking a direct hit, Irin remained unharmed. He swiftly flew south, and thankfully, the monster did not chase him.

The gigantic blue dragon creature simply returned to the cave it had emerged from with an agitated growl.

Celia opened her eyes and refocused on her own sense of vision, then looked to Xan as he climbed back onto his feet. "What was that for?" He demanded, "and is Irin okay or did I lose my best friend?"

'I am fine,' Irin's voice spoke as he looped around and approached, 'I just did not want you to get eaten by the ice dragon. I did not realized it had moved to a new cave since the last time we stumbled across it.'

Xan slowly sighed and bobbed his head in a nod of understanding as he waited for Irin to return to them. When Irin landed atop the snow, Xan immediately grabbed him in a hug, then blinked and broke the embrace. "Ahem," he coughed and dusted a bit of snow off of his legs, then looked back up to Irin, "Are you ready to continue onward and find a new resting place?"

Through his breathing was a bit ragged, he nodded. 'I am fine to travel for a little while longer,' he kneeled down so Xan could clamber onto his back. 'Let's find a safe place for us to rest for the day.'

Xan nodded, then clambered onto his normal place on Irin's back. "I do not want to be around here in case it decides to come back to hunt us when it gets hungry." He shivered slightly.

Celia climbed onto Verbena's back as well as Irin took off in a micro flurry of snowflakes, and once Celia was secure, Verbena took off after him.

Author Notes!

That was a close call! Hopefully the rest of their journey will be less eventful, but Roahla is a dangerous land after all!

See you next time!