My boots made a slight crunching noise as I stepped onto the white ground, but nothing else happened. Perfect, chilly, silence hung in the air, filling my head and sending my nerves on edge.

I took a few more steps, waiting to see if anything would change. Nothing did. Not yet.

Jaq and Justin followed me, both looking warily around. The area could really only be called 'desolate', nothing near but the cold snow underfoot, and a frozen river several yards ahead. Luckily, the snow was more packed than powdery, which didn't make it too difficult to walk though.

For some reason, it felt like the plain demanded silence. It was perfectly, eerily quiet- not the serene lack of noise during a snowfall, I noticed, but the ominous sort of horror-movie quiet that comes before a terrifying monster devours a side character.

Sometimes I really hate my imagination.

"What d'you think we have to do?" Jaq ask softly. I nearly jumped out of my skin, whirling around to face her and almost tripping over my own feet.

She raised an eyebrow at my reaction. "Skittish much?"

I nodded, trying to swallow down my fear. "I don't think I like how quiet it is."

Jaq just shrugged dismissively, and added, "Aren't snow biomes usually pretty noiseless?"

Yeah, but not like this. I thought.

Justin had gone a few feet ahead, and had his hand up, shielding his eyes. "I think I see something over that way."

"What kind of something?" I asked warily, my voice hardly more than a murmur. He squinted. "I think it's ice spikes. Makes sense, I suppose."

We started towards the supposed ice spikes without another word, seeing no other likely destination. Jaq's comment about the swamp earlier stuck in my mind, since so far this seemed to be a repeat of that.

Except with less people.

I shook my head slowly, as though the motion could rid me of the morose thoughts circling my head. I couldn't let myself dwell on the deaths, not yet. Not when there was another mystery to solve, another fight to be won. But I knew I could only hold back the sorrow for so long. I've never been good at denying my emotions, and I was starting to feel like a dam about to break.

We crossed the frozen river, stumbling slightly on the slick ice. I could see now that Justin was right; there were ice spikes just a little ways ahead of us. Hopefully our challenge was hidden somewhere in there.

I still felt very on edge, though Jaq didn't seem to share my worries. "I haven't seen snow in years. I forgot how bright it was."

Justin kicked a lump of snow, briefly scattering the white flakes. "Yeah. But at least it's not snowing- then we'd have no way to see where we were going."

I didn't say anything, though I thought Justin's comment was a bit pointless. If Entity 303 had wanted it to snow, it would be snowing. He wanted us to go to the spikes, wanted to give us a clear view of where we were.

I must've looked somewhat anxious, because Jaq glanced over at me and said, "Jesse, you're paranoid. Weren't you the one who was just giving us pep talks?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I just...I don't know what's up with me. I don't like this."

"At least nothing's swooping down to murder us." Justin pointed out.

"At least there's no lava." Jaq added.

"No snakes." Justin returned. He was grinning.

"No reliving terrifying old memories." Jaq said primly.

"No new monsters of legend."

I shot them both a severe look. "You sound way too happy about this."

Justin shrugged. "I mean...I'm not happy to be in a desolate ice biome with an ambiguous destination, but this isn't the worst place we've been."

I scoffed, but it turned out more like a laugh. "Only you could turn being trapped beyond the Farlands into a positive thing."

Jaq huffed quietly, a much more convincing scoff than mine. We lapsed into silence for a few minutes more, the only noise being the crunch of snow beneath our boots.

I glanced up at the rapidly approaching ice spikes. The sunlight glinted off the high spires, and I had to shield my eyes to continue watching. It almost looked like there was something moving, creeping around the bases of the ice formations. Neither of the others seemed to notice it, though, so at first I wrote it off as just my overactive paranoid imagination.

As we got closer, the flashes of motion became more and more obvious, movement catching the corner of my eye and skittering away when I turned to look. We were amid the spires now, making it all the easier for possible monsters to stay just out of sight. But there was still no clear view, no sure way to tell what we might end up being up against. I began to notice a very soft, irregular clicking noise, though I couldn't tell where it was coming from. It would get louder, then softer again, at completely random intervals.

Jaq suddenly made a surprised kind of hissing noise, sidestepping into me, and I edged away from her, asking, "What? What happened?"

"A thing! I saw...there was a thing! I don't...I swear I saw...there was just a thing there." She babbled, pointing at an ice formation.

"What?" Justin paused as well, peering at where Jaq was pointing. "There's nothing there."

"There WAS, I swear!" She insisted. Her blue eyes had gone wide from some mix of fright and indignation.

"What kind of thing?" Justin asked patiently.

"I don't know! It was big, and it was fast. I looked over there out of instinct, and there was just this THING, and I SWEAR it felt like it was LOOKING AT ME. Then it was just GONE, and I don't know what-"

"Okay, shh. Shut your trap." I commanded. "If there is a...thing...here, watching us, do you really want to be making that much noise?"

Jaq shut her mouth with an audible snap, apparently seeing my reasoning. She glared around at the ice spikes around us, as though daring any possible monsters to show themselves.

A loud click suddenly sounded from behind us, and I whirled around with a startled yelp. But there was nothing there, aside from a few spires and the snow plain.

"I'm starting to feel like someone's fucking with us." I announced. Jaq snorted. "You think?"

As if on cue, a zombie stumbled out from behind one of the ice formations. It was burning in the bright sunlight, and its growls seemed unnaturally loud in the silence of the snow.

Jaq drew her Aristan sword. "Finally, something we can deal with."

But she wasn't the one to dispatch the zombie. 

Something large, swift, and furry came out from somewhere behind us, leaping over our heads and crashing into the monster. With a lightning-fast slash of claws or teeth (I couldn't tell from where I was), the zombie was a lump of bloody flesh.

Then the beast turned to look at us.

It was even freakier face-to face, all hunched over and grotesque. It had massive shoulders and powerful arms that ended in wicked-looking claws. Its paws were curled, and it 'stood' on all fours, relying mostly on its haunches and leaning forward on its thick arms for extra support. The whole body was covered in coarse blue-speckled white fur, and the face....oh, Notch, the face.

The monster's features were wide and flattish, a compact nose above a horrifyingly large mouth filled with bloodstained teeth. The eyes weren't even there, just small craters partially obscured by the shaggy fur. The whole head was topped by a very large pair of ears.

It was still for a few moments, sniffing the air as we stood paralyzed.

"What...the hell...is that." Jaq asked, her voice faint from fear.

"It appears to be your 'thing'." Justin pointed out.

Apparently speaking was a mistake, because the ears pricked towards Justin. The beast took a thoughtful step towards him, ears wiggling madly as it tried to pick up any sound.

I was attempting to stop myself from hyperventilating as I tried to figure the monster out. The hollows in its face probably meant it was blind. That was good. But those ears seemed like they would be able to pick up any sound within a mile radius, which was definitely bad for us and our path through the crunching snow.

It took another step forward, and we all stepped back. It continued moving forward, lurching towards us step by step. Each time it moved, it became tenser, like it was getting ready to jump.

Suddenly, Justin's enchanted rope was in his hand. Not bothering to lower his voice, he ordered, "You two get out of the way. Now, before it pounces."

"What are you gonna-" Jaq started, but Justin shushed her loudly. Both of the monster's large ears were pointed towards Justin, and it had lowered itself to the ground and raised its haunches, preparing for a leap. It clicked a few more times, listened intently, and sprang into the air.

I dodged to the side, tugging Jaq with me. We both fell into a heap on the ground, as the beast leaped an impressive length towards Justin.

But he was ready. His rope tripled in size, wrapping around the creature and sending it crashing into an ice spire. With another flick of the cord, the beast's thick neck had been snapped, without a sound from the large pointed mouth.

Jaq and I disentangled ourselves. She went over to investigate the fallen form of the monster, right before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Damn. I was hoping to get a good look at it." She muttered. Justin nodded, retracting his rope and stowing it in his inventory. "D'you think there's more of them?"

"Almost certainly. So we've found the obstacles of this trial...but where's the objective?" I asked. Jaq looked up at the forest of ice ahead of us. "I guess we just keep going 'til we find something."

"But what if this is like the swamp, where we only get out if we do something? Like killing another Shard?" Justin worried. I bit my lower lip. He'd basically voiced my own thoughts aloud.

Jaq didn't look back at us. "Surely that'd be too boring? What's the point of having one trial that's literally just a repeat of another? We've gotta be missing something here."

"Well, in that case, we may as well follow your suggestion. I'd rather avoid the things, at least for as long as possible." I said. 

We continued on in almost complete silence, which did little to help my nerves. As we kept moving, though, I started hearing the clicking again. Slowing down slightly so Justin and I were side-by-side, I murmured, "Do you hear that?"

"What?" He asked. "The clicking?"

"Yeah. I think the monsters are doing it, maybe to communicate to each other." I suggested. He scowled. "Or maybe even as a form of echolocation."

"Of echo-what?" I asked, not sure if I heard him correctly.

"Echolocation. You know. Some animals do it to 'see' things in the dark. They make a sound, and then hearing the echo lets them know what's nearby. It's...not exactly like that, but close enough." He explained.

"So if they actually are blind...they might still be able to find us, whether we're making noise or not." I realized.

"Exactly. And that's...definitely bad for us." Justin summarized.

Jaq suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Um...are you guys seeing what I hope I'm not seeing?" she asked in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

"Wha...oh, shit." Justin trailed off, staring straight ahead.

There was a slight clearing in front of us, surrounded by an almost wall of ice formations. There were only a few gaps in between the spires, looking only barely large enough to slip through. In the center of the clearing was one of the huge ice spikes, the towering kind that reaches high into the air.

And it was absolutely covered with the furry ice monsters.

Oh, we are totally about to die. I thought.

"What do we do?" Justin whispered.

"I don't know." Jaq murmured back. "Maybe just go through and really hope they don't notice us? But where are we even supposed to go?"

Justin pointed to a gap between the ice formations, on the other side of the clearing. Though now that I thought about it, it didn't seem to be a natural clearing as much as an arena.

"There's a little gap through there. It looks big enough for us to get through, but I'm not sure if the monsters will be able to." He said. Jaq nodded to another space closer to us. "There's one there too, but it's bigger."

Justin shook his head. "That's definitely large enough for one of them beasts to follow. We should-"

"But the longer we're here, the more chance we have of getting heard!" Jaq pointed out, raising her voice more than I think she meant to.

I put my finger to my lips. "Shhh. It doesn't matter, just both of you be quiet."

We hadn't gone more than three steps when one of the lowest monsters tilted its head towards us and clicked twice. I went still as it started creeping down the ice spire headfirst, ears twitching wildly. None of the others moved, but the one had clearly caught 'sight' of us. It clicked a few more times, then made a small jump off the ice formation onto the snowy ground.

I drew my sword. It couldn't see me, so if I moved at just the right time, and fast, maybe I could kill it. It made its clicking noise yet again, and I silently stepped around to stay out of its way.

Justin shuffled his feet through the snow, making the monster swing its head towards him. Its ears perked up even more, and right as it took a heavy-pawed step towards him, I lunged forward and drove my sword into the side of its neck.

The diamond blade sunk in deep, and blood immediately began spurting from the wound. And then the monster started screaming.

That scream. For as long as I live, I will never forget that sound. It screeched like a dying demon, the sound flooding my ears, shaking my spine, and setting every nerve on edge. I gasped in surprise and recoiled, yanking my sword out of the beast. Jaq and Justin both had their hands over their ears.

The scream dwindled away, and I struck the beast again, the sword sinking into its chest and finishing it off. I glanced over at the other two Shards, who were staring at me horror-struck. I didn't even need to turn around to know that all the rest of the monsters on the ice spire were probably preparing to murder us.

There was a series of loud clicks and a roar, and I turned around just in time to see one of the creatures launch itself at me. I lifted my sword, ducked low, and let the monster impale itself. It screamed as well, though not as long as the first one. The other beasts were clicking at us, and clambering down from their perches up on the ice tower.

Jaq and Justin had taken their Aristan swords out, so I switched my diamond weapon for my magic one. "Do we have a plan, or are we just gonna try to fight them all?" Jaq asked.

"I have a plan. A really good one." Justin said.

"Okay...let's hear it." I whispered, slightly suspicious. He pulled his rope from his inventory again, holding it in one hand and his sea-toned sword in the other.

"Run."

"That's not a-"

"JAQUELINE, JUST SHUT UP AND DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD!" Justin yelled. Jaq jolted backwards, looking stunned.

Unfortunately, Justin's shout had given the ice monsters a clear target. Almost in unison, four of them jumped at us. I rolled to the side and slashed at one with my Aristan sword, turning it to dust. Jaq did the same to another, and Justin took care of the other two with his sword and rope.

Before any more could attack, he turned back to us and shouted, "Get out! I can handle these, don't risk yourselves! I'll be right behind you. Having more of us here just gives more of them to come down."

"But..." I started. He looked me straight in the eyes, and I saw that his courage wasn't faked. He really did believe he could defeat them. And maybe he could, but all the same...

Before I could say anything else, Jaq had grabbed my arm and was towing me away, towards the gap Justin had pointed out. I went with her, looking over my shoulder to see another trio of creatures lunge for him. Again, he snapped one's neck, dust-ified another, and used his rope to toss the third away, over the 'wall' of ice spikes.

Jaq had pulled ahead of me, and as I focused on keeping up with her long strides, I heard another beast scream, even louder than the first. The sound reverberated around the arena, acting as one huge click.

Instantly, the rest of the creatures knew where we were. Yet another monster launched itself off the highest spire, roaring as it flew towards me. I didn't bother to draw my sword, just bolted towards the opening in the ice that I hoped would lead to safety.

I could hear the monster loping behind me, quickly catching up. I've never been a fast runner; it was probably going to overtake me in seconds.

I tugged my Aristan sword from my inventory and whirled around to face the beast. Making a quick lunge forward, I pierced it through the chest, allowing it only time for a short shriek before it turned to dust.

Justin suddenly appeared beside me, panting. "There's...a lot more than I thought there was." He admitted, still clutching his enchanted rope. The part of the cord in his hand was small, but it tapered into a large coil on the ground. I wanted to ask if it was heavy when in that state, but now was obviously not the time.

A quick glance up told me that most of the creatures had left the large ice spire, and were gathering in front of us, clicking and making creepy whirring noises. Justin must've caught my expression of fear, because he said, "Go. I'll just hold them off for a second more, and we'll all get outta here."

With a quick nod, I turned and hurried off. I heard a crack like a whip behind me, and another monster screech. I quickly ducked into the small gap between two ice spikes and kept going, seeing that Jaq had already made it to the other side and was waiting several feet away. I glanced back to see Justin running after me, with at least a dozen of the white monsters just behind, clicking madly to keep track of him.

Then one of the largest creatures made a gigantic leap into the air, landing on one of the two ice spires Justin needed to go through. The ice creaked under its weight, cracks appearing on the surface of the thin blocks.

One of the monsters swiped at Justin, its claw catching his leg and sending him to the ground, just barely outside the gap. He shouted in surprise and tried to scramble to his feet, but the same beast brought him down again, leaving bloody clawmarks across his back. Drawing his sword, he rolled onto his back, stabbed at the monster who'd taken him down, lunged to his feet, and ran for the exit again.

Then the spire collapsed under the weight of the beast who was still sitting on it. With a sound like breaking glass, the ice cracked apart, and the monster shrieked as the formation crumbled and fell, bringing creature and ice down onto Justin.

"No!" I exclaimed, and prepared to run back to help him. Jaq grabbed me from behind, her arm catching me in the chest and pulling me away. "Don't you dare, Jesse! He'll either get out, or he won't!"

In that moment, I was mad enough to stab her, and she seemed to know it, not letting go of me as we watched Justin somehow manage to stand up again. The creature had landed mostly on top of him, and a chunk of ice must've hit his head, judging by the bloody scratch across his temples. Working solely on adrenaline, he shoved the fallen monster away, and snapped its neck with his rope. One of his legs looked partially mangled, between the beast's claw and getting crushed under the ice.

The rest of the beasts converged, recovering from their shock over the surprising shattering noise. Justin had just enough time to whirl around and cry out in fright as the legion of monsters swarmed him, attacking with every tooth and claw they had. One of them knocked his sword out of his hand, sending it spinning in an arc towards us. It landed barely a foot from Jaq, and she reached down and grabbed it quickly, stowing it in her inventory.

I wasn't able to process the implications of that just yet. If Jaq hadn't still been restraining me with her other arm, I probably would've charged straight into the mess of monsters and gotten myself killed as well

"NO! JUSTIN! You can't...this isn't...NO!" I shouted.

"Shut up, Jesse! They're gonna..." Jaq hissed. But the damage had been done. One of the monsters lifted its head, clicking in our direction. It bared its wide row of teeth, stained red with fresh blood.

"Oh, now you've done it. We gotta get out of here." Jaq snapped, tugging my shoulder.

"But Justin..." I wavered, unwilling to leave him behind, even if he was just a bloody inventory pile now. Two more monsters repeated the motion of the first, and started to stalk towards us.

"Come on!" Jaq exclaimed. I hesitated for a few seconds more, then started to follow her as she began jogging away. We'd only gotten a few feet when I managed to overlook a patch of ice and slipped, landing front-first with a thud and an involuntary "Oof!"

Several of the monsters heard and came galloping towards us, still clicking, so I rapidly regained my footing and ran after Jaq, who, unsurprisingly, hadn't stopped to wait. I could hear the small group of monsters giving chase as we hurtled across the tundra, hoping to get far enough away that they'd give up on catching us.

I didn't pause to look back, and was beginning to tire when Jaq finally slowed enough for me to catch up. She glanced over her shoulder and came to a full stop, breathing heavily.

"They lost interest. We're safe."

I just shook my head, too out of breath to speak. Both of us were silent for a few moments, trying to breathe normally again. I still couldn't quite process what had just happened. Or maybe I was just in denial.

Jaq looked over at me, bent over with her hands on her knees and sweat running down her face from our sprint for our lives. She opened her mouth to speak, and what she said was so simple, so basic, that it was hard to believe that it was the truth. At that point, stating the obvious was like a knife to the heart.

"Jess...we're the only ones left."

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could you tell that I was rushing on this chapter because I was

hhnn

Word count: 3944 (FFFFFF- WHY.)