Journeys of Time 3: Hu'O'Zevan, Realm of Frozen Darkness
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"I know you all might be wondering why I called you to a meeting right now. But it is because I got some good news and some bad news." Tenchi spoke as the family had gathered, mostly the Frostclaw Tribe as the others had to wait to hear the news back at home. Looking over them, it was clear that impatience was a rare trait in the family as Janch's sister Chaldoa stood up and put the hands on the table, "Well, then spill it already. Do not keep us waiting." Being straight to the point about what most wanted, Tenchi had to give in to not keep them in suspense about it, "The good news is that we found the location of the forgotten branch of the tribe. The bad news is that they are living in an uncharted realm known as Who-You-Seven." Trinity had to quickly correct her, "Hu'O'Zevan, not who-you-seven." Tenchi just rolled her eyes, "Either way, as we do not know what might live there and also from the name literally meaning realm of frozen darkness, I would expect that it is a cold and dark realm. So I will take role of leader for the team that will visit this unknown location and bring back the news of an alliance."
Most of the family began to talk between each other after Tenchi had spoken, "An unknown realm? Why didn't we know about this?" Tenchi put down the map on the table and pointed at the two halves of the polar realm, "These are both the same place, so I suspect we are looking at either traveling north or south of here to reach it." Everyone began to speak between each other once more before Tenchi coughed to get their attention, "As such, I will pick a team that I consider to be useful for this expedition." Tenchi looked over them before looking at Sasha, "Yes, I am taking you with me, mom. You are to be the representing party for the Shadowtail Tribe." Next Tenchi looked over at Vana, "I am bringing you along too, Vana. You are the one that started this mess, so you gonna get a chance to clean it up now by being the one telling them how it all went down." Next was a surprise to everyone as Tenchi smiled at Peridot, "You are coming along too. I will need support to do the right thing and we also need a capable healer in case we sustain any injuries."
Peridot began to sniff a bit from hearing the warm words, "Thank you, Ten-Ten." Tenchi kissed her wife before looking over at Phoebe, "You too, Snipey. With your camera, I am sure that you can spot enemies coming from far away even in darkness and also allowing you to take them down or at least dart them." Next was a double pointer for her as she looked at Jigo and Azura, "You two are coming as well. Jigo because you are attuned to ice more than me right now, so it will help you scout from the air. And Azura, you are coming as well since we need someone who might be capable of finding out if there is some edible plant life there." Tenchi smiled before pointing at Janch and Chaldoa, "You two will come because I think you will get a good workout there." Janch growled, "Hey! I am still capable of kicking your ass!" Everyone laughed before Tenchi looked over at Alexander, "Well, I guess you can come too. I might need a sharp blade to cover my back. And perhaps you can attune yourself to master icebending as well." Alexander nodded, "Now that is clever thinking." Everyone thought it was over when Alexander was picked, but to their great surprise, Tenchi pointed at Avril, "And you, Creeps, you are getting a seat for the expedition too. As much as I hate to admit it, your puppets are... very versatile and agile in their design and I noticed how you are capable of using them for defensive purposes too as well as you turned one of them into an actual portable house. How you did that, I will never know, and will never want to know."
Avril seemed really happy to hear it, but Peridot looked at Tenchi, "Are you sure you wanna bring her along? She might scare them off a bit." Tenchi looked at Peridot before nodding, "It is a risk I am willing to take. She might be the creepy sister, but her little toys are essential if we need shelter." Peridot got quiet and just nodded before Tenchi looked over everyone that was present at the meeting, "I want everyone that was chosen to be ready tomorrow at sunrise. Any objections?" Avril was about to object, but Tenchi nodded, "No one has an objection, then meeting is adjourned." Avril grunted before leaving with the others.
The next morning as the sun rose over the horizon, Tenchi stood with everyone ready to leave. Well, everyone except for Avril, "What is taking her so long? I made it clear that I wanted everyone here for sunrise." Light panting sounds could be heard as Avril came running with what seemed to be a massive parchment strapped to her back, "Sorry that I am late, I had to..." Tenchi growled, "I said sunrise. What took you so long?" Avril growled, "I said that I had to prepare my puppets for transportation." Tenchi sighed, "You could have done it before you went to bed last night." Avril looked away in anger, "And you could been louder when you fucked Peridot last night too!" Tenchi growled and walked over to grab Avril, but Peridot got in between them both, "Stop it, both of you. At least she showed up and she had a good reason for being a bit late. Now that we are all here, lets go."
Tenchi's eyes narrowed before she turned around and climbed onto the back of Gane with Janch and Chaldoa, Peridot taking a seat with Jigo and Azura while Phoebe and Avril had a seat behind Vana. Looking at each other, they noticed that Alexander missed a seat, but soon they noticed how he put on a helmet and his battle-suit strapped itself into place before they took to the air, watching Alexander running below at the same speed as they were flying, Tenchi and Peridot cheering him on, "Go uncle!" When they arrived to the coastline, they watched how the surface of the water froze quickly to ice as the slim dragon ran at great velocity, and like his usual nature when feeling inspired, the sound of his voice bursting into song could be heard and Tenchi facepalmed, "Seriously, is there a moment when he ever can do something without singing?" Everyone began to laugh as they began to speed up to reach the frozen sea they were looking for.
After what felt like an eternity, even if it was only fifteen minutes, Phoebe called out, "Frozen water in sight at quarter to twelve." Turning their wyverns to the direction that Phoebe had mentioned, the others soon noticed the frozen sea and below them the sound of ice cracking below the feet of a dragon could be heard as he was trying to quickly get to safe ground. It was a good five minutes of running for him before he finally ceased to hear ice cracking and found himself staring into a perpetual darkness, his vision limited to whatever the helmet could pick up as the others soon came down to join him, Peridot looking around to try and see anything, "Wow, it is darker than black here." Alexander removed his helmet before Chaldoa lit up and soon he did too, giving them at least something to follow as they began to advance through the snow, listening for any sounds around them, until a loud cracking of wood and metal shards was heard and everyone looked around in panic before noticing that Avril had brought up a puppet looking like a fully grown wyvern which she was riding, "Sorry, I wanted to try out my newest design." Everyone gave it a look and shivered, "Please do not tell us that you actually made that from a corpse."
The sound of crunching snow was the only thing they heard as the team slowly advanced deeper into the dark realm, the only thing guiding them were the two dragons shining like two miniature suns. It was when Phoebe stopped to move that everyone else stopped before she listened and scanned their surrounding, Jigo taking to the air to scout down into the darkness below, his eyes adjusting before Phoebe's fingers quickly produced a tranquilizer dart and a soft growl was heard before a nearly silent hiss was heard when the dart found its mark and upon reaching whatever it was, they noticed a wyvern made completely from ice, runes engraved into its body, but most of it laid shattered as the dart had hit what seemed to be a core of some sort. Grabbing it, Sasha gave a look over it, "This is amazing. I have never seen such a craftsmanship before. I cannot let it remain here or else someone might take it for their own misuse." Tenchi looked at Sasha, who quickly grunted, "No, I am not planning to abuse its power. I am more intrigued with how it was made." Tenchi smirked, "Sure, mom."
Getting back to their feet, Peridot soon held her belly and sighed, "I am so hungry." Phoebe began to look around before pointing to a plant that seemed to share the appearance with an iceberg lettuce. Azura quickly walked over and picked it up, being that she was immune to poisons and illnesses, she took a bite of it and soon found it edible, throwing it to Peridot who devoured the whole thing in less than a minute. It was not surprising them at all since Peridot was usually this hungry after a night with Tenchi. Resuming their journey, they picked up a few herbs and various different edible items along the way.
It was when they least expected it that a massive wyvern emerged from the snow and caught Peridot in its jaws. Everyone looked at the big brute as it kept Peridot caught in its jaws, seeming unable to determine if it was good or bad. It seemed to not hurt Peridot, but more like scared her before it laid down and kept looking at them before a black male dragon with a gray chest walked up next to it, "What you caught there, Maxic?" The male dragon looked at Peridot and his eyes narrowed, "What do you do here, outsider? These are sacred grounds of the Shadowfrost Tribe. Explain yourself before I have my partner here give you a reminder why no one comes here to disturb us." Peridot whimpered before Tenchi growled, "Hey! Let my wife go!" The male dragon turned to look at Tenchi, noticing her wings before he laughed, "Well, well. More outsiders? I presume you are here to violate the ancestors! That will not happen on my watch!"
Tenchi's right arm quickly formed itself a set of ice claws, making the male move back a bit, "That is..." Tenchi nodded, "Yes, the mark of Frostclaw Tribe." The male dragon growled, "So you have violated their ancestors too? You are disgusting!" Sasha disappeared quickly and before she could appear, she found herself having been punched in the gut, making her fly back into Tenchi who caught her, "Mom, are you okay?" Sasha grunted and looked up at the male, "That is impossible, he sensed where I was going to appear." The male merely laughed, "You got here and yet you are weaker than a newborn frostshard wyvern. You are out of your league." Peridot watched all this and waved one of her arms to throw her chain whip around the wyvern's neck, feeling it lock itself into place before she pulled and the wyvern began to growl and let her go as Peridot quickly threw the other arm to let another chain whip out, surprising mostly everyone, even the male, when she was having the battle of spirits with the wyvern.
After five minutes of measuring the will of each other, Peridot soon unhooked the chain whips from the wyvern and exposed her throat, only for the big brute to lower it and offering its own throat, a gesture that Peridot lowered its head for and soon began to scratch it on the side of the head. The male stood in confusion, "That... how?" Peridot looked at him before smiling, "Neither of us wanted to fight, we wanted equal respect. I am not the fighter, I am the caretaker and this cute boy is just a defending and caring guy. It is clear that he is your partner, because his will to do right echoes with your spirit." Alexander smirked, "Spoken like a true queen there." The male just looked at Peridot and then lifted two claws to them, "Wait here."
Peridot giggled as the big brute had lowered himself to become a cuddly pet, her hands rubbing his cheek while he was happily growling, Tenchi just walking over to her, "Peri, you have truly grown when I didn't see it." Peridot looked at Tenchi and in front of everyone, she slapped Tenchi on the cheek, "That is for saying that I am not strong like you. Strength comes in various forms, the only weakness is to not acknowledge what someone else has." Tenchi felt that sting and soon giggled, "You really gave me a lecture there." The wyvern sniffed at Tenchi and soon when she faced him, she eeped as it was her turn to be caught in the jaws, making Peridot giggle, "It seems he put you in timeout." Everyone laughed at Tenchi who growled a little before she was put down on her head, her horns sinking into the frozen ground. Seeing this, Alexander was just about to sing, when Sasha covered his maw, "Okay Pavarotti, you gonna be quiet now."
It wasn't long before the male returned and bowed, "Excuse me for making you wait so long. Our leader, Icebreaker Zinava, wants to meet you personally. Follow me." Like a spell out of the blue, the area soon came to life with light as ice crystals filled with arcane fire lit up and their eyes witnessed a meteorite crater filled with many stone huts and farmland, but what surprised them the most was that as they entered the area, it went from freezing cold to scorching hot. The wyvern whimpered as Peridot and Tenchi left him, making Peridot feel a bit bad for him, but gave his nose a soft kiss, "Calm down there, big boy. We will come back." Tenchi waved to her and Peridot came running as they slowly made their way to the biggest stone hut of them all, two guards blocking the way in before the male bowed, "I brought the outsiders, just as Lady Icebreaker told me to." The guards nodded before moving aside as a powerful voice called from the inside, "Enter, if you dare!"
The End.
