Defying Destiny

32 | Into the Castle

Harumi and Akita walked in silence as they made their way across the glacier. They would occasionally glare daggers at each other before looking ahead and focusing at the task at hand. Finding Lloyd and Zane.

There was a blizzard passing through which made the journey colder and more difficult than it already was. Akita had an injured leg and Harumi had an injured arm and shoulder which made both girls too weak to fight.

"We need to find shelter!" Akita yelled threw the blizzard.

"I am not staying in the same place as you!" Harumi shot back. She knew she had no choice for they had to stay together in order to take on the Ice Emperor. But in their condition, none of them would last long in the storm. "Ugh. Fine!"

They looked around and saw nothing but snow rapidly falling from the sky. Harumi spotted a ledge and decided to head towards it, Akita following closely behind her. Leaving a huge gap between them, the girls sat down and leaned their backs against the mountain to get some rest.

"We need our strength if we want to fight off the Ice Emperor and find Lloyd." Harumi explained but made sure her voice was heard from her place.

"Very well." Akita agreed and relaxed for a bit.

Harumi let herself recover from the dragon's attack just a few minutes ago. It was bad enough that her whole body was aching but so was her heart. She had never been far away from Lloyd before or the other ninja, she always had someone by her side (mainly to keep her in check but she did not mind the company).

She was worried about the dangers ahead and what must have happened back at the village. With these thoughts running through her head, it easily put her to sleep as they waited out the blizzard.

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Soon enough they had reached the Ice Emperor's Castle. It was a palace made of bricks with red roofs and blue windows and like the rest of the village, it was covered in snow and ice. The girls hid behind some shards of ice as they observed the entrance to the castle. There was a long steep staircase leading to the door which was guarded by two soldiers that looked a lot like they had encountered in the village during the battle.

"Here's the plan--." Harumi began but Akita placed a hand up.

"No. This is where we part ways. I will go on my quest and you will go on yours." She stated before shifting into her wolf form and gave Harumi a quick growl before leaving her on her own.

"Alright then." She shrugged and used her ninja training into action. She noticed Akita had decided to distract the guards with her wolf form so Harumi snuck up from behind them and knocked them out. "What?"

"Leave me alone." Akita pushed past her and entered the palace. Harumi followed closely behind her but made sure to keep her distance.

The inside of the palace was bigger than how it looked on the outside. There were the same shards of ice they found on the land but this time it grew out of the floor. Blue lanterns lit up the place but it barely gave off any warmth. A red banner, with what Harumi assumed was the symbol of the Ice Emperor, hung on the walls and covered most of them like wallpaper.

As the girls explored deeper into the castle, they had no idea that the boys were right behind the other wall. Harumi wondered off on her own to try and find the dungeons. Every corridor looked the same, every wall and structure was no different than the last. It was getting harder and harder to find her way through this maze until she heard a window break.

How am I supposed to find Lloyd in this mess?

Harumi turned a corner and found a shattered window at the end of the corridor, she quietly made her way towards it and jumped through before the guards could spot her. The window had led her on top of a roof where she found Akita dangling on the edge.