Frozen Memories

Ever Been the Same?

Etho turned, having almost entirely forgotten his group, which seemed really rude, now that he thought about it.

Every time he looked north at the beacon, he was filled with an inexplicable joy, though he assumed this situation was nothing he should be happy about.

With a sigh, he tied his hair up, and quickly scaled the plateau that Guston rested atop.

Once he landed safely in the short alpine grass, he noticed a large, shimmering crystal he hadn't seen the last time he was here. He approached it, idly kicking it.

The crystal suddenly cracked, and soon shattered. There wasn't even dust left of it.

He continued as if nothing happened, turning to see a familiar face.

"Iskall, hey!" He smiled behind his mask.

They turned, and a similar bright smile spread across their face. "Hallo, Etho," they walked towards him.

Etho turned to look at where the crystal used to be. "I might have kicked the crystal, I didn't think they were that fragile."

"They're not, really, what did you do?" They said, their interest piqued. "Did you- you destroyed it?"

"I did, sorry," Etho apologized quickly.

"Don't be," Iskall spoke just as fast. "That- this is good."

~

Gem stood across the room from him, flipping a folded fan in her hands. "You're certain?"

"Yes, Iskall said they have the situation under control now." Jim reassured her.

Iskall had just come up to them, a few minutes before, and quickly explained that they found who they were looking for, dragging a startled man with long silver hair behind them. Beef thought he recognized him from his childhood, but he brushed that off.

The two stayed there with them, trying to sort out a plan between themselves.

Now, he rubbed the dark stone in his pocket, which had become somewhat of a habit of his, as the small group reassured the ancient spirit.

Their conversation was soon interrupted by the landing of two horses nearby. A couple of voices Beef didn't know talked to each other. They wore yellow, so they must have been from Winston. There were three of them.

Two walked forwards, leaving their horses with a man with long brown hair. He wore grey armour, the only sign of him being from Winston was a bright yellow bandana tied around his arm.

The other two approached, one had short black hair and glasses, and the other was- entirely blue?

Gem turned, a bright smile flashing over her face. "Jevin!" She dashed to the blue man, trapping him in an inescapable bear-hug of doom.

"Hey, Gem," Jevin returned. His companion buried his face in his hands.

"Hi, um," the dark-haired man spoke. "I'm Cub, that's Xisuma." Cub pointed at the armoured man, currently trying to keep the horses from dragging him off the cliffface.

Gem finally released Jevin, who continued. "We did have two more with us, but Joel's in Westin," he trailed off awkwardly.

"And we lost Wels," Cub finished.

The silver haired man turned his head up suddenly. "Wels?"

"You know him?" Cub asked.

"Yes, he went missing a few weeks ago," the man that Beef could swear was familiar went on. "No one's been able to find him."