CHAPTER 7


    I DIED, NO I DID NOT


    Hans had finished what he came for, and it was time for him to depart. He nodded to Arat and to the kneeling Gryphon knights. He looked above and called his own beam, INGRESS, he shouted.


    “Zwoom!” The pillar of light fell on him, and he vanished.


    “We’re leaving too, it’s a sacred place, but I can’t shake the feeling of dread every time I’m here.” Arat said, and another pillar of light enveloped them, transporting them back to the Parvin capital. As the magnificent capital came into view, Arat turned to the current knight commander, “Garuda, Its a very difficult task you’ve given to the prince. Do you wish him to fail that badly?”


    “Its an impossible thing, yet you called it a ‘very difficult challenge’ Arat.” Homar smirked. “You have a strange confidence in the kid, and so do I. He is an imperial, its unfair but that blood flowing in his veins…it means something.”


    Meanwhile, at the Sunspark, Hans and Chris burst out of the ground. “They all went back, right?” Hans asked, frantically searching the area.


    “Hans! We shouldn’t be here—“


    “Whose country are we in, Chris?” Hans interrupted, a huge smirk on his face. “Mine, so what’s the big deal if I want to do something else—“


    “The big deal is you wanting to go to that that dreadful place.” Chris answered, pointing to the frozen ground downhill.


    “Wow, I thought Delimira was one with the insight—“


    “It’s not an insight,” Chris pointed again, now, at him. “It’s practically written all over your face, Hans.”


    “So, I’m that easy to read, haan! I need to do something about it.” Hans nodded, muttering, “A ruler must have a deadpan face. And I’m failing with the top scores. Tsk!”


    He looked down the burrow where they both sprouted from and recalled how similarly he escaped from Arat in Frozen Tooth.


    “This brings back some memories,” he said, looking down at the snowy forest below. He had planned this moment when he heard about Frostspire. His VeganBind had started digging a hole beneath him, and when the INGRESS light fell, Hans and Chris were sucked in instead of being sent above.


    “I can’t believe they didn’t find us. They were some pretty powerful people, weren’t they?” Chris asked, confused..


    “When they see the INGRESS light, the first thing they think is traveling,” Hans explained. “Their unwavering belief is why I succeeded, and the INGRESS light’s protection doesn’t let others peek, it helps.”


    Looking the flustered face of Chris, Hans chuckled, “Well, I wanted to visit the forbidden lands before I went back. So we’re going down.” He looked the unteaching ground below, but Chris grabbed his hand quickly before Hans could perform his signature reckless move of doing whatever he wanted.


    “No, Hans.” Chris screamed, “We don’t know what we’re going to face there—”


    “You are my first knight, so act like one.” Hans said, shrugging off his hand.


    “Im acting like one. I’ve heard from my father—”


    “Oh. I’d have heard it too, if I had one.”


    Hans’s words caught Chris off guard, and he felt regretful.


    Looking at him downcast, Hans burst into laughter, saying, “I was just messing with you! Look at your face, you silly goose. Get a thicker skin, or you’ll get chewed out in this world.”


    Before Chris could think, Hans jumped down the mountain, shouting, “Come on, my brave knight!”


    Snapping quickly, Chris followed Hans, sliding down the VeganBind right behind him.


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    As they both continued down, the cool mountain air rushed past them. It smelled like pine, and Chris could hear faint whispers. It was creeping up his spine. “Hans, this is a bad idea,” Chris mumbled, but as usual, when Hans was curious about something, nothing was going to stop him, certainly not some whispers.


    “I know,” He shouted back. Ignoring the plight of his new knight.


    As they descended, the snow-covered landscape changed like magic. They went from the bright snowy top to the mysterious Frostspire Forest. It didn’t take them long to travel thousands of kilometers down. “It looked small…way small from up there.” Hans said, amazed.


    The forest looked calm and peaceful, yet there was muffled bustling, like the trees were trying to tell something. It was enough to scare someone out, but not Hans. He looked above, big pine trees, covered in shiny snow, made a fancy roof that let the soft sunlight come through, making the forest floor look magical.


    “Snap!” Suddenly a sound came from within, as if someone had accidentally stepped on a broken branch while stalking them. Both turned to the sound, but their eyes could only catch a silhouette running deeper.


    “Hans, buddy! Do we really have to go there?” Chris almost begged Hans to say no.


    “Of course. Don’t you wanna know what it was?”


    “NO!” Chris yelled, but Hans just made him follow deeper.


    As they ventured deeper, blue lights, resembling magical fireflies, illuminated the path ahead, casting a soft glow.


    “See they are welcoming us.” Hans remarked, capturing the odd firefly, “Zapp! Ouch!” But he had to let it go because it suddenly shocked him.


    “Nasty little vermin,” Hans cursed and continued his steps further, the air seemed to vibrate with mana and it was not in a good way, as if the very essence of the Frostspire was conveying contradictory of what Hans thinking, a final warning.


    “You sure that they are welcoming us.” Chris doubted.


    “How’d I know?” Hans retorted.


    “Whose country are we in, yours.” Chris rebuked.


    “Tsk, Delimira is a bad influence.” Hans muttered and stepped further in, with Chris closely following behind. As they walked, the snow began to crunch beneath their boots, each moment was showing them something new.


    “Man this is fascinating! Suddenly the snow increased in the ground or we are on something.” He stomped, and as he doubted, something was hollow beneath his feet.


    “Hey, stop doing that.” Chris complained. The sudden silence was already gnawing on him and he didn’t want Hans to do something stupid on top of it.


    “This is becoming spooky.” Hans said to himself. However, he had his own agenda coming down. Before Chris got that Heaven strike, he only wanted to take a look, but now he desired his own blessing from Osiris.


    “Hiss!” They both quickly turned towards the sound.


    “What is this?” Hans asked himself as he saw the source of noise. An arc made of some kind of white metal with strips of light going underground.It was covered in frost and draped with ivy. Hans reached, but just as he touched the object, the blue strips turn red. “Aah, O! Red is an universal sign for bad, right Chris?” He was startled, and Chris finally paid attention to what his new lord was messing with.


    But before he could offer him his obvious council to run. A feminine voice filled with rage echoed. It was far different from what blessed Chris, “How dare you mortals to step in Frostspire?”


    “I’m Prince of Parv. I came here—”


    “You’re not a knight, you’re not worthy. Get out!” The voice roared with fury


    “No, I’m not leaving” Hans denied authoritatively. “just give me the damn blessing.”


    “Pathetic mortals.” A gust of wind swept through them, and Hans felt a cold chill run down his spine. He hesitated and turned to find Chris, lifeless like a boulder had crushed him. He couldn’t even feel anger, “Shack!” His lower half was torn from him. Finally, the pain pierced his mind, and he let out a heart-wrenching cry.


    “This is a forbidden place. You must pay the price for disturbing my slumber. And how dare you demand something?” Hans couldn’t even hear those words. He stood on his two legs, as if the previous incident had never happened. He turned to face Chris, who was standing with a defeated stance. “That wasn’t an illusion, Hans. This is not something —”


    “Shack!” The scene of Chris crushing from an invisible boulder and his lower body dismembering repeated. Hans cried out in anger once more. But this time, the voice spoke something different. “You need to learn the consequences, AGAIN.”


    Hans opened his eyes, and he was standing. He turned to Chris to warn him, but the scene repeated again. However, this much was clear: it wasn’t some illusion. The pain they were both feeling was real, and so did the awkward feeling of coming back to life.


    “Again.”


    “Again…”


    “Again…”


    …


    .


    .


    It continued for a long time, like someone was rewinding the time again and again. “Do you have your fill of arrogance, or should I continue …?”


    In that split second, Hans and Chris both died and came back to life multiple times. But Hans wasn’t just sitting there doing nothing. Each time they got back to life, he pushed Chris and himself a bit further away from where they were. And finally, they stopped hearing that terrifying voice.


    “Chris grabbed Hans by the collar, gasping, “How many times do I have to tell you not to do something so stupid? That was a god, you idiot. Your position as prince means shit to them.”


    “Yeah, sorry. I won’t do again.” Hans apologised his heart beats almost reaching his ears, It was his first time experiencing something like this. He was confident after facing his father, but he couldn’t even react to those attacks.


    “INGRESS” he called out, and the pillar of light carried them back to Concordia, for real this time.


    “Zwoom!” They landed right outside of Concordia’s main gate, in the Midlands. Both were panting, “I’m not gonna touch any forbidden things from now on.” Chris whined.


    Hans couldn’t argue; dying and coming back to life was one experience he was really not looking forward to seeing again.


    “What happened? Why are you late?” Rudolf frantically questioned as he saw the terrified looks on the children’s faces. “We just greeted a god.” Hans said chuckling, masking how terrified the experience was.


    Meanwhile, Delimira came near Chris and unhooked his jet black cloak. It was made from a very dark fur, enchanted with magic for wear and tear. “Can I keep this?” She asked, but Chris snatched it back. He pointed to Hans, “Take his, I only have one.”


    “I already got the white one. So how much for this?” She teased.


    “You still have that?” Hans asked, recalling Arat had handed them these cloaks when they met him in the Frozen Thoth.


    “Of course,” she responded. “When do I get to wear the Imperial robes again? No money can buy that.”


    “That’s why I’m not selling Deli,” Chris interjected. “Arat already doesn’t like me. I don’t want to hear that I wasn’t even fit to protect my clothes.”


    Hans chuckled at the thought and added, “Oh! Arat will really say that.” Amid the giggling, Hans had forgotten for a moment that he had become the object of everyone’s interest after the huge incident at Grimgar, and now many uninterested eyes have turned interested, even in Concordia.