Chapter Text
The wind was surprisingly warm despite them flying into the land of snow and Ice.
Daniel and Star flew next to an annoyed Winter who was rudely awoken from his nap about twenty minutes ago.
"So let me get This straight" Winter spoke, he let a small yawn out of his system before continuing.
"You guys went out while we were all sleeping and brought back what appears to be a compass but is not a compass it's actually a tracker for some 'Scrolls of chaos' which apparently could be the reason why Pyrrhia will start to burn in the Prophecy"
He stopped and took a deep breath.
"Wow that was a mouthful"
Daniel stared at his friend for a moment before answering.
"Yeah that's about it, so now we're following wherever this thing takes us."
He gestured to the relic in his talon.
Winter took a closer look at it, it was an interesting little relic.
It appeared to be a normal compass with the centre of it rotating around like normal.
So it did tell direction, or at least it used to.
Now the north arrow would point towards wherever the supposed 'scrolls of chaos' were.
"So this thing points to where we need to go?" Winter asked.
"Yep," Star interjected, trying to get into the conversation.
"Although it's taking us close to the Ice Kingdom"
They all looked into the snowy wasteland as the great ice wall finally approached.
"Alright guys... I guess we're going in" Daniel said.
"Woah Woah Woah, just wait a minute! I'm not helping you break into the Ice Kingdom?!"
Winter yelled suddenly, he stopped flying and looked at Daniel.
"It's against Ice Wing law to help people break in"
"Winter you know we have to go where it says we need to" Star said but Winter retorted in response.
"Yeah well, I didn't think it would lead us here. Plus nothing you can say to change my mind.
Daniel sighed, "Well if Phyrria burns there won't be a law there won't be anything at all because we'll all be dead. So if that's what you want then be my guest. Me and Star will just break in without you then"
Winter looked at him with deadly eyes but Daniel stayed calm showing he was going into the ice kingdom whether Winter liked it or not.
There was a tense stare-off between Daniel and Winter before he eventually gave in.
"UUURAAGHHH FINE!" Winter yelled, "But I'm only doing this so Phyrria isn't demolished, okay." A small puff of frost came out of his snout as he finished up his sentence.
"Works for me, now lead the way friend"
Daniel laughed to which Winter rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.
Together they flew into the far distance beyond.
Winter took the lead as Daniel and Star followed suit.
It took a while Daniel had to admit as while the wind flowed over his scales like a school of fish he found himself thinking about his whole situation.
'So we just need to discover this scroll of chaos... And it will hopefully help us figure this whole prophecy shit out. I also need to find a way out of Phyrria..'
He looked to Winter and Star flying close to him.
Star looked over and shot him a happy smile to which he returned.
'But I'm not sure if I should tell them... At least not yet.'
He turned his attention to the Great Ice Cliff which stood a near five-minute flight away.
Honestly sand didn't know if he was ready to go back to those freezing temperatures.
'But if Phyrria's fate rests on our shoulders... It's not like I have much of a choice but to go back anyway.'
Daniel continued to be deep in thought as he pondered over the possible outcomes of this Mission... Each ending getting worse and worse as they came and went
' What if We get caught and sent back to JMA? Or even worse, we get locked up in the Ice Kingdom dungeons.
What if we don't even make it to where the tracker tells us to go, what if I just catch frostbite and freeze... While Winter and Star watch me die slowly... Or even worse above all that... What if this scroll isn't even on Phyrria... What if it's on Pantala? Then what... Do we just watch the world burn and us along with it?'
Daniel couldn't think straight. His heart picked up pace at the thousands of ways this could go horribly wrong.
And he would have spiralled downwards If it wasn't for Winter calling out to them.
"We're here!" Daniel was snapped back to reality at Winters words.
He looked up to see the Great Ice Cliff towering above them.
"Oh wow... I never saw the Great Ice Wall this close"
Daniel said.
The first time around he was so caught up in his thoughts that he had missed it but not this time. This time he saw the full beauty of the structure.
"It protects everything inside the kingdom." Winter responded before adding, "And it's called the Great Ice 'Cliff,' not Great Ice 'Wall'"
"Yeah, did your family not teach you that?" Star asked wonderingly, "I'm pretty sure everyone in Pyrrhia knows how to say It"
Daniel's face fell, "My family...?" He repeated flashes of memories came back to him, good memories of him and his parents... Then the text message and the news about their deaths... His sister never really cared for him but she was still part of his life. He shook his head. "I don't talk about them"
Star looked at him, puzzled. "Why not? Were they not great to you?"
"No no, it's not that, I just don't want to talk about it" Daniel said as he tried to divert the conversation.
But then Winter interjected. "Well I highly doubt they're worse than my family so I don't think you have much to hide" Winter scoffed.
Daniel shot him a glare, "Let's just drop the subject please, thank you" he was getting a little aggravated but kept his composure.
"How do we get in Winter?"
The Icewing turned to meet his eyes, "I was actually interested for once but if you insist... I'll skip listening to your attempt at a sad life story"
Daniel's glare intensified. "Look, I'll admit that my childhood was probably better than yours if that's what you're trying to prove but let's just drop this already" Daniel had enough on his mind, he didn't need more.
"No I'm curious now, we've never heard anything about you and your past yet you seem to know almost everything about all of us" Winter returned his glare but it wasn't a glare of anger, more like one of deep confusion.
"Hurricane, Maybe Winter's right on this one... if you were to tell us more about yourself then maybe we could get along more and understand each other" Star suddenly interjected herself into the conversation.
Winter looked at her and then back to Daniel whose face had fallen to a mix of reluctance and sadness. "Look it's obvious something's on your mind so just spill it already" Winter said in a slightly harsh tone.
"Look, guys, I appreciate it but I don't want to worry you with my problems, it's better if I just figure it out on my own" Daniel said.
'Also because I'm not sure if you guys can handle my problems since I'm not even supposed to be here...'
He looked over to Winter who was staring at him, a sort of realisation printed across his face.
Daniel looked at him, confused but soon realised what was up.
'He sees himself... he sees himself bottling up all his problems... though he'll never admit it'
Daniel shook his head "Let's go, we got work to do"
Star and Winter exchanged glances but eventually, they both nodded.
"Fine, I'll lead the way," Winter said.
Soon all three of them flew adjacent to the Great Ice cliff as they made their way past.
They flew in silence as Daniel took in the scenery of the snowy peaks of surrounding mountains, the oddly shaped Ice Kingdom Igloos in the distance, as well as Queen Snowfalls castle.
The breeze felt nice on his scales as he looked down to the ground rushing below him like a wild river.
He smiled though it soon faded, he wanted to stay like this forever, he wanted to stay free, with the friends he never had back on earth.
'But... I can't stay... I know I can't, no matter how much I want to I need to return to where I need to be, Earth.
Sure... it won't be as free, or nice... instead, it'll be more lonely, and controlling, but it's where humans like myself belong, and I can't change that'
Daniel looked down at the clawed red talons he had gotten used to over the past few days. He knew that time in Phyrria worked differently which meant that when he eventually returned, Earth would of most likely changed a lot.
'Earth would of changed so much by the time I even left his realm... is it even worth going back to anymore? My parents are dead, my sister is already In Phyrria so what exactly do I have to go back for?'
It made no sense to go back, no sense at all. why would he return to a place that's worse than the place he's in when he could just live in wonderland for the rest of his days?
'Because I'll mess up the world even more, using time travel knowledge if I mess up the course of events too much then I can cause this world to collapse completely. So if I was to stay here it would only be a matter of time before my actions catch up with me.'
'So that settles it... Even if I end up living my life by myself with nobody else... I must leave in order to make sure I don't destroy everything and everyone in it... So I'll cherish the moments I have now so when I do leave it doesn't hurt as much...'
Star and Winter were a lot further up than him at the current moment and they seemed to be deep in conversation so Daniel thought it was safe enough.
"Hey guys can we take a small break? I want to check something!" Daniel called out.
Winter and Star both looked at him "Yeah sure, I'm down for a quick break anyways" Winter agreed.
Star nodded and all three of them flew down to the crisp, white, and VERY slippery land below as Daniel almost lost his balance when landing.
meanwhile, Star and Winter both landed easily thanks to their extra sharp claws built for this climate.
when they all finally gathered Star asked "So why did you want to take a break?"
"Oh I just saw something and wanted to check it out, plus I thought a break could be useful while we make a plan"
He reached into the bag around his neck and took out Barren's map and the pieces of parchments with the prophecy written on it.
"See if you can find anything, I'll be back before you know it"
Star gave him a questionable look but didn't say anything as she started to make progress with Winter on the prophecy.
Daniel took it as an 'okay' and left to go 'check out' something he had seen though in reality he just needed to be alone for a little while.
once he was out of sight completely he sat down on a small mound of snow and took out two items from his bag. A small bottle of ink he had snatched on his way out from History and a rather long scroll that Clay had given to him to take notes in class with.
He took out the scroll and ink and started to write, he was going to treat this scroll as a journal entry for his adventures so that when he finally left Phyrria the Jade winglet would have something to remember him by and have a reason as to why he left.
'๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ป... ๐๐ท๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐'
'๐๐ ๐ท๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ต ๐๐ธ๐ป๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ช๐ท๐ผ ๐ ๐ถ๐ช๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐๐ท ๐ช๐ผ '๐๐พ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ช๐ท๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ด๐๐๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ' ๐ธ๐ป '๐ข๐น๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ธ๐ท' ๐ฒ๐ฏ ๐ ๐๐ช๐ผ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ. ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ป๐ท๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ต๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ช. ๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ป๐พ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐'๐ถ ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฝ๐พ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ ๐ท๐ธ๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ถ, ๐'๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐ช ๐ผ๐ฎ๐น๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ผ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐๐ท ๐ช๐ผ '๐๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ฑ.'
๐ ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐ ๐๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ธ๐พ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐ฌ๐ป๐ช๐๐ ๐ซ๐พ๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ฝ'๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ป๐พ๐ฎ. ๐'๐ถ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ป๐ญ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ต๐ผ ๐ช๐ฌ๐ป๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ท๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐'๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐พ๐ท๐ญ ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ฎ๐ต๐ฏ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ช๐ต๐ต ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ต ๐ฎ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฌ๐ฎ. ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ท? ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ ๐ช ๐๐ช๐ ๐ซ๐ช๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฎ. ๐'๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐พ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ธ๐ถ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ถ๐ธ๐พ๐ท๐ฝ๐ช๐ฒ๐ท ๐ช๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ต๐น ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ป๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ต๐ผ, ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐พ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ธ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ป๐พ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ต ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ.
๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐พ๐ป๐ป๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐ถ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ ๐'๐ถ ๐ธ๐ท ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ช๐ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ธ๐ถ ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ท๐ญ๐ผ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ช๐ป ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ช๐ป๐ฌ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐๐ท ๐ช๐ผ ๐ช '๐ผ๐ฌ๐ป๐ธ๐ต๐ต ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ธ๐ผ' ๐ฒ๐ท ๐ฑ๐ธ๐น๐ฎ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ต ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ธ๐ ๐พ๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ผ๐ธ๐ต๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ช ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ช๐ผ๐ฝ๐ป๐ธ๐พ๐ผ ๐น๐ป๐ธ๐น๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ช๐ท๐ญ ๐น๐ธ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ ๐ช ๐ฌ๐ต๐พ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐ซ๐ช๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ฑ. ๐๐ธ๐น๐ฎ๐ฏ๐พ๐ต๐ต๐ ๐'๐ต๐ต ๐ซ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ซ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐พ๐น๐ญ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ช ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ธ๐ป ๐ ๐ญ๐ธ๐ท'๐ฝ ๐ด๐ท๐ธ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ฝ ๐ช๐๐ช๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ผ ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ฎ๐๐ฝ. ๐๐พ๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐'๐ต๐ต ๐ณ๐พ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ท๐ญ ๐ธ๐พ๐ฝ.
- ๐๐ท๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ท๐ฝ๐ป๐ 1
Daniel blew on the paper to dry the ink before he eventually rolled it up and placed it inside of his bag along with the small bottle of black liquid.
He wiped the tip of his claw clean on the snow before he headed back to his friends.
Walking back, a cool breeze flew over sending some snow through the air. A clear view of the whole kingdom could be seen and this is when Daniel got an Idea.
Daniel opened his bag once again he took it out and looked down at the tracker. He drew an invisible line towards where it was pointing but his heart sank as it was clear as day where they needed to go.
"Oh no..."
"Winter is not going to like this... nor is Snowfall..."