Converging Destinies: Part 2

Chapter 284

       The group up in the Northern Woods had just readjusted their course. They trudged slowly through the snow, Roya being helped forward.

       The wind howled, the cold bit at them. None of them could see much more than ten feet away.

       For the next half hour, the blizzard continued to rage with almost deafening volume. Brie could have sworn that they were walking uphill, but it was hard to tell.

       But then, the wind howled with less volume, and the group's vision was no longer blocked by whipped up snow, but by mist.

       The snow beneath their feet slowly began to fade away.

       But most striking of all, the temperature began to rise. It rose in a strangely rapid fashion.

       "I have no clue what's happening, this is... very irregular." Varhine said. The snow beneath the group's feet was only ankle deep, and even Brie could easily walk in it.

       "I'm not sure what it is either, but I can't say I complain." Aiyoshar said. Brie chuckled.

       "You have that right." She said.

       Then, the mist began to clear, but not entirely. It didn't block vision, and it shimmered with emerald and sapphire hues.

       "Brie, look." Roya said weakly, pointing at Brie's ring.

       "What is it, Roya?" Brie asked.

       "Your ring." Roya answered. Glancing at the ring on her hand, it almost seemed to glow.

       "Whoa." Brie said, then, she looked at Roya's. Sure enough, it was also glowing.

       "Everyone! Look at your rings." Brie said. Everyone inspected their hands.

       "Fascinating." Aiyoshar said. All of their rings carried that same, faint glow to them.

       As they went on, the temperature continued to rise. It rose to the point the group couldn't even see their breath in the air in front of them.

       The trees all around them were rich and green. Varhine noted that some of the trees should have been bare of leaves at this point in the year.

       Some of the leaves were yellow and red as normal, and they popped out against the backdrop of green.

       "I see something, let's take a look." Varhine said, quickly navigating through the trees. Then, the whole group saw it.

       It was a lake, far larger than the one they had seen before. Both sides of it snaked away into the trees. The lake itself was over a hundred feet across. And most fascinating of all, it wasn't frozen, and the water was mirror like. No wind stirred it.

       "It's gorgeous." Roya said.

       The group were surrounded by a rich green forest covered in glittering mist. Their jewelry glowed, the water wasn't frozen. And yet, it was past the mid way point of Winter, such a scene was naturally impossible.

       "If there's a gold dragon, it's here." Varhine said.

       "What makes you think that?" Brie asked.

       "There's a large body of water, and I think I would have heard of a place up here that was warm in the heart of Winter, meaning that this place is nearly impossible to find. If this isn't a golden dragon, I don't know what it is."