The Isles of Ice Book One: The Corrupted Kingdom

Plummeting Temperatures and a Chilling Breeze

Atlas crossed their arms and stared down at the entire group. "None of you recall the repeated times I mentioned that we needed to retrieve the orb so Astraeus and my other idiot siblings can't use it to activate their plan and enhance their magic?"

Rose shook her head. "Atlas you never said that."

"The lass is right." Xavier corroborated. "I would've remembered you mentioning something as important as that."

Tempus scratched his beard. "I recall legends of the Indigo Jewel. It's located on Heau, correct?"

Atlas nodded. "And we need to go get it. Astraeus said he was looking for it last time I spoke to him and the prophecy on Solanja told me where I could find it."

Xavier sighed but relented to Atlas's demands. "Fine. Let's just get to the ship and get going. Heau isn't far from here anyway. We'll meet you at the Azure Cove, Tempus." The two pirates shook hands and the group boarded their small ship that had thankfully remained in the calm water and therefore un-smashed.

Atlas seated themselves in the middle of the ship and watched Xavier go to work getting the boat up and running and flying across the water into the frigid part of the archipelago.

Atlas had been around the islands for centuries and the climate was decent on Solanja and the Isle of Muerend during the summer months but there was no escaping the cold for half of the year.

It was already the afternoon as they sailed across the ocean but the pirate captain seemed unwilling to use Rose's firepower and so they instead had to twiddle their thumbs aboard the boat.

Jacob admired Lumis and the new inscription onto the blade that represented the seal binding Cuthulaken to eternal slumber. Atlas quite liked the work they had done on the seal and the design of the engraving they had conjured up.

Heau was an island that was entirely unfamiliar to how Atlas had pictured it. Solanja and Heau had always had a very strong relationship being spiritual and advanced civilizations that other annoying island nations had tried to take over for themselves.

As they approached the island, Atlas was shocked to see a port city similar to the one on Centrixia but in complete shambles. Snow decorated the dirty streets and the island reeked of pollution.

"What happened to Heau?" Atlas asked aloud to no one in particular.

"Kingston happened." Jacob spat. The Guardian noticed that this time he didn't shoot a glare at Rose. "After Solanja went under, Marok pulled out of Heau which left Kingston to take it over and turn it into a colony that they mined for resources, specifically coal. The people were never treated great but after Centrixia's rebellion the hold on this island was tightened."

Xavier nodded and pulled his hat back onto his head. "Aye. And that means I need to keep a low profile because Kingston made sure Heauans blamed Centrixians for the worse treatment."

Atlas was never a fan of Kingston. The island empire had tried and failed miserably at occupying Solanja but had strong-armed them into a restrictive alliance and ever since they had thrown their weight around at every island they could.

The boat pulled into the city and the smell of pollution was overwhelming. Atlas's senses were overwhelmed by the sheer state of the city. Kingston guards in well-kept golden armor patrolled the streets and shouted at a few teenagers who were loitering.

Most of the Heauans were wearing tattered overalls and other scraps of clothing to keep themselves warm on the southernmost island and many of them were skinny or otherwise frail.

"The people here are practically starved," Jacob murmured with a hiss.

Rose hurried off of the boat and the girl's jade eyes glistened at the sight of the city. "Truly awful. You'll pay for this all, Kingston."