Frozen Echoes: The Last HallowFrost

Chapter 3: The HallowFrost Palace

A few hours later...

She slowly cracked her eyes open, sighing heavily as she sat up, groggily rubbing her eyes and becoming more conscious. Nimbus sat beside her, his eyes shadowed and tired. "Nimbus?" She wondered, his head snapped up and he looked at her, even in the semi-darkness she saw that his eyes were slightly bloodshot and held a distant anxiety.

"Yes, Mistress Cryo?" He responded with a yawn, "do you need me for somethin'?"

"No, but maybe you should rest. Were you up all night?"

He sighed heavily and nodded, "you were talking rather loudly in your sleep... and you clawed yourself... may I ask what the dream was about?"

She glanced at her shoulders, partially-melted snow covered clotted purple slashes in her flesh, she winced as she brushed a claw over one. Even in her sleep she was somewhat ferocious. She glanced at her tail, and upon finding no spikes missing, she sighed with relief.

She cleared her throat, "well..."

After about twenty minutes of explaining her vivid dreams to Nimbus, she saw him with slightly widened eyes. She saw the worry evident in his silver eyes, and he looked at her earnestly.

"Do you believe that this HallowFrost dragon was... real?" He asked, she nodded. "I've never really had dreams as vivid as these... I think it's a sign."

"A sign of what, exactly?"

She smiled faintly at the possibility, "I think it's a sign that I'm not truly alone anymore, there's another HallowFrost out there, surviving on their own... just like me."

Nimbus blinked and nodded thoughtfully, "although, I wouldn't really say "alone," but I know what you mean."

Leaving it at that, CryoFangs explained that she'd be back soon, Nimbus took a moment before nodding, "if anything happens to you, I'll know. In the meantime, be careful and... I'm really tired."

She smiled broadly and exited her home, shutting the door and walking off of the pinewood porch, her feet touching down on crisp white snow. She breathed in deeply, taking in the crisp air as she gazed at the sky, it wasn't overcast but a few thick clouds drifted by in the blue. She then flapped into the sky, wondering where she could go for a bit of thinking... or a bit of exploration.

CryoFangs yearned to truly explore the frozen territory she called her home, curiosity and adventurism has run in her veins for as long as she could remember. But with Nimbus being overprotective of the young HallowFrost, she hadn't really got the chance. I think I'll go somewhere and explore for a bit; I deserve it! She thought boldly, chuckling to herself as she brought up a mental image of Elementia.

She had never visited the HallowFrost Palace; rather she'd seen the magnificent home of the King and Queen from a distance. And, from what small rumors her mother used to tell her, the two royals had a hatchling, a son. CryoFangs desperately wanted to see the inside of the palace.

And today was the day she infiltrated the Palace's walls and took a well-earned peek inside.

Remembering the Palace on the map, she tilted her wings and went southwest, aiming for the HallowFrost Mountain Range. She could've circled around the mountains and flown parallel with the Bitterkill River, but that would've made the flight a lot longer, and flying over the mountains brought with it the perk of shaving a few hours off of her flight.

CryoFangs preferred getting to her location sooner, and she didn't mind taking in the view of the mountains, they were quite beautiful at any time of the day. Distractions were something she always looked for when attempting to forget her traumatic past, she sighed and cleared her head as best she could, but a tendril of dread still lingered, as if aching to flip her mental switch from "somewhat sane" to "scared out of her mind."