Ring of the Artisan

Act I Ch. 4: Icy Breath

You flexed your hand, feeling the dried paint crack and fall off as you studied the Artisan's Ring. Ever since saving Cole from that dragon and supposedly releasing some paint, your Ring's been occasionally leaking every so often. Right now, your hand was covered in trails of dry paint. It hasn't been spilling recently.

Just as you think that paint starts appearing at your fingertips, slowly spreading and beginning to trail down your hand. You wiped your hand against your gi before getting up from the small table and leaving the little room.

At least your Gi's are already multicolored. Hardly anyone can tell you just wiped your hand on your pant leg.

You stepped out onto the small boat's deck, glancing around at the scenery that has changed since you were last out here. Up ahead, you could see towering pillars of ice within the sea. There was a little bit of snow falling from the sky around you, landing on the deck and slowly melting away. There was a large enough chasm between the pillars, and you're assuming that the ship's going to head right in. The Shurikens of Ice should be within the Frozen Wasteland, according to Sensei.

"I spy something blue," Jay announced out loud.

"Jay, seriously," You heard Cole groan. "We're in the middle of the ocean. The only thing blue here is the water, the ice, and your gi."

"Ding, ding, ding," Jay said. "Your third answer was right."

You rolled your eyes with an amused smile on your face as you went to the ship's edge. You glanced down at the dark blue waters below as you slowly sailed by. It was starting to get even colder out here. You began shivering quite a bit, even with your full ninja outfit covering your entire body. You raised your hands to your upper arms, rubbing against them to hopefully keep yourself from getting hypothermia.

If only you had packed some extra layers to put on. You'd kill for a winter coat and some hot chocolate, right now.

You found your thoughts trailing back to the Golden Weapons. That map you'd managed to get from Samukai had all four of them, plus the location of the Artisan's Ring. Did that mean it was a Golden Weapon? It wasn't exactly a weapon, per se. And where was its guardian? The first two Weapons had dragons for guardians, and you're positive the other two will. Where's yours? If your Weapon had a guardian, wouldn't they be here with you?

"(Y/n)?" You glanced up to see Zane standing beside you. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," You nodded with a small smile. "Just cold."

"Not used to this weather, I suppose?" Zane questioned.

"Not at all," You light-heartedly laughed. "Never even knew the world could get this cold."

"We are traveling towards the Frozen Wastelands," Zane informed. "The map shows the Shurikens of Ice to be located here."

You grinned. "Think we'll be able to handle the Ice Dragon?"

"I'm sure we'll find a way," Zane confidently stated. "As long as we have each other's backs."

"Definitely," You said with a stern nod. As long as you all work together, you should be able to persist.

Zane soon left your side to attend to other tasks. You simply stood at the side of the boat, watching as the scene slowly shifted to a winter wonderland. You shivered lightly, rubbing your gloved hands against your arms in an attempt to ward off the low temperatures.

"I spy something white!" Jay called out as the ship drifted through the icy river.

Cole huffed in frustration. "Could you keep it down? This isn't easy."