The Villain's Story

Chapter 628: [628] To the heart of Kizmal(3).

The change was incredible, and mysterious.

Just before they reached the end of the bridge, Large columns of ice, each adorned with decorations and symbols, rose up from the abyss below the bridge, some to support the bridge, and some to form a massive arch at the end of the bridge.

To Alan's dismay, there was not a statue of a large dragon at the top of the arch, but merely that of a simple snowflake. Examining the way the mana moved around the pillars of ice and the arch, Alan deduced that there was some sort of barrier around the place. That notion was further strengthened by the fact that he couldn't see far beyond the arch.

He noted one more interesting thing though, while most of the large pillars of ice that rose from the abyss were normal and sturdy, one was surprisingly hollow, with small gems that produced light within it. He didn't know what purpose it served, though, neither did he find an entrance.

All he knew was that it led to somewhere in the dark abyss, How and why, he didn't know. Even dragon eyes couldn't help him see what was hidden below. Either the chasm was extremely massive that even Dragon eyes couldn't see what was below, or there was something blocking it.

The arctic titan made its way towards the arch, and as it got closer...the space between started to ripple and twist, the air was torn apart, or rather molded apart like a giant hand was making a hole through it. The hole stopped expanding until it was big enough for the Arctic Titan to pass through.

Alan could see the white expanse beyond the hole that was made, as well as everyone else. "Whoa."

Edward let out a gasp, amazed at the sight, there were still some chunks of ice stuck to his body. Everyone was in the drivers' compartment right now, making it a little cramped, but no one really cared. They were simply enjoying the sights of a new world. "Is that safe to go through?"

Maxwell asked, and Alan merely shrugged his shoulders. "Should be."

With a sigh, he began to move the Arctic Titan through the hole, whilst Alan and the rest, some happy or not, bid the expanse of dark blue nothingness and snowflakes goodbye. Alan was the first to notice the change as the Arctic Titan made it through the rift, which closed behind it quickly after. 'A solid thirty degree drop...'

To the rest, such a drop in temperature wasn't really felt...they were still as cold as before, but it was refreshing to Alan, he would have opened the window beside him to take a deep breath had the rest not been here.

He didn't want to use Dragon eyes, even without them, he could see vast particles of cyan light, which were particles of frost mana all around. Courtesy of his race, of course. Using Dragon eyes would probably just block his vision completely. "... It's surprisingly normal."

Sabrina said, if she was being honest, she had expected a little more. There was a road of bricks carved into the ground, it was incredibly wide, and on the boundary there was a forest of trees.

The trees had white bark, and black leaves, they were at least ten meters tall and each one of them responded to the cold wind equally. The dark veil of clouds above provided quite a refreshing but sharp breeze. Somehow, there was light.

Alan felt someone poking his shoulder, he turned his head to find Alice and Sabrina staring at him. "What?"

They pointed to the trees, and the other such vegetation in the forest, as much as they could see. "Can you bring me a sample of everything? I want to see if I can use anything in alchemy and what it's properties would be."

Alice now possessed the same greed he saw in Maxwell's eyes, a while prior. Sabrina added. "Be gentle with them, please... I want to study and document them too."

He left the arctic titan to go complete the task, wondering how the Frost dragons would feel, seeing their prince doing tasks like these... "... Strange..."

As Alan's silhouette disappeared into the forest, Festul couldn't help but mutter as he used his own powers to peer as far as he could... and he was shocked. "What is it?"

Alexander asked the wolf pup sitting on his shoulder, but didn't press Festul any further until he was done with his own investigation. The attention of everyone was on Festul now. "... It is strange how barren it is."

Finally, he said something and slumped down Alexander's shoulder, forcing Alexander to carry the pup in his arms. "I don't think there are many species that would prefer living in this cold environment..."

Maxwell said, and Sabrina chimed in. "They could have adapted though, look at the road." "That's not it."

Before they could come to conclusions on their own, Festul explained. "Lanekia is one of the three most populated planets of House Shivalkulan, No matter how big it is, there should be some sign of civilization other than the roads..."

He continued. "The roads were also...carved into the 'land' recently, there aren't any branching paths... Only this road. No people, No vehicles, landmarks and neither is there any source of life besides the life."

When they heard his words, they couldn't help but try their own skills to look as far as they could, Sabrina was the only one who paid more attention to their surroundings.

Whilst the others tried to look as far as they could, she paid more attention to forest around them and the road. !...!

She couldn't find anything wrong with the road, it was just filled with frost mana, but she did notice something odd with the trees. While even, they possessed a large amount of frost mana... They also had lightning mana, although in scarce amounts.

She found it weird why frost and lightning were together... Those elements had nothing to do with each other. "What do you know of Lanekia?"

She asked Festul, thinking that if he knew that much, he should know something else as well. "The home of the Frost dragons, what else?" "Something more specific? Do you know who Azmakul is, and Kizmal? Alan mentioned those two." "Azmakul is the General of one of the armies of her majesty Ariel, one of the few Ancient dragons that still perform their duties, and as for the heart of Kizmal... Haha."

He laughed, and closed his eyes, muttering a few words before he went to sleep. "You'll find out what that refers too soon, Alex, this is a very good place for you, and me too."

He went to sleep soon, leaving the group in confusion. Alexander was wondering what he could possibly mean by this place being useful for him. And the rest could only stare at the sleeping wolf, still hungry for more answers.

Unfortunately, Alan appeared soon after, and they left for their way, following the road, as well as the compass. ********

Samantha had had enough of it, she was tired of it. 'Ugh...'

She was but a girl, and yes, being the little sister of one of the most influential young awakened in the world was a busy and grand duty... She was sick of it!

One couldn't blame her, she could finally have a normal life, walk like a normal girl, go to the top school in the entire world for non-awakened... But life was cruel.

She had been so excited to finally be a part of society, to meet others of her age that were normal and had parents...but that hope was crushed only a few days into Eden.

Her friends, her teachers...hell, everyone simple asked one thing. 'Are you Alan Peccator's brother?'

At first, she was proud of it. Why wouldn't she be? Her dear brother had done so much to cure her illness, and make her have a normal life, so she was excited as one could be! But come on!

When one is subjected to the same routine for months on end, one was bound to crack. She couldn't blame her brother at all, she loved him too dearly for that. She could blame the others who put on masks to approach her, though.

At her tender age, Samantha had already been exposed to the masks humans wore to get close to others with ulterior motives. Twilight had helped her get into Eden in the Capitol, as well as give her grandparents a rather large house and a plot for a café in the Capitol so they could continue their normal lives...

Albeit with a lot of security...

But the café was often so packed her grandparents had no time for her, even hiring more employees didn't help since it was packed 24/7. Her routine hadn't changed a lot.

She missed when she was playing with whatever pets Alan had in his domain, when Sabrina visited her and when Alan occasionally dropped by...but now she didn't even have that.

She couldn't even go to a lot of places without tight security, she had an entire team assigned to her protection, after all. Her routine had grown...bland.

Until now, that was.

She was approaching the School gates...when she spotted her grandfather waiting for her...along with two other people?

One was a handsome young youth with long golden hair, that had a tired look on his face.

Whilst the other was an aged individual who might even be taller than her brother...and that was an achievement of itself. "Why hello there, You have your brother's eyes~"

The tall, old man waved at her. She wondered why he was wearing an overcoat, sunglasses and a mask in this hot weather...