“W-We should get out of here!” Jnoque panics, “We need supplies, Jn.” Slor counters “I could still go in.”
“Are you sure after the last time?...” Dyani worries.
Slor nods. “I’ll try to see if Liam and Mythias will help us. Stay here.” She sneaks off. Concealing herself in the shade and other stuff she can hide behind.
Dyani shivers a little. “Is it just me, or is it colder here…?” “Yeah, I feel it too…” Jn sighs. Aurora gets worried and hopes for Slor to hurry up.
Jnoque looks around at his old home; nothing had really changed, like the Human Village just kicked him out and forgot about him. He’s been so scared of returning here, of what they would do to him and his dragon family, but he also always wanted to know if his brother was ok. Slor helped him at least know he was ok, but now was his chance to see for himself even if Apool hates him now….
“I…I want to find Apool…” Jnoque requests, “Are you sure, Jn…” Dponá says uneasily. He nods. “I want to at least see him…” "We're going with you." Aurora declares, and the others nod in agreement.
Jnoque smiles, grateful that they have his back.
Jn leads them to where he used to live, still in the bushes. They see a small dark blue farmhouse with patches of dying crops. He looks around bittersweetly. “Hasn’t changed at all…” he sighs as Dponá wraps her tail around him.
“I don’t see anyone around.”
“Maybe no one is home right now.”
“Who’s there!” said an unknown voice
They jump and look to see that a curly brown-haired person had spotted them. Jnoque freezes seeing him, and they both stare at each other.
Slor spots the doctor's building and sees Mythias Liam; she quickly grabs them and drags them to a hidden spot.
Mythias immediately goes to look her over for any injuries. “Where have you been?” Liam asks, “We were worried…” “It’s a long story, guys, but right now we need supplies.”
She tells them everything she can. The two doctors are trying to process what she is telling them. “This is a lot to take in.” Liam says in disbelief.
“It's true.” Emberion chimes in, popping out of the feather in her hair.
“So that’s why it’s getting colder around here…” Mythias sighs. “Ok, we will help you,” she declares, with Liam nodding in agreement.
Slor smiles, and they walk back to the doctor building, where Lucas and Balor are waiting for them.
He is holding her in his arms, and she looks sick and cold. He's hesitant when he sees Slor with them.
“She can be trusted with this now. What happened?” Mythias reassures them, and they go inside and to a private doctor's room.
Slor tilts her head confused as they place the shivering child on the patient bed and put her hoodie down, revealing Balor’s horns and wings.
Now it’s Slor’s turn to be surprised.
Lucas sighs. “I found her in the woods a long while back with a broken wing and horn and no memory of how she got there, so I took her in even though I know how people around here feel about things that aren’t us…..” He looks at her and pats her head.
“He told us about her because he needed help with taking care of her.” Liam explains as Mythias gives Balor her checkup. “Her body temperature is super low; I'm not sure what we can do…”
“Everything is super cold…” she says meekly shivering and holding Lucas’s hand
Slor thinks for a moment, “Maybe I could help; the feather gives me fire wings, so maybe that could warm her up.”
She makes the wings appear while the others are in awe as Balor perks up at the heat.
Lucas is confused but grateful for the help.
“But as a permanent salutation for now I recommend just keeping a fire near her till this cold goes away.” Liam says.
Lucas nods and picks Balor up as they start to hear a commotion outside.
Jnoque and Apool just stare at each other, not moving, not saying anything, but what could you say after not being able to see each other for 5 years?
The sound of footsteps breaks the staring contest, and Apool quickly gestures for them to hide.
As they retreat back into the bushes, a woman approaches Apool.
“Sweetheart, why are you over here? You know not to be near the woods.” She reminds him by tapping her foot.
“S-Sorry, Mom. I’d just thought I’d try to find something that would keep the crops from the cold.”
Mom… she hasn’t changed either. Jnoque watches as she grabs Apool’s wooden hand and drags him away.
Dponá glares, watching them leave.
Jn didn’t even realize he was holding his breath until Dyani got concerned. He sighs, “At least he’s ok, right?”
Jn nods, feeling a little better. “I still want to talk to him.” “How are we even going to get close to him?” Aurora questions.
“Maybe we wait for him to be alone?” Fifo suggests.
Dyani shakes his head. “I don’t think so; the mom doesn’t look like the one to leave him alone for long.”
“She was a bit protective and wanted to know everything about us… I can imagine her getting worse after I left…” Jn confirms.
He looks at the farm and all of the dying crops. “Probably from the cold.” Fifo assumes.
“Maybe you guys could use your powers on them?” Dyani suggests.
“And do what? Burn them?”
“Well, your shields give off heat, Aurora.” Solaris informs.
Jn thinks, “We had this treehouse that me and Apool would hide in when our parents got too much. They don’t know about it, but I don’t know if it’s still there.” He leads them to a big tree with a cozy cottage in it.
He smiles, relieved that it’s still there, but it looks like it hasn’t had visitors in a while, with moss and vines hanging from it to the overgrowth around the tree.
He insists on going up there by himself since it’s too big for all of them to fit. Jn climbs the creaky ladder and goes inside.
Inside there are old chairs, toys, and other sentimental stuff. “This is cozy.” Ignis pops out and looks around. “I tried to build one of these back in my village, but a storm knocked it down.” He huffs, remembering.
“A lot smaller now.” Jn smiles and waits for Apool.
“I wanted to go up there,” she huffs. “You would not fit, Dponá.” “Still…” “and he said he wanted it to be a private moment.”
She huffs and folds her arms. “I don't see why we should give them the time of day; they abandoned him and kicked him out!”
“Apool seemed to be on our side; otherwise, he would have ratted us out.” Dyani counters.
“He’s probably not even coming…”
As she says that, they hear footsteps and see Apool hurrying along the path to the treehouse.
He sees them and slows down. “He’s up there.” Dyani confirms. He nods and climbs up with Dponá glaring at him.
When Apool sees Jnoque, they don’t say anything for a bit before jumping into a hug.
Jn sees his wooden arm and cries. "I—I’m… so sorry I—I hurt you… and—" “No, it’s not your fault!” Apool reassures, holding him closer. “I was the one who pushed you…” Tears rolled down his eyes. “I was the one who brought us to that cave…”
“They’ve left no trace of you… n-no pictures, nothing that can remind anyone of you…” Apool looks down and holds Jn’s hand. “T-they sealed off your room and forbade me from talking about you…” He chokes back a sob. “I s-stayed away from this place so they wouldn’t find and get rid of the treehouse…”
Jn scowls, hands shaking with anger, wanting to be surprised, but he isn’t; he just holds Apool close with Ignis silently watching from afar.
Apool wakes up in a white room, a medical room he determines while trying to remember what happened before he passed out. He tries to sit up but only feels half the force as he falls back down onto the medical bed.
Confused, he looks to his right and sees that his whole arm is gone, and he remembers everything in the cave, the gold, the transformation, the pain... “Jn!” He stammered as a doctor came in, “You’re awake. Good. You’ve been out for 2 days.” He tells Apool
He helps him sit up. “Your whole arm was burnt off. We did what we could to stabilize you, and we had to remove it. But we can get you a good deal on a wooden prosthetic.” He explains.
Still processing this information, he sees his mom and dad burst into the room and go to him, much to the doctor's protests.
She hugs him tightly. “Oh, my poor sweetheart, we’re so glad you’re ok!” Apool hugs her back. “I’m ok, Ma, but where’s J—” His mom quickly covers his mouth with her finger. “Shh, it’s ok; you’re safe now that monster is gone.” Apool pulls away.
"Monster? Wha—" He gets angry, realizing what she meant. “Jn is no monster!!” He snaps
“Of course he is! He showed his true form and attacked you!” His dad snaps back, catching Apool off guard.
“Enough!” The doctor interrupts, “He still needs to rest. Out, out.” He rushes them out despite their protests.
They grumble as they leave and pass a young Liam and Mythias.
Jnoque tells Apool about the dragons and about the Frostbite: “That’s why it’s getting colder here.” He explains.
“That explains why all the crops just started dying. If this isn’t solved soon there could be a famine…”
“We're getting supplies in the village, then we'll find the rest of the artifacts.” Jnoque explains. Apool looks up at Ignis just sitting on a beanbag; he waves
“That’s Ignis; he is the spirit inside the Volcanic Core. Jn gestures to the Core on his neck. “I can summon these flame swords, and it helped me breathe hotter fire to protect the dragon clan.” He smiles at the memory, then he thinks of Iquén.
“Maybe I could meet them one day.” Apool suggest
Aurora and the others decide to give Jn some more privacy and go look for Slor. Dponá stays to wait for Jn, leaving Dyani, Aurora, and Fifo to explore.
Dyani and Aurora disguise themselves like last time and they help Fifo hiding their ears in their hair and putting their hoodie up and they go in.
They see all the sights from last time: the inn, the doctor tent, and Ian’s diner, when they see a familiar face.
“What is it?” Fifo asks, looking where they're looking.
Dina with a tan man with teal hair and a green hoodie and similar eyes to her.
She sees the group and recognizes them. She smirks and tugs on the man's sleeve and points to them. “Daddy, it’s those guys I told you about,” she tells him as he examines them.
Fifo is confused as Dyani and Aurora try to quickly get out of there when the man approaches.
“Leave,” he says in a harsh tone. Catching other people’s attention around them. “Your kind will only bring damage to our village!” “Our kind—” Aurora starts offended, but Dynai interrupts.
“We’re not here to cause trouble; we just need supplies…”
Theres a crowd around them now
“Didn’t they kidnap one of us!”
Fifo covers their ears from the rowdy crowd, whimpering at all the noise.
Suddenly a fire arrow flies past the crowd, causing them to back away. They look up and see Slor flying with a molten bow; she lands in front of the man as Mythias, Liam Lucas, and Balor push their way through the crowd.
“That’s enough, Dylan.” Slor declares.
