It took me a few months but I finally made it to the southern tip of Escaria. The warnings I received about the temperatures down here were an understatement. The snow is high enough that the trails that once had been here are now but mere indents in the never ending white expanse.
Every so often there is a marker in the powder to let a traveler know they are going the right way. For I fear if you lost your path here you may never see another person again. I traveled in the freezing expanse of the tundra for what felt like weeks before I saw it.
During one of my cold nights alone I saw the shining lights of civilization. The twinkle of flames surrounding the city of Aslaskia, melting the frost that threatened to consume her.
Here is where I would finally find the last group of people I had left to study. The Duhoz. They are rarely seen out of their few towns and cities in the frozen wasteland. So I knew that I would find thousands of them for me to study here.
As I approached the walls of the city I found the gates that would usually seal it from the outside world to be left completely open. There were a few men standing guard but they didn’t seem in any rush to stop me from entering. I waved one down and asked if there was a nearby tavern I could stay the night at. He pointed me over to the Frozen Eye.
I made my way to the snow covered building and paid my fee to sleep there. In the morning I would be on the lookout for someone who would trade me information about their race. In the morning I ate a warm meal and was about to begin my search, when I overheard a group of individuals talking about some cave full of strange monsters. My interest was piqued to say the least, and one of the individuals happened to be a Duhoz, his two other compatriots were an Ainpar, whose lower body resembled that of a horse, and a Human with a gruff expression on his face.
I approached the men and asked if they would like any assistance on the expedition into this cave. They claimed to be looking for a fourth member and asked what my price was. I gave them the simple answer of information. I wanted this Duhozian man to tell me everything he could about his people while we traveled to this cave. They agreed and told me to be ready to leave in a few hours.
After a few hours I met up with the group of men who now had a petite woman with red hair. She apparently knew where this cave of monsters was but she tried to kill them over the location by spitting boiling water in their face. She was most definitely a Tukslag by the description. The Human man gave her the orders to bring them to the cave or her life would be at risk. She chose life over death, so we got on our way.
While we traveled I talked with the Duhozian man as much as I could. A little over a thousand years ago when the Great Archipelago of the Magos was being lifted out of the ocean, the once fertile plains of this region began to freeze over. For decades the peninsula was being harried by thousands of blizzards. Temperatures dropped so low that almost nothing could survive out here. HUmanity could only hold on in small bastions until their magic reserves began to run low.
Once the cold began to creep into the homes of every denizen of the newly formed tundra, the humans began to change. Their skin grew as white as the snow. Some groups that got stuck in the worst of the storm began to turn a pale blue. The cold they felt eventually broke away into a subtle warmth. The snow no longer seemed to harm the people of the Aslaskian Tundras. They could live in the tundra much like a common human would live in the Fidalishi Plains. Though as much as a common human would have trouble going into the deserts in the north of Torospeas, they too would have trouble entering the plains.
Their ability to withstand temperatures shifted during the blizzards. While most humans prefer their homes to be around 70 degrees the Duhoz prefer it much, much colder. Somewhere around 30 degrees. Though some prefer it even lower than that.
This along with the variability of temperatures around the world has led to the Duhoz not traveling outside of their Tundra’s very often. As anything above 75 degrees could pose a risk to an unprepared Duhoz.
The one who I was asking the questions seemed to enjoy the constant questioning. At least until we got to our destination. The cave’s mouth seemed to snake endlessly into the darkness. We could hear the sounds of flesh pounding stone. The group decided to split up momentarily. The Duhoz would scout ahead while the rest of us held the entrance until either he came back or we heard the sounds of combat.
In no less than 5 minutes we heard a loud screech echo in our minds, as the Duhoz man shouted for us to come and assist him. We all entered the cave to see a large wall of Ice magically erected to block the path of these monsters. I looked at one to see what it truly was.
Its body resembles that of the Seevumo of the Khalishiri Mountains. Though there was on large difference, these creatures had one large eye in the middle of their head.
The group dispatched the creature while our captive cursed under her breath. The Ice Wall was soon dispelled and we advanced further into the cave. Its once craggy walls morphed into carved bricks. The structure we walked into seemed to be of an ancient design. I’m not sure how old this bunker was, but it seemed like it could have been older than even the Great Empire that the Deity Zyna ruled over. What traps had once been here seemed to have been already sprung by its new occupants.
WE found some ancient writing on the wall that we attempted to translate but it was far different than any language I have ever seen. As we drew closer to the center room we could all hear a scraping noise in the backs of our minds as some being attempted to speak to us telepathically. His attempts failed, just coming across as grains and screams.
We moved into the main room where we saw what had been trying to speak to our minds. One of the creatures that we had killed was sitting on a throne at the center of the marble room. An altar between us and it. It wore some form of royal purple silks and a crown made of various emeralds and rubies. His large eye glancing between us. He raised a scepter from underneath his robes and pointed it our way. As he did, the hallway we entered from began to close. The group I was traveling with rushed into action. All moving with trust that one could only generate from having fought together many times before.
The Duhoz began to cast a spell as the Ainpar and Human rushed the King.The King pointed his scepter at the Duhoz attempting to fizzle out the magic he was conjuring up. Before he could do that I stepped in the way to put a quick magical barrier in between the two. That way my spell would be fizzled out rather than his. The Ainpar and the Human attempted to pin the King in place. As they held him down the spell that was being cast went off, trapping the King in ice. Just as quick as he froze, the Ainpar grabbed his head and tore it clean from the King’s shoulders.
With our foe being dispatched we sat the prisoner down and began to look around the room. The walls were decorated with ornate tapestries. They were depicting events I had never even heard about. A alabaster white gate blocking off some sort of garden, while the rest of the ground leading up to it was rockets floating in the void like wood in water. Another showed a bright light shooting out of the ground. The Final tapestry was of a great city. It appeared to be even larger than Onirose, burning to the ground.
We all stood around in confusion as we heard some chanting. It was quite at first almost impossible to hear, then as we turned around we saw our once captive free from her bonds. The large eye of the dead King in her hand raised to the sky. She was chatting some sort of spell while standing near the altar. Without more than a second thought the Ainpar threw me at the poor girl, hoping either I could Counter her Spell, or my body would collide with hers before she cast it stopping the ritual.
I contorted my body in the air so that I was in what resembled a tackling pose. Just as I collided with her she bit into the Eye of the King to finish her spell. The room filled with a bright alabaster white light that soon gave way to darkness.
I’m not sure how long I was unconscious for. But I don’t think that really matters, I don’t even know where I woke up. Some forest near a road. I would have to find out where I was first. Then I could find out what that spell she cast was, and what happened to my compatriots.
Andon Writes 
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