[EMERGENCY ALERT! Distorted Realm Detected!]
Fuck.
"Where?" Llewellyn asked, getting up immediately.
[System Notification: Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Iceland.]
Llewellyn scooped Lumos up. "System, can you relocate Lumos to my Core Partition?"
Lumos vanished with a soft pop.
Penguin scrambled up my arm, chittering anxiously.
"You too," I told him. After the last time, I'd be damned if I'd put him in danger!
Unfortunately, the System had other plans.
[Negative. Elemental Entity Penguin required for success. Survival probability increases by 41.2% with his presence.]
Damn the System and its percentages!
I was supposed to have only a 28.3% chance of dying during the first year, and look how that had turned out!
I hadn't really stayed dead, but still!
"Turn into a wristwatch," I told Penguin. "Stay safe. Please don't transform unless I tell you to."
Penguin chirped, rubbing his head against my cheek quickly before wrapping himself around my wrist.
I exhaled.
"What's happening?" Gléonwon asked. "Where did Lumos go?"
"Somewhere safe," I said. Speaking of which… "You should go too. System, can you relocate Gléonwon to Mount Dalrin too?"
[System Notification: Negative. Entity Gléonwon required for mission success.]
What! No way!
"Hey!" I said. "Aren't you already using him enough, with the crystals and all? Besides, he's young! He can't fight!"
"I can fight!" Gléonwon said, puffing himself up. "What are we fighting?"
He was still the size of Penguin now so that looked even more concerning!
[EMERGENCY ALERT! Distorted Realm Detected!]
"Fine, fine!" I said.
Goddamnit. I tried to explain to Gléonwon that this was a Distorted Realm, similar to the one we'd found him in, but I could only get a few words in before the notification appeared again. We really needed to go.
"Ready," Llewellyn said, once Gléonwon was back in his pocket.
The System pinged.
[Relocation in 3… 2… 1…]
━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━
Cold assaulted us all of a sudden.
My coat's thermal regulation activated immediately, but the air itself was freezing.
Well, Iceland in winter at night—I supposed it was to be expected. But damn, it was cold!
I blinked, trying to get my bearings.
The sky was moonless. Above us, blocks as big as icebergs were falling from the sky.
Fuck!
I grabbed Llewellyn's arm and yanked us both sideways just as one crashed down where we'd been standing. The ground shook and ice shattered, shards flying in every direction.
"Shields up!" Llewellyn yelled.
I turned mine on immediately.
Another block fell to our left. We sprinted and a third one crashed behind us. I looked up—there were at least a dozen more falling.
The landscape was flat and exposed—nowhere to hide except a few scattered rocks jutting out of the frozen ground.
"This way!" Llewellyn shouted, pulling me toward a cluster of rocks.
We dove behind them just as two blocks hit simultaneously. The impacts sent vibrations through the frozen ground.
Gléonwon poked his head out of Llewellyn's pocket, eyes wide.
"What's going—"
A block crashed ten meters ahead. Llewellyn grabbed me and we bolted from our cover, running parallel to the shore. In the distance, we could see a bridge getting hit repeatedly, collapsing.
I looked up. More ice blocks were falling.
Fuck.
As much as I didn't like it, suddenly I could see why the System had refused to send Gléonwon back.
"Gléonwon!" I yelled. "Can you melt them?"
Gléonwon—who was looking out of Llewellyn's pocket, paws and head poking out—perked up immediately.
"I can try!" Gléonwon said, launching out of Llewellyn's pocket and expanding mid-flight.
"Don't get hurt!" I yelled at him. "That's more important!"
Gléonwon flew off. A moment later, the air was roaring with fire, steam rising up and meltwater raining down.
A block exploded mid-air above us, then two more went up in flames. Gléonwon was incredibly fast, hitting them before they could land.
Amazing, honestly.
"That's perfect!" I yelled. "Keep going! Make sure you don't get hit!"
Gléonwon incinerated four more blocks in rapid succession. He was circling the entire area now, covering us from every angle.
I activated Exploratory Analysis while we ran.
[System Notification: Exploratory Analysis activated!
Analyzing: Distorted Realm
Detected Elements: Air, Water, Wood
Current Elemental Expression: Ice manifestation detected
Threat level: High]
Damn it. Why did we keep getting these kinds of Realms?!
Water wasn't helpful against any of those Elements!
The itch in my chest flared. The Knot must be close.
[System Notification: Warning! Distorted Realm stability at 39%!]
Already?!
Penguin vibrated against my wrist.
"Gléonwon!" I yelled. "Keep melting the ice! Llewellyn and I will handle the rest!"
Gléonwon yelled in acknowledgment, breathing more fire.
Llewellyn and I sprinted across the open space. The itch in my chest pulled harder, directing me left.
How was it possible that we couldn't see the Knot? We'd been running for a while and everything here was open space!
Maybe it only became visible once we were closer?
But according to my itch, we were supposed to be close.
Llewellyn skidded to a stop beside me, scanning the horizon.
"There's nothing here," he said, frowning.
The itch in my chest flared again, sharper this time.
"Gléonwon," I yelled. "Can you see the Knot anywhere from up there?"
Did he even know what it looked like?
"There is nothing!" Gléonwon shouted back. "I can't see anything unusual apart from all this ice!"
Damn it.
Above us, another ice block exploded into steam and water. The air was thick with mist now, but some droplets were still freezing on my face.
My chest was itching madly.
"The Knot is definitely close," I said. "There's no way I'm feeling it this strongly and it's not—"
Wait.
I looked down.
Shit! The ground beneath us wasn't earth anymore. It was ice! It looked like the Wood Element had covered the ice in something resembling soft earth, but once we looked down, it was obvious what we were standing on. We'd run right across it!
"Llewellyn! We're standing on the lagoon!"
Llewellyn followed my gaze and swore. "The Knot's underwater."
Great. Fantastic.
What the fuck!!!