The huge white doors loomed over me. They were barely over 20 feet tall with ice crystals carved on each door. Its edges were frozen in ice.
Near it few skeletal remains of what I believe were former Mazekins. Those who were reported missing or died while trying to go lower.
I might have ended up just like them.
My fists clenched, and my eyes drifted back to the door. Taking a few deep breaths, I extended my hands forward, feeling the cold metal of the door brush against my skin.
"It should open now."
The ice crystals' pattern pulsed with a bright blue light, and the entire floor shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
The ice around the hinges of the big door exploded, its shards falling everywhere. And then, with a huge creaking noise, the door slowly opened.
From the inside, a huge gust of air pressure released outwards. My feet slid backwards as I clenched my teeth, trying to maintain my balance.
Soon, the gust ended, and only pitch black darkness remained.
I stepped inside, letting the darkness surround me, but not for long. One by one, blue fire started lighting up on the torches.
The air that had quiet winter hum quietened down. There was no sound of the fire burning, only my footsteps.
I descended the obsidian stairs, my eyes flickering to the different patterns that had appeared on the walls.
A knight fighting another knight.
A warrior kneeling with his blade plunged into the ground.
A knight bowing to his lord.
And finally, a woman who had a jagged crown on her head.
All of these are similar, like in the game.
My hand loomed over a blue flame, but it did not burn; rather felt cold. Ice Crystals started forming, and I quickly removed my hand.
"Frostfire," I mumbled, gently removing the ice that formed on my hands. It was a type of flame that did not burn but froze. It was believed to go below negative.
A power that was never supposed to be possible.
It is an elemental fusion that was never supposed to be possible. Even in the game, if you choose Raiden's third element as ice, you won't get this ability.
It was exclusively for the bosses of the Frostcove maze. Including the one I was going to fight now—Arvax The Oathbound.
A Grand Draugr Knight who uses the Frostfire as his main element and a helberd named Vigil of Glacialis. He is one of the toughest bosses early players experience due to his two phases.
The first phase is a simple weapons clash and spell clash with some platform levelling, but after his health drops below the 30 percent mark.
He is something else.
His significance and his lore are very vague, but his weapon can be wielded by Raiden if he has the ice affinity, which I don't. So that weapon is useless for someone like me.
His weapon—The Vigil of Glacialis, Ardentfall, is a weapon bond or a Vigil. It does not mean that it can talk, but it chooses its own wielder just like Thor's hammer.
When one is worthy to wield the weapon, it will go to them by their own choice. The sturmscourge is no different, which is the Vigil of Thorvian.
It is a lightning affinity weapon which chooses its own wielder and is found in the Vorak continent—the continent of Beasts.
[You want it?] Dante asked.
Of course, it goes well with my affinity.
But now I must focus on getting the Astral root.
The steps stopped before a long corridor that stretched wide. The walls are filled with ancient scribbles that I don't even understand. Each piece of ancient letters lit up by the blue fire beneath them.
Moving to the end of the corridor, I stumbled across a big door—not as big as the white ones that I just came through.
Maybe at least 8 feet tall?
The doors were plated with silver with sapphire blue trims running along their edges. There was no handle etched onto them, only carvings of weapons on both sides.
One was a sword that looked like a rapier, and the other a spear.
I took a long breath before exhaling, rotating my wrist and cracking my knuckles. Pressing my hands against the cold metal door, I pushed the door.
It opened with metallic noise, its hinges working overtime. A cold wind bit into my skin as the light inside the room blinded me.
I raised my hands, covering my eyes from the sheer bright light, it felt like using Discord in light mode. Truly a torture.
As the lights slowly dimmed, I looked through the gap of my forearms. Crystalline walls stretch in front of me, covered with tattered flags of blue.
Each and every flag had a weapon woven into it. From different types of swords to different types of polearms, axes, and spears.
The ceiling was high with a frozen chandelier in the middle of it. It was huge, which almost covered the entire ceiling.
Who even put it up there?
My eyes dropped lower—the floor was made out of ice yet again, but this time they had different patterns engraved onto them.
Patterns of ice crystals, crowns and some weird symbols I don't even understand.
My gaze followed that to the other side of the room. A beautiful white statue of a woman who had crown made out of ice on her head. Her hands were clasped together as if praying for something.
Then my gaze fell onto what was below that statue. A tattered blue cape that flowed from each of the spikey white shoulder pads. It had an ice crystal tailored onto it.
The cape was worn by a figure that knelt below the statue, its front not visible to me. Its helm had a small cloth coming out of it like a rooster's comb.
Seeing this, I stepped inside the room. The door behind me closed with a sharp sound. My hand instinctively wrapped around the hilt of my sword, gripping it tightly.
[Noah, this is not going to be easy,] Dante warned.
I know.
The aura that was coming out of the figure was cold like a blizzard. He stood up, his armour making a clanking noise at the joints.
He slowly turned around, his blue orbs that peeked through the helm stared at me with a cold indifference I hadn't felt in a long time.
He seemed to be at least 10 feet tall—Which did not seem human at all. Who am I kidding? He is no longer a human being.
His arms were covered with a pristine white armour that was covered with frost. Each joint had blue trim running across the edge. His boots had the same spiked design.
He raised his hand and with the click of his finger, blue flames erupted all over the room. The flames traversed towards me with a speed that almost blitzed my eyes.
But they did not hit me.
The flames went behind me, blowing the door from its hinges. It spread through out the whole room, making a circle around the two of us.
He stepped forward, his steps echoing across the whole room. His form unwavering, his eyes only on me.
Stopping in the middle of the room, his head tilted as if assessing my whole being. Unravelling my everything.
And then with a deep voice, he spoke.
*A mere child dares to challenge Glacialis's apostle?*
"What?"