Author's Preface
Naren blinked a couple times as he thought things through.
In front of him, the sea was like a meat grinder. It's currents sharp and harsh cutting into itself in cascading flows as waves crashed in the distance, their heights dwarfing even the Dreameater.
The obsidian sea was not just a sea. But an entity of it's own violation. Moving in a malicious rhythm and actively ensuring nothing can come close to it's surface.
He had a hard time imaging that any ecosystem could be surviving in such a treacherous ocean. This part made even the black sea that almost killed him and Vera look like a kiddy pool in comparison.
But, the problem remained.
Cairo tilted his head staring into the horizon. A thick layer of grey coating the very atmosphere like fog.
"We gotta go thru this?"
Of course Naren already knew the answer.
No way. This wasn't what the map showed.
After they had woken up in the ruins of Lastlight and Yuna had done her part in treating both Cairo and Naren, the three of them began rummaging through what little remained in tact.
The world had little knowledge of the Tomb of Atlas, so much so that it's existence itself had been a mystery up until fifty years ago.
Naren dug through overgrown flora that looked more like skulls than petals. It's stems thick and hard.
"Are you sure that we're not at the Tomb of Atlas yet?"
Yuna responded in confident tone. She whipped her needle through vines that swallowed houses hole, strange purple liquid oozing out.
"No. No way is this the place Dr.DaVinci spoke of."
"DaVinci?"
Yuna's voice took a sudden turn into a bright and cheerful tone. One that radiated warmth and awe.
"Dr.DaVinci. He was a genius that puts us all to shame. The man invented a magnetic sentinel before jumping in the void. It wasn't until ten years later that he finally sent a signal... 'I'm here. In the Tomb of Atlas.' ."
Cairo interrupted, simply burning row and rows of vegetation, hardly even looking. Instead he looked to be just enjoying himself.
"Dude was a coo. Talked about some crazy massive kingdom before ghosting for fifty years."
Soon the three broke out into argument about the validity of DaVinci. That was until Naren stumbled upon a journal. A familiar looking journal that had belonged to Nico's sister.
Opening it up, he found the previous map that led them to Lastlight in the first place. Except this time, there was more to it. Beside the map, there was a smudge of soot adding onto the island. And in the middle, in barely legible handwriting it wrote:
'Tomb of Atlas.'
Naren had only one guess as to who filled in the rest of the map. But, did Vera really fill it out falsely to spite him?
'What a pain in the ass.'
Finding that map was weeks ago. And what followed was two long weeks of trying to follow such a crudely drawn map. All he was doing just to help such a brat.
But Naren's thoughts fell silent.
Even thinking of Vera had begun to become a sore spot for him, which was odd because he had never felt such a way before. It was confusing as to why he held her to such a high regard despite her lack of worth.
Yet, for some strange reason Naren couldn't shake it. So he followed that strange reason. Afterall, it's not like it was all just for her. He still needed her to turn him into a shaman.
Suddenly, Naren's thoughts scattered as the ground rumbled. Shaking violently as trees fell and beasts scattered in the dark. With that rumble, the temperature seemed to nosedive.
Naren shivered as he pulled his scarf tighter around him.
"Cairo! Do something!"
The one-eyed man tried producing more heat, but it was no use, the cold was so intense, that any heat that left his body fizzled out and immediately wisped into an icy breeze.
Naren staggered closer to Cairo, embracing him as Cairo tried peeling him off. But Naren wouldn't budge. He kept a hold of Cairo's body like an oversized handwarmer. Squeezing tighter as he finally felt some respite.
"Get off me piss-eyes!"
Yet, even that wasn't enough. The cold became incredibly overbearing. Naren could feel any part of his body not in immediate contact with Cairo grow numb.
Where the hell did this come from. It was fine just a moment ago. So what gives now.
But in the chaos of his current predicament, Naren managed to notice something else.
Yuna was nowhere to be seen.
The red-haired boy took one more tight squeeze of Cairo before reluctantly letting go. Instantly regretting his decision. So he hoped his gamble pulled through.
Yuna was crafty. Surely she'd have found some elaborate way to stay warm.
But as Naren walked around with no presence of her, he wondered if his gamble was really worth it. The girl could've just hurled over and died from the cold. And soon he was going to meet the same fate.
Then he spotted her.
The girl had a full fur coat on as she continued looking at the journal.
Naren staggered over, his breath shaky and his arms almost a shade of purple.
"P-p-princess...p-please gimme...a...coat..."
Yuna turned around her, her face contorting into a sheepish grin trying to hide a laugh.
"You should've just asked."
Then Yuna pointed towards a bush to their left with sharp petals that had stiffened in the cold. Atop of it's purple layers was a pink fur coat, identical to the one Yuna had.
Naren fumbled around to put it on. It's size too small for him as the jacket laid cropped around his waist. But Naren didn't care. Instead he immediately fell in love with the warm embrace he felt. Like a mother hugging her child.
He couldn't help but grin, almost forgetting about his bare feet that had all but lost all feeling.
"What'd you find weed-head?"
Cairo waltzed over, completely unaffected by the temperature with a dull look on his face. Naren had to hold himself back from strangling the stain. Seeing him relaxing while he almost froze to death really ticked him off.
But he made it a point to stay on both Cairo and Yuna's good sides until he was sure he could get rid of them. Speaking of which he should start thinking about how.
Yuna's finger pointed far along the winding cliff side that stretched across the entire island.
"Let's try over there. Maybe we won't freeze to death."
Just as Yuna finished speaking her body had fallen stiff. Landing on the ground with a loud thump. Her breathing haggard as the princess's face was noticeably a pale shade of green.