Glacial

Through the valley of snow lay ashes incinerated by conflicts long past. Strangely enough, blankets of cinder and ash spread across Sitan's outskirts where the robust fiery remnants of its scent still polluted through the winds. Once a thriving cityscape teeming with bountiful life seeking peace from all facets of life, the valley was incinerated by a devastating attack that marred the existence of its sanctity.

Sitan's biggest conflict caused the destruction of the entire city, burying it in a cloud of ash and cinder. Fragments of its marvelous stone sculptures and monuments were still preserved upon its lands, and remnants of its past corroded and crumbled from memories forgotten.

It must be stated that because the history of Sitan's aftermath was long forgotten, its future was built upon false rumors and mysteries that brought delight in storytelling. Sitan's allegiance to the rest of Aries was covertly neutral. Its government and structure were distant from all. Its premises were abandoned by all life that wasn't subject to Sitan's rule. Outsiders were banished from their city-states and never returned to the lands.

In the midst of an abandoned ruined landscape covered in dead moss and fragments of stone debris, ashes circulated the battalion in blistering winds that enveloped them in bitter frost. The musty scent of cinder left some of them ill and the rest unphased by the leftovers of its residue.

Their snow apparel didn't seem to match the blizzard-like winds at all as it was brushing their scarves and fur jackets against the currents. Blankets of ash and snow clumped up against fragile ice crinkling against the soles of their boots as they trod through the wastelands of Sitan Valley. Their minds were unsure if the treachery of Sitan was worth the trip to the Glacial Crystal, but there were no other options available.

"Hold," Ziko called as the droplets and winds swayed through his cheeks. He examined his surroundings and slipped his feet forward. "There's a fissure ahead. Watch your step."

"Good eye," August complimented. "I might have fallen asleep."

"I would have as well," Corlean commented as she watched August leap over the fissure with Ziko and Charlotte. "I'm feeling quite exhausted..."

"I'm on the brink of collapsing," Charlotte said. "I forgot how far Sitan was."

"Hang in there," Sumire said, leaping across the fissure with her. "Not much further, I hope."

"Look at all of you complaining while the rest of us at Yendo are working our asses off," Ziko reminded. "Sitan has always been a complete ruin."

"What happened to this place?" Corlean asked.

"No one knows," Ziko said. "But it always had been a fable that a ravenous dragon stormed through the city-states and scorched it with its flaming breath. Everyone knows that dragons don't exist, but fables come and go."

"Fables say that I need to take a break..." Charlotte said, kneeling down near some snow-coated obsidian rocks. "Weird. I always thought this place was going to be a lot more peaceful than this. Looks like Genesis caught up to this place already."

"Wouldn't be surprised if it did," August said. "But yeah, I agree with you. I need a break."

"There's a small shelter underneath some caves underneath. We could find some warmth inside there. Let's move." Ziko said as the rest of the battalion crossed the fissure.

Sumire was the last to move behind the pack. She purposely waited in particular for Maven to follow the rest of them; she side-eyed him with a suspicious glare after last night's incident when they had spoken. As she approached Maven, she clasped her hands together seeking the right words to go by. Maven followed August, who remained behind the pack as soon as the mountainous ashes began to slope upwards towards the cave.

"You cold?" Maven referred to Sumire without turning his back towards her.

"No," Sumire said, catching up with him with a nervous expression; her eyebrows slanted downwards in uncertainty. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?" Maven asked. "I was watching you talk to Corlean earlier about something last night. It seems you two were riled up about something."

"Wait, you did?!" Sumire gasped, blinking rapidly. "We were having a private talk about something important. Why did you-"

"Don't worry, I didn't hear anything," Maven clarified. "I didn't want to, in case it was a "woman" thing."

"A woman thing? What are you..." Sumire shook her head as Maven chuckled lightly. "You really think this is a joke, huh? I'm talking about what you said to me last night. Remember? You mentioned my father as if you knew what our relationship was."

"And?"

"Did you..." Sumire stammered, unsure of whether to go on. "Did you know him?"

Maven made a light noise with his voice, expressing a jokester tendency. "Maybe." He said before speeding ahead towards the group by power walking.

"Wait!" Sumire sighed in annoyance and slapped his left arm with her palm. Snow particles dusted off of his winter coat, landing on Sumire's eyes and tongue. She quickly spat it out as Maven began chuckling uncontrollably. Sumire blushed lightly in embarrassment, believing that they had been in a conversational battle where he was the victor.

"I'm done waiting," Maven said, slowing down. "What?"

"You're so..." Sumire expressed, sighing once more. Her voice trickled down in a hushed monotone breath. "Talking about my father isn't a joke," She said. "But sometimes, now that I think about it, maybe he was a joke after all."

"I never knew your father," Maven admitted. "It was a lucky guess. Partially because... well, I have had issues with my father too."

"You did?"

"Who doesn't these days..." Maven said, crossing his arms. "We never really saw eye to eye with anything. Whenever there was a problem, all he would do is tell me to move on. He'd never specify with me how to; he'd just leave me alone and let me handle it myself. Oftentimes, it went worse than it should have. He never acted like a father. A father's role is to be someone who's protective and understanding... but he never once felt that way."

"Oh," Sumire said. There was nothing else that she could utter. She could immediately relate to him because of her father and what he had done to her and her mother. "You guessed it right then. I had the same issues... kind of. But it's over."

"It's not over for me," Maven said, turning his head towards Sumire with a solemn expression. That look in his eyes, that one look... Sumire knew that his heart was genuine and that the past could never die when the family was on the line. No matter how far she had gotten in life, overcoming all of the necessary obstacles in life, or becoming a better person, Sumire knew that blood always traced back to where it was bled. "Is it... for you?"

"No..." Sumire admitted, looking down at her shoes while thinking about her past. "It's not either."

"I guessed that much. Well, hard to believe, when there's someone as clumsy as you." Maven said.

"Clumsy as... huh?" Sumire was bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

"Your eyebrows," Maven mentioned, covering his goggles and his mouth in absolute laughter. "Looks like Santa paid you a little visit last night."

Sumire glanced upwards at her forehead. Although she could not see it, her eyebrows were coated in white snow and ashes. Her dark black eyebrows were covered by the snow, making Maven chuckle at the sight of her goofy appearance. She swiped it off immediately and chased after Maven while forming a snowball underneath her. She tossed it at Maven and missed completely after she began to laugh as well.

"Wait! You're gonna get it now." Sumire laughed as she chased after him.

"I'm done waiting!" Maven yelled back as the straps of his goggles flapped in the wind.

"Hey," Charlotte called to them after she caught them fooling around. "What are you guys, children? We need to pay attention to that Genesis facility nearby. Let's take a small rest before we keep-"

A series of bombardments and explosions echoed in the distance in intervals of seconds each. Sumire activated her nanosuit as an instinctive reaction, arming herself in case there was danger. The rest of the battalion followed underneath the small cave, taking immediate shelter as the snowy peaks began to rumble in response to the force of the explosions. Pebbles crumbled down from the cave's roof, and water droplets mixed with dirt dripped uncontrollably to the force of the shockwaves.

"Speak of the devil," Charlotte said. "I really need to stop doing that."

"Hang on. You guys stay here," Sumire said, activating her helmet visor to cover her face. "I'll check it out."

"I'll go with you," August said, stepping in. "I want to see this for myself."

"I as well," Corlean volunteered. "I can fight."

"No," Charlotte denied Corlean's request. "Corlean, you are in no position to fight. You can stay here with Ziko. Maven, you follow Sumire and August to where the noise came from. If they're hurting Sitan from the inside out, report back to us immediately. We need to find that Glacial Crystal before they do."

"Maybe they've already found it," August said.

"Stay optimistic, all right?" Sumire said, tapping on August's shoulder to comfort him. "We can't be sure unless we've seen it ourselves. Let's go."

Sumire activated her ignition boosters on her nanosuit and propelled forward as August and Maven followed her tracks. She passed through more obsidian boulders until she found herself near massive chunks of ice surrounding an overpass clearing. August and Maven slid through the snow to avoid enemy sight. Sumire landed beside them after they discovered an unexpected sight.

A gigantic frozen open-pit mine that seemed to extend for miles on end surprised the trio investigating the site. Mining and drilling machines operated by Genesis personnel created immense chaos deep within Sitan, no doubt seeking the Glacial Crystal. The mine stretched across the horizon seemingly touching the cloudy skies above. Rare and valuable ores twinkled through the skies as a small glimpse of sunlight touched down among their surfaces.

Sumire spied during the scene. Genesis soldiers wearing bulky construction gear hauled boulders and rocks throughout the vicinity with their construction technology. Noises such as hounding strict orders and the collapsing of the mine were the sources of the bombarding sounds. A massive hole blew inside the bottom of the mine, which was where the source of the explosion came from.

"Holy shit," Sumire muttered to herself next to August and Maven. "They're looking for that crystal no doubt. You might be right too, August."

"Look at that," August said, soaking in the view. "One battalion against these many people. How do we figure?"

"Let's tell the others," Maven said. "There's no way we can take on this many."

"Good idea," Sumire said, standing up with Maven as August continued crouching down to observe the scene. "We need to devise a plan. Those damn Genesis freaks can't keep this up for long."

"Hey, move back." Maven said to August, noticing him observing the mine closely. Too closely. His body began to shift forward and his attention became invested in the mine's complex design.

"But what do we say to them?" Sumire asked herself, pondering on the thought. "It's not like we can bring an entire army over here. Are we expecting to gather all of the Fon from back home to this place?"

"I don't know," Maven said. "We may have to try," He glanced over at August again who was moving closer towards the edge of the snowy cliff. "Hey, I said move back." He reminded.

"So astonishing...!" August said as he leaned forward once more. The terrain and foundation underneath him began to crumble. Sumire and Maven both laid their eyes on him, too slow to react.

"Move back-"

Those were Maven's last words before the platform August laid on detached from its foundation. August fell into the mine without any solution to escape. His death was imminent. Maven yelled aloud as August screamed to his death.

"No!" Sumire cried, leaping down with her nanosuit equipped. She activated her ignition boosters and caught August with her arms. Her feet slid off of the edge of the cliff, dragging them both across to reduce the impact of falling. August continued screaming aloud even though he had been rescued. His voice resonated with the entire mine pit, startling the Genesis guards of the top floor of the mine.

Sumire leaped off of the edge of the cliff sides, rolling into thin mud to cushion their fall. The both of them remained dazed for a split second until Sumire's temper overwhelmed her next move. She leaped onto August and snatched his collar in contempt.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sumire spat, condemning his actions. "He told you to move back! Now everyone knows that we're here. First, you leave Maven and Corlean alone while you run away, and you bring a Genesis soldier into the Fon city-state? What are you doing?" She hissed, keeping her cool. "What are you doing!?" She repeated.

"I'm sorry," August apologized with guilt etched on his face. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. I'm sorry."

Sumire sighed, believing his actions to be overwhelmingly clumsy. Genesis soldiers from the mine pit began gathering their forces over to Sumire's position. She glanced up above the cliff and could not see Maven any longer. There was not enough time to ignite her boosters to escape. Doing so could jeopardize the rest of the battalion's safety.

"Shit. Get behind me!" Sumire yelled. Bullets began hailing from the side from Genesis mining forces. Sumire snatched August's hand and pulled him behind to shelter him from the crossfire. Sumire's nanosuit deflected the bullets.

"What do we do now?!" August yelled.

Sumire examined her surroundings with her neural interface. The loosened dirt around her surroundings was softened after Genesis miners softened the terrain from their constant usage of explosives and other technology to search for the Glacial Crystal. Sumire improvised her next move. She held August's hand before summoning her energy blade and ignition boosters. She dashed towards the loosened dirt with the energy blade cutting through, speeding inside a manmade dirt pathway with August behind her held tightly. Her sheer speed made a human-sized pathway strong enough to shelter in.

However, this was not enough. Sumire and August discovered a hidden pathway made of rock and ore clumps. Sumire improvised once more, dashing through another wall of loosened dirt with her energy blade. She sliced through rocks and dirt with ease as she carved multiple pathways to confuse her pursuers.

As they continued making holes deep inside the pit mine, a loose jagged rock collided with Sumire's shin while she charged at top speed, stabbing her through her nanosuit's armor. She yelped in pain before collapsing on the dirt floors with August. Both of them rolled across the terrain covered in mud before silence ensued. They found themselves in a wide dirt and rock cavern filled with nothing but darkness.

"Ahh...! Fuck!" Sumire yelled, clenching her shin tightly. She deactivated her nanosuit and witnessed her shin bleeding from the impact. The cut was rather mild, but the mud inside the wound made it sting even harsher.

"Sumire!" August cried, rushing to her aid. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay to you!?" Sumire cried.

"Hang on, let me handle this," August said, reaching into a small case within his winter jacket. Luckily, in the heat of the moment, August activated a light source through a bright portable energy orb in his inventory. He placed it on the ground to illuminate the cavern. Droplets of water formed on the edges of stone stalactites, moisturizing the air around their surroundings. Glimmering ores reflected off of August's light source as he rushed to provide first aid to Sumire with a portable kit. "Stay still."

"I am staying still," Sumire said, clenching her teeth to endure the pain. "What are you doing?"

"A little alcohol first," August said, pouring a vial of clear liquid on Sumire's wound to cleanse the blood and bacteria. "You're going to be okay. This'll take a second."

Sumire covered her mouth as her eyes began to rapidly blink and tear up in response to the immense stinging pain. Her mouth gaped wide open as she could not fight it. "Fuck!" She screamed through the back of her palm, suppressing her volume to ensure Genesis did not discover their precise location. Sumire's leg wound bubbled up in response to the alcohol's cleansing effect. "How much longer, damn it!?"

"Just a second." August repeated against, ripping gauze pads with his mouth.

"You said that last time. Fuck...!" Sumire cried once more under her noise as August applied the gauze on her wound. To try and ease the pain, Sumire dug her hands into the ground and clumped up dirt to squeeze. "Please stop!" She said.

"It's done," August finished. "It's done."

Both of them fell flat on their backs, watching the moist stalactites drip down on their faces. The eerie darkness and utter silence continued. Both of them rested for about a minute in silence before August pushed himself off of the dirt. "Sumire," He called. "I'm a scientist. I'm not... I'm not cut out to be in this battalion because I'm weak," He explained, holding his palms together in nervousness. "That's why I make the wrong choices. I'm not confident enough."

Sumire could relate. As she clenched her teeth to ease the pain, she pushed herself up to meet herself with August. "Stop thinking that," She said. "Right now, there's no time to be unconfident. I admit you're an idiot, but don't let it drag you down. Mistakes-"

"Mistakes don't just happen," August said, turning away from Sumire. "A mistake like this which almost cost you your life... it deserves no reasoning behind it."

"Yeah, but mistakes do happen," Sumire continued. She glanced over at her elbow with a somber expression. "Tons of mistakes happen... and it's always out of our control."

August shook his head. "I need some time to myself," He said. "But... thank you for saving me, Sumire." He moved towards the edge of the cavern and kneeled down by himself to rest.

Sumire sighed, laying back down. She began thinking of a plan on how to escape. If they did escape and return to her battalion, they would have been compromised either way. If they waited for rescue, she was worried she would die of malnutrition. She gently closed her eyes with her palm on her stomach. All that she could think about at that moment was not survival or escape, but how much she missed her family and friends.

Several hours passed since Sumire and August remained in the cavern. Sumire and August both napped on the dirt waiting for fate to rescue them. Unaware of the time, Sumire awoke with the pain in her shin numbed from August's first aid. She activated her nanosuit to see if she could reach outside communications. Nothing but static remained. She expected it, for being nearly buried alive in the mine pit.

"Nothing?" August's voice startled Sumire in the eerie darkness.

"No," Sumire said. "Nothing. I kinda called it, considering we're stuck in the middle of nowhere..."

"Do you think the others will come for us?" August asked.

"Of course they will," Sumire said without hesitation. "I'm sure they care about us."

"But you barely know them."

"That doesn't matter. We have to make do with what we have. You have to understand that saving Lucine will save them from their troubles. Even if I don't know them, I still appreciate my time with them. They're just as human as we are, and I hate how Genesis doesn't see that."

"I know," August said. "It's almost discriminating."

"Imagine being someone without a home. Planet destroyed, pride ruined, and everything they knew and loved just gone," Sumire said, digging her fingers into the dirt in anger. "Then, they find a piece of land to settle down in after all their hardships. And the enemy who caused all this still wants more. Daily harassment, people dying... it's a tough pill to swallow. I know it's not my responsibility... but knowing myself, I want more for them. I didn't have the chance to give others opportunities when I was young. Now I want things to change."

"But that's okay," August said. "You were young. You couldn't control anything. Now that you're much older and mature, you can do something."

"Exactly," Sumire replied. "I have a brother, actually. And I know you have a son who's back home resting. We'll keep doing this until we get a result so that we can make them happy. Eventually, if we keep going at it, we can do it for them in the future."

"You're so optimistic," August said. "Even when we're stuck in the middle of nowhere."

Sumire grinned with her teeth showing. "I try," She said, turning to August. "I know you regret what you did. So... I forgive you."

"Thanks," August said with a wide grin on his face. "I appreciate that. It's not often that-"

A light shuffling noise could be heard around Sumire and August's vicinity. Both of them leaped up and prepared themselves for the worst. One of the patched-up dirt holes that they had made to escape from Genesis began crumbling down with unusual movement.

"Move forward," Sumire ordered, pulling August with her near the sides of the dirt hole. "We'll surprise them."

"Okay," August said, moving towards the opposite side.

The dirt hole began to expand as a flashlight's rays entered through. A Genesis soldier's hand clamped on an ore vein jutting outside of the walls of the cavern. Sumire pulled the soldier close to him and jabbed him in the stomach. August slammed his arm against the soldier's face, knocking them to the ground.

"August, you okay-"

The weakened soldier surprised Sumire with blight, one of the weapons used to induce paranormal hallucinations in their enemies. Sumire's eyes blinded with whispers and hallucinations of her father, continuing to scream at her.

"It's your fault!!"

"Come back, Sumire!"

"I love you so much. Don't leave me!"

Sumire screamed. "N-no!" She shouted as the soldier continued holding the blight against her eyes.

August removed his winter coat. He rolled up his sleeves to reveal an unexpected burly and muscular physique. He approached the soldier with his fists in the air, shoving him off of Sumire to end the blight's control. Sumire watched as August pummeled the soldier rapidly with well-coordinated blows, striking him down and even shattering his armor. Sumire was rather confused. She did not expect a scientist with low self-esteem to have such a hidden physique.

August rammed his elbow against the soldier's head, pummelling him down to the dirt. He performed two more assaulting blows to his head, leaving him brutalized and unconscious. He flipped his slicked-back hair and rolled down his sleeves before looking at Sumire's stunned expression. "I can handle myself well enough." He said.

"O-Okay," Sumire said, hurrying towards the soldier's body. "Damn it. They probably already found us."

"I hear someone else," August mentioned, rolling up his sleeves again while peering through the dirt hole. "Someone's coming."

"Let me handle this one," Sumire said, extending her energy blade. "You stand back and hide that body."

August was correct; the shuffling of footsteps in the dirt started to ring closer as Sumire readied her blade. Another Genesis soldier popped out of the hole with his hands up in surrender. Sumire jabbed her blade forward, but stopped as soon as the voice underneath the mask forced her to cease.

"Sumire, wait!" The man underneath the mask called. He lifted his helmet to reveal Maven's perspiring face. "It's me. It's me."

"Holy shit," Sumire said, retracing her energy blade. "Why didn't you say something before? I could have cut your head off!"

"Sorry, I had to make sure you were here," August said, stepping inside and burying the dirt hole behind. "I went back to Captain Charlotte before you fell. They're coming back with reinforcements from Yendo and Sagittarius Fon."

"No, you're kidding me," Sumire said. "That's going to take days. We can't leave or they'll suspect that the Sagittarius Fon are responsible. It'll cause an entire war!"

"We already are at war," August said, nestling in the dark near several crystalline ores. "It's only a matter of time before they destroy us all. Their technology is far superior to our people. They move faster than us. They're smarter than us."

"They're smarter than you'll ever be," Maven retorted, advancing towards August with clenched fists and beady eyes. "Especially since you almost got Sumire and yourself killed. Now butt out, or I'll make you-"

Sumire panicked and gently pushed Maven away with both of her palms on his chest. She waved her palms and attempted to defuse the situation. "Hey, hey, it's okay," She whispered. "We already talked about it. It's done."

"How is any of this okay?!" Maven hissed. "All we had to do was report back to Captain Charlotte. I told him so many times to move back and he didn't listen. I think all of this could have been easily avoided if it wasn't for his stubborn little-"

"Maven, please," Sumire said, extending her words. "We talked about it already. At first I didn't want to, but more conflict won't help our situation. It's part of him. He's just... clumsy. Just forgive him for it, okay? I already do."

Maven shook his head and turned around. "Hmph, fine," He said, crossing his arms. "If you say so. Until then, we need to hold out down here until our reinforcements arrive."

"I'm glad this cave has some kind of moisture inside it," Sumire said. "Otherwise we wouldn't be able to breathe."

"You two get some rest," August said, approaching Sumire and Maven with the fallen soldier's blight weapon in his hand. "I'll keep watch until they come. I'll alert the both of you if there are any soldiers coming."

"No, we all need to be awake and ready for an attack," Maven interrupted. "You think you'll have time to yell at us before they come?"

"He's right," Sumire said, heading back into the light source in the cave. "I need a break. I think we all do. Thanks for suggesting that. How can you turn down some rest?"

"How can I-" Maven was completely stunned. "We're in the middle of enemy territory. How can you two be so calm at a time like this?"

"I'd rather not live through this time in constant fear. It does nothing," Sumire clarified, revealing her leg wound. "Besides, I've got this little problem."

"Oh, shit..." Maven said, examining her wound. "What the hell happened? You're bleeding-"

"August saved me," Sumire continued. "Still think that he's stubborn? He saved me. Now, both of you can take watch if that makes both of you feel any better. But I think I've fought enough to warrant this quiet time."

While Sumire left August and Maven by themselves to hopefully reconcile, her face turned into utter misery as she backed off into the cave. She knew that there was no hope for peace and quiet in this time of crisis. Her eyebrows slanted downwards as she fashioned herself a spot for her to rest. She elevated her shin above her other leg to prevent it from getting infected from the dirt.

As the pain began to subside as she became comfortable, Sumire could not stop reflecting on the image of her mother. She was so far away from home that she considered being trapped in the middle of dirt alive an isolated punishment. She wished she could take her mother into Claude's jazz club or Sunlight Headquarters to brew her a fresh cup of mint coffee. All of the comforts of life seemed to fade away the longer she stayed in confinement, but she knew that soon the time would pass to save her and the others.

To seek that power to return to her mother, she knew that saving the Fon would be necessary. She was not going to stop now.