The magic of a cone and frozen stuff: Ice cream

The streets were full of people dressed in various colourful attire, looking beautiful in every possible way. Bright lights swept over the place, adding vibrant colours to the festive atmosphere.

Amidst these were dancing, singing, and other creative performances alike, ordained by various groups of performers. There were also a few food and drink stands here and there to satisfy the participants of the carnival as well.

"What do you think?" Ashley punched him on the shoulder as they walked through the crowd of festivity.

"Pretty amazing."

Even he could hear the awe in his voice.

"Doesn't seem like you've ever been to a carnival before," Ashley pointed out.

"No," He said. "Whitehead only saw it from a distance. Carnivals were mostly thrown by the higher ups. In my past life, the higher ups had everything and people like me were like a speck of dust constantly tossed by the wind."

"Too bad," Ashley shook her head and took a red cup of wine from the tray being carried about by a man dressed in a waiter's uniform.

"Thank you," She said to him.

"The Sterra square is known for having great parties, great carnivals like this, festivals, and what have you. It's the place to enjoy yourself at night if you feel like mingling with a really vibey crowd," She continued before taking a sip of her wine.

People were too busy enjoying themselves that only a few of them noticed that "the devil's incarnate" was moving through. And those few did not fail to cast questioning stares at him.

"Why is he red?"

Although there were some people in the crowd that had their bodies painted in various colours, the colour red was not part of the carnivals theme so the people who had their bodies painted, were either coloured in blue or green.

"You would have matched a lot but sadly, red isn't a theme," Ashley couldn't help but laugh after noticing the people he had managed to attract their attention.

"They will have to deal with me being unique," Emmet smirked.

Ashley shook her head in laughter and chugged down the remaining wine in the plastic cup.

"This was so good," She licked her lips and a handful of her hair took the cup away from her hold and sneakily placed it into the back pocket of a dancing man's pants. "We should go get more from the stand."

"Let me see, you had the Codal Elixir, then a wooden mug of beer with foam head, and now you want a second cup of red wine?" Emmet's eyes widened at her.

"Circus boy, how old are you?" She sneered at him and walked off in the direction of the stand that made the red wine.

' Why would the heavens lead me to such a crazy woman?' Emmet thought to himself.

"From what I have observed, she is a result of the underground," Liesl chipped in.

' How do you mean exactly?' Emmet asked. He finally decided to go along with her and was making his way through the left side of the crowd towards her.

"The underground is a notorious base, having more than 20 cartels. These numerous cartels have their leaders but the ruler of the underground is the overseer of every industry within the underground. Ranging from thief, prostitutes, assassins, and other good for nothing individuals, the underground harbours each and every one of them. These so-called good for nothing individuals have all been victims of the bad side of life as such, making them easy prey to the underground.

However, the underground is just a community of its own like the surface. Boundaries are set between the underground and the surface in specific cases. It is all a complicated matter of politics," Liesl explained.

She then continued.

"Ashley's behaviour tends to be the way it is due to the fact that she grew up in the underground and settled down to become a thief. One thing about the underground is that, these unhealthy habits are so inscribed in the hearts of their victims that it makes it hard for them to get rid of these habits when their older. Sadly, a vast majority of those taken by the underground are homeless and rebellious children. The ruler of the underground is a very powerful person and is still building the underground, with one thing in mind."

' What's that?' Emmet asked, genuinely curious.

"To make the underground become one of the greatest empires," Liesl answered.

' That's the craziest goal I have ever heard,' Emmet thought in disbelief.

"No, not when the ruler of the underground is very powerful," Liesl pointed out.

"Hey!" Ashley snapped her fingers in his face, causing him to pay attention to her.

"You want ice cream?" She asked, an annoyed look playing on her face.

"Huh?" He looked from her to the seller at the stand and then back at her.

"What's that? I thought you were going to get more of that wine," He finally said.

"They're out of it. Don't even talk about it anymore," Her face scrunched up in annoyance from just thinking about how she had lost the chance to get another sweet taste of the wine. "So I'll take the ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Emmet tilted his head to the side. Ice cream was something he had never heard of in either of his two lives.

"You village circus boy," Ashley scoffed then turned back to face the seller. "Two vanilla ice cream cones with transcendental content, hot fudge, and crushed nuts please. I need to get back the strength I lost after learning you're out of wine."

The seller chuckled at her words before preparing her order.

Emmet's eyes followed his every movement. It was when the seller opened up a silver cover that revealed frozen kind of cream, Emmet decided to ask his shape-shifter for help.

' Could that be the ice cream?' He asked, his eyes bulging out, and poking his head forward like a child who was in awe after seeing something he thought was cool.

"From my research, that is ice cream," Liesl answered. "Ice cream comes in different flavours and toppings. The flavours can be vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, Pistachio, Coffee, Cookies & Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip, Salted Caramel, Hazelnut, and lots more. Toppings can also be chocolate syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles, caramel sauce, fudge, rainbow jimmies, crushed nuts, fresh berries, maraschino berries, and lots more. Ice cream in the realms can also come with or without transcendental content. Ice cream is a treat you will surely enjoy, sire."

"It looks interesting as it sounds," Emmet slowly nodded, still paying attention to every little thing the seller did to build the ice cream on the cone.

In a few seconds, the man had come to an end of his amazing craft and handed over the already prepared cones to Ashley who paid him four gold coins before handing one cone over to Emmet.

"What is Ice cream?" She mockingly said, while imitating a deep voice.

"I am in my exploration phase," He shoved her words aside and stared at the cone for a while.

Now, tere was a burning question in his mind.

How in the world was he going to eat this ice cream?