Chapter 51: Ice Relic

"Wait!"

I couldn't help but to let my eyes widened, like I just did the smartest thing I had ever done in my life. I've remembered reading it in one of the books at the library, and I'm sure I wouldn't be mistaken.

"The ice relic!"

I spitted, after the short minute of excitement coming from my veins, a wide smile plastered on my face. This smile should be reserved when I'll become a professor, but I guess I couldn't help but to use it here.

"Ice relic?" Dalary asked, with a raised eyebrow, didn't have any idea what I was talking about, as well as the others. But in my peripheral vision, Kandani stiffened his body as he knew what I meant by those words.

"The Atlan clan's ancient ice relic," I started explaining, still not removing the big smile that I put in my face. "That was the only thing they didn't get."

There are two scarnet villages, one is the Eldon of the west, now destroyed, and the other one was the Atlan of the east. They were being separated to each other so if disaster came, like what just happened to the other village, they will still continue to exist.

Considering that they were the least populous one, they might have struggling to live. And if my hunch is right, then they should be going there next.

"They were the strongest weapons that consist of special powers that even scarnets couldn't be able to stop." I added. "They must have wanted to get the other relic to have more power!"

No one may have seen the relics, but they were the strongest weapons, even consists of ancient powers that couldn't be able to surpass by any magic or ability.

Maybe they wanted to seek more power and desire for the other relic, and maybe that will be the reason why they wanted to stop Kandani. If he will inform the other village about them, then their plan will fail.

"That… makes sense…" Dalary muttered, as she put her fingers on her chin, narrowing her eyes into slits. Not everyone knew about this information, unless you were gonna study it in schools or read it in the library, and of course, peasants like us are most of those. "So that means…"

She raised her head and looked at me in the eye, trying to send a message at me through body language. Knowing what she meant, I nodded at her.

"They might be going to Atlan, at the land of the encantors." I answered. The happiness I felt earlier had now turned into anxiety and nervousness over the information. If they aimed to have power, then that means…

"I have to stop them from going there!" Kandani suddenly stood up from sitting down, causing for his head to bump at the wooden frames of the roof. He let out a small yell of pain then started massaging the top skull.

Without anything to escape from the embarrassment, he just sat down and went back on his speech.

"They wouldn't get away with this." He said with a strong tone. He poured real anger to those words, without any mixture of fear or sadness. He clenched his fists tightly. "They, even my friend, massacred my kind. I couldn't forgive them."

What he said made anyone else triggered. I took a glimpse of Dalary, now lowering her head, also forming her hands into fists. I don't know what's going on in her mind, but it seemed like she was guilty of something.

Pholly was looking at her with the same hatred I saw back when they argued at the rooftop, but right now, there was a hint of sympathy in them.

"And…" Kandani added, now with a low voice of grief. If there was hatred in those, then it would not be hatred to someone, it was hatred to himself. "…it is the only thing that I can do to repay my mistakes."

'Let's fix ourselves…'

I remembered the things I said to him before, that we were gonna fix ourselves because of the mistakes we committed. He was determined to clean up the mess that he made.

"Kandani…" I muttered his name. He was now willing to change himself for the better, but I haven't done anything to fix my problems. Sure, I was training to protect myself and don't be a burden to my friends, but other than that, there was no change.

That made me think if running away from the menace was the right thing to do.

"I have a bad feeling about what's going to happen…" Pholly said with a serious expression. Her brows furrowed with no smile plastered on her face. I could see a cold sweat pouring down from her cheeks.

"What do you mean?" Dalary, now recovered from the grief that she felt earlier, raised her head with her eyebrow lifting up.

"I'm not sure yet, but I know that in the future, there will be chaos." Her sister answered with the same expression. After hearing what she said, I couldn't help but to gasp.

Come to think of it, it wasn't just the Deravon that's an enemy, even the daminons. And speaking of them, they shouldn't also be in this world, they should be in the Devil's Hatch. Then, how…?

"If they want those relics, and you, then they might be doing something big… too big that we couldn't see the world as we know it." She added, pointing at me. What she said worried me about the future outcomes. If they couldn't chase me down, then this will be a long chase for them, except that they were getting stronger every time.

"But for now, we must focus on the task at hand." She said, in which all of us agreed to. But I couldn't help but to think deeply about the situation. If I'll trigger a deadly war in the future, then I should know how to not walk over that path.

After a few hours, the sun finally set and the night came. It wasn't an easy night, especially if we were in the middle of the plains where we were open to any attack from the outside. Dino was also tired, so he must rest once we will get to Astraen.

Right now, everyone was asleep, or pretended to be asleep, except me and Dalary. I was too busy looking at the map, to know what obstacles might come in our way, and she was just removing the leaves and twigs of her head using her gardening scissors.

"Hey, Dalary." I called her name, in which she responded with a short hum to let me know she was listening. She was too focused on removing them that I didn't even know if she was paying attention.

There is one thing that had been bothering me since earlier. True, she complained about her ability to talk to the elemental spirits at a young age, but after that, she still accepted it like she had never held a grudge to it. I wonder how she was doing that.

"How can you accept your talent easily?" I asked her, which made her turn her eyes to me. I lowered my head, trying to not make eye contact. "I thought you hated it."

She didn't answer for a second and just raised an eyebrow at me, growing suspicion over me. Her hand was still in her hair and scissors.

"Why? Is something bothering you again?" She asked.

Her question made me jumped at my position, and lowered my head more. I decided to not answer. She had always been doing this all the time, and always read my mind, so it was no surprise. But this time, I didn't know how to react.

I only heard her sigh.

"Of course, I hated it at first." She started whining, in which I raised my head to listen. "I've never liked having this talent."

As expected from her, she still hate the fact that she could talk to the elemental spirits and be considered a tendrin.

"But… I realized how it will help you in your journey, how I could save the ones I loved from danger with it." She added, now with a more serious tone in it. It's like she was sincere in what she was saying. "Instead of focusing at the negative, try looking at the positive ones."

"At least that's what I think."

Then, she released a smile. It was a smile contained a hint of sadness, still guilty of what she had done. But it was sincere, that it was the only proof you need to know that she was telling the truth.

But when she referred the tendrin people as her 'loved ones', I couldn't help but to be surprise of it. I ended up chuckling at my seat, in which made her uneasy. She pouted her lips as she noticed me.

"See?" I said.

"What?"

She raised an eyebrow once again, but now with a more irritated face than curiosity.

"You actually love your kind." I answered her question with a warm smile. It wasn't a smile of teasing, but a smile that showed my happiness for her change of heart. I'm glad I can see this side of hers.

What I said made her jump. I could clearly see her rosy cheeks that were blending in with her tree skin, too embarrassed now that she realized what she just said earlier.

"N-No!" She yelled, but then, noticing others that were sleeping beside us, she covered her mouth with both of her hands. "No, I'm not… really…"

"Just don't think about stupid things!" She whispered but with a higher tone, her cheeks were now became hot tomatoes splattered in a tree trunk. She really didn't want to admit that she cared for someone.

"Okay, good night!" Those were her final words and finally covered herself with the blanket she had been holding. After that, I hadn't received any signs of her still awake.

I decided to not go to sleep for a while, and since I was sitting where I can see outside, I looked up to stare at the starry sky. It was clear, no clouds can be seen. The stars were twinkling like rare gems floating at the sea of black.

My life really changed right now, and I couldn't be able to go back. This is now my life, a cursed human who just wanted to know about herself and be normal. But as long as my friends are here, I know that there's nothing to be scared of.