Before long, the six of them had made it to the edge of the mountain. The wind became cool, and their breathing became puffs of fog.
"Well. What should we do, Nate?" Arsenio asks.
Nathaniel had already began to climb up.
"We climb."
The rest stopped to shrug, then started their way up themselves.
Catherine was familiar with the intense icy winds, so much so that it wasn't affecting her as much as the others. She scaled ahead of Nathaniel.
Arsenio stopped to look down.
"...Uhhh... where's Isabelle and her new...pet?"
"Her and Ezra were going around instead of scaling up...so they wouldn't hurt Claude on the cliffs..." Kenzo said, shivering.
"Will you guys hurry up?" Catherine called from a ledge. "I'll freeze before you boys get up here..."
"We are trying Catherine. At least be patient.."
"Being patient isn't gonna help us. We need to get to the other side of this mountain."
Catherine pulls Nathaniel up, followed by Arsenio and Kenzo. The four of them huddled up together to shield themselves from the cold.
"We're only a fifth of the way up there...this is gonna take forever..." Kenzo says.
"Don't you have your chains, Kenzo?"
Arsenio asks. "Why don't you use those to climb up the wall and then pull us up when you get to the top?"
"...Good point..."
With a shivering hand, Kenzo activated his Gift, scythe and chain flew forward from him and went up as far as he could see. When he felt the scythe latch onto the mountain, he gripped tight.
"A-Alright...I've got it..."
"Let's hurry..." Catherine said. "We're doing nothing but freezing up here.."
Kenzo pulls himself up, slowly rising onto the cliffside.
While he made it to another safe ledge, the other three pile closer together.
Kenzo took a sigh of relief as his chains hoisted him up. Small chips of ice and rocks hit him as the chain continues to ascend. The air became more dense as he rose, making him breathe heavily.
"Kenzo, you alright up there?" Arsenio asks.
"Y-Yes! I think I can see the top from here!"
"Alright!" Catherine says excitedly. "We're one step closer to-"
A loud rumble came from behind.
"...What was that?" Catherine asked when the sound echoed away.
"Don't know.." Arsenio responded.
Catherine turns to look back.
"I think we should get off this ledge...before it collapses and kills us."
"Good point..." Arsenio said.
Catherine calls Kenzo back down, and within minutes he's back on the ledge like the rest.
"How about we turn around and climb down?" Kenzo suggested.
"Why? We've still got a ways to go." Catherine replied.
"Just to be safe...don't want to fall and die, or get hurt. We should follow Isabelle and Ezra and go around the mountain."
Kenzo started to pull his chain back down.
"Fine. Let's go."
The group started down the mountain, keeping an eye out for any icy monsters that may be lying in wait for them. The four climbed down the side of the mountain, passing many holes and caves.
As they made it to the ground, they kept on going, going down the mountain.
The icy winds were no longer so bad, the temperature having risen to a pleasant spring morning. They go around the mountain this time, careful to avoid any treacherous spots.
As they went on, they came across a small path leading to a cave.
"Looks like a cave.." Kenzo said.
"We can try and go in." Catherine said.
Kenzo looked around, taking in all of the information. "Alright...I guess we can. Let's go in."
The four of them walked in, Kenzo taking the lead.
Kenzo peeks inside.
"Well...this doesn't look like Isabelle and Ezra came this way..."
"We'll see about that..." Arsenio said, crouching low and slowly sneaking into the cave.
"You're gonna get us killed!" Catherine yelled.
"Relax, I've got it covered." Arsenio said.
The group was huddled around Arsenio as his hologram gathered information.
"Alright, Isabelle and Ezra didn't come this way, but we sure will."
"Did you even check to see if anything else was in this cave?" Nathaniel asked.
"I did, but again, this thing isn't exactly accurate." Arsenio replied.
"It'll have to do. Come on, let's get out of here." Catherine said, walking into the cave and pushing Arsenio in front of her.
Since Arsenio was their only source of light and information in the cave, He was chosen to walk in front of everyone.
He stops for a second. "Hold on."
"What?"
"...I heard something."
"Just keep walking. We don't have to worry about it if we just get out of here."
"Alright.."
In the middle of the cave, they stop again.
"What the hell? Why do you keep stopping for?"
Catherine asks, still unaware of the sound Arsenio keeps hearing.
"I swear, I keep hearing something in here."
"But you've pretty much proved that nothing is in here.."
Then Catherine hears it too.
Nathaniel looks around the cave with them.
"Let us proceed...with caution.." he announced. "Some things are not what they appear to be.."
Screeching surrounds them, as if the animal was running or flying around the four of them in a circle.
Something cuts Nathaniel with extreme ease, and he responds with a swipe with his own Gift.
"Arsenio! Behind you!" Kenzo yells, pointing behind Arsenio. "Duck!"
Arsenio dodges out of the way, but part of his coat was torn by claws in the process.
"Damnit.." He says, looking at his now torn sleeve. He activates his Gift, ready to attack.
Nathaniel looks at his watch, then realizes the one thing that might give them an advantage, if only a slight one.
"Tempus: Cessatio!" The words escaping his mouth, time stops.
Nathaniel sighs in fatigue.
"This is more tiring than what I thought..."
His grip on time was slipping, things were only slowing down, not stopping completely.
Eventually, his tiredness gave in, time goes back to normal, and the chaos continues.
"Arsenio, what the hell are these things?!"
Catherine yells, ducking in and out of her dimension pathway.
Arsenio takes a close look at it's body as it continues to attack his arms and face.
"They look like...overgrown bats..."
Everyone's clothes were torn to bits.
"We need to leave this place-"
They heard a high pitched squeak, then a dark streak flies in front of them, straight to Nathaniel.
He slices it in half with his Gift with such precision that the air felt cut along with it.
"I thought I heard something!" Arsenio says snapping his fingers.
Quickly, when Arsenio wasn't looking, another bat latched onto his stomach, digging its claws into his abdomen.
"Arsenio!" Kenzo yells, trying to pull the bat off of him, which wasn't going well at all.
"Piece of-!" Arsenio quickly reveals his Gift and proceeds to aim for the bat. It releases a high pitched scream, as he begins to reduce it to pieces with a fiery blast.
When it drops onto the ground, he stomps what's left of it with this foot, then holds his wound.
"The exit...is that way..." Arsenio mutters, pointing straight in front of them. He collapses.
Stomping was heard.
Isabelle ran into the cave riding Claude, only lightly hurt.
"I-I came as s-soon as I heard your voices! Is everyone-"
She noticed Arsenio, laying on the darkened ground.
"A-Arsenio? Is...is he o-okay?"
Kenzo checks his pulse to double check. With wide eyes, he begins to carry Arsenio on his back.
"He's still alive! We can get him some help if we hurry!" He runs with Arsenio out of the cave, limping as he does.
Isabelle was extremely concerned, but no one provided her with an answer.
Catherine pulls her aside.
"Isabelle, I know you're really sensitive, but I need to ask you a favor."
"W-what? What is it?" Thread was slipping from her sleeves.
"... Arsenio's in pretty crappy shape, and I don't know who else can treat his wounds. Can...you fix him up for us?"
"W-what h-happened?"
"...We should get out of this cave before we end up the same way. I'll tell you when we get somewhere safe.."
Isabelle nods, mounts Claude once again, and guides Catherine out the cave.
Ezra was already setting up camp when they got there. And laying on a towel was Arsenio, still unmoving.
Isabelle runs to his side, finally noticing the large wound that covered his stomach in blood.
"A-Arsenio!"
"Careful, Isabelle..." Kenzo says.
Immediately, Isabelle takes out a sewing needle from her pocket and slides a piece of her thread into it's small opening.
"Y-you're gonna sew him back together?"
"It's either t-this or he dies.."
She goes through the process of sewing the large gash. Arsenio winces in his sleep, causing Isabelle to fumble.
"I'm sorry.." she whispers to him, then continues.
"How are you gonna get the thread out?" Dawlly taunts.
"Not now, Dawlly..."
"It's a genuine question..."
Isabelle continues to work. After she's finished stitching, she takes a deep breath.
"All done?" Kenzo asks.
"Y-Yes...I think s-so.." she responded.
Isabelle takes her own thread and a pair of scissors, snips off the sewn part, and then uses some water to clean it.
Isabelle hoped miraculously that Arsenio would wake up as soon as she finished, and yet, he still laid there.
"Isabelle..." Ezra called, "dinner's ready.."
Isabelle rubs Arsenio's arm and jumps up to join everyone else.
***
Everyone woke late that morning.
"Good morning..." Nathaniel says, dusting his ripped clothes.
"Good morning." Kenzo replied. He then looks at Arsenio.
"I guess we should see if he survived the night.."
Catherine struggled to get up. "I wouldn't be surprised if he did.."
Kenzo began to shake Arsenio's body.
"Arsenio?"
Kenzo was becoming increasingly frustrated. Arsenio groans as he stirs.
"A-Arsenio!" Isabelle called.
"Did you try some medicine?" Kenzo asked Isabelle as he checked his wound. "Maybe that could've caused him to become more... drowsy?"
"W-well.." Isabelle hesitated. "I... d-didn't know we...had a-any...so I just used w-water..."
"Ah...good thinking..." Kenzo noted, "Did anyone else try to wake him up while we were asleep?"
"W-well..." Isabelle thought for a moment. "I d-did try.. but...he..."
"But what?" Kenzo asked.
"He...he m-mumbled my n-name."
"He...did?" Kenzo said.
Isabelle nodded.
"Yes...but he o-only said it once..."
"He only said it once?" Kenzo asked.
Arsenio begins to stir again.
"A-Arsenio?" Isabelle said. "You n-need to wake up.."
Catherine angrily stands up and stomps towards Arsenio. "Hey! Arsenio! Wake the hell up!"
She picks him up. "Get up!"
"Catherine, l-leave him-"
"Listen Isabelle, sometimes you need to brute force through some things, we can't just sit around and wait!"
"Y-you're going to h-hurt him..."
"Good! Maybe he'll get up then!"
Ezra takes Arsenio and places him on top of Claude.
"...We should keep going. Arsenio can wake up as we go..."
"She is correct..let us continue.." Nathaniel says, making a mental note of the page in his book.
Let's just hope he wakes up before something else tries to kill us.." Catherine mumbles.
Isabelle leaped onto Claude's back, positioning Arsenio where he wouldn't fall off while they were traveling.
In complete silence, everyone continued on their way.
Nathaniel takes a look at the map once again. Catherine looks over his shoulder.
"Well? Where are we headed next?"
"It is a long winding path. It may take hours, maybe a day at most to get to where we are going."
She takes a look behind her. Isabelle was looking straight ahead, keeping her eyes on the road. Claude huffed as it went.
"... Maybe I-I should give Claude a break.." Isabelle says, slipping off and scratching it behind the ears. Then, with her thread, she holds onto Arsenio.
"That doesn't hurt you?" Kenzo asked.
"N-not exactly. It only r-really hurts when someone p-pulls on i-it or breaks it.." Isabelle answered. "He isn't hurting me.."
"Alright, Isabelle.."
Kenzo pulled on the thread, Isabelle immediately jolted in pain.
"K-Kenzo!"
"I'm sorry!" he apologized. "I just wanted to make sure!"
Isabelle made a deep sigh and looked out in front of her.
The Prodigies slowly turned around to look at the entrance of a long, winding path. The sky around it was dark, filled with thunder.
"It sure is something..." Catherine said.
"It certainly is...." Kenzo mumbled.
"This will be the most dangerous part of our trip. Shall we tread lightly and stay on guard, everyone else shall get there safely."
Catherine began to move, the group following suit.
Just then, there was a crack of thunder from somewhere in the distance.
"...Let's see... maybe we should look for shelter for now..." Kenzo says.
"Uh..." Catherine looked at the others in the group. "I dunno if you've noticed, but we're in the middle of a seemingly endless path, with not a damn thing to shelter ourselves with."
Kenzo scratched his head. "Y-Yeah.."
Everyone begins to walk slowly.
Suddenly, it began to rain.
"God damnit!" Catherine says in frustration, putting on her hood.
Nathaniel looks up. "It is alright. Rain is not the worst thing in the world."
"If I get sick because of this, you can bet I'll kick your ass Nathaniel."
Kenzo takes off his own jacket and puts it above his head. "At least it's a light drizzle... hopefully it doesn't get stronger."
This long path winds like a snake. The refreshing mist of rain encouraged them. However, the hardest part of their journey is about to begin.
To be continued in Prodigy: Casters of Time: Chapter 8
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