Brave the weather.

The wind is picking up.

Even where you thought there would be cover between the hills, the arctic breeze is overwhelming. You should your eyes with your hand as you push forwards, and then you look back to those following behind. "Is everyone all right?" you ask. "If you're getting too cold, don't hesitate to ask Dix for a potion."

"I promise some of them are normal!" Dixby adds.

Back in humanoid form, Vyzia is still of course not effected, though not a gold dragon marches beside her. Malakae hasn't changed back. She is thankfully smaller than Vyzia when she's transformed, though it still takes up much of the room on the path.

"You gonna stay like that?" Niki asks.

"... Yes. Of course I am," Malakae replies. "Until I'm able to wear clothes again."

"Oh yeah. That makes sense. You don't need to wear anything as a dragon. It makes me wonder why you didn't do that earlier. Did you forget?"

"I did not!"

"So you did it on purpose?"

"Well, no--"

"Stop!" Xue shouts. As the party stops, as does the wind, and the man stands silently for a moment with his attention aimed towards a rocky cliff side that must have collapsed long ago, as the base of it is surrounded by snow-covered boulders. He holds up his hand, and listens to something even Eva and Lalarin don't seem to hear.

"What is it?" asks Captain Silver.

"We best go this way," he says.

The party turns their trajectory only partly to the right, now towards the boulders instead of another pathway nearby. Though it seems to become colder as you approach, the winds are cut. It feels like a road has been built for you to follow. Even the ground is flatter now, with fewer patches of ice to avoid, and there are no easy locations for another ambush anywhere nearby. And when you arrive, you can finally see it--a large opening into the mountainside, previously masked by the angle as well as the shadow that fell over the hill. It reminds you of where you found K'iina the Empress of Fire.

A few feet in, however, there's an entirely flat, smooth dead end of solid ice. You can't even see through.

Then a woman speaks. The voice is tender, yet there's a power regardless. Whoever it belongs to may be soft-spoken, but but soft-willed. "You have slain the demon which slept upon my land," she says. "So I will grant you an audience when I normally wouldn't."

"Oh. How kind," Niki says sarcastically.

"But only one," she continues. "Send but a single body forwards, and I will speak to them. No more."

The party looks amongst each other.

"I mean, it's gotta be Kyle," Eva says. "Right?"

"You're right, though I'd like to give this chick a piece of my mind. She should let us all in. It's freezing out here," Niki says.

"I thought you didn't mind the cold," Stax comments.

"That isn't the point!"

You sigh. "All right. I'll head on in."

Xue looks to you now and whispers, "Be careful."

"I will," you say with a nod, and then you approach the solid wall of ice. It reflects your image back like a perfect mirror. You touch it, and it's smoother than marble. It's definitely not natural. While you're inspecting it, you watch as a clean line slowly cuts through in the shape of a rectangle hardly larger than yourself.

When the cut is complete, a doorway opens for you to enter.