Day 11, Week 1 - Into the Halls

[Corporal Light]

One Day Later

Winter Wasteland

The snow had picked up again.

A part of Ballad's crimson scarf flew past his face and into the air as the wind rushed past him, blowing huge amounts of snow into his face. The snow was coating his normally green attire a thick white though not to the extent it had been a day earlier. The snowfall was little more than an average one; not so bad that it was impossible to go anywhere, but it had enough gusts of wind and plenty of snow to provide some discomfort for him. He had left the cave a few hours earlier after a good night's rest and a meal. As he had left, he had started to wonder where exactly Lynch was. SPB had told him the mission wouldn't take him long. He brushed the thought out of his mind as soon as left the cave, however; he had reasoned that concerning himself over the kid was a poor usage of his time.

He held his gloved hand out in front of his face, blocking the wind from attacking his face with snow. He had discovered a trail about two hours earlier and was following it to its destination. Granted, neither he nor SPB had known it was a trail up until they had found a wooden post with several signs on it. Each one had a name and an arrow pointed in one direction. One of which was labeled "Nierhin," with an arrow pointed north.

The gunsmith had stopped in front of the sign, asking "Nierhin?"

"I am reluctant to inform you that I have no knowledge of this "Nierhin." SPB had replied, "Shame, too. It appears to be an interesting settlement."

"Then that's where we're going."

If there was one thing both of them could agree upon, however, it was that there should have been some way to gauge how far away they were from this 'Nierhin.' The signs, unfortunately, did not have any, and they were forced to traverse the fields without a map. They were blind, and they knew it.

Thirty minutes passed, and the weather did not let up even as the environment started to shift. Pine trees appeared from their sides as they pressed onwards through the path, eventually forming a straight line that acted like a linear corridor. The gunner listened to the sound of wind rustling through the leaves, occasionally grunting as excess piles of snow blew into him from the trees. His cheeks were feeling frozen, but aside from that, he did not think the snowfall was affecting him that much. It was certainly helpful that he had crafted some makeshift snowshoes out of Omnillium at the cave. They were wrapped tightly around his boots with brown rawhide lattice work connected to the circular frame that composed it. It made it much easier to move around through the snow, as his feet never sunk into the snow. He was glad he had managed to make them when he did, as it made the trek practically effortless.

Nevertheless, SPB had other ideas.

"It is preferable we save our thew for when we require it, my friend." He said, raising his voice as if he wanted to be heard over the deafening winds.

"Where exactly are we going to sit down and save our... whatever the hell that is?" Ballad asked, growling in annoyance.

He sighed, his eyes switching from white to yellow as he replied. "Good question."

"Exactly. For a logic spirit, you really don't know what you're talking about half the time."

"I take great offense to that statement, slayer of malfeasants and man-at-arms." SPB answered, his voice hiding no emotion.

"Well, I hope you can deal with it because it doesn't look like we'll be stopping for anything anytime soon." The gunslinger said, scoffing as he walked a few more feet forward, turning his head to his right.

A smile formed on his face. "I beg to differ."

Surrounded by a few large pine trees, mostly from the front and sides, stood a giant log cabin that towered everything else around it. Its roof was entirely white from the snow, and several icicles hung from the edges of the roof-tiles. The front of the cabin had several small windows built into it as well as a door. The door was brown, and from the wavy lines that swerved all over the surface of the door, appeared to be handcrafted. It had a small doorknob and a copper latch held by a metal eagle. Smoke rose from a smokestack on the right side of the rooftop, which indicated to the gunsmith that it was occupied.

"Well, virescent one, do you have any objections?" The spirit questioned.

"If by that, you mean do I object to breaking into someone else's house? If so, I don't see why not." Ballad replied, moving his body towards the abode.

As he moved towards it, he said "I don't intend to invade someone's personal abode, mind you. I just plan to knock, introduce ourselves. Make us look humble."

Quest: Into the Halls
Word Count: 633
Amount left: 9,367