Fields of Ice

[Amaterasu]

In favor of a personal storyline I am "freezing" the Into the Hall quest (no pun intended) from this post on, until resumed. Amaterasu is not discarding the objects retrieved so far, but if upon judgement it's decided that the entire quest must be done in one continuous story without interruptions I understand.

Quest progression/restart will be marked with another quote at the top of the corresponding post!

The Fur-Selkie was carrying both Oki and Amaterasu now, sliding through the snow at its usual pace without relenting. Truly it wasn't a normal animal... Amaterasu had never seen it eat, drink or sleep, it had never once acted up or shown any other signs of a personality, it had always behaved and done as was asked of it. Someone more modern would have compared it to a machine. They were on the way towards the town that Amaterasu had left Urist at since some two days, with Oki taking the reins of the Fur-Selkie. Amaterasu was exploring the functionalities of the item she had retrieved from the troll leader.

One fateful evening she discovered the functionality to access the Dataverse Dante's Abyss website which held information about this year's event. She had come across the site shortly after seeing the livestream broadcasted from the lobby, with Ron Burgundy interviewing the participants. After having been broadcasted the stream had been left in shorter snippets for everyone to watch again if they wanted, cut in such a way that each snippet showed a single full interview. Amaterasu watched one broadcast after another when she found some spare time in the evenings, because the flickering little screen made her head hurt. She usually left it at two interviews per stop, until she stumbled across a very special one.

Amaterasu found Fiara's recording, her interview with Ron Burgundy, and to add to it she saw Arturia walk by in the background. There was no interview of her, but she would recognize the knight anywhere, even if she wasn't in her usual clothes, which she was. On their lunch break she hopped to her feet and looked at Oki.

"I have found Arturia, and Fiara", she said. Oki knew who she was speaking about when she mentioned the former. He looked at her concerned.

"What are you going to do? You can't come to her aid, right? This... Dante's Abyss thing, it's closed off. We don't even know where it's taking place."

"I'll find out. I'll get to her. I have to."

"Ammy, calm yourself!" he replied and stood up himself. They looked at each other for a few moments, then he spoke on. "Arturia is beyond our reach right now. She can handle herself, I'm certain. And Fiara... if she is here she must have appeared like the Celestial kami, with Moegami probably. She can handle her weight too, I remember her."

"Fiara is a kid, Oki! She's even more hotheaded than her father was even in his youth! She's going to throw herself at something that's too big for her. She- oh no..."

"What? What is it?"

"Fiara and Arturia... I think they are both there because of me. Arturia is looking for me, we know that, but Fiara... probably as well. Oh, this is bad... Fiara is probably not a Prime, she's going to die for good if she dies, and..."

Oki put his hands on Amaterasu's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Relax, Amaterasu. Think... Arturia will be fine, and Fiara... she won't die so easily, she is the daughter of Moegami after all. And if she does... she's a phoenix, we'll find a way to bring her back, okay?"

"Yeah... yeah, okay... I'm sorry for bursting out like that." She looked back at Oki, then put her hands on his and pulled them from her shoulders. "But, that doesn't change much. I still must find them. Listen, Oki... you know where the settlement is. Take the Fur-Selkie, the wampa fur and the heads as well as the money I made during the trip. Find Urist and the dwarves and find some shelter with them, wait for my return."

"You want to go alone?!" he asked startled.

"This is my mission, and I don't want Urist to get worried about us. Just... please do as I ask. I'll be back as soon as I can and find you both. I'll bring Fiara back with me, and Arturia if she wishes such as well."

"... alright, I see. Just, promise me that you won't get yourself into any trouble, okay? Keep your head leveled about all this."

"I will, promise. If I can't find a way into the Dante's Abyss I will just leave messages for Arturia with what she needs to contact me, and seek the remaining Celestial Brush kami out by just stepping into each portal for a short period and leaving as soon as I have them."

"Good... be careful out there."

"You too. You won't return if you die, so you have to be extra careful about all this." She stepped away from him and knelt in the snow to summon another Fur-Selkie for herself, as Oki stood by. Only when she had actually summoned it and mounted up did he do the same with his. They leant closer, grabbed each other's hands and bumped into one another's shoulders as goodbye, then headed out in different ways.

Amaterasu was headed straight for the entrance of the Frozen Fields, now sufficiently familiar with the verse to understand the geography. It shouldn't take her long, seeing where she was right now.

---

Indeed, only one day of travel after her departure did she see the portal off in the distance. On her way there she passed by a massive fortress built of snow that she was certain hadn't been there before, but then she supposed that she might have missed it. Or maybe someone had built it using their summoning powers, who knew. She sighed as she dismounted. A Fur-Selkie would be of little use in a land without snow, and the Nexus was one such place. "I think I have to extract the Omnilium from you again, don't I..." She murmured, then closed her eyes and put her hands on the beast's neck, now imagining it painlessly breaking down into its smallest components. She felt herself sinking down until she touched the ground and was made to stand on her own two legs, but continued to focus until at last she just... knew she had succeeded. Opening her eyes revealed an orb of Omnilium in her hands that she simply sunk into her chest again. That was done with... she looked back at the massive frozen landscape once more, then stepped through the portal to the Nexus. But she would be back.