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~Rowan~

Rowan had set up camp and decided to only rest for an hour or so. He wanted to make sure that the two of them were at least somewhat well-rested before continuing on their journey. After all, they had been exploring for quite a while. Still, there were still six hours left to explore for the day before they set up camp for real. Rowan spent this time eating and cleaning his blade, making sure that it was in perfect condition for this new region. The snow would also prove to be somewhat troublesome in terms of footing. There was no way to really move about well in the snow. Even during the Winter, Rowan had trouble moving around in the snow at times because of how much sliding occurred. There was just no real traction for footing. Hopefully they would do fine on their little trip into these mountains. That was something else that was troubling. The mountainous aspect of these lands would prove to be pretty dangerous as well for them.

After an hour had passed, however, Rowan merely threw the coat over himself and stared out into the mountain range, standing atop a rock while he did so. With the wind blowing, he probably looked like some magnificent Knight from the olden tales of generations long past. In short, he probably looked exactly like the man he dreamed of becoming before he had died, and he also most likely looked like the image of the man Blake wanted to be her Knight. Adventurous, eager, and willing to face the dangers of the world with enthusiasm. That was how he must have seemed as he stood atop that rock. Even Alistair could probably see it in the young man's expression. After a few moments he began to set out through the mountain range, exploring it as best he could. Immediately, he came across a decrepit ice structure that seemed to be heavily damaged. Just walking into it looked like a death trap. The young man had barely even managed to make it a few hundred feet before he came across it.

Upon looking at it, however, he immediately realized how much he did not want to enter that frighteningly dilapidated place. Nothing about the structure seemed to be safe, looking as if it would collapse in on itself at any moment. Something so old probably did not have anything worthwhile in it at all anyway. "I think we should just continue moving on..." Rowan stated with slight distaste in his voice. This place seemed like it was going to be exciting... yet it was still just the same old thing just with a different landscape. Nothing at all. With a sigh, Rowan turned his back to the structure and began to walk in the other direction, his coat billowing slightly in the wind. "I'm not gonna die walking into that structure. You can if you want to though." Rowan stated to Alistair, continuing his trip across the mountain range. Now, however, he was feeling as if this trip was going to be nothing but disappointment after disappointment. Hopefully, this coat would not be the only worthwhile thing he gained from this trip.

~Rowan~

Rowan slid quite a ways down the mountainside, using the ice to his advantage. After a couple hundred feet, he came to a stop, sending snow flying out towards the edge of the mountain. Looking out at the landscape, this was truly a beautiful place. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. There was snow everywhere, and everything had a light-blue glow to it due to the ice. The scene was truly breathtaking. I wonder if this was how my life was supposed to be like. Before all that stuff happened. Would I have thought about this place the same if I had come across it in my first life? Or maybe.... maybe I wouldn't even appreciate it half as much as I do now. After all, this second chance is nothing but experiences I would have never had. Rowan thought to himself, staring out into the distance as he wondered just what Ian Reignhart would have thought of this view. There was no way to tell, and there was no way to travel to the past to find out what the younger version of himself would feel. All he could do now was enjoy whatever scenery he could in his new life.

This enjoyable scene, however, was interrupted by a loud roar and some huge, blue creature flying up in front of him, blocking his view. A sudden disdain suddenly overcame him before he even realized what was going on. Soon, however, he understood exactly what it was. A creature was flying before him, and it was the sworn enemy of Gram. That was what this feeling was, intense hatred for the creature before him. Its sudden appearance was marked by it suddenly unleashing an ice breath over the entire area he was standing in. Hopefully Alistair had not been nearby him as well. Unfortunately, he did not have the luxury to check and make sure of where the old man was. Instead, he simply turned his back and took the blow directly. He was met, however, with a very pleasant surprise. The ice barely hurt him at all. Something... was weakening its power. At first, he thought it might be his affinity for flame. Then, however, he remembered that something like that was not possible. Then... was it the coat. After a few moments, he realized that he did not feel cold in the slightest since walking into this place. So was that the coat doing that? Turning around, he simply faced the ice dragon with a death glare as the ice on his coat started to thaw out almost immediately.

How unfortunate for you that you had to come across me today. I suppose you won't have to make that mistake again..." Rowan muttered, mostly to himself, as he stuck his blade into the ground. The adult dragon seemed to real back slightly, a sudden fear overcoming it as it stared down at its prey. Suddenly, it seemed as if it realized that it had made some grave error in its approach of him. This, of course, was the effect of Gram, which instilled a natural terror into any dragon-like beings near it. "Now you're afraid... aren't you? Terrified even?" He asked the dragon mockingly, turning his hand slightly as he stared down at the armament. It seemed to be becoming more and more joyous as time went on. The armament had found its prey, what it had been waiting for this entire time. "I guess it's time to start then." He muttered to himself. Facing this dragon without Blake... he would have to do something drastic from the beginning. Despite not wanting to, he would have to unleash Balmung in front of Alistair. For the most part, he tried to keep it hidden from anyone other than himself, even Blake. This, however, was a very special circumstance.

Rowan simply stared at the creature for what seemed like an eternity, the two of them sizing each other up as their eyes locked onto each other. It was a quick movement that set off the chain of events. Without a single word to Alistair, Rowan had decided to fight the dragon without Alistair’s agreement. Whether this was Gram affecting him or his own well, no one could really tell. His hand moved in one swift movement, and he leaped forward while grabbing his blade, the sword transforming into the legendary weapon Balmung. At one point in history, it was believed that the sword had been a separate armament altogether. This led to much confusion when it was suddenly lost to history after Gram disappeared as well. It was not until recently that Rowan had even discovered that the two were one and the same. Balmung was a part of Gram, just like Gram was now a part of him. Still, the discovery of this sword would undoubtedly be shocking for anyone aware of history and the lore of the world. Rowan, however, did not change his expression as he charged towards the beast.

It swung at the boy as he approached it, yet Rowan simply twisted his body and struck the arm of the large creature with the sword. The force of the impact propelled Rowan towards the sky as he moved through the air. The creature, looked up, simply breathed its ice attack towards Rowan, wanting to freeze him solid in the air. Its magical breath, however, was met with utter negation not only because of Gram, but also because of his own coat’s anti-ice properties. As such, Rowan merely barreled through the attack and came down with his blade, striking into the creature’s eye with a lot of force. Roaring, the creature began to fling its head in various different directions, trying to throw Rowan and the weapon from it face. It succeeded in doing this after a few seconds, tossing him towards the mountainside with a lot of force. Rowan, however, twisted his body and landed on his feet. Looking up, however, he was met with the creature’s tail immediately coming towards him. Jumping with as much force as he could, Rowan flung himself up the mountainside, sending snow tumbling down from the jump. The dragon, however, merely started pursuing him up the mountain, crashing in to the side of it and clawing its way up.

The snow on the mountainside suddenly began tumbling down in heaps, causing a miniature avalanche as the dragon pursued him up the mountain, snapping at him with its jaws. They were intelligent creatures, which meant it probably realized that its breath would have no effect on him since he possessed an anti-dragon armament. Knowing dragons it probably knew exactly what the armament he was wielding was. Which meant this was more than just a simple fight with prey at this point. Now, it was a fight between two beings that opposed each other fundamentally. Like the snake and the eagle, they were fighting simply because they were enemies of each other. Rowan met its pursuit with continued climbing until he felt confident that he had made it far enough up the mountain to do what he needed to do. He suddenly planted his feet on the ground and jumped forward. The young man flew towards the dragon and flipped himself, spinning towards the creature. Upon reaching it, the creature opened its jaws and Balmung came crashing down, sticking into its top jaw and cleaving it through the middle and sticking. Immediately, however, it was cut from another angle on the top jaw, cleaving a piece of its jaw off and freeing the blade from its body.

Startled, it stumbled backwards from the pain and sudden attack, allowing Rowan the chance to attack it like he planned. He landed on the ground before it and lunged forward, slicing into the creature’s underbelly with great force. It roared and cried out, swinging its body left and right as it tried to free itself. Rowan pulled the blade from the creature and merely slashed, cutting two large tears into the creatures belly at once. Then again, and again, causing two cuts each time. Eventually, the creature leaned back too much and began tumbling down the mountain. Rowan, wanting to finish it off, began jumping down the mountain, propelling himself forward. It, however, was falling faster than he was moving forward. Eventually, it came to rest at the spot he had originally been at, falling on its back with a loud thud and laying on the ground with its underbelly exposed. Before it could even move, Rowan smashed straight into its chest, blade first, and cut through its heart. The creature let out a terrible sound, and agonizing sound, and its arms fell limply on either side of it. Its body laid there lifelessly as Rowan stood up, his hand on the blade.

After a few moments, Rowan merely let go of the sword and it transformed back into its usual form, becoming thinner and shorter. He grabbed it with his other hand before it could fall down into the dragon’s body. Slashing it to the side, he threw the blood from the blade and turned towards Alistair, his eyes rather cold and vicious. ”I’m sure that if we carve it up, we’ll be able to get quite a bit of gold from its scales and fangs. Maybe even the wings.” He stated, looking back towards the dragon for a few moments before turning his attention back towards Alistair. ”Let’s do this quick. I don’t want to run into anything else while we get this done.” He stated to him, acting as if nothing spectacular had ever occurred. Some might have found this general attitude to be a little bit unnerving, especially considering he just fought a dragon and managed to beat it. Yet, Rowan was simply handling the situation calmly, despite rushing in and slaying the dragon with an immense killing intent. It was really confusing, even for him. Just who was fighting in that battle, Rowan or Gram?

Congratulations! You and your party have discovered a new Kingdom!

Please refrain from entering until we have established the proper subforum.

Half way until the the six hour point! Good luck!

~Rowan~

Rowan was walking on his merry way when he heard an unsettling roar. Upon looking up, he saw around eleven dragons nesting on the walls of the valley that they had just entered. Their trip had been nothing but fighting and little else. All he would make was some money off of the dragon carvings that they had managed to get from the last dragon he had killed. This, however, was something that would be beyond him by himself and with Alistair to protect. Such creatures were prone to attacking the stragglers. As such, there was no real way to fight them without putting Alistair in certain danger. While he contemplated it for a moment, due to Gram's influence, something tugged on him far stronger to back off. It was not fear... but something else. Was it.... affection? At the thought of the feeling, a certain person came to mind, her back to him but gazing behind her slightly with tears falling. A sudden aching spread throughout him as he realized that he did not want this scene to play out any further. Alistair's death would undoubtedly result in this scenario, and it was not something that he wanted to deal with.

Before the creatures had time to get their bearings, Rowan grabbed Alistair by the coat and ran off in the other direction as fast as he could, practically dragging the man with him. He had a plan, as he could not outrun the dragons, but Alistair would have to just let Rowan take control of the situation. Running, he made his way over towards a large hill-like cliff. He was running as fast as he could as he heard the dragons beginning to take off. "Trust me, shut up, and don't move!" Rowan shouted to him, dragging him down into the snow as they both slid over the edge of the cliff, falling down into the depths it led to. Rowan, however, grabbed a hold of Alistair and rolled with it, taking a lot of hits against the side of the hill as they tumbled and tumbled to the bottom. Once he reached the bottom, he moved Alistair up against the wall of the giant cliff mound, the snow a bright white around him. He curled his body up close to the man and pulled the coat he had gained up over them. Its white against the snow around them was nearly as blinding as everything else, blending in rather well with the scenery. It would be hard for people on the ground nearby to distinguish them from the cliff side, much less large creatures flying through the air.

~Rowan~

After about twenty minutes, Rowan stood up and moved away from Rowan, believing the dragons to have finally left back for their home. He was correct with his assumption when he was met with nothing but the night sky above them. The stars shown bright as clouds lingered in various areas in the sky above. It was peaceful, and Rowan was glad that he had managed to get away from the creatures. With Alistair alive, he would not have to be reprimanded at all by anyone. Still, he had hardly found anything but various troubles on his journey into the wild. With a sigh, Rowan flourished his coat a bit as he put it back on, throwing it forward slightly as he fit his arms into it. After today, he really needed to consider what sort of life he was living out here. Good luck, bad luck. These Trinities need to figure out just what they're supposed to be. I can't stand finding something good every now and again and then being flooded with bad luck. He thought to himself, looking at his coat being the sole thing he had obtained from the trip. Of course, he could probably sell the dragon materials for a high price as well.

When Rowan turned to leave, however, his eyes caught sight of something nearby. It was a small, frozen lake, and there was something bright red swimming underneath it. They could eat fish for dinner. There was a fish in the middle of the mountains, and they could eat fish for dinner instead of some crummy rations they had bought before their trip had started. Rowan, gulping slightly, walked over to the lake and looked down into the icy depths of it, wondering just how he should go about this. Then, in a swift movement, his hand darted into the water, the demonic one, and pulled back a creature that he had never seen before. He could not tell whether or not it was a fish or some other kind of monster. It had a snake head and the body of a fish. Whatever it was, it was not only creepy but probably inedible. With a sigh, Rowan merely stared down at the creature while he contemplated what to do with it. There's no way I can eat something like this. I couldn't even eat a regular snake, much less something that looks like the demonic offspring of one of them and a fish. He thought to himself.

It was then that something very large came out of the water and snatched the fish from his hand, gulping it down and nearly pulling him down its gullet. It crashed down in to he water suddenly, sending him into the depths. For a moment, he was completely flustered and unable to react effectively. Then he saw it. It was gigantic, with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Something he had, by far, never seen before in his life. Some air bubbles escaped him as he tried to make some sounds, the creatures circling around him. After a few seconds, however, he realized that the creature was not trying to kill him. What... just what was going on here. After a moment, the creature simply placed itself underneath him and lifted him out of the water, Rowan seemed to look as if he was riding the creature. As he emerged from the water, he caught sight of Alistair and quickly spoke. "What... what is this thing!?" He shouted to him, the creature seeming to not mind having Rowan riding on it as he stared from the lack towards Alistair. It was lucky that his coat resisted cold, otherwise he would probably die from being drenched in the mountains.