Reiki was carefully walking over white grass, a constant gust of wind passing through all of them. All the trees around them had snow leaves, both Melanor and Moranor were hugging their winter coats as they shivered while walking. Enora was happily whistling a tone while hopping from one foot to the other while Elora was only wearing her usual long green robe as she gave her coat to Melanor. Reiki was still holding onto his coat as he looked around to absorb the sights, he thought. So beautiful yet so deadly. Enora made her way next to Reiki by hopping playfully, she said. "Not getting cold yet?"

He let out a chuckle and shook his head, he said. "Nope." Enora had a bright smile on her lips as she had a look of interest, she said. "Then make sure to have a good grip on your coat." With a playful tone, she continued. "It might get taken from you." She hopped forward as she went around them a couple of times like a reindeer enjoying the cold. Reiki thought. It's not as cold as when I was dropped off in mt. Elbrus during a snowstorm. 

He moved his gaze onto Moranor who was slowly walking beside him while gripping her coat tightly, Reiki unrolled the coat in his hands as he jumped and placed it over Moranor. He helped her put it on properly as he held her hands and looked up to her, Reiki said. "Better?"

Moranor slightly blushed as she made a small nod. Enora was watching them from the corner of her eye while walking beside them.

[System: User has received 53 Damage.]

Enora accidentally elbowed him by his ribcage as he shrugged it off. While walking there were faint traces of blushes in Moranor's cheeks that stayed as she hugged the coat Reiki helped put on her. Enora, seeing this, launched a barrage of fists onto Reiki.

[System: User has received 80 Damage.]

[System: User has received 24 Damage.]

[System: User has received 39 Damage.]

[System: User has received 63 Damage.]

Elora and Melanor were watching them from the corner of their eye as both of them had a smirk on their lips. Elora flashed Melanor a knowing smile as she nodded. Melanor faked a cough as both of them stopped walking, they turned around. Enora was about to punch Reiki in his stomach when she suddenly paused while Moranor mysteriously stopped shivering. 

Reiki let out a yawn while letting Enora vent, Elora flashed her daughter a smile which confused her. Melanor said. "This will be the only time we'll offer you three a chance to go back to the real world." Moranor snapped back to reality and said. "I-I'm fine, I can go all the way." Enora hurriedly said. "It's not even that cold." Before Reiki could say anything Enora wrapped her arm around his neck and placed a hand on his mouth. Enora said. "He's more than capable of going since he willingly offered his coat to Mora, he should have no problem."

Elora nodded while Melanor turned around and slowly walked. Elora also turned around and glanced at the three of them, she said. "Don't touch the grass. I can't promise you'll keep your limbs if you do." Elora walked next to Melanor with a spring to her step while Melanor was visibly shivering while walking. Half of Reiki's face was smashed into Enora's large chest, he thought. I can feel how cold her skin is from the coat… She's colder than I expected... 

He felt Moranor's deadly glare on his back as he started to frantically escape from Enora's hold. With a soft thud from landing on the white grass, Reiki looked up to Moranor and said. "L-Let's go?..." As he held out his hand palm facing upwards toward her. Moranor quickly grabbed his hand and dragged him, she said. "We don't want to lose sight of them." Enora's eyes narrowed as she glared at them holding hands, she appeared beside them and said. "You two are overreacting, there's no need to hold hands."

Moranor glared at her from the corner of her eye and noticed Enora had a small frown on her lips. Moranor let out a sigh and said. "And why is that?" Enora raised her hand and held out three fingers, while counting down she matched the number with her fingers saying. "Three. Two. One." A strong gust of visible white wind went toward all five of them and enveloped them. Reiki's entire vision turned completely white as he used his free hand to try and block it. He thought. Did… Did it just get somewhat warmer?... 

His vision slowly returned as he saw the long green sleeve he was wearing and moved it away from his sight. Reiki saw a giant jagged icicle that was surrounded by either jagged or broken icicles. It was completely white making it impossible to see through. In front of them were Elora and Melanor who were looking at the three of them, with a smile on Melanor's lips she said. "Say hello to the heart."

Reiki observed the heart and thought. How tall is this thing… Elora and Melanor weren't even hiding their gaze as they stared at Reiki and Moranor holding hands. Enora was glaring at him from the corner of her eye while Moranor eventually remembered and quickly let go of his hand and placed it in a pocket from the winter coat. Elora cleared her throat and said. "Reiki this is where you'll come in handy." She walked toward the giant icicle and placed her hand on it as it visibly melted into water revealing what's inside. 

Enora suddenly placed her hand around his waist and started running toward them, Moranor was surprised by her as she started running toward them. Melanor let out a chuckle, she said. "Ahh, young love…" She slowly made her way inside the heart and inside was a large open space that had a mini pedestal made out of see-through ice, on top of it was a floating elegantly carved dark blue longbow.

Elora walked to the left, which got Reiki's attention as he saw writings on the ice wall, without turning her head sideways, Elora said. "Reiki, come over here for a moment. I need you to translate something for me." Reiki took a step toward Elora's direction as Enora kicked his left calf, he limped his way toward the ice wall with writing as Enora made her way to the pedestal with the floating bow. 

Melanor walked toward her daughter who still had faint blushes on her cheeks as she placed an arm around her shoulder. Elora saw him limping his way toward her, before she could say anything Reiki said. "I think you already know what happened." Elora flashed him a smile as she glanced at her daughter who had wide eyes as she stared at the floating longbow. A thin ring appeared in Reiki's pupils which was adjusting in width rapidly, he looked at the writings on the wall and said. "On this day-."

Elora dragged him by the collar and brought him to the very edge of the writing, she pointed at a section and said. "You can read those later, can you translate this part for me." He stared at the section for a couple of seconds as Elora was completely silent. Melanor, Moranor, and Enora were watching him from the corner of their eye. 

The glowing ring in his pupils was constantly changing in width until it stopped, Reiki said. "Hmm… Requirements for the Ice Lotus Bow… The wielder must be an elf… The wielder must have a mana pool of 200,000… T-Two hundred thousand?!" Reiki took a step closer to see if he read it wrong, his face was a couple of inches away from the ice wall as he felt his skin was being pricked by something cold.

[System: User has received 77 Ice Damage.]

[System: User has received 68 Ice Damage.]

[System: User has received 90 Ice Damage.]

…

All the elves were surprised by his reaction, he took a couple of steps back and said. "Huh… Two hundred thousand… Moving on…" Reiki pointed at where he was reading and continued. "The wielder must have shot a bow a thousand times every day for an entire year… An elf only has three tries… Failure in all three attempts without meeting the requirements would result in the bow refusing to acknowledge said elf... That's it." Elora stared at him for a couple of seconds, she said "That's it." Reiki nodded, he said. "I can write that down in elvish with the translation if you want me to." 

Elora saw the glowing light blue ring in his pupils, she shook her head and placed him down. Elora said. "No, I trust you." Elora made her way to the pedestal where her daughter was as Enora leisurely skated her way using the slippery surface of the ice. As she made her way toward Melanor and Moranor who were walking toward Reiki who was reading the writings on the ice wall. Melanor was standing behind him, she looked at him while he was diligently reading. Moranor was standing beside him and was slightly worried, she said. "Reiki, you didn't lie about anything did you?"

Reiki let out a chuckle, he said. "Right now I'm trapped in a freezing… Forest? Can I even call this place one? With two elves one specializes in thunder and the other specializes in ice. Need I say more?" Moranor looked at the ground and her smile faltered, before she could say anything Reiki grabbed her left hand. He looked up to her and said. "Thank you for worrying about me, you don't need to be on edge whenever I talk with her majesty. I would rather be friends with elves than an enemy." 

Melanor placed a hand on her chin, with observing eyes she stared at him and said. "You think we're friends?..." Reiki moved his gaze onto Melanor while playing with Moranor's hand, he said. "What else would you call our association? Especially after all we've been through?" Melanor raised a brow and said. "Even Enrel?" Reiki visibly reeled back a bit, he used his free hand to rub the same spot where Enrel stabbed him with a syringe. He said. "Yeah, but don't tell her that I said it."

Melanor had a smile on her face, she said. "You just indirectly solved one of our hardest problems…" She placed a hand on his unkempt and scraggly hair and ruffled it up making it even messier. Melanor let out a chuckle and continued. "Make sure to watch closely." Enora skated around them a couple of times and did a couple of small twirls mid-jump, she saw Reiki was playing with Moranor's hand as she accidentally kicked him in the shin on her second twirl. 

[System: User has received 99 Damage.]

Enora perfectly stopped near them, with a smile on her face she sweetly said. "What were we talking about?" Her right hand blurred as she karate chopped Reiki's forearms.

[System: User has received 105 Damage.]

Reiki reflexively let go of Moranor's hands as he looked up to Enora who was acting as if nothing happened, Melanor had a smile on her face and said. "Brace yourselves." Enora and Moranor nodded as both of them released their mana at the same time as Melanor. Reiki saw three tall and large pillars of dense and thick mana, he felt all three of their pressures combined as he took a couple of steps back and almost slipped. Moranor caught him, she said. "Expand your mana if you don't want to get knocked out." 

Reiki looked up to her and said. "What do you mean by that-?" Enora was slightly giddy as she tapped on Moranor's shoulder and said. "It's starting!" Elora stood near the mini pedestal and slowly reached out and touched the floating bow, all of a sudden the entire ground started to shake violently. A huge surge of mana started radiating off her the moment she touched the bow.

Reiki saw Elora's mana growing by the second until it enveloped the entire large icicle, the ground started to shake even more violently. Melanor saw Reiki didn't protect himself from Elora's mana, Melanor said. "Someone grab him!" Enora wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pressed his face against her large chest. Moranor wrapped her arm around his waist as she tried to get him off Enora's grasp, Reiki ignored them both as he observed the mana Elora was radiating. He thought. She's going to break this whole place apart… 

The earthquake came to a sudden halt as the mana Elora turned visible revealing a chilling blue around the entire area. Elora let out a sigh of relief as the mana she unleashed slowly shrunk as she held the bow with both of her hands. Elora held it as if she was holding Enora when she was a baby elf, Elora said. "When was the last time an elf was able to succeed in obtaining this bow?" While she stared at the bow in awe.

Melanor made her way toward her along with the two other elves who were dragging Reiki like a toy. Melanor glanced at the bow in her hands as she placed a hand on Elora's left shoulder, Melanor said. "From the recordings… It would've been the cold era, so roughly about a hundred thousand years ago." Reiki managed to push Enora's breast out of his face and said. "In human language?" Moranor managed to snatch him off from Enora's hands as she placed him on her right. While dusting off some ice dust off his clothes Moranor said. "Ice age." 

Reiki had a confused look on his face, he thought. How would that work? Moranor tapped his shoulder and said. "I don't know much about what you humans wrote in history, but in ours, it was said the cold era happened due to an ice crystal the same size as the uh… It's pronounced leaning tower of pitza right?..." She looked at Reiki for clarification, he shook his head and said. "Pisa, leaning tower of Pisa." He thought. How different is history?...

Enora had a gloating look on her face as she enjoyed her mess up, Moranor ignored her and continued. "And the infamous Ice Lotus Bow in her majesty's hand is made from it." Reiki raised a brow, he said. "How? And did that bow use the entire crystal?" Moranor was about to say something but was cut off by Enora who slightly pushed her and said. "There are a lot of versions of how it was made, with the most famous one being a dwarf who was able to master the spell gigantism and melt it down and-." Elora had already hidden the bow away, with a small smirk on her lips she said. "Long story short, it's a strong weapon." 

She moved her gaze onto Melanor and continued. "Time to head back." Melanor nodded, while Moranor subconsciously hugged the coat she was wearing. Enora had a look of expectation and said. "Mom, what about me?" Elora rolled her eyes at her, she said. "I'll give you the longbow I had custom-made for myself years ago when we're alone."

Enora had a big smile on her face and said. "Finally." Reiki had a look of realization, he said. "We're not going to walk back… Are we?" Moranor hugged her coat even tighter, she said. "... We are…"

______________________________________________________

Queen's Personal Room

Enrel was lazily lying down on the huge bed while holding two unopened wine bottles, on the nightstand was a platter filled with cured meat, cheese, and some wheat bread as she made herself comfortable. She let out a long content sigh and said. "The day where I'll have a house bigger than this is so close yet so far…" Using her thumb she effortlessly took the cork off from one of the wine bottles as she placed the other one on top of the nightstand beside the food platter. 

Enrel stared at the bottle in her hands for a few seconds as she waved her hand as a tall wine glass appeared in her hand as she filled it almost to the brim. She downed half of it in one go as her face turned visibly red, Enrel had some steam coming from the top of her head as her face returned to her usual pasty white color. She looked at the door and said. "What is it? It better be important to disturb me."

A hesitant knock came from the door as a male elf wearing a white robe stayed outside the room and said. "... Lady Enrel… We've discovered a couple of things…" Enrel let out a long sigh, she lazily stood up from the bed and walked toward the door. Enrel stared at the glass in her hand and when she was nearing the door she looked at the elf and said. "Report." A look of surprise was on the male elf's face for a split second before he spoke in a serious tone, saying. "The old generation had a total of three meetings today, each meeting taking roughly five to seven minutes." 

Enrel swirled the wine in her glass as she took a whiff of the fragrance, she said. "We've expected that." The male elf continued. "Master Selmer went into seclusion for an unknown period after… Exchanging pointers with the boy…" Enrel nodded, she let go of the glass of wine in her hands as it floated mid-air, she said. "I've already asked her majesty."

The elf hesitated, he said. "And uh…" Enrel started massaging the temples of her head, she said. "Let me guess, Haemir household." The male elf slowly nodded as he was ready to run away, Enrel deeply inhaled and exhaled and said. "You may go, I'll make sure to pass this information to E-." She exaggerated a cough and continued. "Her majesty." The male elf gave her a respectful bow as he gently closed the door, Enrel can hear the sound of footsteps getting farther away before vanishing completely.

She took the wine glass that was floating mid-air and walked back toward the bed, Enrel laid down while taking a small sip. She swallowed and said. "I just hope they get back from the frozen oven before any of those old elves notice." She reached for the food platter on the nightstand and picked up a thin slice of cheese, Enrel also took a small sip of wine to combine the flavors. With a clap of her hands, the room turned darker as a sphere appeared right in front of her.

The sphere was showing the shopping district as elves went about their day as some bought ingredients, parchment, or whatever they had on their shopping list. Enrel waved her hand as the image of the sphere changed inside was a ginormous room that was made out of wood filled with all kinds of decorations. Inside the room, Revilor was staring at an elf who was starting to form a beard and wearing a long green robe with both his hands behind him. 

The elf looked like an older chiseled version of Revilor as his posture was as straight as a line, Revilor's father said. "How were the negotiations with the boy?" Revilor had a smile on his face, he pats himself on the shoulder and said. "Simple, I was able to convince him with the allure of money. Humans are such easy creatures to predict, all you have to do is show them something of value and they'll jump on it, head first." Revilor's father walked toward a window and stared outside, he said. "How will the child be paid? And how much did he ask?"

Revilor slightly hesitated, he gulped and said. "He demanded a hundred platinum coins…" His father didn't react and kept staring outside, Revilor continued. "He also demanded to be paid half of the money first before starting and the other half before he hands the formation to us…" His father stayed silent, Revilor swallowed his saliva and said. "T-The child sure knows no bounds, r-right? Father?..." 

His father slowly turned around to face him, Revilor breathing became slow. His father said. "Agree with his demands, I've seen the result of his work, the Amisra household formation… It's worth the price…" Before they could say anything Enrel lazily waved her hand as the sphere disappeared, she was filling her glass with more wine and reached for a slice of cured meat. She washed it down with a sip of wine, Enrel said. "Elora has already placed down some of the groundwork…" She reluctantly stood up from the bed and placed the two bottles of wine and the food platter into her pouch, Enrel said. "Need to make sure I also do mine-." In the center of the room, a white flash suddenly appeared.