The hero, Marcel had just left the elves and continued onward on his journey to slay the source of all evil that is the demon lord. 

He walked until he came to the outskirts of the forest. He was suddenly met by a terrain right after leaving the forest. The terrain connected the numerous mountains to the outskirts of the forest. He only needed to stop by a few more mountains and forest and he’ll be in the demon lord’s city of residence.  

His spirit was on fire and the rest of his journey down the terrain was pretty uneventful. He enjoyed the tranquility he felt all around him and really wished that he didn’t have to leave the peace to go slay the source of all evil. 

He came across the first mountain, which was pretty unusual. Although the sun was shining, there was a pool of steady snow streaming down it and it was very cold, as if winter.  

Climbing the mountain as very hard. He clearly didn’t have any experience with mountain climbing since he didn’t have to, but the hero cliche still helped him through it. He used a bit of fire magic to warm up his body when he felt cold and he healed himself when he felt fatigued or tired. He wouldn’t need food for a while since the elves were generous enough to give him some for his journey. He really thanked the elves for giving it to him. 

As he was resting in one of the caves he came across on his way up the mountain, he really thought about what the elves said about his supposed ‘enemy.’ “Is the demon king really not as bad as we humans say he is?” Thoughts like these filled his mind, but he stubbornly remained headstrong with his desire to go slay the Demon King. 

After a storm on one of the days he spent climbing the rock mountain, he finally found as solid carved-out path along the mountain. He used the path to go across it until he came to a giant cave, not so far from the exit. 

He sneakily entered the cave, a lesson he had learnt at the Academy to check if there was anything dangerous inside of the cave. He had also used this technique in dungeon raids, so he was very proficient in the art of being sneaky. 

It was very cold inside the cave and even though he was shivering, although he had a fire spell on his body, he suppressed any noises he made and sneakily walked inside the cave, careful not to make any noises, but then he left out a startled scream. 

A dragon. It was a silhouette of a huge dragon that startled him. He stared as the dragon slowly woke up and looked at him with golden eyes. 

“Ugh! How annoying? What do you want, human? Can’t you see that I'm trying to have a nap here?” The dragon said, as it emerged from the darkness.  

A huge white dragon, with icy blue scales on its underbelly. It had two curved horns atop its head and wings covered in white and blue scales. The scales on its body looked tough enough to break any sword a human could make. Its claws looking sharp, being able to rip through anything before any sound could be made. 

“Oh, sorry. I was just trying to get across this mountain. I’m very sorry if I disturbed your nap. Could I maybe just go past you for a bit?” He looked at the dragon, pleading for permission. The dragon looked at him very disappointed by his words and said, “Oh, you’re leaving so soon?” The dragon was pouting. 

Marcel looked at the dragon who knows how old it is, pout and he felt slightly guilty. He took a sit in front of the dragon and said to it, “I’m not in a rush or anything, so I think I can stay with you for a while.” He said ruffling his hair. 

“Really?!” The dragon expressed his happiness. Marcel suddenly began to feel the cave got colder and then he added, “Yes, and please, could you turn down the cold meter a little bit? I’m freezing here.” He expressed his discomfort to the happy dragon who then stopped looking so happy.

“Oh sorry, I'm an ice dragon, you see. My emotions control the cold, so I'm very sorry for being delighted to have my first guest in over a hundred years. People turn to find the cold near the utmost peak of this mountain unbearable because I live here, so they don’t come this way. I’m very happy to see that you can handle the cold a little at least.” 

“So, why do you live all the way up here and not among all the other dragons? I saw a lot of dragon nests on my way down that terrain.” The curious hero asked the ‘eager to speak’ dragon.  

“Well, you see, I’m a guardian dragon, a seasonal dragon that can only come out during the time when it’s winter. My power oozes ‘cold winter’ to anyone who feels it and I also usher in winter. I live in this cave  on this mountain, just like all the other three dragons: Spring, Summer and Autumn on their mountains. The name's Winter, by the way.” It must be tough for such a powerful creature to have friends. He looked very lonely when he spoke of his ‘cold winter’ syndrome. 

“Ah, so you usher in winter, huh? That’s pretty cool, right?” Someone other than the dragon was beginning to get happy. He looked at the dragon expecting to hear more. 

“Yes, it’s like placing a blanket over the world. I quite enjoy my season very much. Spring is currently doing his job, so you can probably see him flying around if you look closer. I just wish someone would come visit me once in a while. That’s all I ask.” Seriously, the dragon was speaking with expectation. It was like saying “Come visit me again.” to Marcel and he heard it loud and clear. 

“Okay, then I'll come visit you once in a while. I’m not making any promises though.” Marcel told the dragon who looked really happy to hear his words. 

“Then... can-can I call you my friend then?” The dragon pouted again. Marcel agreed and they continued talking. Before the two of them realized it, they had been talking for a total of two days. 

When Marcel realized this, he hastily prepared to leave and the dragon who was pouting again was then promised to be visited again, at least once by Marcel. The dragon happily accepted his words and just as Marcel was about to leave, he told him to get on his back. 

“Wait, didn’t you say that you can’t interfere with the other seasons?” Marcel was quite confused since he remembered clearly the dragon saying that the seasons don’t interfere with each other. 

“Yes, but we can do a little interfering once in a while. Have you heard of hail in summer or it snowing in spring or the snow coming earlier than expected? Those are all my doing. I can interfere a bit with the other seasons, but not too much to get the others angry at me. Spring sometimes comes sooner than expected and so do the other season. Interfering isn’t something that we like but I'd say it’s standard for us.” The dragon then lifted Marcel unto its back and then continued, “Besides, I'm just taking you to the end of these four mountains. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” The dragon took flight afterwards and they flew across the mountains. 

The sight was indeed beautiful. Winter spread light snow along his path as he flew. It was exactly like he described it, “placing a blanket over the world.” He spread his power across his path and Marcel watched in awe as winter happened right before his eyes. They soon got to the terrain that came after the fourth mountain and they both said their goodbyes. 

Marcel was really happy that he made a new friend and thanks to that, he didn’t have to manually cross all the other three mountains. He once again thanked Winter, who was already left and continued along his journey. 

Meanwhile, while Winter was heading back to his call, he received a telepathic call.  

“Hey Winter, have you by any chance met the hero?” It was demon lord asking. He just couldn’t take the wait anymore, so he called someone who’d be probably be able to give him some information. 

“Yes, quite a nice fellow too. He even promised to visit me. Can you believe it?!” The dragon exclaimed in excitement to the demon lord who was feeling his stress level rise from listening to the happy dragon and not being able to see his wife yet. 

“Then I can’t wait to meet him. I’ll maybe come visit you with him sooner or later. How’s that sound?” The demon lord was also getting excited. The two shared a laugh together and then the call ended. 

“Now all he has to do is get across is the valley of the dryads and he’ll be here soon if he keeps up making stable progress. Now all I have to do is wait a few more days and I'll get to meet my wife. Can’t wait!” Someone was getting very excited. The demon lord almost wanted to do a victory dance. After all, soon the cause of his worries and anxiety will be his wife, meaning celebrating his victory right now definitely would be appropriate. This could maybe be his pre-victory celebration. He remained on cloud nine for the rest of the day.