Chapter 18 – The Fourth World’s Spirit
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After a night sleeping on the flatland of the glacier, staying warm by burning the large pile of vines, Dawn, Dima, Lotus and Oak set out to finish climbing the hill. Dawn had taken the final watch for the night, and had ensured that the anti-cold potions had defrosted during the night. As they had been in Dima’s pouch when he went into the water, like most of his equipment, they were either soaked or frozen. Thankfully, the seals on the bottles had held and the potions weren’t diluted. Dima’s cartridges weren’t as lucky. Since it would be dangerous to dry them out too quickly, such as by putting them next to the fire, they would have to wait till they sun-dried over a few days. Given that, Dima wouldn’t be able to use his rifle, and instead had to make do with some simple alchemist bombs.

Dawn didn’t want to laugh at his misery, per se, but she had been feeling unneeded with how unstable the cold was making her, and having someone less useful than herself filled the gap and made her feel useful. Oak seemed somewhat happy about it also. It was hard to notice, given her alien appearance, but Dawn noticed that when she was happy, the light in her head seemed to bob slightly from side to side. It was somewhat cute to see; Oak was happy that Dima was relying on her, albeit reluctantly. Despite her initial irritation about them, the couple's adorableness had grown on her somewhat. Despite that, Dawn was still a little jealous of oak; she wished that she had someone of her own to cuddle up against like that. Before the ice cracked, Lotus seemed to be thinking deeply about something, and she seemed like she was worried about it. If she was worrying, then Dawn wished she would just talk to her about it. They were partners, as far as she was concerned, and Lotus bottling away her worries made it seem like she wasn't ready to confide in Dawn.

Dawn also noticed that, when Lotus was talking to Lucy, she barely even noticed Dawn was there. Dawn wasn’t sure why she hadn't mentioned anything, but it kind of hurt that Lotus didn’t introduce her to someone who was quite obviously her sister, or at least a close relative. It was strange that they pretended not to know each other, but that was probably something they agreed to in the real world, like pretending not to know each other so it would be harder for people to work out their real world identities. That was probably it, she didn’t introduce her because of that agreement; it wasn't an uncommon arrangement. Still, given the size of the game, what were the chances that they would bump into each other? That could have also been something they talked about in the real; her sister needed help so Lotus headed straight there. The talk about rare herbs and stones was just to convince Dawn to go with her and to pretend like she wasn't concerned for her sister. Yep, that was definitely it. Still, her sister seemed really strong; could she have been from the first wave? If that was the case then it was also cute that they both chose the same class. Thinking about it, Lotus could have chosen her class because she wanted to be like her big sister. That was adorable! There was no way she could get her to admit it, but that had to be the reason.

Without noticing it, the group had started walking, and Dawn had been following while day-dreaming, not noticing that she had been walking.  At the peak of the iceberg, encased in ice on three sides, was a strange white-stone temple-like building. It was shaped like three rectangles of the same length arranged in a u-shape. There was some kind of elaborate etchings along the walls that curved over and onto the flat roof, but the details couldn’t be seen in any detail through the ice and snow. In the centre of the middle rectangle, up a flight of about twelve tall steps, was a pair of large metal double doors, tall enough that someone twice Dawns height could walk through without ducking. Unlike the rest of the building, the doors seemed to be designed to be practical, without decoration, like the makers wanted the building to be nice, but they still needed to keep something either out or in.

As they came up to the door, Dima and Oak tried the door. It wasn’t locked, but the weight of the cold metal made it almost as hard to open as if it were. Putting their combined effort into it, the four of them were able to push the door open. Through the door they found a large hall, about thirty meters by twenty meters. The building wasn’t three equal size rooms, but instead one large room and two small. The room was filled with large wooden tables, the tops of which seemed to be made from a single cut sheet of an incredibly long piece of wood. The chairs were also made from a smooth dark wood, and the hall could sit a hundred people.  Directly opposite the entrance, on an elevated platform up another dozen steps, was an elaborate golden throne, which was laden with gems, that seemed to fit the etchings so well that you could be forgiven for thinking that the gems existed solely for the sake of the throne. Draping herself over the throne, with long legs over the right armrest and her head sleeping against the back corner, was an enchanting red haired beauty. Her smooth hair had grown out longer than her sylphlike body, flowing over the thrown like a sea of fire, matching with the woman's own coper red skin in a way that made her seem like fire itself. As they came closer, her eyes seemed to open under heavy strain, as if that alone were the greatest effort imaginable.

She looked at them, or rather it felt like she looked through them, with a look that gave of a sense of effortless destruction; as if reducing them to nothing was less effort than it was to wake up. Her eyes were green, not a fierce green like Lotus and Lucy, but the calm, light green of a spring meadow basking in the light and wind of the season. Making no effort to hide a yawn, her full, pink lips parted to show her delicate white teeth. With a deep sigh, she then spoke, in a rhythmic and melodic voice, that none-the-less sounded like she was reading from a script; like a song sung so many time that it grew tiresome to sing.

“Welcome, pilgrims, to this temple, the place of worship of the heart of the fourth world. I, the Spirit of Lethargy, welcome you. For more information, you can ask either the fourth scholar or the fourth craftsman.”

With her lines spoken, she rested her head back against the throne and seemed to sleep once again. She made no response to any questions asked and when trying to climb the stairs, each step felt like a day’s worth of effort just to lift one foot. The effort wasn’t physical, but was instead emotional, the strain felt from staying awake for too long but solely the mental component. She had introduced herself as Lethargy, so it was likely that was affecting anyone that attempted to get near her. However, even knowing that it was essentially a test of will, no one’s will was strong enough to go beyond the second step.

Even after walking away from the stairs, going onwards felt like too much effort. Instead, Dawn let herself fall lazily backwards, to be caught by Lotus. It wasn’t even midday yet, but Dawn couldn’t think of anything better than to simply go to sleep there in Lotus’s arms. As her eyes began to shut, she could see Dima and Oak had the same idea.

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