Chapter 52: Fire And Frost[2]
The concept of polar opposites is a concept as old as the universe. Everything has an opposite which steers things towards balance.
Xior and Becca were the same, one carrying the yearning heart of a Dragon which burned because of grief and the other carrying the broken scale of a Dragon which froze because of losing someone.
While the things they carried were merely objects which burned and froze them, the two were reflected in those objects. Xior was the fire, Becca the ice.
He acted first and spoke later while Becca remained calm and didn’t jump headfirst. Both of them symbolized Yin and Yang as much as the objects they held.
Even their ambitions were the opposite and thus they were in harmony and balance with each other.
Each step towards the summit was hard, their speed had lessened due to Becca getting frozen completely after some time but she never stopped.
She melted the ice with her fire runes and kept walking. They didn’t talk to each other, they didn’t have to talk because they knew the stakes.
This would finally give the humans a chance to progress beyond the tenth floor and they won’t live till eternity not being able to fight their oppressors.
The sun was at its peak and they hadn’t even reached the halfway to the summit. Xior’s ears twitched slightly as he heard soft footsteps not far away.
"Becca, I hear something. There are footsteps just up ahead." She says as he is on fire, looking as if he had coated his whole body with fire. His skin kept burning and regenerating, his stamina was already half used.
"I can hear them, you just focus on not getting your pretty face ruined." She said as she shivered.
Xior and Becca’s steps were in unison, as they reached the are where they heard footsteps. They found a group of cats laying down lazily.
Becca was always fond of cats but she could stop walking, so she looked at Xior and said, "once this is over, get me a cat."
"Cat? No! I’ll get a dog." Xior replied in his normal indifferent manner.
"Why need a dog when you’re one yourself!" Becca chuckled hard as she couldn’t contain her laughter.
Xior went quiet, he didn’t expect her to compare him to a dog. Well not that he was offended by it, growing up he was called a dog a lot only because he was an orphan and wore tattered clothes so that the younger kids at the shelter could have enough food to eat three meals a day.
He looked at the Dragon heart in his hands and remembered his youth, he was indifferent but that didn’t make him heartless. He worked for the younger kids despite himself being only fifteen.
But all he got in return were punches and kicks, he was thrown out but those same bastards rushed to help Becca.
He saw the disgusting looks in their eyes, from his perspective Becca was a deer who was about to be hunted and those men with their filthy gaze the predators ready to hunt her.
And so he didn’t back down despite being a kid, he made it sure that Becca was safe...no, every girl was safe from filth like them.
After walking a bit more they reached the halfway of the mountain, the summit felt easier to achieve now.
Becca looked at Xior, her emerald green eyes shone as the sunlight was reflected. This was the perfect time to talk to him.
He took a deep breath in which made her shiver more yet the cold was just an afterthought for her, right now she had to muster up the courage to talk about her issues with him.
"Xior!" She called him out, her voice came out as a mumble rather than of someone who was ready.
Xior looked at her as he heard her mumble his name, she was looking away from him so he didn’t know if she wanted to say something or not.
"Yes? What happened Becca?" He replied despite the confusion.
She didn’t look at him, the mere thought of telling him made her mind go blank. She needed more time to come to a conclusion about herself and to get the courage to talk about that matter with Xior.
The ice froze not only her body but her heart as well, she had to cover it with a thick layer to not think about it anymore and to focus on the steps they took towards a new era for the humans.
If they are successful they would be able to enter the eleventh floor, after fifteen years of the fall humans were going to go beyond the initial stages.
As they walked further towards the summit, the weather started to change. Snow started to fall and the trees became taller.
They could see their destination in the distance, almost in their reach. This was their final stretch towards victory, but something unexpected happen.
Two Yeti’s came out in the open in front of them. Both were about nine feet tall and carried big axes in their hands.
This was a forbidden mountain where no Tribe dared to settle, was it because of the Yeti? Probably, but that was something for later.
Xior and Becca moved away, still taking each step together. Xior flanked them from the left and Becca from the right.
Both shot continuous fire arrows towards the Yeti’s, despite their size they weren’t really fire resistant.
As their flesh burned Xior shot wind bullets and Becca started freezing their feet. As the wind bullets exploded their arms the ice froze them completely.
This was nothing compared to the Nameless and its offspring’s, and fighting them made both Xior and Becca stronger.
The final few steps were painful, Becca’s body shuddered violently and she almost fell down but her legs didn’t stop. They continued with the same rhythm as Xior’s.
And then they reached the summit, it was a vast clearing at the highest point on the mountain.
*****
As they walked forward they saw two altars in the distance, one had fire burning behind it and the other had ice.
They knew where to place the objects, they slowly walked towards the altars and placed them on the respective ones.
A violent gust of wind erupted from the altar, then a light glowed on the altar platform as it confirmed the objects.
A system message flashed in front of everyone.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the tenth floor.]
[As you both are the ones to complete the floor, these items are yours to keep.]
They could already imagine the cheering from all the hunters around the world. It had finally been done.
The tenth floor had been cleared and by Xior and Becca. As the light faded away from the alter, Xior and Becca grabbed the objects in their hands.
"We did it, Xior." Becca said as she held his hand in hers.
"Yes we did." Xior replied as he tightened his hand around hers.
And they started walking back down, another system message flickered in front of Xior.
[You have received a Dragon Heart, you can add it in your body to become a half lesser dragon.]
[To do that you need to find a SSS or higher ranked healer.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Xior looked at the screen and then at Becca, she looked deep in thought as she stared at something in front of her. It was probably about the scale she got.
Their descent back was quicker than their ascent, but throughout they never let go of each others hands.
They looked at the sky as the sun descended along with them, the night sky filled with stars soon came out. Snow kept falling as they walked through a snowy and green meadow on the side.
Becca wanted to live in a cozy place like this but back on Earth all of the places like that were destroyed in gate breaks.
In the air a huge system screen appeared.
[Top Contributors Of The Tenth Floor ]
1- Xior Arden
2- Rebecca Virell
3- Rain
4- Alice
5- Kayla.
[The top contributors will be given early access to the eleventh floor. The eleventh floor will be open to them in seventy two hours and for the rest of the Hunters after one hundred and forty four hours.]
Rain sat besides Maria as he looked at the ranking. He was the number one contributor before both of them came and now he was third.
Maria looked at him with a smug grin on her face, as if she had won a bet. Which she did, Rain thought that giving Becca promotion after promotion was favoritism from Maria, but he was proven wrong.
Becca deserved all of the awards and the recognition Maria gave her. It was rare for her to do that, the last person she did that for was one of their top hunters, Hunter Ming.
As Rain and Maria snuggled against each other, laying on a couch looking at the sky through the broken Dragon Guild building in Aegis city. Xior and Becca arrived at the camp Alice had set up.
They put the objects back in boxes and started walking once again, this time their destination was Aegis city because they were tired and wanted to sleep.
Alice stood behind them with both the objects in her hands as she looked at their intertwined hands as they disappeared into the trees.