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“From what I can tell, the ones running this trial have been ‘hands-off’ so far, so…I doubt they’d start now,” Emilio said.

“I agree with that. This valley is enough of a challenge as is, any more and they’d be senselessly killing recruits who are barely getting by,” Yuna added.

“I don’t know ’bout that,” Everett scratched his head, “Whoever is runnin’ this trial is cruel in my eyes…I mean, look at what we’ve gone through so far. Do ya’ really think planting traps is beneath them?”

A surprise to be sure, but Everett had a good point that made them think about what they were experiencing at the moment. There was no denying their current situation, surrounded by frosted trees and ice-layered foliage, stretching as far as they could see.

“I get what you’re saying, but going off the fact we’ve been following this person’s trail…I’d say it’s the same person trying to stop us, or at least slow us down,” Emilio said.

“Even if this was something set by the Guild Foundation, it wouldn’t matter. There’s nothing we can do against that–however, if this is the one responsible for earlier, then it matters greatly,” Yuna added.

“Yeah, I get that,” Everett folded his arms over his chest.

For a minute, they stood there in the same clearing amongst the white-layered trees, feeling the cold only increase. Emilio had a heat inside of him that combated the cold, not making it an issue for him, but as he looked around, he could see Melisande’s fingertips becoming red and Yuna’s nose turning red as well.

“…So what should we do now?” Melisande asked.

“It might be best to head back,” Yuna said, “In this environment, the enemy has the complete advantage if it’s something he set up himself.”

“Head back?! With a freak like that guy watching us? I wouldn’t be able to sit still for a moment,” Everett argued.

Though as they discussed it, Emilio stood there quietly, looking side-to-side as he made a nauseating discovery, finding his stomach in knots as he checked every direction.

“Emilio?…What’s wrong? You have that look on your face…” Melisande asked.

As the silver-haired girl posed her question, fidgeting and having to hold herself due to her outfit not being prepared for the frost in the least, the bickering two looked over as well.

Emilio looked at the others, breathing out an air of frost, “…We’re completely aimless.”

“What?” Everett asked, turning back as he opted to point behind him, “No, we came from over….there?”

When the blonde-haired bumpkin tried to find where they originally came from, he found himself corrected as he realized he didn’t recognize the direction behind him at all.

“Whatever it was, it seems like the spell messed with our sense of focus–we were just wandering around until we snapped back in,” Emilio said, “I don’t know how deep in this we are, but it’s safe to say…it isn’t as easy as just ‘going back’.”

“Then what do you recommend we do?” Yuna asked.

In all things relating to magic, it seemed the others put their stock into his opinion above anything else, though he wasn’t ignorant as to why–he made it a large part of his own arsenal of knowledge.

Rubbing his chin for a moment, he looked up, “For now…we’ll just have to keep moving forward. But, at the very least, we can stay warm and protected.”

“Really? Please do,” Melisande said as her teeth chattered, rubbing her own arms.

At the wave of his wood-made staff, he gave full-manifestation to the lesser spirits with quiet calls: “Undyne. Gnome. Sylph. Salamander.”

Even though they remained lost in the frost-coated forest amidst the trial’s final day, it didn’t have to be completely aimless: Emilio gave the duty of keeping watch to three of the lesser elementals, but kept Salamander near the group.

“Ah, Salamander is the best…” Melisande said, staying near the floating, crimson spirit.

“Totally agree,” Everett nodded, staying near it as well.

Salamander blinked a few times in satisfaction of its praises, keeping up its heat-emitting properties for the others.

“Yuna, aren’t you cold?” Melisande asked, looking over at the quiet demi-human.

The Milligardian bumpking glanced over as well, “Yeah, it’s like a moving campfire! You’re skinny, so you’ll get a cold easily out here!”

Yuna only looked over for a second, keeping her scarf over half of her face as she ignored their offer, “Don’t project your own weaknesses onto me. I’m used to harsh environments. That’s the bare minimum for a world-class adventurer.”

“She has a point,” Emilio said with a chuckle, looking back at the others.

Though he found his own input to surely not be needed as the two who relied on the warmth of Salamander gave him a look of betrayal at his words.

“Err, I mean…it’s just going to be cold in different places around the world. Gotta be prepared for that,” Emilio clarified.

“Is that so?” Melisande replied, breathing out cold air.

Everett slapped his own chest, “I’m more than ready for that! I’ve got thick skin! The cold has got nothin’ on me!”

–

Such boasts were made, but after the four found themselves traversing the unknown region of frost within the valley, it didn’t hold up.

“ACHOO–!” Everett sneezed out.

“Ugh!” Melisande backed away as she was hit in the crossfire of the sneeze.

It wasn’t looking good; Emilio glanced back, seeing that the nose and ears of the others were reddened and soon enough, there would surely be sickness to worry about, or worse.

What’s with this cold?…It’s getting worse, he thought.

After a while of monotonous marching, aimlessly going through the cold woods with even the lesser spirits finding nothing of note, Emilio found his steps becoming more labored as he looked down, finding an entire bedding of snow at his boots.

“Snow…?” He mumbled.

“When did this get here?” Melisande asked, confused by the same thing.

“–ACHOO!” Again, a loud sneeze from the shielder.

What was a mystifying occurrence was now becoming a more daunting ordeal as the snow seemed to pile higher with each step and the cold only became more taxing on the bodies of his companions.

“Salamander, can you turn up the heat some more?” Emilio asked, stopping for a moment as he checked on the lesser spirit of fire.

The few blinks he received as a response essentially said “If you’ve got the mana to pay for it”, which the young Dragonheart obliged with a nod before the spirit increased the output of heat.

“There we go…!” Everett said, standing close to it as he took in the heat.

“I love you, Salamander…” Melisande said with a sigh of relief.

By this point, even Yuna stood near the heat-emitting spirit, though kept her relief to herself as they trudged forward together.

Emilio led the way, though he only found himself praying to find an exit from the overbearing frost, only to find himself in an even more daunting land:

“…Where did all of this come from?” He mumbled.

Coming to a stop with the others soon following behind him, he exited the tree line to find a vast clearing ahead, completely filled with snow and colossal trees that had been encased in ice. It was the same for the upside forest above; trees of frost curved downward, sprinkling down snowflakes.

“Seriously, are we losin’ our heads or somethin’? It was perfectly normal weather just earlier, wasn’t it?!” Everett asked.

“You’re right,” Emilio confirmed, looking up towards the twirling snowflakes, “…This is something unnatural. Or maybe, it’s natural to this place…”

Yuna stood beside the young mage, watching the snowfall grow and grow before her eyes, “This valley is a strange place. I wouldn’t put it past it to have a flash freeze like this–though this is another definition entirely.”

“On the last day…do you think this is happening across the entire valley?” Melisande asked, hugging herself for warmth.

It was a question Emilio found himself wondering, though he couldn’t put a finger on it himself besides a simple guess from looking at how abundantly white the region had become, coated in absolute frost as if in the bowels of winter itself.

“If I had to take a wild guess, I’d say it is,” he answered, “…Though, the timing of it happened when we were pursuing our enemy…”

“Yeah, it’s suspicious to say the least, though I think it’s best to go with the easiest explanation for now: that the weather of Parmesus is mystical in its own right,” Yuna said.

“I agree,” Emilio nodded.

The thought of the mysterious killer who abducted the recruit before their eyes was still left in mind, but Emilio placed higher on his list of priorities to create a survivable space from the overwhelming cold.

“What should we do then?” Everett asked as his teeth chattered, “I don’t know about you, but it’s only getting colder–ACHOO!”

A slimy booger dropped from the blonde-haired bumpkin’s nostril after he sneezed, which disgusted Melisande to the point as she scrunched her nose, seeming tempted to blast it with wind.

“For now…if this is really the weather everywhere in the valley, then I’ll create a base for us,” Emilio said, “Stand back.”