Making Preparations

Before going to the mountain, Caitrin and Orano decided to buy armor and a sword. So they continued to walk and looked around for a shop.

And while they were walking, Caitrin looked around with curiosity and excitement, and said,

"Are you sure that we can't spend time here a little bit?"

"Unfortunately, we can't. We have to buy you armor and a sword. Also even if we start to roam, we might have to split. And that can-"

He then remembered and said,

"Oh! I totally forgot about that."

She looked at him confused and said,

"What did you forget?"

"Before buying an armor and a sword, we have to buy you a "Zon" device."

"A Zon Device?"

"I'll explain it there, follow me."

His sudden actions made her confused, but she followed him anyways.

And after walking for a while, they come across a small shop. It was located to the left of the town. It had glowing crystals on the inside and had a stylish design on the outside.

They entered the store and started looking around.

Caitrin looked around and said with amazement,

"Wow! It is like a jewelry store in here!"

Orano looked at her and said,

"Here you can choose one of these."

He then pointed to a couple of Zon Devices.

Caitrin looked carefully and tried to pick one. Since there were only different colored ones. She took the pink one and said to herself,

*I guess I'll go with this.*

After they bought the Zon device, Orano said,

"Now we have to buy armor and a sword."

Caitrin said with an annoyed and a sarcastic voice tone,

"I know we have to be prepared but how about explaining how this works first?"

He looked at her and said,

"They are not that hard to understand."

He then started explaining,

"These are called "Zon Devices". Since so many people have it, it is classified as commonly used. This thing helps you to communicate faster and helps you to communicate with anybody you want, anytime."

The things he said made her excited about it, so she said,

"Are you serious! I didn't think there could be devices like that."

"But the disadvantage is you can only communicate with the people within the kingdom you are in. Also, they have to recharge every 16 hours and they can be get broken easily."

"I don't think it's that big a problem, but how do you communicate with the people you want to?"

He looked at her and said,

"Here is how it works."

He showed his ear and added,

"After you put your Zon Device in your ear, it automatically opens and stays like that until you get it out. When we come to communicate with others, here, pass the device towards me."

He tapped his ear three times, took his device out of his ear, and passed it to her. Then she took her device too and passed it to him, he then said,

"Hold your hand like that for a couple of seconds."

While they were holding the devices towards each other, a spell covered around them, and the devices started to glow.

She got excited and said,

"Hey! What is happening?"

After the spell disappeared, he put the device back to his ear and said,

"Everything has been set. Now we can communicate with each other."

"Really?"

"Yes. All you have to do is to hold your ear and start talking. Also keep in mind that, if you tap your device three times, you close your Zon Device. If you tap your device four times, it falls out. And If you tap two times you can change the person that you are communicating with, that way you can have more than one person to communicate with."

She looked at the device with amazement and said,

"These things really do work interesting."

"Now we only need armor and a sword."

"Where are we going to find them?"

"There is a sword and armor selling shop nearby. We are going there."

They once again started walking and searched for the shop he mentioned.

On the way there, Caitrin took out the Device and looked at it over and over again.

Then she said to herself with sad eyes and a smile,

*It is so similar to the games we played. I wonder If I am going to communicate with them again.*  

And after a short walk, they have finally reached the shop.

The shop was a small Duchy, placed in the outer parts of the town. It had a fairly wide entrance, and war equipment hung on its walls.

When they entered and looked around, an old man saw them and approached them. It looked like he was the owner.

He said with a kind voice,

"What would you like to buy sir?"

"What are the best armor and the sword you have?"

The shop owner slowly took out some equipments, gave them an armor and a sword, and said,

"Here. The sword may be weak compared to the armor, but it will sure do the business. Also, that armor's name is "Ilaria", It is made out of titanium, and it can protect you from so many attacks."

He examined took them in his hands and examined them,

*Although the sword is made out of normal material, the armor looks really interesting. It's definitely a very special piece.*

He then placed them on the table and said,

"They are good enough. We will take them."

And after buying the equipments, they left the shop.

Caitrin looked at her armor and said,

"Ilaria, Huh? This armor is pretty light, are you sure it will protect me?"

Orano said,

"It may be lighter than you thought, but is made out of titanium. It probably has a spell on it to lighten its weight. That is why you feel lighter."

He then looked at the mountains and said,

"Now that we have everything that we want, we have to start searching."

She said,

"But how are we going to find that rift?"

He then took out a compass from his bag and said,

"We are going to find it with this compass."

"With a regular compass?"

"No, it is not a regular compass. It has a special spell that my friend created. That helps me to find spells or magical creatures."

She said with a confused expression,

"But you are a creature hunter, didn't you visit here before?"

"I've been to almost every kingdom before, but the image in the rift I saw only showed a snowy place."

"What do you mean?"

"Since we are in winter, almost most of the mountains in this kingdom are snowy. Also, the kingdom of Aetas is the kingdom with the most mountains, so the reason I asked that sorcerer was that we could find the rift in less time."

She sighed and said,

"Looks like you have made a lot of preparations before coming here."

He looked at his compass and said,

"We will be walking this way."

Then he pointed the big mountains in front of them,

She looked at them and said,

"So are we walking again, huh?"

They gathered their stuff and started walking towards there.

They reached the mountain, but it wasn't easy to continue at a rapid pace, since it was freezing there.

Caitrin was shaking from the cold. She looked around and said to herself,

*There are so many mountains here, how are we supposed to find it in this cold?*

At that moment Orano turned to her and said,

"Right there, we found it."

He pointed to a very big mountain and said,

"The compass says it has a large magical power in there, at the top."

It was the "Dioner" mountain. Unlike any other, it was the tallest mountain in Aetas.

Caitrin was scared at first to climb there, but every time she remembered her goal she got her courage back and moved forward.

On the other hand, Orano kept looking at his compass and tried to find his way.

It took them one and a half an hour for them the reach the top.

Caitrin was exhausted, but on the other hand, Orano kept moving forward.

After they reached the top, they found an entrance to the mountain and entered there.

Caitrin took a deep breath and said,

"Finally, someplace to warm up."

He said,

"It might be a good place to warm up but we still don't know where the monster is."

She then got chills down her spine and said,

"I completely forgot about it."

He then looked at his compass again and said,

"This way follow me."

They continued walking and looked around. It wasn't that dark but it was quite big inside and there were places they couldn't see. After a brief walk, they saw a gigantic skeleton of a wolf.

Caitrin looked at the skeleton with fear and said,

"A wolf? I didn't know this big of a wolf could exist?"

He examined it and said,

"I don't know, I've never heard about it before. It is probably legend that lived before our time."

"Before our time? How long this creature has been here. And did it get eaten by a thing?"

"I don't know, but it is not a good sign of it being here."

She said,

"What do you mean?"

While they were talking, they heard a very powerful groan, coming from the top of the mountain.

She got scared and said,

"What was that?"

"I don't know, but be careful. Do not let your guard down."

Something's shadow appeared from the entrance of the mountain. It was like a hawk, but it was much bigger than any hawk.