"Fianna, Marinette," the younger girl said to herself, committing the names and faces to memory.
"Those are very nice names!" Gwen quickly added with a chipper smile, before her eyes were drawn to the rip on her sleeve. She looked down to it, sticking two fingers into the tear, before pulling them out. Bone dry, thankfully.
"It’s just a tear in the fabric. Nothing serious," Gwen said dismissively.
"Thankfully. I will need a new jacket, though…oh, right!” The girl quickly snapped back to her original train of thought.
"Gwen Zhang. Communicator of Ryujin!” she said excitedly to the soldier lady, eyeing her up. Gwen had expected some of the warrior types to make an appearance as Communicators, but this woman did seem especially intimidating, somehow.
Speaking of the French infantrywoman, Marinette had suggested that the small group make progress, which Gwen hurriedly agreed to.
"Oh, yes, yes, yes please, just get me out of this cold,” Gwen said anxiously, before beginning to trek forwards again towards the white barrier, not bothering to check to see if the other two were following. At this point, Gwen had managed to stave off the deep cold from the warming excitement of meeting other Communicators and having to fight for her life for a few moments, but it was back and colder than ever. Gwen hurried over to the swirling barrier of snow. To any mortal that had somehow managed to venture to this point, the blizzard would be a terrifying site, with shards of snow and ice whipping fast enough to make even the most experienced travelers shiver in fear. However, strangely enough, Gwen felt as though the barrier was harmless, and as if it was beckoning her forwards. This was because she was not wrong at all. Gwen slowly and steadily stepped into the moving blizzard, and just like that, she passed through without a hitch. It was like she had phased through.
Instantly, a flood of warmth filled Gwen’s body as the magic of the Sky Palace entered her. It was exhilarating, like she had stepped into a sauna. The entire place had an air of ancient magic to it. Standing before her was a massive castle built out of polished limestone, with towers capped with emerald spires flanking the building, and a few green vines drooping down from the building’s parapets. In front of the massive building was what appeared to be a massive porcelain bowl, from which a gigantic violet fire flickered. Stone paths split out from the central palace like a spiderweb, etching out into the walls of the valley in which the Sky Palace was located- one of the doorways was made of thick marble and flanked by Corinthian columns, another was carved out of sandstone, with etched figures surrounding the doorway; a third was built of thick cedarwood and had a shield laying on each door, a fourth was a gnarled green u-shaped door with a heavy golden knocker on it, and the last, the one that Gwen felt a calling towards, was surrounded by a torii gate and covered by bead curtain.
Still in astonishment by this scene, Gwen wordlessly approached the burning flame, staring up at the flickering magical fire in awe and feeling its warmth radiate against her cool skin. This place looked and felt like it was from a Disney movie. It was, needles to say, a surreal experience.
"Poor snake," Teddy said quietly, but his stoic face showed no signs of mourning for the snake. He didn't dislike snakes; in fact, he found them quite interesting. However, this was no time to be mourning over creatures that wanted him dead, no matter how cool they looked. If the group stayed there any longer, there was an increasingly high chance that there would be more than just a single giant cobra coming for their flesh.
Thankfully, the end of the corridor was not far away. Only a hop and a step down the hallway were the heavy stone doors that the sensation in the back of his mind told him was the end of the journey. Teddy rested his shoulder against the doorway, pressing hard, and the massive slab of rock slid open, the shining light of day filtering into the corridor as Teddy managed to open the door. Once he had managed to push the heavy slab of rock ajar, Teddy stepped out into the sunlight, before realizing that he, along with the rest of the group, was standing way up in the sky.
The Sky Palace, and what Teddy believed were many of the other Communicators, were way down below Teddy's current position. He, along with the other cavern-travelers, was stuck upon a stone ledge suspended way up on the side of the valley in which the Sky Palace was nestled. The good news, at least, was that this magical valley was not nearly as bitterly cold as was the frigid New Hampshire wild or even the cave. The bad news was that their resting place was hundreds of feet beneath them. Luckily, Teddy was creative, and years of the powers of Anubis being in his blood had given him an edge in the utilization of his natural gifts. From his hand, a long length of bandages emerged, dropping from his palm and slinking down the side of the mountain all the way to the ground level of the Sky Palace. Teddy looked around at the group.
"Anybody see something we can hang this on?" Teddy asked quietly as he looked around.
"I'd offer to hold on, but I wouldn't like to be pulled to my death anytime soon."
