[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[Jensoman]

As Jenso collapsed into the snow, his eyes began to close. "So...cold.." He muttered, as he began to lose consciousness and his strength left him. He kept trying to remain awake no matter what. 'I can't stop...not now! I need...' Jenso thought. 'I need to keep going! I won't give up, no matter what!!' Jenso thought, as a burning feeling rushed through him and spurred him to go on. He felt his body heat return to him as he got up again. He dashed forward through the snow, feeling confidence flow through him.

[tex]

As Jenso dashed through the snow, he felt something sharp against his foot. He tripped and fell into a deep snow drift, continuously tearing through the ground until he fell against hard ice. Looking up, he noticed the ceiling was actually made up entirely of snow, which re-sealed itself after he fell through it. Suddenly, he was surrounded by little furry beasts with backwards knees and faces embedded in their chests. They had beaks instead of mouths, and there were at least 5 of them.

"Wait!" Something called out, prompting the little monsters to scatter about. "Is that a human?"

As Jenso looked up, he saw somebody unfamiliar. It was a man in a thick coat, with rugged features and rough blonde hair.

"What the fuck are you doing way out here without a coat??"

[Jensoman]

Jenso scrambled back onto his feet as he found himself surrounded by the furry beasts. As the beasts scattered around the area, he turned towards the man. "Yeah, I probably shoulda prepared before coming here.." Jenso replied. 'Wait...come to think of it, why am I not cold now?' He thought to himself. "But anyway...who are you?" He asked.

[tex]

"Whoa whoa, you think you can just barge into somebody's home all friendly like and ask them for a name? Who the fuck are you?" The man asked, looking down at his beasts and shooing them away. They ran past his waist into a cave near the end of the small 50 foot wide funnel-like room.

[Jensoman]

Jenso frowned as the man spoke. "Oh uh...I tripped over something and fell down into this place. Sorry...my name is Jenso." He said, looking at the beasts as they ran away. "What kinda creatures are those?"

[tex]

The man waved Jenso's apology away shamelessly. "It's fine, whatever," He grunted, "You wouldn't be the first to fall down here," The man turned to watch his pets run off after Jenso questioned them and shrugged. "Hell if I know. I call em Warbly-birds, though. Doubt many others have seen them, since they live so far into the tundras, so I guess that their official label! Warbly birds.. Ahaha.." He turned away from Jenso completely and headed after the birds on his own, as quickly as he could manage.

[Jensoman]

Jenso nodded as the man spoke and began to follow after the Warbly. He decided to follow after the man, trying to keep up with his pace. The man didn't seem dangerous, but Jenso kept his wits about him. The last thing he wanted was to run into some kind of trap.

[tex]

The man lead Jenso into a tunnel that eventually split two ways. Down one path, the smell of cold meat was flowing towards Jenso. The warbly birds headed towards the smell happily, but the cave's apparent owner turned down the other tunnel. "You gunna keep following me??" He suddenly growled, still looking forward.

[Jensoman]

"I need to reach the ice fortress of Pharie, sir. I want to do something about all the snow that's falling here." Jenso plainly stated. "Can you tell me how I get outta here and what direction I need to go too?"

[tex]

"Well. You're awfully blunt, aint-ya?" The man coughed aloud and turned a corner, leading him and Jenso into a small room with a staircase on the other end, a small kitchen in the left nook, and a bed in the right, surrounded by 5 smaller piles of fluffy material. "You expect me to believe that some crazy-haired idiot, one who was stupid enough to travel north without a shirt, is earnestly-" He paused, shook his head and stumbled towards his bed where he sat down. "Buddy, are you messed up? You know what's up in Pharie Fortress, right?"

[Jensoman]

Jenso smiled as the man spoke. "Yeah...the golems of Noir, right? Is Noir the place where those things came from?" He asked, leaning against the wall. "I know that there's golems, but...that's it. Can you tell me more?" He asked in a friendly tone, despite the man's brash insults. "And uh...I um...I was just being careless when I came here without proper clothing.." He admitted.

[tex]

"Dress it up however you'd like, it was idiotic- No pun intended," The man cut in as soon as he could and ruffled his hair. He glared at Jenso for a moment and scoffed. "Golems have been in Pharie since I first started living here. Only thing I know is that they're extremely hostile. It's how I got this scar-" The man lifted his shirt and revealed a large web-like scar that tore across his right side from shoulder to waist. "They almost froze me to death, and I know for a fact that they'll freeze your ass in a heartbeat. I aint sending somebody to their death," He insisted, "I'm not showing you anything."

[Jensoman]

Jenso frowned as he looked at the man's scar. He got a confident grin on his face. "Don't worry man, I'm gonna beat those golems and make sure that they pay for what they did to you!" He shouted, clenching his fists. "Are there any more people living around here? If so, I need to take care of those golems before any more people get hurt!"

[tex]

"Clean the gunk outta' your ears, ass-hat. You're not going anywhere until the storm passes, and I'm taking you away from Pharie, not towards it."

[Jensoman]

Jenso frowned. "I appreciate the offer man, but...I came here specifically to help Pharie out. And that's exactly what I'm going to do." Jenso said in a serious tone. "I don't know if I'll win against those things, but...won't know until I try, right?" He said.

[tex]

"Well, that's just too bad. I'm not letting you go anywhere near the fucking fortress, kid," The man insisted, standing up and bearing down on Jenso with a powerful presence. He was only slightly taller then Jenso, but his scruffy stubble and painfully dark eyes made him look a lot bigger than he actually was. "You're going home."

[Jensoman]

Jenso blinked at the man, taking one step back as the man stared right into his eyes. He was a little taken aback by the man's presence, but he shook if off quickly. "Alright...when the storm passes, I'll go home." Jenso said. He was lying, but he didn't exactly want to force the man into doing what he wanted. He needed to get back to the surface, and this man knew how.

[tex]

The man sighed, eased up and walked back over to his bed. "Glad you're seeing it my way. I'm going to make sure you leave the tundra myself tomorrow, so don't be thinking you're going to pull the snow over my eyes... Agh.. No pun intended... Name's Paulie, by the by."

[Jensoman]

Jenso nodded as Paulie headed for his bed. "Thanks for the help man. Uh...where should I sleep?" He asked, noticing that there was only one bed.

[tex]

"Floor." Paulie looked down, as if expecting Jenso to obey like a dog. "Hope you're used to stone."