Corrin pulled his unfortunately frozen canteen from his side. To get water, they needed a campfire, which neither him nor Lukas knew how to build. For the time being, they would have to do without water.
"Which way do you think?"
Corrin said, clearly asking which way Lukas thought the information division could be. Lukas sank into the sand, weary.
"I don't know. Maybe we could try the entrance to the city?"
Lukas pointed a way away, which was a bridge. The bridge was large and stone, and connected all the way to a huge city that held itself up in the water. The city was magnificent, with towering spires flowing up it and large buildings. Wires seemed to connect from every which way, from towers to buildings, but Corrin couldn't be sure from this distance.
"Well, we have nowhere else to go, do we?"
Corrin said fruitlessly. They both got up and began to walk. The dryness of their mouths began to get to them. Mixed with the cold atmosphere, it was nearly unbearable. But Corrin had endured worse before.
Their walk along the beach proved difficult. The snow was less high on the beach, but it was just as difficult to walk due to the loose sand beneath it.
Despite the city standing tall in the distance, it was much farther than either of them had anticipated, and the walk was long and grueling.
Eventually, their legs sore and cramped, they managed to reach the bridge. However, they were not foolish enough to jump out in the open.
The bridge was not on the lake itself, but in fact elevated about twenty feet above it. The lake was a few dozen feet below the snowy tundra above it, where the beginning of the bridge sat. On the bridge itself was a gate.
Both of them snuck their way up the side and into the deep snow once more. They sneakily checked the gate, making sure nobody was there. Much to their dismay, somebody was there. Or, Corrin thought, something.
It had a long tail like a limb, as though it were a snake, that went up from the ground about ten feet and curved until it reached a large body. Its body was disfigured and was raw flesh. It had eyes in uneven places, and a large mouth that looked as though it had torn its way into the flesh.
It had two large limbs that came down from the side to the ground. The limbs were bony with pointed ends that stuck into the brick lining the bridge's gate entrance. Blood seemed to seep from its mouth, eyes, and what appeared to be a nose.
Corrin and Lukas quickly shuffled back.
"That is not a creation of the Holy Goddess. Nothing about that thing should exist."
Corrin whispered lightly, so as not to attract it. Both of them inched farther away from the gate and closer to dead bushes that lined the edge of the beach. Lukas held his nose; it had a stench as well.
"How do we get past it?"
Corrin shook his head.
"I don't know. The bricks on the columns holding the bridge up don't look sturdy enough to climb."
"I forgot that you're weirdly good at climbing."
It was true, Corrin was strangely adept at scaling the side of brick buildings. He had done so to reach the queen's throne room months prior, and even scaled the side of the wall within the tower to try to get to Lukas before. It was as though he had a natural gift for it. But even he did not trust the rickety column enough to climb up it.
"Wait, Corrin…"
Corrin was contemplating what to do, but he turned as Lukas spoke.
"Why don't you just slow down time?"
"What?"
"Why don't you just slow down time and kill the damn thing?"
Corrin turned in the direction the creature was and then back to Lukas.
"Are you crazy? I can't fight that thing, not on my own!"
Lukas took a sigh.
"Not alone, genius. I have a plan, just trust me."
Corrin nodded his head. After spending months with Lukas, he trusted him, even though he didn't know much about him.
Corrin listened to Lukas's plan quietly.
A few minutes later, Corrin was crawling in the snow away from the gates and the creature. His heart was beating fast, sweat beading in his clothes.
He stood up, now in the direct path of the creature, about two dozen feet away. Corrin turned to the creature and drew his sword. The cold was quickly overwhelmed by the body heat of fear protruding from Corrin.
Lukas, where are you?
Corrin tried his hardest to focus at this moment, and his scar began to sear; his sword burning a yellow glow.
As the creature focused on Corrin, it was oblivious to Lukas, who ran from the sidelines and jumped out at it. He grabbed onto the creature's claw-like hands that crushed into the earth. Black Steel began to flow up its bone-like arm, covering it. It pulled and struggled, but its movements were completely hopeless.
But Corrin's ears suddenly began to ring as though a whistle were blowing right next to him. A deafening shriek escaped its torn, bloodied mouth. Both Corrin and Lukas held their ears in pain, and the black steel stopped, beginning to disappear. As the shriek stopped, Corrin fell to the ground and looked back up.
The arm where the Metal Steel had been was burned and blistered. It instinctively lifted its bone arm away from Lukas. Corrin had already begun running towards the creature, knowing that he had to strike now and quickly.
Corrin focused the energy in his legs as he prepared to jump up and slash the creature. But he was too late. Lukas's blood-filled mouth widened in shock, his legs lifted off the ground. Corrin stopped and began to shiver in fear. Stuck in Lukas's shoulder was a stinger the size of a sword.
The creature's snake-like protrusion from its backside held up Lukas from the ground, his blood dripping and staining the snow below.
Corrin flew forward, golden light engulfing the area. Without having even a single thought in those moments, Corrin's blade was already slicing through the creature's snake-body. Unfortunately, in his quick action, Corrin had not thought about what came next. With the gate behind the creature, Corrin banged into it.
He splurted blood from his mouth, but in his quick adaptation, he turned his body, grabbing onto one of the bars as leverage. He repositioned his body to sit on the wall to face the creature, which was now toppling over. Corrin pushed away from the bars and aligned himself for a finishing blow.
"Light Katana Style…"
Corrin pulled his entire body weight into the attack, tensing every muscle and using his entire body to thrust his sword forward, simultaneously calling upon the energy residing within the Shard of Time to deliver a powerful and quick blow.
"...River of Blood!"
He twisted his attack left and right as his sword slid down the back of the creature's fleshy body. Like butter, Corrin's sword flew down and through the monster.
It fell in two as Corrin landed in the powdered snow. As he had a few moments to catch his breath, he quickly remembered that Lukas had been injured. Corrin quickly turned and looked to Lukas, who was already falling over unconscious. Corrin quickly sheathed his blood-soaked sword and rolled over Lukas's limp body on his side.
Corrin reviewed the punctured flesh around Lukas's wound. The stinger was large, though luckily it was thin. Lukas was already out cold, so Corrin took the opportunity to pull out the large stinger. It slid far too quickly for Corrin's liking. Corrin pulled Lukas up and brought him to the wall, propping him up.
Corrin undid part of Lukas's shirt to see the wound directly. Blood began to seep down the wound in deep rows. Corrin quickly grabbed a bandage from his bag sitting on his waist and patched up the wound as best he could. The deep red color immediately penetrated the saturated white of the bandage as he wrapped it.
In the distance, Corrin heard a whistling shriek, like the one the now felled creature had made, though much softer. He put Lukas's bloodied shirt back on and desperately threw him over his shoulder. He hoped and prayed that he could escape the scene faster than those things could move.
He ran through a door beside the large gated entrance and along the bridge, his exhaustion catching up with him. Using the Shard like that caused fatigue Corrin couldn't even describe, and he was getting weaker by the second as he ran.
Behind him, the whistles grew louder.