What happens to your beasts during their Tundra exploration.

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If Hydronium is bothered by the whistling winds and snow, she doesn't show it. As she stalks deeper into the island, her claws clack against hard-packed, frozen dirt. Permafrost. 

Upon seeing her for the twenty third time, the etelia unfolds from its resting position as it always had after Hydronium took some time to regain her strength. It had been standing as still as a statue, weak sunlight glinting off its hard, crystal body, sharp bladed forelegs unfurling to stab into the ground as it heaves itself into an alert position with barely a sound save for the clinking of ice against ice, its cold eyes focusing on the beast intruding on its territory.

Surrounding it is a silvery shield, glimmering brightly against the light, and Hydronium growls, recognizing it instantly as a Magic Mirror. 

This etelia will be a tough opponent, since the Mirror could repel her acid and poison, but Hydronium stands her ground, baring her fangs. 

With a silent, eerie fashion, the etelia charges suddenly, forelegs raised to swipe at the cockatrice. The blow catches her across the flank, and Hydronium snarls, snapping at the etelia.

Pain lances through the cockatrice as the Mirror flashes and her own acid is flung against her, scalding the beast's skin, and Hydronium hisses, skittering backwards. The etelia will not let her leave now, unless she is defeated, and she knows it.

She can feel her wounds trying to knit themselves together, and before the etelia can attack again, she lashes out with her claws, raking them across the icy monster's snout. The etelia makes no sound, no indication of pain, but it does reel back.

Her deadly poison is in its body now, worming through the crystals and weakening the spark of life breathed into the icy body, but it won't last for long. Hydronium tries to follow up with more acid and is blocked by the monster's large body as it rushes her and slams her into the ground.

The etelia opens its jaws, and the glint of ice rushing up is all Hydronium needs to fling herself to her feet and lunge.

Her jaws clamp down around the etelia's foreleg as it blasts her with freezing ice shards, coating her right wing and back, and her nerves go numb from the sheer coldness, but the acid is in the monster's system now. The etelia staggers back and crumples, its body falling apart and dissolving into snow that drifts away on the howling wind, leaving only a large shard in its place. The etelia's ice core.

She is dangerously close to collapsing and she knows it, so she quickly picks up the core and tucks it into the little travel bag that Master will later collect the ice from. 

Master will be pleased. She has gathered ten ice cores from slain etelia throughout the 15 levels of Tundra she has explored, and she can see another one of the monsters sitting not far away near a guardian Akhlut, its pale blue starkly contrasting the bright red of the killer whale and wolf hybrid monster.

She'll be eating well tonight once she returns.

-

Dream emerges from the swirling green portal with a snarl, tiny frost crystals from his last battle still coating his snout and neck. He shakes his head, dislodging most of it, and stares as far as he can into the distance.

The Magician is keeping the weather clear so he can see all the way across the island, and he spots one of those pesky ice monsters, one with twisted antlers and sharp spines with its head lowered to the ground as if hunting for food.

It looks like one of the etelia Master keeps in their stables. Dream hates the ones his Master has, but they aren't aggressive, and Master forbids him from attacking them. 

He lopes past the cult castle, ignoring their offering, and enters the etelia's territory.

The monster's head snaps up and its eyes focus on the intruder, and without wasting a second, it charges at him, its jaws wide open as clouds of icy air and frost stream from its mouth.

Dream retaliates with a hard bite of his own, and his jaws close on the etelia's neck. The etelia lands its own attack, but the ice simply dissapates, and Dream gives a moment to thank the sheer luck.

His jaws already locked around the monster, he bites down harder and is rewarded with a spasm as the etelia flails in his grasp, legs swiping at him and tearing jagged wounds across his neck and chest, but he holds firm until the etelia has stopped moving, dying without a sound, beginning to break apart until there's nothing left but a core.

Dream regards it with contempt, but picks it up grudgingly and tucks it away.

He flaps his wings and glides towards a glimmer of green in the distance, and comes face to face with a guardian Raiju.

Electricity crackles along the monster's red fur as it barks out a warning, and Dream pads towards it, lips tearing back in a snarl.

If he is close to losing, he'll charm it with a song, but he loves a good fight. So he digs his claws in the ground and lets the Raiju come to him.

Dream lunges forward suddenly and intercepts the guardian, sharp needle teeth finding purchase in the thick fur as the Raiju squeals in pain. Here is a living, breathing monster he can feel the life drain out of rather than a cold, dead heartless monster, and Dream snarls and bites harder.

The Raiju's powerful claws dig into his shoulders, just below his wing joints, and it rakes its claws down to leave long, bleeding claw marks as it fights to stay alive, but it's weak and Dream is already healing, flesh knitting back together and fur regrowing as though he'd never been hurt at all.

The Raiju flops to the ground, lifeless, and Dream steps over it delicately. Symurghs are graceful creatures, after all, even if he is far more bloodthirsty than most of his kin. 

He arrives at the stone circle that makes for the foundation of the portal and steps up on to the pavillion. Each brick is carefully placed, he can see, and what carvings there were before are rubbed almost smooth by the passing monsters and forces of nature. Still, the portal is a beautiful thing, with a tall metal frame with an arch on top. Nestled into the arch is a large green gemstone.

Time for the next island, he thinks as he draws out a small portal cell, fitting it into a niche in the ancient portal's base, and the old thing, looking rickety and frail, shudders as green electricity crackles along the frame, but it holds steady.

Energy concentrates in the middle in a bright green glowing sphere, the portal cell's stores completely used up by the portal as the ball explodes outwards into a swirling green vortex.

Without wasting another moment, Dream steps through, and the portal snaps shut behind him.

Oh wow nightswan! thats great! I hope u can make more :)

Hope stamps a hoof in protest as she stands at the portal gate. She has to go out and fight terrifying living ice creatures rumored to be immortal and win against them? In this swirling, never-ending snowstorm? No thank you, she'd much rather be back in her warm stable. At least the snow there isn't so... freezingly cold and the wind doesn't bite through her fur and send chills all the way to her bones.

Still, if she wants to be rewarded, she needs to go and find some etelia. 

Begrudgingly, Hope starts to stamp her way through the knee-deep snowdrifts, moaning in protest all throughout the journey to the portal she can barely see beyond a vast expanse of barren, icy plains and the stout body of the thickly muscled guardian Ram, its huge red horn almost twice the size of her own. 

Her magic mirror does nothing to protect her against the elements of nature, and Hope has to trudge over the hard-packed, frozen dirt with cold hooves and a chilled nose. She hates the Tundra, but she is good for the etelia, and Master knows it.

And... is that a fountain? Oh, thank goodness one of those magical life fountains were here, even though Hope has no idea how the water of those amazing buildings don't freeze in such temperatures.

Gratefully, she lowers her head and laps at the wonderfully sweet water, knowing she might not get another chance to drink her fill later. 

-

While Gale's powerful wings and beak normally get him through the Arena beasts easily, this etelia isn't backing down. Its hard, pointed spikes scrape painfully against the vulnerable skin barely protected by a thick layer of feathers, and he knows from experience the icy claws of the monster feel less like claws and more like serrated knives.

It didn't seem so difficult to defeat at first. A low-level monster that should've been an easy win, he should have beat it down with his wings and shattered its crystal body to get to the ice core within. His razor-sharp feathers should have cut right through its attacks and his lightning should have shredded the monster to nothing but tiny shards of ice.

The etelia had other plans. 

Its first attacks, when he didn't manage to dodge or block them, usually finished him off, and if not, left him so weak he would be defeated the very next attack. He had knocked it down once only for it to shake off his lightning attack and respond with a devastating rake of its cold claws that sent him crashing to the ground. 

Even the one time he'd gotten it so weak it was barely standing straight, its icy bite had still cut through his defenses like wet tissue paper and sent him into the jaws of defeat once again. 

Gale is done with this ice statue that can apparently move and think on its own.

He has just enough energy to pick one more fight, and he steps up to the etelia's territory with a screech.

The etelia stalks towards him silently, then pounces, opening its jaws wide to let trails of tiny ice crystals billow from its jaws. Gale barely reacts in time, flapping his wings to shoot upwards, then dive-bomb the etelia, sending it sprawling. Before it can get back up, he rushes towards it, beak clacking closed then open, with lightning sparking around his entire body.

He smashes head-first into the etelia and electricity crackles to life around him and the monster. As it hits, an explosion hits and the resounding boom echoes all around him as the etelia staggers. 

It's still alive? Gale screeches again, swooping down towards it.

The etelia meets him head-on with its claws, but Gale's attack lands. Again, lightning flashes to life, and the etelia is jolted back, its limbs twitching with random spasms as electricity dances over its body.

Then, its body breaks apart with a loud crack and the pieces scatter into the snowy ground. All that's left is its jagged ice core - Gale's prized trophy from his victory.

Chest heaving, Gale picks up the ice core and tucks it away safely for later.

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