Chapter 298 (1/2)

Chapter 298

Regis and I stood at the archway opening into the snowy tunnelThe entrance had partially collapsed and was quickly being filled with snowIn front of us was a blurred expanse of gray and white, howling gales tearing and tossing snoith enough speed to tear flesh from bone

I scratched my cheek“Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks”

Regis chortled“I my companion’s snide remark, I approached the end of the tunnel, where snow had piled up and largely filled in the chas behind only a shallow divotFlecks of purple aether swirled within the stor it evenserious?” Regis asked, walking around me to stand between me and the storm“We were barely able to see two feet in front of us yesterday and the storm is even worse than before”

“Well we can’t keep twiddling our thu overshards of snow and IceClian to make my way up out of the tunnelMy feet sank with each step on the soft white powder as I had to continually use my hands to shovel aside the fresh snow

Even with the endless afast fro at my aetheric defensesI had to walk slowly and in a wide stance to keep fro tossed off ed directions, shi+fting the landscape with every blow and shaking my confidence in my own sense of direction

“daale

Ad defeat, I turned backThe blizzard had already started filling in the trench I’d forged to reach this point, but using is as an anchor, I quickly found the vanishi+ng entrance to the aether-carved tunnel leading back to the dome

By the tiis, wrapped tightly in several layers of bedrolls

Caera stared atat you makes me feel colder”

I looked down to see that I was caked from head to toe with a thick layer of co out there? A bit of snow, perhaps?” Regis asked with a wolfish grin

Sweeping a thick clump of snow out of my wheat hair and off my shoulders, I promptly dropped it on top of is yelled, his sled to free his diminutive form from the snow before Caera dipped down and pulled hi to be stuck here for a bit,” I said to Caera as I shook the rest of the snow off of ured asthe tunnel and into the doan to thinkThe thought of just idly waiting felt nearly as dreadful as the trek through the snowstor my aether core but the process left et back to normal

As I continued to deliberate our next course of action, h the pile of random items by the foot of the stairsHer eyes lit up as she picked up a s it in her pocket, then she went back to looking againAfter a while, she made her way back to the pile of bedrolls we had laid out, carrying a handful of s?” I asked

“Coround by her side

My curiosity getting the better ofa knife to draw thin lines on the srid had been carved out

At first, I thought she was trying to map out our coordinates within the zone, but then she started placing the rando sides of the grid

“Is this, by chance, a gaa some of the pieces so they were in the center of their respective hexagons“I carry a portable board duringis broken, this will have to do”

Caera hadn’t eaten in daysIn these frigid conditions, where her body was burning off ulate her internal temperature, she would last a week, maybe tithout some proper foodYet she seemed to be unconcerned as she sat in front of the crudely made board

“Is now really the ti

Caera raised an eyebrow as she looked up“I’ business to attend to, Grey?”

I rolled my eyes, but sat down on the opposite end of the makeshi+ft board“Fine, but you’ll have to teach me the basics”

“So, the casters can iven direction—”

“No, it canas it’s within five spacesHere, letup to be heard over the noise of the blizzard outside

We each sat on top of a folded bedroll within the dois remained in my body to replenish his aetherIn front of e of either a square, a line, a triangle, or a circleCaera’s pieces were smooth rocks each carved with one of the same four symbols

“And the pieces with lines are the strikers?” I asked hesitantly

“Yes,” Caera said with a pout“And it’s not a line, it’s a sword”

I lowered my head to the board to take a closer look“I’m pretty sure that’s a line”

“I had to iination,” Caera retorted“Anyway, the caster pieces, the ones with the syle,” I corrected

“The fire,” she stressed, “are the most flexibleThe shi+elds are best used defensively while the strikers are good at taking piecesRe over it”

“And you win if you take my sentry?”

“Mhmm,” Caera nodded“Or if my sentry reaches your hold, which is called a true win”

I raised a brow“What’s the difference between a normal win and a true win?”

“True wins are reat achievement”

“Seems like another way for nobles to flaunt their skills”

“I suppose it is” Caera let out a chuckle as she set the pieces back to their original position“Are you ready?”

I noddedThough I hadn’t played this specific gaames of my past that the rules fell into place easily in oes second,” she said, pointing to estured for Caera to take her first moveShe slid a stone shi+eld forward one spaceI moved my outer striker to the leftmost corner ofone of her casters up the edge of the board, opposite of the striker that I had just repositionedIit around my outer shi+eld piece and up to the front so it would be in position to capture the shi+eld in my next turn

However, Caera seemed to have anticipated this because she moved one of her strikers behind the shi+eld so my caster wouldn’t be able to capture the piece in its allotted five moves

“Ah, I didn’t think to move the pieces that way,” I mused,for the game to unfold in my opponent’s favorBy about sevenpieces around in order to see how Caera would react

At the very least, Caera wasn’t able to obtain the true win like she had wanted,her bite her lip in irritation

“Another,” she declared, alreadymy sentry

“Sure,” I said, aoodIt was obvious that she wanted to use this gah the next few rounds, I was able to learn a lot about her as well

She y with every move, evident in her desire to keep asdown ames, I fell for her tactics, but her personality leaked into the game and she showed a crucial weakness that I was able to expose

“That’s a win forher sentry slowly off the board for her to see

“H-hold on,” she said, her scarlet eyes scanning every inch of the board for sohMy victory was a shallow one, caused by Caera’s own greed to get a true win off of meIf it hadn’t been for that fact, I wouldn’t have been able to win

“Look all you want but it’s not going to change anything,” I chuckled

Caera whipped her head up, shooting ame before, haven’t you”

I shook ame for years and while I’m not the best, there is no way forout a sigh, I put the sentry back on her board“I only won because you got greedyDid you think I wouldn’t notice you trying to go for a true win?”

Caera’s eyes widened and she let out an eh

“You isolated your caster threeto draw ht?”

“See! The fact that you’re able to think like this proves that you’ve played this ga that this proves is that you’re competitive and also a sore loser,” I replied with a s the pieces back to their original places

“I did, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve lost had you played seriously,” I said calood, CaeraIt doesn’t take a master to see that”

Caera narrowed her eyes“You are continually surprising, Grey, do you know that?”

“I’ll take that as a co a noise different from the usual howl of the wind

A frown fell over Caera’s face as she cocked her head side to side, but le doorway into the dome

Caera’s eyes followed ht for a second that I ainst the do of soh the sobund tunnelIt was co our way

“Behind the platforear to put the raised dais between us and the door, Caera right behind er than us?” she whispered, a trace of fear in her voice