Ghyreian opened her mouth to reply. A split second later, the formerly frozen lake exploded. Shards of dagger-thin ice and freezing water droplets rained down. Ghyreian threw herself on the ground, gasping as ice shards cut into the bare flesh of her face and hands.

From the center of the cavern, something roared.

The sound reverberated off the smooth walls. The dark elf looked up. Writhing in the center of the lake was nothing she had ever seen. Serpentine in appearance, its sinuous body was a snowy translucent. The entire creature - forty feet long from spiked head to thrashing tail - had an ephemeral appearance, perhaps credited to living centuries under a frozen lake. However its needle-sharp fangs were anything but ephemeral.

It roared again, the sound echoing from... both heads to be exact.

_________________

"The darn shadowy man seemed to want to feed us to the beast!"

Edwin cursed as he quickly concentrated all tough he was in the water he cast a levitation spell, which raised him above the water and he prepared to face the monster, if Ghyreian couldn`t make the same trick and run for it.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Where to run...! The entire cavern was sealed off, with no exits to be found. While one head was busy with Edwin, the other swung around to face her. The tail swung around, sending her sprawling. Something warm trickled down her side.

This was it. If she was to die, she would die on her feet.

Holding her side where the serpent's spike had impaled it, she sent a barrage of fireballs in its direction. Looking at the frozen lake gave her an idea. She chanted and pointed her finger at the water. The formerly congealed surface began freezing again, trapping the serpent where it thrashed. Though deprived of swimming, its heads and tail could still reach far.

Ghyreian stopped to catch her breath, drained.

_________________

Edwin cast a lighting bolt making the beasts other head screech and disappear into the water for a while, then Ghyreian cast the water to freeze back to what it had been. Edwin quickly concentrated and cast a levitation spell on her raising her over the water so that she wouldn`t get frozen in the water.

Edwin grabbed her and took her farther away from the beast towards the icy wall that they were surrounded by, Edwin let her go by the wall and tried to wall with his hand. He looked back at the lake and sighed as the surface froze, he sat down against the wall sighing. Edwin cursed as he looked at Ghyreian.

"That`s nasty..."

He commented as he looked at the wound, he was no healer! He had no bandages or anything to help the wound.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian nodded thanks at Edwin, then looked back at the serpent. It was straining against the ice. Tiny cracks began ramifying through the frozen lake.

"Curse it..."

She looked back at Edwin. "Any ideas for a spell combination?"

_________________

Edwin bit his teeth together and pondered quietly, he looked at Ghyreian`s state wondering, if she could cast a spell and then looked at the lake quietly.

"If you can cast I was thinking of acid and fire... I doubt those are things the beast isn`t very friendly with..."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian nodded, gritting her teeth. She began chanting for a fireball. At the same instant, the beast broke free of the ice.

_________________

Edwin quickly cast an acid ball that shot towards the beast and exploded over it, the acid dropped on the beast and it screeched in pain. Then the fireball hit it, the beast was in shock and seemed to be more than willing to go away since these two weren`t worth it`s while not to mention too risky preys or it simply died away. Either way Edwin sighed and looked around at the walls looking for an exit, he put his hand against the ice wall and said few words beginning to melt it.

Yet it seemed that there more ice than he had thought and it would take forever to get trough, whereever they were.

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

Ghyreian hung in the air above the lake, trying to catch her breath and clutching her side. Blood seeped from between her fingers.

There were no shadows in the ice cave. Light was existent, yet where it emerged none could tell. The light shone off the smooth facets, creating an almost ethereal sense. Yet, from the shadows, against all the laws of physics, stepped a familiar brown-robed figure.

"Brilliant!" it lauded, clapping.

_________________

Edwin turned to look at the figure and grinned.

"So... was this a test or did you think we were too weak to die into your little pet?"

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"Think of it as a trial," it replied blandly, with a shrug. "You look a capable pair, yet looks can be deceiving." It steepled its slender fingers in a grin. "The Compass of the Dragon Highlord Feal-thas is right beneath your feet."

Ghyreian snapped her gaze to the ice lake and nearly swooned. More blood trickled through. "We have to go... in there?" she demanded hoarsely.

_________________

Edwin looked down quietly and then at Ghyreian.

"As you seem quite powerful you do not mind healing her first or don`t say that you can`t?"

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

It laughed, a rasping noise that did little to warm her. Then it snapped its fingers. Ghyreian's wound already began mending.

"What say you two?" it asked. "To swim or not to swim?"

_________________

Edwin shook his head.

"Who ever said we would have to swim?"

Edwin asked with a smirk on his face before he concentrated and took out some of the water from his flask, he threw the water into the air yet as he said the spell words the water came together and formed a sort of a bubble.

"Just a small spell that has come handy from time to time..."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!

"Quaint," Ghyreian muttered, staring dubiously at the nearly frozen lake. Fortunate if they didn't freeze to death. She waited for Edwin's call.

_________________

Edwin walked into the bubble without any trouble and looked at Ghyreian.

"Come on then..."

_________________

Let him curse my name
On these blood stained pages of misery
Let him call me a tyrant so cruel
Let him curse my name, but remember the truth!