That night - wrong, it's morning actually, and I just don't want to get up, so this is what I do - I fall back asleep, holding my dearest and all, and I get a really nostalgic dream. I was playing minecraft with my friend, not sure whom though, and I swam across an ocean to lose him before proceeding to chop a few trees down and then running further on the positive x cordinate. There I found a village, but it wasn't truly a village, it was something more of a base, and they had an iron golem(naturally) so while within the dream I thought of making an iron golem farm, and not one that kills them - no - one that makes them and carries them to each corner of the base.
So now I got inspiration, might as well make an army of automatons, or as this world likes to call them - golems. I could already see it, I stand somewhere far as the automatons march on - that's less about killing and more about intimidation, but I will make each of them a separate being for the sake of avoiding the thought process from getting tangled up.
That's a major step in freeing my wife from her responsibility.
I teleported real quick, because I had the genious Idea of making... Playing hearts of Iron or whatever that game is irl would be pretty fun, with a buffed economy and maxed out resources. Of course I have no clue what I am talking about, never played the game.
Anyways, I realized a little issue with the resort - well, not it, me - I got no good clothes for this. Yeah, the trench coat keeps me warm, but when wind bellows it could be quite irritating. So I got in the steam-exosuit, which I decided to upgrade, because if i'm planning on climbing the mountain, I would need some better footing... A bit of a spiky pattern that would break in the ice/snow, and an adjustable level of the two sides of the foot - similar to mountain goats.
I went to the factory and decided to fix that first, cuz i'm feeling like taking a slide back. Naturally, I also need to test out my creation, so I made myself a pair of skis(oh, the good ol' days). And with that, tried them out on a smaller slope, then on the bigger one, everything works fine, and i'm exhausted... Great...
So anyways, guess I will be slow with the climbing...
I looked up at the peak of the mountain, there were many more quite like it further away though, perhaps I can set the factory in one of those, glass and steel as well as the hues of fires coming out of the rocks that would remain there.
The winds were brutal, if I didn't literally have a built in heating system in my armor I would probably get hypothermia, the armor allowed me to focus on protecting my nose, ears, lips(the head in general.)
All until I felt the ground beneath me crack... "Huh?-"
I suddenly fell, the sound of shattered ice accompanying the scene. All dark for a moment, but the moment was broken by the concerned cries of something little and sweet... and cold - aw - something's on my face.
As I woke up a snow sprite was rubbing against my cheek, making noises of concern. As i pat it and stood up, I felt my hair move in unnatural clumps, reaching up to feel what was going on, I discovered a hard texture. When I pulled my hand away I had a bit of a stain on my hand, accompanied with chunks of dark crimson - blood.
This tells me that I have been here for quite a while... Not too severe, but if I managed to fall unconchious then that means it's severe enough...
But right now, I don't think that matters this much, I'm not actively bleeding.
Looking around I see that I was in a cave... A bit too much ice though. And a lot of snow sprites... LOTS OF EM!!! Let's not even talk about the temperature... Maybe not turning this place into a factory won't be this bad.
What else is there to do than to take a walk around, see what goes around. Bad choice, as I poked my head to peek through one of the crawl spaces, a blade, which was held by a frozen skeletal hand, thrusted forward. I quickly moved out of the way and waited to see what would come around, because swinging randomly might be the doom of me - the last thing I want is for this place to collapse on me, then what?
So I just waited patiently... The dude was taking too long, so I peeked again, this time to bait him and grab the blade to yank the fella out. This dude is an undead... Honestly, pretty bad fate... So how do I imitate the exorcism spell "Turn Undead" with my unique ability?
No fucking clue... "Eris." I spoke softly with intent. "I need your help to free this poor fella."
And just like the wind, she came. "Yes?" Then her eyes widened when she saw my condition, concern written all over her face as she quickly stepped towards me, but nearly slipped and I was in a position to catch her.
After this I helped her regain her balance, before pointing with my thumb towards the undead who instantly became hostile to the max when he felt my dear's presence. Knowing how the undead act around Aqua, I moved behind the skeleton and got him in a choke hold, while also freezing his arm in place.
"Love, you know what to do." I said, as the skeleton struggled against me.
She nodded and with a sense of mercy she spoke under her nose: "Turn Undead."
In that instance a wave of holy energy hit the skeleton, and me, but I didn't feel it. The person was finally at rest.
"And don't worry about this, just a scratch."
"How is that just a scratch???" She asked a bit annoyed at how I refuse to acknowledge the fact that my head is a 'bit' split...
"Eh, we can deal with it later, for now i'm curious to see what's up ahead, best stay in the afterlife until there are other undeads."
"No, I will not help you if you refuse to understand that this isn't just a minor injury." She pouted and crossed her arms.
I sighed, though I couldn't truly complain. Her expression of concern for me is endearing. "Fine, I will take a break... Maybe I will find another place to turn into a golem factory." I murmured to myself. "You win, Love, i'm heading to do some safer job for today. How does that sound?"
She nodded. "You better be, I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"Don't worry, this next part is easy." I slowly moved to her, the spikes of my heavy metal boots piercing in the ice to keep me from slipping. I gave her a quick kiss and just like that, I was alone again, although there is the undeniable feeling that she's keeping a closer eye on me.
I slowly found my way around the place, the snowspirits leading the way till a gust of wind hits me. The sun's bright rays hitting me was quite the good sensation, given my condition... Though I couldn't deny the slight feeling of diziness and this throbbing sensation as if i'm getting hit in the head repeatedly. I took a seat on and looked around, resting. The scenery from up here was gorgeous, I was able to see the distant land, which were not effected by this perma winter effect...
'I do wonder why it's like that.' - I laid back, slightly, looking up to the drifting clouds. But the clouds weren't the only thing drifting, the same snow sprite from before came out, maybe to say goodbye. I took it gently into my hands to pat it with my thumb, but then I felt it, the area around my hands becoming colder...
...
I realized it, this is the reason it's permanently cold in this area of the world, because of a reverse green house effect, but without any of the chemicals, just pure energy being sucked away - just like magic... Just like my creation.
And that's another reason to protect this creatures... although it might be best if I study them first, if they reprocreate, because I don't want to cause a major pain for everyone by having snow sprites running all around, or for the resort to become too cold.
"Do you mind?" I said as I pulled a jar from my astral storage.
It didn't understand, instead drifting it's own way... Maybe I won't need to use them after all... I could perhaps make a thermostat that would use the pressure of air... Meh, I will see soon enough if they are a problem... I might even ask Eris about it later, since this place should be quite old, and if it's old then it must also be stable... There is still a small chance though... Eh, I pray for the health of the land and for the climate here to not change one bit.
With that I pushed myself up and realized, I was really unstable, my steps were wobbly, my reaction time was reduced... Guess I will have to abort, huh?
I looked back at where I left the ice dungeon and behind I saw it... The perfect cliff, the sun's work on this scenery was phenomenal, because the cliff looked really good. Alright, this is the place, I just need a lil' screen shot and then i'm out.
Done... As I looked down I saw that I could use my skis... But then thoughts of self-preservation began to floor my mind, I'm in no condition of riding now... By now my head should be fully healed, but maybe brain damage takes longer to heal because the brain is a complicated thing. Yeah, probably that.
Right now though, I believe it's best I return home, so I teleported back...
The evening from there was just a walk in the park, literally, because I had nothing else to do. I felt tired, didn't think pain was going to drain me this much.
Then sunset came and with it, and just like always, she. In that moment I felt a greater relief, like the sight of her is soothing my pain.
"Good evening my dear." I said gently with a smile as I approached her.
She didn't even reply before taking my hand and dragging me to our humble castle home, where she quickly lead me to the bathroom, where we took a bath, well, primarily me, because her focus was on me, primarily my head. I sat a bit lower, my face half below the surface of the water. She began to gently scrub my hair from all the dries up blood that had stuck on it, before moving to look at the wound, her gaze turning surprised when she saw that my head is fine and that the only way to tell that there was a wound is because of the bits of left over color that marked the area's outline.
"What's wrong?" I asked gently.
"Your head... It's fine." She replied in awe, her fingers pressing gently against the spot.
"The memory enchantment is working fine then."
"I suppose..."
And with that, it was my turn to take care of her. My hands moving gently to clean her hair, massaging her scalp which she seemed to enjoy very much. Her hair was plentiful and it was beautiful, though it's a bit difficult to get untangled when it sticks to me.
"You know... You remind me of how you were when we met for the first time... You are still as reckless as you were back then, but now you don't need to act tough infront of me. I know you are strong. But you make me worry when you just deny that something severe is happening." She slowly turned around once I finished cleaning her head. "I just want you to be more careful, to take better care of yourself when I am not around you. So please - promise me this."
I thought to myself for a second about what she said, about how I could take better care, and then it hit me. I should add the helmet and finish the exo-suit, no gaps, just a wholeface visor, the metal and ventilation to keep me breathing. "I will add a few upgrades to the exo-suit, primarily a helmet... I understand your concern dear, and even though it's endearing to see you care for me, I will not pretend that my head is optional."
"I trust you." She said, her voice soft as she leaned in and hugged me, her arms wrapping around my neck.
My own hands move to her waist as I cuddle back into her. "And that's why I won't fail you."
From there the night went on pretty normally, after this talk the conversations were lighter - by now the headache has subsided and I was able to doing stuff at my fullest potential. We took a quiet walk around the Oasis Fortress, it was less about a talk and just for the sake of it. Side by side, hand in hand. I am truly thankful to have her, and I will keep repeating it.