It'd been a while since Iskall had been in the Ice Spikes, but now that he was back and seeing how Stress's castle had been coming along, he couldn't help but worry. The majestic castle she had been working on, while incredibly majestic, now had a strange feeling of foreboding around it.

There was also the more obvious signs that something was not as it seemed. As he came closer with his elytra, he could see that where the stone brick was wearing away, glowing purple crystals were popping out; like Iskallium, but less assuring in his opinion. That wasn't too nervewracking. She could have just decided to put some amethyst in her builds, after all.

But it was the mutated cows that told him that something was wrong. They reminded him slightly of the Mooshrooms that were native to the Mushroom Isles, where he had been spending the last few weeks. Unlike the Mooshrooms, though, these creatures were bright purple, and had flowers growing from their backs. Alliums, he realized, the Ice Queen's favorite flower.

To be honest, he had come here expecting something to be off. The odd note he had found in the Sahara payment chest that told him to go check on the Ice Spikes had been anonymous. But he had expected a prank. He had come here after checking on his base nearby.

This was too elaborate to be a prank.

And where was Stress? Was she inside her castle, Iskall wondered as he checked the castle courtyard. He had messaged her a while ago, but received no reply. While it was somewhat hypocritical of him to mistrust mysterious ores, ones that shouldn't exist in their world, the way they glowed and made the air seem hazy seemed wrong.

Eventually, after scouring the outside of the castle, the Swede decided to check inside for his friend. And once again, something was very wrong. The amethyst was coming out of the wooden floorboards in spikes now, revealing the basement levels below.

"Stress? You home?" He called out, not really expecting a response.

"Iskall? Is that you?" Stress's warm tones came back to him, sounding nervous. Startled, he called back.

"Where are you?" he called, now listening to where the voice was coming from.

The response came from below him. "In the lab! I seem to have found myself in a bit of a situation..." She replied uneasily.

Iskall wasted no more time, breaking the floorboards beneath him and jumping down. He could help fix the floorboards later. More importantly, he could get Stress out of here more quickly if worse came to worse.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see, honestly. But this was not it. The entire lab seemed to be overgrown with the purple rocks. It was almost hard to see the stone walls, light colorful banners, and plank flooring. Near one of the corners, Stress was lying on the ground, the crystals encasing her legs like some form of shell.

The swede ran over to her and immediately started mining away at the ore. He didn't get too close to it and get trapped himself, or accidentally hit Stress in the process of trying to free her.

It took too long in his opinion, but eventually, the part of the crystal around the brunette was free from the rest of the giant mass. "I'm going to pick you up and fly you out of here, okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine with that." Stress said, her eyes wide. Not wasting a second longer, Iskall flew out of the hole and quickly flew her back to his base, leaving the infestation of amethysts behind.

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Nothing more to say about this. But here you go. Hope you enjoyed!

Sea you later!

-Aqua