Frostbound

Finding the pylon was easy. It would be harder to overlook it than it was to find it. Its beacon effect hadn't diminished or disappeared over our months of travel or construction.

Even if Abigail tried to play hide and seek with it, which I swore she did with certain materials, by moving it around to different carts intermittently, I would have been able to find it.

It felt odd to hold it in my hand. When we were first introduced to them and saw one at the start of our tutorial it was already affixed to the ground. It was already placed and we weren't given the option to move it, only claim it.

The pylon I received at the end, the one I now held, wasn't affixed to anything. It was a midnight black rod that seemed to eat light and fit in my hand comfortably. It measured about 2 feet in length and a few inches in diameter, a far cry from the size I knew it was. I knew it would grow into the obelisk I knew from before once placed, but it was still odd to hold it in my hand.

If people hadn't heard our warning yet, they certainly knew something was up now. The pylon was rarely, if ever, moved and people would be able to feel it as I did so.

It was no surprise that a crowd began to form as I walked with it. They all knew what we were doing by now.

Around half our number, just over a hundred, stood geared ready to fight. More than I expected from the group to be honest. Not everyone was so inclined to violence after being given a chance to settle down yet one in two chose to fight.

The fighters were geared and ready, wearing determined faces with only the barest hint of nerves. Not all knew what would happen as only a few had tutorials that experienced them other than ours.

They knew from stories, but this would be their first time facing a wave. If I didn't have so many bad memories associated with waves, their nervousness would be amusing.

Without having to say anything, the group parted as I neared and fell in behind me as I passed. Conversation was light amongst the group and only a few people had the courage to speak.

We certainly chose the right day to do it, I thought. While snow covered the ground, none fell from the sky. Clouds covered the blue expanse letting the occasional ray of sunlight fall though to the surface. The occasional snow storms took a day off for us to place our pylon in decent weather.

While it would have made me stronger, the others would have had to fight through the hindrance.