This is the first time I've ever finished a chapter in the morning.


Frost Arc 10: Slow

I drop to my knees in sheer fatigue, even before the smoke clears. I'm not too sure what I just did, but I know for sure that I will not be able to do it again. Thankfully, as the aftermath unveils, it seems I will not need to. I turn to my side, and see Lina smiling at the scene. She drops and lands on her back, limbs outstretched.

"We did it!" She bellows. There is no discreet in her voice, and maybe that isn't wise. However, I am too happy to take notice. "I can't believe it"

"Me neither." I join in weakly.

Magina, on the other hand, stands firm. He expresses no gesture of waiting for a fight, instead merely keeping vigilance. Out of all I've witnessed of him, it is this action that earns him my respect. Still I do not feel like contain my joy, however temporary, so I smile as well. The night isn't over, but we're already relatively close to the base camp. Nothing else should disturb us on the way back. I can still see Magina peering over the distance, as if awaiting something to go wrong.

"Let's go," he says, "I'd like no more surprises."

With that, we picked ourselves up. No visible traces of the nerubian's existence can be found, and that does set a hint of doubt inside me. Still, without any evidence to the contrary, I'll be content with the knowledge that Anub'seran is gone for good. The way back is nothing more than a mere matter of formality. No one speaks a word, but the atmosphere is night and day compared to before. Everyone seems calm and spirited, taking casual strides across the field of the rising sun. I check myself over. The damage I received, while severe, isn't something that impacts my external physical being. I certainly can feel the wounds, but I imagine they will require special kinds of medicine or healing rather than some local herbal remedy.

Soon enough, we pass the south gate of the village, and arrive at Lina's modest hut. Magina takes a stop out of courtesy, gives a bow, and is on his way. Lina only vaguely smiles in response, signalling a great need to rest. She and I enter her home, still exactly as we left it. Throwing herself onto the creaky bed, she burrows her head in the pillow and begins shedding articles of clothes at a rapid rate. I simply stand there in disbelief at the enthusiasm shown in such an activity. Presently, she is stripped down to her basic garments, snuggled firmly under the sheets.

"Are you not tired?" She asks.

"I am."

"Why aren't you undressing?" She speaks with an exalted tone. "Unless you would like to bathe first."

"Are you inviting me," I pause, "to bed?"

"Of course, I've no other place to sleep on." Her smile never fades. "Sorry for not being accommodating."

"No, not at all!"

I am not quite sure of what to do. Sleeping in the same bed as someone else is an entirely alien concept to me. The closest I have ever gotten to it was having Misha beneath me, but that hardly counts. As I continue to contemplate, and I believe visibly fidget as well, Lina extends me an open hand. Caught up, I take it, and she led me to the spot beside her on the bed. It isn't a very big piece of furniture, though I doubt it needs to be for her everyday life. I am simply here imposing, and shouldn't bother her with such a comment.

Not wanting to dirty the sheets, I begin taking off my clothes as well. It is now that I realise I have not bathed in a few days, ever since Lina and Purist found me in the woods. Considering the state I was in when I woke up from the incident, I make the conclusion that she must have bathed me when I was unconscious. This makes me more comfortable discarding my clothes around her, but also makes me more aware of my own clammy skin. She doesn't seem to mind, and simply waits for me to finish.

"Crazy day." Her voice trails off. "Sorry about that."

"About what?"

"Not telling you the plan." She turns and catches my eye. "Dragging you into that fight without preparation."

"The test is inconsequential, and the battle isn't your fault." I must sound aggravated, though I do not mean to be.

"I guess." She speaks softly. "Traxex-"

"Yes?"

She drifts to sleep. I feel absurdly lonely all of a sudden, and have to fight off the urge to speak out, to wake her. I simply spend the rest of my waking moments of that night admire the vulnerable, frail figure before me. Her pale, glossy skin, her slender, gentle fingers, and her damp, vigorous aroma all captivate my attention, before I am drawn in by the land of slumber.

Midday rolls around when I awake. The sun's position tells me it's only an hour or two past noon. To my side, Lina still sleeps soundly, although her posture has shifted since I last saw. Removing myself from the bed, I let in the day's aroma in through the window. Stretching, I can feel my muscles ache. The wounds from last night still hurts, however, and limits my movement greatly. I do not know whether it is a good idea to wake my friend or let her sleep, but a part of me wants to stop resting. Having been locked up for too long, idling is one of the things I hated most. It simply reminds me of my own imprisonment, and should be avoided at all cost. I decide to do the selfish thing.

"Lina." I call out to her with the mildest voice I can muster. I nudge her by the shoulder, and she reacts with an uninterested shrug. "Please wake up."

Lina does nothing but moan innocently at every touch. She clearly isn't aware of it herself, but I cannot stop myself from poking her, just to get that reaction. It reminds me of witnessing Misha and Syllabear together, where the old druid seemed to have so much fun with his companion. Perhaps this can be the same feeling, but I'm not sure yet.

"Traxex?" Lina, after a series of my mock-serious efforts at convincing her to wake up, finally responds somewhat coherently to my actions. I've stopped my playful prodding by then. "Are you walking out looking like that?"

I now notice that in my haste to get out of the bed, I've yet to put my clothes back on. This results in instant mortification, and Lina's giggling excessively as I scramble to collect my belongings off the floor. In a moment, she steps off the bed, and begins to expanse her limbs in an effort to fight away the sleepiness. I can see all of her dowsed in the great vitality of the afternoon sunlight. It's mesmerising, at least for a moment, before I recollect my thoughts. She soon joins me in dressing up.

"What do you suggest we do?" I ask. Despite being present in town for several days, I'd be lying if I say I in anyway familiar with the layout of the town. Perhaps I can offer my service as odd jobs, but I am not sure someone with my selection of skills would be suitable for something like that.

"I say we go see Purist." Lina lightly presses herself on the chest. I can see her eyes squint as a result. "I'm still sore from last night, and I think I'll need his help to get rid of it."

"Knowing Magina, I'd reckon he already reported everything that happened."

"I'd believe that." She leaves for the door, and I follow suit.

On the way to the church, Lina is quiet. With her refraining from initiating small talk, I find myself strangely restricted in feelings. Usually she'd be running off with all sorts of stories and questions, at least which should be her habit from my limited time knowing her, so now her silence makes me uncomfortable. I wonder if she finds herself drawing away from me, that I have stopped being the eccentric guest in her eyes, and subsequently stopped being interesting to her. These kinds of thoughts are quick to be dismissed, but they come back in droves almost as fast.

Entering the order's property, we can spot Purist, his hand on his hammer and his head held high, waiting for us at the end of a long table. He seems pleased to see us, which comes as no surprise. Lina and I situate ourselves opposite of him.

"I have to say I'm impressed." His tone is amused crossed with perplexed. "Not only have you been able to clear all doubts of your loyalty within the first mission, you also stepped beyond your expected duty and contributed greatly to the defeat of a powerful enemy."

"Is that what Magina told you?" I ask. Even after how things turned out last night, it's still hard for me to believe that the warrior elf would put in a good word for me.

"Word for word." I sigh in relief. I do not need to make more enemies. "Considering what happened, I think I owe you a lot of answers. You're free to ask them."

"Do you know of Anub'seran?" Lina's face tightens as she asks the question. Naturally both of us would want to find out about the enemy that dragged us into such a life-and-death situation, but I am marginally surprised that she chose this time to speak up.

"He's always been treated more like a myth, and less of a legend." He pours himself a cup of cider. "The Weaver of Time, so-called. He is an entity that exists outside our plane, and enters by possessing a recently deceased carcass. It has happened many times before."

"Does that mean we didn't kill it," Lina interjected ", only remove it temporarily?"

"Yes, but that's not much of a concern. He won't be back for a long time." I can hear Lina sighing. However, Purist still has more to say. "Problem is, he doesn't appear at a fixed interval. Instead, his sighting is said to be the signal of a coming great war."

Both of them fall silent. Being utterly removed from recent events as I am, I've little idea of which 'great war' Purist is talking about. However, it cannot be anything but bad, with the way they're looking. Minutes pass without a sound, and the responsibility of sparking the conversation is unanimously passed to me.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course." My voice seems to have pulled the paladin out of a trance. He sits forward, eager. "What do you want to know?"

"Who's Magina, and how what was he doing here?" I presume that from his haste observed yesterday, he's already left. I hear no objections to that conjecture.

"He's the second son of the leaders of the Sentinel Order." I don't recall what that may be from any of the books I've read, and Purists catches a hint of that. "The Sentinel Army, now the Sentinel Order in times of perceived peace, is the night elven elite guard that protect their operations across Kalimdor."

"What's Kalimdor?" I ask. I received immediate answer, only wide-eye looks from the other two.

"You can't be any older than twenty years of age, yes?" I nod at his question. "What do you think has been happening since you were born?"

"I'm not really sure." Thinking about it, I'm not sure if I want to tell people of my origin just yet. "I don't think I know events that took place within the last great period. The last Lordaeron king I read of is King Terenas, though I don't think he'd still be around, with his age and all."

"I see." Purist does not question me in return, but it's rather obvious that I am not versed in events from recent past. The books I found inside my old castle were terribly dated, but they were the only ones available to me. I wouldn't even be surprised if many things I've read of would turn out to be incorrect, seeing as I never had any point of comparison. "It sounds to me you've missed the entirety of the Third War, somehow."

"The Third War?" I dig in my memory to find any reference to such, but unable. I do remember the Second War: the epic struggle between the Alliance and the Horde. With how these villages are looking, I suppose I'm in Alliance territory. "What happened?"

"This is a great deal of history that you'd have to find out for yourself, since I don't have time for it." He looks at me sympathetically as I tilt my head. "With Lina's help, of course."

"I have a bunch of books you can read at home." She keeps it brief, since it looks like Purist is going to continue speaking.

"So to finish your question about Magina, he's here because his parents would like to do treaties with the survivors of Azeroth." Purist finishes his drink. "We are one of the few non-hostile forces still left on this continent, and I can tell they want us to prevail as much as we do."

I don't have anything to add. It makes a lot of sense.

"Let's talk about you, then." Lina directs her focus on me, and I inadvertently feel shiver. "Purist, she can join the Order of Silver Hand, yes?"

"I suppose so. Traxex has proven herself useful enough." Smiling, he rests his hammer to the table. "Her ignorance is more innocent than dangerous."

"Great!" A spark of Lina's usual upbeat persona is seen in that moment. Now that it has come, I realise how much I missed it. "You're one of us now."

"Thank you." I take a ceremonial bow.

"Since you're a mercenary and not a paladin, you don't have to participate in the joining ritual." I nod in acknowledgement. The fewer procedures I have to partake in the happier I am. "We need all the able help we can get. Once your name is in the books, you shall officially join Lina as her partner."

"I don't remember my joining being this easy though." She displays a lively pout. "If I had known I would have just stick-"

Suddenly, Lina collapses onto the table. Fearing the worst, both Purist and I run to her with great haste. Lifting her by the arm, I moved her back onto the chair, sitting. We see her breathing, but scarcely, and with great difficulty.

"Hold her still." Purists orders, and runs to grab his hammer.

He takes out a spell book that has been strapped to his belt at all times, which I never noticed. Flipping the pages with great certainty, he soon arrives at a relevant passage. Chanting in a language which I cannot understand, Purists raises his hammer with one hand. A ray of golden light beams from the ceiling and engulfed Lina, and by proxy me as well. I can feel the wounds from last night mending themselves quickly, and I can only feel the warmth of the yellow sun. As it fades, so does the pain inhabited in my chest.

I look to Lina, to see her eyes opening. She has stopped gasping for air, and is touching my hands, which were in firm grasps beneath her arm.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"It stopped hurting," she answered wearily, "but I'm so tired."

"What caused this?" Purists comes to us. He seems relieved to see his spell succeeding.

"From last night." Lina takes another full breath before continuing. "The Weaver's attacks left me in pain, but I thought just waiting it out would be enough." She smiled with only the edge of her lips. "Guess I was wrong."

I feel nothing but guilt. I've yet to bother taking a single moment of my time to think about what kind of damage the battle might have left on her. It never occurred to me that a sorceress like her would be much more vulnerable than me or Magina, both having undergone extraneous physical training in the past. I can only imagine what kind of agony she must have gone through to simply have dropped like that.

"Well you should rest still." Purist turns to me for a moment. "What about you, Traxex? How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine now." I answer.

"Then do you mind take Lina home, she needn't exert herself any further?" I shake my head. The least I can do is to help her to the best of my abilities. "If her condition turns bad, send me a courier."

With that, Purist leaves the room for the inner chamber. He doesn't mention it, but casting that spell must have taken quite a bit out of him as well. I figure that it would be best for us not to linger any longer.

"Can you hold on to me?" I don't want to rush her, but I also want to lay her down to a bed as soon as possible. Lina nods, and I bent down, my back to her. I can feel her willowy arms wrapping around my neck, resting above my collar bone. They were lax and light, nothing like mine. Grabbing her legs and bringing them forward, I walk out of the church. I can barely feel her weight on my back, and I can't say whether that's because I'm strong or she has barely anything on her. On the way back, she also rests her head on the back of mine, and is quiet throughout.

Nothing happens on our way home except for a few looks given by the townsfolk. I don't believe those amount to anything, so I simply ignore them and carry on. What most distracts me is Lina's breathing on my skin every second or so, seemingly unintentionally, forcing my attention to be drawn to the fact that she's resting on me with every step.

I lay her on the bed as soon as we return, still trying to be as non-aggressive as possible. Lina grabs at the sheets and buries herself deep into the mattress, clothes still fully on. I recall my awakening state a few days ago, and decide to sit on the chair next to her to keep watch. Lina, despite her recent slumber, falls asleep shortly.

Purist's spell has given me an excess amount of energy with its power, and I have all the time in the world waiting for Lina to recover. Reminded of the previous conversation with the paladin, I decide to look for books on recent events around the shack to read. There aren't many of them, and they are dispersed throughout the house and on various levels of elevation, making my task somewhat dreary. That said, it doesn't take too long before I'm comfortably sitting beneath the window light with the texts in hand.

'Scholar of the third war', the title says.

"We who fought in the Third War never decided ourselves that the war had put an end to the Burning Legion…"