The towers of ice surrounded him, almost crowding out the blue-white ball of cold light that sufficed for a "sun". Driven by curiosity, he tried to climb one, hands grasping the slippery spikes of ice along the sides as he slowly clambered up.
His hand grasped a spike barely its size, and he leaned onto it…
Crack. He fell back down, grasping at thin air as he tried to steady himself. Moments later, he crashed back down again, sending up a cloud of snow.
Brushing off the snow on his body, he stood up again, finding himself strangely unharmed aside from the freezing cold of the snow. No injuries. Could he be harmed here?
Lightly jabbing his finger at a sharp ice spike, he tested that hypothesis – and sure enough, it just bounced off harmlessly.
"It's not like I have anything else to do…" Energized by this relevation, he set to climbing again. If anything, it was a way to pass the time.
Frostnova surveyed the remains of their camp, smothering any stray smoldering coals with a heaping of snow.
"Sister, we're ready to go." One of the Yetis gestured to her as she absentmindedly stared into the distance.
"Mhm." She slowly walked over to where the Yetis were waiting with their carts.
"You should ride the cart, Sister. Patriot—" The Yeti started.
"Is worried, I know. I can walk just fine, thanks." Taking a position next to the foremost cart, Frostnova spared a look at the mules dragging the carts along. They were expensive to maintain, but a necessity to carry supplies.
The carts began trundling along, leaving deep grooves in the snow. Frostnova looked behind the group, and sure enough, the rearguard was smoothing over the snow, making sure to hide any traces of their existence.
She turned back to the endless tundra ahead of them, adjusting her wand for easy access. Ambushes were rare, but not unheard of – she had nearly fallen for one some years ago, and it was a valuable lesson.
She had lost nearly a dozen people in that confrontation. Some of her first compatriots. She still remembered each of their smiles, sitting around the fires just a day before.
Resolutely staring forward, she continued forwards, the weight of a hundred souls pressing down on her shoulders.
Hand grasping the final slippery grip on the spire, Andrey hauled himself onto the peak of the ice, sitting down on a crack between two spikes of ice. A few dozen falls had convinced him of his invincibility down in this place, and he took full advantage of it.
Surrounding him were the lesser spires, reaching many stories high. They diminished the farther they got, eventually disappearing altogether and leaving only snow. The blue-white sun above shone coldly upon him, eternally locked in the center of the sky.
Beyond that, there was only a flat darkness, easily traversable yet intimidating all the same.
Slowly, the clouds gathered in the sky, covering the sun. He watched as the snowflakes drifted down, an errant snowflake touching his finger like a butterfly before flying away again. The cold was unwelcome, but the sights more than made up for it.
He jumped off the spire, landing harmlessly on the ground with a light thump and lightly grasping Frostnova's shoulder. The colors of reality returned to him.
A weight settled over her mind; an invisible presence, like someone looking over her shoulder.
"Andrey, is that you?"
"Yes."
"What were you doing?"
"Climbing pillars of ice."
"In my mind?" She wondered what it was like in there.
"Yes."
"What does it look like?"
"A cluster of ice spires, and darkness beyond that. It's cold there."
"Not any more then in reality." She shivered lightly, but quickly suppressed it, popping a chili candy into her mouth.
"Indeed. But ice gets boring after some time."
"It's all there is here, reality or not."
The snow crunched beneath her boots. Looking back, Frostnova saw them slowing down.
"Sweepers are probably getting tired again." She noted – for her benefit and Andrey's. He was useful, so she supposed she could give him some information.
"Replace sweepers!" She personally took a broom and went to work with the rest of the Yetis, smoothing over the ice before refreezing it with a light touch of Arts from her wand.
The sun slowly crawled through the sky, providing some much-needed warmth. As the time approached noon, Frostnova called a stop and sat down to have a short lunch.
The leftovers from the morning weren't exactly appetizing with hard bread, but they were palatable.
Soon on her way again, Frostnova took their map from their leading cart and looked through it. They were due to approach a small forest soon. Looking up, she turned her head around, trying to study the landscape.
Bad idea. The glare of the endless white blinded her eyes for a moment before she turned her gaze back down, returning to the back of the group.
Even before they reached the forest, they saw a field of tree stumps, cut off at the base and left to freeze. In such cold weather, their left-behind branches merely laid on the ground, slowing down their progress but fortunately not impeding their carts.
As they neared the treeline, they heard a chorus of faint howls in the distance. Frostnova held up a hand, and as the group slowed to a stop, the howls came again, closer this time.
"Wild wolves, not Ursus dogs. Proceed." As they moved forwards, the howls sounded out again. Frostnova gripped her wand, moving to the left of the carts and scanning the trees for any movement.
"Seven wolves." Andrey suddenly noted.
"More spontaneous knowledge?" Frostnova supposed that could be useful.
"No, I counted the howls."
"Oh." She felt slightly disappointed at that.
"To your left!" A dark shape flew out from behind a tree, leaping at Frostnova almost faster than she could react.
Almost. With a quick jump to the right, she avoided its claws, a quick blast of Arts staggering the creature before a summoned ice spike drove through its heart.
"Two to your right." Spotting the wolves from the corner of her eyes, Frostnova rushed forwards. With a light chant, a wave of Arts froze the first, and another froze the second mid-leap, the wolf crashing in a heap behind her. A flick of her wrist, and spikes of ice coalesced above the wolves, piercing and killing them.
Frostnova hurried to the other side of the carts, Arts gathering into a freezing blizzard surrounding her. Wand raised, she burst out into the open, finding the remaining Yetis easily outmatching the wolves. Two had already been felled by machete, and as she prepared her Arts, a volley of crossbow bolts impacted the wolves, their bodies contorting in pain for a split second before falling to the ground.
Along the other side of the carts, the other Yetis had finished up the remaining four wolves. Dimitri soon hurried over. "We've gotten rid of them. No wounded or dead."
"Wolves rarely attack randomly. Have you checked their bodies for any Arts or Oripathy?"
"Heavy Oripathy, but no Arts. They were the usual wolves, though lighter than usual."
"Were they starving?" Andrey guessed.
Andrey sifted through his regained memories. Wolves… he remembered something about them.
Something about "environmental hazards", he recalled. Wolves… Yes, somewhere he recalled wolves being mentioned as an environmental hazard of the Ursus tundra.
But the wolves Frostnova fought seemed strangely weak - barely inconveniences, let alone "hazards".
"Were they starving?" He guessed.
And to his delight, Frostnova seemed to agree, as she turned to the Yeti speaking with her. "Check their bodies for any signs of starvation."
Pointing towards wolf-icicles that had been living, breathing creatures just minutes ago, she continued. "These are too degraded. Use the other four."
"Understood."
"Thanks for the tip."
"It's not a problem." Andrey replied.
The Yeti rushed back over. "Many of them were very thin. Do you think they attacked us out of desperation, Sister?"
"Probably. Clean their carcasses. We could use the meat."
"Got it!" The Yeti seemed excited at the prospect of that, as he rushed off to begin the process.
"My Arts are too destructive for that, unfortunately." Frostnova sighed. "Good call. I'll admit, you make a good helper."
His vision flashed for a moment, before suddenly being replaced by something else.
His form, kneeling in front of a king – his king. A gilded book lightly presented to him by the servants, the man merely nodding in acknowledgement.
"I exist to serve."
"Dramatic, aren't you?" Oh. Had she heard that?
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be that formal. I just remembered something."
"And?"
"I was a servant… of some kind." Andrey pulled at his memories, hoping to dislodge another chunk of useful information. They didn't budge.
"That doesn't explain the sudden possession."
"I'm worried about that too. But I don't see any way to stop it, so that has to come later."
"Agreed."
Frostnova walked over to the other Yetis, keeping her distance to avoid freezing them. The sky was rapidly darkening as they worked, cutting meat from the carcasses and discarding the innards.
Someone had already started a small fire with some nearby fallen wood, and a large pot hung over the fire.
"Any ideas, Andrey?"
Frostnova lightly smiled, away from the rest of the group. Chewing on some of the wolf meat they had cooked, she popped a chili candy into her mouth. It had been a surprise when their revered Sister had personally cooked something for their entire group – and with much skill too – but a pleasant one.
Taking another look at the Yetis seated around the fire, her smile turned bittersweet. Knowing that all of them would likely die eventually, to blade or Oripathy, was jarring. They looked so happy and so healthy now, but it could all fall with one bit of bad luck.
Her breath fogged up and froze in the subzero air, something that seemingly garnered the attention of Andrey. "How do your Arts function?"
"I can freeze targets directly or create ice crystals and fire them."
"And you freeze everything around you?"
"Yes… Since my Arts appeared, it has been getting worse." The chili candies were virtually a necessity now, with how cold it was getting around her.
"From what I know, casters usually have to be taught. That you can use Arts without teaching… is impressive."
"Fa-Patriot taught me some."
"Father?" Frostnova let out a frustrated groan at his catch.
"Adopted."
"I see."
"He's concerned about my health, but it doesn't really matter. It's not like we have any proper treatment for Oripathy here. We'll die in a few years anyways."
"I'm suddenly somewhat concerned for myself."
"That's life."
"Unfortunately, yes. Well, good night. I'll see if I can figure anything more out." The light pressure on her mind eased, and Frostnova began the tedious process of pitching her tent.
Back in Frostnova's mindscape, Andrey found a pleasant surprise waiting for him. It was the book he had received in that memory earlier, a perfect replica – the word "CODEX" embossed on the front in large gold letters.
He opened the pages, the sheets – not simple paper, but something else – feeling pleasant to the touch. Flipping through, he soon realized that they held much of the information that he knew, pages upon pages of information on tactics, enemies, environments, and much more.
Finding the page on the wolves of Ursus, he, sure enough, found the words "environmental hazard" written under a detailed drawing of the wolf.
He smiled. "Knew I was right."
AN: Finally back to writing. Hopefully this is a bit better than what I've written in the past. I'm planning for this to be continuously updated, rather than released in one big lump (probably a ~2000 word chapter once every 3 days).
Also, does anybody know how to insert horizontal line breaks into chapters?