Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Chapter 11: For Monsters Are The Shadows In The Dark

'Who's carrying me...'

That’s the first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes. I was being fireman-carried over someone’s shoulder, and they were running really fast.

“Get the others, we don’t have much time…”

“Where’s the nearest rest site?”

“It’s about a hundred paces north by the rate we’re going in.”

“How did the other teams fare?”

“We haven’t heard from them at all.”

“Any signs of the Descendants?”

“None on our part. Which makes me worried.”

So many voices collide with one another. I could barely pick up on the conversation, but I just knew the one carrying me seemed to be more or less the leader of this little group.

I raised my head, rubbing my eyes as I found grass directly in front of me, which looked stiff, frozen, almost like ice. I was surprised that there was anything growing at these temperatures, but maybe this land got used to it.

My mind was as scattered, and I tried to collect my memories, but they felt so fragmented. There were the flames, the fox… John… that one stung especially as I felt the pain in my heart sear as hot as the fire that burned me.

That’s what I can remember most of all. Did he reincarnate, too? Was that bastard here? Where was he?

I took a deep breath and looked at my hands, I… I actually killed someone. And the worst part was…

I didn't know if I regretted it or not. He deserved what was coming to him, but I could have let him die with the flames, but no, I killed him. I knew that. I wanted to kill him.

Did I have the right? Did that even matter? He was a bastard, and I did what I had to. If anyone had the right, it was me. Yet all I felt was this bubbling inside.

It felt nauseating, like I was going to throw up, but also like I was dying, yet there was no physical pain, simply a void.

I focused on that void, stumbling downwards as I closed my eyes. This wasn’t a bad dream; I was in the nightmare alive and well, and I didn't know how to wake up.

For a moment, as I collected my scattered thoughts, everything seemed so peaceful, so quiet, and then I was finally lifted off my carrier’s shoulder and onto a small log.

“We’re here. We must make camp here until the sun’s peek, then we try to find the others.”

I could hear no words of acknowledgement, but I did feel like they understood what to do, like they’d been in this situation so many times before. And without fail, I could feel heat permeate throughout the cave, filling me with life.

With a deep breath, I finally got up, rubbing my eyes as I looked around. We were in a small cave, the entrance to the outside was guarded by someone in strange shadowy wisps that seemed to be their clothes.

Inside, I saw several charcoal pieces on the bottom of a small piece of iron, like it was a stove, all of them glowing. That must have been the Name that was making the heat.

“Oh? You’re finally awake.”

I turned to my right to find a woman, tall, probably over six feet, towering over me in that same shadowy wisp that other man wore. She had long, white, blond hair and piercing blue eyes.

“We found you crossing over into Galfania’s borders. We’re trying to find others like you, but so far we’ve only had a handful of people on the shoreline.”

She gestured over to the other logs, where others started to stir. All of them looked as disoriented as I did, with hazy looks to their eyes as they tried to stand up, only for the woman to push them back down.

“Don’t get up yet, you’re all acclimating to the world of Galfania right now. All of you need time to recuperate.”

“Acclimating to the world?” A man with black hair asked as he clutched his head.

“Yeah…” I too clutched my head, but even when all groggy, I remembered much about the arcane arts.

"We crossed into the Ark of Galfania, the reality of this land is different compared to Phorash, or really any other nation. It looks the same, it feels the same, but on some fundamental level, the world has changed.”

The lady raised her eyebrow at me. “Oh? It seems you're a scholar. Interesting, but he’s right, everything here is different compared to whatever the rest of you were, best to tread carefully. Stick with us and hopefully you’ll all survive.”

Another one stirred, this time a brown haired girl whose eyes widened at the realization of what the lady in front of us said.

“Hopefully? Wait- we can’t stay here anymore. The mission has been compromised. We need to find a way back instead.”

She was right, but not after we found out who killed us and why. I need to know that much for sure.

“No. That’s impossible, you can’t leave Galfania. Nobody can, you go out there, try to go beyond the Leyline and then the monsters will come, or worse, the faeries.”

“But didn’t they warn us? Why would they come for us after telling us of the danger?”

Before the lady could answer, I did as the realization came to me as fast as a speeding truck. “They wanted us to go in with full knowledge of our actions. Faeries love making sure people pay for their mistakes.”

“Looks like you’re very well learned. All that you’ve said was correct. Coming here was a mistake, and now you’ll pay the consequences.”

“We were just following orders!” The man stood up, grimacing. “We didn’t deserve this. I chose to continue because I thought we had a chance to escape. Tch, what a scam!”

He sat back down, grumbling as the girl curled up, looking at the ground in shock. I could understand that, at least, actually I could understand both of them. This was unfair, it was cruel, horrendous…

But we needed to survive. We needed to learn as much as we could to survive. I didn't want to wallow anymore. I chose to survive, and I’m making sure damn well my chance isn’t stolen anymore, not by anyone else.

“So, who are you all then? What’s your deal? Why did you help us?”

“We are the Keepers of Zakhar, Named after our old base. We’re just nomads now, trying our best to survive Galfania. My Name is Katya, and my compatriot there is Andrei. There’s also a scout who should be returning soon, he’s Rodion.”

She sat down, staring into the opening of the cave patiently, waiting for the others. “You’re not just in danger of the monsters in this land; something far worse out there is going to hunt all of you down: The Descendants of Flames.”

My thoughts raced, and immediately my mind went to those faces I saw in the fire spirits that attacked us.

“Were those the flame elementals?” The man beside me asked, clearly having the same thought process.

“No, those were essentially ritual summons of the Descendants. In reality, they are a group of cultists who roam around the land talking about freedom and how they wish to ensure everyone, even those beyond Galfania, are ‘freed’.”

The curled-up woman looked up at Katya. “How could this be freedom? This is horrible! We’re stuck here without any way of getting out at all…”

Katya sat down on the log, keeping her eyes on us. “We don’t know either. They’re all crazed lunatics who babble about the will of the spirits. But the worst part is the power they wield, you’ve all seen it first hand.”

We all fell silent and remembered the fires that rampaged through the ships, claiming each and every single one of us.

“So they’re hunting us down to free us?” I stared out of the cave, as if I was expecting those guys to pop out at any moment.

”Not just that, but they did so to make sure you all would properly integrate into this land. Usually, those flames would burn your body away until there was nothing left but your spirit before it gets subsumed into the world, but those from other lands would have the chance to be reborn here since they weren’t part of this world originally. Because of that, you all now possess a unique property.”

“Unique property?” I raised my eyebrow at that.

“You now have an innate connection to the spirits of this land, and thanks to these circumstances, they seek to use that to shower their freedom over everyone else.”

“Innate connection? Like, we can contact the spirits here or?”

“Use a Name, and see what happens.”

I reached out with my hands, making a claw shape as I activated my telekinesis on a nearby rock. Suddenly, instead of just floating, an apparition of a familiar pink-red fox manifested under the rock and lifted it up with their tail.

“I-it’s you?!” I rushed towards the fox spirit as it tilted its head at me. I tried to grab it, but immediately it disappeared, and the rock crashed back down.

“W-what was that?! Th-that was the fox I saw in my dream!”

“Y-yeah, mine too, that was the fox that gave me the choice.” The black haired man beside me said as he stood up.

He stomped his foot onto the ground and raised his hand up. Immediately, tiny-looking earthen creatures appeared from the dirt and pushed up a stone wall in front of him.

“T-those were there before… I-I used this all the time in my construction job, but there weren’t any little people…”

The man looked so confused, crouching down to try and get a better look before the creatures promptly disappeared.

We all then looked at the brown haired girl expectantly.

“W-what? Do I have something on me?! She patted herself down hurriedly as if looking for something.

“N-no, we were just waiting for you to, you know, pull out a Name so that we could know what yours does.”

I myself was really curious about what this means. Usually, Magick from one nation doesn’t convert to the other well, maybe this was the innate connection they were talking about.

“I-I don’t have a Name.”

“What? Not even a small-scale one like mine? But weren’t you given enough money to subscribe to at least one?”

“I wanted to save up a bit more… spent the money instead on a house… one that I can never use now.” She hugged her knees and looked down.

For a moment, the cave was quiet. All of us stared at each other with solemn expressions on our faces until Katya cleared her voice and spoke.

“Subscribing for a Name? What do you mean by that?”

“Well, to get Names in Phorash, where we’re from, you’d have to pay a constant monthly or yearly fee. Otherwise, you’d be hunted down for noncompliance.”

“So a tax? Why don’t they use a Contract? Why would they hunt you down?”

Huh, that… was a good question actually. They could do that… Why didn’t they do that? Wait, no, there has to be a good explanation, but I was seriously blanking on the moment until the girl spoke again.

“They’re doing it to encourage people to subscribe more. A lot of people lose interest once they learn that there’s a Contract attached to a Name. They start to try and look for other means. Giving it up front makes it look like a good deal when really you’re just ensuring they can barge right in at any time.”

I never really thought of it like that, but she does have a point. I would say it’s a scummy move, but it’s Epithet, so it tracks. I would have definitely done something similar.

“How’d you know?” The guy asked as he looked at her.

“Well... I guess if we're going to survive here, we need to know about each other..."

She looked up at all of us before leaning against the wall. "My Name is Carey, and I used to be a Contractor who worked for Epithet, usually for smaller-scale jobs involving the Choir, but I needed more money, so I got here.”

She sighed and buried her hands to her face, mumbling to herself incoherently.

The man then went next, sitting down beside Carey as he began. “Well… I’m Robert, I worked in a construction company, but I needed to make more for my family… at least I sent all the money to them before I left.” He faced downwards and gave a heavy sigh.

That left me, I guess, raising my hand as if we were in a classroom.

“Well… I’m Peter and-”

Before I could even finish, a tall man with long brown hair wearing the same shadowy stitches frantically ran inside the cave. “The Descendants are close by, and so are some other monsters! We have to make a run for it now!”