Of Ice, Death & Monsters

“We have found another one. Praise be the Great Unifire.”

Jane woke up to being carried by a man in red robes and an ivory mask. In fact, all around her were men wearing the same kind of outfit, walking in synchrotic unity as if they were some sort of hive mind.

She checked her surroundings next, finding that she was currently in a large forest, dark as the Abyss, and just as cold, with snow constantly pouring from the air without any end in sight.

The only source of both light and heat so far was the fire in the hands of the cloaked men; otherwise, it was just the bare rays of the sun that hardly passed through the canopy of trees that stretched so far up that she couldn’t even see the top of it.

Her head was all groggy, and it felt like her mind got blasted with enough psychedelics to put down a dozen men, but she’s been drugged up before, and even woke up in worse situations than this, well, minus the part where she was on a death continent that instantly killed her.

“What’s going on… Who are you people?” Might as well get over the hard part first, she needed to know as much as she could, especially the types of people she’s with right now.

“Ah! She has fully awoken!” At that, everyone around Jane bowed to her slightly.

“Welcome, visitor from afar, to Galfania. We are the Descendants of Flames, and you have been brought to us by spiritual providence!” Each time they spoke, Jane was reminded of those movies and cartoons, such overdramatic acting that she never thought someone would do outside of cosplay.

“The Descendants of Flames? Spiritual providence? What does any of that even mean?”

They continued to move through the forest carefully. She noticed they became much more wary of their surroundings now that she was up. What was up with that?

“We are the children of those who once lived in Galfania long ago, but ever since the spirits grew displeased by the actions of our forefathers, we have had to suffer this Eternal Storm you see all around us. But now, we have been given new hope, new possibility, to be freed from our torment, through you and the others that were brought here.”

Jane’s mind went to what that Harbinger told her from before, about the power to free others, to help them. Was that what they meant? Was she sent here to free these people? Crazy as they seemed, it takes a pretty eccentric bunch to survive the hellscape here, especially with an opening act like that.

“How am I supposed to free you all? I’m just one lady. Did your spirits ever tell you the specifics of your plan?”

Many of them gave a laughing sigh. “No, they did not. But others like you are sure to come, and with enough time, the truth shall reveal-”

Suddenly, everyone stood on guard, even Jane felt something off as she saw piercing red eyes in the shadows beyond and heard the grunting and accompanied by several gunshots.

“G-Get back, is anyone there? I require assistance! Any survivors?!” Immediately, Jane recognized that voice; it was one of the few that she had heard before she died: Charlie.

Immediately, Jane leaped into action, jumping off the cloaked man with surprising acrobatics. She raced towards the voice while the rest hastily followed her. “Ah, what are you doing? You must be wary, you are a guest here, but many of the spirits do not appreciate being good hosts!”

“I’m doing what I was meant to be doing. I’m saving people.” She flashed a quick grin at the rest of the robed men before she ran as fast as she could in the illuminated darkness. Each step she took, another gunshot and another growl was heard.

Charlie was one of those Watchtower pricks, yes, but she was one of the few who were kind to her, who snuck her food, who gave her water when she asked for it. At the very least, Jane should return this kindness; she should free her from her peril.

At that very thought, Jane’s palm burst into flames, akin to when she died on the ship. However, instead of pain, there was only warmth and light that illuminated the forest much like a high-powered lamp. In this radiance, Jane could see Charlie on the ground, fending off a giant shadowy wolf-like creature with glowing red eyes.

She still had her pistol in hand, but every time she fired into the beast, the bullets simply flew out the other end with trails of wispy black smoke right behind them as if she had just fired right into the air. Yet, the threat in front of her was very real. It jumped onto her body, pinning her arms to the ground, and was about to bite her neck. Jane flung the ball of fire in her hand towards the beast.

Upon contact, the ball of fire enveloped the wolf’s body, completely blasting it off Charlie as it growled. The flames burned away its darkness and shadows, causing it to fade away as it backed off. However, Jane knew this wasn’t exactly the end, as many more glowing red eyes peered from the darkness all around them.

“Now then... since that's done, you’re now a prisoner.” She grabbed Charlie’s shoulder and blasted the ground in front of them, enveloping the grass and snow in flames that warded off the dark wolves from chasing after them.

“W-What- Jane? You came back as well? You chose to come back? Why?” Charlie looked around, as if expecting more people, but was caught off guard by the cloaked men who surrounded them. She raised her pistol before Jane lowered the barrel down.

“They’re with us. They’re the natives of this land. I’ve chosen to come back because I have a duty to fulfill, and that is to ensure that everyone is free and that they can get out of this hellscape of a continent.”

Jane quickly turned around to the Descendants. “Sorry, no offense- actually, a lot of offense, just not to any of you folks, but to the land in general. To whatever, Eternal Storm, it’s in, we want out.”

The Descendants simply smiled. “And that is what we want as well. We desire the freedom from the Storm, and you, all of you, shall be the key to it.”

Charlie, exhausted and exasperated, flailed around a bit. “You sound like a cult. This is not a good idea- how can we trust them?” She turned to Jane for answers, who merely shrugged.

“It’s either we do, or buy some time. Or we don’t, and we try to survive out here. I’m making sure that I’m living, and as my prisoner, you’re doing the same.” A grin formed on Jane’s face as she grabbed Charlie's wrist, bringing her closer as she took some handcuffs from the small pouch by her waist and cuffed the Watchtower guard.

“It’s for your own protection.”

Charlie sneered and sighed. There was no hope of surviving out here in the wild. It hadn’t even been a few minutes, and already she was being attacked after she woke up. Jane seemed to have developed some sort of Magick that’s useful here, so might as well just accept it.

“I thought you were all about freedom. This isn’t exactly what freedom looks like in my eyes.” Charlie looked at her handcuffs before staring back up at Jane with a blank look.

“Oh, don’t mind that. I always just wanted to cuff someone up, and well, you’re the perfect contender. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe just like you kept me safe.” Jane flashed Charlie a smile, causing her to simply sigh. She shook her head and lowered her cuffed hand.

“Good, now, we need to find more survivors. The more, the merrier. The more we find, the better our chances.”

She looked at the Descendants. “Do you guys have something like a hideout? Any place we could stay? We’re going to need a big one soon because of how many people died around here.”

“We were in the process of heading to one of our many hideouts underground. However, our brothers and sisters are in the process of finding those much like yourselves. Those who have fully manifested here and had new Names granted to them.”

“New Names, huh… interesting, Epithet gave me a few Names but made sure they would be useless without their materials for the most part.” Jane opened her hand as a bright ball of fire emerged from her palm. However, when she looked closer, she saw that there was a hint of gold in it, much like the flames of the Harbinger.

“Wait, so coming here grants you new Names?” Charlie turned to the Descendants, all of them nodding.

“Not the act of existing here, but those flames that cleansed you. They gave you all new life, or, if you already had a Name, would have given you a Name similar to it. But you wouldn’t know until you tried to use them. In the case of our Chosen here, she was granted an innate Name by our Harbinger.”

Charlie then fixed her hair, albeit it, the task was quite difficult due to her handcuffs but she managed to reveal a tattoo behind her ear that resembled that of a horn, it was glowing quite a bit, but on closer inspection, there seemed to be little sprites by her ear, blowing a small horn.

“Oh? Is that the Drawing of Magick Finding?” Jane smirked. One of the more useful Names of Epithet. It was mass-given to those of the Watchtower. With the ability to detect when Names are in active use and their general location.

“Yeah, it’s been ringing in my ear for a while now, but it became louder when you pulled that out. Although it feels different now, like there’s something whispering right behind me when it’s in use.”

“That’s because there is.”

Immediately, Charlie began to spin around, attempting to find this mysterious voice, while Jane tried to withhold her laughter; both of these actions immediately failed.

“Well, you can’t exactly see them, but there’s like, little pixies right by your ear.” Jane unmanifested her flames as the tattoo stopped glowing so much, but still had a small hue to it.

“There’s still a small ring to it, but it’s all around us.”

“Of course, the air is thick with Magick. This whole land has been enchanted in such a way that it makes living on the surface impossible without any additional help. This is the Eternal Storm.”

“But it’s still good enough to find and track down others when they use Magick. We’re going to need it, especially if the others will randomly appear here too. Anything will help out.”

Maybe she could find the others from the Choir here, too. Jane didn’t know what happened to the others, and Ephitet made damn sure that they couldn’t connect to each other. But they’re not here anymore. She wasn’t sure if the contract they made her sign was still active, but even if it was, it didn’t matter. Jane had people who could help her now that won’t adhere to corporate or social laws. Never before had she been so happy to stumble across crazy cultists in her life.

Suddenly, Charlie’s tattoo began to glow as she twirled eastward. “Someone’s using a Name there right now!”

“Well, no time to waste. Let’s go!”

And without further ado, they ran off into the distant darkness of the forest.