Of Ice, Death & Monsters

After another day of rushing through the tundra, avoiding monsters and even trying our best to conserve as much food and water as we could, we made it to one of the mountain ranges of Zakhar.

This time, Katya led us to one of the caves near the bases even before nightfall, ushering us deep inside while Kariya activated the Drawing of Heat that warmed us all up before we sat down.

Rodion once more took watch as Leonid and Kariya leaned against the wall, sighing in relief while Katya stared at the entrance for a moment before looking back to the remaining group. “We are finally here at the mountain pass. It's only about a day's journey until we finally make it to Baba Raga, correct?" She turned to Matthias, who settled down on one of the rocks.

“Yes, Baba Yaga's sister. She's who we're looking for. I'm surprised that you all haven't met her; she's usually much more open to others, although maybe it's because she doesn't get out as much compared to Baba Yaga."

"Well, whoever she is." Katya began as she sat by the entrance. "I hope she can get us to the Yaga soon. We're almost out of supplies, while the monster attacks seem to be growing day by day."

"Don't worry, she has plenty of supplies for us. I'm sure of it." He smiled solemly, wagging his tail back and forth.

"Maybe we'd find ourselves another arena and we can settle the score Leo." I said aloud with a small smile on my face.

Leonid stared at me, gobsmacked and confused, before I snapped out of the trance, realizing what had just happened. "O-Oh... Sorry." I then slinked back, massaging my temples as I tried to force the voices out of my head.

"For all our sakes..." Katya began to try and bring the conversation back. "I hope that is true. I've set up early camp for us to get plenty of rest, since up the mountain pass, we don't have any safe havens. We can also talk and make a proper plan before moving any further."

Huh, we've never really had a full-on talk in the last three days. A few conversations dotted here and there, but most of our time was spent holding our breaths and hoping not to die from the monsters or the cold.

And so, with the literal most thoughts on my mind, I pointed to the shadowy parts on my body, trying to focus on something I wanted to know.

“What is this exactly? You guys use it a lot for attacking and defending, but I've never really questioned it much since.... I felt like it was always a part of me.” I said the last part quietly, but I could just feel the Keeper's sigh and frown when I said that.

Katya spoke out for them. "These are Teni, the Names of Shadow. It was woven into us by Baba Yaga for protection, as I told you before. When we found her visiting here, she gave us Keepers a few trials, like grabbing snow from a mountain’s peak or gathering the mud from the bottom of a lake. Those who managed it got that Name woven into them.”

Matthias smiled as his tail wagged happily. “That sounds like her, alright. I’m guessing that it absorbs heat and offers protection against physical attacks?”

“Also against Magick as well, although the Descendant’s blade is made to ward off Spirits not associated with destruction. Or perhaps it’s because they are made to imbue destruction, I’m not quite sure.”

“Wait- what do you mean by imbue, like they put the Name inside of you?” I asked, staring at both Matthias and Katya with heavy curiosity in my voice.

“Because isn’t having a Name already imbuing it to your existence? What makes this…” He then floundered to showcase the shadow stitches.

“More or less always active?”

Godwin twirled his cane and pointed at Matthias’s ears, raising his hand to stop the others from explaining. There was a twinkle in his eyes that I only saw in my most passionate of teachers.

“Peter, you know of the Destined Ones, correct?” He asked first before I promptly pointed to Matthias. “Isn’t he one- well, if he belongs to Galfania, he’s technically not supposed to be one… but he’s what we would call a Destined One, right?”

Leonid made a face of bemusement and turned to me. “Wait, what’s a Destined One?”

“It’s referring to someone who has Innate Magick in them rather than learning it on their own.” Carey answered as she played a little with the dirt on the ground with her stick. “Usually, it manifests in the form of animal parts, though.”

Everyone then instinctively looked at Matthias’s ears and tail, which he promptly tucked in as he flustered red with shyness. “Ah, so a Monsterkin.” Kariya commented as she narrowed her eyes further.

“Or simply all monsters.” Katya said as she slumped onto a wall.

“All monsters?” Carey thought aloud to herself for a bit before I took that train of thought to go even further.

“All monsters have Innate Magick in them, that’s what makes them monsters. That’s why they can be gigantic, bulletproof, and so on. They’re Magick Incarnate, you can say… like that, Bes, you said they were a Spirit of Anger, right?”

Katya nodded as Leonid took out a small dagger from his hip and raised it up to his forehead, pretending it was a horn. “Born to gorge, maul, and devour anyone in its way. It only eats after its head-”

“Is heavy with the bodies upon its antlers.” I continued as if I knew the saying, even if I had never heard it before.

“Uh-yeah, that. How’d you-oh… oh.” He sat back after realizing what had just happened.

Katya patted his head and gave a solemn look of understanding as silence prevailed throughout the cave for a little bit. Even I hung my head as if I were the one at fault. No wonder they weren't really chatty. They were still sore about that... And by extension, about me. However, a voice within told me to continue, and not mind them at all, and that I listened.

“Monsters, theoretically, are born when Wild Magick in an area mixes and matches with each other before producing something that could physically manifest into the world.”

Kariya scrunched her eyebrows for a bit as she looked as if she was deep in thought. “But, don’t monsters reproduce as well?”

“Well, yeah, they can do that too.”

“And… they still are monsters- I even heard that Monster-Kin were from monster and human relationships… does that mean Magick-”

“Well.” I stopped her right there. Kariya unknowingly stepped into one of the great mysteries of Magick. “No, we don’t know if there is Magick in someone’s DNA. There were tests for it, and nothing came up.”

Godwin grinned and swiveled his cane around. “You know, someone actually tried to pump himself full of blood from multiple monsters to try and become the ultimate beast… he died a few minutes later, but that was one of the most intriguing experiments I’ve ever watched.”

Everyone, even I, gave a shiver at the very notion that the idea was actually acted on. “But, yes, Destined Ones also do produce other Destined Ones, but we don’t know how that process happens. It just works.”

I tried to make that the topic of our thesis, but John said it was way too complicated and that there was no way to ever find out if others had already done so before me. Which… well, that was actually something smart, because I actually went to try and research more about it after college, and I hit a brick wall faster than a self-driving car in a mall.

“Anyways, a Destined One essentially is someone born with Innate Magick for one reason or another, while a monster is someone made from Wild Magick. In Phorash’s Case, it was theorized way back then that those who were born with Innate Magick would be destined to end up as monsters or elementals or what have you. That’s why they’re known as the Destined Ones.”

I turned to look at Godwin, still a little confused. “So, I guess, I would be a Destined One too? But, how does that work? Innate Magick is different because it’s a part of you. No need for signs, symbols, or words; you simply just do it, and it happens.”

Honestly, I don’t blame that guy who tried to become some ultimate monster amalgamation. If that worked, I would have tried that too. ‘Of course, it wouldn’t work. That’s insane, do not try and drink blood from monsters I kill, I am not a vampire.’ I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts.

“Marvelous explanations, A for Effort.” Godwin clapped with a grin on his face. “But, alas, you have missed the forest for the trees. Think back to when you first obtained a Name, you weren’t able to grasp at it wholly, only merely connected with it in such a finite way that you require signs and symbols to activate it. Innate Magick is simply just that, it’s intertwined with your existence in such a manner that it becomes you, and you become it, you Mantle each other, or as close as you could.”

“Stitched together…” Leonid muttered as he looked down at his shadowy stitches. “The Baba Yaga, when she gave it to us. She called it ‘Stitched into your soul. I’m not sure half of what you just said, but the other half is what I think she referred to. She was able to place it into our soul, like how you would patch clothes with other fabrics.”

“Huh… I… I never actually thought of the implications of that. Just, flat out being able to give someone that kind of power. Making them one and the same…”

I then looked down at the shadowy stitches across my body, as a slow realization began to seep into me. “So… if it was stitched into his soul, it means that-“

“Andrei is now also stitched into you? Somehow? He’s a part of you… not just in memories…” Kariya straightened up, realizing just how deeply her dead comrade and I were intertwined.

“But in soul as well.” Leonid continued as he looked me up and down. “If you’re in there, Andrei. We miss you.”

“Yeah, I miss you all too.” I said without hesitation, my voice even changing to match Andrei’s for the briefest of moments, catching everyone off guard.

Matthias pointed at me. “That- was that-“

Katya nodded with a small look of concern growing on her face. “Yeah, that was Andrei’s…” Everyone looked at each other as if this was some kind of accursed miracle, but my head started to ache, and the deluge of voices crashed into me once more, causing me to double over before Godwin caught me with his cane.

“Peter, my boy… be careful. Whatever is happening now to you, well, I’m sure you know that even gaining one Name in the way that we do it can cause severe brain damage and even death… You quite literally have entirely other people in you now. That does call for a lot of concern. We shouldn’t stress you out.”

He helped me back on my feet and sat me down. “Breathe in and out, focus on my voice.”

Katya stood up, walked to my side, and patted me on the back. “When we get to Baba Yaga, we’ll make sure to get to the bottom of what’s happening to you. For your sake, and for Andrei’s and for Robert as well.”

“Oh… For my sake? I'm not really that important compared to your friend.” I responded with a faint smile.

“We are all unremarkable in this land. But I make sure to remember everyone I failed to protect. I once thought that their souls would watch me and judge me for not saving them. Now, for once, I can make it up to them.”

“I’ll say, you’re doing a pretty good job then...” I chuckled a little and looked around to see if I said anything wrong.

Leonid then casually walked to the back of the cave. "Alright, it's time for the food. We have more of them stored here than usual because it's by the mountainside.”

He strolled back with a pouch full of berries and several wooden bowls with what appeared to be slurries of some reddish paste before looking at Matthias. "Do you think you could do your Ritual so we can get a fire?"

A small, faint blush appeared across Matthias's face as he nodded. "Y-Yes, I can, I'll be back as soon as I can!" He got up and quickly walked out of the cave.

I didn't know exactly what Ritual it was he kept doing, but for the past few days, to help us get some fire for some roasted berries and even to warm ourselves up if we were stuck out in the winter for too long, he would go outside and do some unnamed Ritual that wards against monsters.

I never questioned it, but he always seemed so closed off about it, but whatever helps, I guess.

When he came back, he had a cut on his hand, but it was always like that, so Godwin gave him some bandages to patch it up.

Carey sighed in relief as she stretched her arms out. “Well, thanks for that, boss. Now then…” She grabbed a piece of a stick from the ground. “Let’s go get warmed up.”