The snowflakes danced in the sky, like the white fur shed by a giant beast, obscuring the view in all directions.

Winter had arrived on this continent.

In the south, the temperature had just begun to drop imperceptibly. Frost could be seen on the windows in the morning, but here, near the northern end of the continent, it was a vast and desolate expanse. Huge icebergs floated on the sea, occasionally colliding with each other, emitting deafening and sharp roars that echoed in the sky and earth. Collapsing blocks of ice fell into the sea, creating white waves. After several days of heavy snow, the vast black frozen earth turned into an endless snowfield. This was the far north, where the endless glaciers seemed to be the sharp teeth of a giant beast tearing at the edge of the world, and the horizon disappeared beneath the dazzling white ice.

The sky was covered by thick clouds, and the light seemed to be obscured by dust, spreading in disorder on the earth.

The chaotic wind and snow blew through the vast emptiness, producing one eerie howl after another, like the howling of wolves. In the chaotic snowstorm, a young, thin boy was walking step by step towards the depths of the glacier, towards the end of the earth and sky.

In fact, he didn't know what he was looking for. There was just a voice calling him from the depths of his mind, like a ghost that could not be dispelled.

The biting cold wind blew off his silver-white hood, and his deep blue robe with its luxurious white silver trim fluttered in the wind. Under his thick golden feather-like eyelashes, his amber eyes flickered with a sense of urgency. The wind was like a blade as it blew across his fair skin, and his cheeks, which should have been rosy with the blush of a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, were now only pale. His pupils trembled with boundless panic.

The towering ice cliff on both sides gradually narrowed ahead, turning into a narrower and narrower canyon. At the distant end of the earth and sky, the ice cliffs converged into a sinister and gloomy bottomless cave, leading to an unknown place.

The snowflakes in the air seemed to be attracted by a mysterious and immense force, violently swirling into that black cave, and then disappearing into a dead silence.

As if being swallowed up by something...

"Squeak--Gah--"

The sound came from deep within the cave.

It was like the scream of a giant insect from hell, each piercing scream passing through the eardrums was chilling.

At first listen, the sound seemed like the desperate scream of a giant spider before being burned to death. But after listening for a while, it revealed a creepy pleasure, turning into a hallucinatory scream resembling that of a little girl, mixed with intense pain and insane joy.

The young man was already standing at the entrance of the cave.

The blizzard had already silenced here.

“Peng peng--”

All sounds seemed to be swallowed by the huge opening in front of him. In the vast silence, only the occasional ear-piercing sound of metal being cut could be heard. The young man's pupils were swirling with chaotic light, and his expression looked extremely frightened but also presented a chaotic longing, making people shudder. His trembling pupils seemed like two pools of melted gold paint.

The young man opened his eyes, and the amber pupils reflected the bottomless darkness in the cave.

In the oppressive silence, a faint sound suddenly came, dull but slight, as if the blood was flowing through the narrow blood vessels with a gurgling sound.

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The young man lowered his head, and on the white ice surface, a dark blue and black thing, twisted and distorted like veins, slowly spread from the cave towards his feet, like a small stream of black blood flowing unevenly under the ice surface. He crouched down, lowered his head, as if there was an irresistible temptation pulling his whole body towards the black blood veins. He buried his face, as if wanting to see the elusive thing more clearly, pressing his face against the ice surface inch by inch, his small body presenting a twisted posture. However, he did not know that the worm-like, densely packed veins were gradually appearing on his exquisite and fair face, more and more, denser and clearer. His amber pupils were gradually turning into chaotic black as he approached the ice surface, as if several black goldfish were swimming in his pupils.

Suddenly, a pulsing sound like a heartbeat, the thin vein-like thing under the ice beneath the boy's feet, instantly swelled and expanded from deep within the cave into a thick, black tube-like object, as thick as an arm. The boy's vision suddenly flashed black, and before he could see clearly, his sight was obscured by a sudden gust of wind that swept him away from the cave. The boy could only hear the sound of the wind drumming in his ears, unable to see clearly what was happening in front of him, only countless transparent air currents that seemed to be sharp and cutting like sword blades, slicing through the air like fabric.

"Do you know you almost died just now?"

Amid the rapidly swirling gusts of wind came a voice. It was impossible to discern the emotions, or even the age, of the voice. Like pure water and air, it was a gentle, boyish voice, but with a hint of indescribable coldness that made it sound older.

The boy in the blue robe raised his still-frightened face, his pupils gradually coalescing from the chaotic darkness into golden amber. When his vision refocused, he saw a silver-haired boy who looked about his age, looking at him coldly. A few strands of hair hung in front of his forehead, and the wind blew his fine fringe, revealing a black hair ornament encrusted with sparkling diamonds. It was clear that it was priceless and of noble status. In the cold snow, the silver-haired boy was only wearing a white silk gown, seemingly impervious to the cold. The white cloak draped over him floated around him like weightless clouds, completely unaffected by the raging storm around him.

The silver-haired boy turned his back to the boy in the blue robe, who followed his back and looked toward the entrance of the cave ahead. The blackened, burnt hand that had just emerged from beneath the ice where the boy had been squatting moments before was now frozen in the snow, frozen in a terrifying pose that seemed to come from a tormented spirit in hell. If the boy hadn't been saved by the silver-haired boy, that blackened, burnt hand would have already choked him.

Upon closer inspection, that hand didn't look like a human hand at all, with only four fingers, each with sharp black nails, twisted and sharp. On the burnt skin, there were red cysts that looked like pus bubbles, with thick, sticky fluid that looked like pus and blood.

"Has 'that plan' already started?... But how could it have started so early?" The silver-haired youth gazed at the pitch-black entrance, speaking to himself, perhaps to someone who had yet to appear, softly murmuring. His expression could not be seen from his back, but in his gentle voice, there was a hint of surprise and concern.

The silver-haired youth turned around and walked up to the blue-robed youth, crouching down in front of him and gazing at his fair and delicate features and his amber-colored eyes, smiling gently. The silver-haired youth's face was adorned by this dashing smile, making him look as enchanting as a crystal, and the sunlight shone on the black diamond crown hidden beneath his silver hair, reflecting countless rainbow-colored halos and illuminating his dreamy eyes, which seemed to be studded with diamonds of all sizes. His hair was as white as snow and seemed to belong to a pure angel.

The blue-robed youth asked, "Who are you?"

The silver-haired youth reached out his hand and pulled him up from the ground, saying, "My name is Boshi."

The wind around them seemed to stop, and the fragrance emanating from the silver-haired youth was like a valuable spice from the clean port of Arles, elegant and noble. This spice must be worth a fortune.

"Who are you, and how did you come to the Far North?" Boshi stood on the snowy ice, looking like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old angel. He seemed to have been born for this icy world, clean and pure, shimmering with diamond-like glints all over his body.

"My name is Aios," the blue-robed youth answered softly. A gentle breeze blew past Boshi, bringing with it the scent of the luxurious spice he exuded.

The air was filled with the scent of snowflakes and spice, and the grand and sacred sunlight poured down from above, as if enveloping a great destiny.

Aios looked at the silver-haired youth before him, with the huge black cave behind him, which seemed like a monster from the depths of the earth was about to devour him. His smile was warm and beautiful, yet it also seemed to carry a hint of melancholy that came from tenderness, like the gentle scent of the Arles spice emanating from him.

Years later, whenever Aios recalled this scene, it felt like a dark prophecy, a glimpse into a pitch-black future.