“What are you doing?” Entalia asked, the snow coming up to her shins.

“Training,” Adam panted. He had passed out the night before, and when he had awoken, he had an urge to train. There was an itch he needed to scratch, so he tossed himself out into the cold and then began to run towards the outskirts of the city, circling around it. The snow went up to his shins, providing some resistance against him as he ran.

"Why are you training? Wasn't yesterday tiring for you?" Entalia asked, cocking her head aside to allow her hair to fall across her breastplate.

"It was." Adam nodded, grabbing onto his knees as he panted in the crisp air. "I'm weak."

"Weak?" Entalia's head snapped back to attention. "I'm surprised you have the audacity to say such a thing."

Adam looked down at the snow. It was pure white, untouched for the moment. He stared down at it for a long while, his thoughts frozen in time. Then they came back to him, the flashes of dead bodies, the tender touch of a mother.

"I'm weak." Adam's voice was firm, like a rock untampered by the elements. "I need to become stronger." He also needed to learn more spells so he could access different abilities given the situation. There were so many spells which could have assisted him. Though he'd also need to find a way to quickly see through his spells at any given moment. He wondered if there was a way he could pin certain things within sight, though it always posed the risk of covering things. He'd need to play with the system later.

"What are you afraid of?" Entalia stepped closer, leaning in towards him curiously.

"I don't want to die."

"No one wants to die."

Adam looked at her, wondering if he should correct her. "I need to become more powerful so I won't die. I want to be able to handle anything the world throws at me."

“No matter how powerful you become, there will always be a chance of death.”

“I understand that, but I want to decrease the chance of it.”

“You can try to decrease it as much as you possible can, but there’s only so much you can do. The best way to stay alive is to not put yourself into a position where you could die.”

“I’ve never heard that before,” Adam said, his voice dry. He stared up at Entalia, who smiled at him in the way that caused him to shudder. It may have been cold outside, but Entalia filled him with a deeper cold than the snow.

“You are strong, Adam,” she said, reaching out to brush his hair. “You are not omnipotent, not even the gods are. The search for immortality always ends up with the worst consequences.”

“I don’t want to be immortal,” Adam replied earnestly, “I want to be able to protect those around me.”

“Like who?” Entalia asked, a smile encroaching on her face again.

Adam looked up into her eyes, understanding what she was getting at. He frowned though, causing her to narrow her eyes and cock her head to the side.

“We had to bury children,” Adam said. “There are parents out there that know the pain of outlasting their children. It’s one of the most terrible feelings in the world. The mud giants, they… they killed them. They didn’t care.” Adam clenched his teeth. “It would be easy to blame them and hate them all, but I’m not the kind of man to hate a people for some of their actions. I’ve seen what it does to people, to a country, and I don’t like it.”

Adam sat down in the snow, half laying on his side. “I hate it,” he said, looking out to the snow. “They’ll never get to meet the frost giants.” He raised a hand and pointed to the snow. “Or see this snow that’s fallen.”

“You can’t save everyone,” Entalia said, looking down at the half-elf.

“I can try.”

Entalia smiled and nodded her head. “We will need to speak with the little Prince soon.”

“Prince Aksak?” Adam confirmed. “I suppose we can head there now.” He hoisted himself up and brushed the snow off himself. He wrapped the yellow cloak around himself and then followed Entalia towards the palace. A giant followed them, keeping some distance away still.

Aksak awaited them on his throne as though he had expected them. He was holding onto the staff with one hand, and towered over the pair with his imposing figure. Adam could feel how small he was in the world, a single child lost in the chaos. The Prince raised a hand, and some footsteps fell away behind the pair.

“It seems we have much to discuss,” the Prince said. “Where is your companion?”

“My companion?” Adam asked, unsure of what the Prince meant.

“Your divine companion.”

Adam spent a moment in thought. “Oh!” Adam’s heart sunk. “I don’t really know,” he said. “He’s gone.”

Aksak nodded. “Let us speak of your journey.” The giant waited for Adam to start.

Adam exchanged a look with Entalia before then informing the Prince of their journey. How they flew quickly towards the village, finding it in ruins.

“We met a pair of strangers, old fae I believe they’re called.”

“Old fae?” Aksak looked to Entalia, who nodded her head in affirmation. The Prince fell silent again.

“They were powerful, Entalia and I had a small skirmish with them before…” Adam glanced towards Entalia, who smiled warmly in return to ease him. “My divine companion put an end to it.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Were you unable to defeat them?” Aksak asked, his eyes glued to Adam.

“It wasn’t that… apparently my companion was very angry for their breach of contract.”

Aksak narrowed his eyes. “Your companion was that man?” he asked.

“That man?”

Aksak remained silent, staring deep into Adam’s eyes, as though trying to read a book. “I see,” he said. “If that was your companion, I can understand why he gave up his time here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can only assume that… your companion, he took to an avatar form for a few moments and it has taken him off this world due to the stress of it.”

“An avatar form? You mean he tried to take form in this world?” Adam asked, alarmed. “He… he…” His mouth was agape. Bandlor, you damn fool!

“He tried to warn us about something too,” Adam said. Aksak waited for him to continue. “He said something to Entalia, something about us needing to hurry, and then we flew over towards where the villagers were. As we flew over we spotted the mud giants. There were too many of them, we couldn’t really do anything, but we also spotted another pair of figures. They were…” Adam looked to Entalia, who bowed her head. “They were a dangerous foe, related to someone we had faced before.”

“Is this the same foe you spoke of?” Aksak asked Entalia.

“The very same,” she replied. “They did not hold his power, but they were formidable enough.”

“So it has truly reached this far north.” Aksak reached up and then stroked his beard, falling into thought for some time. Adam remained silent, giving him his time to think. “Continue,” the giant eventually said.

“So then we met with the villagers and prepared to fight. The old fae also followed us there, and they assisted us in the following battle. Originally they wanted to claim the souls of the mud giants, but they changed their target to the two corrupted ones. We had to deal with the fifty mud giants by ourselves. We, the villagers, and the Iyrmen.” Adam swallowed. “Most of the villagers perished. Men, women, children. The fight was hard, and we were overwhelmed by the mud giants and their rocks. Even with all of our abilities, we weren’t able to deal any decisive blows. Eventually most of the villagers began to flee and I was being dragged away by the mud giants. They were looking for me, though I’m still not entirely sure-” Adam paused.

“No,” Adam said, “I know why. The corrupted one wanted me. He tried to make a deal with the villagers. He wanted me in exchange for their lives. The chief told them to stu-” Adam cleared his throat. “He refused the offer and then the fight began. I assume that might have something to do with it. Well, anyway, I was being dragged away by the mud giants when Joti and the others appeared. They made very quick work of the mud giants, who turned to flee, and then we went to deal with the corrupted ones. They were evenly matched with the old fae. When we appeared, the corrupted ones chose to die.”

“They chose to die?” Aksak asked.

“From what I saw. They gave into their death right away, Entalia would tell you the same.”

“I wasn’t there at the time,” Entalia said. “Your boy was, though.”

“Oh, right, Joti was there.” Adam nodded. “Once they died, I made sure to burn their bodies, and then we left as Joti did something. I’m pretty sure they aren’t dead though, I think they just allowed their mortal forms burn.”

“You do not believe they are mortal?” Aksak asked.

“It’s a hunch of mine. I think they both shared the same consciousness. I don’t know if they were the same entity we met, or something which worshipped it, or both. I’m certain I’ll meet them again.”

“Do you know why they would want you?” The Prince asked.

Adam looked to Entalia again. “They…” Entalia smiled warmly, reassuring him. “They wanted me because I met it.”

“It?”

“The being, the creature, the otherworldly entity.”

“Will you tell me more?”

“Is there… is there anyone else here that can hear?”

“There is only we three, and no one is able to peer within this chamber.” Aksak said with such confidence, Adam almost thought he was American.

“I met with the entity. It was a… it was a void of darkness and corruption. I can-” Adam shuddered, almost keeling over as he remembered the feeling of meeting it. “I can still feel its breath against my face.” Adam swallowed down his nervousness. “My mind was captured by it when we met one another and I dreamt of…” Adam’s eyes burned. “I dreamt of a potential future, something that was no longer possible. I don’t know if it was…” Adam cleared his throat. “I dreamt of something and figured out it was a lie. I fought off its trickery, and in the process of it, I met it face to void. We talked for a little while, and as it almost consumed me, Belle saved me.”

“Belle, the god of Chaos?”

“The very same,” Adam replied.

“Why did he save you?”

Adam looked up at Aksak. He was still uncertain of how much he should share. “We have a history together, and that’s all I can say.” With Aksak’s approval, he continued. “Belle saved me, and brought me back to my consciousness. I found out that I was attacking my allies in my mindlessness.”

“I was in a battle with it, but it was too powerful for me to handle,” Entalia admitted. “It was only thanks to Belle’s interference that I am able to speak with you today.”

“You had not explained to me the severity of the situation when we last spoke of the matter,” Aksak said, his voice neutral.

“I wanted to wait until the Gathering of the Snow.”

Aksak bowed his head. “I understand.”

“Belle’s gone too,” Adam said.

“Gone?”

“Like Bandlor, but…” Adam trailed off for a moment only to realise he had revealed the god’s entity. “Belle saved me and then when I came to, I realised that I could no longer contact him. I believe Belle is missing.”

“He may no longer be missing if the creature has reached the north,” Aksak said.

Adam looked up at the giant. He was right, Belle should have returned if the creature had returned. “Unless…”

“Unless?”

“Unless it’s not the same creature?” Adam whispered, as though it was a sin to speak of it.

“It could be another?”

“It could be. The creature might not be the only one of its kind. It could be a set of creatures, not just one.”

“Grave news,” Aksak said.

“That’s basically it,” Adam said. “There’s not much more that I can tell you.”

Aksak brushed his beard as he returned to his thoughts. Adam watched the Prince continue to brush his beard, his hand rubbing along his staff. “I have lived for almost two centuries,” Aksak said. “There are many regrets I have in my life. I will not live much longer, and yet I find myself still regretting my actions.” The Prince sighed.

“You’re too young to be saying that.” Entalia laughed, her grin wide across her face. “You’ve got at least another century in you, don’t go dying on me now.”

“My time will soon come, I know that much.” Aksak brushed his beard again. “Gutt will take my place as Prince, and we will need your guidance at that time.”

Adam stared between the pair of them, surprised they would talk about such a dark thing between one another right in front of him.

“I’ll think about it if you pay me enough. I would like to recollect that sword of yours.”

“It is my son’s by right,” he said, “I cannot allow you to borrow it again.” Aksak leaned back.

“Speaking of weapons,” Adam said, wanting to change the awkward conversation. “I need a new weapon and I was hoping I could make one here.”

“Make one? Are you able to smith?”

“I have some ability,” Adam said, looking to Entalia. “I have smithed before, and the blade I gave to Entalia was enchanted by my hand.”

Aksak nodded. “I will speak with my Runesmith, but there may be something they will request from you in order to assist you in enchanting.”

“I can probably just enchant mys-” Adam coughed as Entalia elbowed his side.

“He will assist in whatever matter is required if it is within his ability,” Entalia said.

Adam looked at her, confused. She just smiled at him with that smile of hers, and he frowned. Well, it’s not like he had anything better to do anyway.

“I need some time to think on the matter,” Aksak said.

“Before we go, I’d like to thank you.” Adam nodded to the Prince. “You sent your sons to help us when you didn’t need to.”

“We did need to,” Aksak said. “It was within the Yspek’s right to call for our aid. We could not deny it.”

“I hope one day I earn that right.”

“Perhaps, if you are to marry into a frost giant family.”

“If it means I can call for the aid of the frost giants, I might.”

“What are you saying?” Entalia asked. “I’m right here.” She elbowed him again.

Adam smiled her smile.