I can tell you that.
Snow hopped off Alice’s shoulder onto the cold carpet of white below their feet.
They looked his way expectantly, being reminded of the fact that this child was in fact, 2 millennia’s old and probably present at the time the events which now count as history or myths, perhaps even legends, may have all unfolded right before those two silver beads.
He gazed at the majestic peaks, seeming to reminisce, exuding an air of evident longing and took a deep breath.
‘Let me tell you a story’, he said in a distant voice as he told the tale behind the name.
Thousands of years ago, this place was regarded as a barren land only leading to death where only three types of people dared to go; martial masters of the highest realm, thrill seeking psychopaths who would do whatever seemed fun, or suicidal individuals who had long since given up.
But these categories applied to those who went there willingly since two more types of people were found there; criminals sent on exile or some poor man thrown here by enemies.
The last type was the case of a sword master who offended the wrong people on his travels and left in the mountains for dead.
This man had lived the life of a lonely wanderer, being treated as an outcast as his parents were from different villages who had settled down in a completely different place.
The only solace he found was in the sword, and so he trained and trained and trained, reaching the level of a sword master.
However, even he was helpless against the powerful, dangerous and ruthless enemies he’d encountered, their numbers alone stumping him.
Perhaps, he would’ve turned a blind eye to their abuse of power if he’d known what condition he’d end up in, but he might not, for justice or the fate he would encounter through this misfortune.
He was slashed and bruised in every corner, his body, soaked in blood which had already coagulated and frozen in the cold as frostbite had come to deal the final blow.
He was truly at the death’s door, literally, and the one who came out of it was the one who saved his life.
The reason for the strange, completely opposite environments just a step apart was because they are, in fact different realms as was the case in many other places in this world.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
This world was regarded as a mistake, an error in the system to explain the excess of blind spots present. It was formed more like a patchwork, a glitch that happened somewhere leading to the boundaries between realms blurring and somehow merging at the end of the blind spots.
This realm, was Niflheim, the realm of the ice, cold, darkness and death, which was directly connected with Helheim, the dwelling of the dead, ruled by their queen — Hel.
Most humans would’ve died long before, however the sword master had already achieved great heights in martial prowess and hence survived so far, albeit barely.
Hel discovered the man on the brink of becoming one of her own, yet still somehow stubbornly clinging to life refusing to let go.
He saw her, and with what strength he had left, asked to be saved.
Usually, Hel would’ve ignored him however she was in a rare good mood and decided to oblige on a whim.
The rest goes on as you’d expect, they fell in love and had a child together. A daughter, who Hel named and left with her lover out of her concern for them, and sealed the gates to her side of Niflhelm, never setting foot in this world again.
Hel had given her blessing to the man and their daughter to be unaffected by the cold in this realm.
And so they spent most of the year living and training there, in hopes of their reunion with the queen which had never happened, going back to the village for only a few months each year.
Their daughter.
Yuki Niflhel.
The product of this unexpected union.
She was indeed a strong and talented woman, but she was also kind and compassionate. She might’ve made some mistakes at the end but she has always been remembered in high regards.
She had left a significant mark on history which may be outsiders with no attachment or historical knowledge would overlook upon discovering her darkness.
But for her people, whether they were present at the time or not, her history was composed of enough light to cover up any darkness there could be.
Since this realm belonged to her mother, she declared herself the unofficial ruler of this side of the realm, and named it keeping her father’s mixed origins in mind.
Yuki and Xue, two words from different languages, holding very similar meanings.
She used them to name the part of the realm in this world.
Here, she also found the dragon egg of a snow dragon and decided to raise it, naming him Xue, after the mountains but for those in the outer world or cities who did speak or understand the language, she would call him Snow.
‘That was a brief recount of the story mother had told me’, explained Xue with his head bowed.
The story was something the group had vaguely guessed when they’d first heard of Yuki’s origins but they found it interesting to learn about this anecdote.
That was when their stat window popped up.
‘Notfication!’
‘Congratulations! Awakening is now at 21%’
‘Huh? So, does this mean the more we know about the past, the faster we can awaken? Ah…it is an interesting condition, but I don’t really get the connection. Usually these plots would have more hidden secrets behind everything. Looking forward to it’, Seo-Jun started yapping a bit to the group.
They took his words in the first half to heart, as it seemed important and potentially true to them but decided to conveniently ignore the latter half as him talking nonsense to himself.
To be continued…
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Zhiren: Xue has another meaning too, y’know.
Daiki: So does Yuki…
Yuki and her father: ╮(╯▽╰)╭
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