Adam woke up early, intentionally.

The people sleeping around, on beds beside him and in rooms adjacent to his, either were calm and quiet or their snoring emitted rhythmic sounds.

He woke up quietly and only due to his will. Such a thing would be hard for people such as Max, who lived all their lives in luxury and had servants who helped them wake up on time, or for those who lived in proximity of a farm, where roosters signalised the wake-up time. But for Adam, who lived quite far from civilisation, with no roosters in proximity and no servants, such a thing was the norm.

He was able to wake up approximately when he wanted the night before, it was a very useful ability, which his uncle unfortunately hadn't gained. That's how Adam became a Puffypaw's household's rooster, who woke the homeowner every dawn, well, nearly every.

That didn't mean he liked to wake up early, quite the opposite. But that's beside the point.

Outside, the darkness still shrouded the realm, occasional torches held by soldiers walking around on duty and a few streetlamps were the only sources of light, fighting against the shadows of night.

Adam headed west, in the direction of his least favourite part of the town.

There, Ferston's church stood, and outside of western walls, the cemetery unfolded.

Adam wasn't a pious believer, he hadn't stepped under the holy roofs since his family's funeral. That didn't mean he didn't believe in the gods, or the Prunia, goddess of winter and household hearth in particular, in fact, he was sure about their existence. It was just that he didn't support them, just like a commoner may know of their Lord's existence, yet hate him, Adam didn't have any sympathy towards the divine beings.

Despite that, he agreed with the local church in some matters regarding philosophy, festivities and spiritual rituals, especially the funeral ceremony, which gave the common people a last moment to say their farewells to their beloved.

As he walked through the empty streets of Ferston, Adam reminisced the first, and hopefully last funeral he attended.

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It was a dark, cloudy day. The ground was moist, and puddles formed here and there in holes between cobble slabs, of which the road was made.

Adam walked with Derek, his father's best friend, behind a church's procession.

There were several bodies carried by the young priests, on the big, white cloths.

They were warriors, defending the town against unpredicted adversaries, who died in honour, protecting their families, friends and even enemies.

But it wasn't the only group, there were two. The others were the innocent victims. people who didn't know how to fight, and didn't want to fight. Caught in a crossfire, or hunted by the rampant beasts, during the first wave.

Adam's family was both, unfortunately.

His parents, a warrior and a hunter, died as heroes.

His sister died as a victim. An innocent child among bloodthirsty beasts and fighters maddened with rage and desperation.

"Calm down, you are not alone." Derek comforted his young companion. "Everything will be all right, you have my word."

Adam sniffled, as Derek wrapped his arm around his back.

"How" He asked. "They died. They...all died."

Adam's head fell, but he still followed behind the procession, behind his whole, fallen, family.

"Didn't you want to see the world? I will help you with that. You know I am a good hunter, if I train you, you will be able to tread the world, even alone." Assured him, Derek.

"But what's the point of that if I can't tell them stories of my travels? What is the point of seeing the world, if can't show it to anyone..." Adam's head raised itself for a bit but fell again soon after.

"Well..." Derek took a moment to think, not to discourage his nephew. He needed a goal to get a hold of himself. "Their spirits will follow you, and see what you see. They loved you deeply, and as the church of Puruinia says, if you die with a deep connection to the earth, your spirit will stay behind, in search of that connection," he explained, even though Adam already knew this stuff. His mother took him to the church every week.

"You think so?" Adam asked, raising his head.

Now, Derek could finally see, the big, round tears falling out of Adams's green eyes.

"I am sure. They will look at you from the heavens, or wander with you. No other option." Assured him, Derek.

Adam nodded his head and speeded up his march.

The procession was grim, no one spoke, apart from occasional remarks exchanged between the adepts as they carried the bodies. They berated each other when the formation crumbled, and some parts of the cloth touched the ground.

After half an hour, which felt like an eternity, they arrived near the western walls.

Here, outside of the town, the cemetery stood.

It was the least arable plot of land in the vicinity, which after proving to be pointless for crop cultivation was changed into a cemetery.

It was an area surrounded by a low, stone wall. More decorational than defensive. Inside, many little podiums stood.

The podiums were either empty, and clean, marking them as old but taken care of graves, or were covered in reddish residue, with some scraps on top.

The scraps on top were rotten and largely destroyed hearts, placed as a tribute to the dead. The residue was created by the blood which hardened on the stone podiums.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Looking at one of the dirty graves, Adam asked his uncle something that bothered him for some time already.

"Do you think they will visit us that day?" He asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. We will prepare the hearts either way when the time comes." Answered him, Derek, deep in thought.

The main ceremony started, as the abbot stood at the side of the cemetery.

Around the priest, multiple deep holes were dug out. They were vertical, very deep but also not so wide.

The ceremony proceeded, but Adam did not, his mind went blank at the sight of the graves, with his family's bodies in the corner of his eyes.

He stared at the holes for a while, not moving a single time. The appearance of their eternal resting places made the situation seem way more real than before.

If he looked like he was dreamwalking before, mindlessly following the crowd and his uncle's guidance. Now he was awake, standing before the graves of his parents and sister, who died without a warning, on a sunny day, without a warning of the impending disaster appearing beforehand.

If he was older, or his father didn't know Derek and couldn't leave him with the hunter, Adam too, would now be dead.

He stood motionlessly, in the brightest clothes he could find. His hair was messy, not because of a tradition, but rather inability to take care of it by two men, who stayed alive. Adam was clean and had a fresh heart in a bag, which he clutched to his chest unconsciously. He was prepared to help his relatives on the journey to the afterlife.

Yet, standing before their future graves, despite all the physical preparation, he wasn't ready.

Confronting the gaze of Death, he could not let the souls of his family go.

Unfortunately, it was not his decision. He held no power over death. No strength against fate.

Derek's hand woke Adam up from his stupor, the priests prepared the bodies before lowering them into the holes, and Adam's attendance was now necessary to conclude the ceremony.

The three bodies layed together, next to three holes that looked just like all the others. Near them, three wide podiums stood and waited to be brought above the grave holes.

"Now, take the bucket and pour the water down the grave as soon as we lower the body. We will start with your father, then your mother and your sister will be last. Okay?" Asked the priest. After seeing him nod, he clarified "While you do that, I will chant the prayers, so don't mind me."

The priest went to a spot above the first grave, where Adam’s father was supposed to lay. At the same time, his helpers, younger priests, took the dead man’s body and raised it to a standing position.

When Adam took his place, with a bucket full of freezing-cold holy water, the men started to lover the body into the ground, bit by bit Adam’s dad disappeared underground.

During descent, the abbot chanted his prayer.

“Oh, great warmth amidst the winter, Goddess watching over frozen plains, hear our pleas and guide this Lost Soul to the afterlife, in your heavenly halls shall he take place, and rest for eternity. Standing in your warm embrace, may your mercy rest on this soul frozen in death.”

Adam slowly approached the hole, in which his father rested.

The man was standing upright, supported by some wood attached to his joints. The dead body was straight and will be for eternity.

Derdanian tradition says that those who die in battle with good intentions, or in defence have to be respected. Those who didn’t falter during their last hours will stand upright even in death, not bending their back to anyone.

Adam stretched his arms and poured the freezing water down the hole.

Leaving the bucket, the holy liquid seemed to condense, and after splashing around at the lowest point of the grave, it finally solidified into clear, spotless ice.

“Oh Great Goddess, whose mercy warms our fireplaces, accept this man, Entombed In Ice into your celestial kingdom, let him rest in your holy warmth until his soul craves life again.” The priest chanted again, as one of his men poured more water down the grave, this time normal, yet still freezing immediately after touching the holy ice.

Soon the grave was filled with ice, and the grave was covered with a podium.

Adam took a bag from his uncle and walked fromward towards the podium.

"We sacrifice this blood, as a tribute to the Holy Majesty and her Angels, guard the soul of our friend and father against the Endless Death" This time it was Dorian who spoke, finalising the vocal part of the ceremony, at least for this one, dead man.

Then, he took out a fresh heart from the bag, cut it open with a knife and rested it atop the altar. The altar covered the grave in which Adam’s father rested.

Eternally Frozen in Death.

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Adam was walking to the west, among the houses left by their inhabitants and amidst the silence of early winter morning.

Just a moment ago he was reminiscing about that day... but now, he was focused.

he was about to leave the safe confines of the town's walls and enter the outside, where the cemetery was located.

The gates were bolted, but Adam's muscle mass didn't diminish enough yet for him not to be able to lift the bolt. Opening the doors proved to be harder though, but a quick, but powerful [Sway] proved to be an excellent door opener. Where Adams's arms and legs faltered, a powerful gust of wind, charged for a while, prevailed.

Outside the gates, the landscape was different than he remembered.

The animals haven't yet approached the town walls, still being cautious of humans, but some monsters already gained enough courage to roam the fields around Ferston.

Some sights of battle were visible, one or two dead bodies, gutted by the predators adorned Adam's field of vision. Snow was scattered in a few places, indicating something crashing through the area.

Adam turned towards the cemetery and slowly started to walk in that way, as he did that a small head popped out of his pocket.

"Meow!!?" The cat meowed curiously, looking around.

"Oh!" Adam immediately caught the drift and gently moved the kittie's head in his direction.

The cat's eyes were wide open, still blue but with some different coloured parts. The cat finally gained sight, and his eye colour started to change, from Adam's observation, from blue to green. But it was too early to recognise it as a change set in stone.

"So, you will think of me as your mother from now on?" Adam asked the cat, who obviously didn't reply.

"Well, go back inside, you will freeze your ears out if you stick out like that." This time the at seemed to understand, and hid itself into Adam's warm pocket.

The young mage continued his march towards the cemetery, which he soon found out looking not as he remembered.

That was nothing surprising though, he didn't visit the cemetery more than once or twice a year, and even then he didn't pay attention to details surrounding him while he visited the graves of his dead family members.

There were far more graves than he remembered, in fact, the low wall surrounding the cemetery had to be moved to contain more burial sites.

Adam took only a brief look around, catching a few details such as the low number of hearts on the pedestals and their concentration in one place, then he focused on three graves in the middle of the graveyard.

The three altars stood empty but also clean. Adam made sure to take care of the graves before setting out to the capital.

The young mage crouched down to the level of the pedestals and performed a simple prayer.

"May thine souls rest in peace, among the Goddes's embers warming you up in the heavens." The player was a traditional blessing for the dead, told while visiting their graves.

Adam sat in the snow, staring at the stone altars, under which the frozen remains of his family remained. He lost his feeling of time, as when he woke up from his thoughts, the sun started to rise above the horizon.

Adam stood up, said his final goodbyes to the graves and went in the direction of the gate.

The cemetery returned to silence, with occasional gusts of wind scattering loose snow around.

From time to time, the wind would position itself in a way that would send the snow at three flowers made from ice, protruding from the ground before three, similar altars.

Gradually, the snow would keep growing on the ice beauties to cover them up completely sometime in the future.

In the meantime, Adam would be long gone from Ferston. Having done his final goodbye, and gifting the dead one last present, Adam was quite satisfied about the visit.

That is, if a visit to the graveyard could possibly be satisfying, and not deeply saddening to the person visiting.

But now, Adam left the dead behind, throwing their mortal image from his mind, and accepting the reality.

They were dead, he was alive. Adam was determined to show their souls the vast world, as their last remaining pair of eyes.