This chapter isn't very long, but I had to stop where I did. Expect another chapter soon. I'm half finished with the next one.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 22: Snowfall

Frost jumped through another portal, feeling a floating sensation for a moment a he transitioned from a desert to the top of a castle wall in seconds. He ran through a great number of portals until he was out of stamina, collapsing to the ground from exhaustion. It would take at least a day for him to catch up to Seraya, considering the size of the chaos zone and the tower itself. He should catch up with them at the edge of the chaos zone or just outside of it, depending on how fast those fairies could move as a group. They would be relatively safe again until they reached the city, where he would put all of them in danger to protect them at the same time. He knew his plan was madness, but it was all he could do to save them, and something had to be done immediately if people were being sent to kill them.

He cooked some food and sharpened his weapons in the time it took for his stamina to recover, taking it easy as he waited. He started to relax, knowing that he would soon be able to catch up to his new family and keep them safe from random monsters. His running skill was at an intermediate level, increasing his running speed and allowing him to run for a lot longer before getting tired. Until he caught up, Seraya and the fairies would be able to protect themselves from monsters with magic. Any party that ran into them, other than the hunters would probably run away in fear when facing what looked like an army of demons. They were as safe as they could be.

The hunters he had run into would most likely be lost in the maze or be forced to make their way back out of the chaos zone. They seemed far too intent on completing the quest, so they would head deeper into the chaos zone and wouldn't even be a threat anymore. They might even be killed by the energies released when Seraya lost control of the portals and the zone returned to its original, deadly nature. He closed his eyes and sat down, leaning back against the wall. He wasn't able to relax that way before he met the fairies. Before, whenever he was waiting for his stamina to recover he would be wide awake, anxious to get back into the fight and continue to strengthen himself. He found that his stamina recovered slightly faster and he felt more energized when he actually rested, peacefully letting the world move while he remained still.

His eyes popped open as he came to a realization that could destroy all of his plans and make saving the fairies practically impossible. He had been so focused on the permanent death of the NPCs that he hadn't even thought about what would happen to the players if they died. He still hadn't been killed, so he didn't know where he would re-spawn, but he imagined that a person probably returned to the last city they were in. If the players were willing to kill themselves, or died from the chaos zone, they would most likely return to the city. If they figured out where he was heading, they could beat him there, and he had basically told them that their targets were harmless. He cursed under his breath as his stamina reached close to full. He packed up his gear and started running again, hoping that the hunters never discovered where he was headed. 

He knew he was at the edge of the chaos zone when he started running into portals set up in a straight line with no side passages. There would only be a few more passageways until he reached the snow covered mountain top. He had only been there once before, and only went into the tower beyond to make sure that it really was the end of the area as Seraya had said. He would wait there for them, for a few hours, just in case he had managed to get ahead of them in the maze of passageways. He slowed down to a walk as he stepped foot on the snowy mountain top. The portal was surrounded by crumbling walls and pillars, the ruins of structures long lost to nature.

He continued walking forward and saw some movement up ahead through the snowfall. He laughed as he saw the fairies up ahead, trudging through the snow as more of it fell on their heads. He chased them down and shouted out to them to get their attention as he approached. They turned around, and upon seeing him, the fairies waved enthusiastically, running towards him joyfully. Frost laughed as they tripped over the piled up snow in their rush to surround him. Seeing them up close, he was able to relax, and fell to his knees, hugging them one by one as tears of joy ran down his face. He had been deeply concerned that they had run into danger and been killed during the day or so that he was away from them, but now that he saw them all safe and sound, he let all the feelings of concern melt away.

He knew he was being overly emotional, but if he lost them after knowing them for such a short time, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. The fairies started talking rapidly, asking him questions about what he had been doing while telling him about their travels at the same time. They acted like it had been months since they'd seen him even though it hadn't been that long since they had separated. He tried to answer some of their questions, but their energy and enthusiasm was contagious, causing him to laugh again instead. He looked up to smile at Seraya, and his heart stopped in his chest, the smile dropping from his face. He was there to protect them and yet the moment he saw them, he had let his guard down. He had failed.

A man stood behind Seraya, his blackened blade stabbed through the center of her chest. There was a look of fear and surprise on her face unlike anything he had ever seen from her before, as she stared at the blade sticking out of her. Normally, she was always smiling, only showing sadness when she was concerned for someone else. Now, she was scared and dying, and it was entirely his fault. He scrambled to his feet and ran to her, knowing that he was too late as the red gash in her body sucked in the blade, changing color to a sickly brown. She collapsed to the ground as the man behind her released her, wings appearing on his back as he flew like an arrow to the exit portal, gone before Frost could even consider chasing him.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Frost reached her side, falling to his knees in defeat this time, rather than joy. "No, no, no. Please no! This isn't fair! This can't be happening." With trembling hands, he lifted her head into his arms, cradling her as the fairies formed a circle around them, unshed tears in their eyes. The brown gash in her chest started growing, taking over and slowly destroying her body. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he held her gingerly, afraid to injure her further.

Seraya looked at him, lifting an arm to caress his cheek comfortingly. "Please forgive me, my dear Frost. I never should have tried to interfere with your life and your decisions. I only wanted to help. I..."

"That doesn't matter now. Just tell me how to stop this. Tell me how to save you." He started breathing faster, scared and distraught when he saw what was happening to her. He could feel the world closing in on him, his chest tightening as he tried and failed to stop the tears. He knew what she was going to say, and it broke his heart.

She smiled at him and shook her head. "You can't save me, Frost. This is the end for me." When she spoke, the fairies started sobbing, leaning on each other for support. 

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't go." The tears continued to roll down his cheeks, blurring his vision. "This is all my fault."

"It's not your fault, Frost."

"Yes it is. If it wasn't for me..." he sniffed, unable to say the words out loud, unable to say that he killed her.

"They would have found a different way to kill me. They would make innocent adventurers do it and already tried to do just that. It's alright, I'm ready to die."

"How can you be okay with that? How can you even know what that means?"

"I knew this was a possibility from the start. The curse was made to kill me after all." As if to emphasize her point, the brown corruption continued to spread, making it harder for her to breathe. "His plan was to kill me in any way he could and he would have succeeded at some point." 

Frost felt a deep rage inside of him at the man who had done this to Seraya. He would never be able to forgive them, not even after he killed them. "Who did this?"

Instead of answering him, she held up her hand, producing a small, yellow ball of light with two rings circling it at different orbits. "This is for you, Frost. A gift." 

"I don't want anything. I don't deserve it." He shook as the rage was overcome by a feeling of powerlessness.

The corrosion infecting her body had spread to her limbs at that point, slowly climbing up her arms as she took the gift and placed it into his hand, closing his fingers around it. "Take it for me," she pleaded. He nodded, unable to find the energy and the will to speak. She then reached into her chest where the original wound had been, pulling out a small black marble. "This holds the curse within it. Someone must swallow it and inherit the curse before I die, or else those poor children will be cursed forever. Give it to one of them and bring them outside the mountain. I don't want you to have to be cursed too." The fairies rushed forward to take the sphere from Seraya to stop him, but Frost grabbed it and swallowed it.

"This is my burden too." He was choking up, losing the ability to speak as Seraya slowly fell apart in his arms. It was tearing him apart destroying him almost as much as it was destroying her.

"I'm so proud of you, Frost," she beamed at him, a single tear falling down her face as her arms fell limply to her side, completely covered by the deadly brown poison. It began to climb up her neck, and he could tell she was in pain. 

"How can you smile like that?" He trembled as he used a finger to wipe the tear from her cheek.

"Because I love you, and because their funeral song truly is the most beautiful music I have ever heard."

"I love you too." He looked into her eyes and did the hardest thing he had ever done. He smiled. Even as he felt the crushing weight of despair, he smiled, for her. He smiled until she was gone. Then he cried. He cried as he tried to move his lips, to make sound come out. He still had one last thing to do. 

It took him three tries before he could muster up the strength to raise his voice more than a whisper. He didn't know the words, so he hummed the song. It was soft and quiet, but it was enough. Soon, the fairies started singing along, their voices hoarse and weak. Their voices grew in strength until they were able to sing at full strength, fighting the pain and the sorrow long enough to say goodbye. Frost continued to hum as she faded away, making her a promise. 'I will get stronger, and I'll never let this happen again. I'll never lose a loved one, and I'll never let a loved one cry. Never again.'