“Have you read all of the stories in the Old Codex?”

The sky had turned inky black, but the world still had light, for stars blanketed the night sky, and even though the younger moon was beginning to wane, her older sister still shone bright, the twin moons’ glow combining with the campfire to illuminate Aurelia’s face.

Only now, when the sun had set, and the noise and brightness in the world faded to silence and darkness, could Sol truly get a detailed look at her face.

Aurelia had slightly sunken cheeks, and her hair was beginning to noticeably gray, yet she still had an air of strength about her. Skin pallor and slightly sagging from age, wrinkles were beginning to form, especially around her eyes, but the crow’s feet couldn’t dampen the inherent serenity present in her gaze.

A veritable window into the soul, Sol had looked into the eyes of soldiers still chained to the past; they were devoid of light, fully numb to the world around them, and exhausted.

But her eyes were like the eldest moon.

Always shining.

Sol leaned back, and looked up into the sky, constructing a response.

“Yeah, but my mom read them to me. I never learned how to.”

Chuckling slightly, “I’ll teach you,” Aurelia offered, before continuing, “What’s your favorite?”

Not even needing to think, Sol immediately answered,

“The Rabbit and the Turtle,”

“That’s rare,” Aurelia commented, surprised, “I thought kids liked The Prince, or The Island in the Sky.”

“They’re good,” he nodded, “But The Rabbit and the Turtle is better.”

The two sat in silence, gazing into the crackling fire, on which their waterskins rested, the snow inside melting into water, and the water boiling.

The sparks in the fire seemed to be dancing, jumping and twirling into the air, only to inevitably plummet back down, landing in the snow, and being snuffed out.

Sol inhaled, only for a stray wind to blow the smell of smoke and soot into his face, causing him to violently cough, spit flying out of his mouth into the air.

Standing up to move out of the smoke’s path, he suddenly stopped.

“Do you think the turtle cried when he woke up?”

Aurelia tapped her fingers against her knees.

“Why wouldn’t he have?”

“The rabbit played with the turtle for only a day before he went back to his home under the sea to rest,” Sol answered, “But when he woke up from his sleep, wanting to return to land and see the rabbit again, when he did come to shore, all he found was a pile of seashells, and the tiny golden locket he gifted her.”

“And?”

“I don’t think he would have cried,” Sol asserted, “I think he hated her, for promising that she would be waiting at the beach for him, only for her to break her word.”

Not responding to his argument, Aurelia patted the snow next to her, inviting him to sit with her, before wrapping Sol with the blanket around her shoulders.

Shoulder to shoulder, backs to the dirt road they traveled on, and sitting under the same blanket, they gazed into the dark forest ahead of them.

“The turtle would’ve cried for the rabbit,” Aurelia refuted, “The story just ends before you get to see it.”

“Why?” Sol asked, “The rabbit lied. Why would he care?”

Shaking her head slightly in disagreement, “Sure, he might have hated her at first,” she calmly argued, “But the turtle was alone for all of his life. The rabbit was special, and while he will someday meet new animals, and he might have just as much fun as he did with the rabbit with them, they’d never take up the spot in his heart the rabbit took up. He would’ve cried knowing that his heart will always have a part of it, that will forever remain empty.”

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Pausing to catch her breath, “At least I think so,” Aurelia exhaled, as Sol looked at the side of her face, repeating in his mind what she said about the turtle.

They sat together, quietly enjoying each other's company, until Sol’s head started to droop down, and his eyes started to quiver.

“Go to sleep,” Aurelia suggested, “We still have about three days of travel at the rate we’re going.”

“What about you?” Sol questioned.

“I’ll be fine,” she smiled, “I’ll rest when you’ve fallen asleep.”

Nodding in response, Sol abruptly looked into the forest, with the faintest bit of fear in his eyes, before forcefully shaking his head, and curling into a ball, and soon, Aurelia could hear faint snores coming from the boy.

Looking into the same direction Sol had, Aurelia confirmed nothing was there. He had done that the previous nights they spent on the side of the road.

The first time, Aurelia went out of her way to walk around the perimeter of their campfire’s light to confirm that they were really alone, just in case the boy had some bloodline ability related to detecting danger, but by now, she had chalked it up to his being tired from a long day’s walk, and seeing things in the night.

Aurelia stayed awake, absentmindedly staring into, and tending to the fire, with the sleeping boy leaning against her. She was about to fall asleep herself, when suddenly, she heard the sound of breaking branches.

Looking up, Aurelia came face to face with a gargantuan bear.

With jaw clenched, and audibly growling, the bear seemed to be both starved and enraged as a result of having prematurely woken up from his winter slumber, and came to find the two travelers to satisfy both hunger and anger at once.

Seemingly coming to a decision, Aurelia waved her hand across the side of Sol's head, a small spinning blue magic circle coming into existence momentarily.

Abruptly, Aurelia’s neck sharply turned, and she stared at the bear, a blood red light slowly forming in her eyes.

Suddenly,

At first, starting at his stomach, then gradually spreading, the bear started to become distorted, as if a spiral was being formed from his body

Confused, and in excruciating pain, the bear felt as if his nervous system was slowly being pulled apart layer by layer, nerve ending by nerve ending. He roared, and charged at Sol and Aurelia, firmly placing blame for his current situation on the two, when,

FWOOOOM

The bear disappeared, and a red mist burst out from where the brown furred beast once was, spreading out into the air.

The wrinkles around Aurelia’s eyes deepened, and grew in number.

Witnessing her handiwork, Aurelia quietly clasped her hands together, as if in prayer, only stopping when she felt a pain in her lungs.

Aurelia coughed into her hand, blood splattering onto her palm.

Sighing as if exhausted, she flicked her blood splattered hand out, scarlet dotting the snowy world.

Aurelia looked up, and gazed at the trillions of stars twinkling in the night sky, and once again admired just how vast, and full of beauty the world really was.

***

“Hurry up,” Sol yelled, looking back at the unhurried Aurelia, “You’re so slow.”

“Yes, yes, what an achievement,” Aurelia mocked, “To leave a poor, defenseless old woman in the dust.”

Blushing from shame, Sol waited for Aurelia to catch up, and sheepishly held out his hand.

Smiling in amusement, Aurelia accepted, and the two walked hand in hand.

Despite the road beginning to go into the mountains, it didn’t seem to be getting colder, as even with the sun only beginning to rise over the horizon, it was still a comfortable temperature, where they didn’t need to wear more than 2 layers, but not so warm as to make them sweat.

Continuing to walk up, the two found themselves at a point overlooking a valley, with a steep path speaking vaguely of danger to their right, but they paid no attention to the danger of the road they would need to take descend the mountain, completely freezing at the sight of the city surrounded by 8 snow peaked mountains.

Surrounded by 20 foot tall walls, Frosthelm was massive, taking up the entirety of the valley with the majority of the buildings inside one to two stories tall, and constructed from stone pitch black in color, though the paths that ran throughout the city were paved with gray brick, with trees interspersed, and occasionally planted on the sides of the paths.

The entire city was divided into four sections and shrouded in fog, the reason for both the four wide rivers that ran in the four cardinal directions up and into the mountains. Colored such a rich, enchanting blue Sol had never before seen in water, the rivers began, and ended in waterfalls, though they ran upwards, the ending waterfall transporting water up and into the mountains, while the waterfall feeding the rivers flowed upwards from a great, gargantuan dark pit with no visible bottom in the middle of the city.

And directly above the pit floated a gargantuan, octahedron constructed from some unknown reflective material.

Four equally enormous steel chains tethered it to the world, connecting to the other four mountains without running waterfalls.

As the sun began to rise, light refracted off of the metallic floating structure, momentarily blinding Sol.

Illuminated by the sunlight, with Frosthelm as a backdrop, and radiant smile on her face, Aurelia looked ethereal.

“Come on,” Aurelia beckoned, as she moved to the descending path, “I’ll show you my home.”