"To the Credo, our life is offered," Ezril finished not too happily as he understood what it meant in the context: protecting Lenaria came second to obeying the seminary.

He had also learned earlier in his time in the seminary that every child admitted was most likely Hallowed. It was rare that a priest would bring in a child that was not. According to what he’d learned, the priests had a way of knowing. Thus, the seminarians were brought young and trained until they awakened. The only issue, however, was if they would awaken on time.

Fjord sighed. "You won't be able to protect her outside these walls. You know this.” He studied Lenaria. “Your purpose will not let you."

And what purpose is that?

Ezril knew exactly what it was, and feared it all the more.

She will not always be like this, he assured himself as he watched her. She will be stronger. He refused to believe she was merely the vulnerable child before him. He’d seen proof of it not so long ago. If she could best three grown men in a battle of swords now, he could only imagine what she would be capable of when she was older. I am not here to protect her, and neither is she to protect me.

"There is something I must do. Are you sure you do not want to see the wolf?" Njord offered once more as he rose to his feet.

Ezril declined a second time.

The man sighed. "Do not stay too long."

With that, he returned to the kennel and Ezril and Lenaria were left alone with the horses.

At some point, the sun began its descent and Ezril knew it was time to leave. He raised his head and saw Lenaria walking towards him. He saw a little of who she was had returned. He rose to his feet before she reached him and dusted off his cloak.

"Time to go," he informed her.

Deeming it necessary to return to the Monsignor's chamber, they headed there. They made their way through the compound and Ezril noted how she followed without protest. He knew she needed no guidance this time. He had led her to the stables and she had always been good with directions. Back home, she’d only needed to be shown a path once to learn it.

All around them the new and old boys trained in their different arts as their lives in the seminary went on. The boys snuck the briefest glances at them, bearing the brunt of the priests' fury when caught.

If I die, I, too, would not make a difference, Ezril thought as the seminary went about its life despite the number of children that had most likely died in the test of winter. How many people will ever learn of what happened to Alric?

The Abbess was waiting at the entrance of the monsignor's chambers when Ezril and Lenaria arrived. She took Lenaria, and together they the seminary.

Unkuti, Olufemi, Takan, Salem, Darvi and Olbi were present in the room when Ezril entered, all engaged in discussions aplenty, save Olufemi, as usual.

Olufemi made for the door and pulled Ezril in an embrace before Ezril had time to register his own presence in the room.

"I feared you wouldn't make it," Olufemi whispered. As normal as he was to Ezril, Ezril fought to remind himself that his brother very much wasn't.

Hands placed on both of Olufemi's shoulders, Ezril pulled away from the hug. He patted the boy on the shoulder. "Well…” He smiled. “Here I am, brother."

After Ezril made his way to his bed, it took but a moment for him to realize the others had been talking about their ordeals. Olbi looked the same size as when they had left but the others had clearly suffered the hunger of the winter test as Ezril had in the early days.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Olufemi, not surprisingly, had grown bigger.

"... when I found it," Unkuti was saying, "it was sleeping. There were other wolves but they were dead.”

"What did you do about them?" Takan asked.

Unkuti seemed puzzled by the question. "I took a few back with me, obviously,” he answered. “But I didn't need to finish one before they came for me the next day."

Salem scoffed in disgust. "Maybe that's why it doesn't like you; it can smell its friend on you."

Salem’s words made Ezril wonder if the boy had not borne the full weight of the test; if the hunger had not taken him. If he had, there would’ve been no disgust in his tone at the thought of eating a few dead animals.

They exchanged stories until darkness fell and the moon came out. Before long Saneed arrived with a message from Father Igor informing them that it was the last day for those who would be considered to have passed the test to arrive. Then he asked them to blow the candles out and turn in for the night.

They did and entire room was soaked in darkness, and Salem's fear.

Divine was yet to return.

Takan spoke of how he had encountered two travelers and helped them survive the blizzard, housing them in his shelter. Olbi's story was uninteresting and not worth remembering. The only unexpected part of Olufemi's story was when he spoke of seeing an old man walking and singing in the snow the day they came for him, and how he had lost sight of the man as he followed, which was unusual for Olufemi as he was known never to lose his prey. Ezril, however, found himself wondering if it was the same man he had spent his test with. The likelihood of it proved too high for his comfort. At least it seems he’s alright.

Footsteps came from the stairs as the night aged, and they waited in suspense for who it would be. If it was Divine, it would mean that they had all survived the winter test. All but one.

"Three apples say it's Alric," Olbi wagered.

Ezril took the wager. "Deal."

The moment the body walked into the room, they all knew Olbi had lost. The boy was smaller than Alric as he hunched in fatigue. Salem was out of his bed, like an arrow from a bow. He bolted for the door before anyone could say anything. But while Ezril could see who it was, his vision surprisingly better in the dark than it had been before the test, the others simply knew.

"I'm so sorry," Divine sobbed in Salem's embrace as he lowered their brother to the floor.

Salem stroked his hair gently and let him sob. "You have no reason to be sorry," he consoled him.

Divine’s sobs did not subside. "I found Dronavi," he whispered softly, but was loud enough to hear.

Dronavi was a boy from one of the other towers. They didn’t know him well enough, but they'd known him enough to recognize him by appearance.

The room waited in silence for the rest of the story.

Found? Ezril noted. He doubted he was the only one.

"He was frozen in the snow..." Divine continued between sobs. "I couldn't help him; I didn't even try to. I found his shelter nearby, but he had no food. So I left him. I didn’t even take him back. I didn’t even bury him."

"You did what you had to do to survive," Salem continued in his consolation. "You might have died, too, if you had tried to help him."

Ezril wondered how many in the room knew what he knew. He lied very often, and was good at it. Good enough to know a lie when he heard one. Not only was Divine's story incomplete, there was also a lie in it, perhaps an omission. Whatever it was, it was important.

Salem led Divine to his bed. All the while he glanced at everyone as though challenging them to judge Divine for what he had done. No one did. Ezril could only guess the reason for Divine's guilt. It was not in what he hadn't done for their frozen brother but what he had done to their frozen brother. Divine might not have been honest, but Ezril understood his actions. Or maybe he did not. Still, he did not think himself a better person than him. We do what we must to survive.

Later, Ezril fell into a slumber. He let the darkness come upon him. An ally in the waking world. A foe in his sleep.

The yellow eyes stalked him as he ran aimlessly in the dark, fear ever present in the presence of the other unknowns that watched from places unseen. But something was different. In the silence of the dark he could feel the presence of a single sound growing. A voice speaking words like a mantra...

Ezril stopped in his tracks. A frown assuaged his lips. The words came to sound and he heard them clearly. You cannot save her from what is to come… And soon this world will be his.

Ezril dared to look up. He knew he shouldn’t have, but compulsion played the strongest tricks. He came to face a sight he'd hoped against. Alric's face hovered before him, all-encompassing. The yellow eyes drew closer from behind Ezril but did not have much of his attention. He was trapped as Alric's face offered him a bleeding smile.

Ezril woke up in the strong embrace of fear, gripping his bed as hard as he could. He heard a groan to his right and realized that Darvi, too, found disturbance in his dreams.

"I will protect her," he swore as he laid back down on his side. He didn't know to whom he swore it to; Truth, the room, his brothers, or maybe the gods the old man spoke of in his tales. But it did nothing to hinder the weight of his words.

So he closed his eyes and waited for his feared dreams to take him again.

Sleep took him again. And so did the darkness.