In the distance, a small dot approached the village. Ralgdo squinted, then rubbed his eyes. The dot begun to take the shape of a human.

He couldn’t think of whom this might be. The only ones who had gone out were the fisherman, but they had left for the lake yesterday, and the figure before him was too small to be any of them.

Adding to that, a blizzard had just passed a couple of days ago, and he couldn’t imagine why anyone would travel during such times. But as he continued to stare, the figure cleared up, and he noticed it was smeared in blood.

“Nathan, is that you!” he called out panicked and rushed through the thick snow. It took him no more than two minutes to get to Nathan, but the run felt like an eternity. Once he reached him, the boy crumbled in his arms. His silver hair was all tangled up with feathers and dried blood stained his chin, cheeks, and everything below that.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Ralgdo asked with heavy breaths, the cold air piercing his lungs.

Nathan’s eyes were mate, his cheeks sunken, and his fingers black.

Seeing as his nephew didn’t respond, Ralgdo picked him up and ran into the village. “Mother Kilgarda!” he screamed even before getting to her igloo. “It’s Nathan, something’s happened to him, you have to help him before it’s too late.” The kids who played around in the village square and the adults who talked around the central pyre returned home, leaving Ralgdo alone in his anxiety and worry.

Ralgdo entered Kilgarda’s home, pushing aside the furs which insulated the igloo before yelling, “He needs to be helped now!”

Inside, Kilgarda stoked a flame with a sharpened bone.

“Kilgarda…” He repeated, confused by her calm demeanour.

“You can place him on the bed,” she said.

Gently as one could, he set the boy on the silver wolf’s fur. Now that he could get a good look at his nephew, his face had the look of a starved corpse. He fought the urge to feed him sardines. He had tried so hard in the past few years to ignore and protect the kid from the air, which suffocated the village. However, with time, as his nephew grew older, smarter, and more aware, he couldn’t hide the village’s disdain of him.

Even if he tried his best to compensate for those who hated him, he could see the boy grow more and more famished for interaction each time he visited, until his spirit shrivelled up and became devoid of empathy. Nathan had become as cold and barren as the land, and as dead as this land’s future. Ralgdo closed his eyes and shook off these thoughts. Nathan needed another kind of help today, but he promised to address the other issues for good when the kid got better.

“What’s he suffering from?” Ralgdo asked Kilgarda, his breaths still strained.

Kilgarda got up, letting the fire burn freely. “He’s failed to awaken his mana heart. That mage has no doubt sent him here, thinking that I know something he doesn’t and can save him.”

“Know?” asked Ralgdo, unaware of the intricacies and peculiarities of mana.

“Mages awaken their mana hearts by fusing their hearts and blood with those of beasts. Seers, on the other hand, undergo a different process.” She stroked the boy’s hair. “That mage wants me to awaken the boy using our method.

The blood around his lips is probably what he vomited due to the lack of compatibility.” Kilgarda took the waterskin tied to Nathan’s waste and uncorked it, letting the stench of blood consume the room. “He’s been drinking blood to offset what he’s puked. In this state, he doesn’t have long left.”

Ralgdo snapped out of his stupor. “If you say there is another method than how the mages do it, you can save him, right? Why didn’t you use the methods of the Seers to awaken his mana heart earlier? The method used by the mages is evidently as flawed as their hearts.”

“No.” Her answer was blunt.

“No… No, what?” Ralgdo was shocked. “Are you just going to watch your grandkid suffer?” Ralgdo yelled.

Kilgarda frowned. “Hold your words. Were this even two decades ago, I wouldn’t have told you a single word. You are not a Seer. Do not poke your head where it cannot breathe.”

Ralgdo stepped back, but seeing Nathan’s face, a sense of duty pushed him forward. “May the spirits strike down the mage and torture him in the coldest hell, but the boy hasn’t done anything."

Everyone knew this, yet they had all stayed so far away. They refused to throw away their grief and anger, leaving them unable to move on and embrace what they still had. They could still fish and play. He couldn’t imagine the fate of those subjugated to the whims of mages.

But still, he could understand and forgive the villagers. Grief isn’t easily forgotten; one needs wisdom and maturity to do so. But if anyone had the maturity and wisdom to forgive, it should be Kilgarda.

“What has he done? Because to me, he’s done nothing but be a kid—!”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Do not utter another word!”

Ralgdo froze. To think Kilgarda, always so calm and patient, could yell with such force was unimaginable.

“You know nothing! Nothing at all. He’s nothing but a demon, a filthy parasite that’s infected us!” Her breaths were now heavier than his, but she soon broke into a coughing fit and returned to the comfort of the flames.

Ralgdo didn’t understand from where this anger, no, this hate came from. He’d always thought she had somewhat accepted him. “You’d let even your own child’s child rot in beast blood?” he whispered.

A strong wind stirred in the igloo. His hair stood on end, the fire carefully stoked by Kilgarda was snuffed, and crystals formed in the air.

“Who are you to talk? For centuries, Seers have guided our people through all manners of crises. Now you wish to throw out the shared knowledge of countless generations for a boy! A boy who holds the blood of the scourge? The boy was merely soaked in our waters and painted our shade, but the fact that he was raised by the devil hasn’t changed. One who wishes to spare the devil’s children will be left to raise demons.” Kilgarda grabbed the sharp bone used to stoke the flame and raised it at Ralgdo. He stepped back. “As a Seer I should have killed him as soon as he walked into the village, but as a mother and grandmother I didn’t have the strength to do what was right.” She threw the bone near the fire.

The crystals in the air melted, and the flame was born again from its cinders. But the hairs on Ralgdo’s skin didn’t settle. “See … you yourself can’t do it,” he said with great attention to her expression. “It’s too cruel. I understand you being hard on him, it’s only normal, but he’s suffered enough already, and you know that.

He’s walked through blizzards one could only imagine existing in the hells below. Isn’t that enough suffering for one kid? What of the fact that he’s never had a friend his age, he’s never had a sister, never had a brother? He’s never had anything! He was born in hell, it’s time to let him have a taste of life. And what about Quiva, how will she live without Nathan by her side? It’s all she has left. What will she live for if not him?”

Kilgarda stared at the reinvigorated flame. Her lips quivered, and her eyes began to shine with the faint glow of tears.

“You are still a mother.” Ralgdo continued. “I can’t see you let your daughter suffer like this.”

Kilgarda closed her eyes. “If … if she goes … and so does Nathan … then that thing won’t have any more reason to stay here.”

Wide-eyed and mouth agape, Ralgdo couldn’t hold back his voice. “What! You aren’t going to kill Quiva, are you! For the pride of Seers, no less! And you think that will stop my father’s murderer, your husband’s murderer, he who slayed fifteen warriors in cold blood from killing us! Why? He’ll only have more of a reason to get rid of us.”

Kilgarda didn’t bother replying. Their people’s way of life would end soon enough regardless. The seed of the devil had already seeped into their lands. It had ravaged their earth, corrupted their youths, and choked their guardian spirit.

“I remember when you returned that day,” said Ralgdo. “Your eyes were white, your hair crimson, and clothes soaked in blood. The trail you’d taken to return to the village remained stained red for two moons. Now tell me, does a man capable of that seem like one who would spare his child's murderer?”

Kilgarda raised her hands. “I give up, I give up…” she whispered. “It this is what you want, then so be it. But know, his life means the death of all who inhabit the snow.”

“Bullshit, he is one boy. I do not see the devil in him, he’s no demon, he’s just a boy and this conversation has led me to believe that the seed of the devil isn’t only present in mages, but all men.”

Kilgarda ignored Ralgdo’s last words and continued speaking about his nephew. “He is more than a boy. He is one part of something much bigger.” Kilgarda sighed. “I should have let the devil kill me then. I was too young and clung to life too tightly. Ralgdo, you need to learn to separate yourself from your role. Let not the authority and strength offered to you by your position make you think that the individual called Ralgdo has the right to have his world view enacted.”

Ralgdo stared in disbelief at the woman. She wasn’t anything like he remembered in his youth, she had long ago begun dying a slow death of the mind, but reminding himself that she was family he spoke out of pity. “All children are innocent and have the right to live. You will not kill my cousin. Not today, not ever. I hope that you can understand your mistakes when you pass on because right now you are no different from the mages.”

Kilgarda smiled. “At least you can stick to one title. You are Ralgdo. The uncle, the one who protects his family, and tribe. That is admirable, but you will never be the guardian of our village. I should have let him kill us. All I did was extend the life of the village.” The mage had protected the beasts in the surroundings, but even that he cannot do for ever.

She sighed. “You’ve won. If I cannot pluck out the devil, then let me show you what you wish to create." She struggled to her feet and bent down to pick up the sharp bone she used to stock the flame. “Look well,” she said. “This is how you awaken the mana heart’s seed in one born of snow. Make sure to tell the boy how it is done so that our tradition may at least be recorded in their books.”

Chrome nodded but remained on guard.

Kilgarda walked up to Nathan and stood above him. Ralgdo’s stomach churned. It didn’t feel right. Was she not going to bring over herbs, tools, or pearls?

“Are your eyes peeled?” asked Kilgarda. She threw off her coat and raised her hands to the ceiling, pointing the sharpened bone down to Nathan.

“No! Stop!” he yelled and ran towards them, but before he could reach Kilgarda and Nathan, she stabbed herself in the heart.

Ralgdo stopped dead in his tracks. Her blood poured out onto Nathan’s face.

“Let the spirit of the North,” Kilgarda began to speak, blood leaking out her mouth. “Let the spirit of the North, the spirit of snow and ice, the spirit of all that protects us bless this child with magic. Let him protect our people and its land. Let him flourish, and those who follow him as well. I, Kilgarda, the seer of Yivga village name Nathan, the son of Quiva, the grandson of Kilgarda, as the seer of Yivga.” Kilgarda pulled the bone out of her heart. It fell out of her hands onto Nathan, now drenched in blood. His lips were open, and her blood dripped in.

Ralgdo froze and choked up.

Kilgarda collapsed on her knees, then slumped over Nathan. Ralgdo took a step towards the pair but couldn’t get closer as his knees shook ceaselessly.

The fire in the corner of the room began to peter out and the room darkened. He couldn’t differentiate Kilgarda’s corpse and Nathan’s body. The thick smell of blood spread throughout the room. He needed to find help.

But when he pushed apart, the pelts to leave the hut there, he found Herbert, the mage, the devil. His hair was a mix of brown and grey, his face was wrinkled, and an unkempt beard sprawled below his chin. But his blue cloak was still as blue and radiant as what he’d heard. It was luxurious and warm. And his tall stature, at least two heads above him, domineered him.