It was a winter so cold, even the woolen beasts had fallen prey to the vicious frost.

"Hey!! You're gonna die if you stay out there!!"

I wasn't sure if he would even hear me. He was a burly man. He wore a scruffy beard, and an even scruffier hat. It looked like he'd ripped his clothes right off of a bear's back. His nose was bright red. His ears too. However, his skin was like porcelain glass. He was a strange fellow.

"HEY!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

Nobody passed by these mountains this time of year. My parents had warned me of the dangers of random passerbyers. But it had been so many years since I had seen anyone..

Stranger or not, my mind and body craved for the warmth of another human being. Well.. Could I call him a human.. Whatever he was, I craved for another thing that can talk to me.

Why would I go as far as to not say he's a human outright? Because I've experienced many strange things since I've been alone..

Listen to me when I say, this winter was not like any I had ever witnessed. You might be wondering how I survived out here when even the wolliest beasts of the wilds had fallen prey to the frost. Well, below this house, we had a soul engine.

Back when my parents built this house, they had grand plans for these mountains. Their lives, and their dreams however, had been robbed of them too early. Left here alone, I grew to know the ways of the wilds. And the ways of the soul.

Every time a beast died around these parts, its soul would wander into this engine, where it would share its light and warmth with me. I knew that one day, my soul too would join this engine, and I would give back the warmth that I received to another. Perhaps lighting the way toward my parent's stolen dream..

A powerful, booming knock slammed me from my daydreams. It'd been a while since I'd shouted to that man. I thought perhaps he'd passed long ago..

I opened the door with a spot of hesitation.

"Hello..?", I spoke, trying to hide my excitement.

"Kind stranger, was it you who beckoned me to this abode?", the stranger spoke. His accent, like crystal velvet.

"Y-yes. You're welcome to come in if you'd like. Everything's been dying in that cold out there.."

I hadn't spoken to another in a few winters. My voice must have sounded awfully strange. I was full of nerves. My heart was being jolted by bolts of lightning.

"If it would be to your liking", the stranger said.

"To, to my liking? It would very much so be to my liking stranger! I.. I mean, whats your name.. Err, stranger?"

I fumbled it so hard. I'm gonna die. Please soul engine take me now.

"I am afraid you cannot know my name, fragile one. However, I can offer you a pseudonym. You may call me Fenrir."

The stranger, no, Fenrir, spoke with such a demanding grace. If it wasn't for the gentle, subtle tones, I would've been too scared to even speak.

"F-Fenrir.. Wow, what a name.. My name's just Evelynn. It's not as exciting or cool as yours.. Oh.. Well, your pseudoname.. Wait, no.. Pseudanim.. Okay whatever.. Your other name. It's very cool.."

Fenrir let out a mild giggle. Revealing a smile that could melt all the ice upon these lands.

"Your heart is pure, little one. Let us plead that it remains so", Fenrir said.

• • •

A day had passed. And Fenrir had delighted in the warmth of this quaint abode. The girl he found himself with had reminded him of the playful river sprites. Despite her harsh environment, and the cruel tundra engulfing her sights, she somehow shone brightly. Even brighter than the abomination that laid beneath his feet.

Fenrir's eyes grew colder, the warmer his body grew.

"This home, who built it?", Fenrir asked.

"Ooooh, my parents! They were wonderful people! Taken far too soon.. They wanted to turn this whole mountain into a lively village.. They died way before it could ever be realised.. Ever since, I've lived here, alone.. A village would've been nice.."

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Fenrir could sense the shaken heart of this young soul. Deprived of the warmth of socialising. Having had become an adult too soon.

"May I inquire about what happened to them?", Fenrir asked, a very polite tone coating his words.

"Yeah.. One day, a woman dressed in red came.. She argued with my parents for several hours. I was too young to remember any details.. At the end of it, she drained them of their blood, chopped them up, and strung their corpses through the forest. She told me I was never to leave this place, and that if I ever did, she would know, and she would kill me."

Tears began to fill my eyes, as I choked the last words from my mouth.

Fenrir stared, unmoved. As if a calm breeze had graced an old oaken tree.

"So the scarlet witch knew about this place? Hmm.."

Fenrir began to sink deep into thought. He had the last pieces of the puzzle he needed.

• • •

Another day had passed, and the cold had not ceased.

"Evelynn, are you aware of the sprites of spring?", Fenrir asked.

"Sprites? Never heard of 'em before! What are they?"

Evelynn was deeply intrigued. Her parents had many books they had left on the shelves of this home. None had ever mentioned sprites before.

"I see. They are gentle souls. Less playful than river sprites. More on the warm and tender side. They aid in the blooming of spring. They help issue in the warmer seasons."

Evelynn's eyes widened and she shot up out of her chair.

"Are they all in the soul engine?! Is that why the winter's been so damn cold?! Are they trapped or something?!"

Fenrir's eyebrows twitched in surprise.

"An astute observation, Evelynn. You have quite the sharp intellect."

His words, as smooth as satin silk, brushed against her heart. Blushing, and flustered, she waved her arms around, insisting "No, no, no! Not at all!".

"I am afraid this engine as you call it, is far more nefarious than you might think", Fenrir said, in a serious tone. His eyes darkening.

"It has become my belief that your parents chose here not to start a village, but to hide from one. No, to say just one.. It would be a grand understatement. This device Evelynn, it is a forbidden existence in every part of the world."

Her playful demeanour was shot dead.

"It harvests souls, and transforms them into tainted mana. This engine was placed here to create an abomination. This method of creating mana veins is considered the most barbaric method ever invented. It's considered tainted mana because the souls that are crystallised and transformed go through extreme suffering and are robbed of their eternal life. Never to be transformed again. They become a form of pure energy that is considered the most foul, tainted blight upon the surface of this world."

Evelynn went limp, her body collapsing as her entire reality warped into a sickening nightmare. She threw up all over the beautiful floor her parents had built.

Evelynn heaved, trying to breathe. All of the energy, all of the youth she had been exuding, had all been crushed under the weight of revelation.

"I apologise Evelynn. I did not want to rob you of this beautiful mirage. However, it has been determined that you must know the truth. This land is to be eradicated, and I have come to take you with me, if you so choose. I have judged your character, and I deem you innocent of any crimes your parents had committed."

Fenrir helped her up to her feet, gestured her to sit, and then cleaned the floor before sitting down across from her.

"That witch.. Why.. Why did she keep me here..?", Evelynn asked.

"That, most curiously, I do not know. The scarlet witch is a mystery to all. She has lived a great many years, and is what I would call a sculptor of fate. Perhaps she wanted you to stay here so that we might meet. And so that the one watching this some day may gain the key they need to solve this", Fenrir said.

A mighty gasp escaped my lungs as I opened my eyes, revealing a familiar lightless expanse.

"What the fuck..."

I moved my free hand to my face, and pushed my hair back. As a cool bead of sweat dripped from my finger, my eyes caught a glimpse of something strange. Just like Fellabee, my veins had turned a vibrant red. Fellabee was still unconscious on my right palm. What the hell was going on..

As I looked around, there was nothing but black. It was as if the very concept of light, of colour, and of life had ceased to be.

Alone in this abyss, a thought dawned on me. What if there's no way back? Will we starve to death here?

Panic began to set in and grip my soul. As soon as I finally embraced the outside world again, I find myself suffocatingly trapped inside of another box. Except this time, there's nothing.

The black sea beneath my feet pulsed a-periodically. Like tiny ripples in a pond echoing out, eventually reaching me. This realisation grounded me from my fears, as hope furiously sparked within me.

With Fellabee upon my palm, I strode toward what I felt like was the direction the ripples were coming from.

If all were still, and nothing had moved, perhaps I would've fallen deeper into despair, and gone mad.

Gone mad.. Madder than I already am. Pfft.

• • •

Every step toward the rippling filled me with hope, however it also filled me with a newfound trepidation. What if the thing making this motion is sinister..

What if it's something that wants to kill or eat me..

I looked to Fellabee, unconscious, defenseless, and I realised: even if this is the case, we have no other option. We're stranded in the middle of nowhere, experiencing cryptic hallucinations, and judging from our veins, we might even be poisoned.

The resolve that had been steadily building in my heart strengthened and refined one more. Deeper and deeper, I fell.

• • •

I couldn't tell how much I'd walked. Once again, the familiar sting of dry, cracked lips poked at me like a needle. My limbs creaked, and my eyes grew dim.

Again, and again I have walked. Again, and again I had persevered. The endless expanse would not win. I would not succumb.

Each step was its own challenge. Every challenge overcame was enough. Why did not matter. All that mattered was continuation. It did not matter if I would die. It did not matter if we would collapse. It did not matter if we would be eaten. To move forward is to live.

As I ruminated on my plight, a strange, twitching mass appeared upon the horizon.