They say there is always light at the end of a tunnel.

But, what happens when the light is too bright? When it blinds you and disables your movements? When it imprints into your soul a kind of burning you can never soothe? When it ruins your plans and leaves you stranded, wishing you had never made that crucial step. Sometimes, it is better to stay in the dark. It is safer, more comfortable. It is warm.

Once Thomas emerged from the light and into one of the many cold deserts of Iceleus, once an indescribable cold hit his face and he felt like his skin would peel off on its own, he cursed the moment he wanted to be anything but a marionette. He quickly pulled the mask attached to his collar over his mouth and nose and his strange hood full of zippers and buttons over his head. Kyla had given him a pair of rimless glasses, so he put those on as well. He had been given a special uniform the Ravens wore during such missions: on the outside, it looked the same as the regular one, only it had a shall-mask, as he decided to call it, attached to its collar, a hood, and a pair of glasses; but it was made from a material that kept body heat inside the suit, so the soldiers could travel anywhere they wanted without, well, tuning into sculptures. And as much as he wanted to turn into a lifeless work of art, Thomas dreaded the thought of staying in that desert any more than he had to. In a way, Iceleus reminded him of Cercer, only the opposite. There was absolutely nothing but a thick layer of snow surrounding him. It was a white clearing with no end in sight, so much so that it looked like it had become one with the cloudy sky. No trees or caves where icicles might form; only snow. He read in a book that it never stopped snowing. Ever. And now that he was looking around him, his vision limited due to the consistent snowfall, he was convinced that it was true. The wind was so strong Thomas wondered how people of smaller build were still standing; but they were Ravens, and he was not. He was their leader.

“How do they live here?” he asked the group. “I mean, wouldn’t their houses get buried under the snow at some point?”

Kyla just waved at him and pointed to her ear. Wrapped up in wool like this, she couldn’t hear him well. She did tell him to be more careful of his surroundings before they opened the last door, but he was so wrapped up in first impressions he forgot to put two and two together. But, luckily, she was there not only to help him avoid talking to his new subordinates, but to push her hands into his hood and deal with all those zippers and buttons. The only thing Thomas couldn’t understand was why they didn’t have any sort of communication device.

“Kyla, isn’t it weird that with all the resources the Ravens have they haven’t come up with a device for communication? I mean, what if one of us gets lost?” he asked now that she was standing close enough to hear him.

“You have your gerlocks for that,” she calmly replied.

“Well, what if I have to tell you something?”

“It’ll have to wait.”

“What if it can’t wait? What if it’s urgent? What if I’m bleeding to death?”

Kyla sighed. “Then scream.” Once she was certain the hood wouldn’t fall off his head and cause his brain to freeze, she said, “We should go now. We have to find shelter before nightfall.”

Thomas didn’t feel cold anymore, but he felt like he should. Like his body was expecting to feel so frozen it would light up like a torch. The layer of snow they were walking on was so thick and solid it only dented slightly under their steps, his more than the others’ due to his higher body temperature. Thomas turned around and watched as their shoeprints disappeared under the new layer of snow and felt happy knowing nobody would notice their arrival. They each had two gerlocks in their pockets; Thomas decided to pretend like he didn’t have any so as not to wake up any more unwanted memories.

Kyla turned to him and made a little circle with her thumb and index finger, to ask if he was alright. Thomas nodded, slightly disappointed he couldn’t share his despondency with her.

Like I haven’t done that a million times before. There is nothing I can tell her that she doesn’t already know.

Kyla was, although she seemed stone cold, much more approachable than Diane. She wasn’t a queen after all. She was peasant, just like Thomas. Now that Thomas thought about it, Diane probably wouldn’t have checked up on him like that; she would have kept walking and expected him to find a way to catch up. Like she knew he would. Like she expected him to. He didn’t like those expectations; they made him feel weak.

How I wish I could have a cup of warm tea now! Diane doesn’t like tea. She’s such a strange woman. How can someone not like tea? It doesn’t make any sense. I’m not cold. That’s even stranger. There is so much snow and ice, probably, under all this snow. But really, how do their houses not get buried under all this snow? I’ll have to ask someone once we arrive to a village.

If he did expect misfortune to befall them, and he truly always did, he didn’t know it would happen so quickly and soundlessly. It didn’t take more than a millisecond for one of the Ravens to vanish from his sight. As the wind blew stronger and stronger and snow blurred his glasses, only when he looked down did he see the top of someone’s head falling into the ground. Right under one of the girls’ steps, a hole opened, swallowing her together with years’ worth of snow. And amidst that confusion and snow, he felt someone grab his hand pull him back, sprinting in the direction they came from. Thomas heard incomprehensible cries coming from where the ground opened and he turned arround to see the hole widening rapidly and one person, only one, running after him and possibly Kyle. Thomas was not used to running in snow, but Kyle’s strong grip on his hand prevented Thomas from falling back. Thomas hated how warm and moist it got inside his mask, but it took his mind off the fact that two of his companions were just swallowed by the Earth. And if he hadn’t been so feverishly focused on himself, he wouldn’t have caught a glimpse of something shiny coming towards him from the corner of his right eye.

“Watch out!” he screamed as he threw himself onto the snow and pulled Kyle back, luckily in time to dodge a massive icicle that was swung in the air.

Thomas found it fortunate that most of the snow under him was frozen, so he was able to lift himself to his knees and witness, through the white curtain, a ten-meter tall snow creature swing an icicle towards them again. Kyle jumped in front of Thomas and created a shield of fire that rose even above the snow creature and melt the icicle as it came in contact with it. Thomas had never seen that technique before because he had never seen a Flamer fight before. This scene, everything, from the sudden death to the hand and run reminding him of the night he first realized he had gotten thrust into a world he was not prepared to face.

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“You’re a Flamer?” Thomas let out, his thoughts so jumbled up he didn’t even think of standing up. He did, however, notice that Kyle’s shield didn’t touch the ground, probably not to risk melting too much of the snow. But a line did from under it, and it continued deepening too rapidly to have the shield put up any longer.

“Thomas, stand up!” a familiar female voice yelled in his ear. “We don’t have time for this! We have to go!”

“Kyla…” Thomas let out as she pulled him up by his right bicep. Only then did he notice how one of her sleeves was tied on the back of her uniform, probably not to risk dangling around and hitting her in the face.

Well, wouldn’t that be kind of funny? Just a sleeve in her face. Oh, the hole is not spreading anymore. But we might have another problem in that shield continues melting the snow.

“Kyle!” Kyla screamed as she ran past Kyle, pulling him by the back of his uniform so the three were now running away from the monster and back to where they came from.

“Aren’t we supposed to go that way?” Thomas yelled, but the two couldn’t hear him due to the monster’s roars.

I didn’t even take a look at it.

When he turned around, through the weil of snow he caught a glimpse of the creature he had only seen in biology books. It was one of the three species of giants, the only one that lived in Iceleus. It was ten meters tall, weighed a lot, he couldn’t remember exactly how much, had white furr, and grew icicles from its eyes. It had no mouth nor nose; as far as Thomas could remember, it ate ice through its feet and hated spotting any living creatures within its territory, which meant that the only way they could escape it was by accidentally trespassing onto another giant’s territory.

Thomas felt relieved when he turned back around and saw Kyla and Kyle running next to each other, occasionally facing each other, because it meant that they were coming up with a plan. But when Kyla suddenly stopped moving and Kyle kept on running, waving at Thomas to follow him, his stomach tied his intestines into a huge knot and he stopped as well, his arms lighting up.

I never asked them their names. They died for me, and I didn’t even ask them their names.

He had faced greater danger before, but never without Diane Hunster. As twisted as she was, and as even more twisted her image became in Thomas’s head, she provided comfort and peace. Reassurence. ‘I will protect you. Because I can protect anyone.’ Even if she couldn’t. Now, he was alone with two teenagers. They were not to be dismissed by any means, but they were children. It was Thomas who had to protect now.

The sparks in his eyes lit up and swallowed his eyeballs. He could feel the snow under him melt faster and he knew he had to move. He was sure that Kyla was yelling after him as he charged towards the giant, a fireball forming in his hand. He wasn’t going for the kill; he knew hunting giants was forbidden. He only hoped to confuse it a bit until they could get out of its sight. But as it usually goes with inexperienced warriors, he somehow managed to lose control over the fireball he aimed towards its head, so by the time it reached the poor creature it was too big and too powerful to only maim it. Giants were exptremly intelligent creatures. So, when it bent backward and the fireball flew straight ahead and disappeared, the giant concluded that the intruders were bad news. The giant pulled the two icicles out of its eyes, momentarily leaving black holes in its head, and swung both of them towards Thomas from both sides so he had nowhere to go.

And then its head flew off.

Just like that, it was dead, its body falling backward and making a huge hole in the ground. Right beside it, to Thomas’s shock, stood another Raven with a bloody scythe in their hand. They were looking at Thomas with contempt, he could feel it, and then they slowly approached him, the scythe now attached to the back of the Raven’s uniform. Thomas didn’t know who it was, he couldn’t see their face, but something about their aura and strides made him sure he wouldn’t be happy to see them, and even less to admit that they had just saved his life.

So, when the Raven stopped just before him and said, “You always find a way to mess things up, don’t you?” he knew that he was right. His reflex was to push the Raven back, pull out his knife and put it under their throat. And he would have probably found a reason to try to cut it had Kyla not grabbed his arm and pulled it down.

“Stop,” she said into Thomas’s ear. “We don’t have time for this. We have to keep moving.”

Thomas was shaking. “I’m not going anywhere with her.”

“You have to,” Kyla tried to convince him.

The Raven just stood in front of the two, patiently waiting for Thomas stop making a scene.

“Why is she here?” Thomas asked, all the snow and blood and anger and confusion making him so sick he could barely open his mouth; the speed at which the events came and passed made him motion-sick.

“I don’t know. But she’ll keep us safe.”

“Like hell she will.”

“She has to. Remember who you are and what you came to do. Don’t get lost in useless thoughts. This is far more important. Come on now. We have to keep moving or we won’t make it to the village before nightfall.”

And as much as Thomas despised the thought of being anywhere close to this ex-Raven, he knew Kyla was right. So, he just marched ahead towards the dead beast and the great hole, the direction they were originally supposed to go in, while he still had the strength to make right choices and ignore his surroundings when necessary.

The Raven put their hand on Kyla’s shoulder. “It’s good to see you again. It’s been a while.”

Kyla pushed her hand off and started walking after Thomas, her heart in her heels. She didn’t expect her to show up; she wasn’t told there would be additions to their group. But now that half of the group was dead, it seemed natrual to have someone fill the void.

Why did it have to be her of all people…

Kyla hated that there was a hint of happiness in her heart. She hated how she was nostalgic of the time when they were a team, the three of them. The ten of them. As she walked through the snow, she reminisced about their past missions, the time before people were dying left and right. When she was a child who didn’t notice people dying left and right. And now she had one arm and dozens of tombs to visit.

“Who is that?” Kyle, who magically appeared next to Kyla, asked.

“Shouldn’t you know that?” she bit back.

“How would I know that?”

“Well,” she snorted, “aren’t you on wonderful terms with that witch?”

Kyle sighed too quietly to hear. “Can we not do this right now?”

“Yes, we can.”

There was a moment of silence. “Anna and Joanne are dead.”

“Yes, they are.”

“So, who is that Raven?”

“Meredith Brown.”