"Featured Story: Hunters Of The Past

"Exporers from the Traxian Institute of Arcane Studies and the venerable Pathfinders Guild have managed to unearth what promises to be one of the largest Myndiri ruins to date within Imperial territory. Their discoveries have spurred an unprecedented number of scholars and academics to flock to the Institute in hopes of getting the chance to be part of the initial exploration team. According to sources within the government, the find is significant enough that the Legion will also dispatch a detachment for security against the wildlings, hillmen, and monsters that roam the Korathi Wilds… "

- Traxian Times, Second Page, "Section: Featured Story Of The Day"

Day ?? + 825, Frostwind Ranges

The icy chill of the Frostwinds tore their way into the cabin. Harsh winds rattled windows and doors battling against the eerie crackle of the fire in the war for dominance. The floorboards creaked as hurried footsteps travelled from room to room. A door clicked open as another slammed shut in the distance.

Her whole body ached from weeks of withering away. Every muscle crying out from inaction, desperately trying to push her to move to no avail. Or so she assumed. For beyond the agony, the ones beyond were but an empty void. No pain, no cold or warmth, no sensations. Just a deadness that clawed at her with each waking moment.

A drab dark brown barely illuminated by the fire's light greeted her as her eyelids flickered open. The brief flashes of orange made her wince from disorientation. An otherworldly groan of discomfort escaped from her, more raspy than anything resembling actual words. It hurt to even make her head move, but move she did and she managed to steal a few glances to her side.

A half empty glass of water sat atop a worn out nightstand. Both the cup and the wood bore more dinks and scratches than they should have, most likely years deep if not even older. Its raggedly and half damaged nature however, did offer the briefest respite to the pain. A reminder that told her she was home. Safe. The word echoed in her mind, more akin to an alien screech than comforting thought.

Yet it was enough. Her lonely rasp and pained shuffling caused a flurry of footsteps to rapidly approach. The door hinges squeaked as what was once closed was now rapidly thrown open.

Silky smooth hair tickled parts of her exposed skin. Kind but worried eyes stared back at her, the woman's gaze frantic but relieved after catching a glimpse of her. She felt a pair of rugged hands slowly caress her cheek, the reassurance they offered proved to be a welcome relief to the pain she felt. She didn't have a name or identity in the back of her mind, but the person appeared familiar.

Trying to use what little strength she had, she forced her mouth open once more. A phrase to convey her curiosity at their identity and appreciation that anyone was around at all, reduced to all that she could manage at the time.

"Ah…" She managed to rasp.

A choked sob escaped from her mother, their heads now tenderly pressed against each other. A confusing gesture from a stranger, one that aggravated the aches she felt.

"You're alive… you're alive…" The person whispered faintly.

She could only groan as her voice left her once more. The irritations and aches she felt growing ever more maddening with every moment of awareness that she possessed. Unable to move herself much, she could only relish the embrace and keep staring at the ceiling.

Silhouetted by the fires, her eyes caught a glimpse of her stranger's shadow dancing across the wooden roof. Trapped in the recesses of the building they twisted unnaturally. Long segmented arms scratching away at the blackness blocked from the light of the fire. In the shadow, there was no her or her mother, only the gnarled spindly movements of a grotesque monster.

For the briefest of moments, she saw it. Where there was once a shadow that formed the faint twisted vestiges of a head, a gap. Two open spaces carved open by the light. A terrifyingly unnatural reflection of something beyond the realm of understanding. Flames where they should not be flickered to life, cutting through the dark shadows on the wall, but somehow proving far more chilling than even the emptiness of the night.

When she could properly gaze upon the haunted flames, they met her gaze. She felt her blood chill under the fire's pointed gaze. Nothing the stranger did could seem to bring the warmth that was now missing. Only a cold ever gnawing unease that burned away at the edges of her sanity.

Where the darkness was naught but the absence of light. The twisted shadows each competing for space and dominance against the empty rafters. The light was different. It wanted more, it needed more. Worse, it was hungry. And it was coming for her. She could see it. The greed, the desire, the wretched gaze that stared back at her.

An outstretched wisp of flame seemed to reach from the eyes. The light tearing through the darkness right towards her. And as her mom reached out to caress her a little more, saw it. A flash of her soul. And then the flames that devoured it.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." The stranger muttered.

She wanted to scream, to let her know of the entity that was with them. That the fire was getting closer. But she could not. And then, every nerve in her body exploded with pain. All the muscles and extremities that didn't have feeling before joined in the agonizing chorus. The flames completely enveloped her shadow, strangling it and piercing through every nook and cranny to swallow it in its grasp. Already weakened and now wholly overwhelmed, her mind went to preserve what sanity she had left as consciousness simply shut down.

Day?? + 829, Frostwind Ranges

Her body burned. Unused nerves shot to life as muscles that were rotting away beat with renewed life. It was too intense, a thousand nerve endings crying out in pain adding to the chorus of the already aching form.

Writhing in agony, she curled up in a futile attempt to hide away from the pain. Fiery sharp pains poked and prodded her from within just as every woolen fuzz or linen bit seemed to rip into her from without. So overwhelming was the sensation that there would even be brief seconds of nothing. Absolute voids of feeling where her mind struggled to even process the outburst.

With a simple motion, she felt her body jolt to the side. She swung and there was nothing she could do as she sent herself flying off the bed and slamming into the cold floor below. She gasped out loud from the impact and curled into herself a little bit more.

Her pained groans attracted her mother's attention and within seconds her protector arrived. She didn't even have a chance to cry out before they knelt over her and muttered an arcane spell. Against the eerie glow of the fireplace, she found her world slowly covered by a wave of wispy purple and green. Like two ropes slowly tying themselves to each other, the strands of magic then began coiling up around her.

Then her pain started to dull a little. It started first with her skin cooling down, the irritation and aches she felt from touching anything fading away. Her insides then started to quiet down, the burning sensation within her slowly getting extinguished as the magicks coalesced in full around her. She abruptly jerked back in control of her own body as a throbbing headache that she didn't even know she had slowly dissipated.

Regaining a semblance of calm and able to sort through her own thoughts once more, she slowly relaxed. Gradually, under the gentle urgings of her protector, she unfurled herself from her huddled pose. Splaying out onto the ground, she met their gaze. And for the first time in days, she knew what she wanted to say.

"Ah…" She rasped, her vocal chords barely functioning after what felt like days of disuse.

It didn't help that her throat felt scratchy as well. Though now that she could think, the cause to that problem was obvious.,She kept crying out in pain whenever she had been conscious before.

"God. You're awake. Are you hurt? Are you alright? Sweetie?" Her protector rambled in a panic.

"Ah… ack." She rasped again, discovering just how weak she was even without the pain.

"Yes, dear?" The woman's sing-song voice cooed from behind a choked sob.

"Water… please."

A plea presented and received. They hurriedly plopped some pillows down for her to rest upon as they dashed back into the other room.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Surprised that she felt anything even close to alright. She just laid there and stared at the ceiling. Her memories were fuzzy, a jumbled mess of thoughts, emptiness, and pain. Try as she might, she could barely recall a thing. Only that massive claws had bit deep into her sides, the faint scar making her wince when she brushed her fingers over it.

Her body did not feel whole however. Something felt missing. Yet, when she forced herself to move, everything responded. Her fists could clench and unclench, her lungs continued breathing, her privates able to tense and relax, even her toes wiggled when she commanded them to.

After another few moments of consternation, she sighed and pushed the thought to the back of her mind. But it did not wish to let her go. For almost as it dissipated, the pain returned once more. Her entire being was engulfed by fire and instead of light, the darkness took over her once more.

Day ?? + 4117, Highwall Mountains

The memories that flooded back into her mind came back with a vengeance. A brutal assault on all her senses that only pulled her towards one conclusion. Despair.

"Argghh! Fuck!" Ary swore out loud.

She wriggled from the sharp pain she felt and saw the world spin before her eyes. A thin layer of ice had formed fully over the tiles of the ritual room, a likely result of whatever magicks had been done here. A layer that was headed straight for her. When the glassy blue ice beneath her reflected her horrified visage it was already too late to change fate.

She felt her nose break first from the sheer force of the impact. A jolt followed by the sickening crack that something had been shattered. The rest of her landed in a heap and she felt stinging sensations echoing out from every part of her. It didn't help that she was completely naked as bar skin made contact with the icy ground.

"Gah!" She gasped, her breathing ragged from the fall. Her panic provoking a worried yelp from somewhere.

She looked around, her whole body trying to desperately recoil from the cold but failing. Trying to ignore the throbbing in her head, she managed to catch a few arcane phrases from nearby interspersed by the gentle hum of a mermaid's song.

The mermaid's song came to an abrupt halt and Ary saw Sigrid's shadow loom over her. Almost effortlessly, the mermaid simply pulled her up, bringing them face to face as the girl's consued eyes reflected Ary's own dishevelled self in them.

"Blasted stars." An older voice cursed. The magister, right. "Almost more effort than it was worth." He hissed.

"Professor Holtzfeld, please." His apprentice pleaded.

Ary tried to look over but found herself blinded by an intense brightness that stymied her efforts. It felt almost as if something was deliberately being concealed from her, for none of the others seemed to be bothered by the blinding light.

"I shall conduct the transaction with your associates. See to the injured, Apprentice Lanholt."

"But… I... okay. It will be done magister." The girl acknowledged.

Sigrid cooed gently, acquiring Ary's attention once more. The mermaid let out a questioning trill and Ary stopped to examine herself. Now that the initial surge of adrenaline seemed to fade, she felt exceedingly cold.

"Aryana, Aryana, can you hear Yana? For you are yet still wreathed in arcana." A familiar voice chirped from above her.

"Y-Yana?" She barely managed to croak out.

As if on cue, the fae descended, the warmth that emanated from her tiny body offering a smidgen of comfort to Ary's increasingly frigid form. Before any of the trio could acknowledge recent events, a shaggy looking cloth was hastily draped over her from her. The apprentice spirit mage Cassian at least offered the briefest bit of support.

"Are you alive?" Cassian's almost clinically emotionless voice queried.

"I-I think?" Ary answered.

"Good. Then you'll be glad to know that everything… succeeded. You are alive, and the magister has managed to extract the being from within you. Confirming both our hypothesis and ensuring that this matter will trouble you no longer." The mage continued.

Ary just groaned. It was a lot of noise at once and her mind still had trouble processing everything. At least the meaning was clear enough. Nothing had been a dream, she had indeed freed herself from the fire spirit of the Frostwinds. She was free.

"I… made it?" She asked.

There was a pause. Sigrid trilled discontentedly but Cassian replied before the fae could translate the other's words.

"It would appear so based on preliminary examination. Do you feel any symptoms of discomfort?" Cassian then winced trying to glance at her, "Err, beyond your nose."

Reminding Ary of the pain only made her realize its existence as well. She too grimaced from it and then shook her head.

"I don't think so." She whispered.

No one really knew what to do next, but Ary did spy Yana giving Sigrid a nod from the corner of her eye. Gently, the mermaid lowered her like someone trying to set down a folded towel. Only that instead of it resting softly on a table or bedside, the moment Sigrid released her grip, Ary crashed back to the ground without warning.

She landed with a hearty thud, the wind pushed out of her lungs preventing her from even yelping or crying out. She just laid there, confused, until she tried to pull herself upright amidst the horrified gasps of the others. Following their gaze, she was frozen in shock. Just under her, her legs were limp. In fact, when she tried to summon what sensations she could, almost nothing under her hips responded. Just the desolate emptiness in response, one that not even the cold of the Highwall seemed capable of penetrating.

Her face twisted into a horrified grimace and she desperately tried to move around, uncaring of the cold that now bit into her. Yet, despite her best efforts, she could only crawl, her frantic display momentarily stunning the others into inaction.

Cassian was the first to react, the mage hurriedly thrusting the cloth shawl at Sigrid.

"Sides effects, side effects…" She muttered to herself before nodding frantically at Sigrid, "Quickly now, before she catches a cold or worse, hypothermia. Her clothes are in that pile over there." She vaguely motioned towards a spot in the room, "I've got to inform the professor at once."

Still in shock, Ary just stared down at her limp legs. She ignored the cloth that was draped over her once again and even the forceful questioning from the fae. All that was ignored in favor of the sole thought that now burrowed itself into her mind.

"I… my legs… the bear…" She started breathing more rapidly in rising panic.

Her confusion mixed with pain and horror to create a dreadful concoction that tore away at her sanity more and more. Only the worried trills of the mermaid kept her somewhat calm. Enough to not lose her mind but not enough to steady her fully. She fearfully reached out to touch her legs, reaching the same conclusion that she had already gotten to moments ago. They were nonresponsive to her pleas, internally or external.

She remembered now. Everything in vivid detail. All while her bottom was slowly getting closer to being frostbitten by the icy floors underneath them.

She recalled Aileen and her argument. The last moment they shared before the wild bear attacked them. She could see the blood on the ice in front of her, how the monster had first set upon her only for her friend to bravely charge it to buy her another second of life. A pit formed in her stomach at the moment, one born of regret and shame. She remembered backing away, absolutely terrified and unable to act. How Aileen's desperate pleas for her to escape ended with a silent cry.

A sacrifice for naught. The moments that blurred in her mind grew clearer. The monster flung the brave girl to the side, tearing out her midriff with the motion and swallowing her flesh. Petrified, the Ary back then could only fall back upon the snow and freeze up. Staring at its claws as it raked down at her, shattering bone and flesh as it then landed a strike upon her spine, the pain overwhelming her completely.

All now connected in her mind. Her mother had saved her life with a dark ritual, one that bound her to a phoenix spirit that the Frostfyres held sacred. One that, she now realized with a small amount of horror, had lived her life with her, and more importantly, for her. Where its control began and hers ended she did not know. Only at long last, they had been freed again.

Her panic faded, a deep set melancholy settling in its place. She scarcely paid any attention as the others were let back in by Cassian, even though she was the attention of both the clan and now concerned Sophia. All she felt beyond the bitter cold was a mournful sense of defeat.

She had done what she could to regain her only life. But to her, it felt like she had just doomed it all the same. She would've laughed if she had the energy, but she was just exhausted. She wanted to rest.

Now, Academy of Arteria

Ary gently nuzzled Sophie's side. Her recounting of events was now complete. Her memories and thoughts laid bare. Her cowardice and her punishment.

Sophie looked about as pale as a bedsheet. The recent revelation proved about as unsettling for her as it did to Sophia back on the Highwall. At the very least, Sophie was also absently petting the top of her head. A small but very much needed bit of comfort.

"Fuck." Sophie finally swore after a long pause.

Sigrid trilled her agreement at the sentiment. Both Yana and Sophia murmuring their own curses. It was a sorry situation but Ary was confident that they'll adapt soon enough. The trio already had about a week's headstart, having been the ones to go out of their way to acquire help from the Calnodel siblings. Knowing Sophie, she was confident that her girlfriend would get used to things.

The only thing that really worried her now beyond her fragileness was what removing the spirit really meant. If it was the only thing that had kept her whole, and without it she had lost function to part of herself. They said Sophie was draining me of life whenever she got hurt, that I was being eaten alive. Heh. But now? She somberly examined herself, did we actually accomplish anything or did I just play right into the hands of fate?

She frowned. If that's the case, then may the spirits forgive me for my transgressions. Her eyes flickered up to glance at Sophie. The elf's crystalline eyes almost shone with an unnatural glow as she welled up a little. It would seem that she had also wandered along Ary's line of thought and was being even harder at the realization of her uncertain future. Ary instinctively clutched onto her a little harder, a gesture that was quietly returned.

Feeling Sophie's pain, Ary knew now what the rest of her prayer would be. A prayer made to avoid what she feared the most. Forgive me for my transgressions and please grant me the strength to persevere, Ary continued her plea, for I ask not for the chance to live for myself, but so that I can make her smile. So that she won't shed tears for me. May the spirits grant this one wish if any… please.

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