Deep in the dusky gaseous clouds of the Horsehead Nebula, there exists a lone planet known as Arcadia, home to a peculiar race of people called demons. Residing in secrecy for their entire existence, the many classes of demons are in constant confli...
After our nightmarish encounter in the Sloth Ring, the next place Zain and I got dumped into was the Envy Ring. The land of jealousy was a frigid world covered in ice and snow. Blankets of white coated every part of the ground, and the rare few trees that grew in the area were decorated by jagged dangling icicles ready to drop down onto the heads of passersby. Much of the land was surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains that would be nigh impossible to traverse.
Up in the dark, cloudy skies, rippling ribbons of aurora swirled, the bands of misty, gossamer light undulating in colors of red, green, and blue. As the two of us walked through the frosty realm, we passed by all manner of ice structures, from buildings, to homes, to looming pillars and temples and entire complexes carved from ice or hewn into ice caves. We passed under an icy bridge, where spike-like protrusions of ice hung down, resembling the jagged teeth of a monster.
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My body was so beaten and exhausted. I could barely work up the strength to keep walking. The constant cold bit at my exposed skin like frigid fangs. Every step in the snow felt like treading on needles. Because of our planet's lack of sunlight, Arcadia was always cold, so I was used to chilly temperatures, but this was way too much. The demons that lived in the Envy Ring had to endure these harsh conditions, and hunt the dangerous feral demons hiding in the mountains to survive. It was a far cry from the endless decadence of the Lust Ring.
Of course, Zain was the only person who didn't care. Unbothered by the cold, he gazed around with stars in his eyes, running toward anything that looked interesting. He absorbed his surroundings with a childlike glee. "This place is so beautiful," he beamed. "Diamora, when we're finished with this Sabbath thing...I want us to live here together!"
"You want to live here?" I grimaced. "But why? This place is cold and miserable. I can barely feel my toes."
"I don't think it's that cold," Zain said. "Besides, all these ice structures are so incredible, it's amazing that anyone was able to live here like this. You demons must really be a hardy bunch, huh?"
I lightly kicked at the snow. "Yeah...I guess so." Nothing seemed to get him down. No matter what happened, or what horrors we faced, Zain always came out smiling. I couldn't understand it. What did he have to be happy about?
Did the gift of just living alone really bring him so much joy? Or had he not yet experienced enough of this cruel world to be jaded like I was?
The dark-skinned vampire approached me, watching me shiver in the snow. He frowned, then removed his long white coat and draped it over my shoulders. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his embrace, holding me against his abdomen. "There, that's better. Maybe you're right, it is too cold here for you." While he held me tight, his body gave off no heat, just as his heart refused to beat. He was stone-cold like the ice and snow, but I didn't say anything. "I'll carry you the rest of the way," he said. "You look tired."
