Six of Ruin (Heirs of Irenwell #1) ✔

Chapter 44: The Spell Unlocks

The moment we left the Spirit territory everything changed. The warm, mild air shifted to merciless, biting cold. The green fields switched to ice-covered flat terrain that spread as far as the eye could see.

There was nothing on the ice, no trees, no buildings, not even rocks sticking out of the ground. The mountains of the Spirit territory stood forgotten behind us, turning smaller and smaller the further we went.

The vastness frightened me. There was no cover, nowhere to hide. Cold burned through the soles of my boots, through the robe that hugged my body. It bit my face, my eyes, my lungs.

We've been moving across the ice for three days without rest.

Nickeltinker was handling it the worst. His body wasn't made to endure such cold. He coughed all through the night and spent the day being carried by Frank.

I was a close second in this how-close-to-death-are-you competition. Danilo and Rixen seemed pretty unbothered by the cold, but they were hungry. We were all hungry. Despite having been warned multiple times to take food from the town of Dahn, the fire took us by surprise and we barely bought anything.

Ace coughed his lungs out next to me. We were slightly behind the group.

"Are you alright?" I glanced at his bare feet. "Why aren't you ever wearing any footwear?"

Ace wiped his runny nose, "I need to stay in touch with the elements. It makes me feel the magic."

Rixen turned his head, "Our mage just might die of old age before we reach our destination."

Danilo smirked. Torvald let out a throaty laugh.

"Oh, suck my cock, shadowman!" Ace shouted, then immediately coughed some more.

"I thought you'd be more durable." I mumbled.

The mage sighed, "I'm old, Irina."

"How old exactly?"

"I'm turning 793 this winter." Ace answered.

My eyes widened, "You said you were seven hundred years old! That's almost eight hundred. Are you lying about your age, wizard?"

Ace's eyes narrowed to slits, "Shut up."

"Seven hundred and ninety three," I did the math in my head, "You were twenty-two during the War of Men."

It seemed impossible. The man next to me, one to whom I've repeatedly told to go fuck himself, was older than the human reign.

"I was a young mage back then." Ace said. "My magic hasn't even blossomed properly. My entire family died in that war."

"I'm sorry." I muttered. "Humans can be assholes."

"All species can be assholes." The wildness in Ace's green eyes calmed down and I wondered what he saw when he looked at the world.

He witnessed kingdoms collapsing and species dying. One could understand how something like that could turn him into a cold-hearted bastard that now stood in front of us.

"What Soterios said back on the wall..." I took in a breath, cold sliding down my throat, "He said your time was running out but it didn't have to. What does that mean?"

Ace kept on staring ahead, "Ir-kaal is a different plane, more powerful than ours, or even aether. Some say if you harness the power of Ir-kaal, you can reach true immortality."

My eyes snapped at him, "Is that what Soterios wants? To become immortal?"

"The longer you live, the more you fear death." Ace shrugged. "Soterios is some four hundred years younger than me, but he's already afraid."