Our Soul Nexus

Chapter Thirty-One

The Northern Tundra. It was famous for its unforgiving elements, and now Ayben was at its mercy. To be faced with another Greater Demon would be preferrable, at least then he would know his fate had a decent chance at getting out alive.

But with the stark white, flat bounds of nothingness, harsh winds whipping at his body, there was little Ayben could hope for with this.

The thick snowy blizzard made it impossible to tell which direction would guarantee safety and which would send him further into the storm, never to return.

He looked at Rizel, who had the same concern on his face.

He shouted over the wind. "Use your magic! Find the nearest glacier to guide you out!"

Ayben couldn't respond over the chattering of his teeth, his body wrought with tension and tempered with ice. But he did what he could, moving slowly to cast a sigil, which was more than an effort while being struck with snow and wind.

He managed himself, though, casting a basic tracing spell to lead him to a solid structure. He hobbled along, feeling slower than if he were to crawl his way forward. But he pushed forward, continuing until he found a new solid structure.

A glacier.

It offered minimal reprieve from the wind, but Ayben would take whatever he could get. Holding a hand against the glacier, he walked forward, using the contact as his anchor in the blind snowstorm. There was no way of knowing how long he could keep this up.

He could only continue to pulse mana around his body to protect himself from frostbite, nothing else was helping his body to fend off the freeze. Rizel kept by his side and Ayben made no objections, knowing it would make more sense than not to be with each other.

There was only one thing on either's mind – survive. While it was bright and still daytime, the visibility was awful, and the cold was just as fearsome.

Ayben had almost tripped a few times now, his feet slowly shuffling along the edge of the icy rock.

He squinted his eyes as a small, dark opening appeared in the side of the glacier he had been tracing. Taking no moment to hesitate, Ayben beelined towards the opening, gripping the glacier wall, guiding his shivering body towards safety.

Even the ice under his fingertips was warm in comparison to the splinters of ice that whipped against his face. Once he stumbled into the cave, the wind that had been driving against his face vanished, disorienting him as he walked forward with a little too much force.

He was still shaking from the deep-set freeze in his body, but the air inside the cave in comparison to the outside, was toasty. He felt a little dizzy at the shift in temperature and lack of wind, and it wasn't until he looked deeper into the cave that he realised the warmth wasn't just his body adjusting from the tundra. There was a small, orange light flickering against the slick ice wall.

Ayben felt his muscles tighten at the sight – who would be out here in the middle of nowhere?

His question was answered by the figure that approached him from around the corner of the ice wall, the orange light shadowed by their figure. A short woman with a small build, wrapped in white furs stared at Ayben with a weathered, unsmiling face.

"We need to stay calm. Leaving this cave is not an option." Rizel whispered to him.

Ayben didn't disagree. He watched the woman walk with no haste towards him, as if she were on a leisurely stroll.

Once she was about seven meters away, she spoke in a low, slightly hoarse voice. "I recognise you."

Ayben frowned. "I'm sorry for intruding. I'm lost and have no way of f-finding my way back to my class."