There is no spring.
There is no green grass.
The only thing known of the world of Gelida is snow, ice, frigid waters, and struggle. If there was a reason things changed, nobody can recall, nor are they certain things were ever any different. Life is...
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I will choosing to die rather than to remain alive without freedom and beg, as an alternative to death, a vastly inferior life -Xenophon
The night is windy, howling with icy gusts across the plains of Gelida. The ground, blanketed in snow as always, glistens in the light of the full moon. A clear, starlit sky settles above the ice. It's beautiful, peaceful almost, but nobody is outside to observe. As serene as the scene may be, nobody's stupid enough to venture outside the secure walls of town after sunset.
Some, however, are desperate enough.
Alex sprinted across the ice-covered field, his bare feet burning from the cold and aching from old bruises and blisters. From a distance behind him, snarls and growls collectively increase as whatever's chasing him gradually gets closer. He continued running, but he knew that exhaustion would soon overtake him. Thinking quickly, Alex turned to a nearby tree and began to climb all the way to the top, his arms slowly stiffening because of how sore they were.
It had been nearly a week since he first encountered the things, and it was exhausting him. One minute he's hunting along the Dead Wood's edges and the next thing he knows a band of those same bloodthirsty monsters were chasing him with no reason whatsoever. Though they only chased at night, their persistence was terrifying.
He reached the top of the pine and covered himself in the silver leaves, praying that they and the darkness surrounding him would keep him hidden. Soon after, the sounds of growls and footsteps surrounded the area and singled out his hiding spot. Dark silhouettes of vicious beasts crept around the base of the tree, stopping momentarily from time to time. Alex held his breath, knowing that if the smallest sound escaped him, he would be dead.
Silently, he waited. And waited.
After what seemed like an eternity, the growls and snarls of danger had finally moved on elsewhere. Relieved, Alex sighed lightly and looked out to assess his surroundings. The dim torchlight of Orfeim laid ahead to the east, somewhere close to half a mile from his current position. All other directions stretched out with frozen wasteland for what seemed indefinitely.
Weighing his options and considering his condition, he reluctantly decided that, however dangerous it was out in the outskirts, it was safer to stay in his tree for the night than to venture out again and risk being attacked and likely killed by those... things. Alex took off his leather bag and placed it in his lap, opening it and taking out his water flask. He took a few conservative sips before placing it back in his bag and taking out a necklace with a small, silver pendent fixed to a pink shard.
He clutches the amulet to his chest, reminiscing of his life before going off on his own, the comfort of village life, and the warm memories of his family........
And the horrors than sealed their fate.
He whimpers, the thoughts of them weighing heavily on his mind.
"I- it was all my fault....." Alex mumbles to himself. Slowly, tears began to form in his eyes as his shaky breaths escaped him in warm puffs of white. Memories filled his head before he could stop them, and suddenly he was there again, in Shchina. It was that same eventful night, the one that had haunted him for the past three years in vivid, gruesome detail.
His body began to shake violently, almost as though he had hypothermia, and the small whimpers that escaped him turned into complete sobs of anguish. The sudden release of his emotions which he bottled up for so long pained and overwhelmed him.
Make it stop...... please.... Alex thought. His sobs became chokes, his broken breaths into gasps for oxygen. The tears he had shed grew cold on his face and began to ice up.
I just want it to end.
He looked downward and considered letting himself fall, which would almost certainly kill him. His death would be quick, he would finally reunite him with his family, and the burden of survival would be lifted off his shoulders. The image of his lifeless body laying on the ice with blood staining the white ground came to mind. He leaned into the idea, slowly tilting off his branch and loosening his grip on reality. Just before he let go, his eyes snapped open and he stumbled to regain his balance.
Taking a moment to process what had just happened, Alex readjusted his position and wiped the tears from his eyes. The past is in the past, I shouldn't let it haunt me forever, he thought to himself. With that, he shifted on the branch and laid down, eventually finding sleep in the unforgiving cold.
Elsewhere, within Orfeim's secure walls, a tower stood over the many homes and structures. On it's balcony was a telescope, a chair, and a snotty teenager staring outside the village borders.
