There were no longer any other people on the road, neither behind nor ahead of them.
Instead, mountain ranges framed a big hilly landscape with pines and rocky fields around them.
Icy blue lakes were spread over the landscape, and as a whole, it was all covered in white green, and blue.
If it wasn't because it felt like the surroundings around him were trying to kill him with the cold, he would almost think it was a serene beautiful view.
But right now he was struggling just to advance ahead.
His body was screaming and the pain in his legs had returned. A wind blew his way and the muscles cramped up causing him to trip and fall.
The wind had not been forgiving and the dark clouds had started to spread snow around them at an alarming rate.
Huge warm arms brought him back to his feet, and were about to lift him up when Killian elbowed the man trying to help.
"I am ok Dante, let me go".
His tone was annoyed but his annoyance was not placed on Dante.
He cursed his body inside. The mood had not been great, and even Stella was doing better than him right now. Why had he ever thought they would survive in the North.
He should never have brought them with him on this crazy suicide trip, he had no idea how far they still had to go either.
His fingers unconsciously clenched the metal hanging from his neck. This was his only option to survive in this world outside of his crazy snobbish family.
They had cut their way through the forest to avoid the open, hoping the trees would bring them cover from the harsh nature, that seemed to be running wild at them.
Killian stubbornly walked ahead. Musting up his last strength to at least show an example of not giving up to the others. He had to lead them out of this situation.
Suddenly Killian stopped in his tracks causing the others to stop behind him.
A moving shadow? He thought he saw something dark between the trees shift in the dim magical lights that Stella and Dante had created.
He realized, he should not have gone ahead of them.
The moment the thought warned him, his feet gave in under him.
The ground was gone and he looked up to see the snow above falling with him as he got swallowed by the earth.
"Killian!".
The shock kept him from screaming as two silhouettes were desperately trying to reach him before the distance became too wide and hard rock surfaces knocked him about til even the light of the opening was gone above him.
His mind was panicking and body hurting when he suddenly felt like he was wrapped in a blanket, and his body started to be slowing down in his fall in a familiar way before it hit the ground.
The landing wasn't painless even with the slowing of the fall, and he laid there for a while, afraid to move in the pitch-black darkness.
His body was slowly starting to feel numb, but just as he had felt when falling out of the window at the Heathgrave estate, his body seemed to be dispersing the pain out of his body. There was no other way for him to explain the weird feeling of the dulling pain that was slowly dissipating.
The first thing he really felt was the cold, it was piercing through his body, sending heavy chills through him.
"Fuck," was all he could exclaim, as he looked around but was met by the complete darkness surrounding him. He felt the cane next to him and used it to get up on his feet.
'What do I do now?'.
He could not randomly walk around in the darkness, and instead spread his arms out feeling the air around him for something solid, while he slid his feet forward over the rocky ground.
A small chirp escaped his chest, and he sighed in relief as he took out the small glowing bird
That had taken refuge inside his clothes.
The dim light from the magical bird lit up the area, and he found himself in a cave-like crevice extending ahead of him with a narrow pathway between sharp rocky sides.
'Can you bring me help from the outside?' He looked down at the small bird curling up in his palm, the light emanating some heat that brought back some movement to his cold stiff fingers.
The thought of Rayden magically just showing up and helping him was a welcomed sight in his mind.
The bird just glanced up at him with a small chirp, and he sighed. Even if he send the bird back to Rayden, the man was miles away in the Capital and he had no way to explain where he was.
Even then the thought of letting go of this small source of light and warmth was unimaginable to him in his current situation, and he lightly stroked the small head of the bird as thanks to its existence.
"Thanks for being here…"
He mumbled and started to slowly walk forward on the pathway with the help of his cane in one hand and the bird in the other.
The air around him was cool but not stale, and the pathway did not seem nature-made, so he had some hope to find an exit, and the path forward was slightly inclined.
The walls around him had marks on them as if pickaxes had been picking at them, and there were small piles of rock as if they had been gathered there on purpose.
The bird did not seem to be affected by the nature around it, and Killian had to stop and sit down holding it close to his heart to bring the heat closer. He repeated this several times and he lost track of time completely.
His steps became slower and slower, and the effort to move forward seemed heavy. The cold was gnawing at his body and the temptation to sit down with the bird was strong.
The path ahead of him had not changed, and the darkness was starting to play tricks on his tired mind.
'Am I even moving forward?'.
Hunger was setting in and his whole body finally shut down as he sat back against the hard rock.
'Just a small rest,' he thought.
The bird kept nudging at his hand, more and more as his eyes slid down, focusing on the little creature's frantic pecks on his skin. It was almost soothing as it kept his mind from the rest of the pain in his body.
'Why is it so afraid?'
His mind thought back on some advice he had once heard in his previous life.
"Don't fall asleep in the cold…"
Was that it? Maybe, he couldn't remember, and instead held the bird close to his heart again and curled up with it while giving in to the sleep.
His dreams were faded and vague at first, mostly plagued by the memories of the young Killian from his new life. The scenes of maids ignoring his hunger, embarrassing him, and the head maids constant torture his legs and feet. But they became increasingly vivid.
It was as if he knew he was dreaming, but could not wake up. He screamed, trying to force his mind out of the dreams and back to reality, but it didn't work.
Again the old crone was stepping towards him, grabbing his ankle, using it as a handle to slide him across the floor, only to be met by sharp lashes across his soles.
He screamed again, but the dreams kept repeating the awful memories as if he was reliving them and feeling the pain just as the Killian before him had.
He looked into the hollow eyes of the maid, cursing her to death over and over again, but it did not stop what happened.
His mind was slowly giving up, giving in to the pain like he was losing grasp of reasoning when a warm feeling spread over his body by a golden light covering him.
Even in his dream, he saw the slight golden light spread across him, and his surroundings were now that of the cave he had fallen asleep in.
If this was another dream, he didn't mind it, even if the unknown were hiding in shadows and the stone was still hard against his back, the feeling eased his mind.
The warmth started to spread more and slowly became warmer as well, bringing some the cold from his limbs and laying like a blanket on him.
"Wh..What is this" The glowing light took a human-like form, hugging him tightly in golden arms, and before he could react, the human magical light kissed him hard like it was sending warmth into his body?
The pressure on his lips felt real, but the whole situation seemed like a hazy dream.
Killian breathed in deeply, longing for the heat, and kissed back gratefully just as hard.
The cold in his body was not completely gone and he started removing his clothes for the golden being to touch his skin directly, making him let out a long sigh of relief when he had not been wrong that he could feel the pressure on him as the heat touched all parts of him.
He didn't care what was going on he was just greedy for this feeling to not go away, keeping the nightmares away and the thought of reality slowly killing him, outside of this moment.
The kisses became deeper, and he thought he could even feel a tongue starting to enter his mouth and he sucked on it greedily, hazily looking up into a face that seemed familiar, but the eyes were golden and the skin as well, with a dim light emanating from it.
The hair was in a ponytail but had slid down over the shoulder tickling his nose, and he couldn't help but smile back at the being, even if it wasn't real.
If this was the end, it wasn't too bad, as it seemed the intensity had increased, and with it the heat from the kisses was never-ending, keeping him from breathing. His tired body finally gave in to the comfort, letting his mind slip away to a dreamless state.