Ashley opened his eyes and had one thought running through his mind
Cold
He had never felt such cold in his entire life
He finally raised his head and was shocked by the scene. Ice was covering the place around him. He tried to raise his hand to rub his eyes to check what he saw, but he was not sure whether he raised it or not because he felt numbness throughout his body.
Finally, he stood up, and the only evidence was that his sight was raised above ground level because he literally couldn't feel anything in his body, but he still moved it strangely.
He spun around and walked before he collided with a lump on the ground. He had to stop for a moment to realize what it was
He was a human being. No, he was one of the killers
After concentrating and looking around, Ashley noticed more lumps spread out across his vision
He unconsciously looked in the direction of 'that thing'
There, he felt this strange feeling of disgust and fear surrounding him
He unconsciously hurried his steps in the opposite direction
He saw a knife on the ground on his way and picked it up
He lifted it slowly and then directed it with a strong blow towards his neck, or perhaps that was what he wished for because he did not feel anything
He heard the sound of something falling
With his sarcasm, it was not his blood, but rather the blade of the knife that shattered like glass when it touched his skin
Ashley really wanted to cry this time
He cried a lot today, but...not being able to die in a new way was painful
Keep walking without stopping
In the end, he found himself in front of a ledge. As soon as he looked down, he realized the terrible river below, and the noise of logs and water hitting the edges of the rocks could be heard around the river.
Ashley didn't look back
There was nothing to look at
He advanced to the end of the ledge and took the last step to a non-existent footing position, only to quickly fall to the ground
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"What is the matter?" A man with long, tied hair raised his glasses and adjusted them on his face
"Nothing.....just that it's hard. I sense different things around the forest, some strange powers too, but I can't find it," a young man with blond hair and blue eyes replied.
"Yes, it would be very difficult to search for something you only know about in a huge forest and not even tell us what it is."
"Because I can't, Juno, you know!"
"Huh, well, well...
....You and your secrets that hide secrets." The man got up, carried the papers, and left the tent
in instant Suddenly, the young man raised his head and turned it towards the side of the tent
"Ian?" another man called and entered the tent
Ian smiled and got up, "I found him."
"What? Are you serious? Now?"
"Yes, let's go now." They both left the room while a faint blue light appeared from the blond boy's sword
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Melisia really wanted to go back to the headquarters and rest in her room, but of course she had to be here because their commander wanted to (well he is actually the deputy commander, but now he is their commander, right?), not that she didn't want to listen, but that he was keeping his information to the point of bringing them here without even knowing what he wanted. It's become annoying lately
"Ev, do you feel it?" Melissa turned her head towards a girl with blue hair and long ears next to her.
"Yes, it's strange," Eve shook her head as she stared at the side of the waterfall above them in front of her
The water in the waterfall lake was getting colder and colder
"Let's just get out. Maybe they've found something already," Eve said
"Nah, if they find something, they'll already let us know," Melissa said
"Are you sure?" Eve looked at Melissa, and she was right
They won't necessarily tell her they've found something because their leader has a track record of acting alone and making them follow him on their own.
"You're right, wait, isn't the water really cold now?" Melissa's body began to tremble a little more as Ava went back to looking at the waterfall.
Blocks of ice fell with the water and became larger each time
"What is this..."
This time, something larger fell from the waterfall into the lake, but it was not a piece of ice this time
"This…" Melissa muttered
"Creature." Eva moved towards the drowned body but stopped when she noticed the layer of ice covering the lake
"Fuck, we're going to freeze," Melissa screamed
"We have to get him out. He will sink under the ice like this," said Eva
"How do you even know he's alive? Let's get out," Melissa said and headed to leave the lake
"No, he is alive." Eva looked at the other with clear, confident black eyes
"Okay," Melissa walked over to their bags, took out a book, and headed back to the lake
Melissa got as close to the ice as she could and opened the book
Red circles around her began to appear and ignite, while her red hair shone as she carefully read the spells
Little by little, the layer of ice on the surface melted and Eva approached until she finally reached the body
"I told you he was alive." Eva lifted the body, which was barely covered by any torn and burned pieces of water, and placed it on the ground.
"Oh." Melissa looked at the body in front of her
"For the first time, I'm thankful that I used mitigating spells and didn't rush out and burn him completely."
"The ground is freezing too," said Eva
"What? "
"The ice spreads out of it. It's strong, but it's not fast enough to consolidate and freeze a large area."
"So how is he still alive?"
"I don't know," Eve shook her head
"Shall we take him to camp?" Eve turned her head to Melissa, who looked at her questioningly, then looked back at the pale boy's body in front of her.
"I think so"
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"What's going on?" A man with long hair approached the two girls who were talking anxiously in front of the treatment tent
"Juno, where is our leader?" Eva spoke
"He's not here. He and Hyuk have been out for a while."
"Shit," Melissa whispered
"What is the matter?" Asked
"We found something," Eve said
"Do you mean what Ian was looking for?"
"Well, we don't know what he's looking for, but if it's a pale child freezing around him, then yes."
"What? A child?" Juno's face tightened
"He's inside," Eva pointed out
"You brought him here?"
"So should we leave him to freeze the entire forest or die?" Melissa shook her head
"Oh my God." Juno came forward, pushed the side of the tent and entered
The healing tent was a little smaller than the rest of the tents, but it was enough for a few people
He turned his head toward the source of coldness at the side of the room and looked at a body with a few red burning circles circling it
"We barely managed to reduce his temperature with Melisia's circuits, we didn't want to use stronger magic because we don't know how his body or strength would react to it," Eva said.
"Good." Juno stepped forward and looked at the small body of the child in front of him
He looked barely eleven or twelve at the latest
The ends of his hair were black and grey, while his head was filled with shiny white hair with a few gray strands, which somehow seemed to match the cold around him.
He lowered his eyes and stared at his calm face. They looked like nothing more than a peaceful child, but Juno was too old to judge people by their appearances.
"Did you burn him?" Juno asked and looked at the burn on the side of the boy's face and on part of his shoulders that he was expecting more under the white sheets
"No! what?!" Melissa shouted
"It wasn't us, but it seemed fresh, too. I didn't dare try to heal him because he might react negatively to the doses," Eve said regretfully.
"What do we do now?" Melissa said, and the rest fell silent
"Mm...m..." The three looked at the boy, whose eyes slowly opened
He finally turned his head towards them, and the confusion disappeared from his features, revealing a terrified face instead