Chris
"We can delay and see you off tomorrow. Are you sure you want to leave in this?" Abigail gestured out into the growing snowstorm. The snow had started falling as the sun rose and a good few inches were already on the ground. The clouds were abundant, forewarning much more to co.
The first snows of the year had co and gone when my arm was finishing up and the current storm dumping a layer of snow on everything was not the first. Watching more accumulate, the layers building, it was making antsy. I knew that Winter would last for multiple months but I couldn't help but want to start now.
It technically wasn't even winter yet, as the solstice had yet to happen. It was still a month away, which made this a Fall snowstorm.
"Bah, there's no better weather! This is perfect!" I said boisterously, cheerful that my journey would begin with a fun start.
It amused they wanted to delay on account of the weather when they knew I had conjured worse. Others were already limiting their ti outside and everyone already switched out of any tal armor they wore.
Any Warriors that fought in plate would only put it on after they were in the Dungeon, as counterintuitive as that sounded.
Putting it on after clearing the First Floor was less dangerous than freezing to death on the way there while the tal sapped your heat. The only way around it was lining the inside with furs and trying to do the sa on the outside, which didn't always work that well.
It made for a... bulky layer to fight in.
"You read the report, right?" Abigail asked after I denied delaying.
The scouts ranged far and wide around the City and she had compiled together all the information we had on anything to the North of us. It would only last for a few days to a week until I traveled past where our scouts had been, but it was better than nothing.
"Yes, I read it but I may need to check and make sure our scouts weren't drunk," I said. The papers said there were Saber-tooth tigers or sothing remarkably similar that was spotted last week before the snows ca.
"They weren't drunk. We don't even have any alcohol and that isn't the first report we have of... fantastical creatures." She defended her information.
"Why did you have to go and bring that up? What I wouldn't give for a cold beer." My eyes misted just thinking about it, "But yes, I rember. What was it last ti?" I tried to rember the last report stating they saw a beast that was impossible, "Woolly Mammoth-no-, Woolly Rhinoceroses!"
That one ca in the previous Winter from a scout who deviated from his course and lost his way in the snow. With everything covered in white, it was easy to get lost if one wasn't careful.
He ended up spending a week in the snow and ca back with wild stories.
While so many things had Changed, for so reason, people drew the line on extinct beasts walking the Earth again. Most for the simple reason they hadn't been the ones to see it.
So had traveled far and wide without a hint of anything fantastical. So ca with us from Ohio and covered thousands of miles without a hint of anything like it.
"It's not that far-fetched and I wish you would take it more seriously." Abigail chided, "You can create a localized blizzard and the World grew by at least two sizes! What difference does it make if there are Woolly Mammoths again."
"I know, I know." I waved her off, "It's just amusing to think about. You should tell Austin about it when he gets back. He'd go out in a storm even worse than this to see that!"
Thinking about how much the man complained about the snow the last ti he was here, it made chuckle to picture him bundled up wading through it trying to find sothing fantastical.
As much as I liked to annoy my sister, I did actually think the reports were real. It wasn't that far-fetched to believe in them when everything else had happened. Honestly, it was more unbelievable to not believe in them after all that happened.
People could shoot magic out of their fingertips yet so still held onto the past reality like they would crumble away if they didn't.
It was a part of the trip I had been looking forward to the most.
Painstakingly building up the City took ti and effort I couldn't spend elsewhere. The only traveling I did, other than to go fight Demons, was to the Dungeons and back every day.
I wasn't the one out scouting or free to explore the surroundings for anything cool. I was stuck here and could only read reports of the cool things.
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But now was my chance. To lay eyes on the mythical myself.
The child inside of couldn't wait.
"Alrighty then," I said slapping my legs, "It's now or never!"
After saying the customary Mid-West goodbye, it took another hour until I was finally out the door. Everyone had co to see off which was entirely unnecessary.
Anna and Josh waved their little goodbyes, while the rest looked on from atop the Wall. Remi had been particularly upset that I wasn't bringing him. I never did get to ride him as much as he wanted.
Sarah would be his caretaker while I was gone, though, as I wasn't sure he would survive my trip and I didn't have the room to pack food for him. It wasn't like he would be able to graze where I was going.
Speaking of food, my pack was loaded with jerky of all kinds. It would last a long while but I would still get most of my food through hunting. Fires would be difficult to start but I had ways around that.
With everything set, my hamr strapped in, my pack loaded down, and my feet ready to get a move on, I left my City for only the second ti and this one was for a much more pleasant reason.
"'Find an area of intense cold and breath of pure Winter'." My voice mocked as my feet plodded through the thick snow. What did that even an?
The snow had started to slowed down, as its depth had grown dramatically. I had spent the first week standing atop it, using my control to strengthen it enough to hold my weight.
It worked to save energy but was utterly draining to keep up for an entire day.
I had, at first, taken it as a chance to train. Now that I wasn't manipulating my arm every day, I had to find other ways to advance my skills. [Ice Manipulation] was on the cusp of Rare, I could feel it.
After days spent doing the sa thing for hours on end, it had gotten old. Even the dropping temperatures and picturesque scenery weren't enough to keep going through the grueling task.
I still did it occasionally, but it just wasn't worth it when I had the strength to power through the snow. Even when the banks reached above my hips, it wasn't hard to push through them with my strength.
The first week had been a blast. I was free from all my obligations. I wasn't required to do anything. Everything was up to my own whims.
[Glacial Presence] grew with every passing day and with every mile North I traveled. While the boost was invigorating, and I was having a great ti in such a pure Arctic atmosphere, it didn't feel like ho anymore.
It was comforting and familiar, but I had made my ho elsewhere. Built it brick by brick.
Surprisingly, I was interrupted rarely.
Now that I wasn't inside a populated area, I could let myself relax. The tight control I kept so I wasn't constantly pressing down on people was released. It felt like taking dress clothes off after being forced into them for a special occasion.
The shoes especially, as I swore designers took a perverse joy in making dress shoes as uncomfortable as possible.
In doing so, almost everything I encountered made way as I ca through. Only a few things had stayed and growled, but I left them mostly alone.
I wasn't there to kill everything in sight.
Plus, they were only defending their hos and I could hardly begrudge them that. So even had little ones with them, shuffled behind hind legs or curiously poking out of dens in the snow.
The only ones to receive the hamr were the ones who didn't know to leave well enough alone. Either because of hubris or stupidity, it didn't matter and they were perfect supplents for my travel rations.
Gay and stringy, but edible enough to not be disgusting.
I had known that the Arctic would be more lively now and had even experienced it when the at still rolled into storehouses last Winter, but it was another thing entirely to walk among it.
It felt wondrous.
Rodents more fluff than flesh hopped in and out of tunnels burrowed in the snow, munching on the surprisingly lively plant life. None were the verdant green one would expect, but brown-grey and covered in a layer of snow and frost.
The fruit of their labor was packed with Snow and Ice mana as it was the nutrients the plants used to grow and was a welco break from the endless at of my previous diet. Even raw and plain as they were.
The bushes were scarce but the little fluff balls found their way to them through the feet of snow.
Stalking them were predators both on land and sky.
Arctic foxes and feline hunters diving through the snow after prey was like a scene out of a nature docuntary. It was the foxes who usually went after the various rodents, as the cats liked the snow hares more. At least from what I could tell.
While those were cool to watch, it was another that fascinated more.
Snow Owls.
They were silent, nearly invisible, and incredibly deadly when they hunted. I could watch their wings flap and not hear a thing, they were that silent. Even with snow covering the land and making sound carry as it did, I still couldn't hear anything.
Even though my Perception wasn't my best stat, it was still way better than a normal human.
Other than being completely silent, their coloring made it nearly impossible to see them. Pristine white feathers were easily lost in the sky with other specks of white drifting down.
Even spots of grey and brown to break up the solid color didn't give it away and did the opposite, making it even harder to spot.
Lastly, I had yet to see one of them miss a dive.
Even the best predator in the world wasn't 100% successful. I didn't think the Owls were perfect, just I hadn't seen one miss yet. It was fascinating to watch and made want one.
Sarah could keep it well-fed and happy.
I shook my head. Maybe in the future, but now wasn't the ti for it. She was busy with the horses and the wolves and was expecting foals in the coming sumr. Plus, it seed wrong to take the Owls away from their natural habitat.
Their white coloring made them invisible here, but it would stick out like a sore thumb without the snow to blend it.
Instead, I only observed while I walked.
I wasn't sure where the perfect spot would be but it wasn't hard to imagine that it would be further North. It was impossible not to feel the change as I walked. Thicker, purer Ice mana suffused the air and there were even hints of Arctic around.
There was even a sudden snowstorm that carried Ice Laws I walked through a few days ago.
That had been a surprise and I took a detour to experience it before the storm broke apart. It was my first ti seeing Laws naturally and it did not disappoint.
We knew they were a thing from others as we heard stories of a tornado destroying most of a city with Wind Laws spread from so of our new arrivals.
I wonder if I'm in the Northern Territories yet. It feels like I've been walking for months. Is that even the right Province I'm in? Ah, fuck it. It's not like it matters anymore.
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