I gripped the railing of my own room’s balcony looking out over the city, the crisp cold air of the perpetual fall comfortable against my skin, the huge open windows letting the sound of the constantly bustling Halloween party that is the city filter in from the fairly sizeable distance between the castle and the edges of the city. Huge skyscrapers of neon light and huge floating blimps and other structures themed to Halloween as it is my mother’s realm, she is the ruler of Halloween so the world here is as she wants it: Sombulce is a world of eternal night and eternal Halloween, so…it’s an intense and hectic world to have grown up in, but it’s home and I love it here.

I walked over to my huge closet as I looked through everything I had, looking to see if I had anything that could possibly handle the absurd levels of cold that exist in Everwinter. Of course, I didn’t have anything made for that level cold and my tolerance for the cold is not as server as it would be for Viktoria, but I just wanted to talk to her, see her again and…everything like that. I thumped my forehead against the wall softly as I rifled through the thick line of sweaters and jackets I have, looking for something that would be okay to wear in the snow, but nothing I had would be considered proper for any level of snow, let alone literally being in the North Pole.

I flopped down on my huge beg as I held my choker up, my mother gave me it when I was sixteen as a way for me to properly use and control my magic, myself and the others…we didn’t go to any of the magical colleges, we either were taught by various schools in our parent’s worlds or were homeschooled or…things of that sort, once I was done with high school, I’ve not stepped foot into a school. I sat up as I closed my eyes and focused on the magic as I fastened my choker back around my throat, my darkened vision swirled and twisted through endless shadows before this…intense cold started radiating through my body as I sent my senses back towards the North Pole, I could also travel and teleport through graves and…as long as there is a headstone, I’d be able to crawl out of the ground and freely get to Everwinter. I could see the massive city sprawling out in all directions of my senses, but in just barely there neon lines forming the outline and structures of everything, not letting me see anything properly, but just the vague aspect and shape of the architecture as I sought out a graveyard or something. Eventually…I was able to find something, but it…wasn’t what I was expecting, instead of a graveyard with ornament or candy cane shaped headstones like I was expecting, my vision instead went into the mountain that Viktoria’s home is built upon/into, the tunnel kept moving downwards as the stone shifted to thick permafrost crystals as this…tectonic mausoleum opened up before me: coffins and caskets entombed in stone and permafrost, the ground outside was far too frozen to dig graves in, so…they put the caskets and coffins within the walls of this…cavernous tomb. Huge white pillars framed the hall in mirrored sets, shaped like candy canes forming the structure of the hall, the crooks crossing at the apex of the peaked ceiling with huge bowls of flame held from the ends of the crooks, ornament shaped lanterns adorning the walls about other sorts of Christmas themed structures and elements. Despite the fact I was just…looking into the area, I could almost see my breath myself, I could feel this impossible deep cold that made my bones rattle it was so intense, but the cold was so intense that any scent or other sensory element around me was muffled and almost removed: I couldn’t feel anything other than cold, I couldn’t smell a thing, my teeth rattled despite being a projected feeling…yet there was the intense scent…of sulfur, of coal and of smoke.

I gasped as I shot up in bed, my clothing crunching as I did so making me look down towards my clothing where frost had collected and sprawled across my shoulders and down the front of my shirt making me shiver as I could see my breath pluming in front of me.

 “How can somewhere be so fucking cold?!” I asked myself in a harsh whisper as I rubbed my arms to break away the frost and warm myself a little, I quickly clambered out of bed as my legs were wobbling from shivering as I walked over to my fireplace before I flicked my hand and blew across my palm as neon orange flames shot off my palm and filled the fireplace with matching orange crackling flames. I rifled through my pocket before taking my phone out as I flicked through various contacts before Viktoria’s name showed…though I had never texted her, I’ve been just…too nervous to ever contact her. She’s been this…I wouldn’t say mentor or anything, but…I’ve looked up to her incredible and she’s this like…I look up to her, she’s so powerful and so cool, she’s not the most polite person or anything, but there is just something about being around her that is just fun to be around, she makes everything interesting and nothing is ever…normal around her in that sense. I’ve had that crush on her sense we met for the most part, I just…choke up around her, I can’t talk, my throat goes dry and my tongue goes dumb, there is just…nothing I can do except stare at my feet or the ground when I’m around her…but, I’m also not going to just drop in unannounced and or without permission of some kind, so…despite my hands shaking like crazy from a mixture of the cold and my nervousness…I closed my eyes as my face contorted in nervousness as I just…forced myself to send her a text.

Hey, it’s Gabriel…can I come by Everwinter? I kind of want to talk about everything that happened with the warlords.

She quickly sent back, the photo of her that showed for my contact for her was from some article she was talked about in, her dark green coat that she’s never seen without, hair a mess around her and loose as she had a hand on Avent. She doesn’t have the most feminine features to some: her features are extremely strong and angular, to most her face would be more masculine than feminine, but without a doubt, she is the most gorgeous person in the world for me: the severity of her features that much more enchanting with her perpetually flushed cheeks and the manner she acts and speaks, that harsh and angular severity clashed with her bold and rather rude and borderline mean personality making those instances where she is very kind and sweet that much sweeter. I bit my lip as I looked down to my phone to see what she had texted me:

Ah, Gabriel, I was curious if anyone was going to contact me about that whole ordeal, not expecting you though, you’re so…quiet and demure, but your text is welcome. Please, if you do wish to come back Everwinter, contact me beforehand, you know how cold it is here, so…you’ll want someone to help you with that.