The days blurred together as Beast ran with her on his back. He would stop at times and find abandoned troll dens for them to rest in. A chill seemed to seep into her bones and never leave. It was all she could feel apart from a gnawing hunger, even the pain from her shoulder disappeared into numbness. The only reprieve she had from it was the warmth of Beast’s body. He was her only flame in the darkening, cold wilderness around her. If he had the energy, he would venture out and find something for them to eat. It was never enough. She always needed more.

She saw no sign of the Shade but heard his voice in her fitful dreams. He spoke to her, called to her in a tongue she could almost understand. Azael, The Shadow King he called himself. Then, Beast would wake her again when the smell of death got too close. She would drag herself onto his back, each time the effort grew more strenuous, and they would run again. Ava yearned to feel warm again. Struggling through the desolate cold was tiring, he told her that it was easier to give in. Warmth would be found if she would just come to him.

“No! Do not listen!” the Frost Spirit would shout, and Ava clung to Beast as the cold air whipped against her face.

It was five days when Beast finally broke past the forest. At least she thought it was five, she lost count so many times. He sped towards Minervin’s Nook and made it to the edge of the hill before his legs gave out suddenly and he rolled over, throwing Ava from his back. She gasped painfully when she landed, her arms too heavy to break her fall. The crystal slipped from her grasp, clattering along the ground like glass.

The ground around it froze instantly and frosty wind swirled around it, growing with such force that Minervin needed to put up a barrier to protect himself. It shattered instantly at contact, and he groaned at his frost-covered arms. Ava crawled over to reclaim it quickly.

“Minervin, are you alright?” Ava asked weakly when the winds died down.

“Of course I am, child. Fern’s Breath Ava! Your skin!”

“What?”

“Never mind,” he answered, pulling her up and guiding her to the cabin, wary of getting close to the crystal in her hand. “Is that the spirit? What happened? It has been utter chaos here after the Whirlwind disappeared from the skies.”

His face held concern but a great measure of relief as well. He plopped her down on his bed, rifled through a chest and pulled out a satchel. The leather was worn and discoloured, but big enough to hold the coin purses and a few extra items.

“Here, put the crystal in here. It is a magi’s satchel, there is a void inside, a space between this world and Lands Eternal. It was created to hold an unlimited number of items, provided they can fit into it. It should keep the crystal and its power under control. When you need it again, stick nothing but your hand inside and it will fall into your palm. I give you fair warning though, put in only what you can remember to take out, lest the item be lost forever.”

Ava put the crystal inside. Wind and frost burst out from the seams. He threw it quickly over Ava’s uninjured shoulder before it broke apart, and it calmed.

 “Interesting, only you can possess the spirit,” Minervin observed.

He gave both Beast and her a drink of the Panacean waters. Beast was on his feet almost instantly. But Ava felt all the energy seep from her body after she swallowed a sip of the sweet water. She collapsed weakly into the bed with a painful groan. Her vision blurred and she heard him laughing in the dark recesses of her mind.

Alarm crossed Minervin’s features, and he folded her clothing away from the injury. It looked like a clean cut, but it was deep and showed some early signs of infection. He cleaned it out and bandaged it as best he could.

“I need to have another look at it once we have everything on the ship. Now tell me what happened.”

Ava described what she saw, what Azael the Shadow King told her and how he cut her. Ava flinched and groped at her shoulder. “It was raising an army, Minervin. The shade is raising an army of dead. I – think it wants all of Archaicron to bow before it.”

“Then we leave immediately, the dwarf assures me the ship is ready to sail. Whatever else needs to be done, will be done at sea.”

Minervin lifted her from the bed and guided her outdoors, stopping only for Malgorn’s leather-bound book when she beckoned for it. Screams filled the crisp air outside, so many and so tortured. Minervin turned from the path to the coast and followed the sounds.

The Outpost was ablaze, set upon by an army of rotting dead filing from the forest. They tore at the wooden walls and the gates. Barging through whatever gaps they could find.

“No! I have led them here,” Ava mumbled beside him.

“Hush, child! The Outpost would have fallen with or without your interference,” Minervin chided.

Ava squinted when a figure rode out of the blaze atop a horse and galloped toward them.

“That damn imbecile will lead them right to us!” Minervin growled, turning them around and heading toward the coast. Ava watched, unable to rip her eyes from the massacre.

Crastius rode through the dead, his horse dodging through the mass of hacking and slashing Draugr, but he did not see the archer aiming from a short distance away. The arrow caught him in the head, and he flew to the ground from the impact. The horse, however, continued to gallop, speeding passed them as the archer watched and spotted them. It yelled hoarsely to the others, indicating to Ava and Minervin with his bow.

“Curses,” Minervin muttered, rushing them to the coast.

Ava’s breath caught when their path was blocked by a pair of Saber cats, their fur was matted and mangy.

“But they died in the forest, I was certain of it,” she said.

Minervin let her slip from his grasp and called flames to fingertips. Ava tried to unsheathe her sword or dagger but lacked the strength and energy to pull them out, she felt so useless. It is my fault, I just wanted to help and made everything worse.

The larger Saber cat with a gaping hole in his throat attacked them first, but Beast intercepted it. Minervin threw a fireball at the second attacking Sabre cat and flames engulfed it, fire taking to the rotted fur like kindle. It left a strange painful roar behind as it careened back over the hills.

Minervin turned to the second Sabre, locked in battle with Beast. He could not attack it without hitting Beast as well.

No, I will not falter now. She reached for her bow and nocked a diamond-crust arrow. It whistled past Minervin and hit the dead Saber cat. It lost all its fight and stood unmoving. Minervin looked at Ava, then threw his fireball when Beast backed away, warily. As the fire consumed it, the Saber cat still did not move.

Minervin turned from the dead army approaching and rushed to Ava, dragging her to her feet with a strength she did not know he possessed.

“Beast!” he called, then shoved Ava onto his back when he came. “Take her to the ship, I will keep them at bay to allow you the time to set sail.”

“No! I am not leaving you behind!” Ava yelled. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of losing him.

“Do not argue, Ava. We will not make it to the coast together and they cannot get their hands on the Spirit,” Minervin took her arm and placed his hand over it. When he removed it, a strange metallic symbol was branded into her inner forearm.

“Should you ever find yourself in Casimir Empire, go to the Snake Tongue Inn in Landon and show the innkeeper this mark. She will give you the key and directions to my cabin. Everything inside is yours now. Make a home for yourself there if you can. Beast will enjoy the woods, I think,” he said sadly, then tied Malgorn’s coin purses to her belt. “Now run, Beast and keep her safe!”

The Sabre cat took off like the wind, ripping her grasping hands from Minervin's robes. He turned to the mass of dead running wildly behind him before the hills blocked her vision. Flame and fire rained from the sky between them, and unnatural shrieks filled the air.

Ava turned and buried her face in Beast fur. How will I face the world without Minervin’s guidance? This is my home. It is not fair that I must lose so much.

“No!” she moaned, and her heart dropped discouragingly.

The ship set sail and was drifting from port, already too far from it for Beast and her to make it aboard.

Beast growled and turned suddenly, nearly throwing Ava from his back. He ran up the hills and onto the cliffs that overlooked the half-frozen sea. The men saw them and shouted, gesturing to them as the ship turned and sailed passed it.

“We will not make it, Beast. The ship is too far.”

‘Beast will make it. Mother must hold on tightly to Beast’s fur even if it hurts Beast’s back.’

The Sabre cat veered onto an overhanging cliff and increased his speed. He jumped as the ice cracked and a big chunk of the cliff face disappeared into the sea below. Beast crumpled as he landed on the bridge with a loud yowl and Ava was thrown from his back. She tumbled painfully before coming to a stop. Finklhaan helped her up.

“The wizard?” he asked.

Ava looked to Minervin’s Nook, the dead filed in great mass between his cabin and The Outpost. Both locations were ablaze, and smoke filled the sky. Bursts of light still flickered between the hills of the nook, often at first and petering out until nothing flickered at all. Ava’s heart grew far too big for her chest to hold, and she attempted to stifle a mournful wail.

The shade appeared from between the hills, drifting and stopping at the edge of the cliff, a dark glass bow glinting in its arm. He took aim and released; Ava ducked as the arrow flew towards her.

The dwarf was not as quick. The arrow hit him in the shoulder and then disappeared in a smoky haze.