Chapter 1 - The Northern Reaches

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"Tell me, Darius. Do you think the world is dying?" asked his companion, a muscular fella who was carrying a load of firewood as he pushed his way into a tight opening within the rocks. Some twigs caught in his crimson shirt and snagged at his golden tunic as he let fall the stack of firewood from his grip.
There came a reply from behind as his partner smaller in size and much slender too entered the cavern behind him. "I don't know what to think, Amadeus," he answered hesitantly. There was a brief pause as he placed his bow and satchel on the ground and wiped at the snow that had gathered atop his frozen garments. "It would seem so," he continued with a defeated sigh. "Tomorrow, we will have our answer once and for all. I’d rather we not dwell on it tonight. Can we not just have one more night filled with hope."
"I suppose it can wait,” The larger Snow Elf said with a snort. “Whether or not our land is shrinking won't matter if we freeze in this cave tonight.” He gave a one-shoulder shrug and then continued to pick at the twigs that had become entangled in his garments. Finally, carelessly he tossed the sticks and smaller twigs into a pile, breaking the bigger ones as he went.
The cave was littered with signs of previous use and quickly Amadeus made use of a premade ring of stone where an old campfire lay dormant. The remains of charred wood and ash from its last light had long gone cold and the scattered pieces of once sharpened arrowheads and remnants of animal bone gave a false impression of the rich wildlife that the Northern Reaches was once renowned. For generations, hunters had taken refuge in that very cavern, but that was a different era, a different world entirely to the one they lived in now and as Darius let out a defeated sigh, Amadeus knew what he was feeling. With each passing year, the animals migrated further south and now, only the fiends of darkness now roamed these plains.
"I've already lost one home to this damn weather," Darius muttered under his breath as he turned back to the cave opening. The cold wind outside whipped at his cheeks and flailed his long milky white hair over his pale-skinned face as he began to erect a wall of snow that quickly negated the winds and with it, the last of the late evening sun. His frustration was not brought on by merely the icy temperatures, afterall he was Snow-Elf, the kind of Elf that thrived in the colder parts of the world. But this cold carried a stigma. A taste of their tainted past and most likely, of what was to come.
"The wind is picking up again.'' Darius finally said aloud, snapping himself out of whatever trance he was lost in.  “I have never seen it so bad,” he acknowledged. “At least… not since I hailed on the mountain."
"And yet the winter months are not upon us, Darius. This journey would be impossible during the snow season,” Amadeus said, snapping at more twigs for kindle.
"Up here in the Northern Reaches, all seasons bring with it the snow. It’s merely just how much of it." Darius responded unable to remove the gloomy expression from his face.
"I only meant--"
"I know what you meant, and yes, it could be a lot worse," Darius replied, bravely pulling a smile as he turned to meet his companions gaze. "It's why my father held off until now to send us again. But, even compared to last year..." His words trailed off, such was his need to even finish his sentence.
At that moment, Darius pondered how his partner was holding up. Amadeus wasn’t a Snow-Elf, at least in the true sense of the term, but nor could he be considered a mere human. He was something in between and yet had the characteristics of both. He was tough but not immune to the cold like he was and this worried the slender elf.
A flame sparked from Amadeus's hand that caught Darius' attention and illuminated the darkening cavern. Before he could ignite the tinder however, the strength of the flame that expelled from his hand wavered and then ceased. Despite the tingling sensation in the tips of his fingers, the half-elf could not garner the strength to cast his flame. "I've reached my limit!" He barked with agitation. His shoulders dropped as frustration seeped through his cold bones.
"That's what you get for relying only on your physical strength," Darius mocked with a shake of his head and with a small smile that twitched the corners of his lips he continued. "How many times have you been told to exercise your Will of Fire? It is like a muscle, if you do not train it you cannot expect it to work."
“Yes, Maester Tassinari,” Amadeus resposnded sarcastically.
Finished with the entrance, Darius turned with hands that began to exude an intense flame as silence befell the two and with a shuffle of his neck, Darius gestured to swap places as he kneeled before the stack wood.
Quickly the firewood caught fire and Amadeus reached into his pack and pulled out an envelope. He glanced at it for a moment but noticing his partner was watching rushed to hide the letter back into his rucksack and instead pulled out a small blade along with a parcel consisting of a neatly wrapped package. Darius’s pale face brimmed with excitement as Amadeus unravelled the leaves that covered a slab of deer meat they had taken from a kill earlier. As he cut it into generous portion he later pierced them with the thicker twigs before balancing the cuts of meat atop the hot fire.
The temperature within the cave rose and with it the aroma of the food quickly hit their nostrils… and their stomachs. With the entrance now blocked, the smoke had nowhere to go besides a few gaps in the ceiling that acted as a chimney as the heat wrapped around the room and its warmth seeped into their flesh. Darius may have been a Snow-Elf, but even he too could appreciate the touch of a cosy fire and quickly their ice ridden clothes began to thaw and the bitterness of the world outside was forgotten, at least, if only for a little while.
Amadeus removed his boots with their frozen laces and replaced his soaked socks as Darius kicked his bag towards the cavern wall. Tired after a long day trudging through deep snow he planted himself down atop his sack to escape the cold floor. The wall behind him was hard and uneven against his back but he did not complain. His legs still aching from their march north were content. Amadeus let out a yawn and quickly he did the same but with his huge mass, fidgeting with his balance, shifting his bulk back and forth atop his bag could only succumb to his predicament. "Aye, I'm as much a Snow-Elf as you are a damn troll," he barked, beckoning the duo into a spurt of laughter as reluctantly he accepted the hard uneven floor.
It was their dying laughter that alerted them to a noise from beyond the cavern. Their moment of contentment was interrupted by the harsh reality of the Northern Reaches as a howl  and wail of a beast could be heard with only the layer of snow acting as a barrier to the dangers outside.
"The smell of cooking flesh seems enticing to the wolves it seems," sniggered Amadeus as the pair shared a glance. He leaned forward and turned the sizzling steak that was beginning to colour. "Too bad!"
"The wolves are getting desperate, Amadeus. It must have tracked us for miles. Maybe since we killed the deer for all we know. It's certainly been hours since we have come across any sign of life but by the sounds of it, there seems to only to be the one.” Darius surmised as his long Elven ears twitched as the howling continued.
"So much for the infamous wolf-pack. Still, it’s a wasted journey for any that come for I am not the sharing type."
"Let's just hope that wall holds,” Darius said looking at the entrance as if it could burst at any given moment. “If it doesn’t, we will all be eating tonight, our fluffy friend included."
"I assure you, Darius, I am not on the menu," Amadeus replied as he stretched for his blade, bringing it to his side, twirling the hilt between his fingers. “Though, dare it continue to persist? It shall be on mine."
Darius could only smile at his partner’s confidence. Beyond their confinement, the sound of such a beast would send a shiver down many a warrior’s spine, yet Amadeus was not shaken nor was his arrogance out of place. Darius knew there were few things more deadly than a starving desperate wolf, but the son of Andris Galati was surly one of them. "I’ll cook off the rest of this meat. There won't be any more opportunities to prepare food until we complete our task.”
"And if the end is not where it once was?” Amadeus said bluntly.
"Our journey will be cut short then,” Darius half joked but the hole that appeared in his gut was not as confident. “The Maester will decide what to do if it should come to that. He will call a summit with Tobias and the other lords and leaders of the realm. The Snow-Elves are not in this alone.” Those words would play on Darius’s mind for the hours to follow.
---
The night rolled in fast and the eerie cries from the beast outside rang deep into the night. Darius with his sensitive elven ears tossed and turned in frustration for what seemed like an eternity before finally, after some time his mind wandered deep into his an uneasy slumber. As he drifted further, he saw himself standing amongst a forest of great trees that towered into the sky when suddenly, a low whooshing sound followed by a deafening roar made him drop to his knees. This was not the first time he had seen such a dream and yet he was powerless to alter the course of it. He looked up to see a massive dragon, its wings stretching wide, and it’s scales glistening in the sunlight that pierced the canopy of the trees overhead then nothing.
The fire, left unattended, died out leaving an unsettling chill in the air. Then something woke the slender Elf as Darius’s eyes flew open to the darkness that surrounded him. Was he still dreaming? It sure didn’t feel like it but dreams had a strange way of being deceiving. Replacing the continuous howling was an ominous silence and for a long moment Darius lay still. Confused, pondering, but his ears were ever reacting to the world around him. Then the faint scuffling outside the cavern pricked at his lobes, alerting him to the fact that they were not alone. At first, he thought Amadeus grew impatient to the wolf's cry and went to fetch breakfast, but as he sat up and again cast a torch from his hands, he noticed the snow wall was still erect, and his partner was very much still asleep.
Careful not to rustle up any unnecessary noise, he staggered towards the snow blockade still disoriented as he wiped the the sleep from his eyes. Reaching the entrance he slowly pushed his flame fused hand through the snow creating a small window as the mornings light breached the cavern dazing him as it entered. Collecting himself he again peered out expecting to see a stalking wolf but instead only an untidy trail of blood was etched into the ground that veered off left and out of sight. Swallowing heavily, the lump that had formed in his throat refused to be pushed down as his focus returned to the pool of blood and to the footprints that he now noticed next to it. He tried to ascertain who or what they belonged to but the suspicion of what creature it was likely to be gnawed at his gut.
“Fiends?” Amadeus mumbled loudly, his voice thick and slightly slurred with sleep, quite unaware of how loud he was talking.
Darius jumped at the sudden noise and glanced over his shoulder at his companion, staring at the dark mound for a moment before he returned his attention back to the peephole. “Shh, yes” He ushered looking back out at the pool of blood. It wasn't a clean kill he thought to himself. This was careless, even ruthless in execution. An act made in desperation for a creature, starving and relying only on its killer instinct to survive and a need to feed.
All too quickly, Darius’s vision was blurred as the hole went black and then after a moment a bright yellow iris blinked back at him, sending a shock that rippled through his brody as he fell backwards and a yelp escaped his lips. His fingers fumbled instantly, trembling slightly in the panic as he aimed his bow and let fly an arrow that cut through the air with a wisp. A screech of pain outside signified a direct hit as the nock of the arrow and a few inches of fletching juddered back and forth relentlessly before coming to an abrupt stop.
Jumping to his feet, Amadeus grasped his sword. His legs parted in a stance ready to fight. "Let’s get out there and earn our breakfast?" He barked.
"Calm down, Amadeus, It may have only been the one,” Darius soothed, sounding much more confident than his wracked-up nerves gave him credit, but even as he spoke the words he knew that his confidence was futile at best. Drawing in a shaky breath, he turned his head and flicked his wrist, throwing a flame at the wall as quickly it began to melt.
"Come on, faster. I've heard of a lone wolf, but for a goblin, not a chance. A horde will surely be nearby." Amadeus demanded as he impatiently smashed through the last of the snow stumbling over the corpse of the fallen goblin.
"That's odd," Darius said, retrieving the arrow that was lodged deep within the monster's eye socket and wiped the residue on a rag he had used for cooking the night before.
"Aye, so it is,” Amadeus affirmed. “What’s a forest goblin doing so far north? They aren't the brightest of creatures but even so, a rarity that one has wandered back up here. Still... it explains the blood, and the kill. I doubt a grey goblin could kill a blinded kitten, never mind a fully grown wolf."
"Do you still believe there may be others, or is this just a stray?" Darius asked.
"I'd like to think there aren't any more of them. A horde of green goblins would prove more troublesome than the ones that spawn up north but nothing the pair of us couldn’t handle of course."
"Of course... of course," Darius mumbled sarcastically beneath his breath, not sounding quite as sure of himself. He turned back into the cave motioning his partner to follow. "Let us make haste. The weather is surprisingly calm so we would be wise to make the most of our luck. This blood will surely draw more wolves if not anything else. Their senses are not dulled even in these conditions."
“Can we not eat first?” Amadeus moaned with a stretch.
“You can eat on the trot. We have a job to do.”
“Yes yes I know.” Amadeus complained. “Observe the rope we placed a year ago and determine its length. If it is indeed shorter than it was a year ago, well then your grandfathers shrinking theory is correct.”
Finally ready, they set off again on the last leg of their expedition as a low light of the sunrise above them gleamed through the clouds that drew their attention upwards to the sky as the first flakes of the day began to fall. Despite everything, it was beautiful, regardless if secretly it masked an impending calamity.
“Our fate awaits us, Amadeus. At the edge of the world.”
---
Five hours into their march the conditions ever worsened, but this was to be expected of the Northern Reaches. The wind’s got heavier and so did each step which seemed to take more effort that the last but they remained persistent. Long had it been since the sun disappeared back behind the thick and puffy cloud and now the duo wrestled against a torrent of white that swirled down on them.
The musky smell of the void was now a firm indication that they were nearing their destination and the corpses, the remnants of the goblins created and born in the darkness at the world’s end, reaffirmed it. Not strong enough to escape the wrath of the north. They lay still in the snow where they fell and perished.
“How much further,” shouted Amadeus.
“Another hour or so I'd say,” Darius replied. “But It’s hard to judge what pace we’re making in these conditions.
“Look, there’s another one.”  Amadeus gestured to a fiend that was frozen in the snow.
“I’m surprised they made it this far,” Darius yelled, trying to make sure that his voice was heard over the roaring winds. “I almost feel sorry for them. Look there's another one,” he gestured to a fiend that was not yet hidden by the snow. It lay curled up, almost human like as the slender Elf looked on with an emotion that wasn’t far removed from pity. “This ones still breathing,” he concluded.
"Show no remorse," Amadeus retorted, thrusting his sword into the skull of the fallen monster. "Any that survive will grow, ripen and become a threat as they travel south.”
“It’s just when they are this weak and defenseless.” Darius responded but his words fell on death ears.
“You would show mercy to a creature that would butcher you in your sleep without a second thought? How many stories do you need to hear of baby’s being mauled in their cribs to understand that these are not creatures that can be understood with our own reasoning? The Warlocks of the sands thought they could tame them and look at them now.”
“You're right, Darius turned as another goblin merged from the snowstorm in front of him. Raising an arrow as he adjusted his bow. He paused for a second, composed himself and then assertively pulled at the string as he watched the monster apporach gnarling, nails gripping at the snow as it hauled its crooked and wicked body forward, it’s jagged teeth bared out at them. Indeed, these were the monsters from his grandfather’s stories and nothing less. He had seen first hand their destructive prowess when given half the chance and so he released his finger.
The arrow swept through the air, silent, disguised in the roaring storm, but with a direct hit the scream that followed brought a brief shriek to the air as it pierced the goblins chest and it fell to ground. A stream of purple leaked out and onto the snow as Darius approached to reclaim his arrow. Now above the hill, his eyes rose, yet again squinting to peer through the storm. “We’re early,” he announced, shock riddling in his voice as his fingers anxiously curled tightly around the hilt of the arrow.
“Quite a few hours early at that,” Amadeus replied, advancing closer, almost in disbelief, his voice slightly trembling at the sight before him.
Darius put a hand on his partner’s shoulder. Despite the ill feeling that twisted in his stomach, he kept moving forwards. He had to see it at his feet to truly grasp the truth. Suddenly as  if a higher power spared him from his thought, the ground not too far from where he was standing began to vibrate furiously and then in a flash a large chunk of earth broke off and fell into the abyss below. The wind was screaming, clawing at the air, covering up a sound that should’ve shattered the air.
"This does not bode well," Darius said in disbelief, dropping his bow as his arms went weak. “No... not at all.”
Amadeus’s half human face paled almost whiter than the snow under his feet. in his mind, he cursed. “No need to test the rope then, is there?” shaking his head in shock. “It’s claimed the whole bloody thing.” Joining his partner at the edge, he looked down as curiosity tingled through him as not even a shred of light broke through the darkness of the void. “How long until it swallows us up?”
“It’s worse than Dalzell feared. A lot worse,” Darius answered.
“How long have we got Darius.” Amadeus pushed again.
"I don’t have the answers!” Darius snapped. “This isn’t something you can just guess. It depends on how our world deteriorates further without alchemy."
"Alchemy was sealed nearly fifty years ago. Why are the effects of it only being felt now half a century onwards?"
"Don't be so naive my friend," Darius shot back. "You're just too young to appreciate what came before. We had to abandon Leuven, our home, sixteen years ago because of the weather. Fiend sightings have been on the rise and our control over the element has been ever weakening since the event. The Alami and other races that were once dependent on alchemy have all but perished, very few remain, and others like the dragons are now but beasts of legend. The fallout of the incident is all around us. The great quake a few years ago was just the first sign that this is a problem that all within this realm must face. A world just takes longer to die I suppose, that's all."
"Could the Snow-Elves die if choked of alchemy? Like the dragons and the Alami I mean? Before the void gets us that is," Amadeus questioned.
"Who's to say? We live in unprecedented times. Alchemy was the building blocks of what made up our realm. It affected different races and creatures in ways we can only speculate. Without it there is no sure way of telling how much we depend on it. But the fact that we are still here now tells me that our life force doesn’t depend on it, at least not fully.”
Amadeus did not respond. Having once doubted the elders theories, again and again, they had proven true. As butterflies invaded his stomach he quickly backed up to a safe distance.
"Let's go home," said Darius. “We have seen what our future holds.”
---
Departing they set their focus on the journey home as the sun got lower in the sky. The darkness and bitterness of the cold crept back in. But fighting through the cold and tiredness was aided with the motivation of a soft bed, a hot meal and even warmer fire awaiting them back in the village. They called it a village, but in reality it was nothing more than an old fort, a relic of an old war. Still, it was more appealing than the cold cavern floor and the leftovers they would be eating tonight. The wind, harsh and unyielding, was at least now on their backs, which made the return journey somewhat easier despite their tiring limbs and aching bones telling them otherwise. All the same the grim news left them depleted and for a long time the pair barely spoke.
Their journey south came to a sudden halt however when the pair spotted a horde of fiends, marching unaffected by the cold caught their attention. Darius gestured to a lonely tree, too stubborn and proud to join the rest of the fallen trunks and the pair quietly made their way to it so as not to be spotted.
"What are they up to?" Amadeus asked, arriving at the tree first. Slyly he peaked from cover, squinting to ascertain all that there was to see. "There are dozens of them, if not more. Goblins both grey and green, trolls, Ogres too and what are those? I don't even know what those are."
Darius shot a hand forward, slamming it onto his companion's shoulder yanking him back. "Be careful Amadeus… With that many eyes, it would just take a stray glance to spot you. Let them pass; we cannot hope to deal with those kinds of numbers.”
Amadeus knew his limits and nodded. "This valley only leads to the village. They must have come down off one of the mountains."
"Yes, for sure. My father would have ordered them hunted down if they were spotted near the village. What direction were they coming from? east or west?"
"Travelling west, coming down off Atholia and heading to the Silver Mountains.”
"To our old home?" Darius said letting out a resentful sigh. "Nothing but a gathering spot for the fiends of darkness now."
"What should we do? What if they divert south and attack the village?" Amadeus said resting his hand on the hilt of his sword."
"The village will be fine; it will take a lot more than a few dozen to cause a problem. The garrison was built to withstand attacks from more than a few fiends. We'll just keep our distance until we can get to the cavern. I guess we will have to do without a fire tonight.”
Amadeus opened his mouth to complain but quickly thought better of it and clamped his mouth shut. Instead, he turned and ignored Darius’s warning, peeked past the tree once again as the last of the fiends were nearly out of sight. "I definitely have not seen those ones before. Strange looking creatures all the same." He announced.
"Let me have a look," Darius said, his interest piquing as they swapped positions and he too peered from around the trunk. "You're right. Whatever it is, they are surely foreign to this region. If I had to guess by the colour of it..." Darius stopped mid-sentence, his neck snapped back. "Oh no..." he breathed out.
"What?" the larger elf quizzed.
"It looked straight at me."
"Did it see you?"
"Yes, no. I don't know."
"Well, have another look."
Darius crept his head back around carefully. "Amadeus, they are coming," he yelped. Popping around bow in hand without thinking twice, he quickly launched four arrows in succession, taking down the strange creature and a few of the nearby goblins. One arrow missed its target and lodged into a troll which let out a deep roar as the fiends were alerted to their presence.
"Take out as many as you can," Amadeus said, unsheathing his great sword with red bitten fingers.”
Darius let loose a second barrage of arrows, upping the tempo taking down the troll, its twin and another three goblins until he quickly exhausted his arrows "I haven't any left"
“Well I suppose it’s better to die a warrior's death than succumb to the weather like a stray dog," Amadeus said with a cold smile.
"Wait..." Darius butted in "They have stopped."
"What do you mean they have stopped?" Questioned Amadeus, almost disappoint as he saw the fiends anxiously looking to the sky. What are they looking at?”
“Wait, i hear it to. Darius raised his hand to his twitching ear. "
"Hear what?  I can’t hear a damn thing over this wind" Amadeus replied.
"Above." Darius gestured.
"I can’t hear anything and I sure can’t see anything,” Amadeus Barked. “What is it?"
Before Darius could reply, a green flame emitted from the sky that illuminated the Northern Reaches that had been nearly all but in darkness as the evening dusk was coming to an end. The sight before them was both confusing and overwhelming. The light revealed the mass horde of fiends that had gathered. Hundreds of the creatures dispersed frantically as the flame devoured Goblin, Troll, Ogre and anything else in its path. As quickly as the source of the light appeared in the sky it was then gone only to reappear at a different location.
He could feel his skin start to blister as he tried to back away, but he knew he couldn't turn his back on the dragon.
"What sorcery is this?" Amadeus said, breaking a sweat as the heat of the flame engulfed the area before them.
"No sorcery, there can be no doubt. This is dragon fire!"