Out From the Cold

It had been a year since the sun stopped rising in the east.

Crops struggled as the days grew darker and the nights grew colder. Villages were kept lit only by torch and wood. Men lost track of their working hours. It was not long before the castles of lords stood as the sole beacons of light, adrift in a sea of shadowed snow.

And that was before the creatures of the night stopped going to sleep. Vampire attacks were expected, sure, and the expansion of dire wolf pack ranges came as sure as the sun once rose. But the greatest problem of all were the skia.

Skia were formless creatures of pure shadow who feast on flesh. They were the reason why man feared the dark. For in the dark, the only thing a man sees of them are their teeth moments before they are torn apart. It is only in light that they are forced to have shape, size, and weight. It was only in light that they could be killed.

If life didn't freeze or starve to death first, the skia would consume everything.

----

Through the woods, a lone light wandered.

It was dangerous to travel between towns. There was no telling where the skia would be. All it took for you never to be seen again was for your lantern to go out. Fuel for those lanterns grew ever more expensive, and magicians kept their spells for their own use.

But the last paladin of Sol trudged onward to his quest.

He had a name. He had a face. But no one had bothered asking him for it. To them, the notion that he was still a devout follower of the sun god was noteworthy enough. They thought him foolish to worship a deity who had abandoned mankind.

The truth had been lost to nearly everyone. Everyone had their own theories on why the sun had gone. A lack of faith, vices and crimes left unpunished. Whatever their reasons, the people in desperation turned their anger and despair on those who put their faith in Sol. They burned his temples and put his followers to the sword.

The paladin was one of the last men to know that truth: Sol was dead. As long as Sol remained dead, the sun would never rise again. And long as the paladin was still alive, he would find a way to feel the warm love of the sun on his face again.

He looked to his shoulder. Perched on his pauldron was a lone crow, its three legs resting there. It would occasionally turn its beak, and he would then turn in that direction.

He stopped when he heard a rattling noise to his right. With a heavy sigh, the paladin unsheathed his sword. Once it was free, it exploded with the power of the sun and illuminated his surroundings.

There it was. A four-legged beast with three snake heads. One of the many forms the skia took when trapped by light. It charged the paladin and tried to bite off his arm.

The beast was dispatched with a single swing of his sword. But more rattling went off all around him once he did. They were almost chaining off of each other, three more appearing for every two he had slain. This happened from time to time; there were stories of skia chains that would draw in skia for a mile, and then those skia would draw in more from another mile. It was enough to overwhelm even the most seasoned of warriors.

Swing after swing, the paladin teared skia asunder. But something this time was different.

The three-legged crow turned its head to a part of the forest not being swarmed by skia. With a single caw, it took flight and darted forth into the darkness.

The paladin hesitated. Had the gods forsaken him at last?

It was enough to allow a skia to tackle him to the ground. He could barely keep it at bay, an infinite number of teeth baring down on him, drenching him in its own fluids. Others were starting to pile on. This was the end. They would smother his body with their numbers and snuff out his light once and for all.

And then the weight lifted. A flurry of icicles pierced the sides of the skia, knocking them onto the ground and evaporating in the light.

Another light had joined him. There was a robed figure standing in that light, the three-legged crow resting on their shoulder. The figure raised its hand and the snow they were standing on shuddered and rose to form a great wave that threw the paladin into the air – and then crashed down upon the swarm all at once.

He crawled for his sword and extinguished his flame, instead pulling his lantern back out of the new layers of snow. The figure was now approaching him. He had not seen a mage outside of town in months. It was unclear why one elected to show themselves now.

Of course, an extended hand was a sign. An uncovered hand held out towards him. “Come on.”

A female’s voice.

The paladin took her hand and worked himself back to his feet.

“I am Relena.” The woman took off the hood of her robes, revealing a pale-skinned woman with white hair. Two wolf ears stuck up through her hair, and a tail of the same color made its presence known behind her. “Chosen of Gaia, the goddess of the earth and nature. I have been looking for you, paladin of Sol.” She immediately discarded formalities, smiling with a toothy grin and her tail wagging behind her. “What’s your name?”

His… name?

“Come on. Take off your helmet and tell me your name.”

The last time his helmet was off in the presence of others, he’d nearly been shot by an arrow. But the crow seemed to trust her.

He removed his helmet, revealing a smattering of black hair stuck to his face from sweat and a poorly trimmed beard. His voice was quiet from not speaking for so long, but he finally croaked it out with effort.

“Peter.”

----

Relena was proving a resourceful woman, breaking off branches from what remained of the trees and lighting a fire with a single spell. Enough that Peter felt comfortable snuffing out his lantern to save fuel.

The woman sitting across the fire from Peter was focusing on putting food over the fire and slowly turning it. There were meats for sure, but he saw fruits and vegetables that were only grown in caves these days. And bread! Oh, he had missed bread.

His stomach rumbled at the sight.

That got Relena to giggle. “Someone hasn’t had a good meal in a while.”

“You can only have mushrooms and potatoes for so long,” admitted Paul. “How have you survived out here?”

She shrugged. “I guess my meat doesn’t smell as tasty as yours. Mind you, I can smell your stench from here. When’s the last time you took a shower?”

Peter couldn’t remember. The better question in Peter’s mind was when was the last time he was allowed to stay in town long enough to think about one. The three-legged crow was still on her shoulder and seemed to prefer her presence to his over it.

He took a bite out of the meat and chased it down with a handful of bread. A meal like this, he hadn’t had since before the sun vanished. This woman had shown him kindness in a way he’d thought was gone. “You have an abundance of hope, Chosen of Gaia.”

“Relena.” She frowned. “You will address me as Relena, and I will call you Peter.” The wolf woman plucked her own spit off the fire and took a bite. “And of course I have hope. I found you.”

Peter’s eyebrows shot up. “I give you hope?”

“Yes!” Relena ate more of her hearty meal. “Gaia spoke to me, and said you hold the key to the survival of our world in your hands.”

Peter looked down at his hands. They were holding whatever bits of food he hadn’t shoved into his mouth.

“Not literally!” teased Relena. “She said you had a plan to resurrect Sol. Without Sol, the earth grows cold and barren. Gaia can sustain life for only so long before there are too few left to pray to her. Or too few left to receive her blessings. I was asked to ensure your journey was a successful one.”

Relena circled around the fire quickly and ended up by Peter’s side. “So! What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to the Underworld,” Peter stated. “There I will parley with Death for the return of Sol.”

“….That’s it?” Relena’s head turned on a swivel, who then turned Peter’s so she knew she was looking him right in the eyes. “That’s your plan? To go into the realm of Death itself and plead for his mercy?”

“Yes.”

Relena couldn’t believe it. “That’s a stupid idea! We have to come up with something better.”

That got Peter to laugh. How long had it been since he’d done that, either? This was turning into quite the day.

“You’re laughing. We have to come up with a plan to revive the sun god and you’re laughing.”

“I’m laughing because I’m the only one who has a plan.” He smiled. “Everyone who’d come up with a smarter one is dead.”