Within a Field of Snow.

Her voice resonated throughout the cabin, sending another wave of pain through my temples. I could feel bile forcing itself through my airways, tempting me with the desire to vomit as the sickening sensation spread across my body.

Except, even with this domineering pain. Even with the concept of death standing right before me, my lips couldn’t help but curve into a weak smile.

‘Haven’t I been in this situation before?’ Indeed, my memories were all coming back to me now. Death wasn’t a new experience to me, not in the slightest. I couldn’t possibly count the creatures I’d slain, the wounds I suffered, the gods I’d scathed.

Now that I thought about it, I was here of my own volition wasn’t I?

Yes…I came with Tawny and Terros, we were here for a certain treasure. Water? The reason as to why still evaded me, but the details weren’t important right now. Just the motive.

“Why have I come here? Ah, that’s a tough one. You ask good questions!”

I took a deep breath, using this time to gather my thoughts and energy. Moving back slowly as I watched her continue to close the distance.

“However, isn’t that a little restrictive? I mean either/or? Why…how about this, I'm 80% here for compulsion and 90% here for self-satisfaction. Does that work?”

Baba’s eyes narrowed, her suffocating gaze loomed over me just as a beast would stalk its food. Though, there was a subtle hint of softness in her eyes. In such a way that it appeared she was contemplating something, and carefully at that.

I slowly stood to my feet, using the window to support my weight as I struggled to stave off the awful numbing. Baba, in response, sighed.

“I see. Then there is no reason for you to worry, young one.”

She gently tapped her wooden pestle against the carpeted flooring, in an instant everything began to clean itself up. From the bile that slipped from my lips, to the blood and innards of the poor creature I’d dissected.

Baba’s glare turned gentle, and the numbing perforating my body slowly began to lessen. Allowing me to actually stand without the help of the wall.

“What is it you seek?”

Letting out a relieved sigh, I steadied myself on the carpeted floor. The hilt of my saber seemed awfully tantalizing at the moment, but I hesitated to unsheathe it if possible. Even I knew when a battle should be avoided at all cost.

…And frankly, I wasn’t exactly sure whether I could lay a scratch on the witch.

“Well, I came here to find a fountain? Fountains? But I guess I also have two others who came with me into this forest, you wouldn’t have happened to pass by them would you?”

Baba blinked a few times before turning to face her cauldron, turning back toward me, and finally looking through the window.

“Ah, the Titan and the Goblin?”

I cleared my throat, “Demi-Titan.”

“Yes, yes. Demi-Titan. They both answered incorrectly. Thus, they are dinner.”

“Oh, alright.” I stepped closer to the window, now pressing my full figure against it. Simultaneously, Baba’s pestle slowly began to shudder and float, ever so carefully drifting toward her.

“Say, Baba? They wouldn’t happen to be directly outside of this window, would they?”

Baba smiled, but I could see beneath her faux mask. Even the tone of her voice unveiled a far greater hostility—and even worse—an insatiable hunger.

“Why of course! They’re tied up to a couple of trees. The meat must be tender first, my dear.”

The two of us engaged in a fit of fake laughter, entertaining one another’s obvious ploys. Alas, that obviously didn’t last long.

The pestle had finally found itself within Baba’s grasp, and in an instant she thrust the abhorrent tool outward. Despite the distance between us, I had a sneaking suspicion it’d be able to reach me without much difficulty.

Of course, I’d predicted as such from the very beginning.

Gripping the hilt of my sabre, I unsheathed the blade and bashed its pommel against the ancient glass. Refusing to stall any longer, I simply threw myself out of the newly created opening, thrusting my blade into the side of the cabin to prevent myself from falling.

Had this been any other cabin an action like that would’ve been unnecessary, but sure enough, my worries were confirmed. Two gallinaceous legs sprouted from beneath the cabin’s floor, the legs were massive, trumping even that of a cyclop’s and just barely shorter than a titan’s.

Currently, it was standing still, but I was still hanging several feet above the ground. One wrong move and I’d inevitably plummet to my demise.

‘Why is it always a gamble with death? Is it so much to ask for a moment of respite every once in a while?’

With a scowl, I swung back and forth on my lodged sabre before finally letting go of its handle. Flipping over the blade and landing directly on top of it. The sword struggled for a moment, but eventually held.

“That’s a bit better, with a nice surface I could definitely…probably make it down there.”

It seemed Baba was preparing something, as she had yet to leave the cabin, but I wasn’t complaining. Even if it was brief this time would allow me to recall everything that led up to this point. My memories have been a mess recently.

‘The last thing I remember before arriving here was that conversation with Terros and Tawny during the farewell party with the crew. In regards to the Fountain of Life, we needed it for…’

For what, exactly?

Somehow, that piece of my memory still remained unknown. Everything else had already been set into place, it was just that one missing piece that’d bring the whole puzzle together!

‘Frustrating, but I guess I can just ask one of those two what’s going on.’

Crouching, I extended my arms outward. The muscles in my legs compressed, building energy as I located my target. A few meters away from the base of the cabin’s toe were two, massive trees.

Their emerald leaves and thick trunks contrasted heavily against the dreary forest’s flora. Making it fairly easy to identify where my allies had been restrained.

‘One…two…three!’

Leaping from the blade of my sabre, I plummeted down toward the Emerald Trees. Now I was completely unarmed, leaving me with no real way to break my fall or even fight back against Baba. But the solution to one of those problems was sure to arrive.

That’s what I hoped, at least.

In the midst of my fall, an ear-piercing cackle rang out from behind me. Filling the forest with a lurid howl as even the wind seemed to twist and contort in the presence of the grating voice. As anticipated, Baba Yaga had arrived.

She was riding in a sizable, barrel-like mortar. Despite its narrow shape it seemed to be able to fit most of the witch’s figure, with her arm sticking outside of the peculiar vehicle wielding that same wretched pestle.

Naturally, she easily caught up to my fall, causing the stone mortar to collide with my body at rapid speeds. The force of the blow was staggering, nearly shattering my spine on impact and forcing me to let out a pained yelp.

“Y-You would be an awful grandmother!”

Baba, unamused by my comment, commanded the mortar to speed up significantly. In mere seconds we’d crossed dozens of feet and fell into the dirt. A large crater formed beneath us the moment we came into contact with the surface—a cloud of dust announcing our arrival to the entirety of the forest.

Buried beneath the mortar and entirely paralyzed, I barely managed to hear the others.

“Lykoi? Is that you? What the hell did you do!?”

“Brother don’t worry! I’ll free myself, you just run away!”

I scowled, ‘Maybe leaving these two here wouldn’t be so bad…’

Pushing the thought aside with more than a little reluctance, I maneuvered as much as my position allowed. Pressing my palms against the surface of the crater as I slowly began to lift myself upward.

Baba seemed to notice my attempt at escape, suddenly causing the mortar to increase in weight by several tons—much to my dismay. And it was only getting heavier as time went on.

Soon enough, even my body would inevitably crumble beneath the pressure.

A sickening crunch sounded from my body, my cries muted beneath the unbearable weight of the muller. Even with my thoughts starting to become incomprehensible, I could still tell it wouldn’t be long now before the weight finally paralyzed me. Permanently.

I needed to find a way out, a method, something.

With my mind deteriorating rapidly, I felt myself slowly succumb to the effects of pain. Nevertheless, I held. In fact, the pain had only bettered my thinking—in a strange, masochistic kind of way.

Focusing on the biting cold caused by the snow beneath me, alongside the insufferable pain running down my spine. I concocted an idea of my own.

Using my abilities to their full potential wasn’t possible, not when the night sky was obscured behind the abhorrent mass of stone. Thus, I simply needed to use my own power and the use of another’s.

Preferably Tawny’s. But honestly anything worked. I reached out, feeling the flow of nature in the world. How it moved and what it connected to. Without a moment of hesitation, my hand dug further into the dirt, hoping to grasp the link I had found.

Deeper, deeper, and ever deeper.

The world came to a halt, Baba and the crushing weight of her weapon vanished. Nothing existed, save for an eternally expanding field of snow…and a man, cloaked behind a veil of ice and frost. Dang it, this was probably worse than Baba. I tried to back away, hoping whatever happened was recent enough that I could just slip out of it. Yet before I could, the man’s hand reached outward, pointing toward me.

The Oracle spoke.