Night had painted the world in deep blues and ink-blotted shadows. The forest stretched endlessly, thick with the scent of damp bark. Moonlight filtered in slivers between leaf and branch, ghosting over the sleeping trees like breath on cold glass.

  Ash sat motionless against the trunk of a gnarled oak, knees drawn to his chest. His eyes, empty yet alert, stared through the flickering fire that barely warmed the clearing. The embers hissed softly, as if whispering secrets only they could understand.

  Across from him, the elf didn’t blink. She hadn’t in hours. Her silver eyes, sharp as knives beneath her hood, remained trained on him—on his wrists, his hands, the shift of his breathing. She held her dagger loosely at her side, but the tension in her muscles said she was ready to move, to stop him if he so much as twitched the wrong way.

  She hadn’t slept, since the sky dimmed into dusk and certainly after his failed suicide attempt earlier. She had a lot on her mind and his current state did not make it any but easier than it needed to be.

  The night stretched, taut and quiet, until Ash finally broke the silence.

  "Why do you care?"

  His voice was coarse, fragile. It cracked more from shame than disuse.

  The elf tilted her head slightly, her white hair shifting in the breeze. She didn’t answer immediately, and when she did, it was with a slow, steady tone.

  "I don’t."

  He blinked, confused.

  "I care about what’s inside you," she said, gaze unflinching. "You’re a vessel, Ash. I need that vessel alive long enough to reach Solspire. That’s all."

  Ash’s mouth twitched—not quite a frown, not quite a smile. He looked down at the dirt near his boots.

  "I can't go on," he murmured. "I’m sorry."

  Her lips thinned. She exhaled quietly, the wind catching on her cloak and tugging it gently to the side.

  There was a moment of silence between the two, before she broke it.

  "For people like us," she said, "who’ve lost everything… the only thing we have left is to keep going. Or else everything that was lost—every name, every life, every breath—becomes meaningless. And they deserve more than that."

  He flinched,like her words had landed where a blade might. But his shoulders stayed hunched, unmoving.

  A beat passed. Then another.

  The fire popped.

  "Why did you try to kill yourself?" she asked.

  Ash didn’t answer right away. His hand trembled as he brought it to his mouth, fingers grazing his lips. The memories were too loud in his head.

  "I hear them," he whispered. "Every time I close my eyes. Their voices... as they burned. Screaming for help, I see them every time I stare into the flame. And I—I didn’t save them. I should have. But I— Somehow... it feels like it’s my fault."

  The elf’s expression didn’t soften, but there was a quiet shift in her eyes— something that wasn’t pity, but perhaps recognition.

  "Pain," she said, "doesn’t play fair. It finds us, claws at us. Sometimes it cripples, sometimes it carves. But it comes for all of us, just in different ways."

  Ash looked at her, eyes rimmed red, voice barely audible.

  "Why are you telling me this?"

  She paused. Then:

  "Because sometimes, the vessel is just as important as what it carries."

  Stolen story; please report.

  A silence settled between them. Not a peaceful one, but a silence that felt earned—raw and unfiltered. The kind that stretched from the inside out.

  The fire crackled softly.

  Ash exhaled, shoulders loosening just slightly.

  The elf curled up closer to the fire, trying to get more warmth from it. Slowly she spoke, "I used to thing it was a lie, saying the human lands were warm and sunny in the day. By night the world would freeze, some places becoming a frozen land."

  Ash looked up at her, she was staring right back at him with strong, powerful eyes. "The eternal frost, when it's winter the nights become more unbearable to even live it. There's barely anything to eat, fires don't even keep the body warm. The world just freezes over, and if one falls sick there's almost never a remedy."

  She rubbed her hands on her long pointy ears to warm them before pulling her hood over her them. "Ever since the dragon's death, winter never leaves. It clings to us like guilt— old, bitter and merciless."

  Ash opened his mouth to speak. "A curse?"

  Then—

  Snap.

  A sharp crack, faint but deliberate, echoed from the treeline.

  Both of them froze.

  The elf’s was already on her feet, every muscle tense, her posture shifting into something primal and alert.

  Ash’s breath caught.

  The forest no longer seemed so asleep.

  And in the dark, something was moving.

  "No human would be wandering this frostbitten world— not unless they had forgotten what warmth was." She muttered.

  The elf's eyes scanned through the forest around her, only some moonlight pierced through the tree branches and leaves. She contemplated putting out the fire to hide their position but the fire seemed like the only source of protection for Ash.

  She took one glance back at him and said, "Stay put, I need to find out what's out there."

  Ash slowly nodded.

  The elf glanced through the forest, she pulled down her hood and listened into the night. The only thing she could hear was the crackling of the fire behind her, she leapt off the ground and onto a tree branch to scan the surrounding.

  Her ears soon started to twitch in a certain direction, she stilled her breathing, her heart almost went silent. As she listened intently, she could hear the howling of wind, and the slight crunching of snow.

  The movement was deliberate and calculative, almost silent. "A predator?" She thought. She could tell it was coming their way, "Is it because of the fire? Then it's not afraid of getting burnt. I should be able to handle this easily."

  She could hear something else, from the other direction. "There's another?" She tried to think as fast as she could, she knew how Ash was in no state to protect himself. She was his protector and guide, as was her duty to her honour.

  Then came the question to run or fight?

  The sounds that approached told her they were not going to outrun them, Ash was weak and not a good runner. The world was naked in snow which would slow him down and she could easily disappear through the trees.

  Humans were slow, weak and always a burden to bear.

  She heaved a deep sigh, her gaze turned down to see Ash still seated and staring at the flame before him. He was shivering not from cold but from fear.

  "In a world where fire is life, you sit there trying to die. Is that all you are Ash?" She smiled as she pulled her daggers from her side. "I am such a fool, I should have waited for the others. I wonder which is harder, saving the world or saving the boy."

  Ash stared at the crackling fire with trembling eyes, try as he might he could not silence the voices or stop seeing the images of people burning in the fire. He wanted to make all of it stop, the more he tried the louder it got.

  He slowly brought his hand closer to the fire, feeling the warmth. His hand went into the flame, but he did not get burnt; it only felt warm.

  “The fire welcomes me,” he whispered. “It touches me but it doesn't burn.”

  The flames slithered around his hand like curious vines, warm and alive. They seeped into his skin, flowed through his veins. He should’ve felt afraid—but instead, he felt... Warm, comforting, awakened.

  He could hear the soft crunching of snow—then a low growl cut through his thoughts. His gaze shot up to see a huge white snow leopard slowly advancing towards him. It's eyes were on him like he was prey to be killed but Ash could not scream for fear, he could only stare; his heart pounding within him.

  The elf jumped off the tree and landed on the leopards head knee first while thrusting her dagger into it's skull. It gave a pained moan before falling to the ground dead.

  She said a light prayer, "Selunara, goddess of the moon forgive me for taking this innocent life."

  Just as she was finishing the prayer the other leopard lurking nearby leapt out of the snow and pounced on her, she blocked it's paw with one of her daggers. The impact of the force sent her flying into the bark of the tree. She grunted at the weight of the force that almost shattered her back.

  The beast roared wildly at the sight of its dead companion. She rose to her feet, wincing. The pain in her back throbbed like a drumbeat. She inhaled sharply—then charged.

  Her feet almost gliding off the snow covered ground, the crunching of her feet and the beasts paw rising like a crescendo.

  It pounced on her again just as she was within reach but she leapt out of the way with nimble footwork and cut it on its side, red blood dyed the snow red. She landed a few feet away ready to counter the next attack but the beast's target was not her this time. It seemed to have sensed she was going to be a hard prey. It was now pouncing on Ash who was frozen in fear.

  "No!" She screamed.

  Ash's heart had never pounded so hard before, his eyes went wide with dread as he watched the huge furry beast descending on him. A part of him screamed to run. But the other… the other whispered for him to let go.

  As the beast was bringing down its paws on him red fluid splattered on his face, the elf girl was standing before him, she had barely managed to block the attack, but it had sliced into her shoulder sending blood splashing out of it.

  She cried out in pain then she clenched her jaw and drove her blade into the beast’s throat in one final, desperate arc.

  Pain bloomed down her arm like fire, but she held the blade steady. She couldn't afford to fall—not now.

  It howled in pain as it stumbled backwards and staggered, blood leaked out of its neck and it tried to attack again but it's vision blurred.

  It soon dawned on the beast that it would not escape the fight alive. It dragged its bleeding body to the first leopard, pressing its muzzle to the still fur like it hoped warmth would return. Then it curled beside it—two ghosts in the snow.

  Ash could hear her breathing heavily. She stood with her back to him, blood soaking her shoulder. He could see the huge gash on her shoulder, it looked horrific. She was trembling, he watched her walk up to the dying beast and strike it down with one swift slash.

  "Selunara, goddess of the moon forgive me for taking this innocent life." She said as she knelt next to their corpses, eyes lingering and streaming with tears. "They were beautiful."

  Ash heard her say, she stumbled backwards. He looked at her, debating whether to help or not. He hesitated, then took a step toward her, reaching out his hand.

  "Get some sleep, we move at first light." She said coldly before disappearing into the trees and leaving him alone.

  He heard the ache in her voice— not just from the wound, but something heavier. Something he couldn’t quite understand. Did she feel guilty for killing the beasts? Should he be grateful for her help?

  He stared at the two dead snow leopards. They would’ve killed him—but she had shown them mercy. She had saved him, and still mourned them.

  She had saved his life, twice. And mourned the lives that tried to end his.

  "How could someone be so deadly—and still care?" He said to himself.

  Up in the trees, the elf girl screamed as she tied up her wound with a piece of cloth. She had gagged her mouth to keep the scream from escaping, but it couldn’t hide the pain—not just in her body, but in her soul. From the fight. From the kill. From the boy. From the path she could no longer walk away from.