Fate and Freedom III: A Changed World

Delicate snowflakes drifted in the air around the hunters and Descendants. It was winter, so normally this wouldn't be suprising at all. What was suprising is that this was Kasai, the largest city in the known land (or this region), even nigger that Chikyuu. It was the City of Fire. And yet it was trapped in an icy stasis.

"What the hell?" Gigas murmured, putting his hand out to catch a snowflake. It was so cold that it didn't even melt in his hand. The group began to register the depth of the cold around them, drinking hot drinks to keep them...well, warm. "This is Kasai...my home...why is it freakin' frozen!?" he growled.

"We just got here. You're guess is as good as mine," Gale responed. She turned her head as Mizu groaned quietly. He was able to walk by himself, but he had to use his Wailing Cleaver Shin as a crutch, and his strength was beginning to dwindle.

"I need...to rest..." he mumbled, still in pain. He fliched again, grabbing onto his bandaged arm (where Kazir had written on it), signifying that it was hurting. Letting go of his makeshift crutch, he fell to his knees. Gale helped him up, hooking his arm around her shoulder and grabbing his Long Sword in her other hand.

"Gigas, help me. We need to get him somewhere," Gale said, Gigas moving to help support Mizu.

"Psst! You lot! Come with me! You need to get off the streets!" a raspy, male voice whispered. Gale looked to a back alley ahead of the snowy clearing they were stood in. A shadowy figure peeked from arounf the corner, gesturing at the eightsome to follow him. Suddenly, a crescendo of heavy marching phased into life behind them.

"Hurry! They're coming!" he hissed. The group decided to take thier chances with the shady stranger, running toward the alley and the stranger, slipping out of sight agains the wall as a batallion of Ukanlos-armoured soldires came marching beside them, unaware of the group of people that stood right under thier noses, their heavy, commading footsteps getting further and further away, eventually blenind into the subtle whistling of the icy wind, thier bodies becoming one with the almost blinding whiteout of snowflakes.

"They have been looking for you lot for ever since the White Star empire was established eleven years ago. You are Descendants, are you not?" The hooded man asked horasely- he was clearly quite aged. He stopped for a moment.

"Perhaps out here is not the best place to converse. Come with me."

The group followed the old man down the alley and to the left, leading to his house-not a person in sight the whole time, only wind, snow, and empty streets. It was almost depressing.

When the party crammed themselves through the doorway, the hooded old man shut and locked the door behind him, pacing over the the dining table in the centre of the room, turning his chair away from it and toward his fireplace, pulling off his robe and warming his hands. He was a simple looking man-black tunic, basic shoes, grey hair and beard, a sunken-yet-peaceful expression, tired skin and grey eyes that had most likely once been pale blue.

"You are Descendants, are you not?" the old man assumed, turning away from the fire to look upon them.

"Um, five of us are, but Skylar, Shinji and Jinsoku over there aren't," Gale replied, seperating the Descendants from the ordinary hunters."

"I see," said the old man, who picked a pair of half-moon spectacles off of the table to get a better look at the ragtag group of friends, raising an eyebrow in bemusement and curiosity.

"I see your lover there is in quite a dire state. Tortured?" he asked casually. Gale took a small step back.

"U-Um, yeah. H-how did you k-know?" Gale spluttered, taken aback by the man's accurate assumptions.

"Relax, dear child. I'm quite aware of the prior affairs of you and your cohorts."

"How?"

"I was quite close to Nina, and Guretosutomu also communed with me in human shape quite regularly. Nina sent you here through that portal of all places becuase I was nearby. Apropos of your situation, that strapping young lad of yours needs to rest. He has Shinkaiyami's Stigma."

"Stigma?"

"Yes. It's a slow process, but you will notice a blackness spread across his body. It can be cured. I will explain the details further whne you have put him to rest. Go, now. There is beds upstairs, take any one of them," he snapped. Gale helped him up the staricase while the others stayed with the man.

(Rest comes tomorrow)