I

“That’s the work of the Cold, I tell you”, commented the bearded guard named Karlto, who

“That’s the work of the Cold, I tell you”, commented the bearded guard named Karlto, whom Hayden met on board the Breezy Jack as the seafaring vessel cruised through the glaciers that conglomerated around the foggy coast of Zhedra.

“Haven’t you heard that the snow is so white, yet its heart so dark?”, Hayden nodded, who haven’t heard the old saying?

“My mother also said that no one can avoid Fate, no matter who they were or where they lived”, said Hayden looking down to the wooden planks that boarded the floor of the orlop deck. “But my only daughter…” he looked up, to the eyes of Karlto, “She is only fifteen cycles, she has grown healthy and strong, helps us so much in the fields, loves to write her poetry and…”

“The Reaping is what it is,” said the guard. “Young is what the Provider demands of the sacrifice. Boys and girls from thirteen to seventeen cycles, one from each province, one to each temple, one each cycle. The selection cannot be altered and any attempts of defiance will be punished by the Sanctum’s Protectors, the country’s guard and by the Provider itself, that may even remove the heat from the entire village.”

“Who hasn’t heard that one?”

“I have to attend the selection on Worstrem every cycle as part of the priests’ entourage, hence I know it by heart.”

Hayden looked to the left, seeing a lean and pale man watching the both of them talk to each other from the middle of the deck. He looked back to Karlto to check if he noticed him too and he instinctively looked to the same direction Hayden has been looking. He did the same and saw that the figure wasn’t there anymore. “Fleetfoot”, Hayden thought for not even hearing him approach or go away, maybe it was a knack of some sailors. Of course that, by that time, Hayden didn’t already know that he was capable of seeing the dead.

“We don’t have the Provider’s heat on this ship,” he said, getting back to the conversation.

“Yes, but no one calls this ship home.”

“The wild beasts don’t have it either, yet they manage to live and propagate themselves.”

“They also don’t wear clothes, we do, and not light ones.”

“They have their thick fur and their fat. Also, I was lost in the mountains as a kid and survived them. And we are not even speaking about the Wilderness Clans!”

“Where are you trying to get? That we can live without the Provider’s heat?” Karlto looked him as if he was seeing a crazy person. “Haven’t you realized how harsh the cold is on this land? That if it wasn’t the Provider, all human beings would be frozen to death? Just look at it: the waters that surround Zhedra are the only ones that can be sailed, beyond that everything is deep frozen. Remember that our harsh and unforgiving cold is actually the merciful one!”

They stood in silence for a moment, Hayden had clearly disconnected from the conversation and Karlto, who never raised a family, brought himself to trying to understand the pain of a man that knew his beloved daughter was sentenced to death.

“Sorry.” He said and Hayden replied that it was alright, when clearly it wasn’t, though Karlto’s call to mind didn’t do him any harm that wasn’t already made.

“That’s why I’m going to the wizard.”

Karlto could stay in silence and not open his mouth, since what he had to say wasn’t a pleasant thing, but he had liked Hayden, felt empathy and sorry for his life’s story and what had befallen his small family, so, if he had something to say that he considered being good advice, no matter how unpleasant, he felt like he should say it.

“Look, I hate to bring even more nasty news to you, but I guess it couldn’t harm you anymore.”

“Go on.” Allowed him, thinking that he really liked this man, his frankness and companionship. Were these other circumstances and he would invite him into his house for a banquet. They would kill the fattest turkey, open a bottle of good spirits and spend the afternoon telling all kinds of tales. Sadly, the reality was very different.

“I don’t know if you heard, but the wizard is selfish and turns away uncalled visitors. I’m sorry to put it so bluntly, but do you really think you’re the first desperate person to ask him for help because one of their children have been chosen for the Reaping? Honestly, Hayden, if I were you, I would go back to my daughter and enjoy the remaining days of my life with her.”

Hayden’s lips twisted in a grim.

“No,” he said, “I have to try it.”

“What if he just says ‘no’?”

“He won’t. I’ll give him something.”

“What could you possibly give to a man like him? An immortal who can bend reality to his will. Be reasonable, friend, your family needs you with them.”

“I’ll find something. Everyone wants something, even him.”

They would continue arguing for some more time. Karlto would try to remove Hayden from his quest and he would continue to make reasons to go on with it. However, they couldn’t because, at that moment, something big crashed against the ship’s hull.

The sinking of the Breezy Jack on the icy waters would be inevitable.

Sindha was walking in the woods. Her thick and furry coated boots were starting to get damp from the snow.

One might call it foolish to spend so much time wandering in the freezing woods, even if it was a somewhat safe zone, near the village, but she had something in mind and, right now, the girl was waiting.

Some weeks before and she would call it a stupid waste of time, but what was Time to her nowadays, after all?

She was chosen for the Reaping. Her mother broke into tears, her father ran like a mad man swearing that he would find a way out and Sindha’s world just collapsed.

Her friends started seeing her differently, her boyfriend didn’t call on her anymore and the rest of the good folks of Vamperstad faked smiles and offered her treats she would refuse.

The first weeks were hard, very hard indeed. Not everyone can understand how it is to be doomed, that there’s no way out, that the very world has determined that you will and must die or else the Provider would let everyone freeze to death.

Then, slowly, things would start to fit into every day’s life. Sindha began to see the world in a very different way, like a passerby. What would she care if her best friend was getting married, or if her cousin was very ill? Could she help them? Would anyone help her? If she was not meant to live much longer, then it would be best just to let time flow and things have their way, the way it’s meant to be and cannot be changed.

On this afternoon, as she strolled by the somber and snow-covered woods surrounding Vamperstad, she was determined to do something. It would not change the way things were, for they cannot be changed after all; but she would try to satisfy her curiosity regarding a specific event she had been experiencing lately.

Sindha believed, was even almost certain, that someone was stalking her. When she was outside, or even at home, she would hear footsteps approaching her from behind. They would come steadily, calmly, as if it was her father or mother approaching casually, however, when she looked back, there was no one there. And also, she would always have a strange sense of dread when the footsteps were heard.

She could have dismissed the first couple of times it happened, telling herself it was just an illusion made by the sadness of her situation. But it just began to happen almost every day since the first time, some weeks ago. And now, she was hell-bent on finding out who was following her.

It could be one of the priests, or even someone from the temple, who wanted to control her doings, assuring that Sindha would not try to escape her destiny – that could not be changed and would not change because things are what they are and cannot be changed. Could even be a child, who was fascinated to have someone for the Reaping living in the same village.

Or could be her father, who ran away on the day after her selection, promising it would make anything to save her. Since that day, there was no news from him. Her mother told he simply run because he could not cope with what had happened.

Whoever it was, she would find out there. She might fall ill afterward, for her feet were already frozen and moist, but there, in that very place where her parents took her on the sunniest days of summer, when there was almost no snow covering the ground; there where she knew very well the ground she stood upon, she would find out who was spying on her.

Eventually, as she was expecting, it started.

There were footsteps coming from behind her. Distant at first, but coming steadily closer, as if trotting through the snow. Carefully, she peeked over her shoulder, just to try to see a shape or any signal of movement, but there was nothing besides the sound and the growing feeling of uneasiness. And it was coming closer.

She fought the urge to turn around, as she usually did, knowing that if she did so, the stalker would manage to disappear. But not this time, this time was different.

She pick up a fast pace and so did the stalker. “Good”, she muttered and kept moving through the trees and rocks, as if she was lost and didn’t know where she was. However, that was not the case.

Sindha circled a huge pile of rocks and thick underbrush, harshly turning around as soon as she heard the steps almost catching up with her.

When she turned around to finally face her stalker, Sindha was amazed.

There was no one – nothing. Even the dead twigs and leaves on the snowy ground were untouched, the only footsteps visible were hers.

Then it restarted once again, this time, slowly… and coming from right in front of her. There was no movement, no depressions being made in the snow. Only the sound of heavy steps, making their way through the snow and fallen leaves menacingly towards Sindha.

Now she was afraid.

The interior of the Breezy Jack rocked heavily. Sounds of wood planks splintering, crates crashing and crew members shouting orders made it seem as if the whole ship had become thunder itself.

Hayden made a run to the main deck. Karlto was with him until the stairs that led to the gallery crashed and something scaly and huge cut through the ceiling and walls, separating Karlto from his companion.

Hayden was tossed back into the darkened hallways that made the orlop. He also noted that the ship had been tilted and would soon become even more torn and broken and he would sink with it if he couldn’t manage to get to the lifeboats up on the main deck.

“Come this way, lad!” The voice belonged to a weathered man who resembled very much a sailor.

Hayden sprinted to him, but when he reached the spot where he was, the old man was staying further ahead. He found it odd, since Hayden didn’t remember seeing the man move.

Next to the sailor was a stairway that led to the level above. The ship rocked once again and Hayden fell to the ground.

“Get up, lad!” motivated the old man, “There’s not much time, but you have to get to the cannon that’s on this side of the main deck. It’s already loaded, just make it fire.”

“Shouldn’t you be telling this to one of your mates?” said Hayden, rising from the wooden floor. When he looked at the place where the old man was, there was no one.

“If you’re that fast, why haven’t gone already up there to that cannon, old man?” he mumbled.

When he got to the main deck he froze on his toes with the sight before him.

Entangled to the ship was an enormous sea serpent, almost as big as the Breezy Jack itself. Its body coiled around the quarterdeck, hardening its grip tightly, squeezing and shattering the wooden boards that made the vessel. The head of the beast was dug into the quarterdeck, maybe trying to eat the captain on his cabin, but that was only for a small amount of time, for the creature’s head soon rose from the quarterdeck, revealing a wet and scarred head, white reptilian eyes and a wide mouth filled with sword-like teeth.

It roared and it seemed as if all the monsters in the world were roaring with it too. Then, it gazed upon the lonely standing soul at the far side of the deck. Hayden also noticed it and when his very basic instinct for survival was kicking in, saying he should get back downstairs, something took over and it was as if his mind was shut in the same way a parent covers the eyes of a child so that the offspring won’t look at an upsetting view.

For Hayden it was as if he fell asleep to only wake up in another place, some days later.

Sindha’s invisible stalker, now turned to a predator, slowly made its way towards the scared girl. It left no footsteps, yet the sound of the snow being pressed down was unmistakable as it was the fact that the thing was there for her.

She felt the fear of dying for the first time in her life. She thought she had already felt such a thing when she knew she was going for the Reaping, yet Sindha just learned that she hadn’t experienced anything like that before. It also came with a feeling of helplessness and damnation, for some part of her knew that there was no way out of this one.

Then, the sound disappeared along with that dreadful presence.

Sindha fainted, falling flat on the snowy ground.

Now came the sound of another set of footsteps, these ones from somewhere behind her, also coming in her direction.

m Hayden met on board the Breezy Jack as the seafaring vessel cruised through the glaciers that conglomerated around the foggy coast of Zhedra.

“Haven’t you heard that the snow is so white, yet its heart so dark?”, Hayden nodded, who haven’t heard the old saying?

“The Reaping is what it is,” said the guard. “Young is what the the Provider demands of the sacrifice. Boys and girls from thirteen to seventeen cycles, one from each province, one to each temple, one each cycle. The selection cannot be altered and any attempts of defiance will be punished by the Sanctum’s Protectors, the country’s guard and by the Provider itself, that may even remove the heat from the entire village.”

“Who hasn’t heard that one?”

“I have to attend the selection on Worstrem every cycle as part of the priests’ entourage, hence I know it by heart.”

Hayden looked to the left, seeing a lean and pale man watching the both of them talk to each other from the middle of the deck. He looked back to Karlto to check if he noticed him too and he instinctively looked to the same direction Hayden has been looking. He did the same and saw that the figure wasn’t there anymore. “Fleetfoot”, Hayden thought for not even hearing him approach or go away, maybe it was a knack of some sailors. Of course that, by that time, Hayden didn’t already know that he was capable of seeing the dead.

“We don’t have the Provider’s heat on this ship” he said, getting back to the conversation.

“Yes, but no one calls this ship a home.”

“The wild beasts don’t have it either, yet they manage to live and propagate themselves.”

“They also don’t wear clothes, we do, and not light ones.”

“They have their thick fur and their fat. Also, I was lost in the mountains as a kid and survived them. And we are not even speaking about the Wilderness Clans!”

“Where are you trying to get? That we can live without the Provider’s heat?” Karlto looked him as if he was seeing a crazy person. “Haven’t you realized how harsh the cold is on this land. That if it wasn’t the Provider, all human beings would be frozen to death? Just look at it: the waters that surround Zhedra are the only ones that can be sailed, beyond that everything is deep frozen. Remember that our harsh and unforgiving cold is actually the merciful one!”

“Sorry.” He said and Hayden replied that it was alright, when clearly it wasn’t, though Karlto’s call to mind didn’t do him any harm that wasn’t already made.

“That’s why I’m going to the wizard.”

Karlto could stay in silence and not open his mouth, since what he had to say wasn’t a pleasant thing, but he had liked Hayden, felt empathy and sorry for his life’s story and what had befallen his small family, so, if he had something to say that he considered to be a good advice, no matter how unpleasant, he felt like he should say it.

“Look, I hate to bring even more nasty news to you, but I guess it couldn’t harm you anymore.”

“Go on.” Allowed him, thinking that he really liked this man, his frankness and companionship. Were this other circumstances and he would invite him into his house for a banquet. They would kill the fattest turkey, open a bottle of good spirits and spend the afternoon telling all kinds of tales. Sadly, reality was very different.

Hayden’s lips twisted in a grim.

“No,” he said, “I have to try it.”

“What if he just says ‘no’?”

“He won’t. I’ll give him something.”

“What could you possibly give to a man like him? An immortal who can bend reality to his will. Be reasonable, friend, your family needs you with them.”

“I’ll find something. Everyone wants something, even him.”

They would continue arguing for some more time. Karlto would try to remove Hayden from his quest and he would continue to make reasons to go on with it. However, they couldn’t because, on that moment, something big crashed against the ship’s hull.

The sinking of the Breezy Jack on the icy waters would be inevitable.

Sindha was walking in the woods. Her thick and furry coated boots were starting to get damp from the snow.

Some weeks before and she would call it a stupid waste of time, but what was Time to her nowadays, after all?

She was chosen for the Reaping. Her mother broke in tears, her father run like a mad man swearing that he would find a way out and Sindha’s world just collapsed.

Her friends started seeing her differently, her boyfriend didn’t call on her anymore and the rest of the good folks of Vamperstad faked smiles and offered her treats she would refuse.

On this afternoon, as she strolled by the somber and snow covered woods surrounding Vamperstad, she was determined to do something. It would not change the way things were, for they cannot be changed after all; but she would try to satisfy her curiosity regarding a specific event she had been experiencing lately.

She could have dismissed the first couple of times it happened, telling herself it was just an illusion made by the sadness of her situation. But it just began to happen almost everyday since the first time, some weeks ago. And now, she was hell-bent on finding out who was following her.

It could be one of the priests, or even someone from the temple, who wanted to control her doings, assuring that Sindha would not try to escape her destiny – that could not be changed and would not be changed, because things are what they are and cannot be changed. Could even be a child, who was fascinated to have someone for the Reaping living on the same village.

Whoever it was, she would find out there. She might fall ill afterwards, for her feet were already frozen and moist, but there, in that very place where her parents took her on the sunniest days of summer, when there were almost no snow covering the ground; there where she knew very well the ground she stood upon, she would find out who was spying on her.

Eventually, as she was expecting, it started.

There were footsteps coming from behind her. Distant at first, but coming steadily closer, as if trotting through the snow. Carefully, she peeked over her shoulder, just to try to see a shape or any signal of movement, but there was nothing beside the sound and the growing feeling of uneasiness. And it was coming closer.