The cabin’s door creaked open. Loric returned from his hunt early, while the sun was high in the sky. A hare hung from his belt, and Rane eyed it with unbridled gluttony. Compared to the meals in the cell and the dry bread the slaves got, Loric’s cooking was divine.

“Either these things are getting fast, or I’m getting old.” Loric wiped the blood from his blade. “About time you start repaying me. If you’re going to stay under my roof and eat my food, you should contribute.”

Rane raised an eyebrow. “You mean…”

“You’re ready to hunt alone.”

“But…” Rane stammered. “I’ve never gone out in daylight alone.”

“That is the point, apprentice.” Loric smiled and tossed him the rusty sword.

Rane stared at him in disbelief. “We’ve always hunted together. How am I supposed to do this alone?”

“I could always teach you. But do you want to be a hunter,” Loric swung the cabin’s door open and let the cold air inside, “or a mage? Experience it yourself.”

Rane stared at the glittering snow outside. He felt like a hatchling being pushed out of its nest. “Aren’t you worried I’ll get hurt?”

“You’re strong enough to win against everything out there by now.” Loric shoved him out of the cabin. “Or at least run from it.”

“What about–”

The door shut behind him with a loud thud. Fine, Rane thought, I’ll show you.

It only took a few steps for curiosity to overpower his fear. He cast a glance to the north, where the mountains of ice and stone split to form a narrow crevice. From the distance, it seemed like a crack along the ragged surface, barely wide enough to fit a man.

He'd start from there. That was the way Loric usually trekked when he left the cabin each morning. Armed with a rusty sword and thick winter clothes, Rane set out to explore the area. The monotony of white was sometimes broken by plants that survived the freezing temperatures, or, as he speculated, depended on them. A delicate flower grew in the ocean of snow, a lone speck of green and sapphire. The petals shattered into tiny crystals when he tried to pick it, and the stem melted into nothingness from the heat of his fingers. He spent a few more moments staring at the empty space before pressing on.

Daytime didn't seem that dangerous, but he’d seen no signs of animal life so far. Without knowledge of Loric’s hunting grounds, he was shooting in the dark. As he neared the gorge, its sheer size became evident. A layer of translucent ice covered the surface of the walls, with a few overhangs and ledges of stone piercing through the ice. The crevice weeped, its breath a constant blizzard of snow and howling wind.

Rane walked dangerously close, trying to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond the glacier. A sudden burst of cold air from the crack almost knocked him off his feet. He could hear ice bouncing between the walls of the crevice, before finally being spewed out in force in a thin curtain.

“What are you doing?”

Rane bolted away from the unfamiliar voice and drew his sword. The woman that stood on the opposite side of the blizzard wore white and blue robes, too thin to shield her from the winter’s adverse conditions. The brunette hair that framed her face was visible through the snowstorm between them.

“I’m just a hunter,” Rane lied. “I– Uhmm… Scouting?”

“Liar.” She giggled and inched closer. “You’re finally alone, just as Linde is resupplying. You really have some wicked luck.” There was a dash of hostility in her otherwise calm voice.

“Are you one of Leylin’s pawns?” Rane stole a glance at the glacier’s crevice.

“I’m no one’s pawn.” The woman drew closer with measured steps. “Either way, you don’t need to know what I am. You’ll just have to come with me.” Her hands moved and the air pulsed as she drew in the falling snow. Two daggers crystallised into her waiting palms.

Rane held his own blade level with his shoulders, the way Loric had taught him. He had hoped the time to truly test what he had learned would never come.

“We’ve been observing you for months. I know what you’re capable of. You can’t win against me, so drop your weapon and come along quietly. It will save you a great deal of pain.”

Rane chuckled to himself. “You really chose the wrong thing to threaten me with.” He bent his knees and lowered his posture.

“Then I guess we’ll go with the painful way.” Nora exploded from her back in brilliant blue and Rane lunged at her. He slashed through the blizzard but she twisted to the right, avoiding his attack. She slashed at Rane’s exposed abdomen, but he sidestepped the strike and distanced himself again.

She’s slower than Loric, he thought. Part of the pelts he wore fell to the ground, cut clean off. But if that had been my body… The thought made him shudder. The two of them came to a standstill, with Rane’s back against the blizzard. He could see her soft features clearly now. She had a face that was almost innocent, but he knew she had come to take him away. “Who are you?” he demanded. “And why are you doing this?”

“Orders from above.” The woman flicked her dagger in the air then caught it again. She rushed forward again, giving him no time to respond. Rane raised his sword but she dipped and weaved right, slashing downwards with one dagger. Rane parried with his sword and the two blades clashed with a screech.

Their eyes met under the shaking weapons. A thin grin formed on her face and his blade shivered from her compelling strength. She pushed him to the ground and slashed with her other dagger, aiming for his chest. Rane’s mind sent out distress signals, but his body felt like a cage that bound his movements. For a brief moment, he could take it all in. The pressure poured down on him from his opponent and his own strength failed him.

Muscle memory kicked in and his body moved on its own volition. He let go of his weapon and shifted his weight to the left. His free hand blocked her attack and the dagger pierced through his palm. The pain barely registered. He gripped the woman’s knuckles and leaned back, pulling her along with him. Then, using all the strength he could muster, planted his head in her face. The impact sent them both tumbling. Rane felt disoriented and waited for his vision to clear before scrambling to his feet. The woman was still panting on the ground, her face a bloody mess of skin and torn flesh.

Rane took a breath to calm himself, causing the pain of his pierced hand to surface. He dislodged the ice blade from his palm with a wince and took uneven steps towards her. An unexpected kick in the gut made him double over.

“You... I’ll end you!” The woman’s voice devolved into muffled, wet screams. She touched her face with trembling fingers. “You piece of filth!”

“Damnation.” Why was she still moving? Rane panted out the exhaustion. He fell on her awkwardly and tried to pin her down with his weight, but she dug her fingers in the gaping wound on his hand. He screamed and she pressed her advantage, turning him over and grasping for his neck.

Rane felt her nails dig into his skin. He tried to focus, to fire a spell, and the mists of magic swirled around him. The woman clenched tighter and Rane lost focus. His hand struggled against hers in vain. He couldn’t breathe. The woman stood and dragged him through the snow. The pain from his wound that once burned like fire faded away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of his vision and he felt himself being thrust up. Face first into the raging blizzard. The wind whizzed next to him and its freezing barrage earned him a few moments of consciousness.

“The man you travelled with, where is he now?” The woman screamed in rage, but her voice barely made it to his ears. Rane tapped her bloody face. Or at least he tried to. With how numb his body was he had no way of knowing. Please, he tried to speak, but only a gurgle left his throat. Then he felt the force gripping him weaken and his breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.

“Speak! Where is he?” Her voice barely reached him. Sensation slowly returned to his limbs and he felt around with his hand. That was definitely her face. Rane didn’t hold anything back, couldn’t afford to. His survival instinct kicked in and he grasped at that fleeting moment of clarity. The flame exploded from his hand and the grip on his neck weakened. All his nora turned into fire, and the fire set him free.

He fell to the ground and drew in long, raspy breaths that burned his lungs. It took him a few seconds to recognize the black mass that lay next to him as the woman’s body. Or whatever was left of it. He crawled away on all fours and averted his gaze when she spasmed.

What had he done? Regret flooded his mind, then laughter and coughs came bursting out of his lungs. She wanted a taste of Leylin, and she managed to wrestle it out of him. He’d been taught properly after all, how to kill.

“No!” Rane hit his head with the hilt of his sword again and again. “Her life has worth. Her life has worth.” He mumbled the words to himself, but it didn’t change how he felt. When he killed Sydell, he suffered a lot more. He wanted to vomit. Now there was only the pressure of anger in his chest. He was changing. The torture was just an excuse. Something had already seeped deep into him and tainted his mind. His promise to never kill a person again seemed like a joke. Rane covered his face with trembling hands. He tried to cry but no tears would come out, so he just sat there, a short distance away from the life he had just claimed as a blue fog rose from the body and drifted towards him.

Rane made no effort to stop the woman’s magic from finding his soul. His own heart had betrayed him so he welcomed hers, and all the vehemence it harboured. If Sydell’s nora had been a small sip, this felt like drowning in a lake of raw emotion. The tension rose within him. He could feel her anger, how it burned and churned and twisted his insides. How it chipped away at his self-control. His heart thumped faster and his muscles grew tense.

“What do you want from me?” he yelled and slammed his fists into a puddle of water. The ice that had thawed from his magic reflected a foreign face looking back at him. Leylin smiled and Rane hit the puddle again. “I’m not like you! You forced this upon me! She forced it upon me!” Why couldn’t they just leave him alone? Irrationally, his overwhelmed mind blamed the mage. If she’d been strong enough to capture him or smart enough to run, it wouldn’t have ended this way. Now only her anger was left, and a corpse.

The stinging pain from his pierced hand soon forced him to stop, to calm himself. If he didn't stop the bleeding soon he could die. Rane stood with difficulty. He had to get back to the cabin. Loric would know what to do. He trudged along the snow at a sedate pace, mind focused on the anger and sorrow echoing throughout his being. What part of the emotions were his own, he couldn't tell, but he could feel foreign nora in his body. Thankfully, Loric noticed Rane approaching and rushed outside. Two heartbeats later, the Lanar stood next to him.

“What happened?” Loric asked with an urgency Rane hadn’t seen before.

“A mage came looking for me. She tried to take me away.” Rane pieced his scattered thoughts together as best he could. “And I– I–” he stammered, “killed her.”

Silence hung in the air and Rane scanned the Lanar’s face for a reaction. He expected Loric to be disappointed, or perhaps yell at him, but Loric did none of these things. Instead, he produced a vial of silvery liquid from his belt and pulled his hand forward. The liquid sizzled when it touched his wound, and there was only a sharp sting of pain as the liquid found skin and bone. The bleeding stopped as the gaping wound gave way to a red, shrivelled patch of newly formed skin. Ugly, but mended.

Loric stored the vial back in his belt and inspected Rane’s hand. “Where is the body?”

“By the northern crevice,” Rane stammered. “I burned her.”

“A mage, you said. And she wanted to take you away?”

Rane worked through the shock as the pain subsided. That woman, she mentioned a name. “There’s more. There’s at least one more.”

“Go.” Loric drew his sword and pointed to the cabin.

“Let me help you,” Rane didn’t move. “I thought you wanted me to stand by your side.” He felt the sharp sting of pain on his cheek before he could see the slap.

“I won’t repeat myself. Do as I said.”

Rane touched his swollen cheek. The mage’s anger and bitterness swirled inside him. He was tired of being ordered around. “I’ve already saved your life once! This is what you’ve been training me for, isn’t it?”

"This isn't a game." Loric screamed at him and shoved him away. "Get inside the cabin, now. You’ll only be a burden.”

A new feeling manifested inside Rane, a blinding hatred that clenched his jaw and turned his breath to rasps. Yet there was something off about it. It covered part of his mind and his own emotions, like a foreign shade that kept the daylight away. Someone else cast this shadow of hatred. He spun around and his eyes caught a glimpse of a woman with outstretched arms standing behind them. Fiery red mist flowed between flocks of her hair.

A twist of her hand sucked the air from his lungs. Before he could move, a force threw him to the ground and a thunderous blast rang in his ears. There was some dizziness, but no pain. Only Loric’s weight pressing down on him and something warm seeping into his clothes.