Q: What is the endlessness of Dominions?

A: A dominion cannot be destroyed or reduced. It can only be passed on to the source, or to another individual.

- - -

Thick, sullen clouds were swirling lazily in the sky as the mid-sun peeked through it. Swift, stiff gusts of wind were blowing from the west, and unfortunately, we’re on the other side of the starlight mountain range. There was no natural blockage of the icy wind from Frostlands for the people of Victoria. It was even more awful for me and my colleagues who are currently approaching the mountains.

Other than the four of us, there were a dozen more warders and lesser spirit practitioners as well as two more knights on the duty. We have travelled to the foot with carriages, but now we have to move on foot before reaching the diverging point.

The usual way to the mountain range was already sealed, and no normal civilian could enter and all those people who had entered before were ordered to leave.

Noyar was talking to the people who were in charge of this area to know the current situation. While I was running my spirit energy frequently throughout the journey to drive out the cold. This was really unbearable for a normal person; fortunately, I was not.

My aunt, who was the leader of this mission, divided the people into three groups to search the mountains for clues. She and Noyar were in charge of an entire region towards the Frostlands, while the two knights were on another side with a few warders and lesser talents. William, the young sorcerer, was in my group with a couple more warders. We’re accounted for as a relatively remote place in the middle.

Ignoring me, my team should be the weakest of the three, the reason being I chose the middle of both areas where the others will be searching. Moreover, there was a camp of warders nearby. My aunt agreed immediately, thinking about my safety when I said I would take that direction with my misleading lie of searching for the herb I was looking for.

I chose this direction not because I was fearful of the Dark Deer, but because in that very area was the sealed rift hidden where I had to venture to get the dominion; though that was about 30 hours away. I only wished for the appearance of the Dark Deer and the exact time to not converge.

I walked towards my aunt, who was still reading through what she got about the Winterheart Reindeer from the archive. Honestly, I was not sure how things would work, like how the dark sorcerer would use the dark art to get the power from the reindeer. The book did not mention all the things. As far as I knew, it was something to do with the antlers of Winterheart Reindeer.

There should be some dark arts to transfer the spiritual force with the help of the reindeer's antlers. In the book, Edward actually did not let the leader of the Dark Deer have her way with the reindeer, and got the blessing in the process. However, it was a year earlier, and that female occultist was unlikely to exist.

My pondering halted suddenly with a question. If we stop the Dark Deer now, then doesn't that mean we will take away some potential from Elinor? The blessing was no joke. Edward got a boast in his strength to even compete against a seasoned Magus in his second year at the academy.

If it was some other person, even the other female leads or even Gareth Sholinar, I would not mind, because they were not as important to the story as Elinor. Without Elinor and her two unique abilities, ending the book would turn ten times more difficult.

"What?" my aunt asked me, picking her head from the notes.

I was actually there for a few seconds without opening my mouth, lost in my thoughts. "I'm in a pickle," I muttered. "Aunt, tell me what do I do if I see a few starving people, but the money I have with me is to treat someone special?"

"What?" Shailyn asked, clearly not understanding the example I gave. The example was awful, and I knew it, but in that instant, it was all that I could come up with.

"Forget it," I said, muttering. "I will give food to the starving people first and try to earn more money for the treatment."

"Starving? Treatment? What are you saying?" Shailyn asked, knitting her brows. "Did the cold get on your nerves?"

"Nothing," I said and heard a familiar voice calling my name.

"Oscar," a maiden with a white sweater on and a muffler on her neck shouted amongst a few warders, blocking her way. It was none other than Yeriel, and moreover, there were a few more people with her, it seemed.

"Do you know her?" Shailyn asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," I asked and led towards Yeriel. I wondered why she was here. She was supposed to be on her way back after healing her patients.

As I looked at the other people with her, I kind of understood why she was here. The other person with her was actually in a Knight's garb with a few warders and a sick lady with him, who has not stopped shuddering, even though she was covered by a few layers of blanket. Her face was pale and dry, as if she had not had water for a week.

"Lord Kirien," Shailyn said, coming towards them. She saw the sick lady beside and understood why they were here. "May Ishar bless your spirit and your wife."

"Lady Earther." Lord Kirien's expression became a little better. "We have a situation. . . ."

It turned out the person Yeriel came to heal was Lord Kirien's wife and child. Both of them had caught the horrifying—Winter's decay—a disease that mostly inflicts on the people of Victoria during winter or the adventures that leads expedition on Frostlands. Winter’s Decay was fairly rare in normal times—this could only mean one thing: The world was changing fast.

It was another cold reckoning for me. I have only two years or less, and in that time, the world would change even further. People with more potential had been born in this generation to shoulder the approaching calamity. Or how else would there be four people with the highest grade spirit affinity in the same year? Evidently, it was a sign of the approaching calamity.

More powerful people who were closer to the realm already comprehend something of the approaching doom, or why else did the old dean leave with his trusted people to find something unreal? Why else was the emperor so rampant about uniting the mainland? They all guessed something about the approaching doom.

Coming back to the topic, this disease, Winter's decay starts with a simple fever and chills, and gradually slows down the heart and lungs. Within a week or two, it could already disfunction most of the inner organs of the sick person. Moreover, a spirit practitioner was not safe from this disease, either. It could fall to anyone, however, for spiritual practitioners, it was slow but still mortal. If they do not take proper medication, their spirit force will freeze within the body, making it difficult to even lift a finger.

With the appearance of Winter's Decay, the appearance of the Winterheart Reindeer was not far away. They are all part of the pattern. I unconsciously looked towards Yeriel.

In fact, Yeriel healed the child with the medication she had and a few other herbs that they bought. Unfortunately, there was only enough medication for one person. The wife of Lord Kirien had little time left, as she was inflicted first. She could pass away tonight without the proper medication.

Lord Kirien failed to get hold of the herbs even using all his resources and connections. All the herbs and ingredients mostly come from the mountains, however, the mountain was sealed with some warlock running rampant there. In the end, he could only choose to take the healer and his sick wife with him to the mountain in search of the herbs.

Now here they were, arguing with the warders and my aunt to let them in.

"Lord Kirien, I don't think you understand the current situation," Shailyn said. "This warlock is far more dangerous than we know, and if he succeeds in his attempt, I don't know how many of us could walk out of here. Just wait here at the foot of the mountain. We will send someone if we find the herbs you need."

"That's another reason for me to go there," the knight at the end of his prime said. "No offence, but your men will mostly be carrying out their jobs, and I could not leave at that. Moreover, if I go with you, it is another Knight in your ranks."

Shailyn furrowed her brows and looked at the people with Lord Kirien. Her gaze stopped at Yeriel before coming back to the Knight. "Can you decide for your men and the healer? Are they ready to go in when a dangerous Warlock is on the site?"

Lord Kirien became silent and only looked at the healer. Even if all of his men go back, he would not mind, but he cannot cure his wife without the help of the healer.

I shook my head, knowing exactly what Yeriel would say, and she didn’t disappoint my expectation, nor of Lord Kiriens’.

"I am not leaving," Yeriel said, noticing the gazes on her. "A healer must always carry out her duty, no matter how dangerous the situation gets.”