Leon, Valeria, and Maia stared down at the dead woman frozen in ice, none of them speaking for what seemed like minutes on end.

“This… is Rhea?” Leon finally asked.

“Yes,” Valeria confirmed.

“The Rhea that you told me about back in Teira?” Leon pressed, barely able to hide the anger in his voice. That she was here of all places was something that he’d considered, but to see it confirmed before his eyes was something else entirely. He was both barely able to believe it and also furious that she had violated this place with her presence.

“Yes,” Valeria repeated.

“The Rhea that works… or worked for your father?”

“Yes!” Valeria shouted as she turned and glared at Leon. “It’s her, the same woman that served my father as one of his most powerful mages! She was seventh-tier! And now…” She trailed off, unable to finish her thought.

[She hasn’t been dead for long…] Maia observed after a moment of silence.

“What do you mean?” Leon asked as Maia approached the block of ice that covered Rhea.

[I can tell that this ice is newly made, though it does feel a little strange…]

Leon frowned and took a closer look at the ice. It covered Rhea from head to toe, and then some. It seemed to devour the heat around it, and even Leon felt the chill as he brushed his hand across its surface.

“This feels… like demonic magic…” he said, his eyes scanning every square inch of the ice. Indeed, there was a certain quality there that felt familiar, an inhuman thing that made the ice colder and more dangerous. A darkness there that had nothing to do with the magical element that was ensuring the ice remained cold and dry despite the lack of magical energy to feed it and the bright warm sun shining in the sky.

“Demonic?” Valeria said in shock as she took a step away.

“Yes, it feels inhuman, unfamiliar,” Leon said, unable to find the right words to describe the feeling he got from the ice. “It’s like thousands of tiny insects burrowing through the surface, fighting off my senses. Or maybe like muddy water, mostly opaque and indiscernible… It’s not a particularly pleasant feeling…”

‘At the very least, it doesn’t seem like she was killed by Justin…’ Leon thought to himself, though it was hardly definitive proof. For all he knew, Justin had an ice demon on his side, though as he thought about the ice wraiths, he thought that the solution was probably much simpler than that.

[It’s unlike any ice I’ve ever created…] Maia added, her heart-shaped face turning up in disgust as she, too, took a couple of steps away from the icy casket.

Leon turned his attention inward, in Xaphan’s direction.

[Hey demon, I could use your help, here…]

He felt Xaphan’s attention fall upon him, then turn outside of his body to take in his surroundings.

[Of course you do,] Xaphan drawled, [I’m surprised you don’t ask for my help getting dressed in the morning. You sure could use it…]

Leon frowned. He thought he was dressed rather well, all things considered, but that was neither here nor there. [Not going to lie, Xaphan, but I’m surprised you’re still being this flippant. I seem to recall you losing your cool a little bit when the Thunderbird told me who I’m descended from…]

[I’ll admit that I lost a bit of composure that time,] Xaphan unashamedly replied. [Dragons are mystical beings even to demons. They are the elements given flesh, with the Great Dragons in particular having been brought into this world at the creation of the universe itself. Such beings are worthy of every respect, both for their power and for the institutions they built that have survived into the present day. You, however, are no dragon. You’re just a young boy that has made some barely respectable progress on his journey to Apotheosis.]

Leon did the mental equivalent of a shrug, then said, [Let’s just… how about you just tell me what in the hells I’m looking at?]

[You’re looking at someone stupid and weak enough to get herself killed by some rather weak ice demons,] Xaphan drily replied.

Ignoring the demon’s comment about Rhea herself, Leon asked, [And you’re certain that this ice was created by ice demons?]

[Wouldn’t have said so if I thought otherwise, now would I?]

[I think you would’ve. You love to stroke your ego, I can see you spinning some tall tale just to make yourself look good.]

[Know me so well, don’t you?]

[Well enough, I should think.]

[Hmm. If you need anything else, boy, just ask.]

With that, Leon felt Xaphan’s attention fall back into his soul realm, leaving him and the other two alone again.

“This was definitely made by ice demons,” Leon said out loud, trusting completely in Xaphan’s assessment of the ice. “Maybe… the ice wraiths that infest this place are some kind of demon, then…?”

[There’s something in her hand…] Maia said, leaning down to inspect Rhea’s off-hand, held a little bit behind her. [Looks like paper.]

“Think we should thaw her out?” Leon asked, dropping down to get a look of his own.

Maia nodded, and Leon glanced at Valeria, silently asking her opinion.

The silver-haired woman was still staring down at the ice like it had threatened to rise up and bite her and hadn’t taken another step closer since Leon had said it was demonic in nature.

“Uh… is that even possible?” Valeria asked, her voice tinged with apprehension. “Whatever killed her would have to be powerful…”

“Shouldn’t be too difficult,” Leon replied. “Whatever froze her isn’t nearby feeding more power into this ice. Shouldn’t stand up too long against my fire.”

“Then do it,” Valeria agreed as she took a hesitant step forward.

Leon lightly smiled, but he didn’t proceed. Instead, he took a closer look at Valeria in an attempt to puzzle out her thoughts. She didn’t seem to be grieving as he would’ve expected, and actually seemed quite unperturbed at the sight of Rhea dead before her eyes beyond the initial shock and horror.

“Are… you all right?” Leon hesitantly asked, almost not asking at all.

Valeria gave him a searching look and responded, “Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Didn’t you know Rhea? I mean, I know that you told me you weren’t too close with any of your father’s agents…” Leon asked.

“I’m fine,” Valeria replied with a serious look. “I’ve seen too much death at this point to be put off by the body of someone I was only passingly familiar with.”

“I suppose… that’s that, then.” Leon set the matter aside for the moment. If he noticed Valeria acting strange, he could always ask again, but at this point, there was no reason not to take her at face value.

Turning his attention back to the block of ice, Leon called upon his fire magic. From what he knew about demonic powers, their effects lasted for a longer time and could spike quite a bit higher in power compared to human magic. However, there was nothing to suggest that he wouldn’t be able to melt through this ice with his regular fire, it just might take a little bit longer than if it were human-made ice.

Still, he took the utmost care as a hot flame appeared in his right hand and he brought it close to the ice. It took little more than a shred of willpower for the flame to grow in his hand and began to bend and reach out for the ice. Only a moment later, the fire was large enough to act as a small blast furnace, erupting from Leon’s fingers and washing over the ice.

Leon was gratified to see that it was having some effect, as the ice started to noticeably shrink under the heat of his fire. He had to rein himself in once Rhea’s body began to be exposed so as to not set it aflame, but it only took a few minutes to break through most of the demonic ice.

As soon as it was exposed, Maia took Rhea’s hand and pried open the fingers with a sickening crack that Leon was sure broke several of the dead woman’s fingers and sent a shiver running down his spine.

What was revealed in her fingers was a small piece of paper, which exasperated Maia to no end. She rolled her lake-blue eyes and held it out for Leon to take.

Leon received it and took a look. It was immediately apparent that it was nothing more than a simple note that looked like it had been written in a hurry. All it said was, ‘Done here. Moving east to find pillar.’

“Huh…” Leon said as he stood up and relayed to the other two what was written. “Any idea what this could mean?”

“None,” Valeria said as she glanced back down at Rhea.

[If you don’t know, then there’s no way I would,] Maia added.

Leon nodded in thought, his eyes closing as he contemplated the problem.

“At the very least,” he said as his eyes fell on Valeria, “I think I can say with reasonable certainty that your father was here. Maybe they found this place and Rhea was sent back to Teira with the blood sample for analysis? Or maybe the blood sample was sent back to her?”

“That would make some degree of sense,” she said, “but that couldn’t have been that long ago. My father’s been gone for months, I find it a little hard to imagine that he’s been here the entire time.”

“That’s a good point,” Leon agreed. “We can’t know where he was or what he was doing in all this time, but I think it’s not too far of a stretch to think that he was here relatively recently. Maybe he left this note behind so that when Rhea returned, she knew where he went? Only she was ambushed by an ice wraith or something moments after reaching this place and was swiftly killed? She clearly didn’t have enough time to defend herself, let alone bring the note back into her soul realm…”

“That does look like my father’s handwriting,” Valeria conceded. “The note looks kind of old, though…”

Leon gave it another look, and indeed, it seemed fairly worn. The edges of the paper were torn and frayed as if the note had been left out in the elements for a while, though for all he knew, that was just damage from having been frozen and then rapidly thawed.

“So… Maybe Rhea… hells, I have no idea what went on here.” Leon threw his arms up into the air in an exaggerated display of exasperation and defeat. “Regardless, I don’t doubt for a second that Justin was here and went east. Who knows how long ago that might’ve been. Could’ve been yesterday, could’ve been the day after he disappeared. Who can say but the man himself? So let’s go find him and ask him.”

That earned him a smile from Valeria. “Do you have any idea what this ‘pillar’ is?” she asked, keeping things as professional as she could.

“None...” Leon glanced back down at the note in his hand. Whatever this ‘pillar’ was, it was to the east, and so was whatever had been marked on the Cradle’s map. “I know that there’s definitely something out there, though, something connected with the Thunderbird Clan.”

[Maybe it’s whatever’s responsible for making this place so damned uncomfortable,] Maia suggested.

“That could be a thing,” Leon replied. “I have no idea what this discomfort that you’re feeling even is, so I can’t speak to it. If Justin felt it, though, maybe he knows what it is and went to investigate…”

“If it was made by your Clan, then it could be some kind of defense mechanism, or maybe a way to help your people train,” Valeria suggested as she took a few steps away from Rhea’s thawing corpse. “My father taught me about such things years ago, great wards that can hamper a mage’s ability to project their magic outside of their body, or even interfere with how the magic flows within a mage’s body.”

“Is that what you’re feeling?” Leon asked.

Valeria vaguely nodded. “It’s a bit hard to say, I’ve never experienced being in a ward like that, before. But I imagine that it might feel similar to this.”

“All the more reason we should head east,” Leon said without hesitation.

[When do we head out?]

Leon sighed and glanced around at his old home. He wanted to spend a bit more time here, but Valeria and Maia were clearly impatient to get moving. He remembered leaving a few things behind buried under his hut, and while he wanted to grab them, he acknowledged that the sooner they got moving, the better. Besides, the sooner they took care of their more pressing business, the sooner he could return and properly visit the place.

With a reluctant frown, he said, “We need to get to a safe place before nightfall. We still have a few hours, but it’s better to get there early than late.”

“Where to?” Valeria asked.

“There’s a large grove of Heartwood Trees to the northeast,” Leon said, noticing a brief frown crossing Valeria’s face. “There’s very little that can make trouble there. Even ice wraiths don’t intrude upon the sanctity of that place, and, so long as we don’t overstay our welcome, that’s where we’ll be safest spending the night. In the morning, we’ll head east and search for Justin and this pillar that he seems to be seeking.”

Leon’s eyes went to Valeria, hoping she’d give voice to whatever occurred to her when he mentioned Heartwood Trees, but he wound up being disappointed.

“Everything all right?” he asked her, deciding not to just leave whatever he saw to chance.

“… Yeah,” she hesitantly responded. “If it’s a grove of Heartwood Trees, though… you know that means it’s probably an ancient graveyard, right?”

Leon’s eyes slid over to the cairn where the Heartwood sapling was pushing its way through the stones.

“I’m aware,” he said.

Valeria, following his gaze, paled when she saw the sapling.

“I’m so—” she began before Leon loudly and blatantly interrupted her.

“—What do you think we should do with Rhea?” he asked. “We probably shouldn’t just leave her body behind like this. Wouldn’t sit right with me.”

Valeria stared at him for a moment before bitterly smiling and turning her eyes to the ground.

“Burn her,” she said. “Don’t leave anything behind. That’s how it’s done in the Nexus.”

Leon nodded and once more called upon his fire magic.

As soon as he was done, he led the other two away from his compound in the direction of the Heartwood grove. He spared only one last glance backward at his old home, and specifically at the Heartwood sapling.

‘Just a few more days, then I can properly pay my respects…’ he thought to himself just before the compound vanished in the trees behind them.