Cedric didn’t know how long had passed, but he eventually found the strength to lift his head from the ground. Despite being naked on the top of a snowy mountain, his first and most immediate concern was figuring out what to do. For the first time in his life, things had been looking better, but he realized how fragile that life was. Despite how strong he had become; it didn’t mean anything. He took in his surroundings but couldn’t force himself to stand just yet.

He stared down at his hands, realizing that his arms were both the same length. They were longer than a normal person’s arms, but they were even. He clenched and unclenched his hands, doing it with enough force to make his palms bleed. They healed as his fingers pierced his skin, and he watched as it healed. Drinking so much of the elixir had changed him. He was no longer off, but it didn’t bring him any relief or joy. Instead, it only made him angrier, and he slammed his hands into the ground.

Bang!

His hand cracked against the stone mountain, the sound echoing louder than the flowing wind. He barely even felt the impact and brought them down again.

Bang!

He used more force, closing his hands into fists. The stone cracked, his hands digging into it. He felt a slight sting, but it passed with barely any notice.

Bang!

Again, he crashed into his fist moving them even faster and putting his weight behind the swing. They broke into the stone, and he had to tear them out from the rock. He kept going swinging faster and faster until he managed to outpace his healing.

Bang!

Bang!

Boom!

His final swing held all of the power he could muster, each fist forming a crater as they crashed into the ground. Cracks spread out from where his fist had landed and had spread on the mountain like webs. Blood pooling into the crater as he had managed to break his own fists. They healed quickly, and he found himself staring at them in disgust. Snow was quickly covering everything. Even with all his strength and abilities, he had let so many people die. He couldn’t even do a fraction of what the chanters had done. The snow alone was enough to cover up what he had done. Yet, nothing could cover the destruction the chanters had caused.

He pushed himself to his feet, forcing himself to move his body. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. If he ran east, he would eventually find Larkin’s army, but did he even want to go that way? In the opposite direction was Elpis. If he went there, he could find the chanters who had done this. Although, he didn’t know what to do now. Revenge sounded like what he should do, but it felt hollow to him. He knew that it wouldn’t change anything.

He looked around and saw little snow covering most objects. He did still see Brigid’s body and could make out a few more corpses among the snow. His body felt heavy, and he wanted to slump to the ground again but resisted the urge. These people didn’t deserve to freeze in the snow. His friend deserved a proper send-off, and he walked towards the nearest pile of rubble. Snow fell against him, but he ignored it.

He brushed off the snow from the rubble finding a large chunk of stone. He slowly dragged himself to the next lump of snow. Pushing the snow away, he was relieved to find a chunk of wood. It had probably been part of a house. He tried clearing the snow on the object, and its surroundings but realized that it would work. The snowfall was too strong, and he would never manage to actually clear it up. The knowledge didn’t make him stop, and he just kept at it.

Eventually, the snow stopped falling, and he managed to make some real progress in clearing the snow. It took some time, and night had fallen in the meantime. After clearing off a section of the snow, he placed his hands against the wooden building. He slowly clenched his hands into fists, tearing the wood into pieces. It crunched in his hands, breaking with a slightly wet sound. He continued to do it until he was left with a pile of large splinters. Pushing it together, he went to collect whatever remains he could find.

First, he went to get Brigid. Snow had covered her, and he brushed it off slowly. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her and shut his eyes as he pushed the snow away. Her body was cold, frozen after sitting in the snow for so long. It felt strangely fragile despite hardening from the cold. Picking up the body, was easy but he was forced to open his eyes to do so. A section of her head was missing, and he couldn’t help but stare at it. His stomach lurched, but he kept his mouth shut and swallowed anything that tried to come up. He deposited her gently into the piled wood and started looking for other bodies to add. He found parts of people here and there, but it was hard with all the snow.

When he noticed the clouds turning grey, he gave up on his search. He would need to start the fire now, or the snow would make it impossible. Running back to the pile of wood, he slipped and fell, sliding across the stone. It was the first time he had fallen in a while, and he was tempted to just lie there. The snow would fall and cover him. It would be easy to just lay there. Remembering his friends, those who were not here, he pushed himself to keep moving. He got up and ran towards the makeshift pyre. He fell one more time, confused by why he was falling now of all times. He had managed to walk properly for the past few hours.

He arrived at the wood, unsure of how he was going to light it. He grabbed some wood, attempting to start a fire like Thor had shown him before. Placing one piece against another, he tried rubbing them together quickly. It didn’t work and they just broke in his hands. He grabbed another pair trying again, only to get the same result. A third time didn’t yield anything else, and he tried to think about what he could do. There were stones that could start fires, right?

Sir L had shown him two types of stones that could work, and he searched for those. He looked quickly finding dozens of different rocks. None of them looked exactly like the ones Sir L had shown him, but one of them might work. If he remembered correctly, he was supposed to slide one against the other. Standing near the pile of wood, he tried sliding the rocks past one another. They clanked but it didn’t do anything other than produce some powder that fell upon the wood. He tried again, with the same rocks and continued going until the rocks had basically been entirely turned into powder. He grabbed the next set trying again.

The process repeated until he only had three rocks left. He had made a lot of powder though. He slid the next pair of rocks against one another. He saw sparks appear, though they didn’t start a fire. The wood remained unlit, and he wondered what had happened. He tried again, more sparks appearing this time, and he aimed it against the wood. It still didn’t work, and he got more frustrated as he tried again.

The rocks clashed together, and sparks flew everywhere. A fire started though it wasn’t the wood that had caught on fire first. The powder from earlier had made a popping noise and caught fire. It spread quickly to the wood from the powder, and he wondered how hot it was. The powder had caused the fire, and he turned the rest of the rocks into powder and threw it over the rest of the wooden pyre. Finally, it lit, and he watched as the flames grew larger. It was enough, and he fell back on his palms as it started to snow. The fire burned strong though and managed to continue for a while despite the weather.

He didn’t move, staring at the flame and watching the smoke rise into the sky. His heart started beating faster, and images flashed through his mind. He remembered the faces of those he had seen in the city and the rubble that was left of it. The heat he had felt and the blinding light he had seen moments before the city was destroyed. The burning pain after drinking the elixir. The strange way the pain and heat had fueled his anger and drove him to attack blindly.

He just kept staring at it until the flame tapered out completely. He had barely moved, and snow had covered him as if he were a rock. He didn’t feel like moving and decided to just spend some time sitting there. The sun came and fell once more time before he finally decided to get up. The snow that had been building on him broke as he rose to his feet. A decision had been made in his mind, and he turned to head back towards Larkin. The others deserved to know what happened here. Trudging through the snow, cold winds buffeted him, as he walked back home. He probably should have run but couldn’t muster the energy for it.

He didn’t get far, before he saw someone in the distance. It was a lone man, and Cedric assumed it was a scout from Elpis. If he followed his orders, he should kill the man. The thought didn’t even cross his mind, and he planned on walking right past the scout. He didn’t care about him spreading information, it wasn’t like there was anything to learn from a barren, snow-covered cliff.

“Cedric? What happened?”

From his voice, Cedric could tell the speaker was a man. He was most surprised to realize that he recognized the voice and turned to face him. The concerned face of Thor looked back at him. The expression was something he had never seen on him before, and Cedric didn’t know how to respond. Thor wore a white coat and thick white pants. The colors had made him blend into the snow. White furs lined the sleeves and hood, and he pulled the hood down as he asked more questions.

The questions blurred together in Cedric’s mind. He tried to think of a response, but he struggled with the words. He hadn’t said anything in days now and he didn’t know if he could even speak now.

“I’m the only thing left. Everyone else, the city, everything is gone.”

Cedric’s forced words came out slowly. Broken by his breaths. Only when he tried to speak did he realize that he had started crying. His breaths came out quicker, and his vision grew blurry as he stopped speaking. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything else. The words somehow made everything more real, and he couldn’t handle them. anything else he tried to say came out as meaningless noise. Giving up, Cedric just focused on listening.

“Stay here and put this on. There is some food in here too, eat your fill. I’ll be right back.”

Thor handed him two packs and started walking past Cedric. He was headed towards where the city had been. Cedric tried to grab him and stop him. Thor shook his head.

“I must check it out. It’s what I’m here for. Don’t worry I can handle it.”

Thor spoke while shrugging off Cedric’s hand and trudging forward. He moved quickly, running through the snow. Cedric’s head slowly fell towards the packs, and he pulled a spare set of clothes from the bag. It was big enough to fit him, and he slid it on slowly. The warmth felt wrong, but he pressed the coat closely. The fur lining the inside, warmed him, reminding him that he was alive. The other pack was mostly just dried meats and cheeses, but he ate it eagerly. He had planned on eating only what he needed but couldn’t control himself. It only took him a few seconds to finish all of the food, and drink all of the water too.

Thor returned and didn’t say anything as he led Cedric back down the mountain. They traveled in silence, and Thor practically dragged Cedric to keep up with him. As Cedric got further away from the city, he found himself needing less help to keep up. Eventually, he started running. Nothing had changed, but he found himself looking forward after a while.