“Do not attempt to leave this area while I am away.” The memory of Derleth's voice echoed back in her mind. “You are still recovering and should spend this time regaining your martial prowess. I have conjured these familiars from ice for you to contend with while I go out in search of something important. I do hope to find you still intact when I return.”

Zulema dodged an icy claw aimed straight at her throat. The ice elemental landed lightly in the snow. It held the appearance of a small translucent imp with sharp fangs, small horns and elongated claws. Its faceless features made it impossible for the priestess to deduce its next move. Body and mind still racked with pain, she was forced to try and rely on the reflexes she could still remember.

The head injury she sustained definitely felt like it should have been lethal—or at least enough brain damage to shake a few memories loose. That much trauma, enough to destroy her eye, should have rightly killed her, and she was left wondering whether it was sheer luck or the strange magic of her captor that saved her life. Oddly, her head was the only place not in any sort of pain from her previous battle.

The scurrying sound in the snow behind her alerted her first, quickly dodging another set of claws from a second creature. With only a single eye, the lack of half her peripheral vision was a huge handicap in almost any situation. She had to pay extra attention if she was going to survive such a simple test. There were now two creatures in front of her, bobbing up and down in a sort of mischievous jocularity. An amusement that was lost on her since despite their playful demeanor, a single strike from either of them would spell a life-threatening injury. Zulema shot a hand out to her side, particles of ice swiftly coalescing into her open palm and forming the long snath of a scythe. She had spent a good afternoon doing nothing but dodging and honing her reaction speed. Zulema wasn’t exactly one of the speediest of the Scarlet Sisters, but what she lacked in dexterity and agility, she made up for in strength and cunning. She wasn't just swinging her heavy scythe around blindly; she knew just where to thrust the tip of her blade on most humans and beasts to make them suffer and bleed. An affectation they made sure she would be strictly proficient in that arose during her Scarlet Sister training.

Zula spun the scythe above her head in an impressive show of force. She wasn’t completely sure if such an act would even intimidate faceless elementals, but she figured it was worth a shot. The priestess ran towards the two small fiends, pushing them to act. One jumped out of the way, while the other leaped toward her, brandishing its claws. Pushing her right leg forward, she swung the scythe in an arc in front of her, a glittering trail of frosty, crystalline winds billowing in its wake. The blade sliced through the icy fiend like a hot knife, splitting it in two. Its form wriggled helplessly on the ground before melting down to join the rest of the snow. The priestess pirouetted, turning and spinning the scythe around her. The shimmering blade made contact with the second fiend who had managed to somehow grab onto her weapon as she swung it. Zulema quickly released her grip on the handle, immediately summoning a second scythe and swinging it with her other hand, slicing through both the fiend and the dissipating blade it was still attached to.

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The priestess took a deep breath and exhaled, digging her scythe into the snow proudly. “A simple enough task. He might as well have conjured up a couple more of those little annoyances and given me a real challenge. But I must admit, it proved to be a good enough workout to get me back in the fighting spirit.” She looked around at the expanse of frozen trees. “Exactly how far has he gone that his little conjurations kept up with me the entire morning? And I still have no idea how the rest of the world out there is doing…”

Zula’s hand dropped to her side, the scythe beside her now slowly dissolving into flakes of snow. Now that she had some free time, she decided to explore Derleth’s home a little more. It seemed strange to her that a being like him could possibly survive out in this weather. She had been there a few days now and still couldn’t wrap her head around any of this. On the first night, she was met with a confused look from him—one of many—after she had kept close to the fire pit she had built to cook food, to try to keep herself warm. He then proceeded to explain in his annoyingly flat tone of voice that heat was unnecessary as long as she was blessed with his othering. Othering—some new blasphemous sort of thaumaturgy he had cursed her with. She ignored him and continued sitting by the fire, growing slowly uncomfortable at the heat which had started to make her sweat. She didn’t want to consider that what he had said was true and the thought, ironically, sent a shiver down her spine. Afterwards, she had spent most of her time holed up in the room she had first woken up in, where the first thing she did was take that poor animal’s hide and made a makeshift bed with it. She fell asleep that night, mustering what strength she could to not let the frozen tears fall from her face. The next day, she spent all her time trying to make her dungeon into a livable space. There were a few old desks and shelves around that seemed to have been there for ages, preserved by the frozen air. Any important information they might have contained had been all but lost. She assumed it might have been a base of some kind, used in some previous unheard of war, long before her time. It was a comforting thought.