The light shone through the window of her tiny wooden hut, Lyra, though in her slumber, found warmth in the sunlight. Her fingers curled as if she didn't want to leave the warmth of her bed and wander into the cruel world.
*giggle*
"Shh! I don't want to wake her up"
"Hmmm- "
"1…2…3…jump!"
Lyra felt a weight sink into her stomach, Feeling the sense of imminent demise, she leaped up and grabbed her bedside dagger.
"Aaah!!!"
Opening her eyes, she was met not with the sight of raiders but with the exuberant form of her younger brother, Luka. "Luka!! Are you crazy!?' she scolded, her heart racing from the sudden shock. Luka rubbed the back of his head, his scarlet hair contrasting with the freckles that adorned his youthful face. 'Geez, Lyra, calm down. It's just a bit of fun.' With a twinkle in his hazel eyes, he remained blissfully unaware of his sister's morning startle. Lyra couldn't help but let out a sigh. 'Luka, you're not a child anymore,' she chided gently. 'Spring is approaching, and you're on the verge of manifesting your athma. Acting like a child won't help then.'
Rolling his eyes, Luka retorted, 'Relax! In a few days, I'll manifest my athma and have the grandest kattalai. I'll save this dusty village from poverty.' Lyra met her brother's gaze, her heart filled with pride and worry. She knew that the world beyond their village was far from kind.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! *
It was the door; someone was eagerly knocking on the door. She gently pushed the little boy out of her lap. She quickly got dressed in a leather jacket and leather pants. As she opened the door, a warm smile greeted her with joy. It was Seira, she was the girl Lyra grew up with, both physically and mentally. "Are you ready?"
As usual, Lyra replied "Yeah" She picked up her wooden bow from the porch and was about to go on a hunt. But she paused and gazed back at the tiny wooden hut at the edge of the village with the tiny chimney and at the one thing that mattered most to her, the small child who was always there, her brother, her luka. The village was perched atop an icy hill as if five rings had taken their seat upon its crest. The houses and structures ascended in layers, each tier an improvement upon the one below. At the hill's pinnacle, a pristine temple stood, where the priests decoded the universe's secrets. Lyra and her companion walked across the road which was a mixture of mud and ice. "To the top we go!" Seira exclaimed in a bright and cheery voice.
*Huff puff*
After losing her home, her friends, and her parents in a raiders' attack, Lyra moved into this village at six years old with an infant in her arms. Though any other village in Nocturnia-Glacia would have pushed her away, the people of Lunavista welcomed her with open arms. This place was where she met her soulmate and best friend, Seira. And the old men who lived in the hut adjacent to her own, Yuri and Boris taught her how to hunt, to make money, and how to make a hut. They were also the guards of the temple, these four were her family. "Why do we have to go there, again?" groaned Lyra. Her smug companion replied, "To know where the yield is, stupid!" "But we are hunters that's our job, why would you ask the priest to do our job" Exhausted from walking up the hill every day Lyra wailed. After hearing her friend lament, Seira stopped. "You're right Lyra," she said, "We are hunters, so we would have no problem going up a hill".
Lyra adored her friend with all her heart but at that moment she wanted to smack her with the bow using all her might. But she walked uphill with aching knees and the weight of the traps in her shoulder because that was who she was, she would mount the highest Mountain and crawl through the darkest cave for those she loved, albeit whining all the way. Something felt off, her athma spoke to her, maybe it was the cold breeze across her freckled cheeks or maybe it was the dirt that wouldn't let her go. In her heart, she knew that once she climbed the hill everything would change. Lyra's perception athma, a gift granted by the Moon God, resonated within her. Generations of women in her family had shared this bond with the cosmic forces, passed down from mother to daughter like a sacred legacy.
Lyra's mother possessed it, as did her grandmother and countless ancestors before them. This ethereal connection offered insight, foresight, and an understanding that transcended the ordinary. Through her athma, Lyra felt the world's rhythms—the whispers of nature and the secrets woven into the fabric of existence. It was both a blessing and a burden, a connection that set her apart but also bound her to a greater purpose.
"Seira… Wait!"
Seira puffed her chest and turned back, anticipating her friend's annoyed face, but contrary to her expectations, what she saw was a scared expression. "What's wrong?!" she inquired with a worried expression "Are you alright?" Seira, puzzled by Lyra's abrupt change in demeanor, furrowed her brow. "What's wrong, Lyra? You look like you've seen a ghost." Lyra took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart. "It's… it's my athma, Seira. It's whispering something, something I've never felt before. Like a warning." Seira's eyes widened with concern. She knew the significance of Lyra's athma and the wisdom it usually brought. "A warning? About what?"
"I don't know," Lyra replied, her voice trembling slightly. "But we should be cautious. Something is different today." The girls moved their heavy limbs across heavy snow and pushed through the mighty wind that descended from the peak. The temple was immaculate, it was a mixture of stone and wood covered by thatched canopies. It was not grandiose, yet it was divine. As the girls approached the final steps of the mountain, they could hear a subtle hymn that soothed them. Lyra was uneasy about the premonition that came to her, yet she had to move on, as the winter in Nocturnia-Glacia came with a heavy price. "First raiders, and now this!!" Lyra desired only a moment of peace in her unruly life. Contemplating, she looked up at the sky. The clouds which were far away seemed so close, almost within arm's reach and she subconsciously reached for it as it was mesmerizing. "Lyra… Lyra!... Lyra!!!" her friend's booming voice jolted her awake "What are you doing dummy!!" Seira puffed.
"It's… It's just… You know, I have been coming to this temple ever since I could walk."
"Yeah… What about it?"
"No matter how many winters pass, I keep on falling in love with this view"
Seira paused and stared at her friend and then let out a smile.
"When I was a child" Seira began "I would come here and pray to the frozen god to give me enough height to reach those beautiful clouds"
Lyra, still mesmerized by the Milky Atmosphere asked "Did Urainta fulfill your desire" to which Seira replied "No… But he gave me a friend that will help me reach the skies and beyond." As she heard those words, Lyra glanced at her friend's pitch-black hair flowing through the icy winds, her blue eyes that popped across the twilight, and her smooth complexion which made her the village's beauty. As she stared at her, forgotten memories began to resurface. Seira was the one who embraced her in the coldest winter, she was the one who broke down her flaws, and the one Lyra could argue for days yet remain best friends. At that brief moment, nothing was said, and nothing needed to be.
Lyra, back to her cheery self-clamored "Let's go! We have a shaman waiting for us." Seira rolled her eyes "They are priests, not shamans", lyra hopped across with a smirk "Same thing" The girls moved across the stone tiles that connected the stairs to the temple. As they walked through, they were greeted by rows of snowfire pine. It was a tree with a trunk that bent like a tide, and the blue leaves that resembled the first ice of the winter.
The hymn got louder, as they closed on the temple, and the trees chimed in a stunning tone. Lyra understood why this place was one of the most divine places in Kanipiru. The crunch of snow under their feet alerted the guards who stood under the grand door that protected the temple. The two guards wore torn leather armor that had seen war before, the first guard was a short plump man whose athma formed in the form of gauntlets with sharp edges, and the second one was an old man who towered over them and was physically astute, and his athma manifested in the form of a magnificent blue spear which he clasped in his hand. The old man's face was filled with scars and his gray hair aged with time; he would be a heartthrob if he retained his youth. The short one signaled the old man as the girls moved toward the temple "Boris! Look! The girls are approaching!" Boris furrowed his brows and roared with his mighty voice "Halt!" the girls froze like ice upon hearing the voice "State your name and reason for visitation"
After a short pause, Lyra regained her upbeat nature "Boris! Yuri! You've returned from the expedition" she asked with excitement. Yuri, the plump old man replied with a smile on his face "Yes, my child, it was a short one" while Boris's expression remained unchanged. "Lyra, Seira, look at how much you have grown in such a short time" Yuri commented like a father would to his children. But right then Boris tapped the stone floor with his spear and shot a stern look at Yuri. Yuri reverted to the posture of a guard "Sorry girls, I need you to identify yourselves, you know, protocol" As long as Lyra could remember Boris had always been cold and distant, always alert as if his enemies would attack any second.
"I am Lyra of Lunavista and this is my companion Seira, we are here to seek guidance from the priests." As Lyra spoke those words a faint blue glow appeared from the tip of the spear, and it revealed a blue glow from their hearts. Upon examining them with his sharp gaze, Boris spoke out with his gravel-filled voice "You may enter the shrine".
As they crossed the gate, they were greeted by an array of villagers who had come for guidance. Keerthanai, the hymn that could be heard outside was drowned out by the noise and prayers of the patrons. All the villagers were gathered in the stone hall with an ice statue of a very gruff man wearing a leather tunic and a sickle-like sword in the middle of it. The people there chanted at the statue with devotion "Praise Urainta" and "Praise the protector of the tundra". Seira who was leading Lyra, saw a short plump woman with black hair similar to hers and immediately hid behind Lyra. The woman who was praying profusely at the ice state turned her head towards the girls and frowned.
Lyra finally recognized the woman and attempted to flee but it was too late. The woman grabbed both by their ears "Where do you think you're going!?". Seira screamed, "Mom! Let go!" her mother tightened her grip "I asked where you're going!" both of them trembled, "Um… we are going to go home and wear a pretty dress, and wait to get married" She raised her eyebrow "Then why do you need bows and daggers?" now they were stumped. Seira's mother looked like she was going to destroy them with her words but she stopped herself and let out a sigh "Girls, I'm not going to scream in this holy place, I have told you many times, that both of you are grown women and you are at the age where you get married and have a family. You can't go out and hunt like you used to!". Though Lyra didn't like what she said, she knew it came from a place of love. Right then they heard a man call out their name "Lyra! … Seira! … Seira!" Yuri pushed around the crowd with his belly, waving around a small leather pouch.
The man made his way to the girls and placed the pouch in Seira's hand. "Whoa! What's that?" Lyra snatched the pouch from her friend's hand and opened it up. Inside it were white scales as big as thumbs and sharp teeth that looked like daggers. Seira gasped "Is that…" "Expedition spoils" Yuri interrupted, Lyra questioned "Boris, just let you give this to us" Yuri straightened his back and said "Actually, it was his idea" Yuri sighed "Boris may act cold but he genuinely cares about the both of you" These words set a sense of warmth in their hearts. Yuri finally noticed the woman behind them "Cora" he shot a cold look at her, and she replied with the same coldness "Yuri". As long as Lyra could remember neither of them ever saw eye to eye when it came to the parenting style of the girls. Lyra knew they were about to fight just as they always had, so she tried to escape.
Seira who noticed this shouted "Lyra! Don't move too far out, you might get lost!" as the crowd moved them along the halls of the temple. Lyra trudged against the current of people but then heard a faint voice call her out "Lyra... Lyra… Lyra" She knew it was not Seira, but she could not ignore it, something was mesmerizing about the voice. It was as if the words were rope that pulled her body. Omitting her friend's words, she followed the voice, which led her to a dimly lit hallway whose only source of light was a window. As Lyra walked across the hallway, the bustling prayers went quiet and only her footsteps could be heard. She slowly approached the window. Upon looking through the window she saw a bottomless abyss of snow and rock.
The voice seemed to come from the end of the hallway, so she walked across the hallway, her footsteps echoed through the corridor, and a spine-chilling cold shocked her body. Upon arrival, she was greeted by a door that creaked eerily as she pushed the door open. As she entered the room which was a dark hall surrounded by nine pillars and was only lit in the center, and then she was greeted by a woman standing in the shadows who was covered in a black veil, head to toe. "Come here, child" the mystery woman pointed her spindly fingers at Lyra. As the finger loomed over her skull, a sense of awe and terror seized her gut. Her voice which barely escaped her mouth uttered "Who… Who are you?" the woman's hazel eyes shone through the black veil "I am the end, l am the beginning, I am not you, yet I am… You"
"Wha…" Lyra tried to speak up yet stark terror choked her throat., "Child, to fulfill your destiny you must first know the truth of this world" The lady's fierce golden eyes seemed to hold Lyra captive. "At a time, long before now, long before the first dusk and the owls call, long before the mighty mountains that shed rivers, Kanipiru was a desolate land that was starved of life." The icy voice echoed through the minuscule hall "Four divinities, Urainta of ice, Nerup of flame, Pumi of earth, and Pallam of deep, came together and carved a river of spirits from the cosmos to the land, pumping life into Kanipiru but doing so had consequences"
The woman twisted her bony arm and curled her sharp finger, as she did a strange force dragged Lyra toward her. Then the woman stroked her spidery fingers across Lyra's face "Child, you must realize that even the divine are not above the laws of the cosmos" "Kanipiru was losing its spiritual energy as it never was meant to have it, but the divine could not let it be so" "so as an act of defiance, the divine created Kanipiras and granted them Sangili upon reaching adulthood. This disc gave Kanipiras the ability to absorb the spirit energy and convert it into athma"
"Even so the universe couldn't let it be, so, as a final measure, the universe sent a herald of death and destruction, to end all of the divine's discourtesy to the Universe which is us and all other beings that respire" Lyra struggled as if she were a rat stuck in a trap. After a moment of struggle, she managed to breathe out "Who is it!?" Upon hearing those words, the woman's grip tightened, and she moved her head towards Lyra's ear and whispered in a tone that sent a chill through her body "Yazh"
After a long pause, the woman's grip softened, her ominous hazel eyes diminished into a look of slight sorrow "It… It will hurt like hell, we think that since we know about it, we will be able to stop it, but we can't" she released her hold against Lyra, causing the young huntress to stagger backward, she quickly unsheathed a dagger from her tunic. Seeing Lyra like that seemed to awaken something within her heart, maybe it was sorrow, envy, or nostalgia. The woman spoke with such sorrow that even Lyra empathized with her "Run… Hide from him, don't gaze into his eyes, don't talk to him, don't listen to him… Run… Please… Run"
*boom*
A thunderous explosion shook the entire building so hard that Lyra went plunging into the ground. Yet the woman stood still as if it was nothing but a vibration in the ground. The woman looked at Lyra with a hint of pity "Now, it's too late, so I can't tell you anything but good luck" The explosion which seemed far, now burst through the room sending Lyra flying through the room. Her body crashed into the rubble, breaking her bones, her body was held under the rubble, especially her arm. Right then another explosion occurred, releasing her from the remains and severing her arm. And in front of her was not the woman, not the wall but instead a gaping hole that revealed the snowy mountain caps and the infinitely descending white abyss.
The shafts that held the floor had been broken by the explosion which caused the floor to bend towards the cliff, slowly sliding her limp body over the precipice. But Lyra didn't notice any of this as her eyes were locked on the flying ship which was the cause of all this destruction. It was the Raiders. The raiders brought unfathomable rage and fear into her eyes. The sight resurfaced memories that she had tried to suppress. "Seira… Seira!... Seira!... Someone… Anyone… Please help" Tears dribbled down her cheeks as her desperate calls for help were canceled out by the screams of people running from the temple. Blood flowed from her body like a river, as death drew near, Lyra began to think about Luka, Seira, and the villagers whose cruel fates were on the raider's hands. "Why!?... Why is this happening!... What did I do to deserve this" she began to wail as her tears began mixing with blood. She gazed over the sky and pleaded with the universe "Please. Make this stop!". She blacked out from pain caused by her broken bone and torn flesh.
*Aaaah*
Lyra was awoken by bone-chilling screams, she found herself in a place that looked like her village, yet it was not, The Village was covered in fire and embers, and the screams of the villagers filled the air. Lyra walked on the ground which seemed of charred flesh, and across the fire stood Luka covered in blood and wounds. Her heart acted like a drum. The nightmarish landscape sent a chill throughout her body yet heat from the flames seared her skin. Her eyes were locked on Luka who seemed to do the same. His blood-filled eyes looked as if they could see through her soul. He spoke with a blank expression.
"Sister, I'm hurt"
"Wait, what's happening!?"
"everybody's hurt"
"Luka, listen to me! Where is Seira?"
"she's dead, so am l, and so is everybody"
"What!?"
"You promised them you would protect me! Didn't you!?"
"Wait, stop this!"
"Then why didn't you!"
Luka walked towards her slowly and eerily, Lyra tried to back away, but she couldn't. Luka grabbed her hands looked into her eyes and said, "Wake up!"
"What!?"
"Wake up! Lady!"
A sudden jerk jolted her body, and the blood and fire turned into pure white snow. Luka's face was replaced by another, someone who she had never seen before. As Lyra gained consciousness, she pulled her body away from the strange boy. As her mind became clearer, she saw that the boy had no clothes on. Surprised, she pointed at him and screamed "Who are you!?" as soon as she did that, she noticed something "My hand… It's not gone?" as she noticed that she also noticed her bones seemed intact and pain was not there, she now looked at the boy who now smiled with brightness "I am yazh"
The wind blew cold between the two personalities. The foot of the hill was covered in pure white snow, and black clouds discharged roaring thunder that shook. A tiny flicker of light could be seen from below as the Lunavista was burning through the ground. Lyra stared down at Yazh with cautious eyes, sweat dripped down her face and fear held her brain hostage, millions of different thoughts flooded her brain. The attack on the village, Luka and Seira's safety, and the mysterious woman's warning. These thoughts caused her brain to shut down, her brain could only think of two things, friends or enemies.
"You… Who are are!?" she shouted and tightened the grip on her dagger "Me? I'm Yazh, I just told you" Yazh replied. Though Yazh pretended to have his emotions in check, the truth was that he was experiencing pure chaos. One moment he was speaking with the creator of reality itself and next he was in a remote mountain range, stark naked. He could not understand anything that was occurring but he could see a hurt child who was scared for her life, so he slowly lowered his arm and whispered in a gentle tone "I'm not gonna hurt you, look at me, I'm not" yet Lyra did not heed that "liar, I know who you are, I know what you have come to do and I won't let you"
Lyra lunged at him with her dagger pointed at his chest. As the dagger edged closer, Yazh wondered if he was about to die, after being given the opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity to make a difference was taken away by a distrustful and scared child, he couldn't let that happen. In an instant, his palm moved toward the dagger, and scarlet blood spilled into the pristine white snow. He pulled the dagger and its owner towards him, and as she came crashing into him, Yazh pushed her away with his shoulder. Lyra went stumbling into the icy ground with the dagger still stuck in Yazh's palm. Yazh pulled out the knife from his impaled palm. Pain seized him as the blood poured out of his hand into the ground.
He slowly walked towards the fallen girl. Lyra, sensing his arrival, tried to get up but terror held her down. Lyra examined the naked boy, his strange brown complexion, and his fragile golden eyes but Yazh saw only one thing, her terrified eyes. Something about it reminded him of something, something that had held pain and sorrow in his brain, something that began to resurface. In that memory, it was midnight. Moonlight slipped through the hospital curtains and silence filled the room then suddenly the door burst open, and nurses dragged a wounded child into a hospital bed that was covered in blood. They lifted her and placed her in the new bed. She writhed in pain, and though Yazh could only see her through a slit in the dividing curtain, he knew that she had been in a car accident of some sort, indicated by the limbs that were held together by bandages and plaster.
Tears began flowing through her wound-ridden face and she subconsciously called "Mom… dad… where are they!?" as she said those words, sorrow washed over one of the nurse's faces, another one look at them and asked, "Did they?" the first one replied with grief in their eyes "no…". Silence once again washed over the room, as everyone in the room pieced together the child's ill fate. The nurse was about to bring the unfortunate news to the child, but she didn't need to, she knew, she knew what had happened to her parents. Tears fell, and cries echoed through the room. "Why!... Why did you leave me here! All alone, you should have taken me with you!" Yazh wanted to take her hand and tell her that it would be okay. He reached out his hand, and all the wires attached to his body seemed to pull him back. No one in that room noticed his struggle, his pain. Young Yazh lay there unable to comfort the grieving child, unable to reach out to her.
But this time he could, so he dropped the dagger and lent his wounded hand to the fallen girl. "I won't hurt you," he said to the girl with a smile, this was Yazh's dream, to help someone with his own hands. Lyra was shocked, entranced by this chestnut-skinned stranger, something about him made her feel as If he wouldn't hurt her, not now, not ever. She held Yazh's hand in a trance, as soon as she touched his palm, the scarlet blood evaporated into a golden mist that blew past Yazh. As the mist faded yazh was no longer naked, he was instead covered in leather tunic and pants.
"Ah, finally some clothes," Yazh said with a smirk "Now that I introduced myself, I think it's your turn, lady" Lyra slowly came to her senses "Um… I'm Lyra of Lunavista" "Well, nice to meet you Lyra of Lunavista" he replied while shaking her hand up and down, she had no clue why he did that. She looked at his ebony black hair, his brown hue, and his golden eyes, and it made her wonder who he was, and where he was from. "Who are you?" she asked with curiosity "Oh my god" he sighed "not this again". Flustered, Lyra took a step back "No, I meant, what is your origin, what type of creature are you" Yazh stared at Lyra with confusion "What do you mean, what creature am I? I'm human just like you"
She looked at Yazh as if he was clinically insane "I'm not human, I'm Kanipira" and truth finally sank into Yazh's brain, this was not earth, this power he wielded was not humanly possible and the girl in front of him was not human, he was just in denial over the crazy things that were happening. Yazh took a deep breath in an attempt to save his sanity and said "What I am about to say to you might sound insane but it is true" he took another deep breath "I'm not from this world, in my previous world I had died and then I met god in the afterlife and then I evaporated and woke up at this" Yazh after saying these things expected a huge reaction but instead Lyra replied with "oh, I see".
"That's it!" said Yazh perplexed by her reaction. Lyra looked at him like he was a student that just asked a stupid question to his teacher "You are at the foot of the snow-covered hill, butt naked and you managed to attach my severed hand back to my body, and your blood turned into golden mist which in turn turned into your clothes. I believe you because no matter what you say, your explanation will probably never make sense" Yazh looked at her dejectedly "All alright, fair enough"
*boom*
A huge explosion shook the mountain, both looked up to see, what Yazh would have described as, a flying pirate ship with blue cannons firing at the hilltop. "NO! no! no! no!" Lyra flew into a panic as the thought that Seira and Luka could be captured by the raiders entered her brain. The mountain was like a right-angled triangle, it could only be climbed through only one side unfortunately they were on the wrong side. Lyra began to run towards the other side hurriedly as the distance was at least 500 meters. She ran around the mountain's edge leaving Yazh abandoned, as he was still comprehending what had just happened. But she stopped at a distance and shouted at him "Yazh, what are you doing there, come on!" Yazh looked at her puzzled "Really! Why!?" Lyra had no clue why she Invited this stranger, maybe it was because he could heal her wounds or maybe it was because his golden eyes shone across the cold blizzard. Whatever the reason she knew she wanted him beside her "or you could stay here in the cold"
Yazh managed to smile in the biting cold "Wait, I'm coming!" As he ran towards the girl with all his might, as his feet went against the brittle snow, the smooth crunch filled his ears like melody, and the cold wind that crashed into his face felt warm. These things which he felt were something that he thought he would never feel in his life, yet here he was. This cold he felt was not manufactured by the A.C. in his ward, there was no pane of glass separating him from the snow, and even the pain he felt was not caused by needles and medicine. For the first time in his life, he felt as if he was part of the universe. The dark clouds, snow that fell, and the shivering of trees, he truly felt all those things for the first time in his life. As he ran along with Lyra, he noticed that the young hunter's face was filled with worry, so an attempt at distraction was made by Yazh. "So where are we going, Miss Lyra" he asked, "you are not taking me somewhere to steal my kidney, right?" Lyra stared at him like a cat "We are going to my village Lunavista, it is at the top of this hill, and the kidney is an internal organ"
"Lunavista… cool! And yeah, the kidney is an internal organ"
"Then how would I take it; it is inside you"
"Well… I don't know, you would cut open my gut and take it out I guess"
"Even if I do this, what will I do with it"
"You would sell it or give it to a relative with a bad kidney"
"Who would buy it and why I would give it to a relative with a bad kidney"
"Doctors would buy it to help people with bad kidneys"
"Wait… Doctors make kidney healing medicine with kidney!"
"What! No! they take my good kidney and replace the bad kidney with it"
"Whoa! But how would they put it back inside"
"The same way they took it out"
"Won't that kill you!"
"No, they give me anesthesia… it is something that puts you to sleep, to prevent me from dying"
"How is that possible? How can falling asleep make me invincible, so if someone tries to kill me, I should just fall asleep"
"Wait… yeah…. No… I don't know!? I have no idea how these things work; I just know these things have been done on my planet"
Lyra had a hard time imagining a world where doctors swapped people's organs like they were clothes, but she didn't care as she knew that this entire conversation was Yazh's attempt to rejuvenate her. The climb up the mountain was long and arduous but they knew they had to do it. Yazh's brain was working overdrive, various thoughts caused traffic in his head, what is this world? What is Kanipira? What is Lunavista? What is he doing here? Who is this Auburn stranger? Why did God send him to another planet just to save one girl? But he knew that keeping these thoughts trapped wouldn't give him answers so he asked
"Um, Miss Lyra, are you a princess?" Out of all the various questions he had, this was the one he went with. Lyra quickly replied "No, I don't think so" "Lyra, could you tell me more?" Lyra who was taking heavy steps up the snow, didn't even bother to turn back "More about what?". "More about the world," he asked, Lyra felt his golden gaze piercing her back "Well, I live in a village, so I don't know much, all I know is that in Kanipira there are four continents, Nocturnia-Glacia, Arcadia, Areis, and Abyss. They have four divinities, Urainta of ice, Nerup of flame, Pumi of earth, and Pallam of deep" "Wait! Does one of those gods look like a white figure with no features except eyes" Lyra looked at Yazh like he was asking for a road runt with wings "No I don't think so". After hearing this, he began climbing the mountain dejectedly because if the being that sent him here wasn't God, what was it?
It had almost been an hour since he started his ascent up the mountain and he was nowhere near the top, after their discussion at the start of their journey, both Lyra and Yazh went quiet. Yazh became more and more confused as time went on, how was he still alive, he was climbing up a snow-covered mountain and all he felt was chill. According to logic his leather tunic shouldn't be enough and as he went higher his breathing should be harder, but he kept breathing normally. Then finally he broke the silence "Umm, miss Lyra, how far is the village from here" Lyra was startled as she had momentarily forgotten Yazh existed, she turned back and replied "Not that far, only two kilometers" Even though all she did was answer his question, what yazh felt was a punch in the gut.
Even without looking back, Lyra recognized his reaction as it was her reaction whenever she went out with Seira. She looked back and smirked "Don't worry" As she said that, yazh felt the ground which was snow and mud, turn into something hard, something metallic. He rubbed his foot against the snow and it revealed a blue platform. Lyra said "This platform will bring us to the village in an instant" Yazh just realized the platform he was standing on, was on one of the peaks, he looked beyond the edge, the scenery was breathtaking for someone who had only seen these things through his laptop. Everything he saw until now was surreal, but nothing could have prepared him for the things to come. Lyra pulled out a medallion that permeated heat and began chanting. As she did that blue mist began to pour out of her eyes. The mist started to spread throughout the platform and the mist began envelop Yazh as well. The mist put him in a trance like state, yazh imagined this was what it would feel to be high.
The mist seemed to have knocked him out cold because as the effects of the mist slowly wore of, he found himself faceplanted on the ground. He looked around in search of Lyra and he found her standing in front of large yet almost decimated door with tears. He tried to look over the door yet all he could see was smoke reaching the skies. He tried to get up but he was still not completely out of his trance, so he slowly hobbled towards her. Lyra didn't notice Yazh's attempts to reach her. She was preoccupied with the muffled cries she heard beyond the door. All she could do was pray that those cries were not her loved one's cries. The door began to open, and through her tears, she saw the silhouette of a well-built man. It was Boris, though he had wounds all over his body and his signature blue spear was covered in blood, it was still him. "Boris! Are you ok? Is Luka ok? Is everyone ok!" she cried. Boris's warm hand stroked her hair. "Though wounded, they are not in immediate danger." Boris's expression turned grim. "Lyra, there is still some pest loitering around. He pushed her away and walked out of the gate, across the ground yazh was still hobbling about.
Yazh could not decipher what was going around but he gained a sense of clarity every moving second. Yazh saw that man with the spear and felt shivers down his spine as Boris was giving a murderous look. Lyra, who finally began to piece everything, tried to stop him, but it was too late. From the perspective of Yazh, the man who was walking toward him suddenly struck a strange pose and the spear in his hand disappeared. Yazh who was numb suddenly felt an imbalance he looked down at his body to see what was happening and to his surprise a chunk of his stomach was missing. The only thing he could say as his consciousness began to fade was "Oh shit!"