I'll be your island in the raging storm

- Chapter 16 -

The man seems to be thinking about something, the fire flickering as he looks down at it. Izuku runs his fingers down the indents of the bowl before he puts it down, putting his hands in his lap. Finally, the man speaks again.

"Would you like to stay here?" 

The words hang in the air, heavy and loaded. Izuku is about to decline, but the man is looking at him with those bright blue eyes and it makes him feel like his answer is something he needs to take the time to think about. 

He looks towards the exit. Out there in the snow, he's sure to freeze if he continues without any direction. He doesn't want to be a bother to this man who has already done so much for him, but what else can he do? 

He would have to wait for his clothes to dry completely, and even then, what next? He doesn't know where the people who killed his mother are, and he has no idea where he could find out. He looks back at the man and nods.

 The others deminer brightens up, and he slaps a hand on his leg. Izuku winces slightly, wondering if the skeleton like man should be treating his body so harshly. 

"Good! Don't you worry about a thing young man! It's been years since I've had company, so your no bother at all!" 

Izuku feels his shoulders relax and he lets out a slow breath. The man smiles at him and begins to talk again. 

"Well back to the war! In those days, the snow and winds were a lot worse, you would have died if you spent an hour out there in those conditions!" 

The man talks about it as if those times were the best in his life, and Izuku couldn't help but be drawn in by the words laced with merriment. 

"We had three groups going towards the south and the other towards the west in order to catch the enemy camps off guard. It took us days to finally reach our destination, and in that time, i had to bury and watch many of my comrades die of frost. But i kept going, because noble men who die in war will be rewarded in the afterlife, as you know."

 Izuku in fact did not know that. He's never really heard stories like this before, and he didn't even know there were other people around, much less enough to have an entire war. How many other countries are there? Are there places with no snow at all? Where the game isn't limited, and the fear of wolves don't exist? Izuku asks these questions, and the man seems to be caught slightly off guard. 

"Of course there are my boy! There are hundreds, thousands of different places on this earth and in Valhalla! All there for you to experience when you can handle the winds and the snow on your own." 

Izuku catches something glinting in the corner under a bunch of furs, and he looks closer. He recognizes the metal of a blade, and he looks back at the man. He was in a war. His body might not be the same, but his mind is. 

This man has killed thousands and has lived to tell the tale years later. So maybe...