Pre-Canon Adventures Collection

A Symbol of So Much More

Ingressus has lost something near and dear to him and he yearns for it back. Achillean catches wind that he intends to return to his long destroyed Voltaris camp in Northwind alone in search of it and tries to convince him otherwise. In the end, he searches along with him

Unfortunately, the small Nestoris has no experience with the harsh Northwind climate and Ingressus must choose between helping his brother survive the snow or pushing forward to find what he seeks

Author's note: I needed to write some wholesome for a change and a discussion in my discord server was struck about Achillean's intolerance to the cold and Ingressus basically chastising him for being weak, but then insisting that he help - y'know, like the awkward boi he is XD

also, I squealed for the duration of the drawing that I super quickly threw together and it turned out so much better than I was expecting, even tho it is super simple in comparison to most of the crap I come up with XD

and, just to note, this oneshot kinda follows on from one I wrote previously; "To Hold Again" - or at least, it links a little bit back to it, I guess

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"Face it, Ingressus, we are lost..."

Ingressus remained fixed on the sceneless landscape before him, squinting against the snow that battered his frozen face, the back of his hand raised to his brows to shield his eyes. The two of them were almost parallel to the snowy ground as they walked through dunes that buried them almost waist-deep in sleet.

He was so sure that they were going in the right direction...

He scoured the area around him. Blank. Nothing but white to contrast the yellow glows of their bodies reflected in the ice.

"No, we're not. We cannot be. I know this place..."

Achillean furiously rubbed his arms and turned his cheek against the blizzard, letting his unkempt hair whip the side of face and he closed his eyes half in fear of the cold.

As a child, he had minimal tolerance to the harsh climate of Northwind - he had never ventured across the Nestoria border out of fear of the warnings that his father used to spin of the Voltaris clan that stalked the snowy mountains and icy flats. The other part of him was that he hated snow. He was ever-curious of the weather system since he had never experienced it firsthand, but from warriors' stories that he used to eavesdrop on, he shuddered at the thought of being so cold that numbness consumes your every part, head to toe on ice and in pain.

Achillean loved to feel; just not pain and certainly not nothing.

His teeth chattered relentlessly and he couldn't get them to stop - his jaw ached from clenching it and his body spiked, frozen pain spreading through his skin like wildfire.

It burned.

"M-maybe you d-do know this p-place... b-but we cannot s-see!"

Ingressus groaned and he stole a look over his shoulder at the smaller Nestoris trailing behind him trying to huddle into himself. The cold didn't bother him in the slightest - he was immune to the burning pain of frozen limbs; this was how he had lived since the day he was born. He wasn't proud of it, but in looking at the smaller boy that accompanied him, there was a smug sense that overcame him. He couldn't help it.

Since arriving in Nestoria, he always felt out of place - even in Nestoris colours - like he didn't belong. Suddenly, in feeling at home in the frozen blizzard, he was more comfortable, especially looking at the frozen boy behind him.

He was better at him in something.

He rolled his eyes and resumed focus on the empty distance ahead.