Sebastian stood still for a long ti in front of the watchtower's broken lantern glass, staring into the blizzard and the storm outside was only an endless white pressure folding over itself again and again. Even sound felt wrong here, swallowed before it could fully form.
His dallion trembled against his chest, almost violently now, like it was trying to warn him of sothing it didn't have words for.
Sebastian exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah, I know." he muttered at first, as if refusing the idea could still undo it. His eyes narrowed. "This isn't just a storm."
He took a step closer to the edge of the tower, watching the snow twist and fracture around invisible pressure.
"…It's the White Frost."
For a mont, he didn't move, then he let out a humorless laugh.
"Well," he said quietly, almost conversationally, like he was talking to soone. "It must be another world. Because I don't think the White Frost just shows up in ours the mont I step into a random portal. Because if it did…" his gaze drifted across the endless white void, "…we'd all be fucked. Just done."
His expression shifted, "Shit," he said under his breath.
His fla flickered slightly in response.
"This complicates things for the others."
Sebastian turned his head slowly, looking back toward the half-buried watchtower structure, already thinking in layers, shelter, positioning, signal, survival.
"I might survive this kind of environent," he admitted quietly, "but them? Faelorn's people… Lune… Yarvik… they'll die in minutes if they get caught out in this."
His jaw tightened.
The fla around him deepened, reacting to his tension.
"I need them to see my fire."
He paused, eyes narrowing as he looked at the underside of the watchtower, half-swallowed by ice and snow.
"There's a path under there," he added, "At least sothing that can hold them for a while, a shelter of so sorts."
Without waiting for hesitation to catch up, he moved.
The storm reacted imdiately. As soon as he stepped away from the fragile protection of the structure, the White Frost surged forward like it had been waiting for him to step outside. Wind slamd into him with enough force to feel physical, but Sebastian didn't slow.
Fire rose around him instinctively, the storm pressed against it, trying to smother it, trying to prove it could outlast anything that dared to exist inside it.
Sebastian climbed.
Stone beneath his boots was half-buried, half-broken, he moved along the exterior of the watchtower until he reached the highest broken edge, the place where the structure gave way fully to the storm.
For a mont, he simply stood there.
Looking out.
There was no direction here. No landmarks. No sense of distance or progress. Only an endless white void from all sides, as if the world had forgotten how to end.
"…Alright," he murmured.
Then he let go of restraint.
The fire inside him expanded explosively, and it surged upward, wrapping around him and then extending beyond him, forming a towering column of heat and light that pierced into the storm.
Snow evaporated before it could land. Ice turned into steam and Sebastian stood at the center of it, unmoving, the only stable point in an unstable world.
"If you're out there," he said, voice carrying just far enough to matter, "I'm sure you can see this.."
The beacon burned brighter and hotter.
The White Frost pushed harder in response, the storm thickened, trying to drown out the light, trying to bury it beneath overwhelming cosmic force.
But the fire refused to go out.
Sebastian held it steady, eyes scanning the storm beyond the reach of his fla.
Minutes passed.
Then, he saw movent. At first, it was nothing more than distortion inside the white chaos. But slowly, those shapes resolved into sothing real.
Three figures.
Advancing carefully through the storm, raising so sort of shields, bodies hunched low against the pressure of the White Frost itself. They moved like people fighting to remain alive in a world that had already decided otherwise.
Sebastian's fla steadied instantly, "…It worked," he said quietly.
"It's really them."
The storm had not eased when they finally reached him.
Sebastian saw them long before they reached the watchtower, three struggling shapes, the shields they carried were no more than desperate improvisations: broken planks, shattered tal, anything that could turn the Frost for even a second. It wasn't enough. Not even close.
By the ti they reached the edge of his fla's reach, all three of them looked less like travelers and more like undead.
Faelorn's steps were uneven, his breath coming in short, broken pulls that barely ford steam before freezing again at the edges. Lune moved beside him, half carrying herself, half dragging Yarvik's weight forward whenever he stumbled too hard. The dwarf's head was lowered, his teeth clenched so tightly it looked like even speaking might crack him apart.
Sebastian didn't move until they were close enough to see him clearly through the storm.
Then he stepped forward, the fire around him flared protectively, widening just enough to swallow them into its warmth as they crossed the threshold of the watchtower's broken shelter.
The mont the Frost lost them, all three almost collapsed inside.
Seb caught Faelorn first by the shoulder, steadying him before he hit the ground. Lune followed, barely managing to stay upright as she dragged Yarvik inside. The inside of the watchtower was still bitterly cold, but compared to the outside it felt almost rciful.
Almost, Sebastian exhaled sharply, looking them over in a single sweep.
"Shit…" he muttered. His voice wasn't loud, the situation was no longer abstract. "You look bad."
His eyes flicked to the storm behind them, then back.
"But I'm glad you saw the fire."
He stepped aside imdiately, guiding them deeper into the structure where the wind couldn't claw directly at them. His fla followed, tightening around the interior.
"Co on," he added, quieter. "Move deeper. Don't stay near the openings."
They tried, it wasn't graceful, and it wasn't even really walking anymore.
Inside, Sebastian dropped to one knee beside Yarvik almost imdiately. The dwarf's right arm had gone wrong in a way that didn't need explanation, skin darkened beneath frostbite, veins stiffened, fingers already losing shape as blood circulation failed completely.
Sebastian stared at it for a mont longer than comfort allowed.
"…That one is gone I'm afraid," he said finally.
Yarvik let out sothing that was half laugh, half cough, breath shaking as he tried to make light of it even through the pain.
"I… know…" he rasped. "Sha… it's my stronger arm…"
Sebastian looked at him for a second, then nodded once.
"You want to do it?"
Yarvik didn't hesitate. That was the only thing that made it easier to watch.
"Aye," the dwarf said through clenched teeth. "And who's better than a witcher for a clean cut…"
Sebastian drew his steel sword,
"Ready?" he asked.
Yarvik nodded once.
Sebastian swung.
It was fast, too fast for hesitation, too controlled for doubt. The blade passed through frostbitten flesh and bone in a single decisive move, severing the arm cleanly before the pain had ti to fully register.
Then Yarvik scread.
The sound echoed off stone and ice and swallowed itself into the wind outside.
Lune turned away imdiately, one hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking as she tried not to look. Faelorn stood frozen for a second longer, staring at the severed frostbitten limb.
Sebastian didn't pause, his fla surged instantly to the blade.
He pressed the burning edge against the wound.
The sll of cauterized flesh filled the air, sharp and imdiate, sealing his wound.
Yarvik's scream broke into raw, ragged curses.
"FUCK...! Fuck! Fuuuck!"
Sebastian held it there until the bleeding stopped completely, then withdrew the sword and lowered Yarvik carefully onto the stone floor.
Lune was still shaking, unable to look back.
Faelorn finally spoke, voice hoarse and disbelieving.
"What the… fuck…" he breathed, eyes darting between Yarvik, Sebastian, and the frozen walls around them. His composure was gone, stripped raw by cold, fear, and exhaustion. "Where the fuck… is this place… Seb?"
Sebastian stood slowly, turning toward the storm outside the broken opening.
Then he spoke, quieter than before.
"This is not our world.. This is a dead world, killed by the White Frost."
He paused for a second.
"I only just confird it."
Faelorn's expression tightened.
"So that portal… took us to a fucking death trap…"
Sebastian finally looked back at him.
"I'm afraid it did."
/-\\
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