Elian Wren liked the quiet of the snow.

  It flowed around him like a soft woollen cloak, muting the creak of tree branches and the distant call of winter birds. Out here, beyond the edge of the village, the world didn’t expect anything of him. The snow didn’t care if he spoke too little, if he daydreamed too much, or if he spent hours watching the wind carve patterns across the icy surface of the pond. It was just — quiet, cold, and beautiful.

  He knelt beside a frost-touched root, tracing its rough bark with one mittened hand. The air smelled of pine and something sharper; like frozen iron. His younger sister, Kaeli, was nearby: hopping between snowy stones and pretending they were mountain peaks. She laughed every time she slipped — not because it was funny, but because she was too stubborn to let Elian worry.

  “Don’t go too close to the edge,” he called, not looking up.

  “I’m not a baby,” she shouted back. “I can climb better than you!”

  Elian smiled faintly. She probably could. He was careful, methodical, quiet — traits the other village boys had no interest in. He was the sort of boy who watched the stars and wondered where the sky began. The sort who didn’t yet know that the world was already watching back.

  Taking the basket from his back and setting it down in the snow. He started gathering the driest looking twigs and branches, inspecting each one like it could be a mythical treasure just laying on the ground.

  For as long as he could remember, he’d always dreamt about what lied beyond his village’s borders. Though he’d never admit it to anyone, deep down, he always knew there was something more out there, something calling at the edge of his perception, but he could never quite find it.

  And then, without warning, the ice behind him cracked.

  Elian shot to his feet, almost falling back down again as he sprinted across the ice field to where Kaeli had frozen in place, a look of pure terror on her face. The basket of firewood he’d spent the day gathering fell and spilled out across the icy plain.

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  “Kaeli!” he screamed, his legs moving faster than his brain was able to keep up. “Hold on, I’m coming!”

  Closing the distance in mere seconds, he skidded to a stop just in front of Kaeli, panting heavily from the exertion.

  “Brother - up there!” Kaeli cried, as the world began to rumble. Like a Frost Giant waking from its eternal slumber, the snow capped trees shook violently, producing an arctic mist around them. Elian knew what this was. He’d heard stories from the elders in his village of the calamity known as the great Icequake. Never had he imagined he’d experience it for himself, especially not this close to it’s heart.

  Adrenaline flooded his veins, sharpened his senses: time slowed around him as the trees began to shift and warp. The landscape around them moving, evolving like the stories he’d heard of The Shifting Glade far to the south.

  “Hold on,” He tried to reassure his sister, but the words couldn’t quite reach her ears, the earth beneath them roaring into life. In desperation, he clung onto her arm, putting himself between her and the cliffside above them. Desperately trying to find an escape, a dozen plans flashed through his mind - each more useless than the last. The ice wall ahead of them began to move, slowly at first but rapidly accelerating. Right towards them.

  Then he felt it. Like a spark behind his eyes, the words calling to him from the edge of his mind became clear, like a friend he’d always known. The words that had always been there. Suddenly everything became clear. He knew what to do.

  Holding his hand out in front of him, towards the wall of ice, he took a deep breath, and allowed the strange new words in his mind to come forward.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE]

  Thread connection established.

  Affinities detected: TERRAN, NIVARA.

  Pattern unlocked: [STONEWARD]

  [STONEWARD]

  Tier I Defensive Weave

  Current level: 1

  Cost: 10 Aether

  Durability: 20

  Description:

  Create a barrier of Earth and Stone in front of the caster, protecting them from incoming physical attacks. Durability improves with skill proficiency.

  Would you like to cast [STONEWARD]?

  > Yes / No

  Moments later, the ground before him rose up, compacting itself into a wall of earth and snow. Before he could take in what had just happened, or this strange system message that had appeared in his vision, the world went black. The cliffside crashed into his protective wall and pushed them both back down the hill they’d spent the morning ascending.