Ad Astra

The fresh layer of snow from last night's storm crunched under my feet as I walked between the thickening lines of trees of the Rimewood. I looked back to our small group that left the Radiant Halo sect nearly a week ago and had just finished its multi-day trek through the wastes—a frostbitten desert expanse that seemed to spread out infinitely.

Alice was bundled up in a large fluffy coat despite being far enough into her body cultivation that the cold probably didn't affect her. She had insisted on the coat when she learned we'd be going to the Rimewood. She insisted that her bio-mechanical internals wouldn't perform well in the cold, but I thought that was suspicious. They made perfect bio-mechanical systems for cultivation but couldn't make it resistant to the cold.

Judging by the sniffles and sneezing she was experiencing—despite me knowing that her nose and sinuses didn't work like that from looking into Artemia's notes in the ship—she was whining, which brought a smile to my face. If she wanted to whine a little and had temperature preferences, then I would support her as much as I could…and tease her a little while I did so. It was better than her still acting like a mindless drone.

"It's a good thing you bundled up, Alice. You look chilly, do you need me to heat up the plates again?"

She nodded, looking quite pathetic, like a small animal with her eyes mostly closed and a pleading look on her face, and it stirred a weird feeling within me to take care of her. She reached into her jacket and rifled through the prodigious amount of fluff before pulling out a pair of inch-thick metal plates that were shaped vaguely like her torso. Early on in our travels through the wastes she had used her limited ferro-kinesis to pull metal scraps out from the earth beneath us and mold them to her body. I questioned why there was so much metal in the wastes to begin with and the Yin, whom Elder Hazeon assigned to our group as a chaperone, did her best to explain.

"Dou Can has a storied and bloody history. These wastes were not always so desolate, but decades of war and powerful cultivators clashing have left only desolation in their wake. The metal scraps lady Eden is finding are likely from myriad broken weapons, the sole reminder of that past remaining in these wastes."

Her explanation was quite a bit more poetic than her normal way of talking. She looked forlorn as she looked out over the wastes and I wondered if she had some kind of connection to this place, but it wouldn't be my place to ask, at least not now.

After Alice made the plates, she altered her jacket to hold them and hopped over to me, holding them out.

"Head Researcher Astra, it is imperative that you use your fire qi to warm these plates."

I smirked, but didn't protest. She had started to act a little more childish over time, but I still found she would obey my orders despite these changes. Over time I hoped she'd act a little more her relative mental age, and her aversion to cold—and her current theatrics born from that—made me happy to see, especially with how silly it was.

I dutifully infused the metal with fire qi from the Divine Flame enough that it would be warm for hours and handed them to the girl who reverently laid them into her jacket and hugged them flush to her sides with a content look on her face. After I finished my task, the fourth member of our cadre, Wei Lin, spoke.

"Lady Alice's aversion to the cold is understandable. I grew up in a much more temperate climate than this, and the harshness of wintry environments is not to be underestimated."

I was surprised when he had joined us for this journey. He had approached me a few days before we were slated to leave the sect and asked if he could join us.

"I don't have a problem with you joining, though why do you want to come?" I had asked him.

"I owe Lady Jia a great debt for convincing Elder Hazeon and Sect Leader Bing to bring me to the northern continent and allow me entrance to the sect. I have been unable to travel to the Rimewood thusfar to express my thanks, and I would be indebted to you if you would allow me to join your trip so I may express my thanks to her in person."

That made a lot of sense, and I figured Jia would be happy to see a familiar face besides my own so I agreed easily. Plus, I was looking for a swordplay tutor and Wei Lin was the perfect candidate. He easily agreed to help teach me how to properly fight with a sword and I was able to convince Yin to teach me how to handle daggers as well.

A few days later, the four of us—including Shimmer—and Yin following from the shadows, left the sect and traveled until now where we found ourselves at the outer reaches of the Rimewood.

The trees on the outskirts of the Rimewood looked a lot like normal trees, though their white leaves, tinged with light blue tones, looked almost like the snowflakes that flitted down from the cloudy sky above. I placed a hand on the bark of the nearest tree, its surface smooth and freezing cold to the touch. I could feel the faint thrum of wood elemental qi flowing deep within the wood, and despite the smothering icy qi surrounding it, the pulse of life within it beat strongly.

Contrary to Alice, Shimmer seemed to be like a fish in water, jumping and hopping around the snowscape, chasing small critters and sniffing out playmates. She was currently chasing and playing with a long, white furred creature with gigantic black eyes compared to its relatively small body. It wove between trees and bushes, yipping as Shimmer chased it, her nine bushy tails flowing in the crisp, chill breeze.

I turned to look toward the depths of the Rimewood, a small amount of trepidation filling my heart knowing I would soon be reunited with my friend.

We stayed alert as we moved deeper into the Rimewood, knowing the year-long storm had only ended a month ago and there could still be powerful beasts roaming the frigid wilderness.

We traveled for hours, Yin ensuring we stayed on track toward the Celestial Rimewood sect as we moved but otherwise she let us meander through the wintry wonderland we found ourselves in.

The forest had an ethereal quality about it, a melodic song created from myriad icicles falling from above and clinking on the frozen lower branches rang out through the forest around us. The slight breeze whistled between the trees around us, the low, wailing howl a menacing reminder of the dangers lurking within the forest.

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The Celestial Rimewood sect shouldn't be much farther, but we had already been traveling for hours at this point. I looked around to gauge the morale of the group and both Alice and Wei Lin looked fine, though Shimmer looked a little dour, which was strange, she had been having fun so far so I thought she'd be the most chipper of the group, but then something that had been bothering me came to mind.

"Shimmer, are there no friends nearby for you to play with?" I asked her, stopping for a moment in our trek through the forest.

She shook her little foxy head and sent a sad confirmation of my words to me. I frowned deeply. Up to this point, there had been an increasing amount of snowy woodland creatures out and about, but for the last quarter hour or so there had been no sign of them. I plied my body cultivation through my heart and then my ears, sharpening my hearing drastically and listened for any movements, but save for the breathing of my companions, and the disappointed whimpers of Shimmer, the only sound I could hear was a faint rumbling far off.

As if on cue, a massive explosion of ice qi erupted from the direction of the rumbling at the same time the ground shook from an impact. I felt the frigid thread within me vibrate in response to the qi, intuitively knowing it belonged to Jia.

Without explaining anything to the others, I took off in the direction of the qi, paying no heed to whether my companions were following. I plied my full body body cultivation, speeding through the forest at a speed neither Alice nor Wei Lin would be able to easily keep up with, despite their own cultivations. I had been practicing using my extreme control over my own musculature to further improve my physical capabilities, and all that practice was bearing fruit as the snowy forest sped by me.

After only half a minute of frenzied running, I broke out from the densely packed trees and into a clearing littered with frozen debris from the multitude of smashed and sliced trees.

Around the clearing, staining the pure and newly fallen snow, the bodies of a dozen hulking creatures lay slain. Each creature nearly twice my own size boasted thick limbs wider than even the surrounding tree trunks. Their torsos were equally large and covered in thick hide with blue and white fur now matted with crimson blood. Each creature seeped blood from myriad cuts and slices across their bodies, their gnarled and beastly faces frozen in death, clear pain afflicting them in their final moments.

In the center of the new clearing, a creature triple the size of any of the others—but clearly of the same species—lay motionless, countless cuts and slashes marring its thick hide.

Atop the creature, an ethereal figure of incredible grace and poise sat, calmly sharpening her blade.

Her pure white hair flowed in the slight breeze, only the barest hint of its original onyx color near the roots showing, barely a whisper of color marring the pure white.

Her eyes, turning to look up at me as I appeared, stared deeply through me, recognition clear in the nearly pure white pupils.

She elegantly stood directly from her sitting position atop the beast and slowly sheathed her sword, its pure white blade the same as it had been when we found it sealed behind that waterfall near Liusha city.

She exuded lethality and purity, though the danger I felt from her was different than Alice's. Alice often looked like a coiled serpent, ready to strike and take down any foe in her path, while the woman atop the beast radiated a sharp intent that I felt would cut me at the first sign of aggression toward her.

Shimmer had been right next to me in my rush to the clearing and took a step forward toward the woman before sniffing the air. A low growl emanated from her, a snarl coming to her face as she sent me waves of fear and danger.

I realized I hadn't been breathing and took a sharp breath, finding it hard for my words to come to me while looking at her, and the woman didn't say anything either as she looked down at me. We stared at each other for a few long moments before Alice, and Wei Lin caught up to me, each taking in the scene in front of us as I finally gathered my thoughts and pushed past the lump in my throat to call out to my first friend on this world.

"…Jia?"

I felt the chilly ice qi in the air flowing toward her in response to hearing me call her name, the thin and frozen thread within me trembling at the short word.

"Astra. You should not be here. The Rimewood is too dangerous for you. Return to the Radiant Halo sect," She returned, her voice tinged with an icy, tinkling quality.

"Go back?? But I just got here. I came to see you! While it's dangerous, I've grown an incredible amount since the intercontinental sect competition. I've gained a new power, and learned how to properly use my body cultivation. So much has happened since I last saw you, and I want to talk about it all with you!"

I could hear the desperation in my own voice, but I needed her to understand how her telling me to leave felt when I had wanted to see her for so long.

She shook her head.

"This world, no…this universe is too dangerous. I will get the due revenge for those lives lost to the Inferno Scorpion sect. You must stay within the sect where you will be safe. I will not lose anyone else to demons."

To punctuate her statement, an accompanying flood of icy qi flowed out of her, blowing a frigid wind toward our group, forcing us all to brace against the powerful gust.

The wind whipped up a small snowy cyclone, briefly hiding Jia's form from view as the white and red snow in the clearing gathered into a maelstrom with the gigantic creature's body as the epicenter.

When the abrupt blizzard subsided, Jia was nowhere in sight. The bodies of the beasts in the clearing were now covered in a thin layer of hoarfrost and snow and slowly became buried as snowflakes flitted down from above.

"Jia…" I rasped, heavy emotion flooding my voice and I felt the already icy thread within me freeze over completely, the slight thrum of life flowing within it ceasing and growing cold.

I felt a twinge within me then and collapsed to my knees. Wei Lin hurried over and ensured I didn't collapse completely.

My heart ached and I felt a wellspring of grief and sadness spring forth from within me, tears coming to my eyes.

A light crunching of snow nearby brought my attention up to an approaching figure. Lady Yuefan Bing, Sect Leader of the Celestial Rimewood sect walked up to us, a complicated expression on her face.

Yin appeared next to us as Lady Bing neared.

"I wished to have time to speak to you, Astra, before bring you to meet Jia… I am sorry you had to meet under these circumstances, but I was unable to stop your approach as I needed to deal with a nearby threat that would have been too difficult for Jia, or you all, to tackle."

She grimaced as she apologized, but I didn't care about what she had been doing.

"What do you mean by 'these circumstances'? What's wrong with Jia? What has happened in the short time we've been apart??" I cried out, directing some of my bubbling resentment and anger toward the woman.

She frowned but then sighed, looking a lot like Elder Hazeon in the moment.

"I will explain everything once we return to the sect. It is still dangerous in the Rimewood, unlike in past decades, and I cannot guarantee the safety of you all should sufficient danger turn its ire toward our group. Come. We are not far." She told us, motioning for us to follow as she turned.

"Wait! Why can't you just explain—" I started, not wanting to wait until we got to the sect for an explanation. I wasn't able to finish my question as Sect Leader Yuefan sharply turned and flared her cultivation, anger clear on her face. The pressure she exerted pushed down against me, forcing me to grit my teeth from the power she directed at me.

"Silence, Astra! You will follow me to the sect, or you can turn back and return to your own. While I am grateful to you for curing Hazeon, and I understand you are currently upset, this forest is not some serene woodland we can waste time relaxing within. Now, come, or begone," she finished, turning quickly and walking away back in the general direction of the Celestial Rimewood sect, worry tinging her features.

I wanted to retort, but enough sense had returned to me in my grief addled mind to hold my tongue. I watched as the others moved to follow Sect Leader Yuefan, and I stood frozen in place. I looked over to where Jia had stood, wistfulness and longing filling me before I too moved to follow, hoping the sect leader's explanation would give me hope I could revive the cold, dead thread within me.