A sea of snow stretched out over an endless barren landscape, culminating at the curve of the world beyond the eyes of even the Boy as he sat on a jutting rock above the expanse. His arms were bare and he should have been cold but his abnormal ody temperature kept him fairly comfortable in spite of the shivering of the others. Lilli, Byron, Emely, Leopold; he could hear their teeth chattering even from over here. In front of him the ice glittered beneath the radiant northern lights hanging in the sky high above like a celestial curtain. Behind him, however, the screams and the begging, and the sound of crushing bones as the children went to work on the lone outpost they’d happened across. The boy turned his head and beheld the bright yellow flames and the period explosions as it caught fuel sources. A man fled a small tin building, his upper body ablaze as he gave intermittent yet shrill screams that continued as he circled and then fell into a heap, the fire dying out as it tore through its fuel. 

“The children are free, Mister Mockreet,” Lilli said, stepping up beside him. He’d sensed her coming, even long before the crunch of her boots against the ice had entered the auditory range. “Don’t know why they need so many kids. Guess they don’t wanna dig for themselves.”

A chill wind passed over the cliff; Lilli shivered again and turned away from the boy, beholding the scene of carnage in front of her. 

“Does it upset you?” The boy asked her. 

“They took me from my family,” Lilli said. “locked me in a bunker with a dozen other’s just as me. Nights where my belly weren’t fully, tear stained pillows, the endless screaming. They didn’t care for us none. The people here, just like em’. All these kids came from somewheres, didn’t they?”

“They did,” The boy nodded as he rose from his seated position and stood beside Lilli. “We are almost ready.”

Without another word, he walked toward the group of children, many of whom were being released from steel cages and provided food, warm blankets, coats, all things that had been scavenged from the previous camps and outposts that the boy’s growing force had worked its way through in the weeks prior. One girl sat huddled on the ground, her knees tucked up under her chin as she rocked back and forth. A boy with a gash on his head, blood dripped down his nose and lips. A pool of red sat freezing on the ground before him; he crouched down and dunked his finger in the wetness, tasting it on his tongue before standing and turning to Lilli.

“And before this,” He said. “You had a family? People who loved you?”

“I did,” She nodded. 

“I too had someone I loved. She was taken from me. She played with me.”

“You don’t seem too much the type to play,” Lilli smirked. “Seeing the way you bashed those heads in back there.”

“I do many things,” The boy said matter of factly. Lilli laughed.

“Tell me, Lilli, would you wish to return to your family?”

“Would love to,” Lilli nodded. “But seeing as all this’s happened, I’d say it wouldn’t be much the same, would it?”

“What do you mean, Lilli?”

“Well, Mister Mockreet, you know, I remember last Yule with my family. My mom, my dad, my brother, we was all snug in our little house. Fire was warm, hot chocolate in our hands. Did you know that on Yule we keep the fire burning all night?”

“I did not,” The Boy admitted.

“Well you knows, reason we do that, is so we know we can survive the cold that’s coming. Makes little sense now, seeing as we’ve got a warm house and a warm fire, but back when they didn’t? That fire showed them that they could make it through, all the way to the Spring. We keep doin’ it anyways, even though we don’t have to worry about that. Back then I didn’t know nothing. I was happy, I was safe, I didn’t think too much about nothin’ ‘cept for hot chocolate, presents and stuff other kids worry about. How is it I’m ‘sposed to go back to that? Knowin’ that it could just be taken away anytime? When I know a man can just scurry into my house, stuff a rag in my mouth and carry me off to who knows where? No, Mister Mockreet, if I’m gonna go back, then it’s gonna be because it’s safe, and I can be happy without lookin’ over my shoulder. I want to stoke the fire and be ready for the winter. Now, Mister Mockreet, where are we off to?”

“The enemy is nigh,” The boy shrugged. “I did not see them as the enemy before she showed me, but now is the time to act. I sense another camp, to the west. We must save the children there, and then we will prepare to march on the Stormveil.”

“The Stormveil?” Lilli gawked. “But nothing gets through the Stormveil! I heard that Hybra is gone and-”

“We must pass through the Stormveil,” The boy interrupted her. “For there is someone on the other side I must speak to.”

“And who is that?” Lilli placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Just who is so important that we have to walk to certain death? And besides, why ain’t you just able to Mockreet yourself through the stupid thing? You are the Mockreet, ain’t you?”

“My…abilities are limited, as of late,” The boy shrugged. 

“Limited? My eyes have seen you set fire to people with your hands,” Lilli observed. “Ain’t all that limited to me!”

“A mere fraction of what I could once accomplish,” The boy said. “And it takes much from me.”

“Excuse me, Mister Mockreet?” The boy, Byron came trotting up, his open coat flapping in the wind. He wore an oversized cap, probably something he’d pillaged from a body. “The uh…the others want to know if we can rest here for a bit. The main building over there has heat. We could get a bite to eat, we sorely need it.”

“Very well,” The boy agreed. “We will take our rest here. Make sure the others are warm and fed. Tomorrow we march.”

“If you have all these powers, you could do more for us, you know,” She pouted. 

“I am doing what I can,” The boy said. “The others do not like it when I interfere, so I do what I can, here and there-”

The boy’s speech was cut short as doubled over, vomiting blood on the snow, a pained shout escaping his lips. Lilli didn’t react; it was the fourth time today, at least.

“Already?” She asked him. He nodded. 

“The Mah’Kur and I have this in common. We cannot operate far from the Stormveil for long. Not without…”

“Without what?” Lilli asked, as the boy’s statement had turned into a series of coughs and another expulsion of blood.

“Lilli, Mister Mockreet!” Byron said, trotting back. “We found something in the big building! I think it might be what you was looking for!”

Lilli, the Boy, and Byron walked to the building, the Boy stumbled and coughed as Lilli held his arm, keeping him upright. 

“I ain’t know how long he’ll last,” Lilli said to Byron who cast a worried look to her. “If he dies, what ought we do?”

“Why you askin’ me?” Byron demanded as they passed through a wooden door and onto a rickety landing with a set of steps that led down to a basement. In the middle, a vat filled to the brim with a thin blue liquid. 

“Is this it?” Lilli asked the Boy. “Is this what you’ve been after?”

They stood in front of the brass vat, a riveted frame and a thick glass window gave them visual admission to the contents within. The boy stepped forward and placed his open palm against the glass, peering inside. If he’d had a heart to speak of, it would have been racing at this moment. 

“Lookie here,” Byron said, reading from a piece of found paper. “Says here it’s called Arc…arc…uh..Arctes…something. I can’t really well pronounce that. Adults use dumb words.”

“Arctesonite,” Lilli said, snatching the paper from him. “Well, Mister Mockreet? Will this do?”

“Yes,” The Boy said, turning to them. “This will do.”

END OF PART 2