Tal liked Halo.
Sure, it was cold all the time, and some seasons were colder than others; brutally, lethally cold. And sure, there were ursurs and frost giants and dragons from the Draig and the occasional cultist, but the cannibals had finally been burned out and the aurora borealis was beautiful and bright on the coldest nights of Deepfrost.
And a civilized man could dogsled or ski to where he wanted to go. He didn't have to walk, step by burning step, across unstable ground between fields of bubbling lava.
Tal scowled and pulled the scarf more tightly around his face to try and block the worst of the ash that floated in the air. His goggles, usually his defense against snow glare, protected his eyes from smoke and heat, but did nothing to relieve the rivers of sweat that dripped from his skin beneath the light linen shirt and sturdy trousers.
The delivery to the Falls had gone with only a few minor mishaps, but he'd gotten turned around in the tunnels on the way back and come out at a different place on the surface. Boreal wheeled above him, her pale hide grown dingy with smoke, a beacon in the sky as out of place as he was as she tried to guide him back towards the mountain path that would lead towards home.
His foot broke through a treacherous scab of glassy stone and Tal cursed as he windmilled his arms and tried to catch his balance without pitching head-first into the newly-revealed lava chamber below...
Melita
Sure, it was cold all the time, and some seasons were colder than others; brutally, lethally cold. And sure, there were ursurs and frost giants and dragons from the Draig and the occasional cultist, but the cannibals had finally been burned out and the aurora borealis was beautiful and bright on the coldest nights of Deepfrost.
And a civilized man could dogsled or ski to where he wanted to go. He didn't have to walk, step by burning step, across unstable ground between fields of bubbling lava.
Tal scowled and pulled the scarf more tightly around his face to try and block the worst of the ash that floated in the air. His goggles, usually his defense against snow glare, protected his eyes from smoke and heat, but did nothing to relieve the rivers of sweat that dripped from his skin beneath the light linen shirt and sturdy trousers.
The delivery to the Falls had gone with only a few minor mishaps, but he'd gotten turned around in the tunnels on the way back and come out at a different place on the surface. Boreal wheeled above him, her pale hide grown dingy with smoke, a beacon in the sky as out of place as he was as she tried to guide him back towards the mountain path that would lead towards home.
His foot broke through a treacherous scab of glassy stone and Tal cursed as he windmilled his arms and tried to catch his balance without pitching head-first into the newly-revealed lava chamber below...
Melita
