The first thing that Elysia noticed was a strange sensation. Slowly, her thought processes started working again, although her thinking was still a bit choppy after centuries in a place void of all things. The sensation was slightly familiar and after some time she remembered what it was called.

Cold, she was cold.

A normal human would have gone looking for warmth at this point, but Elysia was still rather dazed. It took her a while to realize what it meant. What feeling sensations in general meant. She was no longer in the Void.

But even this realization was not quite enough to shake her out of her stupor. She didn't know how long she laid there, her sense of time distorted, but she slowly opened her eyes at some point, only to be met with the sight of white.

'Snow', her sluggish mind supplied her, as it put one and one together to make two.

'So cold'

Her consciousness faded, and the immortal fell asleep, not knowing, nor caring about how long it would take for someone to find her.

Of course, she was not someone who went unnoticed. In the normally empty forest of snow and trees, that appeared to expand across as far as the eye can see, there was another figure there. However, the figure was not that of a man, but a boy.

"Hmmm mmm hmm hm hm. Hmmm mmmm hm hm hmmm".

Someone who was humming something that was totally at random, it was Ixa Snowfall Rixy. He was wearing a blue hoodie that had cat ears on top, with a cat tail attached to the back, a pair of shorts, and the shoes that he normally wore were stuffed into the pockets of his hoodie. As for why they were stuffed in there with his socks instead of on his feet, that was because he thought it would be uncomfortable if snow slid into them while he was wearing them and become all slushy slushy.

So instead, he was walking barefoot with nowhere near enough clothing in the snow.

However, this was not really an issue for him as it was impossible for him to get frostbite or be bothered by extreme colds. As one with the ability "Lord of the Frost", Ixa was totally unaffected by cold temperatures. Of course, inversely, temperatures considered "hot" made him want to strip completely naked because he would find it uncomfortable, unless he used his ability to keep himself cool.

And that was when he stumbled across the person.

"Oh!"

"See, I told you some sort of spacial distortion happened here".

Appearing at his side was his Spirit Guardian, a large white wolf he named Snowflake. Or, did Snowflake name herself? Or maybe it was a name another gave her? Ixa forgot the specifics.

Ixa decided to nudge her face with her feet, to see if she would wake up. Unfortunately, he was not really the brightest of the Rixys.

Another sensation assaulted Elysia, awaking her from her cold-induced slumber. Something was... touching??? her face. At first she attributed it to the unrelenting snowfall, as the object was rather cold, but rather than stay still, the object was nudging her. Had she not just started the process of escaping a several-centuries-long catatonic state, she would have swatted at it, but alas, she had yet to regain enough self-awareness for that.

She opened her eyes though, only to see the bare foot of a boy hovering over her face. Fortunately for her, it didn't smell due to the circumstances (the boy having walked barefooted through the snow for a while). 'Dream?', she decided after staring at it for a bit, before closing her eyes again.

After all, despite having been in the catatonic state for centuries, she hadn't seen a living being for millennia.

The fact that she was in a place where snow and cold existed -where /anything/ existed- as opposed to the Void, so living beings could possibly exist, not quite clicking yet.

Ixa kept nudging her face a bit, seeing if she would react in any such ways, wondering if he was being ignored. He might just get a tad bit sad, or perhaps very sad, if he was being ignored. Even though the entire reason he came through the Southern Region in the first place was to go unnoticed, if a person that he was trying to interact with ignored him coldly, Ixa would probably take considerable mental damage.

Ixa's skin was actually pretty much perfect, due to his Adaptability power that did a lot of miscelanous and usually rather mundane things. Of course, it made him a universal receiver of blood, organs, and such, but given that it caused him to also be an experimental test subject for nearly a decade, in fact for almost all his life up until recently, it was not something he would brag about. But Ixa was well known among the RIxys for his overly positive attitude. He was probably, at least a bit, too positive.

"Wakey wakey! You might get a cold there!"

And when he heard her mention him as a dream, he pouted a bit.

"I am not a dream! Thats it, time for the secret technique! Ultimate Ixa Stomach Jump!"

And so he jumped on her aiming for the stomach region in a playful and silly manner, in a way that would do almost no damage...but would certainly be something that could be felt.

It was quite possible Elysia had accidently broadcast that thought instead of simply thinking it, millennia of isolation having destroyed the need for 'in-mind thoughts', although it wasn't very likely. Or maybe the boy had just been sensitive to such things. Just because someone wasn't a full-fledged telepath didn't mean that they couldn't accidently pick up a stray thought once in a while.

In fact, most of the time someone went 'I thought I heard someone say something' in a silent room, it was such a case.

This was neither here nor there however, as Elysia wasn't quite in a state to wonder about it, so those wouldn't have been her thoughts anyway.

Another sensation suddenly spiked.

Pain.

She couldn't help stifling a scream. At one time she had had a rather high pain tolerance, but having been touch-deprived for so long, she was hypersensitive to it. The cold and slight pressure of the foot touching her face had been well inside the tolerable range, if still significantly more unpleasant than it would have been for others. Something that would have actually registered as hurting considerably for them though? It was much, much worse for her.

By instinct she curled up on herself, protecting her head and stomach, while letting out occasional whimpers.

Ixa jumped back off of her once she screamed, with a very positive look in his face.

"Yay! You are awake! It worked!"

"Ixa, please stop acting like an idiot" Snowflake told him before turning to face the woman. The large white wolf's fur glistened as the sun reflected off the snow and gave her a beautiful appearance of her own. You know, for a giant white wolf. "My apologies, Ixa is still new to the outside world due to his...circumstances...and lacks proper common sense. Well, it is true you might die or at least suffer lasting damage due to hypothermia if you slept here, so I suppose his actions did help save your life just now. So please, forgive him".

Ixa watched as Snowflake talked to the woman who had suddenly curled up and started whimpering.

"Hey, are you okay? Well don't worry, I found you so you will be fine! My name is Ixa! Ixa Rixy! It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Ixa said that while extending his hand, as if hoping for a handshake.

The words of the white wolf, like all the things that were said before, would go unheard by Elysia. This was not out of malice or her ignoring them on purpose, but rather because she couldn't have understood in the state she was in. She had basically been doing what might as well be the human equivalent of 'coming back online' after a long period without (sensory) input.

She slowly left the agitated state the pain had left her in, as her magic worked on repairing the injuries.

Yes, injuries.

For all that the boy hadn't intended to actually harm her, Elysia hadn't been in that good of a condition to begin with. Magic might be useful, but that didn't take away that she had 'lived' for a long time without sustenance. Even magic, which she generated a little of herself, could not creating something out of nothing, leaving her very vulnerable. Her bones had grown brittle, and her organs had been either on or past the brink of failure to begin with.

Yes, the ambient magic and actual matter to be converted into necessarily substances had helped her own magic a lot in starting to repair the damage, but not that much time had passed between Elysia entering this world and the boy finding her.

Blood dribbled down from the corner of her mouth, staining the previously pure snow a vibrant red. Something which, due to her current positioning, and it only being a few drops could easily go unnoticed.

She kept fading out of and into consciousness for a few minutes, unaware of what was going on around her.

As the two spoke, it was finally becoming apparent for them that she couldn't hear them. They though since she had moved, at least a little, that she was active, but it appeared to them now that she was still in a bad state where she could not really hear them or something. And of course, it was Snowflake who finally noticed the smell of blood.

"Ixa! There is blood somewhere! She is bleeding!"

"What? But, I don't smell anything".

The fact that everything was covered in snow had dulled their ability to sense a bit, but Snowflake was not just a wolf, but a Spirit Guardian. Her senses were even more advanced then Ixa's, who had been given enhanced senses from the experiments done to him. This allowed him to actually notice the smell of blood once Snowflake brought his attention to it.

"Oh, now I got it...dont worry mysterious lady! We will help you!"

"But Ixa, you lack the ability to heal other people. You can regenerate yourself just fine, but...you cant really heal other people".

"Cant you do that, Snowflake?"

"...I would need to know a bit more about these injuries to do anything".

"Well then! I will just have to try something with Lord of the Frost!"

"Wait, that shouldn't have a healing ability thou..."

"It gives me full control over stuff like this right? Well then, there is certainly a way! I just have to try! Maybe by sending energy right into her, I can absorb the cold from her body and let her body return to a more normal temperature where it can operate better!"

"That is...surprisingly a good idea, coming from you..."

Of course, this was not a coincidence. Ixa had been a test subject for many years, and Lord of the Frost was an ability that they had forced him to use in various ways. Not to mention the scientists always talked about bioscience stuff around them. Ixa was an idiot, and an extreme optimist sure. But, after being made to hear about this stuff for every day, for his entire life up until recently, Ixa did pick some things up.

And so to help restore her body to a temperature that he figured it would operate better at, he sent his own energy into her body and would use it to extract the cold energy inside her, while Snowflake would try to load them both onto her back so she could transport them to someplace better then an open, snowy field.

Elysia remained mostly unaware of everything. She didn't really feel herself getting moved unto the wolf's back, although some time in she did notice how soft whatever she was lying on felt, before her consciousness faded again. What she did notice was the intrusion of a strange energy into her body, but her magic made no more than a token attempt to fight it off, especially as it soon became clear that whatever it was doing was not harmful.

The fact that Elysia couldn't have died from hypothermia didn't mean that the energy previously spend at keeping her bodily functions from getting far worse had no better uses after all.

She might not have been able to die, but she wasn't truly alive either. Neither was she an undead. It would be more accurate to say her body was frozen in time, but that was not quite it either. Most of her organs might have been useless by now, but once her magic had repaired the damage they would work as intended.

The only real difference between her and a living person -aside from the complete absence of the concept of death from her being- is that damage done to her wouldn't heal naturally, that task fell to her magic instead, which was a good enough substitute all things considered.

She wasn't alive, she wasn't dead, or anything in between. She just was at this point.

Now one might ask, what's the point of repairing the damage in that case? Well. One could again liken her body to a machine. Bodies were merely something our souls used to interact with the world around us after all. I might say 'merely', but can you imagine living without a body, unable to affect anything? Even magic needed a conduit after all, and while there were examples of spiritual beings being able to affect the physical plain of existence through their magic Elysia hadn't the foggiest about how to go about such a thing.

It was better to be safe than sorry. So yes, maintaining her body was definitely worth her time.

With that done, the two of them set off with the one that they found and began heading to a place where they could treat her better. Of course, neither one of them actually knew she was an immortal and that what they were doing probably wasnt necessary, so they continued with treating her as well. Ixa, who normally had this aura of being a silly, goofy, overly positive and cheerful person, was working very seriously right now. So much so that he accidentally forgot to keep himself balanced, and fell backward butt first into the snow and got his shorts all wet and covered in snow.

After awhile, they came across what appeared to be the remains of an old trading outpost. Although it looked old and abandoned, because it was made of stone so it could endure a surprise monster attack, it was durable and good, and even had a chimney and fireplace. Of course, all the supplies were gone, but Ixa still had his own. There was some furniture left around in good condition.

Of course, normal people would find it uncomfortable, but for Ixa who had been raised being experimented on, tortured, and never given any comforts or even treated like a person, he found it comfortable. He had the woman rest by the fireplace, however...

"Snowflake...we dont have any way to start a fire, do we?"

Ixa realized that as they were both ice based, neither of them had the ability to start fires.

"That is why I reminded you to get a lighter, remember?"

But Snowflake had remembered to handle it. Ixa put down his shoes by the door, and then lit the fire so that in addition to him sucking out the cold, the heat would help as well. He also remembered overhearing a scientist say at one point that fire can help wake people up due to the various senses it owuld influence, such as the sound of it crackling, the light of it going into people's eyes, the smell of the burning wood, and the feel of the natural warmth, but he might have been misremembering that.

And then...Ixa took off his wet shorts and hung them by the fire to dry. His hoodie was oversized, so in truth nothing really was wrong technically...but obiously, no normal person would likely do that in a room with a stranger. However, Ixa hated wearing wet clothes because they were uncomfortable. As for why they were wet, it was because he fell in the snow repeatedly on the way here when he got too focused in treating the woman.

Actually, because of the fireplace, Ixa wanted to take off his hoodie too but Snowflake stopped him. His Lord of the Frost gave him extreme cold resistance, but because of that heat would effect him more. Because of that, Ixa would likely have to be completely naked if he ever wanted to travel through a desert. Of course, he could train himself to get used to heat more...but, Ixa was a whimful person.

"I wonder if she will wake up soon. Its not easy to make conversation when the other person is asleep".

It took a few hours of Elysia's magic working in overdrive, but it had reached a point where her bodily functions would actually work on their own if left to it. She was still rather unhealthy, but she wasn't in immediate danger anymore.

In the end, it turned to her mind. Elysia, had started awakening from her stupor on her own after starting to receive sensory input again , but while it couldn't exactly help her with that, it could at least start repairing her Mind Palace. (Something, that in laymans' terms could be called a Mindscape or an Inner World).

Hers had originally been the mansion she spend her formative years in, but over time it had been fortified, as she learned to defend herself from spiritual intrusions, and later it had been expanded, as one of it's functions was also used to store memories. This was during her prime however, as while there were still remnants of it remaining, it was little more than a pile of rubble now. the void having eaten away at her sense of self.

In fact, had her magic still been bound to the rules of her world what it was about to do would have been impossible.

(Heck, a lot of the things that it had done since landing in this world were originally beyond it's scope, but having both been old as hell -everyone knew that magic grew stronger and more intuitive with age-, as well as cut off from her original world and having been exposed to the primal Void, had had it grow beyond its initial specifications.)

So it worked on restoring her inner palace. The building materials were all there after all. Because while the void had eaten way at her sense of self, there was no part of her that could actually be destroyed, not even her memories. It merely destroyed the bonds between them, leaving her a jumbled mess.

It couldn't simply reverse the damage without destroying part of her, which was, as stated earlier an impossibility. The only thing it could do was recreate the bonds that had been there before one at a time. It was a good thing time didn't move the same way within an Inner Palace, because reassembling it was a task that would take it thousands of years.

---

Elysia had been growing increasingly lucid on her own, but it was her magic's efforts within her Mind Palace that saw her sense of self restored, her sense of identity. It was because of this that when she awakened this time, a few hours after entering the building, she was capable of taking in her environment.

---

With all of that done, it was now a waiting game as Ixa and Snowflake would wait for the woman to return to consciousness. Of course, they had no idea when, but Ixa was getting uncomfortable in the room because the fire was burning a little too well. This was not actually a coincidence. Neither Ixa nor Snowflake realized it, but the fireplace was enchanted to produce extra heat, warmth, and stimulate the body, and would not normally produce harmful effects. There was a way to change the setting, but neither of them knew that.

Unfortunately while the heat that is produced would be at a level where people normally just be fine if they wore a T-shirt and shorts or such, for Ixa who was better with cold then hot, it was almost unbearable. In fact, halfway through, he became a sweaty mess and was panting as if he would get heat stroke. He could just cool the air, but he was being considerate of Elysia as he did not know she was an immortal, or about the exact state of her body or mind. Checking the body required Ixa to do something he really shouldn't do to without permission, or to the opposite gender, unless it was an emergency, but since he saw her appearing to recover he hadn't. Of course, Snowflake could try invading her mind, but they thought it would be extremely rude and a breach of privacy to do so.

Because of that, while they waited, Ixa decided after he became such a stinky, sweaty mess, to wash his body and clothes. Thankfully, the heat from the small building did vent to one other location. There was some sort of outdoor bath set up. This place was pretty old, so the technology to make it was remarkable. However, because he was now outside and this was far away from Ryder, he was able to cool the water to a degree where it was a temperature he enjoyed. He also simultainously began to wash the oversized hoodie he had, because it got drenched in sweat as well. Notably, anyone else would find the water way too cold for them after Ixa's cooling.

Normal people might be embarassed, even if no one was around, to take a bath outside, but Ixa lacked people common sense. Snowflake was trying to teach him that, but that was why he did not think of it as anything when he thought about taking off his clothes earlier. He was treated as a lab rat all his life, and was never given any clothes until after he escaped. That was why his ability to properly treat Ryder was flawed, why he did things normal people wouldn't. He had been experimented on, and essentially tortured and mistreated, all his life.

And yet somehow, he was still able to smile like that, and was so energetic and positive and happy.

As he was getting out, and pulled his now clean hoodie back on.

"Ixa, come quick! She is waking up!"

Ixa immediately ran over and into the building, to see the woman who appeared to become aware and lucid. The sun was just about to come up as well.

"Goodmorning!"

Ixa said that immediatley without even checking to see if she was actually awake, and with a bit too much energy. No, for that matter, shouldn't someone his age be tired after staying up all night? Well, he was an experiment, so normal people logic didn't really work on him.

Also, he hoped she was awake and had recovered enough so he could put out that fire. It was already bothering him.

"Good M...", Elysia started replying to the wolf and her boy in a hoarse tone, that made it clear she hadn't talked for a long time.

That is, until she realized what she was doing, what was happening, and where she was, on top of the fact she had company. Nevertheless, she composed herself, so after a lightly elongated 'mmmmmm', she finished with

"...orning?"

"Ah", she began, "Not to be rude...", she was very much aware it was in fact rather rude, "..., but where am I, and who are the two of you?"

It was a question worth asking in her opinion, despite its rather mundane nature. After all the universe had ended quite some time ago, and there hadn't even been theories about the multiverse during it's existence. Well, at least not that she knew off. In fact, she was freaking out slightly, even if she managed to mask it well.

All those years of living as a noble seemed to still be good for something.

She couldn't help but think: 'Mother would be rolling in her grave at my lack of manners, had it still existed'

"Yay! It worked! You are awake! I knew the fire would work!"

"You knew, huh?"

"Would I have put myself through all that suffering if I didn't?"

"To help someone else? Possibly" Snowflake retorted, before turning towards the woman. "I suppose you did just wake up from a dangerous situation. We found you unconscious and near death in the snow and cold, so we dragged you over here to this old building for shelter and started a fire while giving you treatment. That said, its forgivable since you are possible not fully recovered, but please remember in the future it is rude to ask other's of their names without giving your own. My name is Snowflake, and I am the Spirit Guardian to this boy here, Ixa Snowfall Rixy, also known by one of his nicknames as 'Lord of the Frost'. He used his powers to suck out the cold from you, keeping you alive and stimulating your recovery speed".

"Yeah yeah! My name is Ixa! Ixa Rixy! And uhh....do you still need the heat on? Sorry, its just...that fire is really hot..."

Ixa said that with some discomfort showing on his face, which otherwise had a nice and innocent smile on it as he was relieved she was okay. However, it was likely painfully obvious to Ryder even with limited awareness he was clearly not dressed for extreme cold, and yet the heat in the room, while sort of high, shouldn't be causing him issues with the limited clothing he had on. His legs were even completely exposed pretty much, and it did not look like he was wearing anything under that oversized hoodie that covered most of his body. And yet, instead of being cold, he was hot.

"If its normal heat, I can usually manage somewhat...but this fireplace seems extra strong...anyways, how are you doing?! You are not dying anymore, right?"

Elysia smiled at the interaction between the two of them at first, although it slowly left her face as the wolf began talking.

Not that the news was all that bad all things considered, or that the things the now identified Snowflake said where unreasonable, but Elysia couldn't help but feel a twang of annoyance at the patronizing way the wolf was talking to her. Nevertheless, she feigned shame.

[She thought the names a few times in the meantime, rolling them around in her head. From the resonance to their beings she could divine the so called Ixa was somewhat honest, truly believing it to be his name, even if it was somewhat doubtful it was the name he was given at birth. For while it resonated with him, it was not quite his Second Name. She couldn't quite identify the problem.

She couldn't get a read on Snowflake at all, but maybe that's because she was a spirit first and foremost.

(True Names being so-called First Names, and Second Names being the name given to a child by their parents)

"Ah, I apologize", she said. "My social skills have become rather stunted over the years.."

'not entirely a lie', she thought to herself

"... My name is Elysia Ryder, thank you for saving me."

She could have told them of her immortality, and that she'd probably have been fine to begin with. She didn't for two reasons. The first being that she didn't quite trust the duo with her secrets yet. The second being that it was rather rude, even compared to her previous faux pas. They had endeavoured to help her -a stranger- after all. Who would she be to disparage their efforts?.

She turned to the fire place, following Ixa's question. It was true that it burned rather hot, almost unnaturally so. It took her a while to find the explanation, but there seemed to be an enchantment of sorts on the fireplace.

"Ah, yes... One moment, let me adjust the fireplace's settings."

Luckily she was close enough to interact with the spell without having to move excessively. She was somewhat surprise when an actual interface popped up in front of her face, never having seen that happen before. Well, all the better, she was unfamiliar with the enchantment after all, and if she could use a build-in regulator, she'd do that, instead of tweaking the enchantment directly instead.

The result, while not truly instantaneous, became clear within less than a half a minute, when the fire simmered down to a colder, but not truly cold temperature.

(She might be willing to accommodate her 'saviour's' needs to a certain extent, but that didn't mean she enjoyed the biting cold herself)

She turned around, and looked at Ixa questioningly, "Is that better?"

As the heat turned down that was being radiated from the fireplace, although it did not go off all the way, it bothered him far less then before. "Yeah...I should be able to handle this fine, at least for a good while. Sorry about that. I really don't know much about common sense".

Ixa said that as he smiled, in a rather innocent and childlike manner. As the light poured in and he stepped into it, she would get a better look at him. He was still barefoot, and wearing a huge oversized blue hoodie fashioned with cat ears and a tail. The hoodie was so oversized, it went well past his waist and stopped a little bit past one third of the way to his knee. There was no way to see under that, but it was clear he was not wearing long pants despite the freezing cold outside.

The sleeves were covering his arms and hands, but he could probably roll them up if needed. As for the opening where his head was, he still had the hood up even though he was indoors. Although it looked like his shoulders could keep it up as well, it was probably so that it did not slide off. However, through the opening, not only could she see his face but also his upper chest a little since he was not wearing a shirt.

Of course, if she paid attention and noticed, there was something quite notable (and possibly the entire reason for all of this description in the first place), was his skin and hair. From sight alone, one could see an abnormally high amount of care was put into it. Simply speaking, his skin was perfect, especially for a boy. Not only was his skin perfect, and if she felt it the feeling would be smooth, perfectly smooth beyond normalcy. And it was not just part of his skin. Everything seemed that way.

His hair too. His pure white hair seemed exceptional, more exceptional then any normal human hair. Even if most of it was under the hood, this could still be understood by a novice just by seeing what they could from the front. And his eyes just had a certain shine and brightness to it.

The inexperienced might have an idea of it, and the experienced would definently be able to tell. His entire body was just too unnaturally perfect. In other words...he was almost certainly cloned or grown in a lab of some kind. An artificial human.

"Anyways, you are welcome for the help! Are you able to move? Will you be able to move soon? Do you need any more help? You do know where you are, right?"

"Ixa, calm down a little" Snowflake told him before looking at her. "Sorry, he tends to get a bit energetic. Anyways, the reason he asks is because there are monsters that live in this region, and dangerous ones at that. There should hopefully be a town or city nearby that would be better to stay in then this abandoned place. Maybe a port town north of here. This road doesn't appear to be used a lot, but there was some recent activity of man made vehicles".

Now that Elysia got a good look at the boy, she got an inkling about why the boy didn't identify with his Second Name. His looks were to perfect to be natural, which indicated some sort of magic was likely involved in his creation.

She wasn't entirely right about that by common standards, but she wasn't entirely wrong either by the standards of her own world. Artificially created beings had existed. There were golems, which Ixa was clearly not, and there were Homunculi. While the exact method of creation wasn't the same, Ixa definitely counted as the latter by Fysalda's standards.

Not that it mattered much to her. Homunculi had been counted as people too on her world. They were ensouled beings after all.

She smiled at the excitable young boy, even as he was being rebuked by his spirit guardian, and answered:

"Moving will still be hard for the next few hours I think. I have magic, and it's working on healing my body at an accelerated rate. Aside from that, I..."

Her stomach growled loudly, as if punctuating what she was planning to say. She sighed at this, and continued,

"...Haven't eaten in a while, so I'm not sure if I have the energy to walk very far. Again, with my magic being at the strength it is I usually don't actually need to eat, but it is currently otherwise occupied, and will likely be until I have healed fully."

(Her magic might be powerful, but being forced to work to keep her body from collapsing until it was fully healed, and the healing itself, of both her body and mind were pretty much the extent of it's multitasking abilities.

Once she had explained her own situation, Ixa nodded and understood everything. Well, not really, but he understood enough to know what he needed to do. He faced the other way and bent down so he could quickly look through his bag, searching for any food to eat. However...

"Ixa, I doubt she wants ice cream bars in her condition. Something easy to eat, like soup. And not cold soup. Only you can enjoy it like that".

Snowflake explained that as Ixa looked around. As Elysia had figured, Ixa was not a natural person. In truth, he would be best described as a clone, however many various methods were used in his creation, including methods to create homunculi. But because of that, and the way he was raised, it appeared he lacked any common sense.

Well, there was a single mark on his skin. It was something that had not quite been visible before, but a glimpse of it could be seen. A sort of barcode, on his cheek under his left eye. In truth, if one scanned it, they could access all the files the scientists had made on him, including growth and medical records.

That said, if Ixa did not have the appearance of a nine year old boy, he would probably be considered extremely attractive and be sought after. No, with his looks, it might be possible that people not normally interested in those like him would be. But Ixa himself had no awareness of that.

If one were to look at his soul, they would probably see it as pure. They might even see his full body, unhindered by anything. However, aside from the embarassing aspect of that, it would also likely mean they would notice the scars that had been hidden across his body, not noticable by normal people. Indications that he had been cut open, and given the organs of others. Of pain, and suffering. And yet, his soul would still be surprisingly pure and positive, shining like the sun itself.

And it also appeared to be eternal, never aging. Something about his body had stopped his own clock.

Eventually Ixa came over to her and offered her some fruit. It looked like it was still quite fresh, and was not frozen solid, and would be edible for her.

"Then maybe this will help? Or do you need meat or something?"

Once again Elysia nearly frowned at Snowflake, or rather how condescending she seemed to be. Even if Ixa lacked the common sense of this world there was no need to talk down on him like that. As Elysia saw it, this definitely seemed to pass the thin line between mothering to smothering.

She ignored it though. Despite dearly hoping this wasn't their usual mechanic.

"Thank you Ixa, this will do.", Elysia told the boy with a smile. To be honest she would have been happy even with cold soup or this thing called ice cream bars as long as it filled the stomach, but she didn't say that out loud.

The wolf had had a point though, despite Elysia's thoughts. Those weren't really the types of food to be given to recovering people. She didn't remember this yet, the knowledge being part of what was deemed 'miscellaneous' by her magic. It had therefore not been restored yet, because there was a lot far more vital stuff to worry about.

---

Right now the only thing she had seen of their relation so far was the wolf constantly shushing Ixa, and apologizing for his behaviour. The boy might have been somewhat exuberant and a little under-taught, but what was wrong with that? She estimated the boy to be around 9-years-old, and those two things weren't too out of place for that age.

Snowflake also kept talking for him, where he might have been able to explain himself if the wolf let him. She constantly corrected him and had also openly doubted him when he said something remotely smart.

All in all she came to the conclusion that this relationship seemed to be rather toxic for the boy.

But in the end she realized she had too little information to go by.

Ixa looked around for more food to give her to help, but ultimately realized that as they had also been on their way into a city, their own food supply was rather low and did not really have much to say at all i nthe way of meat. All there was in there was some soups, like something called "beef soup". Ixa didn't know what beef was, but unfortunately they had run out of chicken soup, so he thought they were out of meat.

Incidentally, Ixa knew of hamburgers, steak, and such, but as none of those were called "beef" he was blissfully unaware that it was a meat and overlooked it.

"Oh, I know! I can just hunt one of the monsters nearby for meat!"

Ixa declared that as if it was a normal thing to say, even though the region they were in were known for tough and dangerous monsters nowadays. Furthermore, he was only wearing a hoodie as his protection. And yet, he just smiled at Elysia as if it was normal. Snowflake seemed a bit concerned though.

"Are you sure Ixa? I mean..."

"No, don't worry about it Snowflake" Ixa said, though compared to his words before there seemed to be a deeper emotion...a deeper meaning...in this. "Its not like we can always avoid it, in fact we have pretty bad luck towards that. But this is just hunting for meat. Its a normal activity normal people do. Its something to experience".

Hearing those words, Snowflake looked at him for a moment before nodding her head in agreement.

"Very well Ixa. I understand. Its just...if you don't want to fight, you don't have to".

When Ixa opened the door though, if Elysia even just looked outside it would be pretty much impossible for her to miss it. There appeared to be a huge wall of reinforced ice, surrounding where they were staying. The ice was truthfully harder then titanium, and thick enough to withstand a siege. Ixa had created all of this, just so they could rest peacefully.

Maybe it said something about his power, but it also spoke to how dangerous the monsters of this area could be. Indeed, this powerful barrier actually had one or two small cracks in it already.

"Oh, looks like it will be easy to find. A bunch of them have moved real close! Don't worry, just stay right there! I will get some meat for you!"

Incidentally, Ixa might seem powerful, but power was not everything. In a fight, there were various factors to consider, including technique, compatibility, their mental and physical states, and luck. While maybe Ixa could be considered strong and powerful, even with his optimistic and positive attitude, he understood that he could be defeated, and possibly quite easily if he was not careful.

Plus, Snowflake would always be at his side to help him out. And so, once he set out, it would take only a few minutes for Ixa to find some meat to bring back and cook for Elysia.

Elysia felt a little panicked to be honest, trying to think back to what she said. She was pretty sure she said the fruits were okay and that he didn't need to, or something along those lines. Or had at least intended to convey that.

Nevertheless he already seemed to be gone by the time she had the presence of mind to open her mouth.

She closed it again with a snap, feeling rather awkward.

That awkwardness soon made way for frustration though.

She tried to get up, but her legs collapsed underneath.

'Why am I so useless?', she angrily thought to herself. Or at least she had thought she did, for it seemed she had actually muttered those words.

Of what use were her powers, if she couldn't even protect a kid, having to be protected instead?

"You don't have to worry, he will be fine" Snowflake told Elysia as she watched her actions. Although her face was that of a wolf, one might think her face seemed....well, a mix of contentness, happiness, and just a bit of worry. "Although I have concerns, always, if it has to do with fighting, Ixa can be relied upon. He seems to be in a good mood too, helping others, so thats good. Besides, ultimately in the end, he will always have the final say. I can only do what I can to help him".

As Snowflake finished saying that, a huge crashing sound could be heard outside, and only a minute later, Ixa entered with a huge piece of meat....and a troubled face.

"Uhhh, so....I know you said you didn't need it...." Ixa lied. He actually forgot she had said it was okay out of his concern for her, and only remembered after getting some meat. "...but, I thought it would help you get better, so I got some anyways!"

And then, he pulled in a good chop of raw, and very fresh, meat. Outside the door, one could see the corpse of a very large monsters that he cut out this small (relatively) part from, and he just smiled at Elysia as he set it up to cook over the fire, though he enhanced the cooking time by drawing out all of the cold from the meat.

"There! This will definently help you get better! Definently!"

He said that while looking at her with a joyful face. Or perhaps, a hopeful one. There was some blood on him now though, but it was not his. It was because he remembered to properly drain the meat of blood and from originally cutting the meat out. Ixa was a bit hyperactive this way, but it meant he also got things done quickly.

"Even so...", Elysia muttered in response, but fell silent again. Before she could formulate her next words, Ixa was back.

She noticed Ixa's lie, but decided not to call him out on it, especially since she couldn't quite figure out what the lie was. I mean, it was a bit out of the way to think he forgot what she told him directly after hearing it, only to remember it after he was done, despite that being exactly what happened.

[To be honest, she was also a bit distracted after his white lie. Her magic had been growing increasingly sentient before the world ended, but at least it didn't do anything without being prodded, it had been like another limb, albeit a bit more useful than her arms or legs. The way it seemed to do things without her actively controlling it after waking up was frightening her though. Accelerated healing was one thing, but acting as a lie detector was something else entirely. The first was entirely internal, while the second was external, and quite possibly even invasive].

Before she noticed, Ixa was already holding out some cooked meat to her. She gratefully took it. Just as she was about to take a bite though, her magic lashed out at the meat, completely absorbing it magically instead of letting her eat it.

She closed her mouth and blinked at the space where the meat had been.

"I... This... Why even?", she spluttered indignantly, her previous fear about the anomalies her magic displayed being temporarily forgotten to make place for ire.

She looked at Ixa and Snowflake. Her eye twitching slightly.

"Sorry Ixa, that was not my intention. I think I'll need to meditate for a bit to find out what the hell is going on with my magic, because this... I don't even have words for it..."

Although Ixa had been a bit surprised at the magic lashing out, and Snowflake had been a bit concerned it would try to eat Ixa as well, the two seemed to recover quickly and approached Elysia with curiosity and wonder, though that was mainly Ixa.

"Amazing...so that was your magic? It was pretty...but, it was not your intention? Are you suffering from Rampant Mana sickness? Or could this be something more serious...Interior Mana Flux inside your body?"

"Those are good guesses Ixa, you might be right, though this person may also be of a completely different origin of her powers".

"Yeah, it could be a type of magic closer to Aether Manipulation....but wait, the way it reacted to food though...it seemed less chaotic...could it be...Automated Mana Programming? Mana programmed to take certain actions in situations? Perhaps, because you were out for so long and didn't eat, could it be your mana was self programmed to doing this?"

Although the atmosphere, voice, cheerfulness, and appearance was all naturally Ixa, the seeming idiocy he had before seemed to be totally gone, at least when talking about this specific subject. Of course, Ixa was raised in a lab after all. He did pick up some information.

"Yeah! Thatm akes the most sense! That, or...your mana inside your body, could it have sentience? A Mana AI, an Artificial Intellignece put inside the mana? Acting to help support you, the host body?"

Ixa squated down, and at that point Elysia might notice the whole time, Ixa was not wearing shorts or such under his hoodie. In truth, they had just finished drying some time ago, but aside from Ixa lacking a proper idea of common sense and not minding at all, admittedly he had also gotten involved in conversation and activity and forgot.

So aside from an incident that would embarrass most people, Ixa seemed to know quite a lot about this stuff and showed that in this specific subject, he probably was not an idiot at the very least, and possibly even very knowledgeable. Snowflake was even assisting him with such things, and the two seemed to make quite the team when seen like this.

"So how about it, was it any of those theories I had?"

Elysia did notice Ixa's lack of pants, but decided not to comment on it. Maybe that was the normal fashion here?

"I didn't really recognize most of those terms to be honest. Automated Mana Programming does sound somewhat right, when it comes to certain things, although we just called the phenomenon Ingrained Spells. I never heard of such spells developing without input though, but it's possible.

As for the Artificial Intelligence part, I suspect that's part of what's..."

Elysia paled, as another theory surfaced in her mind.

"Could it be?", she muttered, "But that would mean...", she closed her eyes, before bringing her hand to her face, hiding most of her expression. "Could it really be...?"

She continued mumbling under her breath, "Magic propagates through living beings, so even if the ambient mana was used, it would be replaced by the excess mana living beings exude. If most beings died out though, Magic would naturally deepen the connection between it and the beings left. Beyond the end of Creation though, if only a single being remained amidst the Void, it would naturally..."

Her hand left her face, and her expression was a frustrated one, as nothing of it rang false to her magic. no, not her magic, but Magic. She was now the host of the effing Spirit of Magic.

The very thought of it was almost beyond her.

Her original thought had been that her innate magic had developed sentience, when cut off from the whole, but for it to be like this...

"Apparently less Artificial Intelligence, and more like having become host to the Intelligence of..."

She was corrected again by Magic, and almost fainted.

"The Seed of Wonder itself... has chosen my body as it's vessel...", she asked no one in particular, her voice trembling.

Scratch the almost.

She fell back in a dead-faint.

Given that Ixa's sensitivity for spirits and affinity for magic, Ixa would likely begin to sense if anything was askew with this spirit, this Seed of Wonder, was active. But, it was definently something he had heard of before. He remembered a scientists had gone looking for it at one point, to use it in the experiments on him and his brothers...his fellow clones.

Although it was complicated, in this area Ixa seemed to follow her thinking and words clearly, indicating an abnormally high intellignece, or at least acquisition of knowledge, in this area. His artificial body coupled with that, if she was not already aware of his situation she would be, and if she was this detail would likely give her more information about Ixa.

After she passed out, he made sure she was comfortable. He didn't find anything that could be used as a pillow however, in this old abandoned place, so he took off his own sweatshirt to alleviate the heat for himself and also give her comfort, using his shorts to help add to it. Snowflake scolded him a bit for that, but she knew it was the logical choice technically speaking.

"...it looks like the footsteps lead this way..."

Ixa heard a whisper outside. Well, it sounded like a whisper to him as the owner of the voice was really far away. Snowflake also noticed it, and looked back at Ixa. Along with the voice, they could hear the faint sound of boots crunching in the snow from far away.

"Ixa, we have company. Please get dressed and..."

However, Ixa shook his head as they kept listening.

"...orders are that dead or alive don't matter, so long as the body is in tact".

Those words made it abundently clear who these people were. After all, Ixa and Snowflake was running from them and the people who employed them, and it was the reason they were traveling through this region.

"I know you keep telling me about this clothes thing, but...no reason to worry about that when they are all going to end up dead right?" Ixa asked in a voice that sounded childish and innocent, despite the words and implications. It might just be his overwhelming positivity, but it sounded like he had no doubt they would win.

"But, what if the fighting wakes her up?"

"Oh...I guess I should ask her" Ixa said, walking over to her. "Hey, is the fighting going to wake you up?"

"...Ixa...its disgraceful and insulting to fight that way..."

"Oh...I guess that is true. Sorry, dunno if your awake or not yet...well, I have been talking to you for some time now up close next to your ear, and there are people outside making noise, so maybe you are already awake in which case Snowflake is probably thinking I should be embarrassed or show shame right now, but whatever. Anyways, I have to take the pillow away right now cause its my clothes and all..."

With those words that showed a clear lack of social skills and common sense, he took back his clothes and got dressed fully this time as he kept watch over the figures in the far distance approaching, which might make one question how Ixa heard them from such a distance.

Unlike what Ixa had inferred from Elysia's limited words before she keeled over in a dead faint the Seed of Wonder wasn't quite a spirit, although it did encompass the Spirit of Magic that had developed from this particular Seed over the years. No one quite knew where such Seeds originated, but while not every universe springs forth from one, a Seed such as the one she had become the refuge of, was, without a doubt, the heart of a universe that did spring forth from it.

Across the Multiverse, it is commonly described as the source of a 'world's' magic, but it is more than that. It is the very soul. Hope springs forth from it, creativity, boundless potential.

It was all of this, and so much more, and now Elysia had become it's carrier. She wasn't really one to faint from shock to begin with, but even when only understanding the small fraction of the ramifications she did, that fraction was enough for her to be knocked out cold.

Elysia would likely stir again within minutes, but it's unknown whether Ixa would still be inside at that point in time, especially given the urgency of the situation.

The moment that Ixa stepped outside, he saw it. A group of armed men huddled in large furs and warm clothing, all holding various weapons. The snow on the ground was still deep, but Ixa was now walking on top of the snow without sinking. He had put his shoes on again and had his hood up, as his eyes seemed to have a particular glow to it. The very energy inside his body was sending out waves of energy, which could be possibly felt by and even fully comprehended by Elysia.

In them, there would even be memories as Ixa...back from the facility. The Ixa that had been imprisoned was totally different from the Ixa Elysia knew. Overrun with fear, despair, rage. Consumed by negativity and...just darkness. And what was done to him. He was experimented on, essentially tortured, drugged, all to force him to become a fighter...a weapon.

Which could make one wonder, why was he so positive and joyful now? So positive and happy and carefree?

One of the men began to approach him, feining innocence.

"Hey there kiddo? Why are you out here? Where is your famil..."

The answer was simple. He had already gone through ultimate darkness and despair, and then he was rescued from that. He was given a chance to enjoy life. So he decided to take it.

Well, he also might have just gone insane.

"Ice Coffin".

Suddenly, a spike of ice shot out of the ground under the man, piercing through his entire body, which then changed shape as countless more ice spikes shot out of the main one. The man was evicerated from the inside out, blood spattering across the perfect white snow.

The other men immediately raised their weapons and fired, yet the triggers and firing mechanisms shattered as frostbite crawled up their hands. It was as if the metal was frozen so much they were made fragile. One of them summoned a massive fireball to counter, so Ixa pivoted on one foot as he dragged his other foot across the snow in front of him. As he did this, a massive wave of snow came out and created a sort of artificial avalanche, engulfing a number of them in snow.

There were more and more that came in, it seemed they brought in quite a few to track him. But too bad for them, because this frigid region gave Ixa the homefield advantage. However, three of them had decided to circle around, and stormed the cabin to see what was inside. One kept watch outside while two charged into the door and saw Ryder. At least, until a large white wolf paw smashed them right in the face and knocked them back.

"Palace of the Ice King".

Suddenly, fortifications of ice appeared around the building where Elysia and Snowflake were, and an outer wall surrounded the battlefield to prevent escape.

"Sorry about this, but I really don't want to fight all the time, so I cant let any of you live and tell your friends".

Ixa said that with a sweet and innocent smile on his face, contrasting the fact he just declared he would kill each and every one of them. He couldn't help but remember, as he sent out those energy waves, another detail.

He remembered the moments after they all escaped, about experiencing things for the first time. Real food, and not nuitrient paste. The feeling of real warm sunshine. The experience of washing oneself, walking in the park, falling asleep under the night's sky while looking at the full moon.

"I wont ever be going back to that place, after all. There is always hope".

Elysia was dreaming, at first of her own time, lost and alone, the sole human left amongst an infinite army of Enemies, all of whom took pleasure in the fact that she couldn't die, for it meant they could hurt her some more. But as Ixa started fighting, his memories of the time in the labs started intermingling with her memories of her torture at the Enemy's hand.

Unlike Ixa, who, together with his brothers, had broken out, Elysia had been abandoned by the Enemy, once her world was nearing it's end, a toy to be used until it broke and then discarded.

Nevertheless, Elysia had started putting herself together again. Something which, had only questionably worked, seeing how her mentality had suffered over the /centuries/ of being a plaything.

Only the find out she was the sole being left on a broken, desolate world. This had nearly broken her again.

It was during this time that the seed, that couldn't, or perhaps, wouldn't, sustain that reality anymore, had taken refugee in her, lest it be easy pickings for the Enemy. Slowly the world had faded, piece by piece, until only Elysia had remained within the Void that was once Existence.

The Seed couldn't create a new world, as it would have been easy pickings for the Enemy without beings to stand against them. It could only wait, until one day the Enemy would give up on finding this particular Seed, the fact that it had taken refugee in Elysia's body being beyond every expectation.

Perhaps Ixa would catch glimpses of this past, along with some of her happier times, just as she had caught glimpses of his, through the mingling of their energies. Perhaps, but Elysia wouldn't find out for the moment.

She opened her eyes, crying. She didn't know if it was for the past she finally remembered fully, or the treatment of 13 children at the hands of those who should by all rights, have taken care of them, even if the children were not of their blood.

Maybe it was neither, maybe it was both, she couldn't tell.

She made an effort to get up, this one going a lot better than her previous attempt, on account of the fact that the Seed had begun supplying her magic with the energy it sorely needed, now that she wasn't in the Void any longer, and it's use of power was more likely to go unnoticed.

There was one side effect though. Through the combination of their mingling energies and the seed now empowering Elysia, even Ixa could potentially get a boost. Although only time could tell which shape this possible blessing would take.

As Ixa was enveloped in the warm feelings of his mood and memories of freedom, it was as if his ice got stronger and more dangerous. For the warmth he felt, his mind focused more, and even more enemies were taken out by his power. In retrospect, fighting someone who had power over ice and cold was a terrible idea to do in a wintery setting. It could only be determined that Ixa held the advantage here.

Incidentally, because of all this focus, he didn't even recognize that he had gotten a blessing, though it did seem to take...in fact, his Adaptability was even trying to optimize and connect it with everything. However, with this connection...Elysia could probably sense it. The truth about Ixa, and about all the Rixys maybe.

Despite all their power, despite Adaptability, they were still human. They made mistakes. They felt emotions. They cried.

And the determination to move forward, and not backward.

Suddenly, a surge of power burst open from Ixa and ensnared the final members of the group, either trapping them in ice or doing something else to them.

"All done!"

With those words, Ia looked back at Elysia.

"Its kinda messy here now, so let me know when you want ot get going! Or do you need more time?"

In the end, even though he was being targeted by terrible people, Ixa was still somehow able to be considerate of others.

It was a stunned Elysia that looked at Ixa. For a moment it might have seemed like she would reject him, but then slowly and measuredly she walked in his direction from where she was finally leaning against the doorframe. It clearly took her a lot of effort to stay upright, but she managed.

For a bit at least.

She did make it most of the way, but walking required a lot of muscle memory. Some of it her body remembered, but it was clashing with what her body didn't remember yet, on top of, you know, walking on ice and snow. Nevertheless, she made it most of the way to Ixa before she slipped and landed on her hands and knees after attempts to balance herself.

In the end she plopped down where she fell, believing herself to be close enough, and beckoned to Ixa.

"I'm sorry for this", she said sincerely, "But..."

With that momentarily ambiguous statement made, she engulfed him in a hug. She didn't know if she was doing it for herself, or for the boy who had seemed to be strangely fragile for a moment. It may have been a trick of the light, it may have been Elysia projecting her own insecurities on him, but...

"... I'm not planning to let go anytime soon.", she whispered hoarsely, "Deal with it."

The apology had been because of her insecurity of how the unexpected hug might go over.

Notably, despite one of the two not sinking into the snow at all, Elysia was still taller then Ixa. Ixa might look young, but if you went by what he had gone through already, one might think he was already an adult. When Elysia started to talk and say something, Ixa was not quite sure what to say or respond with.

And then, he got pulled into a bear hug. It was really nice, and warm, but not a bad warm. A different warm, his warm, and it made him feel happy. Happier then normal even. On the road he constantly walked forward on, Ixa found it quite nice and relaxing.

Snowflake however, who watched this, it almost looked like a mischievous grin was on her face.

"So you were after his body then? You are into his type".

Making that sort of comment as a joke, Snowflake said that...yes, Snowflake made a joke. Apparently, she was not always strict and serious but also could do stuff like that. Although somehow, the way she said it, like with the tone of her voice, didn't break the mood.

"Well, whenever you two are done, we should probably get going. Once they realize this time went missing, all sorts of hell will rain down, and we should be long clear before that happens".

Elysia mentally sputtered for a second, trying to process that, before releasing Ixa and playfully retorting, "Helpful, caring and sincere? Yes. Yes. I am. He'll be a fine man when he grows up.", with her arms crossed.

The connotations that, however jokingly, Snowflake was accusing her, an adult, of being attracted to a child's body, went completely over her head.

---

In her world, nobles were engaged as children to people in their own age bracket. Breaking of such an engagement was a rare occurrence, which often ruined the prospects of the child that was ditched. Being engaged to a significantly older person as a result of the engagement being dissolved was not unheard of, but still quite rare in itself. It was also one of the better options out there for a child in such a situation.

Not that any of this mattered. In any and all cases marriage would wait until both parties had finished their developmental period, which was around age 21. Any intercourse before then was unthinkable, save perhaps chaste kisses between engaged children of the same age.

It was not only simply not done, the very idea hadn't been conceived in her world. It was not an option to begin with.

---

Having started to look towards the vehicles the men had used to get here directly after saying this, she also wouldn't have noticed any physical tells if her reply to Snowflake's teasing hit a sour spot or not. It very well could be, since Ixa was stuck as a 9-years-old. She might have been able to tell this from the memories she had seen had she been a normal person. Her sense of time was skewed though due to her own immortality, as was her sense at what rate people were supposed to age at, simply due to not having met mortals for a long time.

"All joking aside, should we use one of their vehicles to make it to civilization faster? Or is there some way for them to track those?"

She looked back towards Snowflake, and then Ixa, about to ask if any of the two knew how to drive these things to begin with?

"Hmmmm....is that so~" Snowflake said with a bit of a sly voice. In truth, Origin technically had little to few laws actually concerning age, but still a reasonable amount. Most of the laws were actually more on concent, and...well, it could be very, very severe if it even seemed the slightest bit forced.

For example, there was no actual drinking age, but there was a law stating you could only drink alcohol if your body was capable of tolerating it. As a result, Ixa could actually drink alcohol due to his adaptability, though he had no interest in doing so.

Either way, Ixa, who remained oblivious to that whole situation, moved forward and decided to volenteer to drive.

"Wait, Ixa...are you..."

"It will be fine!"

"But, they might be able to track them..."

"Not if I freeze it over!"

At those words, and Ixa running over to get into the driver's seat, Snowflake sulked...and grabbed a discarded bag.

"For the record, Ixa knows how to drive...provided no one else is on the road".

At those words with very, very dangerous implications, Snowflake got in the vehicle with Ixa while holding what was probably an improvised barf bag.

"What about Ixa's bag that's left in the house?", Elysia called out. She slowly got up, carefully trying not to slip over the snow and ice in the process.

She would have gone and gotten it herself, had it not been for the fact that walking to the vehicle would be a challenge already. Having to walk to the house and then carry something over a larger distance? While her health was rapidly improving, she wasn't quite there yet...

She hesitantly looked towards the cabin again.

"Should someone go get it?"

Hearing those words, Snowflake quickly disembarked for a moment and ran back to the cabin, picking up the bag with her tail and then running back over and re-entering the vehicle.

"Alright then, lets get going!"

And so, the group departed from the non-survival situation.