NOVEL WEB Chapter 3: Beware of Votum de Caelo
This was Aelbyrn. Not Earth.
Aelbyrn.
Micah—
No, that name is long gone.
Not forgotten, but gone.
Katsu's boots sank into the snow.
His breath came out white, vanishing fast. He kept chopping, kept stacking. The air pressed against his ears. His cheeks stung.
The axe felt good in his hands. Real, weighty, solid. When the last log split, he stopped. Looked at the pile.
Enough for tonight, maybe tomorrow. He turned toward the hut, wind biting the edge of his face.
Aelbyrn's winter always looked the same. Endless white.
Bare gray trees with their tips lost in the sky. The mountains, dark and far off.
The hut squatted by itself at the edge of the forest; the only thing that didn't change was the snow.
At least during whatever this world called winter. Snow. All the way up to the knee in places.
The path to the door was only visible because Katsu never let it disappear.
He hefted the bundle of wood. The door complained under his hand, groaned open.
Inside, the smell of smoke and old broth clung to everything. It was warmer here, but not by much.
His father was where he always was.
On the bed by the fire, back against the wall, propped up with two folded blankets.
Shizune Nori.
Hair long and streaked gray now.
His eyes had not dulled. There was an old sword leaning against the bed.
His father's hands were in his lap, fingers knotted with veins.
Katsu scanned his body.
SHIZUNE NORI
Race: Human
LV: 322
VIT: 860-?(A.D) / ATK: 940-? (A.D)
MAG: 412-? (A.D) / AGI: 701-? (A.D)
MAGIC TOOLS:
Old Sword (Worn)
TITLES:
"BLOOD WINTER GENERAL" » – «
"THE LAST OF THE NORI" » – «
"SHADOW TEACHER" » – «
{ AD = Age Debuff }
His father.
Every day, the same hands.
Every day, a little thinner.
Katsu set the wood beside the fireplace, rubbing his arms.
"That's the last of it for today," he said, voice low. "I can get more tomorrow."
Shizune didn't look away from the window.
"It'll snow again tonight," he said. His voice came out quiet, rough. "Stack it inside, near the fire. We don't want it freezing."
Katsu nodded and moved the smaller pieces closer. He squatted by the fire, poked at the coals with a stick. The light flickered up his arms.
He glanced back. Shizune was still watching him. Sometimes he did that for a long time.
Katsu wasn't sure if it was worry, or if his father just needed to see what was left.
Katsu kept working, making small piles. "I'll check the traps tomorrow, too," he said. "Maybe I'll catch something."
His father coughed. A sharp sound, followed by a groan. "You don't have to do everything," Shizune said. "The world isn't going to stop if you rest."
Katsu just shrugged. He poked the fire again. "It doesn't wait, either."
A silence settled. Outside, the wind picked up. The window rattled a little.
After a while, Katsu spoke again, quieter. "What am I supposed to do when I leave?"
He didn't look back this time.
He listened to the fire instead. The crackle filled the space between them.
Shizune shifted, the blankets rustling. "When the time comes, you'll go south. Find—" His breath caught. He had to swallow before he went on.
"Find these two. Write them down." He looked toward the little desk in the corner. "Top drawer, you'll see some paper… and a pen."
Katsu nodded.
He stood and found the drawer. He paused, hands cold even inside. "What are their names?"
Shizune looked at the fire, he collected his breath.
"I'll tell you. But you write them. And don't lose the paper."
Katsu set the paper on the desk.
He waited.
"Kairos… Kairos Durango. And Virenth… Just Virenth… Beware of Votum de Caelo."
Katsu wrote them down.
Put circles around Votum de Caelo.
The letters looked strange in his handwriting, foreign and sharp.
He didn't repeat them aloud.
He folded the paper and slipped it into his inside pocket. He returned to his father's bedside.
Shizune was watching the fire, mouth tight.
Katsu cleared his throat.
"What if… what if people ask about you?"
His father shook his head.
"You don't owe them anything. You're not me. If they ask... don't answer. Just move on."
Katsu sat on the floor. He picked at the edge of the blanket with his thumb. "I don't want to leave you..."
Shizune said nothing. For a long time, just the fire and the wind.
Then his father leaned forward a little. The sword bumped against the bedframe. "Katsu. Look at me."
Katsu looked up. His father's eyes were sharper than he remembered.
"Promise me something," Shizune said.
Katsu felt the old weight in his chest.
"What?"
"Whatever happens—wherever you go—Never use the magic I taught you infront of others… Trust only those whose names you've written yourself." He paused, the words hanging in the air. "Not unless you're ready for their ghosts to follow you forever…"
Katsu didn't answer at first.
The words felt heavy in his mouth.
"I promise," he said finally.
Shizune let out a breath that sounded almost like relief. His shoulders sank against the blankets.
"Good."
The moment felt too big.
Katsu wanted to say more, but his throat hurt.
He stood. "I'll get a little more wood before dark."
Shizune nodded.
His eyes stayed on Katsu, but his hand reached out.
Katsu leaned over and pressed his lips to his father's forehead. The skin was warm, damp with sweat.
"I love you, father."
"I love you too, Katsu."
He smiled. Straightened, pulled on his coat, and stepped back outside. The cold snapped at him.
Sharper, deeper.
His boots found the old path again. He walked to the treeline, picked a spot where the branches hung low. The axe swung, the sound swallowed by the snow.
He worked slow, listening for nothing, feeling every bite of wind on his ears.
Every swing, every breath, every heartbeat.
He could still feel the weight of his father's hand, the warmth fading fast.
He paused, leaning on the axe. The sky had gone darker.
A flock of birds crossed overhead.
Black against gray. Somewhere, far off, a branch cracked.
Katsu gathered a handful of branches.
This was his life. At least since his mother left, after his father passes... he has to worry about finding the two people who's names he wrote down.
What if he didn't want to leave, what if he wants to stay here?
Life away from society, growing up only knowing his father and mother.
His mother...
He began to walk back to the house.
He didn't make it two steps.
A flash.
Orange, then white.
The whole sky was set ablaze. It was too fast, too big to be a fire. The hut at the edge of the woods vanished behind a wall of light.
The explosion rolled over the snow, hot and hollow and wrong.
Katsu's hands moved fast, the air around his hands turned into ice.
A dome protected him, his Katsu's legs gave out as he dropped the wood and hit his knees.
The snow from the blast covered his dome, ash and soot.
Smoke rushed up, thick and dark, curling toward the empty sky.
No sound for a second. Then a crack, then a low roar that faded fast.
The dome fell.
He forced himself to look at the place where his house had been.
His breath shook.
He pressed his forehead to the snow, fists tight. The world smelled like burned wood and something worse.