Free Web NovelThe man with round glasses pet the wolf until its body calmed, essentially taming the wild beast. He then pulled the wolf's head closer to his forehead and gently pressed them together.
The man's eyes flew wide, twirling blue waves projected in them. His view switched from the whitish landscape to clouded recollections — not from his memory, but that of the wolf. Visions of everything the animal saw on its hunt in the abysmal snowy field flooded his mind.
He saw everything, from the endless frosty desert to the two indulgers searching for something and their interaction with the corpses. Once the stream of visions ended, the man coiled back and took a sharp inhale.
"How insane...." He murmured before chuckling softly.
The man lurched up and dusted the snow from his cargo pants. "Thank you, friend." He uttered gratefully. frёeωebɳovel.com
The wolf laid flat on the floor, its limbs exposed despite the tough fur on the animal's skin, panting heavily as though all its energy had been sucked out with a straw.
"Just stay there. You'll recover in a few hours." The man assured. He then pushed back his curtain cut and walked forward with an ecstatic face. "There are more indulgers who are still alive in this area. Thank goodness — for a while I thought I was done for."
His cheeks puffed and a wide grin burst out. He folded his hands into fists and punched the air to ease his excitement.
"I still have to be careful though. If they're criminals or bad people, this might go south." He pondered aloud, stroking his beard as he squinted against the wind.
A couple of minutes passed. The man stood still like a fresh statue as he contemplated, icy flakes clinging to his hair.
SNAP!
He struck his thumb and index finger together in a swift movement. 'I'll confirm their faction first. If they're from a shady organization or unregistered group, I'll turn them into scapegoats.' He grinned.
Meanwhile....
Rolan buried the first corpse. Skeptical about how to put the second indulger to rest without making physical contact, he blankly stared at the horrific body, speculating on what could have triggered the man's fate.
Rolan had no intention of abandoning his self made promise. Even so, dying beside Velonica was a careless idea — each step he took had to be calibrated.
'I can't afford to let Velonica see me get infected. If this curse has no cure available at the moment and I end up like this indulger, it would be mighty strange if I just randomly came back to life.' He pondered deeply, staring at the cold horizon as snow clung to his features. 'I'm not willing to explain my revival ability to her, nor can I trust her to keep the secret if she finds out.'
Rolan's gaze fell to the indulger's remains. 'Neither am I willing to abandon this man. I made a declaration and I must see it through. If I can't do even that, then what hope lies for me in this cruel supernatural world?'
'Even immortality has its inconveniences. In all honesty, I'm no different from this lifeless man with a curse forced upon him — except I still have a tomorrow. That much is enough reason to keep going, unlike him. I don't know him personally, but this wretched venerable's heart tells me he didn't deserve it.' He stood frozen, shackled by thoughts and assumptions.
Velonica sat on a pile of snow not too far behind, observing Rolan with her lips slightly parted and her gaze fixed on his stiff body.
She tilted her head slightly. 'Just what is he doing? He buried the first one by digging a grave with his bare hands. I don't understand why he does such things despite acting so cold and heartless. Using his bare, exposed hands to dig a stranger's grave in this flesh-biting snow is ludicrous.'
'That's still miniscule compared to this situation.' She shifted her gaze to the cursed indulger's lifeless body. 'This man has a plant-like curse on him — by the scenery, I'm guessing that's what killed him. Plant-based curses are usually infectious, but there are few exceptions. Only an expert indulger in the curse's field can say for sure.'
"Rolan!" Velonica called in a single exhale. "This isn't wise. Let's just forget this man — it's far too risky."
Velonica furrowed her brows intensely, creating a tense, stubborn look. "He's already dead. We're still alive. We still have a trial to complete and mysteries to unravel. There's no way you, of all people, should be out so long in this unforgiving cold. Leave him. Let's return to the north pole and warm you up within the set!"
Rolan gave her a pale side eye and scoffed. "I told you before — if you're not in agreement with my decision, you can always leave. Feel free to return if you want. After all, Velonica, you're not in better shape than I am."
"Tch, you know I can't leave you!"
"Oh? Yet you oppose my decision." He calmly responded. 'Honestly, at this point it would be better if you did leave me.'
"Yes! Because it makes no sense to worry about some random stranger you know nothing about —worst of all to such an extent you'd give up your life?"
'Give up my life, huh?' Rolan smirked. "You mean — these were the exact thoughts that should have run through my mind when I saw you?"
Velonica took a sharp, momentary pause, flinching as though stunned by a light jolt of current.
"Listen, you won't understand my reasoning. It's best to go back to the north pole's set and wait for me if you can." He carefully chose his words, wearing a sombre expression and a confident side stare. "I promise I'll come back. As you can see..."
"I'm always a man of my word." He pulled his chest up and turned towards her, pointing at himself with a dull yet energetic demeanor.
'Come on. Please buy it. Take the hint and leave me alone for now.' In truth, he was sweating bullets.
Velonica carefully let all his words sink in. Placing both index fingers on her temples, she pressed her nails shallowly into her skin and construed in silence, creating a tense yet awkward atmosphere mixed with the howling cold. Rolan could feel the air invading his lungs — his chest ached and the pain gradually intensified, each breath was more of a punishment than a requirement for life.
'You're taking too much time, dammit!' The false life retaining his face began fading. His skin dried as though the blood had evaporated from his body, making his veins pop out like decorations.
Velonica crossed her fingers together. 'Rolan has a point. He might be willing to die, but not me. Even if he saved my life, he clearly isn't capable of reasoning logically. I might have been deceived by his original behavior, but this is his true personality — a reckless imbecile driven only by stubbornness and hollow emotions. How baffling. It doesn't matter though. I did my best to stop him, meaning I repaid the favour of him saving my life, so there's nothing weighing on my conscience.'
Velonica sighed. "Go ahead. I'll return to the north pole." She rose to her feet and took weak steps toward the distance. 'It's a disappointing thing to see someone with so much potential die for such a stupid cause. But then again, what can I do? It's not my business, and I never really knew him well to begin with.'
She turned her head. "Once again, thank you for saving my life back there."
'All these men.....'
Rolan faked a smile. "No problem. We'll meet at the north pole — just wait for me by the gate."
"Sure." She replied, waving her hand as she strode off into the distance. 'As if I'd waste my valuable time. I have a trial to complete. There's no way you'll come back alive — that curse, by my experience, has a high chance of being infectious. This is my permanent goodbye.'
Her body disappeared into the sheets of snow and icy wind.
'I don't think she has faith I'll return alive. Can't blame her — even I know I'm about to croak. Before then, it's best to settle this man and die at once.'
---
Immediately, Rolan drove his hands into the hard ice embedded with frosty snow and dragged the stacks aside. His nails and skin broke in the process, tainting the white resting place with splashes of his blood. Rolan's eyes flickered in and out, his sense of his surroundings drifting further and further from him — even then, he did not cease.
Twenty minutes passed. Rolan's hands were greeted by hideous bruises and blisters, his lips as dry as a desert, purple veins drawing across his arms and beyond. Fortunately, the grave was finally approaching six feet.
Afterward, Rolan tossed the remaining stacks of snow out of the grave and climbed out. The process was excruciating, but he pressed forward — nobody was responsible for his pain but himself, after all. There were no ropes or material of long length to drag the corpse, so his hands were the only option. Though it wasn't an issue to Rolan, who was already on the verge of death.
Instead of dragging it through the snow, Rolan placed both mangled hands on the corpse's shoulders and flung it into the grave within the blink of an eye.
'I should be careful — the curse could be capable of affecting me even after my resurrection. I don't know how they function in general, but it's not a risk worth taking.'
Another ten minutes passed. Rolan sealed the corpse's grave using the separated stacks of snow and bowed to pay his respects.
Feebly, he raised his palms to view their condition. To his dismay, flowers similar to those on the corpse sprouted from the broken pores and bloodied fingers of his hands.
"Huh....." His eyes rolled into his skull before he collapsed onto the thick snow.
And died.
