The Southern Region

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.