Reincarnated into a Snow Griffin-Chapter 127

My body feels heavy and sluggish like it has never been, my neck stiff and my mind drowsy with the type of deep sleep you feel the need to when sick or injured, when your body did not ask but rather demanded you to rest.

And yet I can’t sit still.

With my back rigid from the cold floor I try to move slowly, making the outer black robe that is covering me to slide down, and as if some chemical has fallen on my eyes it takes some time before I can keep them open without a burning sensation to sprite to life when contact with the light, forcing me to close them down again, my neck completely inflexible in place and hurting greatly in a specific spot, which my hands soon discovered to be bandage up.

"I... what?" Still confused and unsure, hurt and alone, it takes some time for me to realize two things in sequence.

The first one is that Ethan is nowhere to be found in that small shabby place, the only comfort being the makeshift bed I was at and the small fire to the side.

The other takes me a few seconds to realize, that Ethan is not around and for that we were not holding hands, and the urgency that comes over me strikes like a lightning bolt going right through me.

"F-fox!" My throat is drier than I thought, the words painfully rasping their way out. "Kasumi, where is he, tell me now!" The despair is enough to cloud my critical thinking and make me question for who knows how long Ethan had been out there without protection, and for as long as I had passed out he may as well have been consumed by the fog’s deadly embrace already.

And in his previous half dead state, any minute out there would suffice for him to drop dead.

I feel the fox’s ears move and the tip of his fur brushing against my cheek, but no answer comes from him.

But the answer comes from the person that appears on the door next.

"I’ve heard stories about the evolution of magical creatures, and how different and more apparent than human evolutions were, but seeing it happen with my own eyes is another thing for sure." One glance at the man with his arms closed, leaning against the doorframe while displaying a smug smile makes me want to punch him straight in the face as much as hug him.

"Ethan! What happened here? Quick, hold my hand!" I say with urgency while reaching out for him, my attempt at standing quickly been dismissed with the dizziness that threatens to steal me of my senses.

And yet to my surprise not only he seems unfazed by the distance and the effect of the fog, but his smile widens at my offer.

"So eager to hold hands like this, no need to shout-"

"Ethan!"

"Alright alright I get it, my eager King." He says, surrendering and raising his hands, but still he does not reach out to me.

"W-why are you not coming here? How are you fine?" The fog is clearly there, surrounding us, and yet he stays put in place. "Are you an illusion caused by the fog? Is Ethan actually dead?" Then it clicks, that’s it, that is the only explanation for not only seeing him well and healthy, but to have him away from me as such.

"Ow, I see..." I didn’t, I could not phantom the mere thought of having to move on in this cold world without him, alone once again, overly used and comfortable with his warm aura that the world felt even emptier than before I met him, and having his illusion, maybe even his ghost, right in front of me did not help either.

"Oh no, uhm, Seraph no need to fret, calm down, I will stop messing with you." The illusion then finally comes closer and do as told, but once Ethan’s hand closes on mine, when I look down at our intertwining fingers, my other hand hits him hard on the shoulder.

"Don’t play with me like that!" For someone who is usually cold when angry, my outburst tells a lot about how the situation affected me.

"Sorry, sorry, I was just fooling around a little, but I didn’t think you would think that I... no matter, see? I’m safe, no need to fret, no need to cry, see, I’m fine." He says while squishing my hand tight.

"I’m not crying." That insinuation sharpens my tongue fast.

"Yeah, maybe not here, but here." He says, pointing at my eyes and resting his hand on my chest next. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

I hit him again, just for good measure, but once I calm down many questions come from the situation, of how he survived, how he is well and without injuries, but most of all is:

"How are you fine in the Abyss Fog without the fox protection?" For a second I think that the fox tricked us into believing his powers were needed to traverse the fog, feeling my claws itch on my palms with the mere thought of his betrayal, but soon enough I remember that I had experienced it myself, the powers of this hungry beast, and as such only got even more confused as to how he was walking there just fine.

"Well, I... you see... I’m not quite sure myself, but something happened between us, something that... connected us." At that he raises our intertwined hands into my line of sight, my white snow skin contrasting with his sun burned one in a very satisfying fitting way, palms closed in a tight hug, the warmth spreading from it being quite distracting, but still I can see something odd right off my ring finger.

"Is this...?"

"Yeah, some sort of connection." It is transparent, almost invisible, and yet if I focus on that slight blur I can see a red line around it like a ring, the line going towards Ethan and doing the same thing around his finger.

"A red lining? I’ve heard rumors about it, romanticized mind you, of the arteria on this finger having a straight connection to our hearts, but to turn such myth into magic..." Truly, what had happened?

Ethan shrugs, and to prove his point lets go of my hand and moves it in the air in front of me, smiling to reassure me he was fine even if apart like this.

"I don’t know my King, but it makes me quite happy to know we are connected in a magical way like this." He then takes my hand into his and pulls me up to my feet, acting all smug and kinky for me he reaches to kiss my fingers and I, unaware, pull my hand away out of reflex, mind lost in thoughts already as I think of what truly could have caused such situation.

He sighs, nods his head sideways, but has a smile on his face all the time, already knowing to have lost me to my own thoughts as I analyze the situation at hand.

"Naughty King..."