Weeks had passed since Kip had met the two teens traveling to the edge of the human world. Back then when he has first heard their story, he was a bit puzzled. Thinking about the journey they had set their minds on, to him it was preposterous.

  There were only two of them and from his experience in his own series of life changing quests, two was a very meager number. Problems would arise and at the moment he had his hands full.

  Hot sweat trickled down the forehead of the former scribe as he tried to hold Ash down. Ash was currently screaming and trashung like animal gone mad, his eyes was bright orange like that of a burning flame and hot tears flowed from his face.

  Ash's temperature increased drastically every night for the past few days and he would always scream and cry through the night. At first Kip had suspected it was a nightmare and he would get over it, but things changed after Ash started sleepwalking and attacking others.

  Every time he fell asleep his body would begin to act in strange unexplainable ways, fits there would be arguments between him and whatever was in him, then he was starting lashing out on everyone around him.

  His strength would grow and become more ferocious, it reached the point where Kip was certain that he would eventually get much stronger than an average human.

  Kip would have his hands full every night, he started to tie Ash to any sturdy tree he could find to stop him from harming others. There were times he would have to gag him with a piece of cloth because Ash in his trance state would begin to bite his lips and wail in his sleep.

  At first it only happened in the night, but soon after it started to happen in the day too. Ash would find himself drifting into a strange sleep every few hours and he could hardly fight against it. He feared it would get much worse from there and it did, when Ash did manage to stay awake it was an entirely different story.

  He would have dark bags under his eyes that grew more prominent with each passing day. Kip slowly came to the realisation that the young man was dying. And whatever was in him was killing him, he had no way to help him or change his fate and he could only watch and try to keep him contained when he went berserk.

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  It hurt him to see the nice kid become something not quite human.

  And things were not any easier dealing with the elf girl, her condition returned some days after Ash's herbs was used on her, it had alleviated her pain at the time. But her body seemed to begin to fight against the herb and her sickness returned, her body would grow very cold and she would run a high fever.

  He would find her shivering and losing her senses from time to time.

  In the end the only members of the cohort in good condition was both him and the little leopard pup. The little pup only gave him a bit of comfort but he was slowly getting affected too, having to look after them both. A rabid magic possessed boy and a dying elf, it was a hefty task for one man.

  He had lost track of when he had last slept but he knew days had passed.

  Kip soon found a compromise that proved effective to reduce the labour of watching them both. He had discovered that extreme cold could stop Ash from shifting into the rabid form of his, this discovery was made by accident when Ash collapsed into icy waters, he had immediately recalled his senses.

  But the elf girl's condition demanded extreme heat to stay alive longer.

  The main problem was that the heat would cause Ash to go rabid and the cold would cause the elf to get closer to death's door. It posed a very complex situation that was impossible for one person to follow.

  And adding the problem of transporting them both without Ash losing control and killing him, it was brutal and it slowed their travel time by a lot.

  Even Snow was not exempted for working, the little pup would help when she could. She also played a crucial role in helping them to find civilisation. That is if there was any to find.

  After several days of navigating the terrain of the snow forest, two things started to give Kip hope. The first was the fact there was smoke in the distance, it was not very visible but it meant that some people might be nearby. Good or bad, he would take his chances.

  The second thing that gave him hope was the fact that the snow was becoming less dense, it gave him more confidence that they were leaving the cursed icy landscape they had been trapped in for weeks.

  "Aaaaah." Ash groaned as he struggled to walk, he could hardly breath. His head was filled the screams of his people's death, at first he thought it was the guilt hitting in but later he knew it was something else. Something trying to take over.

  He looked to his side to see Kip carrying Lyra on his back, her face looked hot and red. He could see her struggling to breath, her eyes were closed and she was sweating profusely.

  "Kip, is she... Alright?" He struggled to speak in his hazy voice.

  Kip looked over at him with a weak smile while trying to hide his own exhaustion. "You should be bothering about yourself, you can barely even walk." Kip was impressed by the fact that Ash was still worried about her in his weakened state. It was not rare but also not common to see this trait in someone.

  A few hours passed and the sun was already high in the sky when they reached the top of a hill. From the top the world opened up to reveal a town, it was not too big but it had houses, a market and people.

  Kip could not help but cry out in ecstacy, people meant there would be someone who could help them. "Look Ash, a town."

  "Really? That's great." Ash could barely vocalise his words before his lungs ran out of air and he collapsed on the ground.

  Kip looked down at his body and wept quietly before bending down to pick up Ash after binding his body with a vine, lest he go feral again. "Let's hope this place has a decent physician. I can't let these kids die."