Chapter Text
Aurora pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose, going through her supplies of plants to make sure she wasn’t low on anything. It was winter, here in the Freljord, and so her supplies were running bare quickly, but there wasn’t all bad news. She could get some plants that only grew here during the colder months. Her stocks of snowroot seemed to be low, so she grabbed her pen and paper and jotted it down on her list of things she will need to forage for. After scanning the rest of her supplies, making sure they were satisfactory, she nodded to herself.
“All good here, now time to get my coat on” She muttered to herself. Speaking the things aloud allowed her to focus better.
After walking to the front door of her cabin, she pulled on her large furry coat, pulling the hood down, squishing her ears a bit. She opened her front door, and stepped outside. The sky was clear and it was extremely bright with the sunlight reflecting off the snow. Aurora quickly checked for clouds, to make sure that she wasn’t going to be surprised by a snowstorm, before walking the route to a place she knew she could get some snowroot. The trees of the forest here were fairly sparse, their leaves having long since fallen to the ground. Winter wasn’t Aurora’s favourite, but living in the Freljord it wasn’t exactly escapable. After about thirty minutes of searching, she found what she was looking for. There, near the base of one of the plants, was some snowroots. Aurora walked over, kneeled down, and gently harvested them, taking the entire supply of seven, more than enough for what she needed. She could use a few for some spells, maybe make a soup with some of the other ones.
It was as she stood back upright and looked around, she noticed a single leaf, somehow still on a tree despite the climate, was glowing blue. Shaking her head slightly, she walked over, taking out her wand. Aeries were little blue spirit creatures that routinely caused mischief, but this one seemed to be a bit stuck. Aurora cast a quick unbinding incantation, unbinding the spirit of the Aery to the leaf, letting the leaf wilt and die, and releasing the glowing blue mouse-like thing. Aurora sighed as the Aery made a chirping “thank you” noise, before vanishing. She cast a quick locating enchantment, to see if any other Aeries were around, as they tended to travel in packs, instead, she felt an extremely powerful, almost all consuming, presence to the south of her. She sucked in a breath, snowroots almost forgotten. That wasn’t good, she had only felt a presence similar when she had been with Ornn, and he had been one to shape continents. A presence similar so close to her home, or just existing without her knowledge at all, was not a good thing. She couldn’t not check it, though. After carefully pulling the snowroots in her bag, she began to creep towards the source of the presence she had felt. It was only a couple hundred metres away. She held her wand out in front of her in a defensive stance, ready to cast an invisibility or similar spell if she was attacked. Eventually, she came to a small rise, overlooking a clearing.
In the clearing, she saw a man lying down, apparently unconscious. He was dressed completely unfit for the weather. He was wearing a simple pair of pants, monk's clothes, Aurora guessed, and absolutely no shirt. His long, braided hair fell beside him, but it was not the man's attire that caught Aurora’s eye. It was the scythe next on the ground next to him. It was dark grey, with red accents and a glowing red eye in the blade near the haft. The eye darted around, staring at the world around it, before narrowing facing Aurora, who instinctively took a step back. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself, before taking another look. The scythe seemed to be corrupting the man’s arm, his left arm looked like that of a demon, so deep was the corruption from the scythe. That didn’t make sense, if the scythe was a darkin, as Aurora suspected, it should have fully consumed him. Maybe it was a trap for her, but if the man was truly suffering, she couldn’t leave him here, could she? She inched closer, the man seemed completely out. After steeling herself, she quickly cast a protective charm on herself.
“Very big gloves too” She muttered to herself “That’s going to be useful.”
She picked up the scythe, its eye still narrowed on her. Thankfully she was not overwhelmed by a darkin, whether it was due to her gloves, her protective charm or the fact the darkin seemed in the middle of corrupting the man, she didn’t know. The scythe was surprisingly light. Aurora glanced at the man, he seemed far too heavy for her to carry him, so she whispered another incantation, and he began to float. She dragged him through the air with her, taking him and the darkin scythe back to her cabin.
When she arrived back home, she pulled the door open and went to her guest room, lying the man down on the bed, under the covers. She propped his head up on a pillow, then paused to think. She could put a binding enchantment on him, he could be violent.
“Better safe than sorry” She muttered to herself, before quickly whispering the words.
When he awoke, he’d be unable to move anything below his neck. She made sure he was comfortable, then walked out of the room, looking at the scythe that she had left leaning against the wall. What to do with that… she couldn’t leave it lying around, could she? She didn’t know how to properly handle darkin weapons. Its eye narrowed at her, as if daring her to try anything. After sitting down, she considered, staring at it, because going over to it, picking it up in her still gloved and protected hand, before pushing it into a locked box, and casting every single protective enchantment she knew on the box. It wasn’t going to be a permanent solution, but it was good enough for now. Maybe she could find a way to fully dispose of the cursed artefact later.
Aurora checked back in on the man she had apparently brought into her care. He was still lying there, sleeping as ever. She felt a twinge of nervousness that he would be violent upon awaking, though she consoled herself with the thought that he would be mostly likely unable to escape her binding. Though if he could resist a darkin… She pushed the thought away, walking to her room to get ready for bed.
Her bedroom was small, though her bed was large and fluffy. She peeled of her coat, gloves and other clothes, getting into nice, warm and snuggly pajamas. She pulled the blinds on her window, making sure everything was nice and where it belonged. She pulled herself into bed, turning out the light, taking slow, steady breaths to calm herself. As she waited for sleep to take her, her mind went to pondering the man in her guest room. Who was he? Why was he in the middle of the Freljord although completely unprepared for the cold weather? How was he able to resist a darkin? Perhaps he was iceborn, but that didn’t make sense, how could he resist darkin if he was simply iceborn? The questions swirled around in her head, until eventually, sleep took her. As always, she slept dreamlessly.
Chapter Text
Aurora knew exactly when the man in her guest bedroom awoke, as he did so with a loud yell. She got up and got dressed quickly, before running to the guest room, opening the door to find him still stuck by her binding spell that she had cast last night, and not very happy about it.
“Who the fuck are you?” He called to her, staring at her.
“I could ask you the same question” Aurora replied, sitting in an armchair in the corner, looking at him.
“What kinda fucked up magic you got me in?” He yelled at her, struggling against the magical bonds.
“I’ll be more inclined to answer if you answer my questions.” Aurora said, looking over at him.
“Right…” He responded “So… what questions?”
“Who are you?” Aurora asked.
“Kayn.”
“Doesn’t narrow it down, at all.” Aurora replied, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
“Fine… I’m an ionian, Shieda Kayn, order of the shadow.” He answered, looking away.
“Is that an Ionian organization of some sort?” Aurora asked. She was unfamiliar.
“It’s a… militia.”
“Right, so how did you end up here, in the Freljord, without a shirt, with a darkin scythe, that for some reason is not corrupting you fully?” Aurora looked him dead in the eyes.
“Rhaast, ah yes, where is he?”
“Rhaast is its name?” Aurora asked
“Yes.” Kayn replied, looking at her. “So, when are you going to let me out of this spell?”
“When I know you’re not a threat. I’m not partial to letting darkin wielders into my home without a bit of precaution, first.” Aurora said. “How are you not corrupted by it, fully?”
“I… I am unaware.” Kayn admitted. “Rhaast… he seems incapable of fully corrupting me, at least as I fight him for control. I don’t know why.”
“So why do you keep the weapon with you?” Aurora pressed.
“Power, of course.” Kayn chuckled. “If I can best a darkin, who knows what strength I’ll unlock.”
“Great.” Aurora sighed “Power Hungry AND cocky. Incredible combination.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t find that a little be attractive” Kayn joked
Aurora went a bit pink. “I’d appreciate it if you.. Refrained… from flirting with me.”
“Mmm, alright.” Kayn said. “So… I’m not a threat, without Rhaast, and you’ve got him somewhere, right?”
“Yes.” Aurora replied “Mind you you might try to kill me to get the darkin weapon back, perhaps your mind is corrupted by the darkin, and you are lying so it can escape.”
“I wouldn’t lie, I’m a good boy.” Kayn smirked.
Aurora raised an eyebrow. “Are you, now? Regardless. Perhaps we can come to some sort of…. Deal. I don’t want to keep you locked up here forever, that would be inhumane. So. I will let you go, but I am keeping the darkin. Okay?”
“Wh-, he’s mine, though.” Kayn replied. He seemed a bit shocked Aurora wanted to take Rhaast away from him.
“I want to study it, so I am keeping it. It will corrupt you eventually, and that will mean a lot of people will die. I am keeping it for study and safekeeping.” Aurora said, evenly.
“And when you’re done?” Kayn asked.
“I… don’t know… I’ll keep it here. I’d love to study you, too. Why are you not corrupted? SO many questions.” Aurora looked at his corrupted arm.
“Hey!” Kayn said “What if.. You let me out of this spell, and I live in your house! You can study me, I can keep Rhaast!”
Aurora considered. On one hand, she didn’t want to keep this man locked up, and studying him would be nice, on the other hand, could she really trust him? He had a darkin weapon, and he seemed pretty power hungry… He might hurt her. She came to a decision.
“Fine” She said “I’ll let you out, but you’ll have to do something for me.”
“Can you do something for me, then?” He asked
“What?”
“Tell me your name”
“Ah- it’s Aurora” She said.
“Cute name” Kayn smirked.
Aurora went a bit red as she let him out of the binding spell. He stretched, before groaning to himself.
“That spell makes me so sore,” he complained.
“Apologies,” Aurora replied. “You will be sleeping in this room, and I expect you to do your fair share of chores. Cooking, cleaning, hunting and gathering, et cetera.”
Kayn gave an awkward smile “Oh.. I-uhhh, can’t cook.”
Aurora stared wide-eyed at him. “You, a grown male, cannot cook?”
“Nope.”
“Whatever. I will teach you.” Aurora said.
Kayn groaned. “Do I have to?” He sounded like a petulant child.
Aurora sighed. “Yes, yes you have to. If you’re going to live here, you will pitch in. Come, I’ll teach you how to cook meat.”
Kayn stood up from the bed, and followed her to the kitchen.
Many hours passed, and eventually Aurora managed to teach Kayn how to cook some meat without burning it, though it took some trial and error. It tasted fine, nothing too terrible. Kayn stopped complaining midway through, and actually properly learned, which Aurora found helpful. After eating, they sat in silence for a while, eventually, Kayn broke it.
“So where is Rhaast?” He asked,
“I told you, I’m not going to give you it.” Aurora said, “It will corrupt you.”
“Hasn’t yet, so I doubt he ever will.” Kayn said, with a bit of a cocky smile.
“Regardless of your pointless boasting” Aurora continued, speaking over him “I want to study it, and you, for that matter, so I’m not jeopardizing either of your safety.”
“I’m so glad you think so highly of my security” Kayn said, sarcastically “So, do I have a curfew?”
“No.” Aurora replied “But no loud noises, just at all, please.”
“Right” He responded “Do you have clothes for me?”
“No, but I can teach you how to sew, if you’d like.” Aurora said. “It’s a good life skill.”
Kayn groaned “Fine, fine, maybe tomorrow.”
He left for his room, Aurora smiling after him. She enjoyed teaching him new things. She blushed a little to herself, feeling nice around him in a way she didn’t think she’d felt around anyone else for the entirety of her life. She did her usual bedtime routine, before cuddling up in her warm blankets, and letting sleep take her.
leaguesbian on Chapter 2 Sat 06 Sep 2025 09:48PM UTC
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