ro3

It is well known that Samivilinn has Its favorites.

It taught the daughter of winter to tame the wind and snow, and gifted a dying warrior the lifeforce of a branch.

The greatest Snowpriest of the north was brought back from the brink of death, repaired by the earth, his missing horn replaced by a tree branch.

...I'll hold back the snowstorm. You guys need to leave.

Tell this to the other warriors of the north:

'Once again, we've encountered a disaster exceeding all previous records.'

'The threat from the icefields is increasing.'

And...

His horn is broken.

The blessing has returned to the earth. The gifted life has faded away. The body is full of black cracks, unable to return to the mountains and forests anymore.

...'An important position on the frontlines has been lost.'

'The corrupted warriors have been pacified through our combined efforts.'

'The shaman Santalla oversaw the ceremony of parting.'

After hundreds upon hundreds, thousands upon thousands of battles, winter has come.

The warriors of the mountains know better than anyone that demonic corruption cannot be reversed. Their minds and bodies are doomed to become both the enemy's territory and sustenance.

They are frozen in their last act, their bodies occupied by death and nullity.

But Santalla knows that one last spark of willpower continues to struggle against the cold winds of the icefields, that one last vestige of consciousness keeps them waiting.

Enduring all the pain and suffering that fate had in store for them, enduring their own tragic ends, waiting for those who would come after them.

Waiting for the cleansing frost to cover the carcasses that dark wounds had corrupted, to cover the last marks of 'Treescar' on the land.

Santalla raises her staff high to bid farewell.

The hero leads his warriors into their final battle, their inevitable fate.

No war cries, no questions, no turning back.

Fate never wavers. Warriors are never moved by time.

Young torch-bearer—

The lives of the warriors become frozen.

They cast their gaze beyond Santalla, continuing to keep watch over the eternal icefield.

Santalla walks into the cemetery of warriors, through them, towards the next camp on the frontline.

Once, she was the most favored child of Sami. Now, she feels the embrace of the wind and snow again.

She commands the wind to brush away the snow from the warrior's broken horn. This trace of wind is soon buried again, beneath the falling snow.

But she knows that, from this day forth, she will continue to brush away the black snow that falls on the land.

Until—