God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

The pillar, part 1

The whispers were not as quiet as those whispering thought they were. D'Argen looked over his shoulder at the three mortals clustered closely together. Two of them were the women that had been stuck with Thar when the ice broke apart. That little block of ice, cut out from the rest, had already broken apart and disappeared. Those two women would have been floating frozen along with those chunks of ice if it had not been for D'Argen.

Or Thar.

The person they were whispering about.

Because Thar had done something incredible. In their eyes, it was the magic of the gods. In the eyes of the Never Born – it was impossible. Not with the chain wrapped around his mahee. Not with how each and every one of them felt the ice under them break and yet stay together with only Thar's mahee keeping it solid.

When that single block of ice finally broke apart, Haur had dropped to his knees and stared in awe. When Thar got up and used his mahee to raise the temperature around them, that awe turned to fear.

Nobody was that strong.

Nobody.

Darania, maybe, but even she would hardly be able to stand and walk after that. The fact that Thar not only did that but also urged the others to start moving?

D'Argen turned to look at where the man sat in the snow with his legs crossed and arms loosely draped over his knees. Thar had his eyes closed and was breathing slow and deep, so slow it could have been sleep. The man's mahee covered their entire camp. The cold air around them was soft, and less biting. The winds were almost completely gone even though the clouds above them moving swiftly. And even those that had fallen into the water a few days ago were back on their feet and in high spirits.

As Thar filled up his mahee, using the cold around them to restore what he lost, the rest of the camp was feeling it too. D'Argen was even tempted to remove his winter cloak. A quick glance at Lilian sitting beside him, wrapped up in three different cloaks, made the decision for him. He unclasped the brouche at his neck and as he stood up, he swung the coat around. Snow fell from the edges and he shook it more firmly before placing it over Lilian's shoulders.

Lilian had not said a word since they fell into the water. They were back to that same dangerous quiet after Sky Mountain and D'Argen did not feel comfortable leaving them alone. He wanted to go to Thar, ask him—something! Anything. What happened was... nobody was that strong. D'Argen had a hard time wrapping the strands of hair of his companions with his mahee, he could not imagine holding together millions of shattering and breaking pieces of ice together to keep them from bursting apart and into a solid chunk above the water.

"Stay here," D'Argen said to Lilian and received no reply. "I want to see what our next step will be."

Lilian remained silent and did not look up at him.

D'Argen made his way across their small camp to where Haur and Nocipel were sitting, hunched over a wooden tablet. For the entire length of the short walk, his eyes stayed focused on the side where Thar sat alone. He wondered if the cold from the camp that the man was consuming was gathered around him or if it was even hotter there.

"The break is leading us further east than I anticipated," Haur was saying just as D'Argen approached.

Both of them looked at D'Argen and raised their chins slightly in greeting. D'Argen returned the gesture, glad for the high collar of his undershirt that covered his neck.

"We are exploring," D'Argen said when Nocipel did not fill the silence.

"The water under us... it still goes on. I have yet to feel land," Nocipel said. She brushed her long hair back over one shoulder and pulled the fur of her cloak closer to her cheek, burying her face in it. "I fear we are not prepared."