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

Recovery, part 2

The sounds ahead of them did not sound like people but D'Argen just knew they were not the sounds of the mountain or ice settling. He called out again and though his words echoed, there was no response. The faint light at the end of the tunnel though was encouraging so D'Argen sped up his steps. He opened his mahee barely a fraction and then had to immediately close it when his shoulder hit the tunnel wall too hard. He looked behind him out of confusion only to see that Thar was much farther away than he thought.

D'Argen waited for Thar to catch up with him. Thar did not hurry up his steps at all so by the time the cold white light emanating from his chest reached D'Argen, the runner was bouncing on the spot.

"They are here," D'Argen said, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Thar nodded and hummed, and then continued walking.

"Should I run us?" D'Argen asked, his feet begging him to skip ahead.

"Not yet," Thar answered, his voice low and quiet and barely echoing at all.

D'Argen did not understand why Thar refused for them to move faster until another sound echoed down the tunnel toward them and D'Argen froze. That definitely did not sound like a voice. The rumble intensified, washing over them like a current and then the shaking followed.

Before D'Argen could even figure out what to do, Thar was right behind him and reaching out. He flinched before they touched and if they were in another situation, D'Argen would have rolled his eyes. He reached back for Thar's raised hand and laced their fingers together. It felt so natural and even as the shaking intensified and Thar came closer to him, D'Argen could not focus on that.

Instead, he remembered feeling as one.

Thar was once, long ago, known as the God of War. Before that, though, he was simply known as one of the strongest naturalists after Darania herself. His control over the cold was something that the others often looked at with awe.

As the shaking finally reached them, the ground under them shifting and the tunnel walls and ceiling shedding pieces of rocks and ice on them, D'Argen remembered why Thar had been so feared. The moment he felt the first vibration under his feet, it disappeared. The small pebbles that should have fallen on them turned to ice crystals and shifted away as if on a soft breeze and the larger breaks of rock shattered and turned into dust.

The runner closed his eyes to protect them from the dust and turned into Thar's body, moving close enough to bury his face in Thar's shoulder. The other man stiffened and his hold on D'Argen's hand tightened so much that it almost hurt. Then the vibrations faded away and Thar let him go as if scalded, stepping away so quick that D'Argen followed just to keep balance.

"What was—"

"We should keep going," Thar interrupted him and started walking without so much as a glance at D'Argen.

The runner skipped two steps but the tunnel was too narrow to walk side by side so he followed after Thar and his cold white light. So cold. Everything about the man from his long white hair that flowed behind him to his pale skin that looked almost unhealthy, from his white robes even with the dark stains on the back to the light that he manipulated. Everything about Thar screamed the north. He belonged here.

Maybe not under his mountain, maybe more on top of a cliff overlooking the endless expanse of snow and ice and mountains in the distance, but this was Thar's element.

So that scorching heat that D'Argen had felt when they connected made no sense at all.

They came to a fork in the tunnel, one side with rubble and just barely enough space for them to slip through, while the other looked perfectly formed and almost too smooth. Thar stood at the fork and eyed each direction, narrowing and pointing the light to try and shine further.