The snow and ice is coming 2

Ark sat in the underground study, legs crossed on the floor of the larger circular room. the bookshelves were in disarray now that he was done with them, some books still on the shelves with no rhyme or reason to their location or purpose for being there, most stacked around in unstable towers with no intention of ever being put back, and others still gone, disintegrated.

He sat with his/her book open in his lap, reading over particular notes and scratching various markings onto the floor around him as he went. one purple white flame sat atop a candle that was lit on the desk in the other smaller circular room located at the other end of the corridor lined with bookshelves that connected the two, the only light around him came in the from of a bottle that floated near by his head. it was "upside down" because what was in it was keeping it afloat and the bottle just hung there in a perpetual state of falling. it was a very pure magic light, and seemed to drift lazily in place. occasionally it would threaten to drift into Arks head at which point he held up a palm and gently shoved it slightly away without looking up.

while normal torchlight would have provided adequate if not better lighting, Ark liked the little light, it both calmed and focused him.

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Elsewhere a hooded woman of unspectacular looking origins sat on the deck of the Renewed Valor as it rested in white wing harbor. her face mostly concealed by hood and shadow save for her mouth as she sat reading a book, the sound of a young boy could be heard running around on the deck playing. A gentleman walked aboard with purpose and asked her if the ship had any intention of departing to join the others any time soon, without looking up she simply replied "no" as she turned the page of her book. He smiled and gave a curt bow replying very good and departed the vessel.

As Ark sat doing the tedious work required to cast his spell he had time to ponder. he had come a long way, appearing after the cataclysm in haven with no memory and nothing but a sword and the ability to use it. A slight smirk tugged at his mouth as he thought about it, he didn't like magic back then. . . now look what he had become. An'Dar magic had taught him so much, it had made him immortal, able to traverse the ether and pierce the veil at will, commune with the dead, manipulate time and even pull past copies of himself into his own timeline, a trick he had used a few times before. he had dubbed these copies "remnants". . .in theory he could have created an army of himself but it was far too frightening a concept, for one it would be hard to keep track of the original after a time, and two it would be an army of himself. . .he gave it a one in twenty chance of a remnant going evil, and the last thing he needed was an evil version of himself that new how to multiply itself.

this gave him something else to think about. . .he had rediscovered most of this magic, or pieced it together from things he had either already known or discovered, so surely so did the An'Dar, and yet they were gone. . .for the most part, as far as he knew. Disappointing, he would love to talk with one now.

He was finishing up scratching the remaining components into the floor, he had never attempted to go back this far. . .that's not true, he had never attempted to move when he had gone back this far, normally it was just observation. the only time he had moved was when he had gone back seconds or at most a minute, this caused great strain on him, like the further back you went the greater the pressure on your body making it harder and harder to move. . .but he needed to be able to move, he had no idea where his target would be only when.

he confirmed to himself out loud.

"about 13 years ago. . .plenty of time before the night of the burning skulls."

he thought for a moment and a hand waved dismissively at nobody in particular. he knew actions he took had no effect on his present time, he figured it was the alternate reality version of time manipulation, he was messing up someone else's possible outcome. that gave him another frightening thought for a moment, he wondered if someone had messed with his own timeline?. . .he would have no way to know. he pushed the thoughts aside, it could make him go crazy to think about things like that.