Promise

The Long Dark In Vorkuta, Komi

Silence pierces the morning. The fog locks the gaze. The cold seeps into the pores, piercing down to the bone. The smell of fish and blood wafts into the nose. Mixed with a faint rotten smell began to smell faintly. The open field is now so crowded with hundreds of corpses. They are curled up in bags made of ruminant stomachs.

Anthonius's white horse kept whinnying every time the cold wind blew against its long, unkempt mane. His hooves clashed with the ground and stones. Creating a discordant melody. The horse was terrified. He could sense the miasma emanating from every corpse around his master. At the same time, Anthonius was staring far ahead. Examining each body that has been collected. Just to ensure that they are fully prepared for burial.

Anthonius Mareq is a mixed-blood S-rank sorcerer who specializes in magic swords. Anthonius is the Crimson Knights' leader. The young general, who is actually 357 years old, but looks to be about 18 years old. Anthonius is also the only elf race in Terra that looks identical to a human. One feature that separates Anthonius from humans is a pair of dark emeralds that can only be obtained by elves from special clans.

"Is this all?" Anthonius asked one of the guards who was carrying a corpse.

“There are still two left, sir. We will get it out of the carriage right away," explained the guard, who then hurriedly ran towards the dog sledding that was parked quite far from the entrance of the cemetery.

Anthonius walked among the expanse of corpses. Some of which had begun to rot, turning into a lump of liquid due to exposure to miasma. Leather shoes occasionally stepped into puddles of blood seeping from the animal's stomach, which was used to wrap the bodies as a substitute for body bags. The inhabitants of Terra, the stomach of ruminants, is a symbol of pure purity. life that reflects local wise wisdom. The Terra community believes that those who have died will return pure. Just like a small baby curled up in womb. That's why the people of Terra will wrap corpses using the stomach of an animal before burial. This represents the condition of humans before birth.

"How many?" Anthonius asked Gistara. The head of the investigative team was assigned to the Malang City area.

"473…" Gistara replied quickly. Gistara suddenly fell silent. Both of her eyes widened, staring straight at one of the corpses that suddenly moved. In her heart, Gistara hoped so much that one of them was still alive. Her legs reflexively stepped quickly. It brought her closer to the body, but Anthonius stopped her.

Anthonius stared at Gistara sharply with his cold emerald eyes. He then said curtly,"Do you want to die?!"

Gistara suddenly became aware. The corpse did not come back to life, but rather the entire skeleton of the corpse that might have suddenly shattered due to prolonged exposure to miasma. "Sorry!" Gistara quickly said with full regret.

The gray ushanka that Anthonius wore slowly transformed into a pair of plump raccoons. They climbed over the general's shoulder, holding onto the thick black fur cloak made from bear fur. Dima and Luca are the names of the two raccoons. As soon as they reached the bottom, both immediately bowed before their master as if greeting him. Anthonius respectfully acknowledged the greeting. He then handed a piece of paper to one of the raccoons with darker feathers while saying, "Go to the main lighthouse. Give this paper to the Romanov brothers, or Alyosha (Alexei)!”

Dima fell silent while staring at Anthonius with a puzzled expression.

"It's okay… This is just a search warrant. The situation is not that bad." As understanding Dima's fear, Anthonius told the raccoon that the current situation is not as bad as Dima might think.

The two raccoons then hurriedly rushed over the sea of snow. Anthonius watched them until they vanished in the distance. The general, known for being cold and cruel, actually has a soft and warm heart. Nevertheless, Anthonius was reluctant to show his true nature. After the pair of raccoons left, Anthonius and Gistara remained silent for quite a while, staring at the row of corpses in front of them.

Vorkuta is now in mourning. The city of coal miners may be crying in quiet. The layer of soil that had previously been covered in white ice crystals has abruptly turned maroon. The intense perfume of coal, which appeared to have been its identity, abruptly transformed to the stink of decomposing corpses.

"When are you leaving?" Anthonius went around to ask Gistara about the assignment he had assigned.

Gistara went silent. She gazed down, marveling at the pile of snow that had buried her feet. "I don't know." Gistara sighed with frustration. "I... feel desperate to convince Mr. Javier to return to Terra, especially to resume his duties in the City of Euhron."

Anthonius laughed sarcastically. As if ridiculing Javier indirectly in front of Gistara. "He is just too naive... he should know that elves are not allowed to fall in love with humans. The girl's heart already belongs to someone else, but she continues to search for it. Really a waste of time!"

Gistara went silent.

"I don't care how you persuade him. Whether you can or not, tomorrow morning I just want to hear that he arrived in Euhron!" Antonius gazed at Gistara. "If it can't be done with words... then drag that boy to Euhron with your own hands!" Anthonius said firmly.

"Alright," Gistara replied with a trembling voice.

After Gistara's departure, Antonius now stands alone in the middle of the field. Anthonius took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Anthonius knew that what he and his team were currently dealing with was not a case they could solve easily. Anthonius might be able to deceive Dima and Luka, but he failed to convince himself that everything was alright.

"Ludmila Volkova. Fortunately, I still remember that girl's name." Anthonius looked up. Staring at the clump of gray clouds above his head that might be carrying grains of ice crystals.

"I am actually… curious about what kind of person is capable of locking my brother's heart. Even after 100 years of her dying," whispered Anthonius.

…

"Trying to conduct an independent investigation?" said Gistara, trying to break Javier's concentration.

"Damn…!" Javier cursed out of frustration. "Everything is moving so slowly. We, who are stationed outside Terra, are not even allowed to start investigating this case, while the victims keep falling." Javier expressed his disappointment with the Crimson Knight. Javier then threw a shard of crystal in front of Gistara.

"But this isn't the way to do it?" Gistara took the crystal that Javier had thrown at her, then returned it to him. "If the other groups find out about what you're doing now, we could all get into trouble!" Gistara warned Javier.

 Javier glanced at Gistara. He was curious as to why Gistara had suddenly come to visit hhim."What's going oon?"Javier asked ccurtly.

Gistara fell silent. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. While controlling her emotions before saying something, that Javier needed to hear. “You know.., I have two younger sisters, right?! One of them got married and now lives in Jakarta. That's quite far from Malang.”

Javier remained silent, staring at Gistara suspiciously. Gistara then continued her story.

"Even during the Christmas celebration... we might not be able to meet. A bit different from my youngest sibling who is still studying in Malang. I can visit him anytime. Even if it's just giving a box of brownies."

"That's none of my business," Javier said nonchalantly.

"Yeah… you're right. That is none of your business. It's just that talking to each other and visiting one another, these are quite simple things to strengthen a relationship. Isn't that true...? This is at least what I can learn. What is your opinion?"

Javier looked at Gistara with a scrutinizing gaze. However, a moment later, his expression changed. Javier smiled. An apparently mocking smirk. "You don't need to ask me to fix the relationship between us. Even if I don't visit him for almost a century, our friendship will not suffer."

Gistara was at a loss for words.

"Just tell me where... and when. You do not need to teach me how to treat my brother. We are really different, I mean you and us. We elves are capable of surviving for centuries. So we have a totally different view opinion about time than you humans. I visited it 40 years ago, which may appear to you to be at odds, but we were not. For me, 40 years ago may have felt like only a month ago," said Javier. 

"Sorry. I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to interfere in your personal matters." Gistara felt guilty about what she had just said to Jevier.

"No problem." Javier handed Gistara a key. "While I'm away, please take care of Senja for me!" Javier told her.

Gistara handed Javier a piece of paper. "Three days ago, Anthonius asked me to meet him in Vorkuta for the funeral procession of the victims' bodies. So far, five hundred corpses have been found, and it may continue to increase. The group from the City of Ein has conducted an initial investigation, and you are right… The amethyst crystals found at each incident location have characteristics very similar to antimatter magic, or more precisely, several antimatter shields that have been chained up together to resemble a crystal. The worst part is that humans or wizards who are exposed to the crystal's miasma for a long period of time can experience a process of bodily decay much faster than usual. So, this crystal caused the slow but permanent decaying of living things. This does not include any other effects that possibly caused it. Poisoning, bleeding, and even organ dysfunction are all possible outcomes.”

Javier just listened while reading the message that Anthonius had entrusted to Gistara. "I was invited to join the main investigative team that will be specifically assigned to handle the recent cases of witch murders, but he wants to meet with me first to discuss the case I handled 130 years ago. The investigation I once conducted with a soldier named Erel in Kruber Cave." Javier threw the paper in the trash can.

"Kruber Cave?" Gistara asked to confirm.

"The seal and magic barrier that was placed in the cave... that was our task at that time." Javier's explanation left Gistara speechless.

"Once again, he asked me to meet at Euhron...," Javier said. His expression turned so annoyed. "It seems like he wants to trap me."