Applewood Fields || Cold Christmas

Things remain fairly mundane in the woodlands, at least for a while. Happy and comfortable with their current lives, the Norns live together in peace. They enjoy one another's company, playing games and loud music and celebrating Christmas festivities.

However, while everyone else was celebrating a particularly fun holiday with plenty of food, fireworks, and flashing lights, Ember slipped away under the radar and disappeared into the winter night.

Something was bothering her, a voice whispering in the back of her mind: something out there was calling her, and she needed to go.

Without drawing much attention to herself, Ember activated a portal to enter another world.

The atmosphere in the place she reached was new to her, something she had never experienced before. It didn't have the same natural, comforting feeling that the woodlands did; this was a place filled with futuristic technology, strange machines she had never seen before. Instead of growing in the ground, carrots grew in a machine! Music was played not from a radio, but from a bizarre, topsy-turvy looking device, bigger than she was and twice as loud!

It was here that Ember discovered a pair of creatures that had, apparently, also made the journey from the big spaceship to this smaller, more futuristic one. One was an Ettin, and the other was a Norn who appeared to be the Ettin's daughter.

To Ember's surprise, she found that the Norn, whose name was a simple and easy-to-understand "ETN-06", had lived here her whole life! How different it must have been, Ember thought, for this creature to grow up in such an advanced environment.

Back at home, Nith'eroi was the first to notice Ember's disappearance. How had she managed to vanish like that? Right behind her back! After searching high and low for her dear friend, Nith'eroi, too, embarked on a journey outside the woodlands. She reached the portal, and activated it, shocked and frightened by the blue whirl of light that whisked her away to another world!

However, unlike Ember, Nith'eroi becomes lost in the strange hallway that lies between the old spaceship and the land that Ember reached. Confused and deeply concerned about Ember's safety and where she could have possibly gone, Nith'eroi lies down in the company of an Ettin who has stood here, unmoving, for an incredibly long time. Soon, the Ettin leaves, too, leaving Nith'eroi alone in this frightening new world.

With seemingly nowhere to turn, Nith'eroi lies lost in the hall on Christmas night, neglecting her needs as her mind remains occupied with worry for her friend...

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