Stories had begun to spread from The Ice Island and the waters surrounding. It was said the during an shift of ice flows, something had been revealed. A part of a ship, still half locked within a great iceburg. A large frigate, solid black, not a hint of color on her save the name. The Shadow Fox painted on the side, in flowing white script. This, of course, was enough to discredit the story to most. After all, it had been a very long time since the infamous pirate ship had been active. Even then, it had been in another world, not here. Someplace far away. It was a ghost of a ghost story. One apparently being brought back to life by sailors in the cold.

However, if one were to go. To sail the Nyella Ocean, down past Itjivut to the ice flows, they would find a ship. Perfectly preserved in the ice. Only the aft was out of the ice, showing the name and windows to the captain’s quarters. In the ice, the vague shape of the masts could be seen.

There was no entrance to the captain’s quarters that was as yet thawed. But a look through the windows would reveal ice having frozen nearly everything there. Nearly. There was a body on the bed. A tall body with dark red hair. Half covered in frost, one arm hung off the bed. Barefoot, a white shirt, and dark pants. Hardly even looked like someone who should be in the captain’s quarters. Likely dead.

Only, if the person investigating this were to look closely. Very closely. He was breathing.

Strange rumors were spreading across this world. Tales of a dark black ship breaking through melting ice in the frozen northern seas. What drew Kale's attention the most were two words, 'Shadow Fox.' He needed to know the truth. The Shadow Fox was lost long before the portal took him. This wasn't even the same world as the one where his mentor had last been seen. At the same time, This had to be coincidence.

A ship of dark pearlwood, a rare dark colored wood with a strange blue-green pearlescent shine, streaked across the sky. The Aeolus was racing for the area the rumors spoke of. It didn't take long to find the source of the rumors. There truly was the aft of a solid black ship sticking out of the ice. As Kale's airship drew close to the iceberg he could make out the name of the ship, The Shadow Fox. Kale sank to the deck staring at the ghost from centuries ago and an entirely other world. Tears welled up and a dam broke somewhere inside, centuries-old pains flooding over him; never did he think his eyes would ever fall upon this ship once more.

The ice broke, a large piece falling to reveal this as The Shadow Fox II, not in fact the same ship. Kale's eyes went wide; this was no ghost, no relic from the past. He through himself over the side, the air itself solidifying under his feet as he dashed to the exposed windows. The heart beating in his chest nearly stopped as his eyes swept across the room beyond; there was a familiar form on the bed. The person there had taught Kale nearly everything.

Kale put a hand to the window and the glass shattered in a furious gale, but he didn't wait for the glass to fall. He scrambled inside and across the floor. "Dani," he exclaimed in awe-driven disbelief, "Dani! Wake up!" He started shaking Dani, trying to rouse him. Kale's hand rose and he slapped Daniel in the face hard. "Wake the Hell up!"

Cold and dark. Everything was cold and dark, it had been for so long. Silent, so silent. Time lost all meaning in this place. It could have been days, years, centuries. He didn’t know, couldn’t know. But it had been a long time, of that he could be certain. It was the only thing of which he was certain. 

At times he considered that he might be dead. That the god’s stories of an afterlife were just that, stories. This was all there was, silent darkness, freezing with your thoughts through eternity. Other times, he wondered if he had ever actually been alive. Perhaps it had all been a vivid dream, created by his mind in this place of nothing. 

Then a sound came. It was minute at first, but after so long of silence it was almost deafening. A popping, crackling sound. It soon grew it not roaring and crashing. And water. 

The sound of water. Object splashing into it, the sound  of waves knocking against the hull. These sounds were real, familiar. They called to him, but he could not reach them. Even as the cold began to slowly fade from him, he could not reach out. 

Until, a crashing. Much closer. Footsteps. A voice. A familiar voice. Still too far away, he could not quite reach. 

Pain. Sharp stinging pain shot through his face, and at last, Daniel felt awareness return to his body in a surge. Impossibly green eyes flew open, staring up at the one who had struck him. 

”Kale,” his voice was harsh and raspy from disuse, it hurt to speak. As he began sitting up, frost cracking along his flesh, he discovered it hurt to move. For that matter, everything hurt even not moving. Dani groaned, a hand pressing against his abdomen. 

“Ah course i’s me,” Kale said as he shook his mentor, “Who tha ‘ell else would It be, ya daft ol’ man!? Wha’ tha ‘ell are ya doin’ here!?”

Before he could register what was happening, he was careening towards one of the cabin’s walls. He struck the wooden wall hard and hit the floor just as hard. Kale had been struck hard by his mentor for letting his speech slip in a manner similar to Tempest’s.

He picked himself up and stalked back over to the bed, clearing his throat. “I guess you’re not feeling quite that bad, then,” he said with a grin, “Let’s get you somewhere warm, shall we? The Aeolus is just beyond the window.” Even as Kale spoke, the airship drifted down until the deck was level with the hole created in the wall of Dani’s frozen tomb.

He didn’t bother to wait for protests; his mentor could make those on the way. Instead, the younger man brought din to his feet and began to carry him towards the window. “Don’t worry,” he assured, “We won’t be leaving the area. We just need to get you somewhere to thaw and come up with some plan.”

Kale carefully stepped over the remnants of the outer wall and carried his friend across solidified aether towards the airship. It wasn’t large, but it carried an alarming power from another world within. He knew Daniel would recognize his power coursing through the ship, but in some ways he was dreading an inevitable discovery.

Despite the pain and confusion, his mind still foggy, Daniel registered what Kale was saying. More specifically how he was saying it. It was instinct really, the arm flexing out to smack him. Truthfully, he hadn’t meant to hit him quite that hard—but the old sailor figured he deserved it either way. Talking like, he had definitely taught Kale better than that. 



The Aeolus, Daniel wondered about that. Not a ship name he was familiar with—then again, it had been a bit since he had seen his old apprentice. Either way, warmth sounded wonderful. He had been so cold for so long, it seemed like a distant memory of warmth. Almost like a dream. Something that never really was.



Stumbling to his feet, he grumbled as Kale drug him towards the door. The words weren’t quite comprehensible, but they were most assuredly unpleasant. Then they stepped to the window. “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no,” Daniel immediately balked at that. He was not about to walk across a bridge of nothing to an airship. But he was not exactly given a chance to argue. Kale was a bit stronger than he remembered, and he was a bit weaker than he realized.



“Just you wait,” he growled when they got the airship, glaring at his old apprentice, “I’m going to kill. Just as soon as I can stand up, I’m going to throttle you!” With that, he slumped against the rail. Because standing up really was a struggle just then. The ice was thawing around his body, some form of a normal internal temperature spreading through his body. 



Then it hit him. The feel of the magic around him. Most assuredly Kale, but something else—something divine. The old pirate froze (figuratively this time) as he processed it. Staring over at the airship captain. “You have got to be kidding me.”