Within the void there was only darkness. All thoughts danced to the tune of a deafening silence. The only thing that could give any sense of direction was the guiding light within pointing towards some unknown destination. A singular absolute coordinate within a world of incomprehensible geometries.

  Suddenly the silence was broken by countless voices chanting a haunting tune somewhere within the gloom. There was an arm carrying a reminder of some distant pain. Embers burning their mark into the skin and cauterizing the flesh.

  He had an arm and it hurt with every beat of his heart. There was a heart for he could feel it beating somewhere within. Eyes saw shadows dancing in the distance, which meant he had eyes that could see.

  A body struggled to move within the oppressing darkness and that meant he had a body. He was human even if he had gotten so close to forgetting that fact for good. His mind was racing with countless questions and that meant he was a thinking feeling entity with self awareness.

  "I'm actually alive!" he exclaimed before bursting into a strained fit of laughter.

  Everything was there and it had been all along. Nothing had actually changed because he was still there to experience all the sensations that came from existing. He had almost lost it all, but now it was coming back to him in waves.

  Orbs of light suspended on poles like street lights lit up his path. In the distance he could see four kneeling figures that seemed to be the source of the chanting. Slowly he commanded his body to move towards them. The sensation of walking of his own volition felt alien, but every step made it feel more natural. Even if he had forgotten how to walk his body still remembered and held his mind's hand as he slowly remembered what it meant to be human.

  "I never doubted you," echoed out from somewhere in the distant darkness behind him.

  "Deep down I always knew you would find your way back to the light while I would remain within the darkness," the voice said.

  Its words carried some deep sadness, but also a strangely powerful hope. He turned around and saw it standing only a few paces away from him. It looked like a man, but where its heart should have been there was only a gaping hole. The thing reminded him of himself, but it was also different somehow. Almost like it had finally gotten rid of a weight that had been bearing down on it for its entire life.

  "Don't stop or you'll never find your way back," it called out to him.

  "Keep walking, Al, never stop walking or you're dead!" it cried out with tears in its eyes.

  He turned and continued moving towards the four figures waiting for him at the end of the path. The chanting grew only louder as he got closer, and the voice screamed at him to never turn around.

  Anxiety was building inside of him and he wanted to turn around so badly just to confirm that the voice belonged to who he thought it belonged to, but every time the impulse came back it assured him that he had to keep moving.

  "It is now or never! You must remind him of what it means to be human," one of the four figures croaked.

  One of them stood up and began moving towards him. Their yellow eyes watched him carefully as they approached him. Long black talons extended from their fingers and on their back were two large feathered wings like those of an eagle. Countless scars upon their chest marked them as someone that had seen too many battles to count.

  "What is your name," the eagle man called out to him as they came to a stop no more than ten paces away from him.

  "Al," he said only to immediately doubt himself.

  The name felt so unfamiliar, but the voice behind him had called him that so it had to be his name. Humans had names and that was the name they had referred to him as. Why did it feel so alien? Had he forgotten his own name at some point and only just now remembered it?

  The world violently spun around and once it stopped he found himself atop a mountain standing before a large temple. They waited for him at the tops of the steps leading up to the strange temple.

  One step at a time he traversed the grand stairs. The eagle man watched him with anticipation as he got closer and closer. Had they been waiting for him all this time? Were they there to finally take him away from the darkness he had been trapped in for so long?

  As he passed the last step, the doors to the temple swung open waiting for him. The eagle man took his hand and lead him through the doors towards the hunched figure waiting for him inside.

  "It appears you are still human," their hoarse voice cackled.

  "Who are you?" he asked them as countless questions raced through his mind.

  "Do not concern yourself with questions of identity when your own hangs in the balance."

  Was that what he almost lost? Had his own identity been lost to him and only now been found. While it still felt strange he knew it was truly his own and belonged to no one else. Could it be they had come to test him before setting him free?

  "You are finally thinking like a human, but we still do not know if this bout of lucidity you're experiencing will stay once you leave this place."

  "What even defines a human? I've seen so many things of late that have made me doubt where the line is drawn," he said as recent memories flooded his mind.

  "Humans doubt everything because they know their eyes are not always to be believed," the figure chuckled as it lit a stick of incense and placed it between them.

  "If doubt is human, then is it not human to doubt that you are one?" he retorted.

  "Leave that sort of nonsense to the ordinaire philosopher and accept that doubt is only natural seeing as our minds are flawed by design."

  That word had roused something within him. A dividing line separating himself from the rest of mankind. Irrefutable proof of his otherness. He had dwelled in world where he would never truly belong. Like a wasp among bees.

  "You struggle with your own conceptions of humanity, but it appears you still remember where you were before you stepped off the path you've been walking," they said as they stood up.

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  "This confirms you are human and that it is time for you to escape this place."

  "Are you not here to set me free?" he asked them as they walked past him.

  "We already have," they whispered as they passed him.

  The temple was fading into darkness and the only light that remained was the lit incense stick. He ran towards it and grabbed it before the darkness could swallow it. Its faint light gave him some hope of finding a way out of the void.

  There was no time within the void, but his body assured him that many hours had passed as he walked. Distant voices were bickering somewhere in the darkness, but they didn't sound like the four figures that had saved him.

  With the last of his strength he ran towards them until he hit what felt like a gelatinous membrane of some sort. He pushed with all his might and yet it wouldn't budge. Was there no way to escape this place?

  "No!" he shouted as he pushed his hand against the membrane with all his might and began drawing upon the power within him.

  "I will make it back to them no matter what!" he screamed as he struggled against the jelly like barrier.

  "Nihilate!"

  With a loud pop it shattered. The darkness retreated as light rushed in from all directions as the barrier began to fall apart. Cold air and the sounds of nature him as he collapsed on the forest floor. His clothes felt damp as the moisture of the wet moss began soaking into the fabric. He had finally escaped and could feel the connection to Jane once more.

  "We need to take him in for assessment! Can someone employ a direct override on him before he comes to!"

  He didn't like the sound of that whatsoever. Whatever it was he wanted none of it. Drawing upon his power he cast his second spell as he felt magic surging nearby.

  "Nihil."

  The wave of nothingness devoured the magic before it could reach him, but they would surely try again if he didn't find some way to escape. He forced himself to his feet and tried to run only to stop as a hand tightened around his shoulder.

  "Please don't run, Al, it'll only make it harder if you do," they said.

  It had been Lola that had spoken to him. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it to force her to her knees. She wouldn't stop him no couldn't stop him. If they tried to capture him they would learn what pain truly meant.

  "Okay can everyone calm down already!" someone shouted as they came running towards them.

  The man wore a finely tailored black suit and had long dark brown hair. Something about his appearance felt so familiar. The only thing that was wrong was his brown hair and hazel eyes.

  "Need I remind all of you that you have no grounds to take him into custody if a family member in good standing with overseer is present to vouch for him and take full responsibility for his future actions?"

  "You can't possibly claim that you are in a position to make such a claim!" Lola exclaimed as the man came to a stop and panted heavily.

  "I ended up here entirely by chance, but recent events have revealed to me that this man is my relative and I will not let you arrest him when he belongs with his family."

  "He is under overseer protection and even if you were never involved in the conflict your allegiance is still with the aggressors," she said as she stepped up to face the man.

  "That was true, but our faction is now under overseer and I am his relative so this is a moot point," the man said while flashing Lola a big grin.

  "I am the grandson of the former consort which makes this young man my family, and if you try to keep me from taking him with me I will bring an official complaint to the court."

  Lola cursed loudly as she took a step back and let the man pass her. Who was the man who had come to take him away? He claimed to be family, but Al had never seen him before in his life. There was some resemblance that indicated they could be related, but as far as he was aware he had no extended family.

  "It's nice to meet you, Al, I'm Alder and we'll talk once we're in the car," Alder said as he put an arm around his shoulder and began leading him away.

  "I've never seen you before in my life..."

  "Nor have I seen you before either, but it'll make a lot more sense once I've explained it to you," he said as he stepped into the car.

  Where was Alder trying to take him? Something about the man seemed dangerous, but at the same time he didn't feel like he had any ill will towards him. Al opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat as Alder turned the key and pulled the car onto the road.

  "Crisis averted am I right?" Alder chuckled as he drove off.

  "Who are you actually?" he asked him as Alder adjusted the rear view mirror.

  "If the information I've come across recently is to be believed, then I guess you could say I'm your nephew."

  Alder seemed to be in his late twenties, but as a mage it was possible that he was far older. The idea of that man being his nephew felt strange to Al, yet something inside told him that he was telling the truth.

  "Trust me, I only just found out and ended up running into you entirely on accident."

  "In a nutshell your father is my grandfather and my mother is your sister."

  "Oh yeah totally, Jennifer went and had a kid decades ago before my parents even met." he said, words dripping with sarcasm.

  "So I have an aunt? That's good to know," Alder said as he pulled the car to the left and began driving towards Arthur's rest.

  "If we're related, then what's your last name?"

  "Autumn, but honestly your claim to that name is stronger than mine."

  He could feel his eyes go wide as Alder spoke. The man was an Autumn and he had been stupid enough to get in a car with him. The power within him surged as he prepared the nihilation.

  "Woah woah! Calm down, I'm not here to start anything!" Alder exclaimed as power began filling the spell.

  Al kept the spell charged but restrained himself from actually casting it. Alder breathed out heavily and raised his voice once more after a few moments had passed.

  "Your father was the consort of the Autumn matriarch, which means the head of our clan is your mother."

  "My mother is an ordinaire and has no connection to your clan as far as I'm aware," he hissed.

  "Correction, your stepmother is an ordinaire without any connections to our clan. Your birth mother is the witch bitch leader of the pack."

  "Are you trying to convince me I'm an Autumn and the fucking heir to the throne or something," he muttered as he reached for his cigarettes.

  "No that would be my mother seeing as your father did just kill the current heir to the role of matriarch."

  What exactly had happened while he was gone? Had his father stormed the Autumn household and slaughtered them while he was trapped within the darkness? That raised the question of what had become of his father.

  "What about dad? What happened to him?"

  Alder swallowed heavily before speaking up, "He stormed the main household and killed anyone that wasn't hidden behind a ward, then he challenged the matriarch to duel that he sadly lost."

  The man he had seen behind him in the darkness had looked so much like his father when he thought about it. There had also been a gaping hole where his heart should've been. Had his father perished fighting the Autumn clan on his behalf?

  "He's dead, isn't he?"

  "He was the first person to land a hit on the matriarch in centuries, but he wasn't powerful enough to finish her for good..."

  The scars on his arm burned as rage built inside of him like a roaring bonfire threatening to blossom into an all consuming inferno. After everything his father had done to him he had still chosen to die for his sake. Clan Autumn had not only threatened his family, but they had taken his revenge from him too. He didn't know if he was supposed to be touched by his father's actions or outraged by the fact the Autumn witches had killed him when he was the one that should have put an end to him.

  "Al," Alder said as he put a hand on his shoulder as the car came to a stop.

  "He bought you a few years of peace that you should cherish while you have the chance."

  "And when the time comes we will stand by your side as you put the entire fucking clan to the pyre!" Alder finished with all the vitriol he could muster.

  The hate in Alder's voice was real. It resonated with his own and rang true. They both hated the Autumn clan with their entire being and they would not rest until it burned down before their very eyes, but now was not the time. If his father had bought him some freedom, then he would enjoy it while it lasted.

  Clan Autumn would face the nothingness when the fateful day came, and no one would be able to stand in his way. He was Jane's living weapon, Pietro's greatest mistake, and the child of an Autumn witch.

  He wasn't Albrecht Hext or Albrecht Autumn. He was the herald of Autumn's end. A bell tolling the changing seasons and the stillness of death. His name was a promise of utter annihilation that none would ever escape.

  He was the Empty Heart of Winter.