Eli was cold, he was freezing. His muscles were aching from the exertion of before. His head was pounding inside his skull and he was thirsty. He was so incredibly thirsty. He blinked his eyes open, everything was blurry around him.  Tiny lights had been etched into the sides of this cave. He sat up, groaning at the pain in his ribs. He took a few full breaths, his broken ribs still hadn’t punctured his lungs. He’d be alright for a while longer. 

His pack. He looked around, seeing his pack had slid to a farther corner of the ice cavern. He crawled towards and pulled it open. The laser light had fallen somewhere in the hole, he’d search for that later. He pulled out his water skin, trying to take a gulp. It was frozen solid. 

“Fuck.” He whispered shoving the pouch back into his pack. He reached in further and found a second bandage wrap. He unzipped his cloak and pulled his sweater up, the cold burning his skin as he wrapped his rib cage tightly, hopefully his bones would set quickly. He zipped the pack up and flung it over his shoulders before standing up. He looked at the little lights in the cave again, coming closer to them. They were little illuminated orbs of light. They couldn’t be natural to the environment, they were too perfect and smooth for that. He pulled his glove off with his teeth and touched his hand to the orb, it was cold. Something had made this. Or someone. 

There were legends of ice dwellers, humanoids who lived on the other side of the wall. That could skin your body and wear you as a heat source. Those were all just stories though, he was sure of it. There was no actual research done on the ice dwellers, only stories they’d tell children to scare them. He had been so certain that was all they were. Although, legends and stories usually stemmed from some amount of truth. 

Eli reached for his pack, pulling out a steel knife, usually meant for cutting through the leathery hide of squiel, but he could pierce skin if he had to. Eli had read a book on combat once, he wasn’t really much of a fighter thought. He was small for his age, short and skinny. He held the knife tightly in his good hand and began walking deeper into the cavern. It was larger than he’d initially thought, the lights only illuminating as he stepped further into the darkness. 

The cavern got narrower, no wider than the compartment he and his mother had been squished into only days before. Had it only been days or hours since his mother had died? How long had he been on this side of the wall? It could have only been a few hours, or it could have been more than a day. He continued further into the cave before it finally opened up again. It was smaller than the last opening, but it was very different. It was clear now that someone had been here. 

There were leathery sacks hanging off ice crystals, like large blobs hanging from the ceiling. Eli stepped closer to it, prodding it with his finger. He gasped as water pooled from it, splashing onto the ground before freezing. His mouth watered at the prospect of water. He found the bulbous point and pressed on it again as another small stream of water poured out. He knew no other way so he put his mouth on the blubbery surface and prodded the sack again, water flowing into his mouth. It was delicious. He had been so thirsty. He drained the sack before moving onto a second one, gulping greedily. 

“I should kill you for stealing from me.” the voice came from nowhere and everywhere around the cave all at once. 

Eli turned quickly, brandishing the knife in his hand. He looked every which way, but saw no one. 

“Put that away, if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you when you fell into my cave.” The voice said. 

Eli turned and tried to follow the sound, but the cave still looked empty. He wheeled around, still holding the knife taut, ready for a battle if he needed to fight. 

“You’re a wall dweller.” The voice said. 

“Show yourself!” Eli commanded, his voice giving way to his fear. 

“I am visible to you, you simply do not see me.” 

Eli stared at the walls of the cave, they looked plain upon first glance, but two wide pale eyes suddenly were staring at him. Eli gasped and staggered backwards, falling against the other wall. 

The humanoid stepped out from their hiding spot. “How did you get here? How did you get over the wall?” 

Eli couldn’t speak, he was stunned. 

“Answer my question.” The person commanded. 

“I…” Eli shook his head, trying to clear the panic from infiltrating his brain. “There was a hole that. Was being fixed. I crawled through it and fell to the other side.” 

“You’ve hurt yourself.” They said. “And you ran from a heat seeker.” 

“How did you know that?” Eli asked. 

The humanoid stepped closer and dropped down next to Eli. “I could hear you running. It was smart of you to break into my hole. And stupid, this could have been the hole of a Geadisit.” 

“What are you?” Eli asked holding his knife against his chest. 

“Same as you.” The eyes looked at him. They were pale, almost white irises against large black pupils staring back at him. “I’m a human.” 

“That’s impossible. Humans can’t survive past the wall.” Eli said. 

“And yet here I am.” The other person said. They grabbed Eli’s jacket and unzipped it. “Pull your shirt up, let me see your ribs.” 

“They’re fine,” Eli said shoving his cloak closed again. “They’re not puncturing my lungs. Are you going to kill me?” 

The other person said nothing for a while. “That depends, did you come here for a reason?” 

Eli shook his head, scooting backwards away from the other person. He had the disadvantage here, he had never killed anything before. There was no need to on the other side of the wall. He was sure here, this man had probably killed many creatures. 

“Forgive me for not believing you.” the man said. “No one comes over the wall to our side.” 

Our side. There were more of them. “My mother and I were on the run. She was gunned down, I made it to the wall. A while was being mended, I thought I could hide there. I don’t really know why, it was stupid. I climbed in and didn’t see the drop, I fell through the other side. Broke my wrist and cracked a few ribs.” 

“And the miom? How did you know how to hide from it?” 

“I’ve read books on the creatures of Thill. I didn’t really know though, I just found the hole and thought whatever was below couldn’t be a worse death than being turned to jelly and absorbed.”

The man sat back and pulled his face mask down, his skin was translucent, Eli could see the veins running through him and the muscles pulling at his face.  “No wall dweller has ever survived this long on their own.” He said. 

“Others have tried?” Eli asked. 

“I wouldn’t say that.” The young man said. “The others didn’t try at all, simply sat and waited for the frost to take them.” 

“That’s impossible, no one has ever gone over the wall. You said that.” Eli said. 

“No, they haven’t. They’re dropped, and they die.” 

That didn’t make sense, how were people being dropped from the wall? Eli tried scooting further back, pressing himself against the ice walls. 

“What’s your name, wall dweller?” 

“Eli.” He said quietly. 

The young man blinked and nodded. “Eli. You’re coming with me.” The man stood, he was tall. Taller than Eli by almost an entire decil. 

Eli didn’t move, just looked at the other boy who was now staring down at him. 

“Or stay here and die in the cold. The choice is yours.” He began walking back through the tunnels. Eli scrambled to his feet and followed after him. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, zipping and clasping his cloak closed. 

“You can call me Rogue, until I trust you.” Rogue pulled his mask up over his face and pulled shields over his eyes. He paused and pulled open a pocket in his thick cloak. “Take these. They’ll help you see. We have a long journey and I can’t have you holding us back.” 

Eli grabbed the goggle type shields, putting them on his eyes. It was darker with them on, he didn’t understand how it would help him see, but he’d trust the ice dweller. It may cost him his life in the long run, but it would keep him safe for a while longer. 

Rogue kicked holes into the ice as he climbed out the hole Eli had made. Eli followed up, trying to get footing in the same hole. He gasped at the strain on his ribs before hands were pulling him up and into the open. 

Eli’s mouth dropped. He could see everything, the blackness looked more blue than black in the hue of the shields. There were mountains far to the east. “Wow.” 

“That’s where we’re headed. It will take us four weeks if we move quickly.” Rogue pointed towards the mountains. “Step quietly and keep your ears open.”

Eli nodded and looked up, gasping at the night sky. “There are stars.” He breathed. “I always though there was only blackness.” It was incredible, the entire galaxy could be seen with the goggles. It was far wider and more grand than he ever could have imagined. He hadn’t realized he had missed so much beauty being constantly shrouded in light.

Rogue hummed before stepping away. “Come quickly, it’s dangerous to stay in one place out in the open like this.” 

Eli followed the other boy into the great frozen wasteland. He looked back, the wall was already so distant, getting smaller and smaller as they moved. His old life was ending with each step they took from the wall.