Bleak Midwinter

"Michael! You'd be better off not trying anything here." She spoke, her golden hair—that was extremely curly towards the bottom—jumping upwards as she rose up from her seat. The grey irises were almost alight with frustration.

"Let them go at it!"

"Yep, yep, totally agreed!"

Maria's gaze snapped towards the source of the voice. Letting out an elongated sigh, she slipped back into her seat, seemingly fed up. The sunlight that spilled into the room illuminated her tanned, unblemished flesh, giving her an ethereal look. Her guard—an old clean shaven man—was standing to the side. 

The other guards also seemed to be on edge, nervously exchanging glances. 

The guards were people assigned to most of us as kids. However, as of now, I don't think any of the guards has the capability to go against their own masters. It's not because of special training. It's just that Adam's Arcane Arts are basically a cheat code. 

Despite it being a double edged sword. 

"We are supposed to be the voice of reason here, Zara. Trisha." 

Zara and Trisha were twin sisters from India. And while the theme of the Seven Syndicates was to have a family represent each continent, Antarctica is not exactly habitable. Researchers and scientists are often going in between but for permanent residency, it is not a very good place to live in. 

That is also a reason why the Antarctic Treaty was signed. Norway as well is a part of this treaty. Since it is quite vast and mysterious, the Syndicates are often sending teams to uncover any kind of tomes or artefacts deep beneath the layers of ice hidden by the following generations of Adam and Eve. 

And while Zara and Trisha were technically a part of Asia, a family which had inherited Adam's Arcane Art was too hard to ignore. It would've created a power imbalance, if not for the South Asians' argument of them not being a part of Asia. A bit incomprehensible, but geopolitics is a long topic. 

Something I am not willing to expend any brain power on. 

Since both Zara and Trisha were twins, they looked alike. The only way one could tell them apart was their hair colour with Zara having jet black tresses while Trisha had a coffee brown shade to her filaments. Both had hazel eyes and were quite short standing at around 155 and 156 cm respectively. 

Although height is something that is irrelevant since it varies based on diet and environment. What is the average height for women in my country is the average height for men in others. 

"Nothing wrong with a little horseplay." Zara argued back, looking bored out of her mind, her eyes glazed over with disinterest now that the potential scuffle was immediately snuffed out, evident from how Michael just folded his arms and let out a muffled 'tch'.

Surprisingly docile. 

With a contemptuous disregard for any norm, Zara slouched forward, resting her arms on the table, and buried her head into them, letting out an exaggerated yawn. The display of apathy was jarring in our current milieu, but I can't blame her. 

Sitting in the same room with people you are not very fond of can be taxing. Especially in the current moment as an awkward silence descended on the whole room. I could feel Astrid's deep breaths brushing against my hair, making me feel a little remorseful for bringing her here. 

However, since mostly I have not told her anything, her presence here would answer her own questions, saving me from the trouble of explaining everything from the start. She was smart enough to piece information even from the little bits of casual chat between us. 

Sitting calmly until now, Dotun was the one who talked this time, finally breaking the reign of silence.

"Putting this childish banter aside, I think we should get to the pressing matters at hand." He spoke. His eyes were squinted due to the sunlight falling directly on his face as his pale flesh had turned to a pinkish tint of red. His hair was pale white in colour, kept in a neat buzz cut. He was quite tall as well, standing at around 188 cm. 

Although the squinting of his eyes can be attributed towards the fact that he had albinism and was most likely suffering from photophobia which is an increased sensitivity to light, causing discomfort or pain in brightly lit environments. 

Putting his condition aside…my peace was disrupted…once again! 

All he had to do was to stay silent for an hour or so and then we'd be allowed to go back to our rooms or even back home. But this guy had this crushing urge to voice his pointless existence!

"Agreed." Maria hummed. "The quicker we discuss matters here, the quicker we can leave this meeting. I am sure not all of you are fond of being here in the same confined space." 

She has a point. But I am not sure if the sunlight outside will stay for any longer. Given how the intensity of the sunrays intruding through the windows has dimmed subtly, it is quite possible that by the time we are done here, the sun would no longer be up. 

"Don't zone out-" Astrid's whisper caressed my ears, making a jolt down my spine. 

"Oh, hmm- Yeah." Blinking away any thoughts about finally wearing some light clothes and sitting in the sun, I focused back on the room. 

"I don't really have a problem." Michael shrugged. "This guy still pisses me off."

The urge to mess around a bit more bubbled up inside me.

"Harbouring such strong emotions for me. I am flattered."

"Fuc-"

"Ok, enough." Maria slammed her hands on the table, making Zara who was still laying down snicker while Trisha patted her tresses silently beside her, carrying an equally amused smile on her face. For some reason Finn was the quietest until now. 

Although on second thought, it makes sense since his guardian was killed right in front of him. Sitting with his hands resting on his thighs and his eyes downcast, he stayed extremely silent, sitting between Michael and Dotun. 

Maria let out a frustrated groan before looking at me. The side of her eyes creased as she tried to say something just by looking. The gaze flicked from me to Astrid, before landing back at me. Letting out a sigh, I raised my hands up in a placating manner, surrendering myself. 

I don't really like to anger her. 

"Well, the main agenda for today's discussion is the appearance of these Frontiers all over the world." Dotun continued, standing up. 

"I am still a little confused as to what these Frontiers are. They didn't appear in Japan, or at least in Tokyo. Since we left for this place as soon as I dealt with animal people, I am not exactly aware of it." The one to talk this time was a cute, petite little girl, Yuki. Her black hair was tied upwards in a tight ponytail. As she saw everyone glance in her direction, she nervously chuckled.

"Ahah— did I say something stupid?"

"Not at all." Dotun replied, waving his hand. "On the contrary, you not having knowledge about it is natural." He paused, "given your circumstances. After all, even those of us who have inspected it don't have much intel about it anyways."

He reassured, making Yuki heave out a deep breath and place her hand on her chest. 

"Shocker."

Trisha joined in the conversation with a serious face, her previous cheerfulness gone. Zara was sitting straight as well, although much in contrast to her twin, she had a sly grin over her face. 

That can't be good. 

Not picking up on her provocation, Dotun totally ignored her comment but still looked at her and replied to her question, showing maturity.

Good thing not everyone is looking for a fight. 

"Well, first I did try to cross-reference this phenomenon with everything we have on deck." Dotun started his explanation as he extended his hand outwards, small—barely visible—nanites—nano-machines—sprouting out from it and forming a holographic screen in the air. 

The Olaniyans Arcane Arts. 

Their Arcane Arts was quite bizarre. There are next to almost no records about their techniques. And the scant information we do have on them, it totally contradicts with the techniques we have seen Dotun or his father Kwame use. Nanites did not exist in Adam's time. 

One theory could be that their Arcane Arts evolved over time, or they managed to understand its true essence, much like how the Whites understood that there was more to their techniques other than to self-destruct. That small understanding made them the most powerful family among us. 

And without a sliver of doubt, amongst us—the heirs—Michael was the strongest. 

As the holographic screen flickered to life, Dotun closed one eye and images started to appear on the screen. Scripts, scrolls and tomes. 

"I have researched these in the past 2 days. However, nothing has matched the current phenomenon. I have discussed it with Albert as well, but he is just as confused as we are." 

Of course they won't find about it in old scriptures. Our world was never split into parts before. So everything that entails to that would be a new occurrence.

Maybe I was making some kind of face that Maria turned towards me, tilted her head and raised her brows as if asking what was up. 

I shook my head once and she shot me a frown, holding my sight for a while before turning away.

I can tell this much that she was not angry or anything like that. I still wonder why she did that though.

Ah well, anyways. 

"However, the deemed Frontiers seem to be an addition to the current landmass instead of just simple 'replacement' as many are putting it."

He said, and the image shifted to Frontiers that had appeared in Helsinki, Osaka, Seoul and Colorado. "I was thinking over it, but it doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense? And what do you mean an addition to landmass?" Yuki asked, tilting her head quizzically.

"Well, the landmass of countries is fixed, for the most part, yes?"

"Mhmm." 

 "Since we were not getting anywhere, I decided to do something I was a bit sceptical of before." He paused and different measurements sprouted up in the air with detailed information. "This is the first example. Osaka, Japan." As he said it, Yuki left her comfortable position and sat straight in her seat.

None of us knew her very well since the heirs are rarely replaced and she got into that spot just recently, but seeing how Maria comforted her every now and then, it would be quite natural to assume that she knew her long before she even became the heir. 

In extension, the Mirandas and Watanabes are in cahoots for a long time. 

"Although it doesn't have its own distinct landmass and is located within the broader Kansai region on the island of Honshu, the city itself spans an area of approximately 225 square kilometres." 

"Kilometres?" Michael groaned, raising a brow. 

Zara let out a snicker as Maria facepalmed, hiding her face in both of her hands.

I could even feel Astrid stifle a laugh right behind me, her features finally unfreezing from the tense expression she had worn as a mask since the start. 

"87 square miles, dearest friend." Dotun replied, turning to him with a neutral look before rolling his eyes and turning back to Yuki. 

"But what has the span of the city got anything to do with our current situation?"

"I was getting to that point." Dotun replied. I was surprised his patience had lasted this long after constant interruptions. "After re-measuring Osaka, it has increased from 225 square kilometres-" he paused and glanced at Michael, "-87 square miles to 300 square metres or 115 square miles."

This was quite strange. 

"What about the total span of earth?" I asked this time, gaining a few quick glances, however, they were redirected back at Dotun, searching for an answer. 

A smile graced his ever serious face, the earring in his left ear reflecting a ray of sunlight as he turned towards me. "I was expecting you to ask that question."

Could've just answered it yourself. 

As I stayed quiet in response, he cleared his throat before answering my question. 

"Well, we did take that factor into account." He explained, "Surprisingly, yet at the same time, as expected, the Earth's span has not increased, somehow. It has accommodated inside it." 

Everyone just stared blankly at him. 

It was not outlandish news. The seal separating the two worlds was powered by the faith earliest humans had in those 4 gods.

And as we already know, as people's faith in our patron Gods reduces, the seal over the worlds that were once one and were stripped away from each other would become loose, leading to them merging back. 

But it seems like there is still a lot of divinity in that seal.

That should explain why there are only selected places from Eden appearing here.

Or rather where they used to be. It's still quite baffling though…

Why would the Gods strip lands that are in between the Eden? Just like the one in Helsinki, where a Frontier has appeared in the middle of the city… 

This just doesn't explain things going back to the way they were. Something is definitely up. Something we don't really understand. 

"Is something the matter, Arthur?" Maria asked expectedly, sitting on the side of the table, just beside me. 

"Ah, no- I was just lost in thought."

"A little insight into those thoughts would be helpful." Dotun raised his brow, smiling from ear-to-ear.

I held his gaze before sighing.