<div style="text-align: center"><div class="bbCodeSpoiler">
<button class="bbCodeSpoiler-button button--longText button" data-xf-click="toggle" data-xf-init="tooltip" title="Click to reveal or hide spoiler" type="button"><span class="button-text">
<span>Spoiler: <span class="bbCodeSpoiler-button-title">Nikodem</span></span>
</span></button>
<div class="bbCodeSpoiler-content">
<div class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--spoiler">
<div class="bbCodeBlock-content">
<script class="js-extraPhrases" type="application/json">
			{
				"lightbox_close": "Close",
				"lightbox_next": "Next",
				"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
				"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
				"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
				"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
				"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
				"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
				"lightbox_download": "Download",
				"lightbox_share": "Share",
				"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
				"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
				"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
			}
			</script>
<div class="bbImageWrapper lazyload js-lbImage" data-lb-caption-extra-html="" data-lb-sidebar-href="" data-single-image="1" data-src="/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F68.media.tumblr.com%2Fe34883724e539fecc1d8994d3091dc46%2Ftumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg&amp;hash=b3ebf3ceb4e3f1e8f77e7829a2fb614d" title="tumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg">
<img alt="tumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg" class="bbImage lazyload" data-src="/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F68.media.tumblr.com%2Fe34883724e539fecc1d8994d3091dc46%2Ftumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg&amp;hash=b3ebf3ceb4e3f1e8f77e7829a2fb614d" data-url="http://68.media.tumblr.com/e34883724e539fecc1d8994d3091dc46/tumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg" data-zoom-target="1" height="" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" style="" title="" width=""/>
<noscript><img alt="tumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg" class="bbImage" data-url="http://68.media.tumblr.com/e34883724e539fecc1d8994d3091dc46/tumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg" data-zoom-target="1" height="" src="/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2F68.media.tumblr.com%2Fe34883724e539fecc1d8994d3091dc46%2Ftumblr_npydnmAVal1rf7b3co1_1280.jpg&amp;hash=b3ebf3ceb4e3f1e8f77e7829a2fb614d" style="" title="" width=""/></noscript>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div><br/>Khryoskyra, a word that to many was synonymous was utopia, was a society unlike any other that the world had ever seen. It was consistent of a single city hub, within which the wonders of the world seemed to meet on common ground. The people were beautiful, the colorful edifices even more so, and the countryside was nothing to shy away from either. With a fully self sufficient system, it didn’t seem as though there was anything wrong with the extravagantly decorated, lavish society, and many who lived within it would wholeheartedly agree. With the Gods smiling down upon them, many individuals went about their lives comfortably. They indulged in the simple pleasures that life in Khryoskyra had to offer and contributed to their nation with the magnified skills gifted onto many of them by none other than the divine beings they bowed down to. The Utopian, elven society tucked away in the southernmost regions of an otherwise desolate land mass was comprised mostly from half bloods. Neither divine, nor mortal, a majority of the society relished in their partially elevated position within the world, and they reveled in the prime treatment they were rewarded with because of it.<br/><br/>Every society, however, has a negative side to it, even if it’s not broadcast to the world. Khryoskyra’s was strategically hidden away outside of the walls of its cultural hub, away from the prying eyes of foreign dignitaries. That is where the story begins, tucked away within the picturesque world of the Khryoskyran’s, out of sight and mind of a majority of the people there lived a young man. Nikodem was his name, he was a young alchemist, and formerly the member of a very prominent family within the society: the Magni family. He still identified him as one of them, though he was estranged as soon as he came of age and was allowed to be dismissed or, more aptly put, dumped. Niko was a kind young man, if a bit odd, though he found it hard to believe that anybody wouldn’t be odd after suffering through what he had as a child. Despite his oddities, he was a genuinely good man, and his goodness is what kicks off his series of unfortunate events.<br/><br/>It had been said to him time and time again that his greatest fault was his kindness. He couldn’t dispute that fact either, as most of the time he found himself getting into trouble it was when he was trying his damndest to assist another. This time wasn’t any different, really. What else was he supposed to do, tough, when something and small and sickly as that little half-blood reject was brought to his doorstep? It wasn’t as though he could cast her aside, and with her the memory of her sad, watery blue eyes. He remember well a time when he was a wide eyed, waifish ten year old, watching his father descend from the heavens themselves as he clung to his brother’s arm. He remembered the venomous he’d received from his Godly parent, the same look of utter disgust he’d received from his mortal mother countless other times. The thing he remembered most vividly, however, was the horrific pain of the knife carving a hideous half smile onto the sensitive flesh upon his cheek.<br/><br/>He couldn’t leave the young girl, whose rejection would was still in the beginning stages of healing, to death. So, he’d taken on her care with open arms taking her into his home and beginning a frantic study to save her life, or at least prolong it and make her as comfortable as he possibly could. There came a time, however, when he was forced to realize that he wasn’t going to be able to help the youngster, at least not with the means that he had held within his little corner store home in the fine city of Khryoskyra. He needed to go above and beyond the call of duty -- he couldn’t simply leave the little creature to die -- and so he called in a friend.<br/><br/>“Nikodem, you cannot be serious,” murmured a young man who looked, for all intensive purposes, identical to the small male.<br/><br/>“I am serious, Adonis. Now I know you have duties in the city, but I just ask that you come in at least once a day and check on the poor child, make sure she has all the provisions she needs. I have others lined up to come in and administer the care regimen that I’ve begun, I just need you to keep up the supplies is all. You can do that for me can’t you, brother?” He whispered, batting his eyes up at his sibling before carrying on folding a few pairs of well worn breeches and tucking them away into a small bag.<br/><br/>“Of course I can, Niko. But really, you’re traveling north? For a girl who looks as though she may not even make it through another hour, much less the weeks it will take you to travel there and back?” The man, named Adonis, spoke in hushed tones, so as not to disturb the child, who slumbered in a small cot in the corner that her caretaker had set up for her. “Why not just give her milk of the poppy? Let her rest peacefully, with pleasant dreams, for whatever time she has left?”<br/><br/>Nikodem furrowed his brow deeply at his siblings suggestion. “You’d ask me to euthanize a<i>child</i>? A child that I’m . . . Well I’m sure I can come up with<i>something</i>to do for her.”<br/><br/>“No, brother, not to euthanize her. To ease her suffering, to make her trek into the next life an easier one,” the man corrected softly, his expression soft and filled with concern.<br/><br/>“Well, I haven’t a need to make her journey any smoother because she will not be leaving us for the afterlife anytime soon, I can promise you that,” Nikodem muttered adamantly, shoving a blanket into the pack haphazardly. “Have you brought the horse I requested?” He watched as Adonis shifted his weight about uncomfortably. “What?”<br/><br/>“Well . . . I tried to get you a horse, I really did, but the only thing I could manage to sneak out of father's stables was an ass,” he replied a bit bashfully, averting his eyes from his feisty brother.<br/><br/>“An ass? Well, I suppose it’s better than nothing. Perhaps a bit slower than I wished for,” he muttered, shaking his head as he deposited an empty journal into his pack along with a small well full of ink and his favorite feather so he could take down findings along the way.<br/><br/>“Brother . . . I'm not sure you know what you're getting yourself into here,” Adonis whispered in closing as he watched his closest friend shoulder his modest pack.<br/><br/>Nikodem smiled warmly as he gazed up at what many had described as the better version of himself. “Yes I do, Adonis. Even if I didn't, I'd have to do it anyways. Make sure you keep a close eye on little Lucia, brother, I expect her in prime condition to begin treatment when I return.” With that, and one last glance at the reason for his expedition, the young male turned and made his way quietly from the small workshop. With those words and those few small steps the elven alchemist began a journey that would change his life forever, though it wasn’t clear if it would change it for better or for worse.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center">~.~.~​</div><br/>Weeks passed. Nikodem wandered in the general direction of north without a horribly specific aim, and a terribly broad goal: to find something . . . Anything, that could help the little sprite that resided in his home. He mostly allowed his little gray mount to wander of its own accord, keeping it pointed generally in the right direction as they wandered through what more or less seemed to be a wasteland (at least after the luscious farmland of his home had been breached). He didn’t find much, really, but determination drove him forwards in search for answers. The trip was, overall, a fairly enjoyable one. He made good friends with his mount, despite its generally disagreeable attitude, and he decided to dub it with the name<i>lígo maláka</i>which, roughly translated, meant little asshole.<br/><br/>On his eighteenth day of traveling Niko felt that something wasn’t quite right. Despite the fact that he had on as many layers as he personally owned (though he’d draped his personal blanket over the donkey’s back a while back, as the poor creature had begun shivering), he felt a sudden chill roll over his body. “What do you think, little guy . . . Should we stop for the evening?” he murmured, reaching down to stroke the prickly upstanding mane of the ugly beast. He decided that it’d be best if they did stop, and just a short while longer into their trek he halted the donkey, and carefully slid from its narrow back, landing lightly on the balls of his feet, which were simply wrapped in filthy bandages as he didn’t own a pair of proper shoes. He set up his bedroll, though he left the blanket draped over the casually grazing animal’s back to provide it with some sort of protection against the sudden chill in the air.<br/><br/>Niko had just settled down into his bed roll when the first flakes of snow began to drift from the sky. He’d closed his eyes and settled down when he felt something cool and wet drop onto his nose. He swiped his hand upwards in an agitated manner, expecting to find some sort of foreign bug to have settled onto his skin, but instead his hand came away with nothing. He sat upright abruptly, looking around rather suspiciously, but moments later he saw the culprit: small, which crystals that were slowly falling from the heavens. He’d heard of this phenomena before, he believed it was called snow. He felt like a child again, filled with awe as he watched it free-fall all around him, beginning to accumulate on the ground rather quickly. His steed seemed rather agitated by the turn of events, even with his covering, and he began to snort, stomp, and shake his head. The snow wouldn’t have been too much of an issue, had Niko been accustomed to the cold, or even just prepared for it, but he wasn’t even aware he’d traveled far enough north to see a bit of the frozen stuff, much less be caught in the storm of the year.<br/><br/>The violent gusts came very suddenly, or at least they seemed to from someone who didn’t understand all the signs that pointed towards a storm that had transpired before the total engulfing that he experienced now as he desperately tried to shove his things back into his pack so he could seek shelter. He stood, leaning against the blinding gusts of wind that buffeted him from all sides and threatened to take his feet right out from under him. He shielded his eyes with a clothed hand, but the ice still burned his sensitive skin horrifically. He screamed, bellowed out for help, but to no avail; he was fairly sure he was still in the midst of a wasteland, where no settlements were to be found. So, instead of stumbling blind through the storm the young lad did the best thing he could think to do. He found a reasonably sized boulder and hunkered down against it. It didn’t do much, as the wind seemed to be coming from all sides, but it did shield him a little. From that place pressed up against a rock he continued to beg, scream, cry, and plead the Gods that had forsaken him for some sort of help. But, it seemed as though nobody would be coming soon enough to find anything left of him aside from a frozen corpse.<br/><br/>His brother was right, he had<i>no</i>idea what he was getting into traveling north like that.