The night's shadows retreated as the feeble sun cast its meager warmth upon the hulking, blackish-purple figure of Aelus. Curled beneath a towering tree, the massive Draegloth found himself in a futile embrace, his larger upper arms encircling his digitigrade legs, while the smaller lower pair crossed over his chest—an ineffectual attempt to stave off the cold.

Mere days ago, he had fled the Pale City, propelled by a distressed mental state and an utter lack of preparedness. Driven by powerful legs and demonic stamina, he traversed untold distances, distancing himself from civilization—the comforting warmth of fires, the soft carpets, and the beds, all left behind, along with the love he had lost in his mother. Despite his outwardly fearsome appearance, resembling a lupine predator, Aelus was, at his core, a frightened teenager lost in the wilderness, grappling with the uncertainty of his solitary existence.

Hunger gnawed at his stomach, the past days of haphazard fleeing and the stark reality of his situation taking a toll on his seven-and-a-half-foot frame, which demanded substantial sustenance. As the sun's rays kissed the snow, Aelus winced, his solid blue eyes recoiling from the sudden brightness.

A mind well-versed and constantly curious, Aelus lacked survival knowledge and wilderness experience. These recent days marked his first venture into the outdoors, and the harshness of the Coldwood proved an inhospitable environment for an amateur. While his formidable appearance deterred potential predators, his lack of knowledge about the natural world left him vulnerable.

Straightening his massive frame, Aelus unfurled his full height, his voluminous white mane brushing against branches as he tentatively stepped forward. The realization dawned that he needed sustenance and water, his durable physiology notwithstanding. Even a half-demon couldn't endure more than a few days without water, and hunger pangs gnawed at his scholarly and tender mind.

Flaring his nostrils, Aelus surrendered to his bestial instincts, seeking the scent of a sizable creature. His powerful, clawed upper arms hinted at his capacity to secure sustenance from an elk or even a yak, though the specifics of their scents eluded him. With each cumbersome step, he wandered once more, his massive form crushing branches, his clawed feet crunching through the snow without the faintest concept of stealth

Having found himself growing weary of the days alone, after the verbal spat that he had had with Sylvari, Videl had found himself traversing throughout one of the few places that he had come to know rather well. The Coldwood. It was here that the pair had initially brought down a pack of poachers, back when they had first met one another. And it is here that he would find himself trying to forget her. His attempts would end in failure, of course, their bond having been too strong to simply discard as though it were nothing.

"None of this should have even happened.. Why ask me about my tribe when you intend on leaving me behind? Why pretend to care, and show me such affections, if you were always going to leave in the end?" The young T'saya man couldn't help but blame himself for the way that things had gone. Had he not been caring enough? Strong enough? Was he too much of a burden to carry, what with his lack of combat experience? Left without any answers, the man had continued to roam the Coldwood whilst trying to gather his thoughts.

At this very moment, he had never felt so alone. Even with his trusty frigid steed, Lumi, there by his side. This loneliness had molded into anger the further into the Coldwood he had walked. A blind rage that had nearly overtaken him but was thankfully negated by his steeds actions. Whenever Videl had seemed as though he was about to lose it, Lumi would brush her head against his shoulder, drawing his attention and pulling him from out of his head. "..thanks, Lumi."

Time would pass as Videl and his mount had aimlessly pushed on throughout the Coldwood, their direction seemingly being the mountains off in the distance. It was as the pair had trotting along that Videl would catch the sight of something from off in the distance. A seven and a half foot creature with charcoal skin, four arms, and a white mane. A creature that he hadn't ever come upon whilst traversing throughout these woods.. And one that had almost assuredly felt like a threat.

Unsure of what the creature before him would do, Videl would find himself commanding Lumi to stop in her tracks. From there he would reach back and remove his spear from his back, now holding it firmly within his grasp. Whilst maintaining a healthy distance from the creature itself, Videl would point the tip of his spear in the direction of the creature and shout a single phrase aloud. "Not another step if you wish to live, beast." If it wasn't for the fact that the creature had been bipedal, Videl would have considered it to be a monstrosity and struck it down without hesitation. On the off chance that it hadn't been one though.. He was willing to allow for it to speak up for itself.

Aelus remained unaware of the approaching pair from behind, his senses dulled by exhaustion and hunger, neglecting to hear or smell their presence. Confronted now, he realized the extent of his fatigue, having not slept for days. His lupine head turned slowly at the voice, pure blue eyes devoid of emotion, a singular color too alien to convey anything discernible.

The speaker appeared diminutive, roughly waist-high or smaller, accompanied by a large quadruped creature at their side—perhaps a type of horse, Aelus speculated. Although he had read about horses and seen artistic depictions, this one differed in some way. The small figure, now identified as a human by Aelus, brandished a spear and demanded he take no further steps.

Fully facing the pair, Aelus raised his lower arms in a gesture of surrender. His massive upper arms and clawed hands, large enough to envelop the human entirely in a single grip, remained open and limp, palms facing the spear-wielding stranger.

"I am Aelus, not a beast," he declared, his voice a hissing gravel—inhuman, unsettling, yet undeniably intelligent. Lacking social skills and raised in isolation by an overprotective mother, Aelus found himself unable to deftly navigate the situation with words, opting instead to speak candidly.

"What manner of creature is that?" he inquired, pointing the finger of his right lower arm at the mount. His narrowed eyes scrutinized the creature, his innate curiosity overriding his attention to the armed human. In truth, Aelus did not feel threatened; Aelus size alone was imposing and his inexperience left him little skill in judging the danger of others.

In his mind his size and claws would win the day - if it came to that.

As the creature before him had begun to raise their smaller set of arms in defense, seemingly announcing that they had no intentions of fighting, Videl would slightly lower the tip of his spear. Only slightly, however, as the beast before him had likely been a threat of sorts in all likelihood. Even as the creature had assigned itself a name, Videl had maintained a sense of cautiousness. "Aelus, is it? Keep each of your arms placed behind yourself and I will lower my weapon. A simple insurance policy between the pair of us, yes?"

If Aelus had done as Videl had asked then Videl would proceed to lower his weapon. If he hadn't done as such though? Then Videl would keep his weapon raised and pointed in the direction of the beast, prepared to strike it down if the two were to come to blows. "As for the breed of my steed?" Although he had considered withholding such information, it likely wouldn't hurt for him to share such knowledge. Even if this Aelus figure had been aware of Lumi's breed, Videl was certain that he could bring the creature down before it could lay a claw upon his beloved companion. "She is of a rare breed renowned throughout this region. A Frigid Steed. Think of her as an equine that could freeze you over before you had much of a chance to leap from your current position."

Hoping that his threats would be enough to keep Aelus at bay, Videl would start to probe into Aelus' personal information. "And yourself? Of what race do you belong to? I've resided within these parts since the day of my birth and have yet to encounter a creature such as yourself." Something similar to Aelus' appearance had been mentioned in the stories that Videl had learned as a kid but given how much time had passed since then, Videl was unlikely to recall any such information at this time. Not without a bit of prompting. "And just what is it that brings you out here?"