Disclaimer: None! This is an original story, so I own it! I feel rich now.

Summary: Datran is a young boy who was once a quiet medical student in the Temple. Now, after being banished he must try to survive in the icy Beyond.

Datran didn't know what was going on. His life had been normal for a temple apprentice until that one stupid mistake. Now he was out here in the Beyond, sent here to die. Why had Fate sent him to the Beyond? Datran certainly didn't feel ready to commune with the God just yet. He ducked his head as another roaring gust of wind tugged at him. The Beyond was the coldest place imaginable. Snow covered it all the time. As Datran looked back behind him he could see his footprints slowly filling in as if the angry God wanted to hide the way home to the Temple forever. Datran stumbled again. His foot had caught on something buried in the snow. It couldn't have been here for long, the almost constant storms would have buried it.

Datran crouched in the lee of a drift where the wind had a harder time reaching him. The object was long, black, and smooth. Near the top it had a loop that looked like it would hold some sort of circular object. The space just below the loop was worn as if many hands had grasped the rod in the past decades. Datran heaved himself to his feet again to resume his endless journey until the God should either feel that it was time for him to commune forever with Him or would save him with a miracle. Datran thought he would prefer the latter.

As Datran stood up, his thin boots caught on something else. He sighed, maybe the God was toying with him by giving him strange objects before finally taking him as Fate had said He would. Datran reached into the snow cursing the inadequate ceremonial gloves that he had received before being sent into the Beyond. His frozen hands touched something thin and rough. Datran tugged on it as hard as he could. Inch by inch he managed to pull the object out of the drift. The wind howled around him and Datran was forced to shut his eyes against the needles of ice that it threw at him.

When the object came free Datran stumbled backwards, and fell over a lump of snow. In surprise he sat up wiping the snow from his eyes. He crawled over to his prize and began to examine it. It took him a minute to realize it was a girl. Datran leaned back in shock. What was she doing in the Beyond? There wasn't supposed to be anyone out here besides the God! Datran crawled closer again. Maybe he could revive her if she was still alive. Maybe she could help him. Datran leaned down to see if the girl was breathing.

The girl's eyes flew open and she began screaming at him, "Back! Stay away from me, Demon!"

"Demon? I'm not a Demon!" Datran asked. "I'm a person just like you! See!" He pulled back his sleeve to show her his normally colored skin. Her eyes widened and she looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

"You.f-f-frommm..T-t-temple?" she asked slowly and carefully, trying to stop shivering.

"Yes! But how did you know?" Datran asked her happily. The strange girl ignored his question and tried to stand.

"Sh-shelter, that way," she said, pointing to the left.

"Shelter? What do you mean?" Datran asked. She nodded, standing again. "Wait, I'll help," Datran said. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She wavered and for a minute he thought she was going to fall, but she managed to stay standing. Datran offered her the rod that he had found earlier. She smiled at him and slid it into a loop on her armor- like coat. Then she pointed again to the left, pulling slightly at his hand, and began walking in that direction.

Datran stared after her for a moment wondering what he should do. One minute he was prepared to die, the next he was following a strange girl who had appeared out of the snow. He considered it, maybe he was already dead and the girl was his guide to the God. That would explain her knowing where he was from and her sudden appearance. Datran had to walk even more slowly than before because the girl moved slowly clutching one arm against her chest.

Datran watched her in amazement. It was beyond him how she could be standing at all, much less walking after being collapsed on out in the snow, but then again if she was a servant of the God then it wasn't all that surprising after all. But then why did she feel the cold and why did she look like she was injured? Datran's tired and cold numbed brain couldn't think of an answer to the questions swirling around in his head the was the wind and snow swirled around the snowy world around him.

What seemed like years later to Datran, the girl stopped, leaning forward against the wind. Datran trudged up beside her as she sat down, leaning against a cliff wall he hadn't even seen. Here the wind and snow were a little less. He hoped they were close, the cold was starting to make him feel very tired and sleepy. Now he understood why the girl had been lying in the snow. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep.

"We're here." She said too tired to look at him. "Open the door, with my Kivsh." Datran wrapped his stiff, frozen hands around the smooth metal pole that she handed him.

"What do I do with it?" he asked, unfortunately she had closed her eyes and had either fainted or fallen asleep. Datran couldn't tell and he wasn't able to do anything about it so he picked up the pole and ran his hands over the icy surface of the rock. What was it she had called it? A Kivsh? That wasn't anything Datran had ever heard of in the Temple. Maybe it was a tool of the God. They were in his domain out here in the Beyond after all. And who else would the girl be if she wasn't a servant of the God or the God's Enemy.

Finally his searching fingers found what he was searching for. A slight crack in the walls caught on his gloves and he was able to pull open a small hatch, about the same size as the end of the pole. He swung it up and inserted it into the hole. For a moment nothing happened. Datran sighed, maybe the girl was just a crazy or this was all a trick to lead him from the God's chosen Path. Then the pole made a strange clanking sound and slid farther out.

Datran reached for it. The least he could do was return it to the girl even if it wouldn't help them any further. As he pulled on it, a piece of the rock wall swung out, revealing a dark shadowy place behind it. For a moment Datran was so surprised he couldn't think of what to do. Then a strong gust of wind worked its way through his ceremonial coat, causing him to shiver and remember what he was supposed to be doing. He set the Kivsh down next to the doorway and reached grabbed the girl around her waist and dragged her towards the door. She jerked when he picked her up, but didn't wake up. The wind howled behind them and swept a drift of snow through the doorway with them. Datran collapsed on the floor as the door swung shut behind him. The only thing he could think of was how relieved he was he could finally sleep.