Critical: Ages Below Critical Prologue

Prologue - A Mystical Encounter

Alcaeus looks at the silver-haired youth standing before him, 
behind him is the monstrous dark cave, 
looking as if a beast from under the earth is ready to swallow him whole. 
His smile is warm and beautiful, 
yet it seems to contain
a faint sorrow that can be seen only because of his gentleness — 
just like the smell of the spices from Ahlusi port drifting from his body.



The sky is filled with rolling pieces of snow, as if a large beast shaking off its white fur, spreading across the s.p.a.ce and obstructing one's vision.

This mainland’s winter has arrived.

In the south, there is only the beginning of an undetectable lowering of temperature, in the wee hours of morning, you will see frost on the windows, but here — the mainland close to the edge of the extreme north, everything is already barren. Large icebergs floating atop the surface of the ocean occasionally collide with each other, ear-piercing sounds emit between the heavens and earth, pieces of ice breaking off into the ocean, resulting in white waves. The vast black dirt, after a few continuous days of heavy snow, became a white snow land. This is already the most extreme of the north, even the never-ending icicles are akin to the sharp teeth of beasts, holding together the end of the heavens and earth tightly, the horizon disappearing under the glaring white surface of the ice.

The dense clouds, the light, block the sky as if coated by a layer of dust, murkily s.h.i.+ning onto the ground.

The murky wind and snow blows into a devastating sound as if there are wolves constantly howling. In the heavy snow the size of fists, the silhouette of a young and small youth can be seen, step by step moving towards the depth of the glaciers at the end of the heavens and earth.



Actually, he does not know what he is looking for, all he knows is that there is a voice calling out of him, as if from the depths of his mind like a haunting soul, unable to be waved away.

The harsh and bitter wind blows the silvery white hood off of his head; the deep blue robe embroidered with luxurious platinum seemed haphazard in the wind. Under his thick, golden eyelashes that resemble gold wings, his amber irises emits a hurried gleam, the wind blows across his pale skin like knives, his cheeks should have a rosy glow that twelve, thirteen-year-old youths should have, yet at this moment, there is only a deathly paleness, in his irises are limitless s.h.i.+vers and panic.



The glaciers at both sides gradually tighten, becoming a valley that is getting narrower, in the distance, the end of the heaven and earth, the glacier walls fold into one, only leaving a gloomy infinite cave, unsure of where it leads to.

Between the heavens and earth are snowflakes rolling as if being attracted by a vast amount of power, violently being pulled into the dark cave, and then disappearing into a dead like silence.

As if being swallowed by something……



“Screech— crunch—“

“Screech— crunch—“

Sound emitting from the depths of the cave.

As if a certain ma.s.sive insect from h.e.l.l is screaming, every sound scratches across the eardrums, causing s.h.i.+vers down ones spine.

At first, this sound sounds like a the screeching of a monstrous spider before it is being burnt to death, but after listening to it for a while, there is a hint of unnerving delight, becoming something like a youth girls screams, the kind of dreamy shrieks that is a mixture of pain and insane pleasant sensations.

The youth is already standing at the mouth of the cave.

The turbulent snow has lost its sound here.

All sound seems as if swallowed by this large cave. In the silence of the cavern, there leaves only occasional piercing shrieks as if cutting metal, the youth’s irises reflects the murky stream of light, his expression seems terrified, yet it also reveals a certain twisted longing, making ones back feel cold, his eyes tremble, alike two pools of melted gold paint.

The youth opens his eyes wide, his amber irises reflecting the bottomless darkness of the cave.

In the oppressive silence, a sound is heard suddenly; dull yet light, akin to the sound of blood rus.h.i.+ng through veins.

The youth lowers his head, on the pure whiteness of the ice surface, a stream of green-black things twists from the cave like a vein, unhurriedly approaching his feet, as if a small stream of black blood pus.h.i.+ng itself forward under the ice. He crouches, lowers his head, there seems to be an irresistible lure that is pulling his whole person towards the veins of black blood. He buries his face lower, as if wanting to see that stream of weird things clearly, inch by inch his face presses closer to the surface of the ice, his small body presenting itself in a twisted posture. Yet, what he doesn’t know is that, on his exquisite and fair skin, bit by bit densely packed veins are starting to appear on his face like earthworms, more and more, denser and denser, clearer and clearly, in the process of getting nearer to the ice surface, his amber irises are gradually becoming a murky black, as if a few goldfishes with black tails are swimming in his pupils.

“Gu gu—“

Suddenly, the sound of pulse beating sounded, in a flash the thin vein-like thing under the ice’s surface started swelling from the depths of the cave to the surface under the youth’s feet, it became a black tube-like substance as thick as an arm. A bundle of darkness flashed before the youth’s eyes, before he had the time to see it clearly, his visions blurs, an urgent stream of air approaches him, surrounding the youth, pulling him away from the cave. The youth can only hear the sound of hurried wind filling his ear drums, he cannot see what is happening before his eyes at all, only countless streams of blade-like air, cutting through the air as if a pair of scissors cutting cloth.



“Are you aware that you almost died just now?”

In the turbulence, a person’s voice sounded. Unable to hear any emotions in it, or even age, as clean as clear water and air, is a gentle boy’s voice, but there is also an untouchable coldness to it, which makes him sound very old.

The youth clad in blue lifted his unsettled face, his pupils gradually turning into a golden amber color from the murky darkness. When he manages to focus his vision again, he realises that in the turbulence that is fading away, a boy close to his age with short silver hair is staring at him coldly. A few strands of hair floating in front of his forehead, the wind moving his thin fringe, a black diadem with a scatter of black diamonds can faintly be seen on his forehead. One look and you’ll know that it is priceless and that the person has a respectable ident.i.ty. In the bitter-cold heavy snow, the silver-haired youth is only wearing a long robe weaved with white yarn, as if unafraid of the cold, the white cape on him seeming like a weightless cloud, floating lightly around him, unaffected by the storm around him.

The silver-haired youth turns his back against the blue-robed youth, the blue-robed youth follows his silhouette and gazes towards the mouth of the cave, the place he had been crouching at before, right now, there is a dark and burnt hand, breaking out from beneath the surface of the ice, positioning itself in a way as if it is a wronged soul form the depths of h.e.l.l, freezing in the wind and snow. If he hadn’t been saved by the youth just now, then at this moment, that charred hand, would have broken his neck.

If you look closer at it, the hand doesn’t seem like a human’s hand, there are only four fingers, on each finger are sharp black nails, twisted and sharp, on the charred skin, there are multiple pus-like red blotches, on them a sticky substance like thick blood.



“Unless ‘that plan’ already began?……Why would it be pushed forward so much……” The silver-haired youth looks at the dim mouth of the cave lightly, not making it clear if he is speaking to himself, or to a person that hasn’t appeared yet. From his silhouette, you can’t guess his expression, but from his gentle voice, it dimly reveals surprise and worry.



The silver-haired youth turns and squats down before the blue-robed youth, looking into his fair and delicate appearance and his amber-colored eyes, he smiles slightly. The smile on a face like the silver-haired youth makes him seem as charming as a crystal, the sun beats down on the black diadem shows faintly under his silver hair, reflecting multiple colourful light rings, illuminating his dreamlike eyes, in his eyes there seems to be a scatter of diamonds of different sizes. His hair as silver and white as snow, he looks just like a pure angel.

The blue-robed youth asks: “Who are you?”

The silver-haired youth reaches out and tugs him up from the ground, saying: “My name is Boyce.”

The wind in the surrounds seem to stop, the smell emitting from the silver-haired youth is like a mixture of spices from Ahlusi Port, faint and respectable. This type of spice must be invaluable.

“And who are you? Why did you come all the way to the extreme North?” The young Boyce stands atop the pure white surface of the ice, seeming like a fifteen or sixteen year old angel. As if his whole being is born for this world of ice and snow, clean and pure, his whole body s.h.i.+mmering with the light of diamonds.

“My name is Alcaeus……” the blue-robed youth replies softly, a gentle breeze blows from behind Boyce, resulting in his nose being filled with the smell of expensive spices from Boyce’s body.



The air is a mixture of the smell of snow and spices, the grand and sacred light of the sun bathing down on them, as if shrouding a grand fate.

Alcaeus looks at the silver-haired youth standing before him, behind him is the monstrous dark cave, looking as if a beast from under the earth is ready to swallow him whole. His smile is warm and beautiful, yet it seems to contain a faint sorrow that can be seen only because of his gentleness — just like the smell of the spices from Ahlusi port drifting from his body.

Many years later, every time Alcaeus remembers this scene, he always feels like it is a dark prophecy, s.h.i.+ning through and revealing what is pitch-black.