Snezhnaya was the land of perpetual winter, and the home of the benevolent Cryo Archon: the Tsaritsa. To the people, their goddess was the most omnipotent out of the seven Archons of Teyvat. For the young boy Ajax, he didn't care much about the gods, no less the Tsaritsa, their Queen, and Archon. For Ajax, all that mattered to him was the mundane aspects of day-to-day life.
 
The food placed before him was no gift from their goddess but the fruits of their efforts and hard work. A child of Snezhnaya who doesn't have blind faith in the Tsaritsa was a rare sight, though, to the citizens, this was blasphemy. Ajax's father had tried countless times to convince the child otherwise, to no avail.
 
As of now, the father and son had left the comfort of their home to do their daily ice-fishing. An activity they shared an interest in. They bid farewell to his mother before their leave. Walking down the makeshift trail through the forest, Ajax balanced across a log as his father took the footpath behind him. Giggling away with the fishing pole swinging over his shoulder his father called out to him.
 
"Ajax, be careful." The bearded man grunted at his son's boyish nature. "It'll be your foolishness for falling if you do." He warned. The young ginger looked over to his father with a toothy grin before posing cockily with a hand on his hip.
 
"I won't fall!" He said matter-of-factly, in response to his father's words of caution. Without further conversation, the two continued their short journey through the forest and arrived at the river. Wordlessly Ajax and his father tossed their lines into the water, beginning their comfortable silence as they waited for the meal of the day to take their bait. Ajax focused on the line and watched as the water streamed downstream relentlessly. The blue tint of the river was the only pop of colour amidst the snowy terrain, other than the head of red locks comprising hair, his world was a never-ending blanket of white. This was the world he knew, and nothing else. The comfortable bubble he was content to stay in for the rest of his life without change. 
 
Ajax's patience and hawkish gaze on the fishing line were interrupted when a sudden shout from his father caught his attention. 
 
"Ajax! Further upstream." The boy followed to where his father was pointing and there he saw it— a baby. Ajax's eyes widened in horror. The rivers in Sneznyha were freezing and even a brief moment in the water could give anyone hyperthermia, this baby was going downstream in a woven basket! Frozen in place from shock, Ajax moved only when his father barked orders for him to get his fishing spear. In a hurry the ginger picked up the spear off the snow and handed it to his father, who had positioned himself closer to the banks of the river, spear ready to snag the woven basket. 
 
Ajax watched with bated breath, if his father hadn't spotted the baby in the basket they wouldn't have known it was there. They heard no cries from the baby and with the bundle of white sheets that Ajax saw wrapped around the baby, he would've thought it was just another unfortunate fool who had dropped their basket of possessions into the river. 
 
The basket inched closer towards them and with the skillful movement of his father's arms, he caught the basket and pulled it out of the roaring waves of the river stream. 
 
"Father!" Ajax ran over to his father's side as the man brought the basket into his arms and checked on the baby inside. Ajax got on his toes to get a peek into the basket and saw the faint puffs of warm breath escape the baby's blue lips. The baby was experiencing hypothermia, it wasn't a surprise but they needed to get home, and quickly. "Father, we have to go home! The baby's going to die!" He exclaimed but was hushed immediately. 
 
"I know." His father snapped while he brought the basket closer to his chest with one arm and grabbed both his fishing rod and spear with the other. He gave Ajax a stern gaze and the boy stiffened. "Gather the rest of the things." That was all his father said and started to leave without him. Ajax did as he was told despite the feeling of his blood boiling. 
 

***

Ajax's mother had been sweeping the floors in preparation for the boys' return from fishing when the door whipped open. There stood her husband at the door frame, panting out large puffs of warm breath. The woman came to her husband's side hurriedly.
 
"Love, what happened?" She caressed his arm, "And where's Ajax-" Her voice wavered when she saw the poor child in his arm. Her husband noticed her gaze and grunted for her attention. It worked and she snapped her attention to her awaiting husband. 
 
"Take the baby to the hearth, I'm going to get a healer." He handed his wife the small bundle and her motherly instincts took over and brought the baby toward the small fireplace. When Ajax's father dropped off his fishing gear and went for the front door, it opened to show Ajax at the door. "Ajax, help your mother, I'm heading into town for a healer." Pulling the collar of his furred coat closer to his neck before he pushed past his son. 
 
"Ah." Ajax stumbled to give way for his father to leave through the door, nearly tripping over the fishing line that dragged behind him. "Y-Yes father!" He called out, but his father had already left.
 
Ajax furrowed his brow but shook his head. He needed to help his mother with the new baby. After putting away the fishing equipment his mother called out to him,
 
"Honey, can you gather the pelts for me? And please— this little one doesn't have much time." She said with urgency. Ajax nodded and did as he was told, taking out the pelts from their wooden cabinet and swiftly coming to his mother's side, who thanked him. He watched his mother wrap the furs around the shivering baby and cuddled him close. His brows knitted in concern, they looked deathly pale as if on the brink of death, and if his father hadn't saved the baby then it would've certainly died. Now that Ajax thought more profoundly a horrific realisation hit him. Who would throw a baby into a river? The thought brought a shiver through his body and his gaze on the baby became one of rage. Not towards the baby but at the fact that someone would abandon their own family, their child, and drown no less! Ajax thought, 'Whoever did this doesn't deserve to live.'  Ajax's train of thought was interrupted when his mother spoke.
 
"Look at him, not even a week old." His mother's voice cracked as she brushed the baby's golden locks away from the baby's face, "Who would even abandon such a beautiful child..." She muttered under her breath. Ajax hugged his knees close to his chest and thought again, 'We wouldn't'. 

***

Five years had passed since they'd found the baby. Since then, Demi and Ajax grew up as inseparable brothers. Demi was the name that their mother had given to their newly adopted son. Short for Demophon which Ajax and his father had silently agreed to themselves that a shorter nickname would be used for better convenience.

At the moment the two boys were off into town to do errands for their mother. Hands firmly linked together as Ajax gently led Demi down the gravelled path of the bustling marketplace.

"Ajax, it smells really bad here," Demi whined as his nose scrunched up at the stench of fish and meat swirled in the air into a cauldron of putrid smells. Ajax rolled his eyes at his younger brother's complaint as he glanced down at the grocery list in his gloved hand. "Are you sure you're going the right way? I don't remember the store mother took us before smelled yucky like this." the blond boy inquired with his brows furrowed in doubt of his older brother's sense of direction.

"Demi, I know where I'm going." Ajax pouted, but after his brother mentioned it Ajax grew anxious. Growing up with Demi, Ajax learned to trust his younger brother's sense of smell and hearing. After all, they were usually right. You see Demi was born without sight, after the healer that their father had brought in on the day they found Demi, they had told the family of his condition after making sure Demi would recover. This new information brought their parents to realisation that this disability must've been the cause of Demi's abandonment.

Unlike other nations– aside from Natland (Nation of the Pyro Archon, Goddess of War) perhaps– Snezhnaya was a military-heavy society where children born in the nation of ice and snow are to be expected to be fit and healthy. This has always been the case ever since the founding of the Tsaritsa's organisation, the Fatui. Soldiers, diplomats, and agents worked for their beloved archon and queen. For this reason, every citizen in Snezhnaya was to be physically capable when they are ever ordered by their majesty the Tsaritsa to join her formidable army. So for children like Demi, who were born with disabilities and/or deformities, it was not uncommon for parents to abandon their child or choose to send them to one of the many large orphanages that littered the vast land of Snezhnaya.

This aspect of Ajax's home is what he detests the most. Who's right was it to decide a person's worth when they had just been born? And for his goddess to let this happen to the innocent, to be judged by the expectations she had set for all born on the land she ruled? He didn't understand, and he didn't understand why she needed such a large army when as far as the ginger knew the world was at peace. Who was there to fight? Ajax couldn't figure out answers to any of these questions.

Back to their predicament. Ajax looked around nervously at the markets around them. He swore he took the right turn after their mother had shown him around the marketplace yesterday.

"Uh..." The older boy went on his tiptoes to try and look over the passing adults' shoulders and spotted a familiar landmark up ahead he recognised and beamed. "No, we're close!" He exclaimed and pulled his younger brother with him, Demi letting out a yelp in surprise. When the two young Snezhnaya boys arrived close to the statue it had an old elven man cloaked in uniformed garments and a pelt of one of the fiercest bears in Snezhnaya wrapped around his shoulders. His stone stature loomed over the marketplace, right next to the broad ocean behind them that framed the statue's magnificent craftsmanship. Ajax remembered their mother had told them about the statue in honour of their president, Pulcinella, and one of the eleven Fatui Harbingers. The eleven were the Tsaritsa's generals, and they were both very powerful and wealthy. Ajax wouldn't mind being rich, that meant he could help Demi and his mother have an easier life. Although he wasn't sure if he was suited to be a general, he was just a simple fisherman like his father.

With the help of the landmark Ajax managed to get themselves to the shop they needed to get to. With his list, he got the things mother needed for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's meals. While Ajax talked to the vendor of the small stall, Demi stood behind, his eyes set on his brother's back but his attention on the sounds of the market behind them. The calls of the vendors from their stores. A woman's voice being one of them called out.

"Get your fresh grains here! Just two hundred mora a bag!" Her voice boomed over the bustling citizens. Demi wondered if anyone took interest in her advertisement, he didn't know if it was a good deal but maybe mother knew. While he listened to his surroundings more as he waited for Ajax, a man shoved past the slender boy and Demi yelped when he landed on the snow-covered ground.

"A-Ah!" He winced as he grabbed his throbbing arm. The snow was hard and solid, which resembled more ice than it did snow. Ajax turned around when he heard his baby brother's cry and went straight to Demi to help him off the ground.

"Demi, what happened?" The ginger grasped his brother's shoulders, the grocery bag now abandoned on the ground in favour of comforting his younger sibling. Demi hissed in pain at Ajax's sudden physical contact near his arm.

"Someone pushed me." Demi answered but swiftly added, "I'm okay, brother! My arm just hurts a little..." He said while he rubbed his sore arm. "Don't worry about me." Ajax huffed and crossed his arms– even though Demi couldn't see it.

"Of course I'm worried! The jerk who pushed you should've apologised." Ajax exclaimed in frustration, "And your arm got hurt." Ajax frowned at how Demi grasped his arm. Without letting Demi retort back he grabbed the groceries, paid the shopkeeper and took his brother's unharmed arm, and gently led him through the dense crowd. Ajax was careful to walk slowly for his brother and to avoid bumping into anyone they went past. Eventually, they made it out of town and headed back to the small cabin they called home.

The route back was deserted of any people with the occasional hunter who would be walking back towards town after a hunt. Only their family took this path on a regular.

"When we get back home, I'm going to tell mumma what happened," Ajax stated as they trekked through the snow. Demi's eyebrows shot up and he frantically shook his head. "Ho ho ho! Oh yes, I will!" Ajax stuck his tongue out at him– again Demi couldn't see it.

"Ajax, no! I don't want mumma to get worried over me." Demi pouted at his brother, while he clung to his brother's sleeve. "She worries about me enough as it is." He nearly said as a mutter. Ajax hummed in response before he replied with a slightly more mischievous tone.

"All right, I won't tell her if you won't tell her that I nearly got us lost." Ajax felt his brother's grip tighten and a smirk spread across his face.

"How did you know?" Demi asked quietly. Ajax snorted at that, of course, he knew how well his brother's senses were without sight, plus Demi was pretty smart for his age and he was five years old! Ajax is turning twelve in only three months!

"I have my ways." The ginger giggled. The walk was just like this, the two brothers chatted and laughed on their way home.

Though their conversation ceased when a sudden rift appeared in front of their path. A head burst out of the rift increased in size, where a body of a wolf came after and the head howled. It sounded like it was being scraped against metal, making Demi let go of Ajax's sleeve to cover his ears. Ajax stood there in horror as he looked at the full proportion of a wolf that was floating above the ground. Its glowing eyes fixated on the two young boys. The bag of groceries slipped from Ajax's fingers as he brought Demi closer with his other arm.

"D-Demi." He whispered, his eyes never leaving the beast. "Run!" In a heartbeat, the two boys bolted the opposite way of the snake wolf as it chased them.

"W-What is it?" Demi asked between pants as they ran towards the direction of town. Ajax glanced over his shoulder and gulped as the wolf slithered closer toward them.

"I don't know, it's like a wolf but it's floating!!" Ajax exclaimed as they ran. Demi could hear the rustling of the trees and the loud growls that followed behind them. Demi sobbed as the cold air pricked his face as they ran and ran, he had gotten exhausted. Ajax caught his brother when he tripped, "Demi, stay with me! We're almost to the town just a little longer–" Ajax stopped when he realised that the sheer cold had gotten to his younger brother. Demi was frail and wore more layers than anyone due to how vulnerable he was to the harsh cold of their land. In his arms, Demi shivered and his cheeks were a bright red. Ajax didn't know what to do, he couldn't carry Demi to town he wasn't strong enough. The young boy's panic grew worse when he spotted the wolf coming their way, ready to pounce. Front paws flexed and back legs prepared to launch itself towards its targets, Ajax pushed Demi away and the ginger was met with claws that dug into his sides as the wolf and himself went through another rift behind him. Ajax's world fell into Abyss.