Zapolyarny Palace

Joseph opened his eyes, only to find an unfamiliar ceiling.

"You finally woke up"

Joseph quickly stood up his upper body, turning over the voice, seeing a girl standing looking at him with a cool face. She was about 16 years old with blond hair that reached her shoulders. Her face was quite a cute one with a turned-up little nose and big bright sky blue eyes.

She was wearing one-piece white and blue summer dress that hugged curves tightly with a short skirt showing her knees that clearly was a strange sight in such cold weather.

However, just as Joseph quickly realized, it was kind of warm here and he found himself lying over a big and comfy bed inside a luxurious room, the kind that people at the slums would not even dream to see in their lives.

"Who are you? Where I am?" Joseph asked confused.

"You really lack the minimum manners, shouldn't you present yourself before asking for others' name?" The girl said gumming, nevertheless, she made a little pleasantry with impeccable manners and presented herself "I am Alina Kobozeva, the personal assistant of his excellence Lord Pantalone. You are currently in one of Lord Patalone's residences."

"Lord Pantalone?" Joseph stated thoughtfully.

Joseph could recognize that name, one of the typical characters of the Commedia dell'arte, the greedy merchant archetype, but more importantly, at the Genshin Impact game, it was one of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, the highest rankers of the Fatui, meaning that even when he never appeared over the game, he would be some kind of top boss in it.

Following Allen's memories didn't change much the opinion, only knowing the title as it was too high-up to even dream to meet him one day.

'The man that saved me from the last attack should have been Pantalone or one of his subordinates, taking care of me after I and Ellen were inj-' "Where's Ellen?! Is she fine?!" Joseph quickly cut his thoughts, putting Ellen's well-being first.

"..." Silence. This was Alina's answer to his question, she remained imperturbable, only lifting her right eyebrow as she was waiting for something.

"Ok, I will present myself" Joseph sighed. He lowered his head and presented himself, using the identity of the body "I am Allen, an orphan without a surname. Thanks to take care of me." He lifted his face.

"You should improve" Alina said but nevertheless nodded "For the little girl that was with you she was taken away to receive a more specified treatment." She explained "You were very wounded, with multiple wounds and bone fissure all over your body, your dehydrated and poor nourished state really not helping with it. Nevertheless, they were kind of normal wounds, most medics at Snezhnaya are already used to it, so the treatment was kind of fast. However..."

She made a kind of thoughtful face "The little girl was in a much peculiar state. She shared the malnourished body and lacked the physical wounds but her body temperature was impossibly low, her body being swiftly freezing. Our usual doctor couldn't give an accurate diagnosis, so in the end, Lord Pantalone send her to Lord Dottore that is usually very interested in peculiar things like this."

"Dottore?!" And another big name appeared and this time was even worst. Dottore as Pantalone was another one of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers and while it did not appear over the game yet, it shows up over the manga where he is the principal antagonist. He is directly shown as someone with low regard for human life, usually experimenting with humans.

'This is bad. Dottore might use Ellen in one of his experiments, killing her'.

"Where's Ellen now? I want to see her now?!" Joseph supplicated.

Alina answer was to throw him something like a mantle, covering him in it. Taking it away from his view, Joseph was able to see that it was a blue coat, turning to Alina with a strange look, not knowing why.

"Wear it" She explained as she had one similar coat in her arms, but hers was light blue. She covered with it, being long enough to cover all her body "Now that you are awake, we should move. You have been summoned over the Zapolyarny Palace."

'The Zapolyarny Palace? Meaning over the Tsaritsa's place'

Two new attendants entered the room, these ones wearing maid uniforms with more clothing and fitter to the cold climate. They quickly forced Joseph to stand up and wore the coat that like Alina, covered all his body, a warm sensation flooding his body, making it feel as it used a heating device.

"W-wait!" Joseph said hurriedly, not knowing what was all of that.

"Let's go" Alina commanded turning around, leaving the room "You would find your answer there."

Joseph quickly went along with her, his body was kind of sore yet, not having completely healed, but comparing when he was crossing over the walls, he felt himself much more revitalized, this light pain, being nothing at all.

They left the house, Joseph discovering that it was a big manor over the Noble District, directly going towards Zapolyarny Palace, crossing over the roads.

Looking in front of him, the Zapolyarny Palace was impossible to be seen. Further than the Noble District, once the big houses and buildings disappeared, a gray wall stood climbing up to the sky, seeming to have no end.

"Showing your worth or strength, you can pass the walls between districts. Do you know what you need to enter the Zapolyarny Palace?" Alina asked while she continued looking at the gray wall.

"Your will" Joseph answered following Allen's memories. He didn't know why but it was always told, if someone wanted to go over the Zapolyarny Palace, nobody would stop him, only your will being needed.

"Hm!" Alina smiled at Joseph's answer "How childish, even when it's not wrong. But it's nothing easy" They just arrived over the gray wall "See it for yourself."

Now that they were only some meters away from the wall, Joseph was able to realize the truth of it. It wasn't a wall, instead, it was snow falling from the sky, the gray color having been gained through the contamination, but it was soo strong and deep that more than snow, it seemed more of a waterfall. Why such strong snow? Could it be able to break through it? Why such heavy snow didn't create any mountain of snow? Joseph was unable to answer.

"How we cross over?" Joseph asked worriedly.

"Low temperature, strong winds, zero vision and over a kilometer of imperturbable blizzard" Alina described "That's the easy part" Alina smiled "I could even go across by myself."

"Should we really cross over by ourselves?" Joseph made a scared face.

"Don't worry, we have the coats for this" Alina explained "Put on the hood" She said while putting on her own, Joseph quickly following her. Just as he put the hood, a mask fell from it, completely covering his face.

Alina offered him her hand and both of them started crossing over the fake 'wall'.

Joseph was surprised to not feel anything at all. He was surrounded by a blizzard, but he could have been inside a warm room, the effect of the coat, truly being miraculous. Nevertheless, he strongly gripped Alina's hand to not lose himself, the vision was absolutely null, making it difficult to even know that you were walking in a straight line.

"We are finally here" Alina said, releasing her hand.

Crossing over the 'wall', Joseph's eyes went wide. A completely new world opened in front of him. The clearest blue sky from Joseph's memory, Allen's not being even counted as he only had seen the eternal black clouds from Snezhnaya, a clear icy path devoid of any dirt that leads to an immense white and emerald palace with a baroque style with an elongated rectangle. It made a great shock as while the exterior showed purity, the palace showed its immense greatness and strength.

"Beautiful" Joseph said at the breathtaking picture in front of him, putting his hands over his glasses to be able to clearly see such a picture.

"You should stop that" Alina stopped him gripping strongly by his wrist.

Joseph's eyes went wide as he realized. Why such a clear sky without any snow or cloud over it? "The temperature here is much lower, enough to instantly turn any water steam into ice that why the snow wall was created, the clouds coming here, instantly raining down."

"Oh? A good insight" Alina said impressed, congratulating him "You might have the thing to become a good merchant." She nodded "You are right. Don't let be tricked by the scenery, this is a hellish place. A temperature so low to instantly freeze you, so low oxygen making it impossible to breath. If we were to take out our masks or robes, we will instantly die. Even most of the Harbingers are unable to cross it over, only the truly monsters being capable."

Joseph shivered, clenching his coat strongly.

"Let's get going, there's only one path, you cannot miss it" Alina said starting walking along the icy path towards the palace. Joseph directing one last time his gaze over the blue sky before starting following Alina, reaching the Zapolyarny Palace without any obstacle in it.