The group continued forward through the mountain's thinning air. The silence had stretched so long it became something tangible, like a sheet of frost lying over their shoulders. They passed through winding stone passages that gradually opened up into a narrow ridgeline. Visibility was poor. A persistent veil of fog blanketed everything, muting the terrain and casting ghostlike shadows across the cliffs.
Inside the truck, the vents had long been sealed shut. The outside cold was no longer just biting, it had become invasive, sneaking through the walls and creeping under their skin. No one spoke for nearly an hour. The atmosphere was too heavy, the environment too oppressive. Even the hum of the vehicle's engine seemed quieter here.
Gray sat with his arms crossed, watching frost claim the inside of the windows one crystal at a time. The chill settled deep in his bones, and for the first time since they left, he began to wonder whether the truck's metal walls could really keep them safe.
Finally, Renn's voice cracked the silence.
"We've arrived at the top."
Everyone stirred. The sound triggered motion like a spell breaking. Weapons were gathered. Coats were fastened. Gray adjusted the scarf around his neck and stood.
"Opening exit in three... two... one…"
A deep mechanical groan echoed as the truck's rear ramp lowered onto snow-covered stone. A gust of cold air punched inside, prompting everyone to hurry out without hesitation.
The outside world had changed.
They had broken through the fog. Above them, the sky was a haunting light blue, dotted with pale clouds. The view from the mountain ridge was breathtaking and terrifying at once.
Gray stepped down into the snow, his feet sinking almost to the knee. It wasn't like the brittle, dead forest snow he had seen before. This was heavy and pristine. Unnatural in its silence. No wind stirred it. No life seemed to exist beneath it.
He walked past the front of the truck, then paused at the cliff's edge.
From here, the entire region revealed itself.
A vast, monstrous sprawl of mountains loomed in every direction. Peaks clawed at the sky like the spires of a fallen cathedral. The scale was impossible. They were ants atop the corpse of a god.
Adel approached from behind. "Wow…"
Her breath fogged the air.
No cities. No roads. Just endless stone and snow.
"This will take days. No, weeks to cross," the Rank 6 student said, stunned. His voice trembled slightly.
He wasn't wrong. The terrain looked ancient, merciless. And they had no map. Just a vague direction.
Then Korr pointed toward the left.
"Do you guys see that?"
Gray squinted. Nothing but snowdrifts and frost-covered slopes.
"Nothing's there," he muttered.
"Look again," Lira said calmly.
He did. And this time he saw it.
Nestled between two large ridges was something man-made. Small rooftops poking through the frost. Faint plumes of smoke curling upward.
"A village?" Adel frowned. "How is that possible?"
There were no forests nearby. No infrastructure. Yet the buildings looked lived in. It didn't make sense.
Remembering Renn's word's. She spoke again.
"They must have relocated," Lira murmured. "Or died."
Gray noticed her tone. There was a hollow weight to it.
Just then, Adel spoke again, louder.
"Over there! Look!"
Far to the other side, a thin, dark pillar of smoke rose into the sky.
Unlike the village, this smoke seemed fresher. Sharper. As if something was still burning.
They observed it only for a few moments before the wind began to change. Cold swept back in. They returned quickly to the truck. Renn shut the ramp behind them.
Lira turned toward Renn first.
"We saw a village. Hidden beneath the snow. And a smoke signal near the path we didn't take."
Renn didn't reply, only nodded as he absorbed the details.
"What's our plan now?" Adel asked.
Gray stepped forward. "We head toward the smoke first. Then we follow the main path. It might give us more information on this region."
No one argued except Korr.
"And the village?"
Gray hesitated. Something about that place was wrong. He could feel it in his teeth.
Lira answered in his place. "It's too dangerous. If something goes wrong there, we'll have no exit. No line of defense."
Adel shifted in her seat and spoke again. "The sun's setting. Do we drive down the slope in this light?"
Everyone glanced out the windows. The light was beginning to fade. The fog was returning.
"It's a death sentence if we drive blind," the Rank 6 said.
"I say we camp here for the night," Lira declared. "When the sun rises, we set off."
"What if something finds us?" Adel voiced the worry all of them shared.
Gray looked at her. "Then we kill it."
No one argued further.
Korr threw himself onto a bench and was asleep within minutes. Adel tucked herself in the corner with her arms around her knees. Lira returned to the front, silent, still watching.
Time passed slowly, each minute heavier than the last.
Then came the inevitable voice.
"So…" Adel cleared her throat. "How was your first mission?"
No one answered right away. Korr opened one eye, then closed it again before sighing.
"Like hell."
Adel looked at him.
"Where was it?"
Korr sat up, his tone distant.
"A ship. Crashed onto a cursed beach. The water around it was corrupted. We were stranded for three days. Tried sending signals. Every time we went outside, monsters waited. They… got in eventually. And then..." his voice and mind drifted off. No asked for the rest of the story.
Gray slowly blinked.
'If he had survived a corrupted zone, how was he a lightborn?'
Adel turned toward Lira. "And you?"
The question hung for a long time.
Lira's shoulders stiffened. Her voice lowered.
"A cave. No light. Only echoes. We were told to go down, find a treasure, and return. Every level got worse. Fewer people made it back up. By the final chamber, I was alone."
"What was the treasure?"
She looked down at her hands.
"I don't know. I never saw it. I passed out before I could reach it. When I woke up, I'd been chosen."
No one said anything for a while after that.
Then Adel pointed at Gray and Renn.
"What about you two?"
Renn looked away immediately. "I don't want to talk about it."
Adel turned to Gray.
He stared at the floor. Then up at her.
"I'd rather not."
She didn't bother to ask about the other two. As if uninterested.
Time passed without resistance.
One by one, they drifted to sleep. Korr's breathing became deep and even. Adel leaned into her corner. Lira stayed in the front, unmoving but not asleep.
Gray took the first watch.
He wrapped himself in a thick thermal blanket and sat near the back window. From there, he could see the sky. The stars were brutal in their clarity. A perfect dome above a broken world.
He stared at them for a long time.
Outside, the mountains whispered. No sound, just presence.
And he wondered again
"Will I ever get to leave this place?"
Not just Glacierfang.
But Nyxterra.
The continent. The curse. The end.
He closed his eyes. Just for a moment. He would not fall asleep. He promised himself that.
But as he drifted halfway into unconsciousness, a whisper stirred in the back of his mind.
Not in words. Not in thoughts.
But in pressure.
The same pulse that had come from the strange shard of Hollow Vyre earlier in the truck. The same sensation that curled around his core whenever he tapped into the power that wasn't his.
The Wither Vyre.
It called to him.
Slow. Gentle. Like frost on skin.
But he didn't answer it.
He stayed still.
And waited for morning.