He opened his eyes, heavy eyelids giving way to the sight before him. The Gates were releasing him from their embrace in a way that was not forceful or violent… but strangely wrong, if that made sense. He thought it did. He felt them slowly stripping him, not of his clothes or even his skin, but of his soul. It was as if they were allowing him to pass, only to take away a part of his being.
It was a long time before he was free of that feeling.
The land before him was no different from Avras… at least not at first glance. Snow, cold, frozen forests, shadowy branches and twigs that looked like hands. He was born in the forest, he knew exactly how it looked at night – unreal, darker than it really was, and much hungrier.
But here… those same trees looked as if they could actually pull their roots out of the ground and gaz at him through the holes in the bark… and take an interest in him. There was something strangely alive about the landscape. He couldn’t put his finger on it… until he looked up at the sky.
His mind couldn’t make sense of it, so he just closed his eyes. And when the first shock had passed, he opened them, slowly, and looked at the distorted wonder above his head.
The moon seemed to take up half the sky, large, pale and ominous in its size. The stars were scattered across the firmament, like small diamonds, just as in Avras… yet there were no familiar constellations among them… and something, some dark magic, caused a strange dissonance between his eyes and what he saw.
As if the sky was about to crack. Or had already cracked, leaving a painful void between the stars, filled with pure chaos.
Do not look.
Tiyan knew that his own self, before the fairies came into his life, would look down at his feet and never raise his eyes, for safety’s sake. But now the sky and its vastness tempted him, pulled his eyes up to fill them with it. For it was beautiful. Beautiful in a dark, hostile way.
He knew he had little time. He was here, but there were only mountains on the horizon, sharp black teeth biting into the sky. Nothing to indicate the existence of a palace or castle where Mina might be held hostage. The fairies had a vast land, wider than Avras. But how far, and where was Mina? Will he have to go blindly and try to guess? The remainder in the form of a dying man was too obvious – the Fae wanted him quickly.
In fact, he was almost certain that someone would be waiting for him. He both feared that and wanted it. He wanted to be led to Mina and try to help her, whatever the Shadow wanted from him.
His fear and resignation, which he considered to be an innate part of him, suddenly ignited into anger. Fearful rage, fueled by concern for Mina and the logs the fairies seemed to be throwing at his feet, enjoying his helplessness.
Anger is better than fear.
Even if it is just as useless.
The moon looked down at him, huge and unearthly.
If he has to travel through vast forests and meadows again, it must be a different kind of torment – who knows what kind of creatures live here. Avra’s animals, pained, lost, were hard to fight, even with Ona at his side. Here, the animals were wild, strong and possibly touched by magic – but not in a way that would harm them.
He gritted his teeth. You have learned so much in the last few weeks. And one of those things wasn’t self-pity. If you have to go through the forest, you will. If you have to bring the Fae the moon dust from that colossal sphere above your head, you will.
Mina.
He gathered himself from the thick snow.
Ona would lead now. But Ona had tasks of his own to complete, and his only guides were the unknown stars above him… and the darkness between the trees.
In Ain’asel the air was even colder than in Avras, winter had found a home here and spread like parasitic tendrils across other lands. Tiyan didn’t know how he managed to rest in such biting, breathless cold, but he had done so on the way here and he would have to do so now.
His steps carried him slowly into the dense forest, towards the sharp and looming mountains that towered over the landscape – the peaks looking like the claws of a colossus long frozen with outstretched hands.
The wind whispered a dark note as he trudged through the snow – alone again. And he felt his scar under his heart burn with sharp pain, radiating onto his skin. But he no longer greeted it with fear.
Slowly he began to free himself from the shackles of fear. Gradually, restlessly, leaving some of the restraints behind. Knowing that it wouldn’t help him if he had to save Mina and himself.
And the fire… was his friend. He felt the pain in his chest being washed away by the flames, soothing it. Allowing him to focus on the goal.
Giving him the courage to go up – into the maw of the cruel ridges and steep chasms.