"This place is relentless." Yadrith's face was downcast, staring at the fire.
Inside a cave sat Oliver, Yadrith, and Mahaya. The cold was truly getting to them; travelling was difficult. They had no luggage, which meant no beds and no blankets. This meant they could not sleep unless they found a suitable refuge, whether it was inside an old, massive, decaying tree or a cave.
They couldn't tell day from night in the tundra; the thick fog and heavy blizzard blocked out any light they could receive from the sun anyhow. It was no surprise that Yadrith was at his wit's end, but rather that both Oliver and Mahaya were as well.
It could be due to Mahaya's biology as a snake that she seemed the worst out of the three of them. She had often fallen asleep randomly in the snow, and Yadrith or Oliver would have to carry her.
"It's been two or three days, but we should be nearing the exit of the tundra. We've only been moving westward, toward Gelben..." His eyes were unfocused.
'He doesn't even believe the words coming out of his own mouth.' Yadrith burrowed his head into his hands. 'If I didn't get Ciel killed with my stupid idea, we would probably be on a ship by now.'
He glanced at Mahaya, whose eyes were closed.
Yadrith paid her no mind; she often fell asleep, with her entire body going stiff. At first he had panicked when she had done it, but she assured him it was her way of regulating her body temperature. Though when she randomly passed out in the snow, it was a bit scary.
She didn't have a cloak to wear like Yadrith and Oliver, only the clothes she had been wearing. It was a simple white shirt, luckily with long sleeves, a brown vest, and brown pants.
Oliver smiled. "We'll be fine."
***
Yadrith's face felt numb as he struggled past the cold winds. In front of him, Mahaya and Oliver were walking almost side by side. Only he was trailing behind. Two more days had passed. The pouch of water he carried on him was nearly extinguished, and life was only getting worse.
'I would kill to be back in the desert. I had abundant food, water, and what else? There was Britain, whom I often talked to.' A smile slowly spread across his face. 'Did I even think about how odd it was that her name was Britain? What are the chances of her encountering me, a person from a planet where there is actually a country called Britain?!'
He raised his hand, covering his mouth, preventing a laugh.
The cold... Was really getting to him.
He sniffled and quickened his pace.
Oliver suddenly stopped. "We can take a break here." His voice was raspy, and he slowly raised his arm, pointing at...
Nothing?
Yadrith followed Oliver's finger, saw nothing, and looked back at Oliver. He repeated that a few times—hoping to eventually see something.
"Have you gone mad?"
Oliver turned to Yadrith and frowned, "Do you not see that cabin?"
"There is no cabin there, you fool!" Yadrith rebutted.
"Ha, you must be losing your vision. It looks like they're preparing for a warm reception." Oliver's eyes were bloodshot.
Yadrith looked again; there really was a cabin!
"Haha, this young master of the Imperial Jubel family will get us a room." He bellowed with laughter.
Thump!
In the background, Mahaya suddenly slumped, falling down into the snow. Yadrith looked over at her, frowning. His senses immediately returned, and the cabin was gone.
"I'm going to die here, aren't I? My mind's going to keep going insane, and I'm going to die!" His eyelid trembled as he slowly walked over to Mahaya.
Oliver laughed. "Well, if you had learned Rekh faster, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
Yadrith immediately turned around. "Haha, real funny! Maybe if the assassins following you didn't carve out my fucking eye and force us to travel into such a dangerous region, then we'd be fine!"
"Your eye? Is that what's important now!? Don't forget you chose to follow me here!"
"Well, if you listened to whatever that suicidal jackass from however the fuck long ago was saying, you'd have figured out even if I stayed behind, he would have pursued me!"
"Hm... I guess so, but without me, you probably would have died anyway."
"I would have been perfectly fine with just Mahaya!" He pointed at the girl sitting in the snow.
"Well, if you hadn't literally exploded the head of my teacher, then Mahaya wouldn't be freezing to death!" Oliver's voice was full of emotion.
"I-I didn't intend for that to happen."
Oliver clutched his forehead. "I know... I was confident about travelling through the Dexilient even without my teacher. I still am, so let's move." Oliver looked back toward where he had seen a cabin and shook his head.
Turning away from Oliver, Yadrith quickly picked up Mahaya and set her on his back. Her body was stiff as a rock, no different from a dead person. Though used to this, Yadrith didn't let it bother him.
"H-hey, what is that?" Yadrith pointed at a large shadow approaching them in the snow. There was a slight trembling on the ground as it approached.
Oliver's mouth parted. "I—it's a demon beast; that much I can tell." He attempted to unsheathe his sword but forgot that it had been thrown into the void. Unfortunately, Neo Ogma had not been nice enough to return with it.
He couldn't even use the dagger Neo Ogma left behind, considering it had turned into a flower the moment the man's head popped.
Appearing before them was a creature standing on six legs. It was a tall, hulking creature. It was covered in a thick onyx carapace, protecting it from the cold and other predators. The demon beast had two large claws that were not only covered in carapace but also sharp like blades.
Thump...Thump!
It silently approached them, as if it were a predator stalking easy prey. Oliver seemed to gauge its strength for a few moments, while Yadrith mentally prepared himself to run.
"We should run." Oliver briefly spoke.
"I agree."
They had gone westward toward Gelben this entire time, but now things would change. They were being hunted by a horrifying predator. An ancient demon beast, who has wandered the snowfields of the Dexilient region for decades.
Yadrith followed after Oliver, who was running at a speed he could hardly keep up with. The demon beast did not seem too interested in them, considering it did not give much of a chase. It simply followed after them slowly.
The ground suddenly began to slant, leading them down a steep hill. With the ice and snow, it was rather uncomfortable, but escaping from that monster took priority.
Yadrith unsheathed his sword, digging it into the ground to stop his momentum. Oliver simply halted him through some supernatural means—most likely Rekh. Before them was a massive gap of nothing. With the fog, they couldn't see anything, and below there was nothing.
Oliver suddenly nudged Yadrith's shoulder and led him over to the left of the cliff.
'W-what the hell?'
Oliver and Yadrith came to a stop.
'Another rope bridge? Are you kidding me?'
Oliver took a glance behind them. "Let's hurry."
Yadrith swallowed, taking his first step on the ancient bridge. He could already see parts of it where the steps had fallen below.
"This is another zone where ambient Rekh is lacking." Oliver shouted, "I have no clue what's awaiting us below, so let's hurry!"
The two rushed across the bridge; it was much shorter than the one across the gap in the desert, so Yadrith felt a bit less stressed. With the blizzard blowing, the bridge swayed, making each of his steps carefully planned.
Oliver in front of him seemed to be having a better time, considering he wasn't carrying Mahaya, who was actually lighter than she looked but still nonetheless extra weight.
'We're almost across.' He could very vaguely make out the end of the bridge with his frosted-over left eye.
However...
Snap!
Oliver leapt forward, barely holding on to the post that held the bridge up. He climbed up using it. He felt his eyes burn and his heart drop. He turned toward the darkness where a rope bridge once was.
No thoughts ran through his mind, and no words left his mouth. Across from where the bridge once was, a hulking figure stood staring at him. Eventually, it let out an odd noise similar to a groan and turned back around.
"I should have done more to protect them...!" He collapsed to his knees, his hands digging through the snow. "Yadrith!" He yelled.
There was no response; either Yadrith couldn't hear him, or his voice was simply drowned out by the blizzard.
"Damn it...!"
***
"Auhhk!"
He hit the ground, far softer and sooner than he had expected. Repressing his heartbeat, which was sure of death, he let out a sigh of relief.
The sound of crunching filled Yadrith's ears, followed by the sound of the furious winds. Yadrith narrowed his eye and panicked, seeing bones below him. Picked completely clean, which was odd in such a desolate region.
"M-Mahaya." He realized he had dropped her during the fall and quickly scrambled around looking for her body. He tossed around bones around him until he finally found a stiff body nearly covered in snow.
He placed his fingers at her neck, feeling for a pulse.
Bump...Bump...
"Thank god." He resolved himself for a moment and took off his cloak, wrapping Mahaya with it. She seemed to need it way more than him, Rekh or not—she had been braving this region without much protection at all.
It was clear that her condition was far worse than his own.