Snow crunched beneath steady footsteps.
Leather creaked with every shift of the packs resting upon tired shoulders.
Somewhere high above, hidden among the towering pines, a raven let out a low call before disappearing between the branches.
No one spoke. The silence wasn't awkward.
It simply belonged to the road.
Morning had long faded into afternoon, and now the last traces of daylight slowly surrendered to evening. The pale sun lingered low beyond the mountains, painting the snow with streaks of amber before retreating behind distant peaks.
The forest had a rhythm of its own.
Viktor had never walked this far before.
Every step carried him farther. Farther from his home, farther from Whitehold, from everything he had known.
The road beneath his boots had changed countless times throughout the day.
Sometimes it disappeared beneath untouched snow, forcing them to follow faint trails winding through the forest. Sometimes stones emerged beneath the ice, remnants of a path built long before Viktor was born. In places, roots pushed through the frozen earth like old fingers refusing to be buried.
He found himself looking at everything. It was all new to him.
A squirrel darted across a fallen log before vanishing into the branches overhead.
Several tiny footprints crossed the snow near the base of a pine.
Viktor slowed for a moment, crouching to look at them.
The prints were no larger than his thumb. He wondered what had made them.
Before he could think any longer, movement caught his eye.
A hare burst from beneath a bush a short distance ahead, its white coat almost disappearing against the forest around it. It bounded effortlessly between the trees before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
Viktor smiled to himself.
So that's who made them.
He hurried to catch up.
Ahead of him, Kaavi continued walking without slowing.
His pace had remained almost unchanged since sunrise.
Occasionally one of the ravens circling overhead would descend through the trees, landing briefly upon a nearby branch before taking flight again after only a few moments.
Kaavi never reached toward them.
He simply lifted his eyes for the briefest moment before continuing onward.
To anyone else, it might have looked meaningless.
Viktor had already begun to notice the pattern.
The birds weren't wandering. They were searching.
Behind Viktor walked Veyl.
Unlike Viktor, whose attention wandered from one thing to another, Veyl spent much of the journey quietly observing the people around him.
Every so often Viktor caught him glancing toward Kaavi.
with Curiosity.
As though trying to understand the man leading them without asking questions.
Farther behind, Gavril dragged himself through the snow with considerably less enthusiasm.
The larger pack rested squarely across his shoulders, accompanied by what sounded suspiciously like constant muttering.
"...Should've taken the horse...Would've looked impressive..."
A few more steps.
Another sigh.
"...Could've complained while sitting down instead..."
Viktor glanced back, the corner of his mouth lifting.
Gavril noticed.
"What?"
Viktor quickly shook his head.
"Nothing."
"Hm."
Gavril narrowed his eyes.
"I don't believe you."
The conversation ended there.
Simply because there wasn't much else to say.
The road had a way of stealing unnecessary words.
They walked on.
The forest slowly changed around them.
The towering pines grew farther apart, allowing the evening sky to peek through the gaps between their branches.
Viktor found himself looking upward more often.
He had never realized how many stars existed.
Back in Whitehold, buildings, walls, and towering roofs had always broken apart the sky.
Here...
There was nothing.
Only an endless sea of tiny lights stretching farther than he could imagine.
His mother had once told him that every traveller eventually found a star they liked more than the others.
He couldn't remember why.
Only that she had smiled while saying it.
The memory arrived quietly.
Then drifted away just as gently.
His eyes remained fixed upon the heavens.
How far did they go?
Were there people living beyond those mountains?
Where exactly was Grandpa taking them?
He didn't know.
For the first time in his life...
He realized just how large the world really was.
His foot caught something hidden beneath the snow.
Before he understood what had happened, the ground rushed toward him.
"Ah…"
He stumbled forward.
His hands struck the snow first, followed quickly by the rest of him.
A muffled grunt escaped his lips.
The forest fell quiet.
Kaavi stopped immediately.
He turned, retracing a few steps before offering Viktor a hand.
"You hurt?"
Viktor brushed snow from his sleeves before taking it.
"I'm okay."
Kaavi pulled him back onto his feet.
Only then did he pause. His eyes drifted upward.
The last light had disappeared beyond the mountains.
Night had settled over the forest without him noticing.
For a brief moment he stood completely still.
Then he exhaled softly.
"...Forgive me. I allowed myself to become distracted."
Gavril blinked.
"My attention remained ahead."
His gaze moved briefly toward Viktor before shifting into the forest once more.
"I should have called for us to stop sooner."
One of the ravens descended through the trees, circling once above them before gliding westward.
Kaavi watched it disappear between the pines.
"There."
He pointed toward the forest.
"There's shelter not far from here."
Gavril looked into the trees.
"I'll happily trust the bird if it means I get to stop walking."
For what felt like the first time all day, Kaavi's expression softened ever so slightly.
Together, the four of them stepped away from the old road and disappeared into the quiet forest, following the raven toward whatever shelter awaited beyond the trees.