The truck creaked and groaned as it forced its way through the thick, unyielding fog. Renn's hands were tight around the wheel, knuckles pale beneath his gloves, eyes scanning the faint markers jutting from the snow, the sticks that indicated the path. Even with the truck's lights on, the world outside seemed swallowed by white. The silence inside was only broken by the low hum of the engine and the soft crunch of snow beneath the tires.
Orrin shifted in his seat, peering into the swirling mist ahead. "Did anyone else hear that?" he asked cautiously. "When we started… the shouting. Behind us. From the Kaan."
Gray shook his head. "It's just the wind."
"No, I—" Orrin began, but Korr cut him off with a scoff. "Wind. Definitely wind. Don't make things worse than they are."
Orrin opened his mouth before slowly closing it again.
'I swear I could hear it...' he eventually let go of the thought, despite him being sure.
Gray was glancing back at where the village had disappeared behind the veil of fog, the faint glow of fire camps had long since faded. Even now, it tugged at him, not with fear, not with longing, but with a quiet emptiness. Without Varik, without the presence of a Rank Seven, the group felt lighter, yet somehow hollow. Gray swallowed and turned back to the window, eyes tracing the faintly marked path.
His first encounter with Varik wasn't very pleasant. But as time passed, he grew closer, and started to understand him. He started to sympathise with him.
'Thank you...' he could only thank him in his mind now.
The group were leaving Glacierfang, but it no longer felt like a place of danger alone. It had become something more, an uneasy sanctuary. The thought settled heavily in his chest.
Suddenly, a scrunching sound spread throughout the truck.
Lira was reaching for the folded map that had been tucked into the passenger side seat. The paper was old, frayed at the edges, the ink faded in places, but it was remarkably detailed. She spread it out across her lap, brushing the snow dust from her gloves. "We're on the western side of Glacierfang," she said, her voice cutting through the hum of the engine. "Not many mountains here, mostly flat snow fields. If we go too far east, we hit the ocean. That's where the terrain flattens into ice shelves."
Gray shook his head, attempting to focus.
He leaned over to catch a glimpse of the map.
"The next landmark," Lira continued, "is called the Cryostead. Looks like an old ice settlement or plateau, ridges of jagged ice, crystal formations that stretch like spires from the ground. If we can get through there, we can...leave." Lira's voice paused slightly at the last word.
Gray nodded silently, absorbing the detail. He couldn't help but feel the weight of their journey pressing down. A subtle unease lingered, a sense that the Cryostead was more than just a landmark.
"So…" Lira's voice dropped, curiosity and concern threading through her tone. "How did you, Korr, and Varik… manage the Pale Maw?" Her eyes flicked between Gray and Korr, lingering briefly on him.
Gray hesitated, the memory of the fight burning faintly behind his eyes. "We were mostly… helpless," he admitted quietly. "Until Varik...He used his affinity. Weight."
The words hung in the air. A faint ripple of confusion passed through Lira and the others. "Weight?" she repeated. "I thought affinities were… elements. Fire, water, earth, wind…"
Korr shrugged. "Apparently not. Varik shapes his Vyre differently. He changes its properties, like it's weight."
Gray looked down, thinking back to the surge of pressure, the air itself feeling heavier under Varik's control. That one decisive shift had allowed them to dominate the Pale Maw in moments, turning the creature's strength against itself. He had watched, utterly incapable of matching it, the raw power and control leaving him both awed and uneasy.
"I…" Gray swallowed. "I still don't fully understand it myself. But it worked."
The truck suddenly jolted, as it hit a hidden ridge beneath the snow.
Everyone struggled to hold on to their seats.
"Sorry!" Renn said as he barely kept himself from falling off his seat.
'Can't even drive...what's he good for anyway...' Korr frowned.
He adjusted his belt and brushed the snow from the floor, his hand caught on something solid. Frowning, he dug beneath his seat and pulled out a worn book, its edges frayed, leather cracked from age.
He opened it carefully, revealing drawings and notes, monster names, measurements, weaknesses. It looked like theirs, only older, more battered. "Varik's," he murmured, voice low. "A parting gift, I think."
Gray leaned over for a closer look. The care and precision in the sketches were unmistakable, the notes written with the same meticulous thought he had seen Varik apply to everything. Respect settled quietly in the truck, unspoken, but noticeable.
Lira folded the map back up and traced their path once more. "If we keep following this path, we'll reach the Cryostead in a few hours. Visibility will only get worse, and the wind will sharpen. The markers will be harder to see, so stay alert."
Gray's eyes drifted to the snowfields beyond the truck, the endless white stretching further than he could see. A chill ran through him that wasn't entirely the wind.
Gray could only ignore it.
"Winter comes fast," Lira said quietly, almost to herself. "If we linger too long, it could kill us out here."
Gray nodded, thinking of Varik and how the Kaan had warned them. The warning felt weightier now, the threat no longer abstract but intimately tied to every gust of wind and every frozen ridge they passed.
A sudden exhale of wind rattled the truck, the fog thickening. Gray shivered, not from cold alone. There was an unease, subtle and persistent, that crawled beneath his skin.
The path ahead twisted faintly, leading toward the jagged ice formations that Lira had pointed out. They were distant now, spectral shapes cutting through the fog.
"Do you think we're ready for the Cryostead?" Orrin asked, his voice quiet. "It looks… unforgiving."
Gray didn't answer. He only glanced at the ice ridges ahead, their crystalline edges glinting faintly in the dim light.
The truck rattled forward, tires crunching over snow and hidden ice. The wind picked up, carrying a biting chill that seeped through coats and gloves. The markers grew sparser, barely noticeable above the drifts. Gray's eyes darted between the faint sticks and the path ahead.
"Keep your eyes sharp," Renn called over the engine's roar. "I can't see more than a few meters at a time."
Gray leaned forward, feeling the weight of the journey pressing against him, the uncertainty of what awaited them in the Cryostead, and the quiet, persistent pull of survival.
His gaze swept the surrounding snowfields. The village they had left faded behind them, but not entirely from memory.
The truck moved slowly but steadily, the fog thickening, air growing sharper and colder with each meter. The Cryostead loomed ahead, ghostly spires of ice waiting silently, and with it, the weight of unknown challenges.
The air grew sharper still, frost creeping against the windows, condensing in delicate patterns that reflected the faint light. Gray exhaled slowly, the cold biting at his lungs.
The words disappeared almost instantly into the swirling white, carried away by the wind. Gray turned, straining to hear, but only the fog remained, the cold air pressing in from all sides. Varik bent forward, gripping his knees, taking a deep, steadying breath. The translator moved to his side, gently holding his arm.
"Best if we focus ahead," she said softly.
Gray nodded, eyes returning to the jagged ice ahead. The path stretched on, uncertain and dangerous, but for now, they moved in safety.