The mountain greeted her with silence, an unbroken stillness that pressed against her ears as Hine placed one booted foot on the narrow cliffside trail. The path curved like a cruel ribbon along the face of the jagged peak, so thin that the earth itself seemed to hesitate to hold her weight. Far below, the gorge yawned open, swallowing the remnants of fog in its endless throat.
The shard at her side pulsed faintly, its warmth steady, as if offering courage. She tightened her gloves and adjusted the rope around her waist, its free end tied firmly to the stone spike Kaien had taught her to plant at key intervals. Her breath came sharp in the frigid air, her chest tightening with each inhale.
"This is madness," she whispered to herself, the words lost to the wind that whipped past her face. Yet her legs moved, each step precise, deliberate.
Behind her, the Silent Soul followed. His boots made no sound, but she could feel his presence like a shadow at her back, his hood obscuring everything but that faint silver glint beneath it.
"You do not have to prove anything," he said, his voice almost carried away by the wind.
Hine gritted her teeth. "Yes, I do. You will not take me seriously until I do."
There was a pause, as if he were considering her words, before he said nothing more.
The trail narrowed further, the stone crumbling in places where frost had burrowed deep and broken the edges loose. One slip would send her plummeting into the abyss. She focused on her breathing, steady and even, counting the steps the way Lurya had taught her during her first climbs.
One. Two. Three. Pause. Look for the next foothold.
But then, the wind shifted. A sudden howl tore through the gorge, so strong it almost knocked her off balance. She pressed her body against the cold rock, heart pounding, nails digging through the gloves into her palms. Tiny shards of ice cut across her cheeks like thrown needles.
She waited. The wind eased for a moment, only to surge again, testing her grip, testing her resolve.
"Go back," the Silent Soul said, his tone sharp this time.
She shook her head without looking at him. "If I go back, I'll never make it to the summit. I can't turn around now."
The trail thinned again until it was little more than a jagged lip of stone hugging the cliff wall. One wrong move and she would vanish into the dark nothing below. She planted the next anchor point into the frozen rock, her hands trembling from cold and fear, but she forced them steady, hooking the rope and testing its weight before inching forward again.
Each step was agony, not for the body but for the mind. Every instinct screamed at her to retreat, to find safer ground, but her will drove her forward. She thought of her sister, her smile, the promise she had made when the world had taken her away. The thought of her was a fire that burned even in the frozen air.
Halfway through the pass, the cliff betrayed her.
The rock beneath her foot cracked.
Hine's body reacted before her mind processed what was happening. She threw her weight forward, grasping at the next ledge with her gloved hands. Pain shot up her arms as her body slammed against the stone, her legs dangling over the abyss. The rope tightened, holding but not stable, groaning against the anchor point behind her.
She dangled for a breathless second, the wind screaming in her ears.
Then she heard his voice.
"Do not look down."
She didn't. She focused on the stone, the rough texture beneath her fingertips, the icy sting against her skin.
"Pull yourself up," the Silent Soul instructed, his voice calm, steady, almost hypnotic.
Her muscles screamed in protest, but she forced her arms to move, inch by inch, until her body was pressed flush against the narrow ledge once again. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her vision blurring at the edges.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The mountain loomed silent, the weight of her near fall settling deep into her bones. Then she rose again, slowly, deliberately, her legs shaking but steadying with each step forward.
The Silent Soul followed, keeping his distance but close enough that she could feel the strange weight of his presence.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the path widened into a small platform of solid stone. Hine collapsed to her knees, her hands gripping the icy surface as if it were the only thing tethering her to the world. Her chest heaved as the adrenaline drained from her, leaving behind raw exhaustion.
"You are reckless," he said, his voice colder now.
She tilted her head back to look at him, her hair clinging to her damp, sweat-soaked face. "And you are quiet. That does not mean I am wrong to try."
His hood tilted slightly, as though he were studying her. "Why do you fight so hard?"
"Because she's my sister," Hine said, the words sharp, carved from the steel in her chest. "Because no one else will."
The Silent Soul regarded her in silence for a long time. Then, without a word, he reached out a gloved hand and helped her to her feet.
The rest of the climb was quieter. The path still tested her, the biting cold still dug into her bones, but something in her had shifted. Her fear had not disappeared, but it had been tempered by the fire that burned brighter now, hotter than before.
Hours later, as dusk bled into night, they reached a ridge overlooking the valley below. The sky glowed with muted pink and purple, the last light clinging stubbornly to the world before vanishing. Hine sank onto a flat stone, her body trembling from exhaustion but her eyes alight with triumph.
"You will break yourself before this ends," the Silent Soul said quietly.
"Maybe," Hine replied, her gaze fixed on the distant peaks still veiled in shadow. "But I will not stop. Not until I find her."
The shard pulsed once at her side, as if echoing her resolve.
The Silent Soul turned his gaze toward the horizon, his expression hidden beneath the shadow of his hood. "Then the mountain will know your name."
Hine let the words settle into the stillness around them. The path ahead would be harder, more unforgiving than anything she had endured so far. But as the night deepened and the stars began to pierce the velvet sky, she felt something she had not felt in a long time.
Hope.