The fortified passage of Arkhel had disappeared.
Not completely.
From time to time...
enormous stone silhouettes emerged through the white.
They remained visible for a few seconds.
Then...
FWOOOOOSH!
The snow swallowed them again.
Above...
dense black clouds covered the sky.
The sunlight still tried to break through them.
But it did not reach the ground.
It was lost among the clouds...
and the countless layers of snow dragged by the wind.
There was no horizon.
A few meters away...
shapes emerged.
Disappeared.
Emerged again.
Stone.
Ice.
Debris.
Nothing remained visible for long.
Even the largest formations were reduced to indistinct shadows within the storm.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
Another mass of snow swept through the passage.
For a few moments...
everything disappeared into the white once again.
CLAAAAANG!
A spark broke through the blizzard.
Two silhouettes emerged beside it.
Close.
Blades crossed.
Then...
disappeared again.
CLANG!
The second impact came a few meters ahead.
One of the figures gave ground.
The other kept pressing forward.
One step.
Another.
The snow opened for an instant.
Roven emerged among the flakes.
His body remained low.
The two short blades followed his arms.
One in front.
The other drawn back beside his body.
Tazir entered his range.
The sword descended against his shoulder.
Roven stepped out of the line.
SHIIING!
The steel passed inches from his armor.
His first blade rose immediately.
Not against the sword.
Against the arm guiding it.
Tazir drew back his elbow.
Rotated his wrist.
CLANG!
The guard of his sword deflected the cut.
Roven had already adapted the movement.
The second blade came from below.
Straight for the ribs.
Tazir rotated on his own axis.
SHIIING!
The tip passed in front of his flank.
Barely.
His sword returned with the rotation.
Horizontal.
Against the neck.
Roven ducked.
FWOOSH!
The edge cut through the white above his head.
He did not rise.
He advanced.
The two blades came from different directions.
One took the center.
The other closed the escape to the side.
Tazir's eyes moved between them.
His body remained still until the last instant.
He took a single step.
CLANG!
The first blade was deflected.
SHIIING!
The second found only the blizzard.
Tazir had crossed the space between both.
Roven turned immediately.
Too late.
CLAAAAANG!
His left blade received the blow behind his body.
The impact traveled through his arm.
SCRRRT...
His footing slid over the ice.
The other hand was already moving.
Tazir retreated before the second blade could reach his abdomen.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
The snow swept through both of them.
Tazir disappeared.
Roven remained still.
The two blades lowered a few inches.
His single eye moved across whatever he could still distinguish through the storm.
Nothing.
Neither silhouette.
Nor shadow.
SHIIING!
To his right...
the sword appeared before the man.
Roven did not turn.
The short blade in his right hand rose alongside his body.
CLANG!
The impact deflected the sword a few inches from his neck.
Tazir emerged through the white.
Already advancing.
The pressure against the blade increased.
Roven yielded his arm.
Not his base.
SKRRRIIING...
He let Tazir's steel slide along his own.
The tip passed over his shoulder.
Roven's left hand was already coming from below.
Tazir saw it.
He drew back the sword.
Too late to maintain the distance.
SHIIING!
The second blade cut through the space before his abdomen.
Tazir drew back his hip.
The edge passed close to his clothes.
Roven advanced with it.
One step.
The first blade returned against the chest.
Tazir rotated the sword.
CLANG!
Deflected it outward.
The second came immediately after.
CLANG!
Another deflection.
Roven did not stop.
Right.
Left.
CLANG!
CLANG!
The blows began pushing Tazir through the snow.
Not through strength.
Through the interval.
Each defense met another blade before his sword could fully return to guard.
Tazir's eyes narrowed.
On the next blow...
he did not defend.
His foot left the line.
Roven's first blade passed beside him.
The second was already correcting its trajectory.
Tazir advanced against it.
The sword entered between the two weapons.
Rotated.
CLAAAAANG!
Roven's blades were forced open in opposite directions.
His center was exposed.
Tazir advanced.
Roven did not try to close his guard.
He drew back his leg.
THUD!
The sole struck Tazir's chest.
The entry was interrupted.
Roven used his own kick to throw his body in the opposite direction.
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
The two silhouettes disappeared inside the blizzard.
For a few seconds...
only the cold wind remained between them.
FWOOOOOSH...
Roven emerged first through the white.
The two blades remained low beside his body.
A few meters ahead...
Tazir appeared once again.
The black overcoat whipped behind his body.
Beneath it...
the white shirt remained open to the waist, leaving part of the black tattoos exposed among the snow.
His katana rested beside his body.
Between his lips...
the pipe remained unlit.
A thin layer of ice covered the end where there had once been an ember.
Tazir removed it from his mouth.
Brushed the ice away with his thumb.
Then...
he tucked it beneath his overcoat.
Neither of them advanced.
He watched Roven for a few moments.
His gray eyes briefly lowered to the two blades in his hands.
"The rumors were not entirely exaggerated."
Roven did not answer.
A faint smile touched Tazir's lips.
"At least in that, they did you justice."
His eyes moved away from him.
They traveled across the white that had swallowed the passage.
The smile remained.
"Which makes this even more interesting."
A snowflake landed on his shoulder.
Tazir followed it briefly with his eyes.
"According to Alaric..."
His eyes slowly rose toward the storm.
"none of the Five should be capable of governing the threads of the Flow of the World."
"I must admit that is particularly curious."
Roven remained still.
His single eye remained fixed on the white.
Beyond the snow...
countless translucent threads crossed the world.
"It seems Alaric was not the only one looking in the wrong place."
Tazir's eyes returned to him.
A small smile remained on his lips.
"Am I?"
Roven watched the threads for a few more moments.
"A Limit takes the Flow around it."
His voice remained low.
"Forces its threads to run according to the will of whoever raises it."
The snow crossed the space between them.
"Selvaria is not governing them."
Tazir remained silent.
His gaze once again traveled across the white.
This time...
it lingered.
"Then Alaric was right about your inability."
Roven did not answer.
Tazir's smile became slightly more evident.
"He simply does not seem to have understood how far that inability could be circumvented."
His voice remained calm.
"Since the Winter Valkyrie had the courtesy of demonstrating to us..."
His gray eyes narrowed slightly.
"that it is possible to interfere with the very threads of the Flow without ever governing them."
A brief laugh escaped his lips.
"I suppose Alaric is just as surprised as I am."
Tazir rotated the katana once between his fingers.
The long blade rested on his shoulder.
For an instant...
the inscriptions engraved along the steel emitted a faint glow.
"Now that we have clarified that..."
His gray eyes met Roven's single eye.
The smile remained.
"all that remains is to discover just how far that eye can truly see."
FWOOOOOOOOOSH!
The blizzard closed between them.
The glow of the inscriptions remained visible through the white.
Faint.
Still.
In a fraction of a second...
Tazir emerged to Roven's right.
Roven turned his face before he reached his side.
His left foot drew back over the ice.
His shoulders followed the movement.
His single eye kept Tazir at the center.
SHIIING!
The katana advanced directly against the hand wielding the right blade.
Roven drew back his fist.
The sword in his left hand crossed the katana's path.
CLANG!
The steels met.
Tazir did not press.
He rotated his wrist.
SKRRRIIING...
The edge slid along the short blade.
The tip left Roven's hand...
and advanced toward his throat.
Roven lowered his body.
The katana passed over his shoulder.
He advanced at the same instant.
Crossing through the range of the long blade.
The right blade returned from below.
Straight for the ribs.
Tazir drew back his elbow.
The katana's guard descended with the movement.
CLANG!
The metal struck the side of the short blade.
The thrust was deflected downward.
The tip tore through the snow beside Tazir's foot.
Roven tried to recover it.
The katana was already returning.
SHIIING!
The cut came from above.
Short.
Precise.
Roven crossed both blades before his shoulder.
CLAAAAANG!
The impact tore through his arms.
His feet slid half a step.
Tazir advanced while Roven's two blades still remained crossed.
Before Roven could separate them...
the katana broke contact.
The tip descended immediately toward his forward knee.
Roven withdrew his leg.
The steel found only the white.
But as he drew his foot back...
his base narrowed.
Tazir rotated his wrist.
The low cut became an upward one.
Roven tilted his torso.
SHIIING!
The edge passed before his chest.
Opened a shallow line across his armor.
Before he could respond...
the tip was already before his left hand.
Roven interrupted the attack.
Drew back his arm.
One step backward.
Tazir followed.
Roven's right blade began to rise.
The katana changed direction before the right blade left Roven's side.
The tip advanced toward his wrist.
Roven had to draw it back.
The left sword tried to occupy the opening.
The katana crossed its path.
Roven withdrew that hand as well.
Another attack died before it could begin.
He retreated again.
Then once more.
It was not the strength of the katana that pushed him back.
Tazir did not strike where Roven was.
He struck the spaces Roven would need in order to react.
One cut closed his right.
The tip occupied the center.
The next step closed the escape to the left.
Every time one of the short blades began to leave guard...
the katana already occupied its path.
Roven had to withdraw it before Tazir reached his hand.
Little by little...
the two weapons were prevented from completing the movement they had begun.
Roven's heel touched a rise in the ice.
CRACK...
Tazir advanced.
The katana remained low.
The tip aligned with the center of Roven's body.
He did not retreat.
His right shoulder advanced.
Tazir's tip abandoned the center at the same instant.
Advanced toward the wrist...
before the right blade could strike.
But the sword remained low beside Roven's body.
He had offered the beginning of a thrust.
Nothing more.
Roven lowered his center.
His knees bent.
The left blade left alongside his hip.
And rose diagonally.
SHIIING!
Tazir drew back his hip.
The edge cut through his overcoat below the ribs.
The black fabric opened.
The skin remained intact.
Even so...
Roven had crossed through the katana's range.
The right blade came immediately after.
Horizontal.
Against the abdomen.
Tazir did not retreat.
He advanced diagonally...
toward the arm from which the blow came.
Entered the attack before the arm could extend.
With no space to complete the arc...
the short blade grazed his clothes.
It found no depth.
The hand wielding the katana slid along the grip.
Moved closer to the guard.
The steel became vertical between them.
The pommel descended against Roven's right forearm.
THUD!
The armed arm was deflected downward.
In the same movement...
Tazir rotated his wrist.
The long blade descended alongside his body.
The edge advanced toward Roven's left shoulder.
He raised the sword he held in that hand.
CLANG!
The block stopped the cut.
Tazir did not contest strength.
He tilted the katana.
SKRRRIIING...
The edge slid along the short blade.
Left the point of contact.
Passed along the side of the defense...
and cut through the strap holding Roven's shoulder protection.
SHRAAK!
The piece of metal came loose.
CLANG...
It fell onto the ice.
Roven's single eye remained on Tazir.
His right arm was already returning.
The short blade advanced against Tazir's thigh.
He withdrew his leg.
SHIIING!
The tip reached only the edge of his overcoat.
Tazir took a single step back.
Roven advanced with him.
He did not allow him to regain the katana's range.
The two blades moved at the same time.
The left came high.
Toward the neck.
The right followed the lower line.
Against his leg.
The katana rose diagonally.
CLAAAAANG!
The steel deflected the left blade outward.
The right continued advancing.
Tazir raised his knee.
SHIIING!
The edge passed beneath his leg.
Before Roven could withdraw it...
THUD!
Tazir's foot struck his chest.
Roven's body was thrown toward the rise of ice.
His rear foot found the sloped surface.
CRACK!
His knee bent before his back struck the formation.
Roven absorbed the remaining momentum.
Used the formation as support and launched his body back.
FWOOSH!
Tazir was still drawing back the leg used for the kick when Roven returned.
The left blade advanced against his neck.
Tazir's gray eyes followed the edge.
No surprise appeared in them.
Only...
the same smile.
"So that's as far as your eye can see."
Tazir advanced.
Into the blow.
SHIIING!
The short blade passed alongside his face.
A line of blood appeared on his cheek.
Tazir did not interrupt his step.
His body had already crossed through the arc of the blow.
Roven realized it.
The second blade moved immediately.
Straight against his flank.
Tazir rotated his wrist.
The katana descended.
CLANG!
The blow was thrown outward.
Roven corrected his base.
Too late.
Tazir was already too close.
The katana did not return to guard.
It slid beneath the deflected blade.
SHRAAK!
The edge opened Roven's right forearm.
Blood splattered across the white.
Roven retreated.
One step.
Then another.
The two blades remained in his hands.
The cut was not deep.
It had not reached the bone.
Nor compromised the muscle.
Even so...
Tazir did not advance.
Roven slowly raised his face.
The smile remained on the man's lips before him.
For an instant...
the inscriptions engraved along the katana emitted a glow once again.
Faint.
Almost imperceptible.
Around the wounded arm...
the translucent threads of the Flow of the World trembled.
Once.
Roven's single eye narrowed.