A valley as dark and as misty as the jagged mountains arose at the end of the snowy pathway.

Hain looked up at the blood-red sun, which no longer shone bright. A shiver ran down his spine and made him hesitate. The whistling wind was the only sound that cut through the prevailing silence. Not even the calls of birds pierced through and eased the eerie atmosphere.

Everything became still. Fayr itself held its breath and went mute. The second he set foot in this dark landscape blanketed in patches of fog and hills of snow, all life went up into smoke and faded away.

The raven people hovered above the valley and cawed, urging him to hurry and venture further into the darkness ahead.

Hain averted his gaze and gulped hard. His heart raced out of control and his palms became sticky with sweat. What was this place?

But the ravens did not respond, although they heard his doubts as clear as day. Instead, they pierced through his soul with their menacing eyes and threatened him to pick up his pace and go to the end of the valley.

The merciless wind hit his face as though every blast was made of ice, slashing into his skin like thousands of sharp needles. He pulled up his shoulders and chafed his arms. Why did it become so cold all of a sudden? His ears and hands grew numb in a breath and became bright red.

But the moment he set foot in the misty valley, the icy cold let up and the whistling wind no longer reached him. Neither the cold nor the wind dared to follow him into the unknown.

Hain looked around himself with bated breath, trying to catch something – anything – in the pitch-black darkness before him. But no matter where he looked, all he saw was the suffocating murk.

Scuffing his feet along the fading pathway through the valley, his shallow breathing grew louder and louder, so that it was the only sound that reached his perked-up ears.

Halfway through the valley, he shifted his gaze from the murk to the sky above. How was that even possible, he thought to himself and knitted his brows. It was as if the mountains lifted the sky higher than it was supposed to be to keep it as far away from the valley as possible.

As this thought took over his dire mind, he looked over his shoulder and noticed that the wind morphed into a living shade and lingered at the threshold of the valley, relentlessly trying to reach him. It whispered words of warning and begged him to get out of the dark before it was too late to rue the day.

But Hain never got the chance to hear the whispers. The raven people charged through the massive shade repeatedly, slashing through the howling wind with their beaks to get rid of it.

The necklace tucked under his shirt came alive right then and illuminated everything around him like thousands of fireflies trapped within it.

Before he knew it, a snow-capped outcrop stood just inches from him. It was so black that it blended into the darkness and was barely visible until now.

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He backed away so fast that he almost lost his footing and tumbled to the wet ground. His heart skipped several beats as he tried to calm down his nerves.

Something was carved on the mysterious outcrop with golden letters. He traced every line with his finger. It was written in the same language as that book he found in the secret library back in Lárhus.

He knitted his brows as he repeated those arcane words for a second time. What at first appeared as some random words put together now sounded like some kind of message for someone or something.

And for some reason, he knew that the moment he uttered those words aloud, there was no turning back. But what choice did he even have at this point?

Those ravens got rid of the wind! The wind, for crying out loud! Even if he put up a fight and tried to flee this instance, the outcome was still the same!

This was a losing battle and the only way he could survive was to play his part in this wicked scheme and don’t do anything reckless.

What he or the ravens hovering above him did not know, however, was that this was a trap. Only the mountains themselves knew what awaited the boy as soon as those words slipped from his lips.

“Crush and crack like the roaring wind,

Draw closer and close the gap,

And maybe I’ll be your death.”

Hain fell on his four.

The earth quaked beneath his feet. He looked up at the mountains on either side of the valley with shivering fear and darting eyes. W- what was going on?

The snow-capped mountains drew closer and closer with each passing second, deliberately trying to trap him in the valley and squeeze him to death. It was as if an invisible force towed them to the middle!

He had to run to the other side before it was too late! But his legs were numb and he couldn’t get a move on. Shutting his eyes with a grimace, awaiting the worst, many thoughts ran through his head at that moment. Memories of his life in Mazheven flashed through his mind before the more recent ones back in Lárhus took over. Was this really the end?

He snapped his eyes open. No! Even if this was the end, he refused to die without putting up a fight!

With this thought taking over his distraught mind, he sprinted with all his might. A loser he might be but not one who threw in the towel this easily!

A smile of victory crossed his face as he closed in on the other side of the valley. So close now! If only he could sprint faster…!

But as if the mountains knew what was running through his head, they picked up the pace and drew so close that Hain was forced to slow down and slide sideways through the narrowing gap between the mountains on either side.

He pushed his way forwards despite his bones cracking from the relentless force. He was so close to the end of the valley now that he could literally lift his arm and feel the wind brush against his numb fingers.

He stopped moving.

Everything became blurry and the searing pain left him speechless. He gave in and collapsed yet he did not fall to the ground. He was stuck right between the mountains in an upright position. Until he no longer was. The mountains came to a sudden halt and retreated.

As everything blacked out briefly, his teary eyes landed on the raven hybrid cawing at him, saying words to either curse him or soothe his slowing heartbeat.

When he regained his senses, he was no longer on the ground but flying through the fast-moving clouds. A pair of dark eyes stared back at him as he looked upwards.

It was that raven again. It kept repeating something over and over, yet his bleeding ears caught nothing in the prevailing silence.

For once, the raven hybrid did not scare him. Its eyes were fraught with worry and the line between its brows was a witness to its distressed mind.

He passed out for good this time.

Trak crossed the menacing mountains, which only heeded the command of their master, and flew towards Gam’atron on the other side of the valley.

At the top of the black tower, a dark figure looked at it through the lancet, watching it carry the boy with a cold and expressionless face.

It was doomed. No creature acted on its own will and certainly not without getting permission from its master first. But seeing the mountains move so suddenly in an attempt to off the boy it watched over for many moons, it was so taken aback that it couldn’t help but step in.