Ein wakes up and calls out to Rev “wake up Rev we must eat a hardy breakfast to prepare ourself for the what lies ahead.”
Rev eyes shoot open, looking straight up at Ein standing over him.
“Thank you twin gods for the meal. We will not let any of it go to waste,” Ein prays.
They finish their breakfast, and Ein starts packing up.
“We have food for 1 more meal. We will have to catch or gather food if we want to eat dinner tonight,” Ein tells Rev.
Rev smiles as he stands in the doorway. “Good,” he says.
Ein chuckles “eager are we?”
Rev steps out of the shelter and looks up at the doubting mountain.
“So…how exactly are we going to get up there?” Rev asks.
Ein finishes packing up and steps out tower over Rev. “No need to complicate things,” Ein says as he presses his hand against the mountainside.
Rev gives a confused look “That-”
the mountain's side begins to shake as stone steps pop out from the side of it.
“Woah…hey why don’t you just pillar us both up to the top?” Rev asks.
Ein laughs “arts that transform the source into different material are known for their high source count. This is especially apparent when you're creating something as dense as stone. If you mess up on a small part, it could all come crumbling down. It's much safe and source efficient to create steps in place where we would not regularly be able to climb up.” Ein explains to Rev.
“Oh…” Rev says
“Well, no time to waste on thinking about what could be. Let's focus on what we know we can do,” Ein tells Rev.
Ein then takes the first step up the mountain. Rev tries to follow behind, but the step gab between the steps is much more apparent for Rev than they are for Ein. Ein looks over. He should see Rev to his surprise right behind him.
“eager we are indeed,” Ein says.
“Keep it moving old man,” Rev calls out to Ein.
Ein laughs and keeps moving up until he reaches the top of the cliff. Ein gets on a knee and helps Rev up. Rev looks up, seeing a little change in his perspective. The task ahead shows its true difficulty.
“It’s like we didn’t move up at all, but…” Rev looks over the edge, seeing that he's higher than most of the top of the trees below.
Ein starts to incline the walk up and Rev follows close behind. The rock crackled and shifted below them with every step. Ein steps are steady and Rev was precious from his time in the city jumping from roof top to roof top.
“I’m surprised with your balance Rev,” Ein says.
“I’d be worried about your own balance. I’m sure I’d die if you fell on me,” Rev responds.
Ein laughs “I’ll be sure to watch my every step then”
The journey is long and repetitive. Each step starts to hurt more than the last. It's nothing like walking on the flat plains or soft forest floor. The incline never seems to end, only grow. The rocks below every step are of difference sizes and shapes. And above all else, the higher they get, the colder it becomes. Rev’s body is kept warm but face feels like it's stained with frost. His lips shiver and the tip of his nose feels numb. Ein's breath is heavy, but his steps are steady.
“Would you like to eat-”
“YES” Rev quickly responds.
Ein is relieved himself. “Watch out Rev am going to create a plate below us, then create the shelter on top of it.”
Rev watches intently as Eins source zooms through his body and he flashes through hand signs creating a plate from held up by pillars then the walls rise from every corner.
“There” Ein steps in to check how stable it is “Come in its safe” Ein tells Rev.
Rev walks in feeling instantly warmer as the wind is no longer hitting him. Rev lets out a breath of relief as he sticks against the wall and curl up in a ball in his cloak. Ein gets the food ready and serves Rev a plate.
“Rev will you do the honors” Ein Asks.
“Sure, thank you twin gods for the meal. We will differently not let any go to waste.” Rev prays.
Ein nods his head and adds to it. “Yes, and we pray that you will provide us with future meals.”
Rev gives Ein a look. “You just ask them for things?”
Ein responds “Of course, but in the end it will be done, whether I like it or not. I am just a humble servant. This does not mean that my faith is pointless, as my faith is what connects me with the twin gods. If I were to be faithless, then I would be denying myself of future blessings. For even the cursed can ask for forgiveness. As the blind man through faith will be given better vison than those born with it.”
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Rev act as if he understood him. Ein looks at Rev’s confused face.
“Don’t worry, faith is not something you wake up one day and choose to do. It’s something that grows with you overtime.” Ein explains.
Rev is destroying his food, but looks up to nod at what Ein said. Ein laughs and digs in to his own food. They finish up and after not walking for a while, the pain in Rev’s legs becomes more apparent, but he tries not to show the pain. Rev follows behind Ein as they continue their ascension. Step by step, the higher they go, the stronger the winds. Ein makes a good wind block for Rev, but the cold still gets to him.
“The clouds seem closer, don’t they?” Ein asks.
“I guess..” Rev voice is shaky.
It quickly fades to pitch darkness. As the sun’s light can no longer reach them. At least the wind has slightly calmed down, but not by much. Ein quickly creates a smaller stone shelter.
“The smaller it is, the more heat we will be able to trap inside hopefully,” Ein says, but the cold doesn’t seem to affect him too much.
Rev, on the other hand, is quick to enter the shelter and curl up in the corner. Rev was too cold that night to remember they didn’t get any food. Rev woke up if you can call it that as sleep was a distant dream that night for Rev. Ein, on the other hand, slept fine immediately got out of the shelter and looked up. The clouds were darker than before.
“It seems rain is upon us. Well, nothing we can’t handle right Rev.” Ein says turning back to see Revs disheveled appearances.
Ein pats Rev’s head “lighten up. The path ahead is full of blessing. I'm confident”
“It’s so cold…why don’t you make some fire,” Rev suggests.
Ein laughs “Fire?…” Ein looks at Rev’s wide-eyed face “Oh you're being serious” Ein says.
Rev shivers walking after Ein “Of course I am. Come on, can’t you create some fire?” Rev asks.
“No Rev I can not. Fire is the element of chaos. There are few try to learn it and even fewer the can use it without hurting themself.” Ein explains.
“Oh…” Rev can barely speak, his lips shivers violently.
Rev covers his mouth with his cloak, feeling the warm fur relax him. They keeping moving forward. Rev knees are shaky and steps are heavy. The dark cloud become closer and closer. Ein creates steps and handholds as the mountain train gets harder to navigate. The winds have picked up. Rev has covered most of his face in his cloak, using his eyes to see through the fabric at to see the source glowing in Ein. The rain starts pouring down; the rocks become slippery. There's no way around it. They need to wait it out. Ein creates a stone shelter. Rev quickly takes refuge in it. Rev's cloak is soaked, but his body remains relatively dry.
“How long do you think the rain will last?” Rev asks.
“Hard to tell, but it could be an hour or more,” Ein responds.
Rev signs and takes his cloak off, trying to let it dry. Ein sets his backpack down and wraps a small blanket around Rev.
“Sorry, it's all we have,” Ein says.
“Thank you,” Rev says a faint smile appearing on his face.
“You took the heat so well, but the cold seems to be your weakness,” Ein says.
Rev is silent for a moment “My first memory was of the cold…it wasn’t a good memory” Rev says looking down at the floor.
The memories come flooding back. The icy wind that filled his room. The cries of his mother, then the taste of her blood. He can’t stop it.
“rev”
The winds were so strong and that voice. He heard a voice.
“Rev”
There was someone there. Someone who did this to him. Someone that left him alive just to suffer.
“REV”
SOMEONE WHO CURSED HIM AND EVERTHING HE TOUCHES.
“REEVV!!” Ein screams, shaking Rev.
His body is as cold as a corpse. “REV!” Ein hugs him tight and release source into him.
Rev’s eyes shoot open to an unfamiliar feeling. His vision is blurring. He touches his hand to his face. He’s crying, pouring tears from his face as if he's the rain outside. He clears his eyes quickly now, clearly seeing what Ein was doing. The source from his body went into Revs. He tries to push him off.
“STOP!!” Rev shouts.
Ein's grip releases for a moment, seeing Rev’s face. He then pulls him in closer.
“Blessed…” Ein whispers.
“Get off of me old man,” Rev says, his voice still shaky.
Ein can’t help but apologize.“Am sorry Rev, I didn’t know I was pushing you too far. It’s just I saw you were so strong up until here. Am sorry Rev, am so sorry.”
Rev face heats up as he hears Ein words. “Shut up old man, am fine” He says.
Rev's heart is pounding as if it's trying to leave his body with every beat. He felt a wave of draining emotions crashing over him, but Ein had just pulled him out. This time Rev realised he was truly not alone in his fight.
…WH-
Rev reaches up to Ein’s head and pushes down with all his might.
OOSH!
The wind blew away the top of the shelter. The rain comes pouring in. Rev looks up then down, there lies the Barrow. its wings are too wet it can’t fly. Rev eyes ignite as he cast a full power wind spear and sends it hurling towards to beast.
“bang…”
SHROOM!!..
The spear fly there, the harsh wind piercing a hole right through the Barrow’s head. Rev can’t help but smile as he runs over to it. Jumping from rock to rock, making sure not to slip. Ein runs after him, creates steps so rev can safely climb down.
“THANK YOU TWIN GODS!!! YOUR BLESSINGS SHALL NOT GO TO WASTE,” Ein calls out.
He then grabs the beast's body and walks back to the shelter and rebuilds it. Rev's body is still buzzing with pure adrenaline. Ein makes quick soup of the beast using the small amount of wood he gathered in the forest to create a fire, but it's not strong enough.
“The fire is so weak-”
Rev sticks his hand in the fire and slowly releases air. Rev had run into this problem before in the city, but had quickly learned how fire works. The same thing that could blow it out could also be used to grow its flame.
Ein is stunned “Rev don’t…”
“Its fine really it doesn’t hurt at all it's actually feels really good…” Rev says as a thought crossed his mind.
Ein looks at Rev's hand. It doesn't seem to be being damaged in any way. “Wow, the legends are true. It was said that dark elfs where immune to even the flames of dragons. In all honesty, I couldn’t believe such a thing could be real. Even normal flames can harm elves, even those who are said to be blessed.
Rev laughs “So much for being blessed” Rev says as he plays with the flame.
He cures it around his arm as he using source to move it around.
“So…warm” Rev whispers.
Ein continues cooking the soup, still in disbelief at what he’s seeing. Finally, the food is ready with no time to waste.
“Thank you twin gods for the meal. We will not let any of it go to waste.” Rev proudly says.
As he digs in to meal with the flame still wrapped around his arm. The night quickly comes, and the rain becomes snow as it stacks on top of the shelter and lays a thick blanket on the mountain. Rev had slept much better that night, leaving his cloak out and shirt off as he cover his self in flames to dry off his cloth. It was draining, but well worth it in his eyes.