Shadow engulfed us, bringing with it an unrelenting wave of bitterly cold air which numbed our limbs and dulled our senses. Although the land bade farewell to the icy sun, the empty landscape was lit by the omnipresent half-light we had come to accept as having no natural source.

'Another night passes, and still we have yet to see what you promised us,' grimaced Aikin, staring at Tuarantil's back resentfully. His brother did not turn but I saw his cheek crease with a cheerful smile.

'You are fortunate I came back, Aikin. I was the furthest away from the Stones I had ever been, but I still came back.'

'You came back out of curiosity. You didn't know that we would be there,' Aikin responded. He had a point. Tuarantil had told us of what had happened when we arrived: a thunderous crack from the billowing clouds above, a shudder to match its fury resounding in the bare earth below. And three figures lying side by side, with blood trickling from their noses.

'Don't listen to Aikin. We're grateful for what you did. If you hadn't come, we would likely have never left the Stones.' Apachuil shot a meaningful glance at Aikin, who shrugged and turned his attention back to the vast plains stretching out before us, losing himself in the monotonous search for something, anything, on the horizon.

I turned briefly to see how far we had travelled. A desolate landscape lay behind us, not so dissimilar from what we were crossing now. There was one major difference; six titanic stones shaped like unsheathed blades stood stark against the final glimmers of the setting sun, casting an oppressive shadow over the grey earth. Even from here, countless strides away, I could see the glossy black stone which formed it, the smooth, untarnished stone which speared into the sky.

The plinth which we had awoken on - even Tuarantil, though he was reluctant to admit that he had the same, inexplicable origins - was presumably still there as well, dark as the Stones themselves, and no less impervious to physical damage. We had wandered around it for so long, never daring to leave the sheltered haven the Stones provided. Outside, on the endless plains, was nothing worth caring about. There was nothing, not until a figure appeared on the plains, and eventually resolved itself into a slim, dark-haired boy who called himself Tuarantil. He said he had spent innumerable days retracing his footsteps to get here. He also introduced the concept of time to us, saying that it had come to him after many years in this land, and the idea of curiosity, which he proudly said had been with him from the beginning.

Tuarantil had persuaded us to come with him into the unknown swathes of land beyond the Stones, saying that he had been close to the Edge when we had arrived. We had yet to see this miraculous 'Edge', but according to our guide we were getting close.

'Here,' he said one day, gesturing to something on the ground. We all jostled around him, trying to see the first sign of Tuarantil's Edge, then stepped backwards in confusion.

'What is it?' Apachuil asked, tactfully ignoring the smug look on Tuarantil's face. Tuarantil enjoyed having more knowledge than the others, and made no secret of it.

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'Isn't it obvious?' he murmured, reaching down to caress the crystal flower with gentle finger strokes. 'It's a mistake.'

'A mistake?' Aikin regarded his brother irritably. 'A mistake?' he repeated, looking at me when it was clear that Tuarantil was too engrossed in the flower to pay any attention.

I crouched down and examined the flower, which stuck out from the hard dirt surrounding it with no companions in sight. 'Or it was left for us to find.'

The others looked at me critically. They didn't believe in any kind of higher being, anything or anyone that could have abandoned us on this empty world. I had developed that kind of thinking long before the others, but then again Aikin had discovered impatience before the rest of us, and Apachuil had found calm contemplation before even Tuarantil, who hadn't taken that very well. It was the way things were, in the beginning.

Dismissing me, Tuarantil spoke to the others gleefully. 'This far from the Stones, there begin to be... irregularities. Things out of place, new things, or old things once more, as you will soon see. It means that this place, which we walk through as I speak, is fading. We are approaching the Edge.'

That sparked a few questions, which he waved away with a smile. 'We have so much time to discuss this later. For now, watch,' he said almost conversationally.

A shrill cry shocked me out of my rumination, and I jumped back to see Aikin clutching his hand and whimpering.

'What are you doing?' Tuarantil said, craning his neck forwards to see what was going on.

Aikin raised his hand in reply. A thin trickle of red was leaking from the palm of his hand, dripping slowly onto the earth, which hungrily devoured it.

'He tried to... pick it,' Apachuil explained. 'Take it out of the ground.'

'You tried to pick it? You tried to take it?' Tuarantil's face took on a colour similar to Aikin's blood and his jaw tensed. 'Never do that again! Never again! You cannot take from the land! You should know that by now, you fool!'

'Remember that this may serve as a guide if more come like us,' Apachuil reminded him, in a considerably calmer manner. Aikin gave a forced laugh.

'I will be more careful, brother. I swear.'

We progressed in silence from that point on, except when Tuarantil deigned to point out small depressions in the ground of shards of black stone which Aikin judiciously did not try to pull out. Finally, we came to a slight rise in the ground, the first of its kind in this featureless landscape.

'We are getting close now,' Tuarantil said with relish. 'It has taken time, sure, but it has also granted me some companions to share my journey.' He grinned at us, seemingly having forgotten Aikin's earlier deed. 'We will now climb a series of inclines much like this one, but progressively steeper. From the summit of the final one, you will see our future.'

We pressed ahead with fervent anticipation and saw another rise a short distance ahead, just like Tuarantil had described. The final slope came into sight a few days later, its broken rim of stone hiding what was beyond.

Tuarantil was the first to step onto the peak, followed by Aikin and Apachuil. I cast one last, long look back at where we had come from. The Stones were no longer visible, only an infinite expanse of bleakness. I felt something odd in my chest: a certain lightness which had me moving gingerly to stop myself stumbling. My head pounding as much as my heart, I quietly joined them on the ridge.

A mass of dark, tapering spires greeted me, accompanied by elegant domes and high arched halls  split by winding streets. While my companions cheered and defiantly raised their fists to the sky, I observed the soundless streets and motionless gateways in silence.

'So this is what lies beyond the Stones,' I whispered.