It took two days for the entire party to reach solid ground. The entire walk felt more like a drag with Haur and Nocipel constantly veering off to the north. After the third time they were called on it, D’Argen walked between the two in the long column.
The first step Nocipel took on solid land, she felt it and her shoulders dropped. It looked like the weight of all the stars in the night sky had settled on her back. She waved it away by saying it was due to the lack of water under her feet.
When they saw a huge bear, its fur so white that it almost disappeared completely into the landscape, the mortals cheered. Haur finally relented. D’Argen told them about the pillar though, so they kept going further inland for another day.
The thin line on the horizon, rising from the ground and disappearing into a cloudless sky, became thicker and thicker the closer they got to it. With every step, Nocipel swayed. With every glance, Haur hesitated. The closer they got, the quieter Yaling and Abbot became.
Once the base of the pillar was within sight, even Thar slowed his steps. It was not until they were barely a few meters from the base of it though that D’Argen finally felt what the others did. The mortals were clamouring, loud and excited, bouncing on their feet and wanting to get closer. Haur had a permanent scowl, Nocipel was visibly sweating, Yaling’s pale skin was tinged even lighter as if she was sick, Abbot was high and staring at the sky in a daze, and Thar was frozen solid on the spot.
D'Argen felt a push inside him. Something was telling him to take a step back. His mahee wanted to open up and run, all the way back to the ship and even further, back to Evadia. His feet were itching the same way they had after a few weeks in the castle. His entire body was itching to go.
“It is ice, be careful,” Thar’s voice boomed over the crowd just as a few mortals rushed the pillar.
D’Argen scratched at where the fur under his metal bracers was tickling at his wrist. It felt wet, sticking to his fingers as if covered in sweat. He bounced on the spot.
Lilian walked right past him and then the group of mortals clamouring to get closer. They walked with a surety D’Argen had not seen since before they fell into the water.
“Lilian—”
“I got it,” Lilian interrupted Thar’s warning without looking back at him. They did not stop until they were barely a few steps away from the base of the pillar.
D’Argen could not concentrate, his eyes darting between Lilian’s small back, the group of mortals, and the horizon. He could barely look at the pillar for more than a second before his eyes were drawn away. A groan from behind him gave him an excuse to turn around.
Haur was crouched low to the ground, a hand covering his face as if in pain. Nocipel crouched beside him to ask something quietly and Haur shook his head.
“Should we go on?” D’Argen asked, loud enough to be heard.
Both Haur and Nocipel looked up at him with what looked like hope in their eyes. The mortals around them started clamouring immediately.
“We should set up camp. Rest. Find food,” one of the mortal men said.
“This is as a good marker as any,” another mortal added on with a wave towards the pillar.
“We should rest. We’re all tired,” yet another mortal said their opinion.
Haur dropped his head again to hide his face behind his hands.
D’Argen looked over the crowd. He had not seen the mortals this energized since they first left the ship. Trekking through the flat ice for so long made most of them lose their spirits. Now, they had their second wind. The Never Born, on the other hand, all looked like they were in pain.
Thar caught his eyes and they locked for a moment. D’Argen wanted to ask him something, figure out what was happening, maybe even… he turned to look at Haur and without realizing used his mahee to stand right beside the man in the blink of an eye.
“Is it your mahee?” D’Argen asked quickly, the words spilling out. “Is it telling you to go? Something’s wrong? Something’s going to happen?”
“No. Yes. Everything,” Haur replied. He peeked over his hand to look past D’Argen and his eyes narrowed as if in anger. “What is this thing?”
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D’Argen shrugged, refusing to turn around to look at it.
“Lilian! No!” Thar’s shout, however, had him turning so fast that he nearly lost balance.
Lilian was standing on the ice right beside the pillar, hand out to touch the stone. The moment it touched, D’Argen felt something inside him scream. He had to go. Now. He had to run. Get away from here. As fast as possible. Take everyone. First, he would take Lilian. Then—
A wall of ice shot up so fast that it looked like a blur, creating a barrier between the pillar and Lilian and forcing them to pull their hand back. Lilian turned around in surprise and then glared at Thar. They looked so angry. Thar marched up to them with a determined step. When he reached out to grab them, Lilian evaded the touch by stepping away. Thar dropped his hand, stepped away, and then tapped the ground with a foot. When he stepped away, the ice under him broke apart completely, becoming tiny shards that floated on the surface of still water for a moment before either sinking under or melting completely.
The break in the ice circled all around creating a gap of at least one meter around the pillar.
D’Argen realized the stone was black. And it was not smooth. His vision started blurring when he tried to focus and that ringing inside his mahee, that something telling him to get away, moved to behind his eyeballs. He closed his eyes tight with a groan. Rubbing against his closed eyes helped relieve some of the pressure.
“We have to get away from here,” Nocipel said from behind him. “There is… there is something wrong with that thing.”
“What is it?” D’Argen growled out the same question Haur had asked earlier.
“I do not know, but it sings like nothing else,” Yaling said. D’Argen startled, opening his eyes to look at her. He had not realized how close she was until she spoke. When he looked at her, she cringed and stuck a finger in one of her ears, wiggling it around. “It is so high-pitched it actually hurts. Can you not hear it?”
D’Argen was the first to shake his head but not the only one.
“I hear nothing, but it is too bright to look at,” Abbot added, his eyes squinted even though the rest of his body was loose and relaxed. He brought up his pipe and pulled a long drag, blowing the smoke right in front of him.
“It affects our mahee. Somehow.” Nocipel was rubbing at his neck with both hands as if giving himself a massage. He stopped when Thar stepped closer to them. “Thar? What do you feel? You can get closer to it.”
“Not as close as Lilian,” Thar replied quietly, his eyes straying over his shoulder to where Lilian was sitting in the snow, staring at the thing. “D’Argen?”
“I got it,” D’Argen replied without being prompted further. It was only after he walked away that he realized they were maybe asking for his opinion. He did not turn back even though his feet itched. Instead, he walked right up to Lilian. “What is it?”
Lilian did not reply but did twist their head back to look up at him. They left their throat and chest completely bare to the pillar.
“Do you not feel it?” Lilian finally asked.
“All of us feel something different. It’s telling us to get away. Not you though. Lilian… what is it?”
Lilian dropped their head back and returned to staring at the pillar. After long moments of silence, they finally said, “I do not know.”
D’Argen wanted to scoff but he held it in. Instead, he turned with his back to the pillar. It felt a little less invasive this way.
“It looks like a book,” Lilian said.
D’Argen startled into turning around. It was not that the stone was not smooth. It was carved. He concentrated only for a moment before his vision started blurring once more and his head started pounding. He closed his eyes tight. “Come. We have to discuss about camp and… whatever that thing is.”
Lilian hummed but did not move. D’Argen turned to walk away and only after five steps did Lilian stand to follow him. The two arrived back to where the rest of the Never Born were.
“There seem to be inhabitants on this land,” Haur announced, loud enough for a few mortals to hear them. Most of them were circling the pillar or sitting and facing it. They looked entranced.
“So it would seem,” Nocipel confirmed with a nod. “I have not felt anything but it is possible.”
“Not only possible, but it has to be. That thing is carved,” D’Argen added in, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to point back at the pillar.
“Carved? With what?”
“I do not recognize the letters,” Lilian answered Haur’s question. “It could be a language that formed completely separate from all languages that we know in Trace.”
“Possible. And likely. I do not like being near it,” Haur said.
The others agreed with murmurs and nods.
“The mortals do,” Lilian contradicted them.
“I do not want them near it either,” Haur said with a growl in his voice, anger leaking out.
“Thar’s little intervention will keep them from touching it,” Lilian once more answered. They sounded annoyed though and when D’Argen looked at them, they were glaring at Thar.
“You touched it. Did you feel anything?” D’Argen asked.
Lilian turned their glare from Thar to D’Argen. It took a few heartbeats before it softened and they smiled. “No. Just cold.”
D’Argen winced. Something was very wrong.
“It affects our mahee. We cannot stay here,” Haur announced. “We will make camp further away from it. Keep it within sight but… not this close.”
“You think the mortals will agree?” Lilian asked.
The rest hesitated.
Finally, Thar stepped into the conversation. “There is no food here. Not near this thing. If they want to eat, we make camp further out.”
Haur nodded quickly and pointed at Thar as if putting him on display. The others all agreed. Very quickly. All but Lilian.
“It is settled. There? Higher ground?” Haur pointed past the pillar where the flat ground had a small hill, barely tall enough to be anything other than a larger mound of snow, but far enough away to feel safe. The rest nodded then split up, informing and collecting the mortals.
D’Argen grabbed Lilian’s arm before they could go too. Once they were alone, he looked down at them and asked again, “Did you feel anything when you touched it?”
Lilian smiled, nodded, then shook their arm out of D’Argen’s loose grasp and walked away.