Eventually, they came to the end of the road and had to start making their journey on foot. Cade's feet, to be specific. As humiliating as it was, they didn't have time to hike from the northeast end of Zalfari to the northwest, so Aurelius sucked it up and hopped on for the world's longest piggyback ride.

He spent a whole day holding on for dear life as they rushed over freezing hills and cliffs. His arms strained and went numb from the blistering cold wind, but the snowy landscapes were magnificient. He'd forgotten the beauty of snow during his time in Mircrest. Snow was scarce in even the northern parts of Arkryk, so he hadn't enjoyed a view like this in years.

Enjoyed was a stretch. Though he trusted Cade's abilities more than anyone's, he was perpetually in mortal danger. He had gotten himself, a fur coat, scarf, and gloves, but the cold was something else. It was kind of hilarious to think that he would die during a piggyback ride before he even made it to Kendrick.

To survive, he had to become the Conqueror of Piggyback Rides.

***

Aurelius made a fizzing noise as he rubbed his hands together when they finally came to the northwest border at nightfall, having stopped only once to refill their waterskins in running water and eat some dried meat. His fingers were a little blue. He touched his face to feel how cold they were, but his face was numb as well. The only sensible thing was to shove them under his coat and touch his stomach.

"Yiaah!" he squealed. Cade shook her head beside him in exasperation. He once again did the only sensible thing and tried to shove his hands under her coat as well.

She slapped his hands away, but he kept bothering her as they made their way toward a large town that streams of smoke rose from. Then she stopped and shoved him. "Look."

Aurelius followed her gaze to a large statue in the middle of the town. "What's that?" He could tell even from a distance that the statue was in a whole nother world of creation that he knew.

"A monument?" Cade said and began walking faster.

Aurelius followed suit, the statue growing more impressive the closer he got. As tall as then men and yet more refined. The statue seemed to be of dark bronze, depicting a broad-shouldered woman with a strong jaw. She had a pelt hanging from her waist, a hand on her hip, and her eyes pierced the western horizon.

"I've never seen a statue like this of a woman before. Not even in Acelot," Cade mused. "What does that say?" Cade asked, pointing at the Zalfarian text underneath.

Aurelius squinted at the plate of text. Zalfarian and the Western common had their differences, but he could decipher it with time. "Id? Is that her name?"

"That would be a first as far as Zalfarian names go. Even shorter than mine."

"Hmm, under that... Northern... No, it's Shield of the North." Cade mumbled something about that as well while Aurelius concentrated on the text below. "Mother of... wait." Aurelius chuckled to himself and looked above with new eyes.

"Huh? What does it say?"

"Ares... Mother of Ares," Aurelius said, gazing up at the monument. "She's... my grandmother."

***

Aurelius stared off into space the next morning at breakfast in a shabby inn, trying to shove his most recent nightmare out of his mind. There was something so wrong with it that he didn't know where to start, so he didn't.

"So what do you know about her?" Cade asked. "Your grandmother."

"Ah," Aurelius rubbed his eyes. "Not much else than you."

"What do you mean?"

"Izir, remember?" Cade shook her head, and Aurelius furrowed his brows. Hadn't she heard their conversation before the battle began? Surely she would've remembered otherwise. "He called her a whore. Said that the emperor impregnated her against her will to make my father a perfect warrior."

Cade leaned back. "What? You don't believe that, do you?"

Aurelius shrugged. "I've come to learn that things aren't all butterflies and roses in my family tree."

"Yeah, but Izir isn't the best source now is he? He was trying to make you feel terrible. At least wait until you get to know the truth."

Aurelius stabbed at his food idly. "Yeah, alright."

"Hold on, why didn't Gabriel tell you any of this?"

"That's the thing." Aurelius frowned a little. "He probably thought a little boy shouldn't learn of his lineage when it's riddled with monsters. I only hope my uncle isn't like that." Aurelius rubbed his face at the thought. "Otherwise, I'll have more to worry about than just Kendrick."

***

They crossed the border and navigated through rough terrain before making it to Calipeidos. They'd talked it over again at breakfast and decided it was the right choice. They looked through maps at areas with the least population and most mountains and headed in that direction.

On the way, Aurelius pondered over the odds of finding Solomon in the vastness of the entire continent. The thought that he might actually be dead struck a sudden panic in him, so he pushed it from his mind and mellowed in the comfort of the beautiful landscapes on the clear, calm night and Cade's company.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Eventually, they reached a region called Lumqua, common for 'Metal Water'.

By that time Aurelius was...

"D— do you know how f—fu—freezing I am?" Aurelius seethed on Cade's back.

"No," Cade said. She still wore her light trench coat with just some cloth to keep her warm while sleeping. She kept it in her bag that was tied to Aurelius just like his own.

"Can we take a break?"

"We can go higher," Cade suggested.

"What? That's just worse."

"No, it's not. It's warmer when you go higher," Cade said which Aurelius snorted at. She had never been in the north. "You wanna bet?"

Before Aurelius could answer, she took a sharp turn and leaped up onto a path that she maneuvered to the top of a hill. She let Aurelius fall off her back and stretched a little.

"Well?" she asked, turning to Aurelius with a smile, her front illuminated by moonlight on that snowy peak.

Aurelius felt the air with confusion. "It is warmer."

She shrugged. "I'm just better than you."

Aurelius scoffed and threw the bags off him to chase her. She laughed as he tried to run. For a former paraplegic in heavy winter gear, it was a terrific effort! When he was about to reach her, she zipped away. He dropped his shoulders but hurried to where she was sitting.

When he reached her, his energy had faded, and he sat next to her. He followed her gaze to the snowy plain on the side that they hadn't treaded.

"It's beautiful."

Aurelius shook a memory out of his head and enjoyed the moment. The snow glistened in the moonlight like water under the sun, so perfectly smooth nothing but nature could've made it so.

"It's like nobody's ever walked here before," Aurelius mused. "Like we're the only two people in this whole snowy world."

Cade leaned her head on his shoulder. "I like you when you talk like that."

"Like what?" Aurelius asked with a little laugh.

"Like nonsense."

"Pfft, you're the one talking nonsense." Aurelius pinched her nose.

"Ow."

"That's what you get."

"Don't make me hit you."

"You wouldn't dare," Aurelius said and predicted her next move, dodging. She, of course, tried to hit him and, to her immense surprise, missed. By the time she realized that she'd been owned, Aurelius was on the move.

"No, not that way," Cade exclaimed, getting up to chase Aurelius as he ran toward the untouched snowy plain.

"Someone has to be the first," Aurelius said as he hopped heavily through the snow. "And that someone is me!"

Cade laughed as she hopped behind him in the deep snow. Her laughter was the sweetest and most childlike he remembered hearing from her. It drew his lips into an irresistible smile, and he felt like a child again, playing with the friend he never had back then.

His laughter joined hers, and together they echoed throughout the night sky. Aurelius almost fell into the snow, but bounced back before Cade could reach him and curved his path in the snow. It was an advanced snow maneuver to be mastered only by the highest of the northern maste—

Cade tackled him from behind, and they went down. Aurelius turned and fell on his back, putting an Aurelius-shaped hole in the snow. Cade fell right on top of him.

She pushed herself up slightly and swept some hair from her face, still chuckling slightly. Aurelius was quiet, gazing up at her unsure of the expression on his face.

"I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" Cade asked, her breath fogging the air inside the little depression they'd made in the snow.

Aurelius shook his head slightly. "No. Not too bad."

Aurelius' breath caught in his throat. She was really close. He felt the world turn around them. Her smile faded gradually, and they were left in silence. Aurelius clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from clattering. They gazed into each other's eyes. Cade's pupils seemed to enlarge as her eyes grew light and soft to him.

But when Aurelius thought and hoped she'd lean in, she went farther. Cade righted herself to sit on his stomach. She glanced up and paused. Then her eyes grew deeper and sharper, something Aurelius had seen many times before when she enhanced her senses.

"What is it?" he asked, trying his best to keep emotion from his voice.

"I see something," Cade replied absentmindedly.

'Ah, great,' Aurelius thought, rubbing his forehead with his gloved hand. 'Why is she still... distant somehow?'

"I wonder why," a ghost whispered.

Aurelius shivered. Frowning, he slapped a hand on his ear. Then he remembered what he and Cade were there for.

"Wait, what do you see?" he asked Cade. "Is it a person?"

Cade squinted. "It's a little foggy, but I think there's a house of some kind in the distance."

When Aurelius was about to ask further questions, Cade had already jumped up. She went to get their bags and began tying them to Aurelius.

"We're going to check it out," she decided.

Aurelius tried looking in the distance but saw nothing of what Cade described. He tempered his expectations. It could've been anything or nothing at all.

When they finished tying the bags, Cade gestured for him to hop on. He rolled his eyes slightly.

"I swear, I'll knock you out and princess carry your ass if you don't—"

"Yeah, I'm getting on. Calm down, my little piggie." Surprisingly she didn't elbow him for that. She only shot into movement with such speed that Aurelius felt in mortal danger.

She rushed through the highs and lows of the landscape without issue at a speed that surpassed that of their earlier travels by far. The faster she went, the more Aurelius believed in what she saw.

Then it came into view. A grand villa built onto the side of just as grand a mountain. Aurelius's heart thumped in his chest. He didn't want to believe it so that he wouldn't be disappointed, but it seemed like his body already did. While his mind said it wasn't the sort of place a man would hide in, it may as well have been a fitting hideout for the Soldier of God.

Cade sped forth and took them up the mountain until the villa was in reach. He let Aurelius down and took the bags before they started treading toward the villa with their stomachs in their throats.

Every step was the culmination of months of research, travel, and hope. For so long, Aurelius had been crushed by the challenges that were ahead, but a matter of chance seemed to decide his fate. To stumble on Solomon in Calipeidos' Metal Water region was the push he needed to overcome all that was ahead. Or so he prayed.

Cade looked around seeming to take in every single thing. She turned to Aurelius and shook her head slightly to indicate no sign of anyone.

Aurelius' heart dropped slightly. They were already almost at the door of the villa. There—

"So," a deep and hoarse voice made Aurelius almost scream. He turned so fast he felt a sting in his back and noticed how shaken Cade was as well. There was nobody in sight. "You're the brats that were making all that noise."

Aurelius looked up and saw the wide back of a man. It took a while for Aurelius to realize he was shirtless. His skin was so pale it seemed to blend in with the snow that dusted his broad shoulders and messy gray hair. He didn't move at all, not even as he breathed. He seemed one with the mountain, looming over them like it came naturally. Aurelius glanced at Cade, seeing an awe he couldn't have imagined on her ever before.

Aurelius looked back at the man. He sat gazing in the direction opposite of them. It was like he hadn't even talking to them. And without even paying attention, he'd managed to slip by Cade's enhanced senses somehow.

It was him! It was really him! Aurelius would've roared in victory at his almost blind hope being rewarded, but simultaneously it became evident to Aurelius that his real challenges began from here.

Solomon turned to face them as he sat above on a snowy ledge beside the path and issued a few words of caution, "Before you take your next step, you should know I don't take kindly to visitors."