The dawn broke cold and clear over the desolate rim. Aldrus awoke to find his spirit lightened and the dark vapors of the previous night’s horrors thoroughly dispelled from his mind. The boy had learned valuable secrets, and, most crucially, he had determined that he and his companions were for now safe, though they could not know what awaited them next.
The sun had not yet cleared the eastern ridges when his companions stirred from their slumber, gathering in the gray light for an early breakfast. In the dead of night, they had doused their fire, and they now labored to strike their tent of unfamiliar cloth, lest the bright eye of day reveal their hiding place to the fell monsters that prowled the wilderness nearby.
It might have been seen as absurd, but they simply could not afford even the slightest mistake. It was no use preparing everything and getting ready for their journey if they were to die right there and then.
When the morning meal was ended, the four companions went forth into the stark landscape to begin their daily routine. They sought no conflict with the beasts of the waste this day; instead, they turned their minds to the testing of their new gear. Alice, most of all, needed to learn what the strange pair of silver boots of hers was for and hopefully find them a good use.
"Hey Aldrus, I see you’re doing better, huh?" Cedric called at him, sort of teasing.
"Yeah, I am... And I’m sorry for worrying you guys. I guess I was just worried, you know," he said, though he knew that was not the reason why.
"Hmph. You know we all are just as scared as you, don’t you? Let’s just do our best; we just have to hang on a little longer, and we’ll be back home. Trust me," the blond boy said, trying his best to believe his own words.
"... That’s right, we’ll be back soon."
"I just hope Sir Zorum won’t scold us too much, ah. Although, will we even make it back in time for his classes?" Cedric asked.
"Wait, you’re right; we might actually arrive during vacation time; isn’t it January now?"
"What?!" the blond boy exclaimed, as though the very name of that month was entirely foreign to him. However, that was, of course, not the case.
The wheel of the year had turned unheeded in that dark place. They had failed to mark its passage; December was utterly gone, and a new year had begun. Aldrus had given it no thought, for the perils that hemmed them in left no room for trivial matters. Still, a bittersweet sorrow pierced him now that the truth had dawned. They had missed the happiest days with their kin, the warmest hearths in those cold months.
Christmas, New Year’s... they had passed them all alone among themselves, unwitting. They had entered this new year lost in the maw of a hellish paradise, trapped within the uncertainty of whether they would ever return home alive.
Yet the shadow of despair could not conquer them; there was much to do, and if they wanted to tell their deeds to their loved ones, they would need to make it out of that place without a doubt.
And thus began their final week within the rim of the ancient crater. The youths spent those days at their last campsite before they must depart for the fog island, using the remaining time to hone their training, as they had been doing all this time.
In the beginning, they intended to hunt no more, but in that treacherous land, absolute inaction was its own peril. Hence, they decided to hunt only when they were assured of victory, marching always as a single company to overcome their foes with greater ease and avoid grave jeopardy.
During these days of trial, Alice learned a little of her silver footwear. It turned out they were Space Fragment Gear, granting the wearer the power to walk upon the thin air or tread on walls and high ceilings. The latter ability might have seemed of little account to a casual observer, but to command the open air was a formidable advantage.
Besides, the blonde girl was a fighter who relied heavily upon her own agility and freedom of movement; thus, so wondrous an aid would render her even fiercer as the vanguard of their company and Aiden’s companion.
Aldrus, for his part, had made no use of his new cloak, though he was now well capable of awakening its enchantment twice or thrice before the onset of Perspective Burnout. The fault lay in his silence; he had not yet revealed this newly won power to his companions, and though they must inevitably learn of it before the final struggle, no fitting pretext had yet come to his mind.
To speak the truth was a path he dared not tread, for it would but scatter their thoughts and draw their focus toward matters of little moment when his sole desire was to ensure they stood at the very height of their strength in the hour of need. Yet there was a darker cause for his secrecy: he could not bring his lips to utter the truth, for he had already looked upon what might come to pass, and he was grimly resolved never to let it unfold.
However, though he concealed the true measure of his craft, he allowed a false semblance of sudden growth to show in their daily exercises, gradually matching the raw output power of Cedric, which surprised them a lot.
The days followed one another in unyielding rhythm, divided only by dawn, bread, the clash of practice blades, the hunt, and slumber. Such was the whole of their life. And however harsh that existence might appear to outward eyes, they in truth felt a deep reluctance to depart or stay their hands, for they knew too well what dark uncertainties awaited them beyond.
Yet, that remained their only choice if they wanted to ever go back home. And for that reason, they could not linger there anymore. It was time to leave that place behind.
On the seventh day of their sojourn in that hollow of ancient war, the decisive morning arrived at last.
"Are you guys ready?" Aldrus asked, though in his heart he knew that none among them were. Still, he smiled. He smiled because he knew if they were to die, they would die trying, and that was enough.
"Let’s go."
And with those words, they stepped forward to traverse the feared Fog Island, once and for all.
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