The whisper came like a cold wind, but Sightless didn't flinch. Fear was survival—but hesitation was death.
Lyne burned to unleash her new power, [Forgotten Slash], but Sightless warned it was too dangerous for anything but dire emergencies.
The peak still loomed hundreds of thousands of steps ahead, each colder than the last.
Days without food had drained them all. Sightless was pale, struggling to hold on. The mountain was mostly dead, but life clung stubbornly to the ice.
A flicker of silver caught Lyne's eye—a [Forgotten Snow Deer]. Without a word, she stalked it, slowed it with [Forgotten Chill], then struck it down.
Using a weak [Forgotten Hellfire], she cooked the meat just enough to thaw their frozen hunger.
Sightless's strength returned, as did Lyne's. But Sly—the baby snake—remained weak, needing a different kind of nourishment to grow.
Lyne's eyes softened as she looked down at Sly. "We need to find food for you," she said, worry cutting through her usual hardness.
Sightless shook his head slowly. "The white snake you killed wasn't after you. It was hunting for the [Light Crystals] in my pockets—the real food it needed to feed its offspring."
Lyne's breath hitched. "So it was just trying to feed its child..."
She met Sly's gaze. "I'm sorry."
Sightless said quietly, "It's not your fault. I should have told you sooner. What's done is done. If we want to keep Sly alive, we must move forward."
A crunch of snow behind them.
Sightless spun just in time to see a blur of white—[The Forgotten Arctic Fox].
It lunged, claws ready to tear.
Before the fox's claws could connect, Lyne's blade was already a silver flash in the air.
The beast hit the snow with a soft thud.
A whisper echoed:
[You have slain a Forgotten Arctic Fox]
[You have received 2 Light Crystals]
Sly flicked its tongue, sensing the crystals' power nearby.
Lyne exhaled, tightening her grip on the blade.
The mountain waited.