A Blinding White

By the time the group had recovered, the sun had set beyond the horizon and shrouded them in darkness. Rather than risk the oppressive storm at the top of the barrier in the night, the group decided to camp in the switchback until morning. It wasn't wide, but with how cold they felt, the group happily huddled together to catch what little rest they could.

It was very little indeed. The cold was bitter, and since none of them had a Guardian's cloak, each felt the weather keenly. Aurora's teeth chattered so hard, she was worried that they might shatter from the exertion. Only moving closer towards Brinn took the edge off enough for the Empress to slow her shivering.

At first light, the cohort was eager to get on their way. Above them, they could see the swirling storm that masked itself in a cloak of clouds. It was only an hour or two ascent if all went well.

"Better get going," Aurora said as she stretched her body.

The doctor gave a loud, guttural groan. "My body may be cold, but my muscles are on fire."

Nurlan helped the old man to his feet. "I can sympathize. I doubt they have ever had to do quite this amount of exertion. The only thing to do is work through it, I'm afraid."

The physician nodded. He was usually the one to give medical advice, but in the case of sore muscles, the soldier had far more practical experience. "Yes, well, at any rate I will do my best not to slow us down."

Aurora rubbed her shoulders to try and imbue them with some warmth as she yawned. "I think we shall all be a little slow today, doctor. The height and cold have a way of doing that. No matter what, no one gets left behind."

After a meager breakfast, the group got in line and began to climb.

-------------

Two hours later, Brinn brought the expedition to a halt. "We've reached the cloud."

Although the path had been wider since crossing the chasm, the group wanted to stay as far back from the edge as possible and had remained in a single-file formation. As such, they were less aware than Brinn how close they were to crossing into the magical storm.

"Everyone join hands." Aurora had given this quite a bit of thought. They had ordered themselves in such a way that the humans without a Fate's chain were placed around Aurora and between the magical folk.

The last time the Empress had crossed the barrier like this, Devrim had only survived because she took his hand and guided him through. The chain had protected them both. While the magical creatures should serve the same purpose, Aurora hoped to use the necklace as a fail safe incase something unexpected occurred.

Brinn took Zan's hand, who took Aurora's hand, who took Phileas's hand, who took Reyan's hand, who took Nurlan's hand, who at last took Alvar's hand. In this way, the line was fully connected.

"Let's get this daisy chain moving, shall we?" Reyan grumbled. "Touching humans gives me hives."

"Touching anyone gives you hives," Brinn barked from the front.

The fairy scowled. "Stop telling my secrets!"

Aurora took the playful banter as a good sign. She turned to look back at the doctor and gave him an encouraging smile. He seemed uneasy.

"Something seems strange about those clouds," the doctor said, "but I cannot put my finger on it. It's like they move constantly and yet never move. I also think it is odd that you do not see them from further away. It is only when you get up close by that they seem to materialize."

Aurora nodded. She had been musing on something similar for quite some time. "Magical things are rarely logical, but if I had to guess, it is in reaction to mortal beings drawing near that the clouds form. Only those close by can see them because they only affect those by the barrier."

"It's a good theory." Zan had overheard their conversation.

"But utter nonsense," Brinn added

"Oh really, then how does it work?" Aurora asked the elf.

She threw back her head and laughed. "I've no idea. What do I look like, a Fate? Now come on!"

The elven princess yanked on Zan. He took a step forward, but managed not to fall. "You are lucky it was me you pulled, Your Highness," the Guardian said as his shoulder cracked. "Anyone else would not be so easy to put back together."

Brinn huffed, but Zan noticed her next tug was much gentler. Before long the line was moving as one unit.

As Phileas entered the unnatural cloud, he realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled only to take his next lungful of air laced with icy crystals.

A tingling sensation tickled his exposed skin as the doctor breached the edge. As more of his body entered the magical barrier, the strange feeling intensified.

His head pushed through the clouds after a moment, a howling wind raked against his hood. The rest of his body came through as Phileas walked, and the whirling snowstorm in the clouds nearly knocked him over.

A gasp escaped his lips as a force pressed down on him, threatening to flatten him. But just before he felt his bones would crack, a warm sensation ran from the Empress's hand and up his arm which lessened the oppressive force against his body.

The storm raged, but a bubble of invisible protection came around him and spread to those behind him as well as they entered the strange environment. His vision cleared from all the white and he could see the Empress looking back at him with a relieved smile. Her plan had worked.

Walking with hands held in the white out conditions of the magical storm was not ideal, but as everyone was comfortable for the first time since the day before, no one was willing to let go no matter how uncomfortable the situation.

The back and forth of the path was especially hard to navigate. And catching oneself after a slip was nearly impossible. But somehow the group managed. Finally the ground became flat and before long it began to slope downwards.

The doctor looked into the white void and caught sight of something moving contrary to the wind. It seemed to be as unaffected by the storm as the cohort was thanks to the Fate's chain. The whiskered face looked his way, paused and then disappeared into the blinding whiteness once more.

Since it was small and did not seem like it would attack, Phileas kept the sighting to himself. 'It seems like creatures can survive and thrive anywhere,' he noted.

As hard as traveling upwards was, going down was much harder. Without warning, one of them would begin to slide and those around them would be pulled into a perilous ice dance trying to find enough friction to stop. More than once they only escaped a quick drop to the bottom by a hair's breadth.

At last, the trial was complete as the group dipped back below the dense magic and entered the human world.

"Never thought I would be so happy to leave magic behind," Reyan ripped his hands away from Phileas and Nurlan and wiped them on his tunic. "I may never recover."

"I think we all need a bit of a break from being touched for a bit." Aurora flexed her hands. The men on either side had been gentle enough, but her fingers were still cramped. "Now let's hurry to get to the ground so we can feel the grass beneath our --"

The Empress looked out at the landscape for the first time. It took her breath away. The trees were shaped like stacked triangles as far as the eye could see with tiny needles sticking out like porcupine quills. Each spine was tipped with white, making the whole vista look covered in snow.

"Did the winter fairies visit and we miss it?" the Empress wondered.

Brinn chuckled. "It looks that way, but that is just the coloring of the trees. The Whispering Forest was named such because when the wind blows through it, it looks like a bunch of specters whispering. If my magic will cooperate, I can show you."

The elf tried to focus, and she was allowed one significant gust of wind before the ice barrier intervened. The gale force winds blazed down the ice wall and filtered into the trees below.

The trees were so tightly packed that they brushed up against each other, creating a rustling sound. Soon all of the forest was swaying like the rolling ocean when something strange happened. The rustling turned softer and more fragmented, sounding like speech that one could not quite understand.

The white tips of the spiny branches converged to look like creatures with no definable edge moving through the maze of the forest. It was as terrifying as it was mesmerizing.

"It's just an illusion though," Brinn assured them.

"Is that an illusion too?" Alvar asked. He pointed directly below them at the base of the barrier. A chunk of ice had freed itself and was now sliding into the forest unhindered.

"That's not an illusion...That's our monster!" Aurora screamed.

The creature paused, turned to look at them, and disappeared into the sea of green and white.

The chase was on.