Mount Everest is the most infamous mountain in the world, also being the tallest one above sea level. There are over 250 reported climbing deaths from attempts, but over 5,000 achievers managed to do so. Disregarding alone or with a group… an estimated amount of time it'd take to climb the whole of Everest was about two months, total.
The difference between climbers and normal people who don't have the will to climb up such a steep amount is simply… willpower. But the difference between a climber and an artifact wielder has more distance than that of heaven from earth. Those who stand at the summit of such a peak feel the cold air through their arms and hairs, as if they were benevolent angels shining in the grace of the sun behind the gates of the holy kingdom. Standing right below as the skis of climbers started to guide their legs, Ace could feel it channeling within his legs, watching his hands and gazing at his fingers as it rapidly sparked against his skin.
"You ready?" Asked Ace, turning his head, sniffling, wiping away at his runny nose, riddled with snot.
"Yeah," Kim's feet halfway submerged within a shadow puddle below her, clapping her hands into a symbol.
In less time than it takes for an eye to register the surroundings before it, Ace had vanished, the air around his body whisking as he soared through the sky, arms gliding behind… he could feel the snow touching his white face. Snowflakes, all differentiating in shape, yet all holding the same white shade, like the usual hobby of gazing upon the sun just barely peeking over the world's horizon. It was like his hearing vanished, the only path that existed was the one carved out ahead, for his rapid ascent showed no signs of halting, evermore rising as if reaching furthermore to touch the heavens.
Of course, he still had much to learn in the ways of his father's gifted strength, for his feet brushed against a snowy cliffside, just attached to the mountain's size. It was almost like his stomach formed a pit of dread, the air was scarce, not to mention cold to the touch; even the slightest movement of his arms from his hoodie's warmth would likely mean to freeze entirely.
"KIMMMA!!!! YOU DOWN THERE-?!!" Just peeking over the edge of his perch, he felt the spikes of his ginger strands fly back, that gust of wind wider than usual, like belonging to the winds manipulated by flapping winds attached to birds' sides.
There, standing casually as if balance didn't matter and gravity hadn't existed, her fists touched against her hips, joking chuckles escaping between her supple lips. The ends of her purple-black-striped flannel moving in tandem with the flow of the cold winds of the winter atmosphere, Kim reached but one hand forward, allowing for Sol's rays to shine her face's left side, thus allowing those shadowy patterns to glisten, almost like diamonds.
'She is so beautiful…'
"You could've done that shit all this time and you let me waste my energy jumping like that?!" For the distance was nothing more than mere meters between the floating Kima and the idle Ace, balancing against the cliff's end, still, the King yelled.
"Yup! Get on, now!" Kim beckoned, watching as he easily leaped forward, taking her hand in his own, feeling his chilly fingers curve around her extended limb.
The griffin hawked an odd sound, flapping its wing as it turned around, psychically transmitted orders guiding its path, just turning around the gaping rocks forming that triangular shape… to reveal that landscape, right behind it. Like nothing they'd ever seen before, riddled with those white tips smaller than the usual, others just tall enough to scrape the skies, hawks could be seen just flying by their faces.
As the snowfall continued onward, Ace felt them spiral around Everest, gradually ascending evermore, but even so, as their destination was only a few feet away, at this point, they couldn't help but stay mesmerized before, sending sparkles to their vibrantly-colored eyes. The wings spread wider, an eagle's beak squawking at the sight of the Temple, eyes glistening with a yellow glow… and there it was the feminine figure.
Even in this incessant chill, that was all she wore, that marked robe with strands, following the winter's whereabouts movement, continued to move, without the Master so much as turning; Ace and Kim heard the ring of her voice enter their minds.
"Ace Wilder, son of Augustus Rivera. Kima Myers, daughter of Whitney Myers. Welcome to The Temple, a shrine to the Father of the New Allfather. My name is Hana Saiai, I grant you access to my humble abode."
"Oh… is it that easy?"
Ace tilted his head at such an easy admission granted to their abrupt resurgence, to which Hana smirked, stepping away for the darkness to absorb her in their shade, turning her head just a bit for her pink eyes to shine against them.
"I did say all you could do was access it, however, that does not mean you access me. Or rather, my teachings, if you will. To earn that, you must prove yourself."
Ace hadn't even felt a second pass in the moments it'd taken for them to enter... like he'd blinked, and so abruptly, their bodies formed from nothing to manifest within these warming halls. The heat stood on a balanced weight, never tolling so much on one side or the other, just pushing down on the scale between the two to send a savory scent to their bodies. Absorbing into those pores, the sensation of divine Heaven touching the outlines of their souls with just the tip of golden fingers surrounded by God's grace, Hana could turn her head as she entered a gym.
"Before I introduce you to the teachings, I shall inform you of the dangers challenging me comes with. I am a student of the New Allfather's predecessor and the New Allfather's teacher. By all intents and purposes, I am... a Master of my craft. Come at me at your own risk!"
To Be Continued…