"Jotun-heim...why...why doesn't that mean anything to me?" The hunter's eyes squinted as his jaw clenched. All as he tried to figure out why that word felt so foreign.
"Hey…look it's getting away" while still wrestling with his thoughts, Gallard cried as he fell from once the Auburn feathered bird took off, launching from the branch into a silent flight that carried enough force to shake the group of knights, still clad in their weighty plates.
At the sound of the Third Sword's voice, the hunter was quick to act on the pursuit, pulling out a knife and running through the forest floor without a word, carving at the branches and foliage in his path while he tried to chase after it.
The bird, despite its impressive size, weaved through the treetops and canopies with ease, barely brushing against a single branch all the while getting increasingly further from the hunter. Who continued to cut apart the lush greenery that blocked his path.
His pursuit bringing his eyes within close enough view to inspire a daring act, leaping into the air and reaching for the bird, his grasp was knocked away once it let out a fierce caw, that boomed with surprising volume and even more impact as the noise boomed outwards,it knocked back everything around her before a brilliant white light emerged from ahead of her.
Descending from the air with an awesome dive, she passed through the white light that rippled and with a strangeness that mimicked the surface of a tranquil lake, only touched by the ephemeral embrace of the dawn-bred mist.
Coming to grinding halt, the rest of the party eventually caught up to the exhausted hunter, who wiped the sweat from his brow as his piercing gaze remained on what or rather where he believed the bird was last in flight.
"Can't believe you managed to keep up with it," Gallard exclaimed.
"It couldn't fly very fast so deep in the forest"
"Well, you cut a path for the rest of us to follow, now what?" Ren wandered about, looking for any clues of the bird, with nothing aside from the discarded feathers that came to an end right where the hunter stood.
Looking at the woodland expanse that ventured onwards, growing even thicker and immersed within a darker shadow cast by the forest canopy.
But the hunter's eyes remained keen, and through his gaze did he catch a glimpse of the same sight once more. Seeing the wall of branches, bushes and shrubs almost ripple as he tried to get close
"Vidgladr, you should have remained in her sanctuary. Your kind will not survive the night beyond her borders" the bird sat atop a glaciated peak behind it, the sun had begun to set, allowing her to watch as the wanders stepped out of the forest into the darkness that welcomed them.
A fierce and cruel cold awaited them, who followed without much thought after seeing the hunter pass through the rippling illusion.
Pushing past the veil of winter, a chill bit into their plush faces more fierce than what greeted them in the Stormlands with a hanging darkness about the landscape. A keen would only find stray sights of massive shadows lumbering through the snow or swift silhouettes hopping out the corner of their eyes.
The group wandered into what seemed like another storm, pushing on and following the hunter for the path that would permit any return was consumed by the white veil of snow growing deeper with every passing moment.
Far beyond their notice, the bird flies off, cutting through the skies as it soared above the gathering storm below. Its keen eyes peered through the walls of ice and snow to observe the foolish men that followed her through the mirage of the forest.
Kept afloat by the formidable winds that traversed Jotunheim, her flight lasted several effortless hours with the bird taking a glance at the lost folks trek only to be confused by what she noticed, somehow their journey managed to keep them on its tail despite how how high she flew, the followed.
"Why do they persist? Do they not understand the danger they are in, do they not fear death or are they simply the norm where they come from. Perhaps all the mortals are deprived of much needed sense" The bird murmured as its curiosity brought its flight much closer to the ground, passing the craggy peaks of the pillar-like hills that become more frequent the further ahead on traveled, soon merging into a vast and impressive rows of walls that married near the edge that would lead over into a terrifying river that rushed along with anything trapped in its currents.
The pillar walls formed a canyon that whistled each time a fierce gust from the passing storm drove its winds through the gaps in the oddly shaped columns of the pillared hills.
When she finally felt as though she put enough distance, she found herself nearing the canyon just as she noticed them fall one after the other. The figures now waded through the chest high snow, driven forward by the hunter's commands that seemed to freeze along with his breath in the midst of the cold.
The weather carried no favor for their arrival with Ren and Gode pressing on, weighed even further by the knights they were dragging along, as the only ones pushing through. While they were the subordinates of the First Sword, Gode owed them nothing.
In fact, since they began their journey, they've only continued to draw breath thanks to his intervention.
Gode wondered, with one of the knights dragged along in his coat, while Gallard rested on his back, having long since succumbed to their unyielding cold, the rosy tinge of his plush and gentle expression was whitening with an unsettling darkening surrounding his nose, eyes and mouth.
Soon what little light shone atop them was obscured by long shadows every few paces.
Ren's strides became less lively, as the distance between him and Gode grew with each time he stumbled, forcing the hunter to pause as he caught up. The agony of the gnawing chill became more apparent each time he did. The First Sword would see for himself as the hunter struggled to catch his breath.
"Hunter…This path you continue to walk…What will we find at the end of it, is it even worth it if the lot of us end up perishing in its pursuit?" Falling to his knees as the weight of his comrade dragged him down.
"Do not speak. Only rely upon your strength to survive. As will I…" The hunter said through his untamed shivers and a thick scarf worn around his face to brace the piercing winds.
'I am no savior, so I cannot promise salvation. I can only offer what I am able as a hunter…' Gode thought with his vision glassing over under the cold.
The vague sight of a moving shadow in the air, through the veil of winter drew his next words from him, as the fit of inspiration had the hunter stumbling over at the knight before he spoke.
"Survival. That is what I see. A chance, however small but still, a chance" With shaking hands, the hunter fastened the arms of his coat around his waist so he could drag along their companion while his hands were free to part the growing snow.
"Are you going to sleep now when you are so close?" The bird's voice managed to carry with clarity and understanding, despite passing through the winds of winter howling through the dark.
Gode awoke in sudden shock to find the First Sword, delirious yet still urging him to wake up and not succumb to the cold.
Helping him to his feet with some struggle, the hunter turned to find the silhouette of the familiar beast standing on the snow nearby. Before he could gather the strength to call out to it, the creature took off before vanishing in its ascent.
Only this time, the hunter that had followed it found something else, something that was striking enough to draw his attention away from the beast for the first time since they first passed through the mirage, petals vibrant and vivid in color as they rose a breeze towards him. Looking ahead…
The hunter pulled Ren by the hem of his shirt as he struggled onwards
Gallard's eyes fluttered about as Gode marched on:
"It's…warm" he murmured in the hunter's ear when he finally came to a stop and with a heavy thud they fell over. Before collapsing, Gallard was heard meekly calling out to someone, but Gode could only remember their looming shadow.
They wake up to find the storm has passed. Having survived the storm. Quickly they make sure to cheek on one another only for one them to point out the crackling flames tended to by Gallard with an armful of firewood.
Almost tearing up as he saw his companions were now awake, the Third Sword wasted no time leaping into the arms of the annoyed Ren.
Up above, the bird flies through the area finding the pillar of smoke, circling around the camp they managed to build after they were all awake.
"Tell me, what happened, how did we get here?" Ren asked Gallard, noticing how jumpy the young aid got at his word.
"You're asking the wrong person…but I'm quite sure they can still hear you all the same"