For the first time in the Vatam mountains, all was quiet. The wind, so powerful and tumultuous a few moments ago, was eerily absent. It was like the range, satisfied from the events of the recent disaster, decided to still the air in order to rub salt on the wound.

Mono watched Vivian as she stared over the ledge, waiting as if hoping for Adamas to burst out from where he was last seen, pushing past the ice and snow through his will and strength alone.

Several minutes passed, and nothing changed in the white landscape below. The wind was picking back up now.

Mono knew that they needed to do something. Whether to launch a rescue or… the other option. Neither of them were strong enough to scale down the side and climb back up by themselves, let alone dig through to Adamas. They might even have to lift him up the entire ledge if he was alive and unconscious. As they were now, it was simply impossible to save the elder Weaver. If they tried, they could very well die in the attempt, freezing in the crevice.

He could die in the attempt.

A bitter, metallically cold feeling rose inside of him at the thought. It was a decisive desire, a disgustingly selfish will. Everything was secondary to survival.

Mono opened his mouth to speak. With a heavy heart, he began to say the words he knew he would regret. “Vivian, I think we—”

“We need to go after him.”

That was the response he had feared. “We can’t. What are we going to use to get down?”

“I can Weave a rope!” She turned to Mono, her tone pleading. “We can do this, Mono.”

If they tried, he could die.

“We can’t,” Mono repeated. He needed to convince her to do what he wanted. “Didn’t you say that external Weavings won’t work?”

Vivian began to paw at her purse, a small bag of leather tied to her side. “I can keep them stable if I use the aether in my diems. Even though I only have red and orange ones, the rope would be able to hold for at least two hours!”

Diems held aether? Mono filed the information away. He would think about the implications later. Everything was secondary to survival. “You know two hours isn’t enough time.”

“It could be. We have Kade to help us.”

Distracted by the prospect of death, Mono had completely forgotten about the blindfolded man. “Vivian, he’s blind. He won’t be of much use since we can’t hear each other over the wind and he can’t see us. Two hours is not enough time.” He paused for effect, already knowing the answer. “Do you have another rope? A real one?”

“No, we don’t.” She paused for a moment. “This is all my fault! Ad wanted to buy a spare weeks ago, but I convinced him that it was a waste of money and space.”

Mono watched as a single tear trickled down her face from the frustration and guilt she must have felt inside. He knew they didn’t have a spare rope, but had no idea Adamas had wanted to get one or that she had prevented him from getting it. He could use that guilt to his advantage. “Look, it’s not your fault. No one could have expected this exact situation to happen. What matters is how we react to it. How far away is the nearest town?”

“About a day’s journey away.”

Perfect. “And when does this glacial area freeze?”

“Two days.”

“So, if we rush to get help there,” he said to prompt her to make the desired decision.

Vivian stared out onto the white landscape once more. “I can’t just leave Ad.”

“We can’t do anything here without a real rope.” Vivian flinched as he continued. “The best course of action is to get help or the tools we need at that town. If we try to use your Weaving and it fails, no one would know about our situation and be able to save us or him.”

She didn’t say anything, but Mono could sense her uncertainty. Just one more push.

“If we don’t act now, we won’t have enough time to go with the plan with the best chance of saving him.”

There was no response as the wind increased in strength once more. The sound of its howling could be heard as it passed through the openings of several caves on the trail.

Mono called her name. She needed to decide soon. “Vivian.”

“Alright,” she said in a half-whisper. “We’ll go to Davenport.”

As Vivian began to walk to the wagon, Mono took one more look over the trail’s edge. He would be back with help, he promised. While he wasn’t strong enough, someone else definitely was. He wasn’t a hero, but he could find one.

Back in the wagon, Mono sat in the back once more while Vivian was in the front with Kade.

“Where’s your brother?” The blindfolded man asked.

“There was an avalanche,” Mono replied.

“A shame. He was quite… talented.” Kade was still using the word for strength instead of talent.

“Not was, is,” Vivian corrected, snapping the reins to start the horses moving. “We’re going to go get help.”

The next hour passed quickly. It was strange how the more someone raced against time, the faster it seemed to go. Vivian pushed the horses as hard as she could, and the wagon hurtled along the now winding trail.

Maintaining this speed was unsustainable for the horses, but it seemed like she had accounted for that. “Kade, please swap spots with Mono,” she said as she stopped the wagon to allow the horses a few moments of reprieve. Her tone brooked no question. Once the two had traded positions and Mono was sitting in the front, she handed the reins to him. “Guide the horses.”

“I don’t know how,” he replied.

Vivian flashed him a look of surprise before it quickly turned to annoyance. “It’s not hard. In fact, all you have to do is hold the reins so they know to keep running. The trail doesn’t branch out and the horses aren’t mindless. They already know how to safely turn without much guidance.”

Mono didn’t take the offered reins. Doing so would mean he would be driving, and he despised doing that. Back on Earth, he hadn’t even gotten a license because being behind the wheel terrified him. It felt too easy to get into an accident, too likely he could suffer from his or someone else’s mistake, too scary to have all that responsibility.

The Weaver saw his hesitation and didn’t care. “This was your idea to rush to Davenport! Take them.”

Reluctantly, he reached out and grabbed them. “What will you be doing?”

Vivian untied the leather bag at her side and grabbed a handful of diems to show Mono. “Speeding up our journey.”

The wagon resumed moving again, this time with Mono in control. As he was directing the horses, Vivian started to do a strange meditation. With her eyes closed, her left hand tightly grasped the diems in it while her right palm was pressed against the wood of the cart.

After several moments, Mono felt a change in the air. It wasn’t the same as the vacuum-like feeling before, but the opposite; an almost imperceptible static or warmth emanating from the Weaver. Once this change started, the wagon immediately accelerated. It was like the horses suddenly had more energy.

Or, he realized, the wagon was partly moving on its own. Diems stored aether, and the cart ran on aether. With the support of whatever-Vivian-was-doing, they were able to return to their previously impossible to maintain pace.

It rained as the nightly storm began brewing once more. The sky was growing darker, and soon the raindrops turned into sleet as the temperature continued to drop. Mono wrapped the spare cloak the Weavers had around himself tighter, pulling the hood over his head. It wasn’t fur, but at least its waterproof fabric helped against the wind and precipitation.

Vivian made no such move to warm herself. Instead, she actually removed her cloak while continuing to focus on powering the wagon. The action confused Mono, until he saw her left hand. It was steaming and any watery snow that fell on her quickly melted from the heat.

Aether could act as energy, he recalled. It seemed like there was a massive inefficiency when transferring this energy.

The second hour soon became the third, and then the fourth. They were now well into the evening, a time they normally spent in a shelter instead of outside.

The storm was getting worse, and so was Vivian. Despite the cold, her entire body was steaming now. If she kept this up, Mono wondered, would she get brain damage from the heat? How long could they keep pushing forward safely?

The answer came quickly, and with resounding force.

As the two horses turned a wider curve to the right, the innermost one slid and stumbled. The wagon began careening away from the safer part of the trail, lurching on its side.

Sitting on the left, Mono was nearly thrown out. Fortunately, he was caught by the railing the front of the wagon had. Unfortunately, Vivian crashed into him, her raised arm whacking him square in the head.

She gave out a shout of surprise and… something else.

Dazed from the blow, Mono asked, “are you okay?”

“No! My hand flew open and all of the diems fell out.”

Mono turned to look over the edge of the now unmoving wagon. Sure enough, the side of the trail was sprinkled with several crimson crystals.

“I’ll get them,” he said. “You go check on the horses.”

Without another word, she left to do just that while Mono gingerly climbed out of the cart. They were precariously close to the edge and he didn’t want to get blown off. Bending down, he began to pick up the diems that hadn’t been thrown over the edge.

They were all red, he noted. Why? Mono was pretty sure Vivian had mentioned orange ones. He eventually noticed an opaque pebble and picked it up out of curiosity. It was an almost colorless diem.

The gears began to turn in his head as he began to connect the dots involving this world’s currency. Diems were colored and stored aether… Emre hadn’t allowed him to handle them since he couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake ones… Were these things just glorified batteries? How did the economy function if anyone could make—

“Mono, let’s go!” Vivian called out.

Right, they were in a hurry. He filed away the information for later. Before getting up, however, he picked up what he thought was a clearer diem. Except it wasn’t; it was a large chunk of ice.

Back on the wagon, Mono showed the retrieved diems to Vivian.

“Where’s the rest of them?” She asked.

“They fell over the edge.”

Mono blinked as she let out an uncharacteristic snarl of frustration. When she reached out to take the crimson crystals, he closed his hand and pulled away.

Vivian glared at him. “I need those.”

“We can’t keep going at this pace,” he replied.

She ignored what he said. “Give them! I need those.”

“Vivian, the trail is freezing over! If we keep going, another accident is bound to happen and, next time, we might not be as lucky. We need to—”

“No!”

“—stay somewhere until the storm passes and the sun thaws out the road,” he finished, ignoring her interruption.

“We can’t afford to waste time. Even Ad can only last so long being buried like that. We have to keep going.”

“The only way we can help Adam is if we actually make it to Davenport,” Mono said. “We can’t get help if we get into another accident and get incapacitated; no one can be helped then.”

Like before, Vivian wavered under Mono’s logical statements. He could see that she wasn’t completely mollified, however, and was about to protest more when Kade spoke up.

“The next shelter is close by, and it’s all downhill from there,” the blindfolded man said. “In addition, the glacial area ends during that descent. If we take shelter now, we can easily and safely reach Davenport after the storm abates while being well rested. Don’t we need to have energy for the return trip?”

At his words, Vivian paused. After a moment, she slumped over a little. Wordlessly, the Weaver reached her hand out for the diems.

Mono studied her face. She seemed defeated, her once lively eyes dull. He felt guilty convincing her to do this, for making her feel helpless, but the feeling was quickly pushed away.

Everything else was secondary.

He watched Vivian closely as the wagon resumed moving once more. Even though they were moving at a safer speed, she could easily change her mind and decide to force them past the next grotto.

When the shelter was in sight, he held his breath, waiting for the sudden rush. When it didn’t happen and he was able to signal the horses to turn inside, he let out a sigh of relief.

“This was the right thing to do, Vivian,” he said as they pulled inside and stopped.” We’ll be out of here in no time to get help.”

There was no response. The Weaver had already exited the wagon to grab the materials to start a fire.

Mono watched as she walked deeper into the grotto to set up the firebed, and began her usual Weaving. Unlike usual, however, she was unable to conjure anything with the phrase Mono had helped her create. The glowing words were a pallid green, a far cry from her usual verdant Weaving. After several attempts she stopped and used a different, though similar phrase.

Flames from nothing.

A small fire began to sprout from the bed, a shadow of the normally bright creations.

Seeing her default to her old phrase instead of the one he had suggested hurt Mono. He moved to sit next to the fire, but froze when she walked towards — no, past him.

Completely avoiding his gaze, Vivian moved to the back of the cart. After kicking Kade out with quiet but firm words, she entered. The silent message to be left alone until the storm had subsided was obvious.

Settling close to the fire, Mono looked out of the artificial cave’s entrance and into the storm. He had never seen a blizzard in real life before, but the sight was comparable; he could hardly see the Vatam range past the heavy layer of falling sleet.

Mono shivered, and the cold brought back memories. Flashes of his first night away from Earth. Beyond the chill, he couldn’t understand why those memories came back. His right thumb idly traced the symbol on Sojourn’s stone as he attempted to find a more comfortable seat on the floor. There were just so many tiny rocks. After a few moments of shifting, he gave up. Maybe thinking about a story would help— He was doing it again.

He was avoiding the problem, ignoring the present situation by any means. Hadn’t he made a promise to stop doing that? A promise to himself after talking to Adamas?

Feelings of guilt rose up from within him at the thought of the elder Weaver. He had abandoned Adamas. For all of the logical arguments he had given Vivian, Mono knew the whole time in the back of his mind that there was a significant flaw, a random factoid he had once read now important to the situation.

In an avalanche, not many people survived being fully buried. The ones who did were the lucky few saved in the first hour. If the victim didn’t die from the initial trauma, they would quickly suffocate as the snow set in like concrete from the sheer weight of itself, blocking anymore air from reaching them. Freezing, unable to move, literally breathing their life away, it was a terrible death.

And Mono had sentenced his friend to it out of fear for his own life.

Unable to cope with the realization, he mentally shrunk away. He tried to think of excuses. Vivian had gone with his plan, right? Maybe she knew something that he didn’t. Maybe Adamas was like those monks back on Earth, stronger than normally possible, with skin tougher than drills, and able to control his body temperature with his mind.

The guilt and shame he felt were not assuaged by these thoughts, and were in fact strengthened by them. At last, he couldn’t take it anymore and began to wall off the memories to deaden the emotions, breaking his silent oath to take things head on.

Hey, he had already broken a promise before, what was one more?

His chest tightened as a familiar grey began to creep into the corners of his vision. Everything was—

“You, what was your name again?”

Mono blinked. The tint was gone along with the tightness at the unexpected question. “Mono, why?”

“Well, we haven’t really had a chance to talk so far,” Kade said as he sat down. “The other two were always really forceful, you know what I mean?”

“They’re just confident, outgoing people,” Mono replied. He didn’t understand where this was going.

“Nah, they’re arrogant. Trust me, I would know. Anyways, I wanted to compliment you on how you handled this whole thing. I wasn’t too sure about the whole story telling talent, but now I’m sold: you convinced that word-mincing girl so easily. How does it work?”

Mono didn’t like the way Kade was speaking. His tone was a lot different than before, to the point that the stone picked up on the change and translated it. Still, he appreciated the compliment, and the change was easily chalked up to Kade finally getting over the accident. “It just… works. The ability is not really mine.” He floundered to find a decent explanation, something better than “I got it from a deity from another world.”

“Ah, I get it, say no more,” the blindfolded man said in a conspiratorial voice. He tilted his head to the side by just a hair for a split second.

Mono stared at Kade. Had he just tried to wink? With a blindfold on?

“Yeah, I just got this recently. Still not used to it.” Kade touched the fabric covering his eyes, as if he had sensed Mono’s thoughts. His voice trailed off at the revelation, hesitant to explain further.

“I get it,” Mono said, “say no more.”

Kade smiled. “So, we have some time now. Want to tell me a story?”

“Gladly.” It would be a distraction from his inner turmoil, and he eagerly reached for it. “You have a preference?”

“Never really cared for this type of thing. Tell me something wild — gotta kill the time some way.”

“Wild,” Mono repeated, thinking of something that fit the bill. He took one more look at Kade and instantly knew. “I think I got something: there was once a hero — a vigilante, really — who was completely blind. By day, he helped the innocent by representing them in trials of law and, by night, he fought against abusers in trials of combat.”

“And he was blind?”

“Since he was a child,” Mono confirmed.

“Sounds suicidal.”

“Well, he was a pretty big… daredevil.”

Kade wanted wild, and Mono was going to bring it. What was more wild than introducing a sci-fi multiverse to a fantasy world? He planned on pulling out all of the stops. Skyscrapers, cars, flying cars, mutants, robots, robotic suits, and the multiverse concept itself. They needed to kill time? He could do that, obliterate it and the last vestiges of his guilt.

Except, Kade wasn’t interested in the things Mono wanted to focus on. It’s not that he didn’t listen, he just wanted to know more about something else. Namely, the superpowers.

“So, he doesn’t use estel?” Kade asked.

“That’s not a thing in his world.”

“Then how can he do all of this stuff?”

“Echolocation.”

“What?”

“He uses sound to differentiate objects around him.”

“That’s not enough to fight people.”

Did the man have personal experience? “He also uses other things.”

“Like what?”

“Well…”

Taking the time to go over every ability in detail wasn’t what Mono had thought would happen. He actually didn’t know all of the in-universe logic for every hero he brought up and had hoped to get by on what he did know.

In the end, the distraction wasn’t much of one as he began to create his own reasons—most of which were more magical in nature and reminded him of his current situation as Kade kept trying to compare them to talents. At least the guilt was gone and the time was going by quickly.

Until the storm stopped.

Vivian had been the one to notice it first, immediately dashing out of the wagon to get their attention.

“Let’s go! Leave the fire stuff, we’ll get it after Kade comes back with help.”

“Just me? What about you two?” The blindfolded man asked.

“Mono and I are taking one of the horses to head back to uncover Ad. Once we do, we’ll either climb back up the rope I make or find shelter down there until you return.”

In the five or so hours they had been in the cave, a change had come over Vivian. She was no longer uncertain, her lively confidence returned.

Or arrogance, a voice inside Mono’s head said. It was an uncharitable thought from a new part of his mind, the first he had ever really had of the Weaver. He immediately tried to ignore it, but the words had found their mark. She clearly had a plan, but would it work?

Of course it would, she had good judgement.

Really? The voice asked. Her “good judgement” had allowed her to be persuaded by a half-baked plan to abandon her brother. Was that an indication of a sound mind?

The doubt magnified in Mono’s mind. Paired with the returning guilt, it paralyzed him as the other two began to argue.

“We should all go,” Kade insisted.

“Why?”

The man waved a hand in front of his own face. “I can’t see!”

“But the horses can and they are able to easily travel the trail without guidance. You’ve also been through the mountains before.”

“No, I haven’t.”

Vivian crossed her arms. “Then how did you know the exact location of this shelter and where the glacial area ended?”

“Someone told me.”

“And now I’m telling you that the majority of the remaining trail is a straight line that will eventually pass through Davenport.”

Kade was at a loss for words. He looked extremely frightened.

The Weaver continued. “Look, I’ve thought this through carefully. This is the best course of action. I’ll leave the fastest horse and the cart with you so you can get help while Mono and I—”

“I’m going with Kade,” Mono spoke up.

Vivian stumbled over her words. “What?” She asked in disbelief.

He saw the pained expression on her face and ignored it, suddenly feeling irrationally angry at the whole situation. “He can’t see. I can. I’m also not very useful at anything. So, I’ll go with Kade to get help.”

“Mono,” Vivian gave a strained smile, “of course you’re useful. You have to go with me.”

“No, I don’t.” The voice was right. He was right. Vivian’s plan wasn’t going to work, and so he would be on the safer side of her decision. “If you want to risk your life, fine. But I’m not going to. It’s actually a little selfish of you to expect me to take such a chance.”

The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Even the new voice wanted him to take the statement back and apologize, to convince her to go with them to Davenport.

Kade shot him a glare. “What he means is that we should all go instead of taking unnecessary risks.”

“No, I meant what I said.” Mono’s unnatural anger pushed through the doubts in his mind, even past the voice that had caused a sudden change in him. He was so finished with this whole thing and wanted to just get out of here. He just felt so trapped. “Kade and I are going. Right now so we can actually do the productive thing and get help.” Jumping up, he began to march his way to the wagon. After the first steps however, he froze at what Kade said next.

The blindfolded man sighed. “I thought this would end better. I guess this is goodbye then.”

Mono felt a chill and a tinge of regret. He quickly pushed it away. “Yeah, this is goodbye, Vivian.” However this panned out, he would probably never be able to face her or her brother again.

“I was actually talking to you.”

Wait, what?

“Mono, get down!” Vivian shouted.

Her panicked voice cut through the fog of irrationality. Because that’s what his anger had been: irrational. Vivian was his friend, someone who cared about his well-being and had proven it with her actions and words. Heeding the worry in her voice, he immediately dove to the ground without question.

Just in time to dodge something that barely missed his head and crashed into the wall.

There was a loud crack of stone, a strange whooshing sound, a sudden flare of burning heat, and cries of pain as Mono felt someone pull on his arm and drag him away.

His brain was still foggy, reeling from the emotional whiplash, but he was recovering. The confusion was shaking off and he made a realization: the new voice had not been his own.

“You were prepared for that, word-mincer. What made you suspect me?”

He winced at the words. They were both external and internal, grating him with both its otherness and familiarity. It was like a cancer. Mono turned onto his back to see the speaker, though he already knew who it was.

Kade stood several meters away from them. With wisps of smoke clinging to him, the fire Vivian must have thrown at him had burned away the cloak and blindfold he always wore to reveal what was underneath.

The man hardly resembled one. His body was all wrong, a gross parody of a human’s. Kade had disproportionate arms that managed to go past his knees, even though he now stood at an intimidating six and a half feet — at least! While his limbs were muscular, every joint was knobby and pronounced. Everything seemed to be going against the golden ratio Mono had read about, and it was disturbing. The most wrong thing of all were the things he had kept covered behind the blindfold: muddy brown irises stared at them from the middle of his sickly yellow scleras.

Staring at this thing in front of him, Mono recalled his conversation with the boy Leth before he had left on this journey. He shivered as he recalled his internal question about what monsters lurked in this fantasy-like world.

He finally had his answer.