Lupa looks at me giving me a look that we both share. What the hell is he talking about? I nod at Lupa and she gets up still holding onto him. I get close to him. His face looks small for having such a wide body.

“What exactly are you doing here?” I say in a threatening tone.

“Like I said.. I am making a pilgrimage toward the keep. This is the path I always take coming from my adventures.”

“Keep… keep… Crag’s Keep?” I say cautiously. Aleem nods his head slowly. I curse underneath my breath. This is bad. I remember what Lupa’s other form told me. I push those thoughts out of my head. It was just me being crazy from lack a sleep. It never happened.

“Do you need a place to stay? I have room up at the keep for anyone…” It seems like he is trying to get out the situation that he is currently. Lupa looks at me still holding him.

“What do you think?” I say to her. She shrugs and lets go of him.

“If he tries to harm you, I will make sure it doesn’t happen.” I am slightly shocked about how open she is being protective of me. I dislike the idea of going to this place. However, I know some things about the Northern Mountains. Like how the fact snow storms can last weeks upon weeks.

“How far is it?” I ask finally deciding what to do.

“Oh, not far at all, maybe a couple hundred feet up.” Aleem says quickly as he stumbles over some words. I groan visually looking like I hate this idea.

“Fine. You can take us. I need to find some things to protect me from the cold first. Lupa is there anything nearby that would help?” Lupa turns to me.

“No. We are pretty high up to the point only a few trees can survive.” She says after walking to the fire. Aleem moves his arm inside his robe. I watch him waiting for him to try something. He looks like he is digging into himself. This causes me to become confused as he produces another robe.

“Here. I always carry extra pairs just in case I meet someone.” He attempts to hand them to me. I guess he keeps bags within his robe. I take it holding it up to the light. It looks the same as his robes, but it is a size or two smaller. I slide it on which surprising fits well. I feel warm and protective strangely. I turn to Lupa. She looks me up and down nodding.

“Alright. Lead us to the keep. Aleem.” Lupa shares a look with me as we pack everything up. I can tell that she doesn’t like the idea either of going up there. Once we are alone again, I will explain everything to her. Aleem heads to the entrance of the cave with us behind him. As we approach the entrance, I get my first look of the snowstorm. White. White is all I can see. I can barely make out shapes within the storm. Aleem takes a step into the storm. Even with this distance apart, I almost lose him. I look at Lupa and take her hand. She looks confused at me. “… So, we don’t get separated.” She looks like she understands but I feel embarrassed. I have never replied on someone this much before. We both walk into the storm.

I lose my bearings within the first few seconds of being within the storm. I hold onto Lupa’s hand for dear life. Lupa takes the lead, which I assume is following Aleem. The robe seems to be protecting me very well. The only part of me that feels any pain is my hand. I fight through it not prepared at all to lose Lupa in this. After traveling for a while, the storm seems to stop all at once. The path way looks clear. A few hundred feet in front of us is the entrance to Crag’s Keep.

The keep looks like an ancient castle from old stories. The castle sits above all other creation in the world. I look around the surrounding area to see nothing even close to it. It must sit upon the tallest mountain in all of the Northern Mountains. The keep itself is black as the darkest pit. It almost looks metallic from this distance. Two large towers hold two large blacken doors that lead into the keep. Giant walls surround the keep preventing anyone or thing from entering. A rather large bridge made out of the same material as the keep connects a gap from one mountain to the keep. Aleem has already started to cross it. I let go of Lupa’s hand and put it inside of my robe. I could almost feel my hand getting to break off if it stayed out any longer. We both start following crossing into Crag’s Keep.

We get to the gigantic double wooden doors between the two towers. Instead of opening them up, Aleem heads inside a crack near the door. I give Lupa a look following Aleem. Getting through the crack introduces me to a humongous main hall. Long tables line the hall where an amazing rug runs down the middle. Lupa soon joins me from the outside. I see Aleem entering a room and the opposite side of the room. I start to walk the room looking at all the beauty. I do not understand why someone would build such a large place. The ceiling reaches far above anything that I have ever seen. Even large some of the trees back home. As we reach the door that Aleem entered, I notice a statue of a giant. It is sitting on a black throne. It is against the back of the hall and it seems to be the only thing that would make sense live here. We enter the room which is full of books. The room is a lot smaller than the main hall. It looks normal sized. Closer inspection reveals that this room was added on.

I am amazed at all the books that are there. Aleem has changed into smaller fitting robes which show off his true figure. He looks skinny for someone his age. He is frantically writing in a large book. Lupa’s curiosity gets the better of herself as she starts to go through books. Aleem lifts his head looking at her. “Looking at my collection?” Lupa seems to engrossed in the book she picked. So, she doesn’t answer him. I shake my head at her laughing inside my head.

“You do have a large collection here. I never knew there were these many books in the world.” Looking around he could easily have over a thousand books in this room. All of them differing from various sizes. Aleem snorts.

“You think this is a lot? This is only your generations knowledge.” That causes me to pause.

“Um.. what? What do you mean my generations knowledge?” He looks at me like he made a mistake.

“Um… I mean.. nothing..” I raise my eyebrows.

“Lupa. Would you kindly?” Lupa looks up from the book. She starts to walk toward Aleem as he starts to back up.

“It’s for the end of the world!” No. It can’t be. Not this again. Lupa grabs him by the robes and holds him up. I get close to him.

“What do you mean?” I say as threatening as I can. Aleem looks at Lupa.

“.. I will tell you.. if you have your pet drop me.” Lupa frowns instantly dropping him. She seems hurt by this as she leaves the room. I frown at him.

“Jerk. Now tell me everything I want to know. I mean it Aleem.” Aleem stands up and heads to the book. He begins writing again as he begins to talk.

“The world will be ending soon. I, as the Keeper of Knowledge, write down all the available knowledge in the world.” I make a face at that. That is impossible. Isn’t it?

“Liar. The world isn’t going to end.” He stops writing and points behind himself. I look to see five rather large books. Like the one he is writing in. Each book has strange letters across them. They are bound in what looks like black leather.

“I have done this five times now. So yes, the world is going to end soon.” I go over to the books. Each book almost look the same exact for the weird writing on each other the I open the fifth book to find a strange world not like this one. This causes my brain to hurt. “Each world is different from the last, but they all end the same way.” I come to him thinking I am going nuts again.

“The world can’t end. It doesn’t make sense.” I say trying to reassure myself. Aleem snorts again.

“You aren’t the first person to ask me this. You won’t be the last. The gods want the world to end. Eventually they get tired of their playthings and wipe the plate clean.” I remember to the night when Lupa was saying that the world was going to end. I get a sickening feeling that this might be all real.

“No. That’s not right. There is no..” Aleem gives me a look to stop me from saying what I am about to say.

“We both know there are gods in this world. Whatever happened that caused you to not believe in them is a load. Gods are real. So, cry about it.” I get angry at that.

“Oh yea. Then why would the Sister want to prevent the world from ending?” I say trying to get back at his cocky attitude. He pauses writing shaking his head.

“Oh, the lies you would make up to make me seem wrong. There is no reason for any of the gods to not want the world to end. None!” He looks at me when he says this. Lupa enters the room looking angry.

“You are the liar! The Sister would never want the world to end.” Aleem frowns at hearing Lupa’s voice.

“How would you know? Freak.” I almost snap at how he is has been talking to Lupa. Even though I was no better, it is different now. Lupa tosses the book that she had at him. He looks up at it. “A Deadly Connection? What does that have to do with anything?” Aleem says confused. Lupa closes her eyes as if she is reading this from the book.

“A long time ago, the Sister walked the earth. Protecting, killing, she was a savage. She valued power over anything else. One day, she met a warrior. He wasn’t the strongest, best looking, or even the most skilled. He did have the biggest heart in the world. He could make cold hearted killers care and lost souls laugh again.” She pauses for a second as a tear rolls down her cheek. “The Sister decided to test the man. She offered anything in the world for the head of the most terrifying beast in all the lands. The man accepted the offer and went off. Weeks went by letting the Sister believe that he was dead. One day, the man returned without the monster’s head. She accused him of failing and hiding from his failure. He denied this. Instead he defeated the beast by tricking it into the bottom of a great pit. He argued that everything deserves life. She was taken back about his ideology. She still told him that he failed but he shook his head no. Since he defeated the most terrifying beast in the land, he became that be default. The Sister frowned at her defeat. She stayed true to agreement and offered him anything in the world. He turned her down. She was so shock at this. Instead he invited her on adventures. To see the world.” Lupa slightly smiles. The smile you smile remembering a good memory. “She accepted. Soon they fell madly in love. She was the happiest she has ever been. However, happiness doesn’t last forever. The world was ending soon. She did everything in her power to save him. Not even the might of a god could save him.” Lupa opens her eyes. She is openly crying now. “She vowed that would kill when it was necessary. Vowing to never let another world die. For if she can find completely happiness, then anyone can.” Lupa finishes looking at me. Aleem opens the book frantically reading through its pages.

“No. No. No. That is impossible. This happened in the last world. There is no way you could have memorized it that fast.” He stops getting straight fear across his face. “You are a herald. For her. Aren’t you?” Lupa nods wiping away the tears. He groans hitting his head against the desk. “All my work gone to waste!” I look confused at him.

“Work gone to waste?” He looks at me. He seems to be analyzing every detail of my being.

“Let me guess. You are the one that is supposed to save the world. Great.” He gets up and starts to look through his stacks of books. I start to protest.

“No. I am not going to save the world. I am not special in any way.” I say already knowing it the truth. Lupa gives me a look. Aleem keeps looking until he finds an old scrap of paper. He clears the desk of all the other materials. Books, papers, writing materials fly across the room. He spreads the paper across the desk. Strange markings cover the entire paper. Aleem starts muttering something I have no what he is saying. He nods finally looking at me.

“I have it. I know how to save the world.” I wait for his response. The room slightly shakes as Aleem looks toward the door. “He’s awak-“ We gets caught off as gigantic fist slams through the door causing the into room to collapse on itself.