In the morning, Arix was staring at the branch of a tree on the river shore. It was a normal branch, but the thing that caught Arix's attention was the three little birds sitting there, chirping.

  Tarin and Lyra were packing the camp supplies from last night, while Meilie was struggling just to wake up. She was not an early bird, obviously. She slept early and woke up late.

  The three birds made Arix remember a moment. It was a normal summer day on the island. Arix was just ten years old by then. He was wandering on the hills of the island, playing with other kids.

  "Hey, that's cheating. You can't run away like this," he screamed, trying to catch up to Adrin, Noah, and Leo.

  They were all playing the famous kids' game where the person whose turn it is has to catch up to others and say "I pass" so their turn passes to the other. But Arix, being the slowest one at that time and completely exhausted, found his turn was not ending.

  He was running behind all three, but they were already very far away. Arix stopped, gasping for breath, stared at Adrin, Noah, and Leo fading in the distance. The sun was upon him when he saw a tree.

  "I should rest a little," he thought, heading toward the tree.

  When he reached it, on the other side he saw a girl. Long black hair, long eyebrows, and glowing eyes. It was Elena.

  This was the first time Arix met Elena. She was holding a book. Being curious, he asked, "What are you reading?"

  She turned her gaze toward him, standing there beside her. "I am reading a story of three birds," she said.

  "What are birds?" Arix got more curious and sat beside her, expecting an explanation.

  "Well, it's a little creature with wings. They can fly and gaze at the world from the sky. Think how amazing that is." Her eyes lit up and her mouth fell open, staring at Arix.

  He leaned back a bit because she was a little too close. "Birds? Sounds interesting."

  She glanced at her book again. "Yes, it is. In this book, the three birds are sitting on the branch, chirping and calling to their friends."

  "I see," Arix said.

  Then suddenly he felt a force on his shoulder—someone was trying to shake him. "ARIX," Lyra screamed.

  "Yes." Arix shifted his gaze from the branch to Lyra, who was standing beside him with Tarin and Meilie.

  "Let's go. We are late already," she said.

  Arix took a deep breath. "Yes. Let's go."

  "But how are we going to cross the river?" Tarin said, standing at the shore and staring at the river.

  "It's not that wide, but the current is too strong, so we can't swim." Lyra leaned toward the river for a better look. "Hey, can't you do something with your magic?" She turned around, gazing at Meilie.

  Meilie shook her head, indicating she couldn't.

  Arix was looking around him for some sort of solution when Tarin said, "We can cut that tree. It will make a bridge we can cross," pointing toward the tree where three birds were still chirping.

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  "Don't we have any other way?" Arix said, failing to find anything. They all agreed to cut down the tree.

  Tarin took his greatsword and started swinging at the tree. With the first hit, the three birds flew away. Arix stared at them for a while until they disappeared in the sky and a loud crash sound reached his ears.

  The tree fell directly onto the river, which they could cross.

  Lyra was first to cross it slowly, followed by Meilie, then Arix, and at last Tarin.

  When it was Tarin's turn, he started losing his balance a bit and barely crossed it.

  Lyra laughed while Arix also chuckled. Looking at Tarin wobbling on the tree and running.

  "It was not that funny," Tarin screamed, grinding his teeth and staring at both of them.

  "It was," Lyra said. Her eyes were already wet from laughter and she was holding her stomach with her hand.

  After a while, they all headed toward the mountain.

  - - - -

  At the same time, at the abandoned village, the Loms were still begging to the sky. In the cellar of the dungeon where Arix fought the masked servant, a two-headed entity emerged from the shadows. Both his tails wiggled fast, and both heads turned around looking at the destruction of the cellar. He walked forward to the dead body of the servant, which was still lying there, and bent down to check its pulse, which was gone.

  He took a deep breath. "How can he lose to a human?" he whispered. For a while, he looked around in the cellar, trying to find anything interesting except for the body of the servant, but he found nothing.

  He stood in the middle of the arena for a while when suddenly he vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.

  After a while, he emerged again but in a very different location. It looked like a pathway heading toward a big open door. The pathway was made of stones, with torches placed on both sides. From the view, it seemed like the path was in the air, but the air around it was dark. The sky was red around him, with lightning striking all around.

  The two-headed entity walked forward toward the big gate.

  The gate was connected to a very big castle, different from what Meilie had shown to Arix and his group.

  It was made of black stones, and the walls were carved in different styles, all black. The flags were waving on both the towers above the castle.

  When he reached the gate, it opened slowly with a large rumble, which echoed for a while in his ears.

  He walked inside and knelt immediately before the Great Throne.

  It was a courtroom he was kneeling in, with thrones all around him and huge pillars, also made of black stones covering the room.

  In front of him lay the Great Throne. Made completely of gold, it stood elevated above the ground, reached by stairs also made of gold. Three sword-like spikes rose from it. Each sword held a head—the heads of three different entities whose bodies were nowhere to be seen.

  It was also the only throne which was made of gold; the others were of stone.

  The courtroom was empty except for the two-headed figure and the other entity seated on the Great Throne. His face was not visible and he was leaning back against the throne, sitting in a relaxed posture.

  "The Masked Servant died, my lord," he said, staring at the ground while kneeling.

  "And what about the Loms?" The great entity spoke in a very deep and dark voice. His voice echoed throughout the room.

  "They are vulnerable right now, my lord," he said.

  "Hmm, and what about those humans?"

  "They are still out there," he replied.

  "Go and fetch me their souls, and send another masked servant to the village," the great entity commanded.

  "As you say, my lord,” he said as he stood and walked out of the courtroom.

  - - - -

  After another two days, Arix and his group were standing at the foot of the mountain. The mountain stretched as far as they could see from both east and west, and its white snowy peak was clearly visible.

  Arix took a deep breath. "So this is Everfrost Mountain."

  "Seems like it," Tarin replied, staring up at the height of the mountain.

  "Do you really think we can climb this?" Lyra asked, also staring at the peak.

  "We have no choice. We can't go east or west as I see no end to this mountain. This is more like a huge wall," Tarin answered.

  "Let's hope Vaelor was right about the weapon," Arix said, while everyone started heading toward it. They saw a path in front of them which seemed to lead to the peak.

  So they followed the path, but not for long.