The blind man wandered with the harsh singing of the winter wind. The permafrost crunched beneath every step, he shivered despite his heavy fur cloak and the faint light of a mageweave keeping him warm.

  The frost this far north was deadly, not even the Kh’orrs came here if they could help it. He had left their last village far behind.

  The monastery of truth thought him a fool, but he, Penderghast the Wise, would prove them the foolish ones! How could they not see what he, a blind man, could see so clearly? The old texts mentioned the death of the sun would guide to where the Tome of Eternal Secrets was hidden. A fabulous tome that held answers to questions men long had forgotten. It could be his, would be his. He would show them, he would show them that all his sacrifices were worth it. The blood was needed to find this path, his path.

  When he left, he knew the first hurdle would be finding the maze of shifting Ice, most scholars declared that it was the ice floes over the sea, but Penderghast knew better, he was given sight to see past the short sightedness of fussy librarians. He had questioned the fiend intently, divining that the maze was a literal maze carved with ancient magics purely to hold the Tome. Where the scholars said it was to the west, he instead struck out east.

  The secrets it held must be so powerful that even the ancient mages who blasted continents with their wars were terrified of them. Under his hand, he knew that he'd be able to do much good. The secrets to ending suffering, to feeding all of the hungry of the world, to have power greater than even the dragons could dream of to build a utopia and world peace!

  After he got through the maze of shifting ice that the fiend told him of, then he would face the guardian. It should be simple work to appease it for one as wise as he was! The fiend had described it as some kind of serpent, as Xeth the keeper of secrets was fond of, it was likely a Naga, so he had prepared well with offerings to appease it, and wards in case it wasn't.

  The warmth of his enchantment was slowly fading, he felt the needles of the cold in his fingertips, but just a little farther, he could sense it, the weave wouldn't lie to him. This was his destiny!

  He felt eyes from behind him, but no matter, he knew the fiend wouldn't harm him, couldn't harm him.

  Too many mystics got corrupted by the offered power and gave living sacrifices in exchange for knowledge, but Penderghast stayed true no matter what the others said! He'd only offered his own flesh and blood, so the fiend could no more hurt him as it could hurt itself.

  Penderghast was rather proud of that loophole. He was so wise, not even a fiend could outbargain him!

  One more step, but this time, the permafrost collapsed beneath his foot. He tried to grab something, anything! The presence behind him chuckled, the cruel frost and numbing of his hands doomed him as he slipped through a crevice. He knew none would find him alive.

  Penderghast felt the bite of the rushing wind, with no time to weave a ward before he hit the bottom.

  Bones cracked and shattered as he felt fur beneath him, but not his bones. He didn't know how far he had fallen, but something had broken his fall.

  He put his hands to the air and touched the ley line and felt the echoes of his surroundings. It was a simple trick, one that any mystic could do, but Penderghast had learned to use it for so much more. The ley lines were connected to everything, and all magic was the art of twisting them into new forms through circuits and circles. It was ridiculous that so many of the order refused to use their power to their full potential.

  He sensed the bones of the old merchant and dozens of others who had fallen into this abyss. They had scattered and cracked from his fall. Under him was the remains of some beast and what once was a rich haul of furs.

  Penderghast didn't believe in luck, but what else could it be to fall on the remains of a fur trader's bundle of fur? He was unharmed!

  The universe wanted him to find it! The Tome of Eternal Secrets could be here!

  A cold moaning and cracking interrupted his celebrations, wherever he fell, it had a voice of its own.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  It was only for an instant, but he felt another connection, there were more than just pelts here, the long frozen merchant must have been a vain man, for he carried a silver mirror, now cracked, likely from Penderghast's fall. Penderghast could feel it in the merchant’s pouch next to some coins, gems and other miscellanea. What kind they were didn't matter, he couldn't see them to tell, and his ley line senses couldn't pick up the fine detail.

  It was a pity, this man must have been well off. He probably was trading with the Kh’orrs and got turned around in some blizzard. Falling down here and freezing to death would have been a terrible fate. A fate, Penderghast reminded himself, that he nearly shared with this nameless merchant.

  He took the pouch. He had no use for a looking glass, but the silver of the coins and gems themselves? Yes, he could craft many good enchantments with the precious metal.

  He marched forward towards the opening he sensed earlier, and cracked his nose as he ran into an icy wall, hot blood pouring down his beard.

  What? That's not supposed to happen.

  He touched the ley line again. . . The maze had changed! He never thought that it would actually be moving, not at this timescale! It was unnatural! The fiend behind him giggled. That cretin had hid this from him! The ancient magics were still active! He grumbled in appreciation for their subtle weaves, he couldn't even feel the spell along the ley lines, it felt so natural.

  Penderghast moved forward towards a new opening, reconnecting with the ley line with every step. He should have been more careful, if any of his fellows saw him, they would have called him Penderghast the fool, but he'd show them.

  He was right, he knew he was right! He couldn't sit back and watch when he had the wisdom to make the world better!

  Slowly he pieced his way through, the shifting ice no obstacle to his insight! Slowly he could sense it, a podium not too far away.

  That must be it! That must be where the Tome of Eternal Secrets lay!

  He hurried forward, nearly getting caught between two walls as they shifted due to his haste, but he couldn't wait, validation was just in front of him!

  The knotted podium rose up from the ice. He could feel the energy here. Ley lines converged on this spot!

  He rushed forward and picked up the leather bound book, exalting in his victory and ignoring the creaking of the ice around him.

  Finally, after all those years!

  A hiss behind him startled him, there was something there, something hidden within the energies.

  The guardian, how could he have forgotten? He was prepared though. He reached towards his pouch, the offerings of carved wood and fish he placed on the ground before him and stepped back grinning. It was all too easy! The serpent slowly undulated out, soon it would take his offering and he would be able to claim the secrets he desired. It was getting so close he could smell the acridity of its poisonous breath,

  Wait, poison? Nagas didn't have poisonous breath.

  His heart started beating and he checked the Ley lines again.

  His blood ran as cold as the icy walls around him.

  A Basilisk? In this clime?

  Basilisks were immune to magic, all his mystic arts would be useless here. The fiend behind him chuckled, he wished that it would help rather than take its perverse pleasure from his struggles.

  Shaking, he slowly reached for his bag, for a weapon, anything, knowing he had nothing

  His hand found the silver mirror.

  He pulled it out, something was better than nothing as the sounds of slithering circled him. . . He felt claustrophobic, was it going to strangle him slowly?

  He began to pray, bringing his hands to his chest, the mirror still held within them. The fiend behind him cackled with unrestrained laughter.

  The hissing stopped.

  The ice creaked, but the poisonous presence was gone.

  The Basilisk must have left!

  He knew it! The universe wanted him to succeed!

  He took a step and stumbled on a stone that wasn't there before.

  That was strange, stone doesn't just appear from vapor. He tapped the ley line again, and he sensed something that made his blood run cold.

  The Basilisk was there, jaws open to strike less than a foot from him. . . Its fangs as long as his arm, and made completely of stone.

  Shaking, he backed slowly towards the book, and paused. . . Stone? He dropped the mirror still in his hands.

  Of course! The Basilisk saw its reflection and turned itself to stone!

  Penderghast knew he had had a wise purpose for taking that mirror!

  Now the Tome of Eternal Secrets was his!

  He touched the cover, caressed the embossed lettering, opened it up, and stopped.

  He couldn't see.

  He had given up his eyes to the cackling fiend behind him.

  Sure, he could sense things through ley lines, BUT HE COULDN'T SEE! He couldn't read the tome, the secrets he yearned for just right in front of him, and HE COULDN'T READ THEM!

  All the pages might as well be blank for all the good they did him!

  "No matter", he grumbled to no one in particular, "I just need to take it back to the monastery, they will see I am no fool!"

  He touched the ley line and stopped.

  It was silent, not even the ice cracked and split anymore behind him.

  There were no exits.

  He checked again and again.

  None opened, the once shifting ice had stopped.

  He was trapped.

  Penderghast slumped to the floor, defeated.

  He had to admit it.

  He had gained his goal, and for what?

  His sacrifices? For what?

  Exile and a book he could not read and a slow cold death?

  He felt the fiend creep closer. Was it going to claim his spirit for the wars of the Pancosma? He wasn't ready! He had too much to do!

  Penderghast had to admit he truly was a fool as the last of his warmth enchantment faded and the cold took him.