The cold struck her like a hammer.
WOOOOOOOOHHH!!
"Haaa...."
Saphira's breath hitched, as the storms air clawed into her lungs.
The pressure was so much, it seemed to be push her back into the caves shelter, but Riven held her steady; his arm, an anchor in the hellish storm.
The drips were long drowned out; the world was replaced by a white so vast....it seemed ready to swallow her whole.
WOOOOOH!
'...This'
Show stung her cheeks, cold as ice.
The gusts teared at her layers, pulling golden strands across the air, until it whipped against her eyes.
"....Haaaa"
She squinted into the blur, but the white haze prevented a-lot.
The sky was hazy, boundless as space, whilst the ground dragged at her steps.
'...This is what he's been walking in?'
Her throat tightened.
For the first time since she had opened her eyes in this cursed place, she understood.
The weight behind his steps, behind his eyes.
They were born from this....
Crunch! Crunch!
Riven took a few steps in-front, his visage slightly obstructed.
He turned, "...Com- on."
WOOOOOOOOH!
The words came flat.
It was hard to hear, but she understood.
'...Ok'
Crunch!
She had taken her first step.
WOOOOOOH!
The veil had immediately swallowed the foot whole, the cold biting through her leg.
The wind clawed further, chilling her face.
"Hkk-"
For a heartbeat, she wanted to turn back-
but there was no back anymore.
Only forward.
Riven waited just ahead, his outline present and whole as the storm blurred.
"...Ok", she whispered this time, though it was inaudible.
WOOOOOH!
It began slow.
She forced another step.
Then another.
Crunch! Crunch!
The snow climbed up their shins, then their knees.
WOOOOOH!
It was a whisper no longer.
The storm was a wall....
"...Hkk-"
It tore through the valley, forcing their breaths out from inside.
Saphira's hands clutched the blanket around her tighter, head ducked low.
Even then, the sting cut her cheeks raw.
"...Haaa"
Riven glanced back, before slowing his pace to match.
Crunch!
No-one could be used to such an experience.
WOOOOOOH!
Crunch! Crunch!
What little fire that had clung to them in the cave....it was stripped bare, leaving frost and breath.
'....Mother'
"Hkk-"
Riven's hand clutched the hilt of Mael's Fang, the blade responding in faint hums.
It was his only warmth here.
His other hand, fitted with slight patches of fur clawed the air in-front, trying to push the gusts away.
"Ha....."
Crunch! Crunch!
Saphira trudged with uneven steps behind.
Cru-Crunch!
Her form, swallowed by swirling white whenever Riven blinked.
WOOOOOOOH!
He slowed, waiting until her shadow emerged again, lips parting to bark words.
"Sa-"
The storm shredded any chance.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Water?
No.
Just the trick of memory, the cave still echoing in mind.
He forced it away, as he turned around often, steps still moving.
WOOOOOOOOH!
Cru-
He could hear her steps, faint and fragile.
But when he cut back--
Nothing.
White.
His fingers twitched slightly.
The sound was there.
The shape wasn't.
WOOOOOOOOH!
'....Where'
He was growing uneasy, steps now cemented into the snow.
They hadn't walked long, but the cave was long unreachable.
"S-!"
WOOOOOOOOOH!
The veil was mocking him, powering loudly as his lips parted to echo.
Her name was lost in the abyss of frost.
'Saphira!'
Slow steps marched the way he came...hesitant.
Before instinct made them rush.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
'...Did she fall?'
Where was she?
"SAPHIRA!"
The cry finally broke apart, but it carried into nothing.
The land only boomed silence.
White.
Pure white.
But it wasn't like before....
This was heavier, a veil that swallowed everything....even his own steps in the ground muffled.
crun-
He was powering through, but his steps were hushed.
It wasn't Nullstride.
"Haaaa! Haaaa!"
As his breaths came rough, curling pale, it wasn't on his mind presently.
"Sa-"
She was the only thing on his mind.
His stomach twisted.
She couldn't have gone far....
So why?
'...Why isn't she here!'
He stopped in place.
Wait....
The storm...
The sounds they were all gone.
Was it him?
Or had the world lost its voice?
His chest tightened.
The storm was still there.
He felt it clawing at his cheeks, prying through cracks in clothing, pressing needles into his nape.
But it was silent.
No howl.
No cry.
No mockery.
But the weight was there.
Thrashing without a voice.
"ha...."
His breath stilled.
The world was voiceless.
Hearing told him nothing: only vast silence and suffocating loss.
Feeling told him everything: the drags of wind, the bite of frost.
Which was real?
Which could he trust?
The silence told him to believe, but the cold screamed he shouldn't.
Thump! Thump!
There was one sound though....
His heart.
Something that wouldn't go away.
Thump. Thump.
It hammered in the silence as the white covered all sides, thick enough to smother.
He took a step....
And the world didn't reciprocate the act.
'Saphira'
Thump!
She was lost....just like him.
Lost in this abyss of white.
The thought stabbed deep....until something stabbed sharper.
Thum-
Even without sound, he felt it.
Thump!!
His body screamed it....
A weight.
A pressure.
It pressed against his spine, gnawing at instinct.
Danger.
Not imagined. Not snow.
Alive.
'....Where!'
Thump! Thump!
His finger locked tight against Mael's Fang.
Nothing.
No scrape of metal.
No whisper of air striking the edge.
No gentle hum.
No sound....
Even his own weapon was devoured by the white.
THUMP! Thump!
His pulse thundered in the space instead.
It was too loud in this quiet....
Too exposed.
"Haaa....."
Grey eyes darted, scanning everything but scanning nothing.
It was all white.
Thump!
He lowered his body, ready to dart anywhere.
He didn't need to hear it...
But the feeling.
It was the same that day...
The feeling of being hunted.
But no.
'...It's not him'
'He....'
His grip whitened, as knuckles screamed.
Every nerve was activated.
'...Where!'
The silence pressed in....
Thump! Thump!
This didn't feel like what Jacob used that day.
It wasn't magic.
It wasn't an illusion.
It was worse.
Something alive was out there, moving with the storm.
Part of it.
There was no need to cloak itself....the whiteout did that for it.
Thump! Thump!
Every breath he made, every thump his heart thundered, was an invitation.
This was its world.
It had hunted here long before him....
"Ha.....Haa...."
And it was here to kill him.
Scccrrpppp!
Riven couldn't hear it, but watching through the veil....
Two faint orbs burned pale blue.
Not fire.
Not warmth.
They lingered, hovering low in the storm.
A hunched silhouette moved; shoulders too high, too heavy.
Scccrrpppp!
It blended in with the white.
Watching.
A whiteout stalker.