Gray floated in a formless abyss. There was no ground beneath him, no ceiling above, no air to breathe, only silence, vast and suffocating. His limbs moved sluggishly, as if he were swimming through tar, but no matter how much he struggled, there was no resistance, no progress. His breath rasped against his own ears, though he couldn't tell if he was breathing at all.
'Did i...die again?'
The thought rang louder than anything else, echoing back at him, hollow and cruel. He tried to call out, but only his own voice in his head answered him. He was alone in a place where even time refused to exist.
'No... i couldn't have...surely?' He was in deep confusion as he looked around.
Then, far in the distance, he saw it. A tree. Small, fragile, withered and standing alone in the darkness. It shouldn't have been possible, yet its shape was clear, glowing faintly with some unnameable warmth. A strange ache clawed at his chest as he stared at it. The familiarity terrified him more than the abyss itself. He reached for it, struggling forward, heart hammering. But before he could take another step the abyss collapsed inward. Like a mirror shattering.
Gray's eyes shot open.
Grogginess drowned him at once. His chest rose in a sharp gasp as if he'd been submerged underwater for hours. His entire body screamed. His left hand, frozen stiff, brittle as carved ice. His right leg, a mass of throbbing pain. His core, empty, so drained of Vyre that even drawing breath felt like trying to lift stone with his lungs. He tried to sit up but his body betrayed him, collapsing sideways.
"Gray."
The voice was faint, ragged, trembling. A hand gripped his shoulder, pulling him weakly upright. Adel.
She looked worse than anyone had the right to. Her armor was a ruin of torn plates and scorched leather, her silver hair plastered against her pale face. Her breathing was shallow, every inhale like a knife stabbing her ribs. Her legs shook under her own weight. Yet she was still there, still trying to pull him from the ground.
He wanted to ask why she hadn't just left him. But his throat was too dry, too heavy.
The ground suddenly shuddered. A thunderous crack rang overhead, and ice and dust rained from the ceiling. The whole chamber shook violently, the walls groaning as if ready to bury them alive.
Gray's heart lurched. The chamber is collapsing.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up, forcing his dead leg to move, leaning heavily on his katana like a walking stick. His blurred vision swept across the battlefield, and froze.
Where Orrin had last stood was no longer stone. A massive crater carved into the chamber, deep, jagged, a scar in the battlefield. The center was empty. No Orrin. Nothing.
Gray staggered forward, dragging his frozen hand against the wall for balance. His eyes fell on the monster.
The beast.
It stood before him, towering and immobile, silent at last. Its icy shell was melting away in rivulets, steam hissing from where Aurelle's strikes had bitten. Its once-monstrous form crumbled, revealing the figure hidden within: a burly man, flesh scarred and half-burnt, buried beneath what had been a monster's armor. One half of its face was frozen still, the other burnt to raw ash.
Surrounding it were countless drowned. Bodies strewn across the ground, collapsed in grotesque piles. Some remained standing, locked in place as ice devoured them, yet lifeless, hollow.
Gray's legs gave a violent shake.' It's really dead... It's over.' He nearly couldn't believe it.
But the thought gave him no relief. Only emptiness.
"Gray," Aurelle's voice rasped behind him. Gray spun, nearly falling over. Aurelle was still standing, though his body leaned against his blade as though it were the only thing keeping him upright. His face was streaked with blood, his left arm hanging limply, yet his eyes still glowed faintly with determination. At his feet lay Renn, unconscious, his face pale but chest rising with shallow breaths.
Gray stumbled toward him, heart pounding. He dropped to his knees, pressing fingers against Renn's neck. A pulse. Weak, but alive. Relief surged through him, so sharp it almost brought tears.
"He's alive," Gray whispered.
Aurelle nodded, exhaling a long, shaky breath. "Help me lift him."
Together, though neither had the strength for it, they hoisted Renn to a safer spot. Aurelle nearly collapsed afterward, muttering, "Find the others… quickly."
Gray swallowed his exhaustion and staggered away. His vision swam, but he forced it clear, scanning the broken battlefield. He spotted Adel again, struggling to haul Korr upright. The creeping metal that had consumed Korr's body had retreated, now clinging only to his hands like shackles. His eyes were dazed, but at least he was breathing.
Gray's relief barely had time to take root before his eyes caught something else.
'Lira...'
She stood at the chamber's far edge, still and unmoving, her back to him.
Gray forced his legs forward, nearly tripping on broken ice. "Lira!" he called, voice cracking. "We need to leave now—"
The words caught in his throat.
At her feet lay a body.
Gray froze. His heart hammered violently, refusing to believe what his eyes showed him. He staggered closer, each step heavier than the last.
It was Orrin.
His chest constricted so hard he couldn't breathe. He nearly dropped to his knees beside him. His lips trembled, his hands shook, but still he reached forward. Orrin's body was a ruin. His flesh torn, wounds splitting skin and muscle. Blood soaked into the ice beneath him. Burns scored his chest and arms, blackened veins spreading from his core.
Gray pressed a trembling hand against his shoulder. "Orrin." His voice cracked. He shook him once, twice. "Orrin, wake up. Orrin?"
No response.
Beside him, Lira knelt slowly. Her hand hovered above Orrin's chest before she lowered it, pressing softly against where his heart had once beat. She stayed like that, silent, then stood and turned away.
Gray's voice broke. "Is he… alive?"
Lira's hand tightened on her shattered sword's hilt. Her shoulders sagged as she stumbled toward Orrin's spear, wedged deep in the ice. She pulled it free with effort, her voice hollow. "No. Even if his body survived… his Vyre veins are burnt out. His core… shattered."
'Shattered? How?' Gray remembered the last thing he heard before he passed out.
The cracking sound. It struck him like lightning now.
He clenched his teeth, his whole body shaking. He knew. He knew he was done for, and he still…
Still smiled.
Still chose to end it himself.
Gray's throat closed. He bent forward, plucking a single strand of his own hair, letting it drift down to Orrin's still chest. From where he was from, it was a poor mans tradition, a gesture of respect for the dead. For those who had nothing else to give.
His whisper was almost soundless. "Thank you… Orrin."
But the chamber groaned again, snapping him back. Cracks spread across the ceiling, ice crashing down in jagged shards. The way they had entered was gone, sealed by massive blocks of frozen stone. Panic surged.
He spun, searching frantically. His eyes caught a set of steps leading up toward the altar. With all the strength he could muster, he stumbled upward. The altar bowl was shattered, tossed aside. Where it had once been fixed, a narrow ladder descended into darkness.
"Here!" he shouted, voice echoing. "Everyone, here!" He didn't have the time to even question why there was a ladder there.
The survivors gathered, limping, dragging one another along. The chamber's collapse thundered above them, a death knell for everything left behind. Gray took one last look at Orrin's body, his chest heavy with grief, then forced himself down the ladder.
The darkness swallowed them.
The corridor stretched long and narrow, walls of ice pressing on both sides, the air colder than anything Gray had ever felt. Every breath stabbed like needles. The cold was no longer a discomfort, it was death itself, crawling into their veins. Each of them shivered violently, teeth chattering, lips turning blue.
Gray's body fared worst. His frozen hand ached like glass ready to shatter, his injured leg dragged heavily. He leaned hard on his katana, each step a battle of will. His thoughts fogged, drowning in exhaustion, in grief, in the relentless cold. If we don't find warmth soon… we'll all die down here.
Their footsteps echoed faintly. Slowly, faint light began to seep through the corridor, so dim at first Gray thought it was a trick of his eyes. But with each step, the brightness grew, until they could see one another clearly again.
Finally, the corridor widened, the walls breaking apart. They crawled out into another cave, this one different. No ice. No frozen air. The suffocating cold vanished instantly, replaced by a warmth that felt unreal.
Gray blinked, unwilling to believe it. He rubbed his arm, expecting frostbite, but the warmth lingered. Real. Impossible, but real.
The cave had only one exit, a corner where light streamed in. Gray raised his frozen hand against the glow as they shuffled forward.
They turned the corner, and the light hit them fully.
Gray's breath caught.
Before them stretched a forest, lush and green, alive in every direction. Trees thick with leaves, vines dangling, birds darting between branches. The sound of flowing water somewhere distant. The smell of earth, rich and clean.
And beyond it, the city.
It loomed vast across the horizon, walls of pure white stone gleaming under the sun. Towers and battlements lined the ramparts, intricate carvings etched deep into their surface. Within the walls rose structures so massive they dwarfed anything Gray had ever seen: a sprawling castle of towering spires, a cathedral whose windows glowed with distant light, and a colossal academy whose domes glittered like gems in daylight.
Above it all, the sky stretched wide and blue, marred only by the cracked sun burning faintly in its heart. Smoke curled faintly from somewhere within the city, twisting into the sky like a signal.
Gray's knees almost gave. His frozen hand trembled as he shielded his eyes.
They were out.
They had escaped Glacierfang.
The sun blazed brighter. The city loomed closer. Marking the end of their long nightmare.
[End of Volume 1]