For a moment, all of the fear, exhaustion, and pain within Astor's mind vanished.
And he simply stood there, caught beneath the shimmering colours of the veil, feeling as though he was looking at something that didn't belong to this world... and yet had always been waiting for him.
"I'm guessing you know what that is," Dawn said as he slowly emerged from the forest, right behind Astor.
"No... bu-" Before Astor could complete his sentence, a fist crashed into his jaw, making him lose his balance and fall down on his back.
"P-please, help me! D-dawn!" The red-haired girl cried as she got up from the fallen Astor and ran towards Dawn.
"T-this mongrel grabbed me without my permission... he- he threatened me and said he'd do terrible things to me!" Now clinging uncomfortably to Dawn.
Astor clicked his jaw back into place and looked up at the act the girl was throwing, "Huh?! What the hell are you s—"
"Y-You have to believe me, Dawn!" The red-haired girl said, interrupting him.
"Ha-ha! You really did that, Astor?" Dawn said as he laughed.
"What? No! Of course not!" Astor responded once he got up.
However, before Dawn could say something, a roar echoed within the forest — The roar of the white wolf, Regulus. And in the next instant, glowing runes started to flow in front of Astor once again...
[You have survived an encounter with an Inferno Invoker]
What... The wolf killed it?! The last thing Astor had seen before running north was Regulus being flung around like a flaming rag doll. He would have never expected the wolf to be the victorious one.
No... the runes don't state that the bony beast is dead, they only state that it is not hunting me anymore. But then what about the wolf??
I haven't survived an encounter with the white wolf... Does that mean the wolf is still hunting me??
No matter, there's no time to celebrate anyway. Dismissing the runes, Astor turned towards the golden thread and stared at it for a few seconds before taking a step forward. He wasn't going to turn back after making it this far.
"D-Dawn, carry m-me, please, I'm hurt!" Said the red-haired girl, grabbing tightly onto Dawn's arm.
However, Dawn simply smiled and said, "Sorry, I don't do charity," before he began walking behind Astor.
"Huh?! No! Wait for me!" the girl said as she lagged behind Dawn; however, she soon picked up her pace once she heard another roar. Regulus was very close to them.
And after a while of walking, all three of them gathered once again at the very edge of the veil.
"Dawn! Let's go back... We don't have to follow this weakling! You can kill that thing, right?! Or else it's never going to stop hunting us!" the red-haired girl said as she clung to Dawn once again.
"No! We can't kill that thing! It's a Shadow Invoker! Do you even know what Shadow means?!" Astor immediately interrupted the girl. However, Dawn didn't respond... he simply stared at Astor like he had said something wrong.
"What?" Astor asked, shaking his head.
"Astor. How do you know it's a Shadow Invoker?" Dawn asked, just as confused.
"I'm a Gatebearer! Alright! We have to go inside the veil! Now!"
"Alright, but that still doesn't explain how you know it's a Shadow Invoker."
"What...? Doesn't the Voice of the Artifacts show Gatebearers runes describing the name and tier of the creature they are fighting?"
Upon hearing that, Dawn burst out into laughter, "Haha! What are you talking about? There's no such thing! Who told you that?"
Well... nobody had told him that. He had just assumed it was the usual for Gatebearers once he first saw the runes.
But he was wrong — It was another thing unique to him. And there was only one way that could be...
Eyes of Wisdom! Astor came to realisation. Perhaps my Dormant attribute isn't as bad as I once thought... However, it was still pretty useless, as he had no idea what 'Shadow' was supposed to mean.
All Gatebearers back on Mytherra have a Gate of any one of the 4 Elements: Aqua, Inferno, Tempest, and Terra. He had never heard of someone or something having a Shadow or Soul Gate ever before.
He and the wolf had something in common... However, unlike him, the wolf was an Invoker!
Similar to Artifacts, all Gatebearers could also be categorised into ranks, based on the tier of the gate within them.
The lowest rank, the one at which all creatures are born[1], is Dormant, above which is Ascendant, then Invoker, Bound, Echo, Cardinal, Monarch, Primordial, Immortal, and then the final tier... Celestial.
The white wolf, Regulus, was an Invoker, meaning it had a tier 3 Gate.
In contrast, Astor was just a mere Dormant Gatebearer with a Dormant Origin Artifact and a Dormant Gate — he wasn't much stronger than an ordinary human.
"But you are right, Astor. The way it suddenly came out of the darkness... it isn't the power of any ordinary Gatebearer. The wolf is a Lostbearer, like you say.
As for the Invoker part... well, I'll just trust you on that." Dawn said in a stoic tone once he stopped laughing and calmed down.
Lostbearer...? Astor wondered. However, his thoughts were interrupted by another roar coming from the forest. Reminding him why he had walked to the veil.
"Well, what are you waiting for... let's go," Dawn said as he walked past Astor, into the shimmering colours of the Veil.
"H-Hey! Wait for me. Dawn!" the red-haired girl yelped as she followed Dawn inside.
Now, Astor was the only one left standing on the gravel. And before stepping in himself, he stared up at the Veil once.
He wondered why Dawn was so compliant with his idea. Dawn hadn't even asked him why he was so desperately heading north.
Well, at least I have someone to trust... yeah! It felt wrong... but still, he was glad.
After taking a deep breath and closing his eyes and took a step in, completely submerging his body into the strange lights of the veil.
He continued walking through the swirling layers of the Veil. And at last, the boundary appeared again, shimmering faintly ahead of him.
He closed his eyes once more and took the final step. The colours fell away, and he emerged on the opposite side of the wall.
***
The first thing he felt was cold — biting, absolute cold, unlike anything he had ever known. The ship had been cold. The ocean had been far colder. But this… this was beyond comparison.
A storm like this in the middle of summer?! Astor opened his eyes. However, his vision was blocked by the lashing snow in the air, driven so violently by the wind that it cut sideways.
Through the white blur, only two things stood out: the pulsing golden thread and the faint silhouettes of Dawn and the red-haired girl a few steps away.
However, something about the thread was wrong... it was no longer leading him north, but rather up. Astor blinked once before realising where he was.
They were now standing on the foot of a massive glacier. Its jagged blue-white surface rose like a frozen cliff, reflecting the shimmering lights of the veil behind them.
"Are you sure you still want to head North?!" Dawn screamed. But Astor only heard a faint and dull voice because of the wind.
"Yes!" He responded at the top of his lungs. The red-haired girl protested; however, he wasn't able to hear her already soft voice.
And after a second, she turned around, taking a step back into the veil once again, returning to the gravel patch that surrounded the veil on the other side...
However, in the next moment, something strange happened. The girl walked right back into the storm, right beside Astor.
"What?!" She said as she looked around, confused, before turning back once again and stepping into the veil. But just like the last time, she failed to escape and came back out in the spot she had started at.
"No-No-No-No! This can't be!" She turned around and ran into the Veil once more, just to come out next to Astor in the next second. A despairful expression appeared on her face as she fell to her feet.
Astor and Dawn stared at each other with the same dull expression. All three of them understood in that moment what this meant...
They were trapped.
[1] (Apart from humans, who are born with a Broken Gate)