"It's all your fault! You picked me up without my permission!! You pervert!" The red-haired girl punched Astor weakly as she followed him to the absolute foot of the glacier.
"How much will you lie?! My jaw still hurts from that punch — so stop pretending to be weak! And nobody forced you to follow us in, alright?" Astor said before he looked up at the golden thread once again.
The thread still slithered and waved along the icy surface of the glowing glacier. Meaning, it was still guiding him through the most optimal path. All he had to do was follow it and make sure not to fall.
His feet were covered in blisters and scars — he had been walking barefoot in the snow all day. It was painful to even walk. And now he had to climb that glacier...
"You should be grateful I even allowed you to touch me! You damn pervert!" The girl said as she grabbed onto Astor's tunic.
"I know women 10 times prettier than you. Stop creating fantasies within your own head. And let go of me!"
Astor shook her hand off and thrust his dagger into the glacier's icy-blue surface, in hopes of using it as an icepick.
"W-Wait! I-I don't know how to climb! Please!" She said, grabbing onto Astor once again.
"You think I'm falling for that again?"
"P-Please! If you leave me here, I'll die of the cold! Really! I really don't know how to climb! Please..."
Astor slowly looked down at the girl once again. A single tear slipped down her cheek as she stared back at him, with a truly fearful face.
Damn it all!
***
Astor finally began climbing the glacier, now, the girl clinging tightly to his back as he carefully made his way up the icy wall. Dawn followed Astor a few meters below, but because of the storm, he wasn't clearly visible.
Astor steadily moved upward across the near-vertical slope of the shimmering glacier. Still, he knew that carrying the extra weight of a person would eventually catch up to him.
The glacier wasn't that tall — he just had to make sure to reach the top before his arms gave out.
But as half an hour passed, doubt began creeping in within Astor's heart... Everything on Borealis was larger — vast in a way that mocked human judgment.
Just when will I reach the top... Damn it!
It was only after climbing the glacier for an hour and a half that he finally saw the golden thread, bend, and head straight north.
Finally!... He thought as he dragged himself atop the glacier, falling onto his back as he stepped onto the jagged peak. His muscles were so sore and tired that he almost forgot he was freezing to death due to the storm.
So cold... So hungry... So tired. For a moment, he just stared up. All he had consumed since he had made landfall on the beach was a slice of stale bread and a gulp of cold water.
But Astor had prepared for this — the leather canteen he had stolen should still have a bit of water, enough to satiate his thirst for now. However, there was a problem... the canteen was missing.
Did it slip? Impossible! Astor immediately stood up and patted his entire body, but it was still nowhere to be found. But as he slowly turned back, he saw there, standing right behind him, the girl gulping down the precious water within his canteen.
"Damn you!" Astor snatched the canteen; however, he was too late. Not a single drop of water remained within it.
"You expect me to believe that you know women prettier than me? A slum rat like you? And you were calling me a liar, damn pervert."
Astor drew in deep, shaky breaths, letting the empty canteen slip from his fingers before covering his face with his hands. This was practically the first time he had been provoked to hit a woman... but he reined back those thoughts and calmed himself down.
"Why would I lie, you damn whore? And stop calling me that! My name is Astor!"
"W-whore?! My name is Rose! You mong—"
However, before she could complete her sentence, they both turned around and noticed Dawn's hand on the edge of the cliff. Seeing this, Astor took a step towards it and bent down to give him a hand to climb up.
All three of them had gathered once again, now atop the glacier. The golden thread still led him north, but something about it was now different.
He had noticed it a while ago, when they were on the foot of the glacier, but it was now a lot dimmer...
On the beach, its presence was practically unignorable. The next time he saw it, in the forest, it was still pretty bright.
However, as time slowly passed, it began to dim, and by the time they entered the veil, it had begun pulsing.
And by now, if he didn't pay attention, it would practically be unnoticeable. And he knew that within a few hours, around sunrise, it would completely vanish, leaving him with no sense of direction in the storm.
That means I have to reach its source before dawn... but is that even possible? He looked north, into the darkness that the storm created.
Up until now, as he was climbing the glacier, he was being shielded by it. The weather was cold, but as long as he wasn't facing the biting winds directly, he wouldn't freeze to death...
However, now that he was atop the jagged and bumpy surface of the glacier, there was nothing left to protect him from the winds... and he would eventually die if it continued to be like this. But just as he began losing hope, he heard Dawn say something from behind...
"There's something strange about this storm... The wind, it is neither slowing down nor speeding up — not even by a small fraction. For the past hour and a half, it has been the exact same..." Dawn said as he stepped in front of both Astor and Rose.
"What about it?" Rose asked.
"The storm, it's circular in nature — perhaps following the boundaries of this veil we are trapped within. But if that is correct, then it must have an eye..." Dawn paused, taking another step forward.
"So? Where is it? The eye?" Rose asked impatiently.
"If the wind isn't wrong... it is over there," Dawn said, pointing in the same direction as the golden thread Astor saw — somewhere north.
And Astor understood that this wasn't just a coincidence — it couldn't be. The golden thread was leading him to the eye of the storm!
"You can't be serious! It might be a piece of cake for you, the almighty Dawn, but we are mere mortals! We can't walk through that!" Rose shouted as she pointed at Astor.
"There's no point in hiding it now. I already know you both are Gatebearers. And well, even I am..." Dawn said as he extended an arm forward.
And a second later, a long, arched sword started to appear in his hands, forming layer by layer, starting from the hilt.
He is a gatebearer?! What!? And the girl as well?? Astor was extremely confused, but Dawn told the truth — the sword he was holding onto was clearly an Artifact.
Its blade appeared scorched like the surface of magma, and if that wasn't obvious enough, the way the sword had magically appeared could only mean one thing — Dawn had hidden it away within his soul space.
Humans are born with Broken Gates within their souls. To fix a Broken Gate, a human can bind it with an Artifact within the Library of Artifacts. That particular Artifact becomes their Origin Artifact and permanently becomes a part of their soul.
And therefore, if the Gatebearer wishes, they can temporarily store their Origin Artifact within their soul, since it is already a part of it. But only skillful Gatebearers can do this. Astor had no clue how it worked.
But now that he was thinking about it, there was something strange about his own soul space. [Language of the World] was his Origin Artifact — and he was wearing it beneath his tunic.
So what was [???]? He had seen it written within the runes describing his soul space back on the ship.
Soul Space: [???]
The soul can only store your Origin Artifact... and yet there was something else within his soul.
How strange. Perhaps it had something to do with him being a Soul Gatebearer, but still, he didn't remember storing something in there, nor does he know how to do so.
He wanted to invoke the Voice of the Artifacts to summon runes describing [???] to learn more about it.
But then he remembered that summoning the runes of the description, tier, and the Element of an artifact is only possible for an Origin artifact.
A gatebearer can summon runes to describe their Origin artifact. And the ability to do something like this is strictly limited to the Origin artifact.
He had invoked the Voice of the Artifacts back on the ship to show the runes of [Language of the World], his Origin artifact. However, it was pointless as most of it was simply hidden.
He had no idea what his pendant was supposed to do.
How mysterious...
***
After Dawn revealed his scorched sword, he turned around and pointed it north. "If you both touch my sword, you will not feel the cold. Then, we walk north and reach the eye before dawn. There's no point in waiting out a storm like this. We'll die of hunger before it ends."
Neither Astor nor Rose could point out any flaws in Dawn's plan.