'It's your fault!'
'All of it is your fault!'
The whispers assaulted Niko's mind as he watched Hana and Tai falling off the cliff while he tried in vain to reach them.
These whispers, these reminders of how he had failed in the past...
As always, he was tempted to believe them.
Maybe...maybe it was his fault...
But then, green vines shot up from beyond the cliff, digging deep into the ground in front of it.
Niko's eyes widened.
They were alive!
Tai was hanging from the vines while holding onto Hana, straining his arm as he tried to hold on.
Niko sighed in relief.
But his relief was cut short by the brittle cracks that echoed through the air.
The vines had started freezing, countless cracks spreading across them.
It was only a matter of time before they broke.
No! He couldn't allow that!
Shaking his head, Niko rushed towards them, but the snow dragged too heavily at his feet.
And all around him, the mad beasts tore out from the snow, leaping at him.
He wouldn't make it. He could hear the sounds of the vines breaking.
Watching the vines break, Tai felt his heart sink.
Was this really the end? Was he doomed to fail, falling to his demise before he could reach his goal?
Maybe he was. It had already happened twice before.
Just like he had failed to protect his father from the Fire Spirit, which led to him getting struck by that horrifying curse.
Just like he had failed to climb up the mountain with Yuko, dying in that avalanche.
He would fail this time as well, dying miserably on this wretched mountain.
And then, trapped alone in this freezing hell, his little brother would surely die as well.
'Never!'
He gritted his teeth.
'I won't let that happen.'
Straining every muscle in his body, he desperately climbed up.
Leta flew down towards him, pulling his shirt and flapping her wings frantically as she tried to help Tai climb up.
Higher, higher, he climbed with feverish resolve, carrying Hana along with him.
He wouldn't die, he wouldn't fail.
They had made it this far together, overcoming every obstacle, they would surely make it to the top as well!
'I'll make it back to my brother. We'll find that flower, and then we'll all escape this wretched place together!'
But he was too far down, and the vines were breaking too quickly.
Niko strained his mind, trying to figure out a way to save them.
Hana's vines...maybe he really could create something like that too. No, he surely could. He had to!
Niko closed his eyes and focused his mind.
The monsters pounced at him.
The vines broke.
Hana and Tai plunged down into the abyss below, falling to their certain demise.
Or they would have but...
Niko's power surged, but this time it moved outwards, beyond his body.
The monsters lunging at him were struck by an invisible force, their souls violently thrown out of their bodies. Their lifeless corpses withered and decayed, turning to dust before they even touched him.
His eye snapped open, and a blood red flame erupted from his missing eye.
[Blessing of Bone]
In the blink of an eye, several jagged spikes tore out through the face of the cliff.
Each spike was like a pillar carved from pale bone, stretching over three metres in length. They crossed over and under one another, forming a net of jagged bones beneath the falling Spirits.
Hana and Tai landed safely into the middle of the net, with another one appearing above them to shield them from the falling debris.
Niko let out a shaky breath.
The structure he had created was crude and poorly made, but it was strong enough to keep them from falling.
They were safe. They were all safe.
He waved his hand, and a set of bone plates shot out from the cliff face, forming a ladder that his friends could use to climb up.
After that, he let himself fall to his knees, the red flame in his eye fading away.
He took deep breaths to calm himself down.
Raising his head to see his friends climbing back up, he smiled faintly. He hadn't failed, not this time.
Hana looked back at him, raising a trembling hand to give him a thumbs up, before falling tiredly onto the ground.
Niko's smile widened, and he glanced at his hands, feeling proud of himself for having gained a new ability.
Being able to summon bone constructs would surely be a great help on their journey through this mountain.
But that could wait. For now, he was tired. They all were.
So, the four of them remained sprawled on the ground for a few more minutes, catching their breaths.
The cold wind crashed against them, and heavy snow fell from above, but right now, they didn't care. They just wanted to rest.
But soon, Tai noticed something glinting nearby.
"Wait, is that...", his eyes narrowed.
He stumbled back to his feet and walked towards the shining object.
His eyes widened
'It is...', he picked it up with trembling hands.
Niko and Hana walked up to him, and saw him holding something small and round in his hand.
It was a silver locket, but it was badly damaged, bent and broken in countless ways.
Tai stared at it for some time, tears finding their way to his eyes.
Hana looked at him and tilted her head.
Seeing that, he wiped his tears.
"Oh, sorry, this...it's mine, and it's rather precious to me", he smiled fondly.
"But this...why is it here? I saw it fall to the ground when I was trying to save Yuko. We were near the top of the mountain back then but..."
He glanced up at the towering peak.
They were nowhere near the top yet.
"It doesn't look like we're that close to the top yet...so why is this locket here?"
But then, wasn't it strange? They had been climbing for three days already.
Sure, their speed had been slowed down somewhat, but not so much to still be so far from where he had gotten to with his brother in less than two days.
Niko seemed to share his thoughts. He frowned, before walking up to the mountain's wall.
Finding a spot that had less snow, he punched at it, causing the remaining snow to fall off and reveal the bare surface below.
His frown deepened.
The others walked up to him, gasping at what they saw.
The rest of the mountain had been made of black rock, covered in layers of ice and snow.
But the huge wall in front of them was made almost entirely of ice, with a few chunks of black stone embedded within it.
It was as if the mountaintop had exploded into pieces, and the flying debris were then encased in solid ice.
Tai's eyes widened in shock.
"Just what...is going on here?"
***
The Spirits soon continued their treacherous journey through the mountain, braving the increasingly harsh terrain of the jagged peak.
Now, however, their journey was somewhat easier thanks to Niko's newfound power.
Not only could it be used to make bridges across chasms, it could also be used to summon walls of bones to shield them from the hordes of ravenous beasts.
Although, Niko seemed to keep his distance from the rest whenever he used that power...
Regardless of that, traversing the dangerous mountain started to feel...strangely easy.
It had gotten to the point where they could safely speed up their pace, soon climbing almost all the way to the top.
That would have been good news, but the fact that they still hadn't found any traces of Yuko made Tai worried.
There were all sorts of dangerous creatures prowling around the mountain, what if one of them had killed Yuko?
What if he had fallen off while climbing up the mountain?
Or worse...what if he had gone mad like the other creatures?!
He shook his head. He shouldn't think of such things. His brother was alive, he had to be!
He clutched the broken pendant in his hand.
That pendant...even now, broken and bent, it was still a source of strength for him, reminding him of what he was fighting for.
It helped him further steel himself. He was determined to find his little brother.
He scanned his surroundings, staring at every wall and every patch of snow, hoping against all hope to find something, anything, that could tell him that his brother was nearby.
But sadly, there was nothing...wait, but there was!
Tai's eyes widened.
Right there, in front of him, there were footprints, fresh footprints!
The rapid snowfall was quickly causing them to fade, but they were definitely there.
His heart skipped a beat, and he bolted in their direction, afraid that they would disappear if he didn't hurry.
The others hurried after him.
They were all in such a hurry, in fact, that they didn't even notice the large, circular footprints that covered the ground like countless potholes, headed in the same direction as the human footprints...
Tai sprinted ahead before taking a sharp turn to enter a cave. And there, he saw him.
He finally saw his brother, Yuko, laying on the ground. Tai rushed to his side, sighing in relief.
His brother was injured and barely conscious, but he was alive.
"Yuko, Yuko! Look, it's me, it's your big brother!"
Tai barely kept his voice from cracking, but he couldn't keep his eyes from overflowing with tears.
The tears fell on Yuko's face, and he stirred, struggling to make out what was happening.
"B—brother...", he raised his hand towards Tai, his voice was barely above a whisper.
"Yes, yes that's right, I'm here!", Tai cried out with joy.
But Yuko stretched his hand beyond Tai's shoulder, pointing at something behind him.
"Brother...watch...watch out..."
The air suddenly felt much, much colder.
Tai's eyes widened, and he noticed a giant shadow loom over him, looking back to see the creature casting it.
The creature was vaguely humanoid, but its body was made entirely out of jagged ice.
Its face was completely featureless except for two glowing blue orbs that looked like its eyes.
Its torso was like a giant boulder of ice.
Its arms and legs were like massive pillars of ice, lacking fingers and toes, and were bent to make up for its lack of joints.
Standing in front of the two brothers was an Ice Golem, and it was mad.
The Golem threw its powerful arms at the two brothers, aiming to crush them into a bloody pulp, but several vines wrapped around it before it could do so, trapping it in place.
Tai used the opportunity to grab Yuko and make a run for it, getting his injured brother away from the monster, while Niko rushed towards it to deliver a powerful kick.
The Golem's chest caved inwards, a large section of it shattering completely.
But still, the beast stayed alive. It broke out of the vines, lashing out at Niko with its powerful arms.
The boy failed to dodge in time, and the Golem's fists rammed into him like a truck, sending him crashing into the wall.
The cave shook, looking like it could collapse any second.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood, Niko gritted his teeth and launched himself towards the monster, crashing into its already broken body.
They Golem fell to the ground, with Niko on top of it. It tried to shake off the little Spirit, but dozens of vines quickly wrapped around it, pinning it in place.
With the creature immobilized, Niko started pummeling it with his fists, reducing its body to a pile of ice shards.
And with that, the monster was dead.
All of them sighed in relief.
However, the frigid wind stirred and swirled.
Before anyone could understand what was happening, two more Ice Golems coalesced from the icy winds, glaring at the group with their hateful blue eyes.