Gray felt his body freezing. It was slow but scary.
"Everyone! Quickly get back inside!" Renns voice opened their minds and everyone rushed to get inside the truck.
Gray attempted to run, but found his body to be severely slowed. Not just that. His mind was working much slower as well.
'What...is...happening...to me?" His thoughts sluggish.
Just then Lira appeared. She grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him back to the truck.
Her hands were warm. Breathing some hope into the situation.
They eventually arrived back inside.
"Quick! Shut it!" The door smashed shut shaking the whole cabin.
Everyone wore different expressions.
Adel wore an almost disgusted one.
Renn wore a scared one.
Lira a panicked one.
And the rest wore dark ones.
"What the hell was that?!" Adel nearly shouted. Even she had been frightened.
"I... i don-"
"I know..." Gray cut Lira off. He struggled to speak but managed to push the words out of his mouth.
"Its- its the territory effect."
"Frost claims the faithless, I'm not sure what it means exactly but... its the environment."
Everyone focused on his words
"The air, It's not just cold," Gray said, staring at his hands. "It's... almost alive. It started to freeze my body. Then my thoughts. Even my Vyre, turning it solid."
His words sent a shiver down everyone's spines. But they knew he had uncovered the truth.
"How... how is it freezing our thoughts? And more importantly our Vyre." Korrs voice was shaky.
This time Renn spoke.
"Its the soul..."
?
Everyone looked him as if he was crazy. Everyone except Gray.
"Its freezing our soul! Thats the only possible way to explain why our Vyre became more solid. It was freezing our Vyre Vains, not our Vyre itself!"
"But... that's impossible! How can it freeze our soul! Let alone our thoughts!" The rank 7 was clearly startled and confused.
"None of this makes sense! Get a grip! Do you know why we were being held at a facility!? Or why they recruited us!? Or maybe why they sent us out here!? Its best we move one and don't spend useless time on thinking on such things!" Lira spoke clearly, her voice resonating with everyone's minds.
'She's right.' Gray didnt speak but simply nodded.
Renn simply pushed a button and the vehicle started to move again. This time it entered the territory.
A rush of coldness suddenly enveloped everyone. But it was far less potent.
The notification appeared once again but everyone ignored it.
As the vehicle rode on the rough, uneven ice path. Everyone took a gaze outside.
The valley, with mountains on the sides was massive. Few trees covered the landscape. Leaving them in the open.
"Ahh, I feel like I'm naked." Korr attempted small talk to brighten the mood but it was to no avail.
"Your bad at speaking." Adel mumbled.
Korr shot her a glare.
"Say that again."
Adel ignored him.
Korr slowly turned his head away.
"Your bad at speaking."
"Dammit! Are you trying to start a fi-"
"Quiet!" Lira sighed rubbing her head. It felt like babysitting two toddlers.
Suddenly the truck came to a stop.
"Why did we stop?" Gray asked.
"There are two paths ahead..." Renn spoke quickly.
Gray stood and made his way to the front of the truck. The window was slightly fogged, but the terrain ahead was clear enough. One road twisted uphill through narrow cliffs, while the other sloped down into a frozen basin shrouded in thick fog. Both looked treacherous. Deadly.
"What do we do?" Renn asked. "I can't see where either leads."
Lira stepped up beside them. "We don't have a map for this part. But higher ground might help us spot anything coming. The fog down there's too thick."
"But higher ground also makes us targets," Gray added. "If something's watching from above, we'll be easy to spot."
"He's right..."
They fell into silence. The others waited in the back, listening.
Gray placed his hand against the glass and watched a thin frost creep over the outer pane. He remembered how his thoughts had slowed, how it felt like his very being was being leeched away.
"Let's vote," he finally said. "There's no right answer here. We choose together."
One by one, the team gave their thoughts. Lira and Adel wanted the higher ground. Korr and the Rank 6 student preferred the fog—less visibility for predators. Renn hesitated, then chose the cliff road. The rank 7 student abstained from voting after some thought leaving Gray to cast the deciding vote.
"Up we go," he said, not because he thought it was the safest route, but because it felt right. They needed perspective, and if they were being watched, they were already doomed.
Renn drove slowly, the wheels crunching over hard ice as the truck climbed. The sky darkened, not because it was late, but because the unnatural clouds above shifted into deeper hues of purple. Wind whispered across the slopes, but none dared open a window.
The silence inside was thicker than the cold. Every bump in the road made the truck groan.
As the vehicle rounded a curve, all that was left behind them was snow. Or that's what they thought.
Back at the academy.
The Director stood before a glowing screen, his posture rigid, hands clasped behind his back. His uniform was crisp, but his eyes heavy with exhaustion. A holographic map shimmered before him, dozens of small icons blinking across it. The icons represented squads like Gray's, scattered across territories all bearing different laws and dangers.
One of the technicians behind him stepped forward.
"Sir. All groups have entered the territory. Minimal damage so far, but things aren't going as expected..."
The Director raised an eyebrow. "Aurelle's group?"
The technician's face fell. "Sir… Aurelle's group made contact with a rank D+ Hollowbeast. Three casualties confirmed. Aurelle's status is unstable. We've lost his signal three times in the last hour."
The Director closed his eyes for a moment.
"Was he separated?"
"Yes. He—" the technician hesitated, "he didn't use a flare or emergency signal. He opted to simply abandon his vehicle..."
Another figure stepped forward, a senior advisor by the look of his badge.
"He should've been placed in a different region. One of the others. You know which family he comes from. If information comes out the last one died... then-"
The Director opened his eyes, sharp now.
"He's one of the strongest among them. And if he cannot survive Glacierfang, then he would not survive what's coming."
"But sir, we—"
The Director raised a hand.
"Enough."
The room went quiet.
He turned his gaze back to the map. His fingers tapped a single glowing dot, the one marked for Gray's group.
"They're not ready either," he muttered. "But you know the drill. We can't stop it."
A silent weight fell over the room. The Director's voice dropped to a whisper, meant only for himself.
"They called them curses once. But they were never curses. They were blessings. The final gifts from the gods."
He turned away, his cape brushing the edge of the console as he walked toward the upper level. Whatever thoughts brewed in his mind, he kept them locked behind clenched teeth.
Back in the truck, Gray gripped the armrest tightly. They had been climbing for over an hour now, the elevation slowly growing sharper. Thin snow began to fall, barely visible but unnerving. The frost returned to the windows, dancing in slow patterns.
His breath fogged the air, and he noticed it lingered longer now. Everyone looked more tired, even Korr. Adel rubbed her arms, her skin paler than usual.
Then Gray saw something strange.
A small shard of ice had formed inside the truck, just beneath one of the vents.
It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
He reached out.
As his fingers neared, a chill passed through his palm and surged up his arm. His body locked for a second. Something was wrong. It wasn't natural frost. This… this was from the territory itself.
Gray yanked his hand back.
"Everyone move away from the vents," he said suddenly.
The team looked up.
"What?" Adel asked.
"Now. Trust me."
They did as told. Gray kicked the shard, breaking it, and the air grew warmer by the smallest degree. Not physically, but spiritually. He could feel it through his strain.
"It's trying to get inside," he muttered. "Through anything it can. The cold isn't just outside."
"Great," Korr said, voice low. "We're getting hunted by the weather."
Renn kept his eyes forward. "At least we're still moving."
Lira stood behind him, hand on the seat, her focus razor-sharp. "We need to set up a rotation. Rest, but stay alert. Take turns watching the surroundings."
"I'll go first," Gray said.
No one protested.
He moved near the rear doors, staring out the small window slit. The world outside was a wasteland of jagged white stone and purple twilight. Mountains towered around them like silent gods. Nothing moved. Yet Gray felt watched.
He closed his eyes.
'Frost claims the weak,' he thought again.
'Was it literal? Did the territory judge them spiritually? Like... back with Lyleen?'
Or… was it reacting to uncertainty?
He took a deep breath. He needed to stay grounded. If the cold seeped in when his will faltered, then he would have to keep his mind sharp.
For now, they were still alive.
And that was enough.