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‘I think we are getting close,’ said Nerovoy.

Germal could barely make out the reaper’s words between the pounding in his head and the howling noise outside of it. His patchwork cloak whipped all around him in the swirling wind and punishing hail, threatening to throw him off balance with each new step that dared to take up the rocky mountain path.

He wished now that he could’ve found a cloak that wasn’t three sizes too big for him, but this was the best one in the town full of dead men that he’d passed through on his way here.

Lightning crashed overhead, carving out a chunk of the mountain. It triggered a rockslide that was no more than five meters away from the path that Germal was using.

He watched the boulders fall and then glared at his reaper. To his eyes, the reaper was a kind of winged demon--small, devious-looking, and carrying a spear made of both fire and wind.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ said Nerovoy. ‘It is not my fault that the information pointed us in this direction.’

As a child, Germal had frequently been told not to come anywhere near this place, and now he fully understood why. The Storm Mountains were every bit as terrifying as he’d been led to believe.

Now that he was a servant, at least he didn’t have to worry about being swept off the side of the mountain and falling to his death.

Though, at this point, such an ending didn’t look so bad

He continued the climb, and as he did, he noticed Nerovoy moving gradually closer to him.

‘What’s got you spooked?’ said Germal.

‘This place might be more dangerous than I thought,’ said Nerovoy.

A suddenly stronger burst of wind hit him, and Germal braced himself. His leather cap nearly flew off his head, but the hood of his cloak caught it for him. He nestled it back over the nub of his horn. ‘If you wanna turn back, that’s fine with me.’

‘Absolutely not,’ said Nerovoy. ‘We stick with the plan. And besides, you obviously need help, and he may be one of the few people who can provide it.’

‘That is assuming he’s even here.’

‘Well, that town back there bodes well for our chances.’

‘The town full of dead people, you mean?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘How does that bode well for us at all?’

‘The Living Void isn’t known for his mercy--at least, not in that sense.’

Germal’s eyes widened, and he stopped climbing. ‘What?!’

‘Yeah, I know. You’re upset I didn’t tell you that was who we were going to see earlier, but it’s alright--’

‘You’re taking me to meet an emperor of Abolish?!’

The reaper allowed a beat to pass. ‘Yeah.’

‘Why?!’

‘Hey, it’ll be alright. He’s not as bad everyone says.’

Germal had no words.