A Village Above The Clouds

The snow was the first sign that the path ahead would be different from anything they had crossed until then.

At first, there were only small white patches gathered between the rocks and in the shadows beneath the trees. A few hours later, it already covered part of the path and the highest branches of the pine trees scattered across the slopes. The terrain had been rising for so long that Tenshi could no longer remember the last time they had walked along a completely flat road, and the mountains that had once occupied only the horizon now rose around them on every side.

The cold had changed as well. The wind cut through their clothes whenever it found an opening between the trees, carrying small flakes of snow and forcing Tenshi to keep his hands tucked close to his body whenever he could.

Nino walked without reacting to the cold. Or perhaps he simply had bigger problems.

Since leaving the small village, his condition had worsened with each passing day. His skin had grown paler, the shadows beneath his eyes had deepened, and his right leg was already struggling to keep pace with his left. Even so, he continued forward with the same stubborn rhythm, as though slowing down would be a concession he refused to make to his own body.

Tenshi looked toward the mountains ahead. Free of houses or farmland.

There wasn’t even a clear road at that point. The path they had followed throughout the morning had become a narrow trail between rocks and trees, and now even that was beginning to disappear beneath the snow.

“Nino.”

No response.

“Nino.”

“What?”

“Do you actually know where we’re going?”

“Veyra.”

Tenshi closed his eyes for a moment.

“I know the name. I’m asking if you know where it is.”

“I do.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“No.”

Tenshi stopped.

Nino continued walking for a few more steps before realizing he was no longer being followed. He turned and found the boy standing in the middle of the trail.

“What?”

“You’ve never been there?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know where it is?”

Nino started walking again.

“I know the way.”

Tenshi ran to catch up with him.

“That doesn’t answer anything. We’re climbing an endless mountain in the middle of the snow looking for a village you’ve never seen.”

“Yes.”

“And that doesn’t worry you?”

“No.”

“Of course it doesn’t...”

Tenshi ran a hand through his dark hair, brushing away a few snowflakes caught between the strands.

“Why didn’t we ask anyone? That couple might have known about Veyra. Or someone else in that village. We passed two travelers and a group of adventurers before getting here too. Sure, they were young, but...”

“We didn’t need to.”

“How did we not need to? You just said you’ve never been there.”

Nino continued forward until he reached an old tree near the edge of the trail. Part of its roots had broken through the ground and spread between the rocks, while its trunk leaned slightly over the slope.

He stopped.

“Come here.”

Tenshi looked around.

“Why?”

“...”

“I’m coming.”

He approached and stopped beside Nino.

“What?”

Nino placed one hand on his head. Tenshi frowned.

“What are you do—”

Without answering, Nino moved his head a few inches to the left.

“Hey!”

Then a little lower.

“Nino.”

“Look at the tree.”

“I am looking at the tree.”

“Between those two branches.”

Tenshi narrowed his eyes.

For a few seconds, he saw only the dark bark partially covered in snow. Then he noticed a small cut in the trunk. It looked like nothing more than an old mark in the wood.

“There’s a line.”

“Keep looking.”

Tenshi tried to understand what he was supposed to be looking for. Then he noticed the second one. It wasn’t on the tree.

A few yards behind it, a dark rock protruded from the snow, with a small vertical mark carved into its surface. Farther away, partially hidden between two pine trees, another line appeared on a second trunk.

Separately, they meant nothing. From that exact spot, however, all three aligned.

III.

Tenshi blinked. He moved his head to the side. The marks immediately separated. Nino pulled his face back into the previous position.

III.

“Oh.”

Nino released his head. Tenshi continued staring at the marks.

“How did you see that?”

“I knew what to look for.”

“There are three marks.”

“Yes.”

“Have you seen others?”

Nino started walking again.

“Since Solvar.”

Tenshi looked at the symbol one more time before running after him.

“Wait. Who left that?”

Nino continued walking.

“The person who’s with Alicia.”

Tenshi fell silent. This time, without any more questions.

The marks continued to appear as they made their way through the mountains. Some were carved into trees, others into rocks, and there were moments when Tenshi couldn’t find anything at all until Nino showed him where to stand. A crack in a boulder aligned with two cuts made many yards farther ahead. Two seemingly ordinary trunks concealed a third line between them. At another point, they had to abandon what remained of the trail entirely and cross through a narrow passage between rocks that Tenshi never would have considered a path.

The higher they climbed, the less it seemed that any route to Veyra existed at all. And the more necessary the marks became.

By late afternoon, the snow reached their ankles in some parts of the climb.

Tenshi began to feel the altitude. Breathing required more effort, and his legs already protested with every new stretch of incline. Even so, all he had to do was look at Nino for any desire to complain to disappear.

He was worse. Much worse.

Nino could no longer hide how difficult it was to breathe. Sometimes he stopped for a few seconds and pretended to study the path ahead, but Tenshi noticed the hand pressed against his chest and the way his fingers trembled before he continued. The poison only needed him to move to hurt him.

At one point, his foot slipped on a rock hidden beneath the snow. Tenshi caught him before he fell.

“That’s enough.”

Nino pushed his arm away.

“Keep walking.”

“No. You need to rest.”

“We’re close.”

“You said that before.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Tenshi opened his mouth. He thought for a moment.

“Okay. You didn’t. But are we actually close?”

Nino looked toward a rock formation ahead.

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Three didn’t leave distances on the trees.”

Tenshi stared at him.

“Three?”

Nino realized what he had said.

“That’s what she’s called.”

“The person who’s with Alicia?”

“Yes.”

Tenshi wanted to ask more, but Nino had already started walking again.

The climb continued.

As the light began to fade, they found another mark and followed it into a passage sheltered from the wind between two walls of stone. They slept there for only a few hours before continuing again before dawn.

The next morning, the mountain seemed determined to keep them from moving forward.

The snow reached almost to their knees in some places. The wind came down from the peaks with enough force to erase their footprints shortly after they were made, and the path indicated by Three’s marks led them up a slope so steep that Tenshi had to use his hands to brace himself against the rocks.

Nino fell twice. The second time, it took him a while to get back up.

“Give me the sword,” Tenshi said.

Nino planted one hand on the ground and managed to stand.

“No.”

“You can barely carry it.”

“I can.”

“You just fell on top of it.”

“Then clearly I’m still carrying it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Nino continued. A few hours later, the mountain itself proved Tenshi right.

The Noctrium sword began to slip from its position on his back. Nino tried to adjust it once, but the movement sent a sharp pain through his chest and his arm lost its strength. The second time, he simply gave up.

The tip of the sword touched the snow. From that point on, it left a line behind them. Tenshi watched for a few minutes before losing his patience.

“Give me the sword.”

“No.”

“You’re dragging it.”

“I noticed.”

“Then give it to me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

Nino took a few seconds to answer.

“It’s mine.”

Tenshi exhaled.

“You’re impossible.”

“...”

In the early afternoon, they found the final mark. This time, Tenshi managed to spot it on his own.

Three cuts had been made across different surfaces of a rock formation, aligning when viewed from the entrance of a narrow passage between two walls of the mountain.

III.

Tenshi pointed.

“There.”

Nino raised his eyes. A faint smile almost appeared on his pale, dehydrated lips.

“You’re learning.”

“I learn fast.”

Then they entered the passage.

The path was narrow enough that, in some places, Tenshi’s shoulders nearly touched both walls. The wind disappeared, replaced by the muffled sound of their footsteps over the snow and the constant dragging of Nino’s sword.

There was no other mark. They continued.

Ten minutes. Then twenty.

The passage began to rise again. Tenshi was breathing heavily when he finally noticed light ahead.

“If this ends at another mountain, I’m going back.”

“Good luck!”

They took the final steps. Then the passage ended.

Tenshi stopped.

For a few seconds, he forgot the cold. On the other side of the mountain, the world opened before them.

An enormous valley lay hidden between the peaks, protected by natural walls of stone that surrounded it almost completely. The mountains around it remained covered in snow, but the inside of the valley was different. Patches of green appeared along the slopes, following small streams of water that descended from higher ground, while dozens of houses built from stone and wood occupied natural terraces along the mountainside.

Narrow paths connected one building to another. Small bridges crossed gaps between the rocks. And everywhere, there were crops.

They weren’t the vast fields they had seen in the lower regions. Small gardens occupied every available space between the houses, protected by low stone walls and simple coverings. Herbs, flowers, and plants of different colors grew in organized rows even in that place surrounded by snow.

But it was only when Tenshi took a few steps out of the passage that he noticed what lay below them: clouds.

A white layer stretched far beneath the slope, covering parts of the lower mountains and completely hiding the lands they had crossed over the past several days.

Tenshi slowly approached the edge of the path.

“Is that the sky?”

“...”

Tenshi looked at him. Nino was staring at the village.

For days, he had followed marks left by someone he hadn’t seen since Arvendel. He didn’t know whether Three would truly be there. He didn’t know whether the old man had been telling the truth when he mentioned a cure. He didn’t even know whether Alicia had reached that place. But Veyra existed.

Nino took one step. Then another.

“Nino?”

He continued down.

The path to the first houses wasn’t long, but his body had reached its limit the moment he found what he had been searching for. His breathing became irregular. His left arm barely moved anymore, and the sword dragged across the stone whenever the snow disappeared beneath his feet.

Tenshi approached him.

“Hey...”

“...”

“Nino.”

He kept walking. The sound of the sword against the stones grew heavier. It scraped, stopped, then scraped again.

A few people could be seen in the distance between the houses, but they were too far away to hear them. Farther down, near a small structure surrounded by stones, an old man was tending to a few sheep.

Tenshi looked at Nino. His face had lost almost all its color.

“Wait here.”

Nino took another step.

“I said wait.”

Tenshi ran down the slope.

“Hey!”

The old man raised his head.

“Please!” Tenshi shouted as he approached. “Is there a doctor here?”

The man didn’t understand at first. His eyes moved past Tenshi and found the figure behind him.

The old man’s expression changed. Tenshi noticed. When he turned around, Nino had stopped. For an instant, he remained completely still in the middle of the path, one hand still near his sword.

His fingers opened. The Noctrium sword fell against the stone. The metallic sound echoed across the valley. Tenshi’s eyes widened.

“Nino?!”

Nino tried to take one more step, but his body didn’t respond. The ground rushed toward him.

Then everything went dark.