Chapter 61: The Mountain’s Price (I)

It was the middle of the day, but almost no light reached that frozen landscape, and the cold bit all the way to the bone. All around, even the evergreens had died, leaving behind only lifeless trunks.

The blizzard and the thick layer of white snow covering the landscape made the climb up that gigantic mountain painfully difficult.

But Edrick had to keep climbing. He could not stop. The weight on his back reminded him of that.

That weight was none other than his dying daughter, Olina, wrapped in thick animal hides to keep her warm.

***

“The Lord of the Mountain?”

Perhaps thanks to the protection of some mysterious power, a small village still remained at the foot of a distant mountain in the northern lands.

It was truly a miracle, for nearly every other village and town had already been destroyed. Only a few fortified cities remained standing.

Maybe the rumors were true, and in that place he might find what he was looking for.

But once he reached the village, it quickly became clear that its inhabitants were not very different from those in the fortified cities. Like them, they were gaunt and walked with the light gone from their eyes.

It looked as though they were only waiting for the end.

Even so, Edrick did not lose hope. With his daughter in his arms, he entered the village chief’s home, only for the old man to tell him something he never would have expected.

“That is right. The miracles you have heard about are thanks to the Lord of the Mountain.”

“But who is this Lord of the Mountain? A healer? A sage?”

“Oh, no, no, no. The Lord of the Mountain is a being beyond human comprehension,” the old man replied, stroking his beard as he tossed another log into the fire. “They say he was the son of the Goddess Tereya and an alfalus, a race of mythological creatures from forgotten eras.”

“A demigod?” Edrick asked, holding his sleeping daughter close.

“He was a demigod in his time, yes, a prodigy of war,” the old man nodded. “But he fulfilled his role so well that his mother, the Goddess Tereya, granted him these lands and raised him to divinity.”

“But demigods and gods…”

“That is true,” the old man acknowledged, his gaze lost in the fire. “There are few gods left now, if any. But the Lord of the Mountain still exists, perhaps for the worse…”

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“For the worse? Are you not surviving thanks to him?”

Only then did the old man look at him, his eyes as dim as those of the rest of the villagers.

“That is what I said. For the worse…”

***

Olina was motionless on his back. The faint beat of her heart was the only proof that she was still alive.

Neither the imperial physician nor the high priests of the cathedral in the capital had been able to do anything for her. The latter, at least, was no surprise. For decades now, the clergy’s power had been in decline, both divine and political.

That was when a merchant told him about these northern lands and the miracles that could still be seen there.

And so, abandoning all his responsibilities, he had set out on the journey, and now he was finally reaching the summit of the mountain that represented his last hope.

With slow steps, he crossed the clearing at the very top. At its center stood a small altar, and upon it, a wooden statuette with two majestic horns rising from its head.

Edrick recognized the horns. He had seen their like in a mythology book in the imperial library. They were alfalus horns.