Chapter 65: Crystal and Destiny
It was during one of my regular visits to the Lord of the Furnace that I discovered crucial information, heavy with promises and dangers.
A gigantic crystal, of titanic dimensions, was slowly forming at the very heart of the demonic continent, in the Terra Neutralis region, somewhere north of our position.
According to Xagros, it would take about a month of travel on horseback to reach that remote place. I was offered this convenience, this quick, almost tempting solution—to ride to the destination, save time, preserve my strength.
But I had declined.
Not out of pride, nor out of recklessness. Simply because certain quests, certain ascents, can only truly be accomplished on foot, by facing every stone of the path, by feeling every heartbeat of the world beneath one’s steps.
There was, in that choice, an intimate necessity: that of being worthy of what I was going to find there.
We would leave on foot. Without mounts, without a luxurious escort, with no other shield than our own endurance.
We would face the insidious dangers of the wild, crossing treacherous expanses, forgotten territories, trapped by centuries, as inhospitable as they were hostile to any life.
The months to come promised to be harsh, relentless, carved from the raw stone of trial.
I knew it.
And I also knew that to survive, we would have to recondition ourselves. Tear from our souls the treacherous comfort that the city had imposed on us, straighten our bodies and minds, harden them until they became as impenetrable as rock.