The ascent up the mountains had been punishing. Each step took them higher into the biting cold, the path growing narrower and more treacherous as they climbed toward the lair of the fiend. The fog clung to them like a living thing, muffling every sound, and the darkness seemed to press in from all sides, as if trying to swallow them whole.

Kelvin led the way, his eyes scanning the path ahead, but his mind was elsewhere, caught up in the doubts and fears that had shadowed them since the start of their journey. Behind him, Mica trudged on, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. He stole glances at Kelvin, searching for reassurance, for some sign that everything would be okay, but Kelvin’s face was set, his expression unreadable.

“Kelvin,” Mica called out finally, his voice barely more than a whisper, swallowed up by the wind. “Can we talk?”

Kelvin slowed his pace, turning his head slightly. “What’s on your mind?” he asked, his tone gentle but cautious.

Mica took a deep breath, feeling the chill of the fog settle deep into his bones. “I’ve been thinking about… about last night, when I told you to stop,” he began, the words tumbling out before he could stop them. “I worry that I hurt you or made you feel rejected. I never meant to—”

Kelvin halted, turning to face Mica fully, his eyes softening despite the harshness of their surroundings. “You didn’t hurt me,” he said firmly, his voice cutting through the wind. “When you said ‘stop,’ you were protecting yourself, and that’s something I respect more than anything.”

“But…” Mica’s voice wavered, his gaze dropping to the ground. “What if I pushed you away? What if I made you feel like you did something wrong?”

Kelvin shook his head, reaching out to lift Mica’s chin until their eyes met. “You didn’t push me away. You showed me that you trust me enough to be honest, and that means more to me than anything else.” He offered a small, reassuring smile. “Respecting each other’s boundaries doesn’t weaken what we have—it makes it stronger.”

Mica’s shoulders relaxed, the tension melting away. “I just… I don’t want to be a burden,” he confessed, his voice barely audible over the wind. “You have so much to worry about already, and I don’t want to make things harder.”

“You’re not a burden,” Kelvin assured him, his voice steady. “You’re my future, Mica. And your feelings, your needs—they matter to me.”

Mica nodded, his eyes shining with emotion. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I needed to hear that.”

Kelvin pulled him into a brief, warm embrace, ignoring the wind that cut through them. “Anytime,” he said. “We’re in this together, remember?”

“Together,” Mica agreed, his voice a little stronger now. They continued climbing, moving as one through the fog and darkness, the path growing steeper with every step.

They climbed in silence for a while, the only sound the crunch of their boots against the rocky ground. After a while, Mica broke the silence again. “I’m worried about Wallace,” he admitted, his expression troubled. “It’s like he doesn’t believe that prey like us have the right to say no, to make our own choices.”

Kelvin nodded, his expression serious. “Wallace has lived his entire life in a world where prey have no voice,” he replied. “Where saying ‘no’ doesn’t change anything. He’s had to survive horrors that have taught him that his choices don’t matter.”

“But he deserves better than that,” Mica insisted. “We’ve fought so hard to prove that we’re more than just prey. I want him to see that he can be more than what others tried to make him.”

“We’ll help him,” Kelvin promised. “We’ll show him that he has a choice, that he’s more than what’s been done to him.”

Just then, a shadow moved through the fog, and Kai appeared, his face drawn with worry. “Wallace is up ahead,” he said quietly. “He’s waiting for us.”

Kelvin exchanged a glance with Mica, who nodded, his resolve strengthening. “Do you think he’ll listen?” Mica asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

Kai sighed, his breath visible in the freezing air. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But we have to try.”

They pressed on, the air growing colder as they neared the peak. The oppressive energy from the fiend’s lair grew stronger, buzzing around them, pressing down on their shoulders with every step. And then, they saw him—Wallace, standing at the edge of a cliff, his back to them, clutching his wand as if it were a lifeline.

“Wallace,” Kai called out, his voice gentle despite the wind. “We need to talk.”

Wallace turned to face them, and his eyes were hard, filled with an anger that barely masked the pain beneath. “What’s there to talk about?” he spat. “You’ve already made your choices. You’ve already left me behind.”

“We haven’t left you,” Kelvin said, stepping forward. “We chose to be here, to stand with you.”

Wallace’s expression wavered, and he shook his head. “You don’t understand,” he whispered, his voice raw. “You’ve never been prey. You’ve never had every choice taken from you, every bit of your power stripped away.”

Mica moved closer, his heart aching. “Maybe we haven’t lived exactly what you’ve lived,” he said softly. “But we know what it feels like to be powerless, to feel like your voice doesn’t matter. But Wallace, you’re not defined by what’s been done to you. You have the right to be more.”

Wallace’s grip on the wand tightened, his body trembling. “I don’t know how,” he confessed, his voice breaking. “I’ve been angry for so long… I don’t know how to be anything else.”

Kai stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Wallace from behind. “You don’t have to figure it out alone,” he murmured against Wallace’s ear. “I’m here. We’re all here, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Wallace let out a shuddering breath, the tension slowly bleeding out of him as he leaned into Kai’s embrace, his eyes closing.

Kelvin watched them, feeling a flicker of hope flare to life within him. He reached out, taking Mica’s hand in his. “We’ll face this together,” he said softly. “And we’ll remind each other, as many times as it takes, that we have the right to be more than what others expect us to be.”

Mica nodded, squeezing Kelvin’s hand, his voice steady and filled with quiet strength. “Together.”

The wind seemed to ease around them, the fog thinning just a little, as if granting them a moment of peace before the storm that waited ahead. And for the first time in what felt like forever, the darkness didn’t seem quite so overwhelming.

The moments of quiet that followed felt fragile, as if they could shatter at any second. But for now, standing there together, they allowed themselves to breathe, to rest, and to gather strength for what lay ahead.

Kelvin kept his gaze on the summit, where the path twisted into darkness. “The fiend is close,” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. “We’ll have to face it soon.”

Mica squeezed his hand tighter. “We’re ready,” he said, though his voice trembled slightly. “We’ve made it this far.”

Kai pulled back slightly from Wallace, keeping an arm around him for support. “Wallace, are you with us?” he asked, his voice gentle.

Wallace nodded, his eyes still shining with unshed tears but filled with determination. “I’m not running,” he said. “Not anymore.”

Kelvin gave him an encouraging smile. “Good,” he said. “We’ll need everyone’s strength for what’s coming.”

They began their ascent again, the wind picking up as if sensing their resolve, howling louder, biting deeper into their skin. The fog thickened, and every step felt heavier, the weight of the fiend’s presence pressing down on them. It was as if the mountain itself was testing their resolve, challenging them to prove they were worthy of facing the darkness that lay ahead.

“I hate this silence,” Mica muttered after a while, his voice barely more than a breath. “It’s like… it’s waiting for us.”

“It is,” Kelvin replied, his tone matter-of-fact. “The fiend knows we’re coming. It’s preparing for us, just as we’re preparing for it.”

Kai glanced over his shoulder at the others, a thoughtful frown on his face. “The fiend feeds on fear,” he said. “It thrives in the darkness. We can’t give it what it wants.”

Wallace’s steps faltered, and he drew in a shaky breath. “It’s hard not to be afraid,” he admitted. “Especially when it feels like it’s already in my head, whispering that I’m weak, that I don’t deserve to be here.”

“You deserve to be here as much as any of us,” Kelvin said firmly, not slowing his pace. “The fiend’s power is an illusion. It can’t hurt us if we face it together.”

They climbed in silence after that, and soon the path opened up into a plateau, the peak of the mountain just beyond. The air grew still, and a sense of unease settled over them as if they’d crossed some invisible threshold. There, ahead of them, the mouth of a cave yawned wide, and from within it, a faint, eerie glow pulsed, like the heartbeat of something ancient and malevolent.

Kelvin stepped forward, stopping just before the entrance. “This is it,” he said, his voice low. “The fiend is in there.”

Mica’s heart pounded in his chest, and he fought the urge to step back. “Do you think it knows we’re here?” he whispered.

“I’m sure it does,” Kelvin replied, his eyes never leaving the cave. “But it’s not going to win. Not today.”

Wallace stepped up beside Kai, gripping his wand tightly. “How do we fight something that feeds on our fear?” he asked, his voice tinged with doubt.

“We fight it with everything we’ve gained,” Kai answered, his eyes locked on Wallace’s. “With hope, with love, and with the knowledge that we’re not facing it alone.”

Mica glanced at Kelvin, his own fears still whispering at the back of his mind, and yet, he found strength in the warmth of Kelvin’s hand, in the steady rhythm of his breathing. “Together?” he asked, needing to hear it one more time.

Kelvin nodded, turning to look at him with a smile. “Always.”

Kai drew his weapon, the blade gleaming faintly in the dim light, and Wallace lifted his wand, the tip glowing with a soft, reassuring light. “Let’s end this,” Kai said, his voice filled with a resolve that steadied them all.

They took the first steps toward the cave, toward the darkness that awaited them. The air grew colder, and the faint glow from within pulsed faster, like a heartbeat quickening in anticipation. It seemed to reach out to them, whispering their fears, trying to draw them into the shadows.

Kelvin paused at the threshold, feeling the pull of the darkness, the way it clawed at the edges of his mind, trying to drag him into despair. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath, grounding himself in the warmth of Mica’s presence, in the strength of Kai and Wallace standing beside them.

The battle hadn't started yet, but for the first time in a long while, they felt something close to hope. And that was enough.
