The Celestial Way

Chapter 6.2 - Companion for the Way

Airo forged on, trying to find a way out of the maze he was in. The avalanche had thrown him into a network of steep canyons. The walls on either side were sheer cliffs, rock eroded for aeons by the thick glaciers that encased it now like translucent armor.

He had no success attempting to reactivate the power armor. He managed to make a crude hood and wrappings using cut pieces from the flexpack. The synthetic fabric adequately prevented the heat from escaping, yet despite this his head was completely numb after an hour. Even inert, the power armor insulated the rest of his body, and he was sure he would avoid frostbite, if only barely.

The canyons twisted around, and often forked in many directions. Airo came upon dead ends several times, losing an hour in each case to backtrack. Despite that, his mood was somewhat improved; the canyons were completely unknown to him, which meant he may have finally escaped the deus-forsaken extraspatial trap of the mountain range.

The whole time, she trailed him like a shadow. Airo easily spotted the black form of the dragonet amid the icy bends, yet she kept her distance, so he ignored her. Every so often he would hear her quietly whimpering, and his stride would slow down involuntarily. This annoyed him, and each time he reached out for his anger to give him resolve.

Remember how Zenassa died. Remember what she became because of them, he told himself as he picked up the pace again.

Sunlight shifted as the hours passed, first leaving the canyons, then fading altogether. He walked in circles, the ravines and ledges becoming a featureless mass of snow and ice. He dreaded he might have escaped one infinite maze only to have entered another. Nighttime slowly settled, and with the coming dark he finally admitted to himself he was lost. He stopped to rest on a nearby boulder, and gazed grimly at the ground.

The silence was broken by the scrabbling of claws on ice, and a dark shape approached him in the glittering gloom of the glaciers.

"I know a way out of here," Veralla said quietly. "Please, just take me with you. I do not want to be alone."

Airo lifted his head and glowered at her.

"Are you lying in an attempt to follow you?" he asked coldly.

"No! No! I... I searched around, while you were going inside one of the closed paths, and found a trail leading to a large plain."

At that, Airo's frown deepened. "How did you know the canyon had a dead end? You flew over it?"

The dragonet ducked her head under his gaze. "No," she said. "I cannot fly. I tried, but..." she flapped her tiny wings in mute demonstration.

Airo suspected as much yet he wasn't satisfied. "Then how?"

"The path sounded differently as I passed by," she said with an earnest expression.

Airo watched her for a long time. "Lead," he said at last.

The dragonet bobbed her head, and guided him through the canyons. He noticed how well she navigated in the dark, and did his best to keep the pace, resisting the temptation to turn on a flashlight or some other illumination. They walked in silence for a couple of hours. The temperature started to drop, and Airo felt his head throbbing with dull pain, and his body also began to cool, despite the passive insulation of the power armor. He looked around for a shelter to spend the night, and saw a shallow cave in the cliff wall, when Veralla spoke.

"Over there," she said.

He turned in the indicated direction, and saw the canyon path descending into white depths. He rematerialized a flashlight from the virtualizer, and turned it on. The cone of bright light revealed the opening expanse of a wide, flat plain.