Snow crunched loudly under Rina's feet as she walked, occasionally swallowing her foot. Travelling had been slow for the last few days. It had snowed while they were at Askarune's Sanctum, heavier than all the other storms since they started their little quest. Walking through the fields became even more difficult and the effort of pushing through the snow made her tired.

It made all of them tired from the way they dragged their feet. Over and over again, for different reasons, they had to stop and take breaks. Someone needed food, someone needed rest, someone needed to use the bathroom, it was irritating. She was finally getting the chance to go back home, but it was taking so long.

She had decided to follow and help Isiah instead of going home, but now that there was an opportunity, all she wanted was to get there as soon as possible. If everything went the way she wanted it, her and Isiah could be at Ziya within the month, ready to face whatever King Harudan threw at them.

Even thinking his name brought back everything she had seen in Askarune's trial. She never should have volunteered to go in, but she hadn't thought it would be that bad. When she had done it, she hadn't known what her worst fear would be, but she should have. She should have been ready from the moment she arrived in the ruins of Ziya.

Watching her baby brother be killed before her eyes almost broke her. He would be out there somewhere, getting ready to fight the Ishini if he hadn't already. There was a high chance that he could be killed and she would have no idea until she finally returned home. She didn't want that, didn't want to see it again, but there was always a chance that she would.

After seeing it, the idea of her family dying before she had a real chance to save them terrified her more than anything. But that was the point of Askarune's trial, wasn't it, to make them all see what it was that scared them most? The only person who hadn't was Nerin. Instead, he'd seen both her's and Emrick's. It wasn't a fair trade, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

Nerin hadn't spoken much to her except for when they trained together. He didn't speak much to any of them, but less so to her. It was understandable. He knew how she felt about his brother with complete certainty. She'd made it obvious that she hated him, but not that she feared him so much. Despite everything the King of Brenmar had done, his little brother still loved him.

If it had been Benj, she didn't know if she would feel the same. She loved her brother, but surely even she would be able to push past that and do what needed to be done. She wouldn't ever know because Benj would never do the things Harudan had done.

Much to her irritation, Nerin requested yet another break. They were still walking along the coast of the Neverending Sea and the plan was to make a beeline for the centre of Vishera in the next day or so, heading through a small border town she didn't know the name of. Emrick had it on the map and told that it would take a little while to make it there, but it was going to take twice as long with all the breaks.

"You do know there are people after us?" she said as Nerin leaned against a nearby tree. "I doubt Harudan sent only one search party after us."

"It's only for five minutes, Rina," Emrick said and stretched his arms wide.

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "There's been a lot of five-minute breaks," she replied, pursing her lips.

"Because we need them. Walking through all this snow is exhausting, even you have to admit that," Emrick said, gesturing at her irritably. She was tired, that was the truth, but she wanted to make decent progress before they needed to stop and they hadn't.

"I just want to go for ten minutes without someone needing to stop," she grumbled but didn't bother arguing anymore. She wasn't in charge of the little group, no one was, they just did whatever was best for all of them. And whatever was best was another break, even if she didn't want it.

There was nowhere clear for her to sit after the heavy snow the night they'd been with Askarune, so she stood in the middle of it all, waiting in annoyed silence. Isiah was the same, but he smiled and thanked Emrick when the man handed him something to eat. Her stomach growled loudly as she watched him eat and she let out a sigh.

"May I have something to eat, Emrick?" she asked, hating the voice in the back of her head that thanked Nerin for needing to stop. Emrick quickly made up a jam sandwich for her, which she scoffed down as if she hadn't eaten properly in days. She was far too used to the foods she was served back home, not the plain things Emrick had packed for them back at the laboratory and bought in Reed.

It didn't take them long to get moving again and Isiah walked with her, humming quietly to himself. He seemed to be the only one that was calm. She was annoyed, as was Emrick, while Nerin was as silent as ever. She needed a distraction, a conversation that wouldn't result in her snapping at someone.

"How are you faring, Isiah?" she asked and his humming cut off jarringly.

He shrugged at her. "To be honest, I don't know," he said. "I have two stones now and I still don't know what I'm going to do. I don't even know what I'm facing anymore."

There was something worse on the horizon, according to Askarune, but he wouldn't tell them what it was. It could be that he was lying just to scare them, he was the god of fear and illusions after all. And he certainly wasn't her God, so why should she, or any of them, believe him? Especially when they could look up and find proof of Sol and Lune in the sky.

But even so, Isiah believed in his Gods and believed in what they had to say. "They wouldn't make you if they didn't believe you would win. Isn't that the reason you are here, is to win?" she said, unsure if it was actually comforting or not, but it was the only thing she could think of. "I know you don't like the powers you have now, but have you tried using the fear stone?"

"No, not yet. I don't want to. It scares me. I don't want to be the source of other people's fear," he replied and pulled the blue stone from his pocket. "How would this ever be used for peace?"

"You're using the flame stone for peace when you didn't think that was possible. This one will be the same, I'm sure." The flame stone's warmth was stronger the closer to Isiah she was and it comforted even her freezing feet, which continued to fall into deep drifts of snow. It made her frown, confusion spilling through her mind. "If the flame stone emits heat, what does that one emit?"

The question made Isiah freeze, mouth open and eyebrows knitted together. "I... I actually don't know if it emits anything. Fear, I suppose, but that doesn't seem like a good thing," he said and stared down at the glowing rock. If it emitted fear, then that could be the reason that she was feeling so irritable, the reason none of them was feeling too well.

"Can you turn off the heat the other one emits?" she asked. If he could do that, then maybe he could turn off the other one, if that was the real reason they were down. It could be that she was just in a bad mood and trying to find an excuse for it.

"I'd rather not try, just in case. Askarune turned it off once and I had no idea what to do. I don't want us to freeze because I got experimental," he said and patted his other pocket.

She hummed in agreement. "Well, you should at least practice with Askarune's stone."

Isiah shook his head. "I don't know if I want to. Do you really want to experience what you did at the Sanctum? Because I don't," he argued, his voice growing louder the longer he spoke.

"What's going on?" a voice interrupted. Emrick stood on the other side of Isiah, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Nerin walked behind him, watching them all in silence and fiddling with the edge of his coat.

Rina sighed. "He hasn't used the fear stone yet," she said.

Emrick's frown only deepened. "You haven't?" he asked. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want to. It might control me like the other one did and I don't want that," Isiah answered. Everything he said was logical, but it still wasn't a good enough answer. "It's fear and I don't want any of us to experience what we did back at the Sanctum."

"Well, as long as you don't stab me, I think I can handle it," Emrick said and Isiah made an offended noise in the back of his throat. "Look, I know you don't want to use it, but I think it will be like the other stone, with practice, you'll be able to use it for non-violence. Besides, if you're able to scare off our attackers, we won't even need to hurt them."

It was a good point that Rina hadn't thought of and she smiled at the ground. If she ever wanted to convince Isiah of something, she'd have to get the help of Emrick. He listened to him. From the thoughtful look on his face, Emrick's words were going to work.

"I don't know," he mumbled as they group trudged through the snow. "I don't want you to go through that again."

Emrick waved him away. "Askarune had struggled to manifest it, hadn't he? You have no experience, I doubt you'll be able to do anything that will scare me," he said and Rina chuckled at the offended look on Isiah's face. Her laughter cut off when her mind flashed back to what she had witnessed when Emrick had undergone his trial.

He'd almost died, all for a tiny stone. That was what he'd been scared of, wasn't it? Death. She could understand it, dying terrified her too, terrified everyone, but how did someone live when their worst fear was dying? And he fought anyway, did things that could easily get him killed. That, she didn't understand.

"It's worth a shot, don't you think?" she said and shrugged. "You have to learn eventually."

Isiah still frowned down at the stone in his hand and he let out a loud sigh. "Alright," he said and looked up at Emrick. "Are you sure?"

"Aye, don't worry about me," the other man replied with another wave of his hand. He seemed far too blase for what was going on, but Rina wasn't about to volunteer herself again. She'd seen enough at the hands of a deity that wasn't her own. If Emrick truly wanted to suffer again, he could, but she didn't want to see her dying brother's face again.

Isiah clenched his hand around the stone and the four of them stopped in the snow. The wind blew loudly in the silence as if the world was also waiting for whatever Isiah could do. He closed his eyes and Rina's stomach tightened with anticipation. Would she even see if it worked or would she have to wait for Emrick's reaction?

Her answer came sooner than she expected. Both Emrick and Isiah frowned and the latter opened his eyes, staring at the stone in confusion. "Anything?" he asked and the other man shook his head.

"What's going on?" Rina asked, teeth gnawing on her bottom lip.

Isiah's face paled and scrunched into a mixture of confusion and worry. "I don't know. It's not working," he said.

"What do you mean it's not working?" she asked.

"It's not working! I can feel the power but I can't grab ahold of it. It feels so much weaker than Ishin's stone," he said and pulled out the other stone. It glowed brightly and the light danced across the crisp snow. "It feels far away. I don't understand."

Rina tried to force words out, but she didn't know what to say. The power of Ishin's stone had come so easily to him, surely it would be the same for Askarune's stone. But if Isiah was telling the truth, and she hadn't known him to lie yet, that wasn't the case. For whatever reason, the stone didn't want to work with him.

"Maybe it's because you didn't actually complete the trial," Nerin said and shrunk away when all three of them looked at him. "It makes sense, doesn't it? Emrick completed the trial for you, so that means you're not ready for the stone yet. So maybe that's why it won't work for you."

It made sense, but it was definitely an issue. "So what do we do?" she asked. Isiah needed all of his powers if he was going to be the Beast that was Promised and save the realm from Harudan and whatever else may pose a threat. If he wasn't ready, then that meant more time wasted and more time for Harudan to take over her country.

"We could go back and ask Askarune," Nerin said with a shrug as if it were that simple. She'd rather not see the supposed God again. Knowing he existed confused her enough as it was, seeing him again would just make it worse. Surely, she could still worship her Gods even when the Old Gods were around and she was travelling with their Beast.

She pushed the thoughts away when Isiah shook his head. "I don't want to go back. All he'll say is that I'm not ready for it. There's nothing we can do about it. All we can do now is head for Nyat's Sanctum, get the next stone and pray to whoever that I am ready to wield that one," he said, exhaustion in his voice and eyes and face.

"Are you sure?" Emrick asked and for a second, Rina was sure Isiah would change his mind and they would have to walk all the way back to the Sanctum.

"I am," he said. She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Rina was right earlier when she said we needed to keep moving, so that's what we'll do. The stone will work when I'm ready for it. To be honest, I'm a little glad I can't use it yet. Maybe Askarune said something about it, but after... After Emrick, I wasn't really listening to him."

"Well, um, I hope you're ready for it soon," Nerin said. "Because it wouldn't be given to you if the Gods didn't think you would need it. I suppose that whatever is coming, you'll need it." He met Rina's eye for only a second, but it was enough. She still wanted Harudan gone, that would never change, but they could still work together to rid the realm of the bigger threat, whatever it was.

Isiah gave them all a sad smile. "I don't know if I want to be, but I guess I'll have to be eventually," he said and walked away from them. The snow crunched loudly under his feet and with a sigh, she followed. Whatever his decisions were regarding the stones, she would have to go along with them. She was not the Beast and therefore had no say in the matter.

For now, he couldn't use Askarune's stone, but he would be able to eventually. Hopefully, that would be before they made it back to Minisia and had to face Harudan's army, but there would be no way of knowing until it happened. She needed to get home, get back to her family and get Isiah into a place where he could save them all.