The wind howled like a thousand screams through the steep pass.
Ashfall Peak towered above Elric and Auren like a jagged claw scraping the sky, its sides etched with ancient runes glowing faintly beneath the mist. The stone steps were cracked, some barely wide enough for a foot, and others broken entirely, forcing them to leap across chasms of swirling fog.
"This mountain," Auren muttered between breaths, "does not want us here."
Elric grunted. "Then it'll have to get used to disappointment."
They pressed forward — ducking under twisted roots, climbing weather-beaten ladders made from bones, crossing bridges of brittle chain. It was a place where time didn't seem to flow, where sound echoed twice, once as a whisper, once as a threat.
After what felt like hours, the path narrowed to a ledge no wider than a sword's width.
Auren stopped. "Wait. Do you hear that?"
Elric paused.
Silence.
Then—a slow, wet crunch.
A long shadow fell over the trail ahead.
Something emerged from the fog.
A monstrous figure, nearly ten feet tall, with skin like blistered bark and black stone. Its arms dragged, unnaturally long, clawed fingers twitching. Its mouth was torn at the sides, always open, always smiling.
Its voice was a rasp of knives and breath.
"You… climb the holy peak. Without offering. Without prayer."
Elric drew his sword. "Who are you?"
"I am the Jeil," it hissed, stepping closer. "Guardian of the Second Stair. Feeder of silence. Slayer of trespassers."
Auren unsheathed his blade, stance steady. "Well, that's poetic. Now get out of the way."
But Jeil only laughed — a sound like meat splitting.
"None pass unless the mountain accepts them."
With a sudden roar, it lunged.
Elric barely deflected the blow, steel clashing against bone-hard claws. The impact sent him sprawling.
Auren charged, swift and brutal, slashing at its legs — but Jeil twisted unnaturally, grabbing Auren mid-strike and slamming him against the cliff wall.
"Auren!" Elric shouted, leaping forward.
He slashed across Jeil's chest — and saw the monster flinch.
It could bleed.
"You fight for the girl," Jeil snarled, ichor dripping from its side. "She is beyond saving. Trapped where minds rot."
"We'll see about that," Elric growled, driving his sword deeper.
Jeil let out a shriek and threw him back, staggering.
But now it was limping. Slower.
Auren wiped blood from his forehead and stood again, eyes fierce. "You hit like a storm. Shame I grew up in one."
The two charged together.
Auren from the right.
Elric from the left.
Their swords crossed in front of Jeil's face — a flash of steel — and the monster let out a final scream as it fell, body dissolving into thick black smoke that reeked of rot and magic.
Panting, the two collapsed on the cold stone.
Auren let out a weak chuckle. "We're either very brave or very stupid."
Elric grinned through the pain. "Let's find out at the top."