The terrain continued to grow increasingly more strenuous to navigate; hills and rocky terrain presented themselves every leap forward, canyon walls narrowed his path, but it did not matter for Xerxes.
These past few months had allowed him to adequately utilise his fire and wind, not as separate elements, but by synergising the two, using wind where his fire lacked and vice versa.
His mind did not work like before.
Reaching Tier four and every tier beyond that granted many benefits, it was no wonder that people within the court of kings were so smart.
It was because every tier beyond the fifth granted increases in knowledge and mental fortitude. It granted someone with greater strength, speed, agility, stamina, intelligence and a wider range of magical abilities.
'Make movement something so natural that it is second nature. Timing and precision are crucial. I should thank you, Tristan, even now our battle still teaches me,' Xerxes said internally.
Xerxes then poured the final bits of mana out before Airi suggested taking a rest to replenish his magic and understand where Thornfum was and how much distance had been covered.
They eventually found a cave where they could rest and take shelter from the increasingly growing intensity of the winds and snow.
He breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Airi.
Staying within the confines of his thick cloak felt suffocating, so she took the chance to spread her wings and fly around the cave.
Xerxes rested against a wall and pulled The Peerer out to analyse the situation.
Once he took a look at the map, his face slowly filled with confusion. "He has stopped."
Airi's voice, tight with concern, immediately checked the map, "Well, we can assume two scenarios."
The first scenario seemed more favourable. "One possibility is that they have arrived at some sort of checkpoint."
The next scenario was what prompted Airi's initial concern. "The latter is that...Thornfum is unable to move... luckily, it does not seem they are too far from the entrance of the interpass."
Xerxes held his chin, trying to formulate some sort of plan, but he had no backup, he had no strategy. There was no one else he could rely on. It was just him and Airi's strength.
He had grown used to having companions, whether they were Aya and Dorian as a child or the Truth family. Now, he had to learn to take responsibility for the missions and allies he would gain.
Sighing, he analysed the information that was blatantly in front of him. He marked the distance between their position and Thornfum's.
"Only 16..maybe 17 miles from our position and his; if we continue at the pace we are, we can reach it in under 30 minutes, granted we take into account that the terrain gets progressively worse. I will need to find Thornfum in the next few hours before his mark fades."
Airi tried to comfort his nerves, "Try not to dwell on it too much. Either way, you will need to rest now for at least 30 minutes to replenish your mana, and without terrain being a present obstacle, we can try to form a plan."
Xerxes agreed, and for the next 30 minutes, they spent a decent amount of it in silence; he was attempting to 'connect' with mana more and visualise the process of harnessing it more vividly.
It was not a technique he had learned or even confirmed had any merit, but it felt beneficial in some crude way he could not explain.
Then, he took a drink to quench his thirst and departed once more.
Eventually, they arrived at the entrance of the interpass, which was very reminiscent of the map.
Two mountains, on each side, tore through the clouds, making them seem insignificant. Creatures and wild beasts shrieked in a shrill and high pitch that echoed through the interpass.
And now, at this distance, Xerxes' skin was bitten with the cruelness of cold; thundering flashes of white and sapphire consumed the view ahead of them, and snow was lathered in every portion they could see.
Trying to sense Thornfum's mana was almost impossible, it seemed that the interpass was home to intense magical pressure that dimmed magical senses.
Xerxes raised the cloak's facing right above his nose, so that his eyes were only visible, and he exhaled deeply.
'Help..please help,' a voice called out that echoed through the snow; it was a young and feminine voice.
His brows immediately furrowed as he peered at Airi, "Did you hear that?" he questioned.
She seemed to hear it too, judging by the expression she bore.
They both immediately dashed, trudging through the snow. Airi ensured she kept Xerxes warm, whilst he applied a layer of fire around his feet to make movement easy.
Thoughts swarmed Xerxes' mind, 'Could it be the voice of 'slaves'? What if Thornfum's message came in a sequential order; first, we understand it is Orpheus who has been the perpetrator, then we understand that there are slaves?'
Was it deliberately written that way, or was it purely a coincidence?
He had no way to know. He simply continued to search, ensuring his path remained on a steady course towards Thornfum's stationary mark, whilst searching for the voice.
As they pushed forward, the voice returned, but distorted by the wind, "...help..." Then, later, the voice was louder, nearer, "...do not let him..."
Xerxes raised his voice, "Do not let who?!" he frantically searched through the snow, scanning every position he could, but the damned wind and snow obscured his vision.
"They need our help, Airi!" and Xerxes finally had enough, "Tier 4 mana, scatter ray." From his palm, spiralling pieces of fireballs began to increase in heat and speed, rotating until there was one, two, three and eventually seven fireballs as they scattered in an omnidirectional motion around Xerxes.
He immediately asked Airi to look, and so did he, as they took the moment of clearness to observe, and what they saw was a hand reaching out of the snow.
"There!" Xerxes called out as both he and Airi darted towards the hand, ready to help.
They reached it, and Xerxes assured the person buried, whom they assumed the voice belonged to, that it would be alright. "Do not worry, I have got you now."
Placing his hand around the stone-cold hand, Xerxes felt like something was wrong; it was too cold...
Nevertheless, he pulled the hand, and it grimly snapped off. The sudden jerky movements made the snow covering the body unveil itself, and what Xerxes saw was devastating.
His grip tightened on the detached, frozen hand, and a cold fury settled deep in his gut, perhaps colder than the interpass itself.
This was not just death; it was humiliation. A message. A silver collar was wrapped around the person's neck; there were two large lacerations in the points where his eyes would have been; it was horrifying.
Airi spoke immediately in a low, sinister tone. "We cannot do anything for the dead. If anything, it proves how vital it is we stop Orpheus..."
But her words did not fill Xerxes with courage; they just brought him back to a horrid place in his mind. Back to the fallen kingdom.
He saw it as clear as day.
Conrad's head being cleaved off his shoulders, the same residual thud echoing.
Aliya's organs squelching as they exploded beneath the weight of Xerxes' body.
Aemon's arms beginning to decay under Yves' power.
Xerxes continued looking at the body, as if frozen, like the person was. The only words replaying in his mind were Airi's, 'We cannot do anything for the dead.'
'We cannot do anything for the dead', 'We cannot do anything for the dead', 'We cannot do anything for the dead.'
But unbeknownst to Xerxes, something was approaching, and Airi could see it.
Her golden eyes peered through the snow, and silhouettes began to encroach upon them; they seemed quite tall, but the fact that there were not one but multiple made Airi alert.
"Ohhhh Lilith, where could you have possibly gone?!" one of the voices called out in a dark and humorous tone.
"Come here, little one, we promise not to hurt you," another said in an inviting but rancid tone.
The voices kept on calling out, as if they were calling for a lost child, and eventually, they had got close enough.
They merged from the blizzard like a single, living shadow. A dozen men, each wrapped in ragged, heavy furs that shuddered under the weight of the wind, stepped forward.
Weapons dangled from their hands, whilst some held fire within their hands to mitigate the chilling frost, and the air around them shimmered faintly, not with heat but with a strange pressure.
And when they stepped fully into view, the most striking feature revealed itself.
Each and every one of them wore a blindfold. Black, taut and unmistakably styled after Orpheus' blindfold.
"Look at what we 'ave 'ere. A child?" one of them asked curtly.
Another voice spoke sarcastically, after noticing why the unassuming child was so shaken. There was a frozen arm that rested on the side, with the remaining corpse of one of their loose slaves buried under the snow.
"Aw, are you lost? Scared? Lads, he has seen enough; let's end him."
They started closing in, like lions closing in on their prey.
Finally, Xerxes spoke, making them consider their next step.
"Airi, you say we cannot do anything for the dead? Who set that in stone?" Xerxes' voice rolled like thunder. He did not turn to face the approaching men; instead, his gaze was still locked on the mutilated corpse.
The lead slaver chuckled, a wet and ugly sound. "The boy is talking to himself. He is crazy! He is CRAZY!"
Xerxes ignored him; his words were meant only for Airi, and despite the approaching men, the phoenix could not help but be subject to the weight of his words.
"If there is one thing I can do for them, it is to make their deaths matter."
Xerxes' mana began to shake the surroundings around them, and the men, having had enough of being idle, pounced at Xerxes in an arc that was consumed with magic and steel.
With a flick of Xerxes' wrist, he did not even pay them the respect of turning around, as Tier 5 wind began to formulate beneath his wrist and expelled out, causing the snow and wind to completely obscure their vision, and in the same moment, Xerxes unleashed his Tier 4 magic.
He immediately directed the flow of mana to his heels, and in the next moment, the earth exploded around him, and so did he. He activated 'Burst Step'.
With explosive speed, Xerxes used the immediate and powerful release of Tier 4 fire mana to direct his movement and speed, appearing directly behind the soldiers of Orpheus.
Wasting no more breath, Xerxes grabbed the hilt of his sword, and just like they had no regard for the lives of the slaves... of people, he would only do what was fair.
"I will.." He paused for a split second, as his fury settled deeper into his voice.
"Make you all pay." Xerxes then swung his sword, and with the leaps of experience he had gotten in the tournament, he had a better understanding of what points of the body were vital and non-vital; he also knew where to slice for a devastating blow.
Xerxes unleashed his sword's full power, and used wind to enhance the speed, fire to temper its heat, and went across four of the men's Achilles heels, as they cried in agony.
Siphoning mana in his hand, Xerxes was not going to allow the others to react in time; he built the pressure of wind within his fists, clenching it until his knuckles practically went white; then, he struck the floor, causing the ground around them to rupture.
From the crevices and cracks created, those who had noticed what was happening met the harsh reality.
It was already too late.
The cracks beneath the earth were immediately used as areas where Xerxes' fire would sprawl outward, and one of the benefits of Tier 4 was being able to make your mana tangible at a very lessened level.
But Xerxes was not a meagre Tier 4 mage, he was a mage honed by the embrace of death, not once, but twice.
The pools of flames then broke free of the ground, latching around the remaining men, and in that exact moment, where their flesh was searing and melting against the flames, he called upon his soul fragments; not one, not two, but three.
He had initially tried it in the tournament, but it was a very uncomfortable and risky endeavour.
However, Xerxes had grown accustomed to it, making his body's new limit four. "But why would I need to use 4 soul shards against you all, when you are all so pathetic?"
Some screamed and pleaded for mercy; some tried to resist.
'Was the slave like this? I know the pain of witnessing death and... experiencing it; at least what I did in my 'final moments' was noble, but this slave, this innocent person was probably just like Aliya, just like Conrad, just like Aemon, and they thoughtlessly allowed him to die, alone, frightened and dismembered.'
Gnashing his teeth, Xerxes' rage broke through his rational mind. He activated the mana beast soul fragment, which enhanced his magical potency. He activated his orc soul fragment, which provided greater strength. Finally, the Blightstalker provided immense speed.
Sheens of dark blue, emerald and yellow merged together, flaring out of his body, and with surgical precision, combined with domineering physical prowess, Xerxes moved in between them, slicing at all of them, not even giving them the chance to fight against him.
The elegant weave of movements, which looked like a massacre before him, had taken out most of the opponents; he had not killed them, but he had injured them enough to the point where movement would require all their energy.
They would meet a fate like the slaves; he wasn't going to kill them. Not directly, at least.
He instead would allow the weakness of their own body and resolve to end it.
Xerxes exhaled as he stepped through the blood-stained snow and picked up Airi from her initial position.
Airi immediately questioned his actions, "Are you seriously okay with letting them all die? Are you comfortable with taking another life?"
He felt his entire body...weaken in a way. He recalled how distant and fearful he had been regarding this issue, but was he right? Was he fit enough to decide whether they were to live or die?
She spoke again, "If you let them die, then I'm not sure your body...the person you are will remain the same."
Xerxes looked at her, and he was only filled with doubt. Why was she questioning his resolve? Surely, for the crimes they committed, they needed to die. So that no one else could get hurt, but would he lose a bit of his own humanity as a result?
But they both couldn't have known the questions would have been answered for them. Xerxes immediately felt the pressure of something... non-human, alien.
The ground quaked as shockwaves of snow and pressure emitted outwards, and the people of the Orpheus group all cried it in an extinguished plea that didn't last long.
Xerxes shielded both he and Airi, and what he saw next changed everything.