Into the Darkness

13: The Clinline Mountains

The snow grew thicker and the cold got worse. I felt like freezing to death. My whole body was shaking and my hair was frozen. Luna had frozen teardrops on her cheeks, but didn't seem to feel the cold. Aeryn, on the other hand, looked like me: she was shaking and her hair was frozen as well. During our journey to the Clinline Mountains, I had get to know Aeryn a little better. For instance: she has powers-shapeshifting and Super Human Strength- and she had left her 'parents' to go live in the woods. She also told me that she didn't trust people easily, but once she does, she'd be your friend forever.

Luna stopped. I bumped into her, as I wasn't paying attention. I walked back to get a better view on what was going on.
"Luna? Why did you stop." I heard Aeryn ask. Luna turned around with a smile.
"We're here." She said as she pointed up towards the sky. Aeryn and I lifted our heads up towards the direction she pointed to and we saw huge mountains. We really arrived at the Clinline Mountains. My jaw dropped.
"Do we really need to climb those!?" I asked. Luna shook her head.
"No. Only the middle." She calmly said as she pulled my arm.
"Let's go! No time to waste." She started walking towards the foot of the mountain. Aeryn hurriedly followed us. We stood still as we stood in front of the mountain.
"And how are we going to climb the mountain? We have no equipment." I said. Luna looked around.
"Well. The mountain isn't steep. We'll be able to walk up. With some trouble." Luna stubbornly started to climb up the mountain. I had no choice but to follow her. Aeryn quickly followed us.

Luna was right. The climb to the top wasn't the hardest thing we had done this journey. We did have some trouble on the way and the snow did make some parts of the mountain slippery, but nothing life threatening. But as we got closer to the top, something went terribly wrong. Aeryn slipped on the snow and slid down. I jumped towards her, landing hard on the stone mountain, grabbing her hand before she fell into the depth. I saw the fear in Aeryn's face. Luna quickly ran back down to us to help me. She grabbed Aeryn's arm.
"Aeryn hold on! We'll get you back up here." Luna tried to comfort Aeryn, with very little success.
"Okay. Luna, we are going to pull on three. One... two... THREE!" We pulled as hard as we could, but at the same time we made sure we weren't hurting her. We finally got her back up. Aeryn crawled away from the edge and looked at the both of us. I felt a big pile of snow fall on top of my head. The ground started shaking. And we saw a human silhouette.

The figure got closer. It slowly stepped in to the light. It was an old man. He had a long, white beard and half long, white hair. He was wearing a thick, fur coat, warm boots and a thick pair of pants. He was wearing gloves and the hood of his coat. He gave us a warming smile.
"Finally. I have been waiting for you. Come, come." The old man signed us to follow him. I stood up and followed him. Aeryn and Luna quickly came along. The man led us to a cave, hidden on the other side of the mountain. We came in and a big stone magically rolled in front of the entrance. The man took his winter-gear off and revealed the type of clothing you'd expect a wizard would wear: a long, dark red cloak covered with moons. The hat he put on, had the same colour and print as the cloak. He turned back to us with a smile, as he clapped his hand. Things started to light up. Furniture appeared and a homey feeling started to surround us. The old wizard pointed at some chairs.
"Go on. Sit!" He said with a sweet smile. We sat down.
Uhm, sir? Who are you?" Aeryn asked. The wizard smiled at her.
"I'm Ixeor of course." He happily said. But, within a second, his face turned serious.
"Now... I see you all have some problems?" He said. Luna nodded.
"Yes. I am hunted down by the Witch Council. They see me as a threat, while I'm not." I patted her shoulder.
"And you, young Zain?" Ixeor turned his eyes to me.
"I.. I can't control my powers. I'm scared I'll hurt someone. I have almost killed Luna and-..." I couldn't bring myself to say her name. Ixeor sighed.
"Priscilla." He said. Luna looked down when she heard her name. Ixeor sighed again.
"I can help you."