The day continued onward, its cycle never changing. Cayde continued to make his way up the mountain, happy to see that this was yet another beautiful day. With few clouds in the sky, and a nice breeze blowing through the trees. He did notice that the winds were starting to increase in force as he went further up.

The day continued like usual, and he made it up another five hundred feet. It was early in the afternoon, so after a quick break, Cayde continued onward. He did notice that there were more clouds in the sky now, but he wasn't too worried about it at the moment. As long as it didn't rain, he wasn't concerned by the weather.

Cayde also began to notice that the trees were starting to get significantly smaller, only appearing to be small shrubs and slightly tall trees. There wasn't much variety here. At such a height, only a few pine trees remained, and very few other forms of plant life. From here on out, the trees would get even smaller and the path would be less and less safe. There would be more rocks, many more, of course.

By evening, Cayde had made it to the four-thousand foot milestone, and he stood at the pile of rocks, taking the time to examine it. There were definitely less rocks in this pile than the previous ones, but the milestones of rocks were only going to get smaller.

Much smaller.

By now, the trees were much smaller. Most likely in another five hundred feet or so, there would only be shrubbery left, and nothing more than rocks and a bit of solid ground.

He took a deep breath. From here on out, the Trial was going to get much harder. In fact, up to this point, it was considered child's play compared to what would follow on the final few thousand feet.

Cayde decided to try and go another two hundred feet or so before he rested for the night. It was going to be much harder to find shelter now. With no tall trees and hardly any cover, he would need to find some sort of shelter in between rocks or beside something... he wasn't sure just yet.

He went up another hundred feet or so and stopped on a flat boulder. From here, with only shrubs and a few very tiny trees remaining at this height, Cayde looked out at the world, admiring the view.

The sun was setting, giving off an orange and red glow in a portion of the sky. The rest of the sky was either a very dim blue or a slight hue of red. It was mostly cloudy by now, but he was able to see the sunset since there was an opening in the clouds to show the sunset. It was like a gleaming beacon of hope. Cayde smiled at this thought and glanced around some more, looking at the nearby mountains. Since the mountain he was on was the tallest one in the mountain range and the entire region, many mountains were lower than his current height, but some went higher still. He looked down at the world, admiring the many forests and rivers.

He was able to almost see the area surrounding the base of the mountain he was on, but was unable to see the location of the Kimlascan Pack. He thought about the pack for a moment and wondered how everyone was doing.

In a way, Cayde felt like Kimlasca, looking down at the world and admiring the peace and harmony that surrounded the beautiful landscape. Being the descendant of Kimlasca, and being the Wolf of Harmony, it made Cayde feel a connection with his ancestor.

But he knew that the true view, in all its glory, would await at the top, and he'd be able to see the land in its entirety, and perhaps even more. Time would tell.

He looked around for a bit longer, noticing that the colors of the sunset were beginning to fade, signaling the end to yet another day.

The path ahead was only going to get much more difficult, but the view of the world so far was enough to give him yet another wave of confidence. He made sure to remind himself to get up early in order to watch the sunrise. He looked up at the higher portion of the mountain and wondered. He couldn't see the top yet, but he knew that he would be able to see it soon enough.

He thought about the pack again. He missed Pahanin, and hoped that she was okay. He wondered what everybody was thinking. He was certain that all of them were confident that he could complete the Trial.

Cayde nodded to himself and looked around, seeing an angled boulder in some solid ground. It didn't seem to be the coziest, but it would suffice for such a height, so he padded over to it and laid down. At least here, he'd be sheltered from the increasing winds and the exposure, as well as any rain that fell, if any at all.

He smiled and looked out at the surrounding area once more from where he was laying beneath the boulder.

He was proud of how far he had made it...

...and he was confident that he could make it further.

To the top.