Demphin, Felros and Ar-Qosh continued into the snow-covered land, with Ar-Qosh finding meagre amounts of freezing water. The wind slapped their faces mercilessly, and once or twice they thought they heard a wolf's howl.

Demphin could not feel his face, and when they peered into the skies for a brief moment they could not even see the Seven Stars. At night they found a spot to huddle up and sleep, but none of them found that they could sleep. It seemed like it was never going to end, minutes seemed like days and hours seemed like weeks.

Denver finally found a tunnel large enough to provide a small amount of warmth, and they crept into the tunnel. It led underground, and they crept in. "Um... guys? Would there be snakes or some beast lurking in ere'?" Felros spoke nervously.

"At least it would be better than us freezing to death outside," Ar-Qosh turned back and said. The tunnel stretched for quite a long distance before it widened to a cave. Demphin lit a small flame with his magic and they sat, finally feeling the warmth that soothed them.

"Do you feel something?" Ar-Qosh said as he took a sip of the icy cold water.

"What?" Felros looked around, "You mean the warmth?"

"No, not that," Ar-Qosh placed his hands lightly on the dirt-filled ground, "Do you feel something... out of the ordinary?"

"I do," Demphin said, "A powerful force, the mists of pure darkness held by one man, with the thirst for fury and revenge." Demphin opened his eyes and saw Felros and Ar-Qosh staring at him.

"Demphin," Felros spoke carefully, "What did you see when we were in the mist? You can feel all that we could not feel, and with your newly found magic you must have met someone who provided you with these gifts."

"I..." Demphin did not know how to answer. He wanted to keep the secrets hidden, but it seems that he could not now. "I... I met Mesir the Ancient, and he passed the powers to me."

"Mesir? Isn't he already dead?" Ar-Qosh crept closer to the flames, "how is he still able to speak to you?"

"I don't know how, but it provided me with memories of the past," Demphin said, "Even those when the realms were in chaos and before the Seven Stars rose. Mesir told me never to tell anyone about our meeting, so I did as he told, but I felt that both of you must be told about it."

The flames crackled, illuminating the cave and they sat in silence, looking outside, where the freezing storm still raged, violently. The moon could still be seen, although smaller than the Seven Stars but still as bright.

The next morning when they woke, the snowstorm outside had subsided quite a lot, and they continued their journey through the frosted wastelands, and then they noticed something -- far in front of them there was a mountain, possibly the largest they had ever seen. It was frosted even from the bottom, and the tip reached high up into the clouds, obscured by the sky.

"That is the Edge?" Felros whispered to Demphin. Demphin pushed a finger into the thick ice to the ground and felt it, it felt smooth, with even gravels still buried beneath the snow. Demphin felt it, and turned back to Felros, "It is still a far cry on foot, and the mountain must be where those stone devils lay. It is risky, but there is no way we could get past the mountain. So we should go up there."

As they walked, the snow slowly dissipated and finally, the ground was only covered by a thin layer of snow. When they were closer to the mountain, they finally saw the first stone devil, its face carved from stone, its eyes glowing with bluish light. It groaned, slowly and monotonously but none of them looked at it. It was said that their eyes yield magic that could turn mortal beings to stone, and none of them wanted to try that. As they ascended the mountain, more and more stone devils showed up, all of them on stone slabs in the ground.

"Remember the legend of the stone people?" Felros whispered as they passed a devil, who stared at them intently. "Legend says the Pure created them for entertainment, however, they misused the magic to turn stone into living beings, and the stone people could turn the Pure into stone statues, and the Pure abandoned them here, calling them Stone Devils."

"It's... argh!" Demphin cried and looked at his hand, and it is turning into stone fast, "Help!" Ar-Qosh tried his magic on Demphin, but it just did not work of Demphin, and from all corners, Stone Devils emerged from beneath the snow-covered surface.

"Close your eyes!" Demphin shut his eyes tight and felt for his left hand. To his arm, he could not feel his skin, but he tried to use his healing magic for himself, and the stone stopped spreading across his body.

"Walk slowly," Demphin whispered and they crept, eyes shut tight. Demphin felt the presence of a Stone Devil right in front of him, its face facing him. With a leap, a golden fan materialised in his hand, and he swept it across the face of the stone, the magic smashing the stone into pieces.

"Quick, let's leave!" Demphin grabbed Felros and Ar-Qosh and hauled them into the air, and after a short while they fell back onto the ground.

"Demphin, your hand..." Felros gasped. His right hand was stone, up to his arm. It felt part of himself, and it was as light as it was before it was turned into stone, but he could not feel anything on his palm. He felt it with his left hand, and it was smooth, without all the creases from his palms before, and it was cold.

"I can still go on with this," Demphin stood and continued into the frozen wastelands, while Felros looked at Ar-Qosh who shrugged and they followed him.

The night after came very smooth sailing, and they quickly found a grotto large enough for all three of them. They did not sleep much, but by the next morning, they had to set off. Finally the last remnants of the snow turned into solid ground and the temperature rose.

"We are close to the Edge," Demphin peered up at the Seven Stars, "But to get to the Seven Stars from the Edge, it would be a long and tiring way to go."

They continued, their shoes leaving sandy footprints on the ground. After a while, Ar-Qosh noticed that the sand was moving even though there was no wind. "Uh, Demphin," Ar-Qosh glanced at Demphin and back to the ground, "The ground seems to be--"

Then, the ground split into half, dragging Ar-Qosh into it, and beneath was a crevice full of sharp white thorns, and a soft, red tendril. Felros grabbed onto Ar-Qosh and held his hands tightly, and beneath the tendril reached up and tugged on Ar-Qosh and both of them fell into the abyss, only to be saved by Demphin's magic.

The tendril felt watery, and Ar-Qosh knew that this was, in fact, a huge mouth from a huge creature. The tongue of the creature wrapped around his leg bit into his flesh, and he felt such pain that even his bones had the horrible tingling sensation that he felt of letting go of Felros and let himself enter this great abyss to end his life, but he still held onto Felros for the fear of death was too great.

Demphin tried pulling them out with his magic, but it's strength was already too strong and Demphin strained his magic. Then, the mouth closed around the duo, preparing to swallow them into the bottomless pit.

"Take this!" Felros spoke an incantation and a longsword appeared in her hand, and she brought the blade down onto the tendril, and frost spread across the entire tendril. A huge, low moan emanated from beneath, and the tendril flung both of them onto the sand, and the gargantuan mouth closed.

"Ow," Ar-Qosh sat up, and his ears were ringing and legs were throbbing in pain. A whole chunk of flesh was ripped out by the tendril, and blood poured into the sandy ground, running on the ground. From the corner of his eyes, Demphin stood above him, tending to his injuries.

"Can I have some water?" Demphin turned to Felros, who spat some water out onto his hands. Demphin grimaced a little, but that was the only source of water they had now and Felros is also a Water Wizard. He pressed his hands on Ar-Qosh's wounds, and it felt like a thousand needles sinking deep into his skin. He wanted to shout, but only a wince came out of his mouth.

When Demphin released his hands, and a huge scar is all that remained. "Let's go, the edge is near, and we don't want to meet those creatures again," Ar-Qosh struggled to stand up, and Demphin and Felros followed. Towards the horizon, the flying worms, Wyverns soared in the sky.

They walked in silence, and Ar-Qosh hobbled on; the wound did not hurt anymore but simply felt a numb pain deep in his legs. Finally, the ground broke away to a cliff, and what was beyond that was total darkness.

"The Edge," Felros peered up to the sky, where the darkness stretched high up into the sky.

"Finally we could climb the tower," Demphin said, but glanced at Ar-Qosh's injured legs, "I will go myself, Ar-Qosh can't climb, and I do not want you to get hurt. The darkness is powerful now."

"Then part here we shall," Ar-Qosh nodded, "We shall wait here for you to return."

"Once I leave, I might never return," Demphin forced a smile, "Farewell." Demphin walked further and further away from the duo, soon being consumed by the darkness of the Edge...