บท 554: THE MOUNTAINS

Preparations for the trip immediately commenced after the meeting. Ivan would be leaving with Kiran and some of his trusted guards. Since I was worrying so much, I begged him to at least to take Tag'arkh with him. She was stronger than most of us and I will feel better if she was at least with him to protect him, all of them because it still wasn't clear what we were dealing with.

That night, I couldn't sleep. Not even when Ivan held me close, his arms wrapped tightly around me as if trying to shield me from my own fears. He whispered words of assurance, telling me everything would be alright, that they'd be back before I knew it. But I couldn't shake the dread that had settled deep in my chest.

Where they would be going was somewhere deep in the mountains, a three days' journey into unknown territory. A place where no one knew what awaited them, or if they'd even return.