Sky Island, Far Reach, Qali
Sunhae, the thirty-second day of Setiem, 1149

Donghae shivered, looking up at the sheer wall of ice that would be his way up the Sky Island. He never imagined that what would have been the allday's waterfalls would become an ice wall in the allnight season. Good thing he brought his ice climbing gear. After spending a sufficient rest period, Donghae started ascending the ice wall.

It was a good thing that the wall had natural handholds and footholds, characteristic of the way the water slowly froze this north with the approach of the allnight season. It wasn't so frozen yet that he wouldn't be able to chip away a foothold or two, nor the ice too soft not to be able to hold his weight.

Because it is a slow going process. Donghae figured he needed to find a ledge somewhere higher up to spend the night on, before continuing the climb tomorrow. He just needed to climb past the part of the ice wall where the bottom of the Sky Island veered away. Once there, Donghae would have more options for secure footing, spying the occasional abutting rock or winter-barren tree growing along the sides of the Sky Island. Or rather, what he could see above him, aided by the moonlight reflecting off the pristine, white landscape. Even if the moon Morihae is waning while the other moon Dalaurum is waxing, the surrounding ice and snow still reflected what meager light got caught in the Far Reach.

It had surprised him, how the Far Reach can actually be bright this start of the allnight. Perhaps the bank of clouds with the perpetual ion storm helped, as he espied the constant lightning in a far distance. The same clouds around the summit ridge also captured the paltry rays of the sun that still shone this far north at this time of the year. The dim light had aided Donghae's trek down from the summit ridge and across the frozen Central Sea.

He also thanked the heavens that Cordana's book was detailed enough about this particular Sky Island - the central one where the night between the stars is said to be found. Other details that included it were various caves big enough and secure enough to rest or spend the night in. He reached the first one just as soon as he felt his body giving up from the climb. He hauled his in, and though tired, made sure he had enough food, water and warmth in him to sufficiently rest and be recharged for next day's climb.

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Donghae started traveling northwest three months ago, around midsummer in middle Junyo, passing by settlements Cordana had written in her book. And she had yet to fail describing what transpired in the places he reached, at this time of the year. Kudos to Mum, too, about being spot-on about the lands and seasons when he traveled.

Like how it was best to take an airship from the coastal town of Faransu straight across the opposite shore of the Mauravia city. This was because the topography of the Fire Fork Countries would have made it more difficult for Donghae heading straight north rather than northwest.

The Fire Fork Countries are divided into four regions, namely: the Northern Fork, the Upper Middle Fork, the Lower Middle Fork and the Southern Fork. Mahan lay somewhere in the middle of the Southern Fork. The Fire Fork Countries have majority pastoral lands, owing to the rich soil brought about by lava flows in the time before the Qalini. Except for the Northern Fork - as with mostly all the northern lands bordering the mountain ridge circling the Far Reach, the terrain there are mostly crags, rock and tundra. In the Northern Fork, it is said that the mountain ridge was so steep and smooth as to resemble a wall instead of a mountain... and that it lies on top of a particularly craggy highland littered with sharp rocks constantly being eroded with the annual cycle of extreme freeze and heat.

The Upper Middle Fork region and the Southern Fork region are peninsulas. Only the Lower Middle Fork region is connected to a landmass known as Land's Bridge, a relatively flat land all the way to where it bordered the mountain ridge around Far Reach. In this area, the mountain ridge is more sloping, less craggy, though the summit is still invariably hidden within an ever-present ion storm cloud.

Donghae was suddenly glad he has an ancestor who had a taste for adventure and an affinity for writing down said adventures. And apparently he only inherited the taste for adventure part - like most Qalini, Donghae was more adept at oral traditions than written ones.

Two months before he reached the Far Reach, he looked at the horizon from the edge of the fields where Grampa Jinki grew up. The peaks of the summit mountain ridge wouldn't be visible yet this far south of the Far Reach where he spent time with extended family in Grampa Jinki's Alcorra. As with his family in Mahan, they are dubious about Donghae accomplishing his mission, but Donghae believes he really will get there in time for the start of the allnight season - when the ice is said to have frozen over the lake in the middle of the Far Reach and makes it easy to reach the Sky Islands in the middle of the place. Donghae didn't know then how he'll manage to get on top of the Sky Island. Cordana's entry there had been rather vague, other than references to using ice climbing gear. Following Cordana's entry, one moment he was envisioning looking up the Sky Island, next he was already standing on top of it.

Sky Island, Far Reach, Qali
Tuedra, the first day of Octaburo, 1149

Donghae suddenly saw it, what they called the night between the stars. It was a swath of nothingness between what should have been a view of the stars this north. And with the clear night sky, there should have been a lot of them dotting the sky. Not this abrupt end of their twinkling in a fairly straight column that started just as abruptly in its other side.

It had taken him three days to climb to the top of the Sky Island. And he only knew it was the top as only a smooth, flat ground greeted his sight from edge to edge. Not even a hillock or shrub broke the flatness, emphasized by the snow-covered ground.

Donghae shifted his perspective, carefully edging sideways while still looking at that darkness, his bootprints the only thing marring the flatness of the land. He couldn't see a discernible change in size of the darkness. He also couldn't figure out how high up it ended because from where he stood looking up, the top seemed to stretch up until where he expected it to end if it was really high. He unnecessarily wished he could fly, just so he could see where that swath of blackness ended.

He also wondered how he could reach it, since the darkness didn't pierce the horizon of the Sky Island - there was no indicator on the ground as to where it started. He could see the far edge of the Sky Island, where he could also see the darkness conveniently start.

He took a careful step forward. Nothing. The darkness seemed to stay where it was. Another step. Still nothing.

Now Donghae really wondered how to get to the between so that he could finally meet the Ginu and fulfill what he came here to do. He suddenly took off running, taking a literal leap of faith when he reached the edge of the Sky Island... and falling.

Truthfully, he screamed. A terrified yell in the icy night that shattered the peace the place enjoyed before Donghae came to shake it up. And who wouldn't scream, the way he could see the ground rushing up at him, his stomach curdling with the terrifying feeling of falling to death.

I'm so so sorry Mum and Dad, he thought. In a flash, he suddenly thought of his insignificant life, a tiny bit of regret forming saying he should have just stayed home than go on this foolish adventure.

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