Had it not been for the sacrifice of the backpack and its contents, Sancho's body would have crushed by the bear's huge fangs, before being dumped erratically.

Sancho, who was still conscious even though he had been thrown to the ground, stumbled and grabbed the ice ax that was scattered nearby, preparing to defend himself from the polar bear that came back at him.

Rygar arrived at the crucial final second, fibers of greenish aura coiled in his arms, the surrounding air sucked into the same colored wind vortex on his palms and turned into dense lumps. He released it to a point between the polar bear and Sancho.

The shockwave from the air eruption that Rygar threw, managed to topple the 300-kilogram animal in the opposite direction of his run. Sancho himself fell in shock, even though Rygar made sure that his attack was not to injure either of them.

"Are you okay?" Rygar landed right between the shocked Sancho and the overturned polar bear. His right arm still shrouded in greenish mana fibers.

The polar bear didn't take long to get up, brushed the snow off his body, and slashed back at Sancho and Rygar. The creature again tried to attack, but Rygar again blocked it with a wave of wind that was gentler this time.

The big, furious beast plopped down again and wallowed in the snow. However, it wasn't its last attempt, and Rygar patiently waved his palm gently, so that a wall of gust protected him and Sancho.

After repeatedly failing to get Sancho, the giant creature finally gave up. It lashed out furiously, pacing frantically like someone who warned him that he still had a debt to pay, and would come back to collect at another time.

Sancho shuddered in his place as if understanding the language between the lines, his knees buckled, he plopped down when the big bear finally gave up on leaving them. His breath hitched as he had just seen a ghost.

While Rygar had started picking up their scattered things, the ice ax was tucked into his waist belt, and he took things he could still carry on his own since their backpacks had been torn and broken. A tiny frying pan still intact, only slightly scratched on the inside, he picked up from the snow.

"It's a good thing the bear ripped the beast repellent potion I had in your backpack," Rygar snarled, the tip of his boot flipping a tiny glass bottle that shattered and spilled purple liquid inside. There are several other bottles with the same fate and different colored contents.

"Though, I thought the Dwarves were half-joking when offering such antidote items," Rygar muttered quietly. "At least now I know that they were bragging." He laughed bemusedly.

"I should have died just now, this is the reward of my bad karma." Sancho wailed where he was sitting. Keep mumbling like a trance. "And, and you helped me, Rygar. I-I'm afraid, bad luck could befall you because of me."

"Is it?" Rygar asked indifferently, looking up at the blue sky which seemed to be being poured with jet black ink, cloudy clouds rolled in and spread from the sky above Mercu Andall.

"Yes."

"Well, if the trees do testify, those who hear the testimony should act fairly, and if HE is a God, god, or something, then He should be most merciful. And if He is not most gracious, then He is not God, and should not be worshiped and followed, that's what I believe." Rygar said at length, then left Sancho, who was still pensive, carrying a small frying pan in his right hand.

"Go home, friends, to your wife, and to your children who are waiting. Your work has completed according to the agreement, I have arrived at Dragonspine, may your journey be without danger. And thank you."

The fine white granules began to fall through the black hair of the charcoal man who was tangled and tangled, Sancho was still holding his knees even though Rygar was gone. Bison groans amid the wind that is gradually getting stronger.

***

The snowflakes that were originally fine were gradually getting bigger, at first, they only fell slowly from a height, now they slapped his whole body fiercely, sent by gusts of storm winds that were getting bigger and bigger. Their steps sank deeper, now starting to pass the ankles, the thick white layer that enveloped the Dragonspine made the experience like exploring frozen muddy ground.

The sky that was originally blue hanging over Rygar's head has now turned gray and turbulent. Both Sancho and Rygar often needed to walk with their head almost down against the gusts of wind that seemed intent on throwing them off the Dragonspine.

"I owe you my life!" Sancho explained when Rygar forced him not to join further. The man with curly hair continued to follow him despite his slow pace and had to lean on the branch that he made into a stick.

The fog began to form in the distance, its form becoming more obvious with each passing minute, not infrequently running past them due to the increasingly violent mountain winds. Rygar is aware that this change in natural phenomena is too strange because it occurs in a very short time, thunderclaps have been getting louder since he stepped on Dragonspine, and now it often unleashed lightning amidst clusters of dark clouds that hang.

"Calm your restless, Dragonspine, we were just passing through," he mumbled amid the roar of the howling wind.

He turned to Sancho who was hunched over behind him, the Tihuan man looked more and more exhausted, even though his stamina for a person who frequently roamed frozen forests was not puny. However, this odd weather seemed to beat him mercilessly.

"Malstreĉu vian kolegron, Dracorekta, estu e via eterna dormo, estu trankvila, ar ni mortuloj nur petas vian benon por sekura vojaĝo." Rygar muttered again, this time in Aelkinis, the Elves' vocabulary. Rygar knew that He who was enthroned in these mountains would have recognized the ancient language.

"Are you all right, mate?" Rygar asked as Sancho leveled him, a little screaming against the noise of the storm that was forming. The whole body covered with white. "It's still not too far for you to return, we are only a third of the way!"

"No! Not yet, Rygar!" Sancho grabbed Rygar's arm, making sure that his intentions were sincere to the young man, never to be repeated.

"I'll take you to Mercu Andall." The Tihuan man said firmly, even though his breath seemed to be stuttering against the frozen air that was being pumped into his chest.

"See that mound of rock sticking out? The broad route will take climbers to the top of East Hrothgarr, while we will take the path to the right, which is rather narrow and steep. However, it should not be more challenging, its lower contour, though facing the abyss, will protect us from this fierce storm."

Rygar nodded in agreement, trusting Sancho's calculations, patting his guide's shoulder with optimistic eyes. "Then, come on! Lead the way, Sancho!"

BANG!

Cracks of thunder suddenly broke out one after another from behind the dense, overhanging clouds. It's no longer just a flash, but its golden yellow fibers are visibly licking the dark sky. As if aware of an invisible threat that was lurking, the two of them looked at each other and hurried up their pace.

"Estu trankvila, estu trankvila Dracorekta." Rygar mumbled again between the swings of his steps. "Estu…"

Rygar's sentence  cut off by a burst of lightning shattering right into the sky above their heads, shaking the frozen air of the raging Dragonspine. Both Rygar and Sancho could see the numerous bolts of lightning that were bombarding the slopes of Hrothgar's summit, higher than Dragonspine. Along with a deafening crackling sound, sent from the eye of the storm above them, shedding at least a metric ton of snow that slid down into an avalanche wave toward the slopes beneath.