Chapter Text
Grian hummed to himself as he swung his axe at the tree. Only a few more logs and he'd have enough for his new base.
"You know we aren't supposed to be this close," Scar said from a few trees over.
"We're perfectly fine," Grian said airily. "Xisuma's not even here."
"I suppose we aren't inside the boundary line," Scar muttered. "You're gonna get us in trouble."
"Oh come on, he won't be mad," Grian grinned. "You know you're curious."
"A little," Scar admitted. "It doesn't make sense for an area to be blocked off, especially this early into a season."
Grian hummed in agreement, his brightly colored wings shifting slightly in the wind. "Well, I'm gonna go look."
"Wait, hang on," Scar protested, but Grian was already wandering in the direction of the obsidian barrier.
"I'm lookin'," Grian said, poking his head around a corner. "It's boring."
Scar joined him. "You're staring at a bunch of obsidian."
"Mhm. Fascinating." Grian glanced at Scar out of the corner of his eye, waiting with a slight grin.
"You're giving me that look again," Scar said with a sigh. "We're breaking through, aren't we?"
Grian grinned, flashing pointed teeth. "We're breaking through." With a few deft swings of his pickaxe, the obsidian crumbled and Grian shoved his way through the gap, flinching back at the brisk, frozen air.
"What's so exciting about this?" Scar frowned as he followed Grian through. "It's just snow."
And that, it was. Not much else, really. Just snow, stretching as far as the eye could see.
"I mean, maybe it's exciting because there's not snow around here as far as we've seen?" Grian wondered aloud. "Maybe he wants this spot for himself."
"Somehow I doubt it," Scar said, peering at the ground. "It's deep snow, too. Look." He pulled out a bucket and scooped up some of the snow.
"Oooh, we can monopolize this," Grian said. "If there's no snow nearby, anyway." He filled a few buckets with snow, pocketing them for future deals.
"Uh... Grian?"
Grian looked up to see Scar staring at something Grian couldn't see.
"I think I found the reason Xisuma blocked this off."
Heart pounding at Scar's tone, Grian moved to his side and followed his gaze. He didn't really have the right words to describe the tear in the sky, but he could get close.
"It looks like the air is ripped," he breathed, moving closer.
"Wait." Scar gripped Grian's shoulder, holding him back. "I know you're curious, but we don't know what this is. It could be dangerous."
Grian ignored him, trudging up to the rip through the freezing slushy snow.
"It's too cold to be here right now," Scar said. "Come on, let's go back."
Grian nodded slowly and allowed Scar to lead him back through the gap in the obsidian wall.
"We're not going to talk about this for now," Scar decided as he sealed up the gap. He flashed Grian a smile. "After all, we may still be able to sell that deep snow."
"You'd sell someone else's boots to them," Grian said with an eye roll. "Come on, let's go."
But as they left, he turned back to the wall, his eyes finding where he knew the tear was.
***
Grian ducked under a hanging branch and glanced over his shoulder. It hadn't been easy sneaking away from the others, but there was something about that tear that hadn't left his mind. Scar hadn't wanted to go back yet, but Grian didn't want to wait.
His eyes traveled to the moon, bright and full against the dark sky. The hot summer air began to cool as he approached the barrier, reopening the gap that Scar had sealed the day before. With one last look over his shoulder, he ducked inside.
***
Grian had thought the snow on his side of the tear was cold.
He realized now that was incorrect.
The foreign freezing air blew hard against his wings, doing its best to fling him into the air. He clamped his wings to his sides and ducked against the wind, one hand in front of his face to shield his eyes from the frigid wind. This must have been why Xisuma blocked that tear off. This climate was too dangerous for anyone to be in.
The wind picked up speed as Grian turned back to the rip in the sky. His wings fluttered slightly at the prospect of warmth.
His mistake.
The wind took the slight movement and howled against him, forcing his wings further and further open. Grian stumbled back, pressing his wings as close to his sides as he could manage, but it wasn't enough. The wind was slowly but steadily forcing them wider and wider, and any moment it could-
SNAP!
Grian shouted in pain as something broke in his left wing and he lost any control he had over the right. His wings flew open and the wind lifted him into the air, throwing him a short distance away from the tear into the freezing snow. He lifted his head, knowing it was imperative to get back to the warmth before he froze to death, but his shivering body didn't seem to want to comply. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself out of the snow, taking one step against the howling wind before another gust threw him even further back. His wing blazed with pain, barely numbed by the frozen slush clinging to his feathers. He forced himself to crawl toward where he could barely see the tear through the flying snow. The cold clung tight to his breath, his skin, his wings. Frost clung to his eyelashes from the breath that froze as it left his lips. Breath that heaved to make up for the tightness in his lungs. Breath that was beginning to slow.
Grian blinked hard against the sudden drowsiness that washed over him and forced himself to keep crawling through the snow. His numb hands slipped on something underneath the snow and he faceplanted in the freezing slush. He pushed up against the dirt, fighting for the last vestiges of consciousness.
He failed.