CHAPTER 68 - THE CLIMB

On their way to the Orphan Rock, where they would begin their climb to the mountain, Natsu began to doubt Gildarts's plan more and more. Despite his doubts, remained quiet, not daring to utter his questions. Lucy had already made her decision to follow this path. He could not speak her out of it. He never could.

Since dawnbreak, they had travelled by foot in the forest. All their burdens and belongings had been stored in Gildarts's "treasure box", as he called the Oblivion storage he had summoned. Natsu was unsure if he'd ever see his backpack again, but at least he didn't need to carry it with him.

The horse had been left in the Helgen. Gildarts said that he would return there after escorting them to the mountain – according to him, the horse was safest in the destroyed stables, protected by the haunting ghosts. But still, Orphan Rock resided an hour's walk from Helgen's walls, and in conditions like these, the walk alone seemed to bring the young mages to the brink of collapse.

With a growing worry, Natsu watched after Lucy's wobbly steps. Even through the thick winter coats and furs that hang loosely upon her shrunken shape, he could see her shivering from exhaustion. The little she had eaten this morning, as her stomach got filled with a tiny amount of food, had already been burned away. Her body was falling apart with nothing left to sap energy from, but she seemed to pull the strength from her determination. She claimed she wasn't in any pain, but that was a thin relief.

Natsu, on the other hand, was in a lot of pain.

The motion sickness caused by the cart ride from Ivarstead to Helgen had numbed out the pain of his broken bones, still half-healed and stained in deep ache. No matter how many spells Gildarts had cast on him to aid his recovery, each movement still stung like a blade. Though sorcery had mended the acute injuries, the ghosts of them lingered there, bruises deep as the night sky where Rahgot had kicked him in the guts. Every step twisted a knife in his ribs, causing him to gasp for air and bite on his tongue to hold back the endless curses for this insanity. To climb a mountain, in this fucking shape? Gildarts was out of his fucking mind.

But when they finally could glimpse the Orphan Rock, Natsu's pain began to twist into nervous anticipation. A large erratic boulder rested amidst the snowy forest, shrouded in silence. No Hagravens resided here, unlike the legends told, or if they did, they weren't there now. Natsu sighed in relief. At least something looked good. He leant against a tree to take in ragged breaths, the burning pain in his lungs not alleviating at all.

Gildarts then broke the silence by walking in front of the enormous rock and turning towards them. "This is where I test if you truly have what it takes to climb that mountain. If you can follow me here, you can manage the rest of the endeavour as well," he said and pointed at the mountainside that hid the entire skies behind it, standing here at its root. "With Alteration, we can alter the reality around us. Unlike Illusion spells, we don't use sorcery to distort how things are seen, like making ourselves invisible. Now we truly alter and change reality through objects and laws, like the gods."

This time, Natsu tried his best to pay attention. Lucy listened with great curiosity and awareness. Though her eyes were clouded with exhaustion, her mind was always sharp, and ready to learn. Natsu could barely describe his relief to see her being like that, like herself, after such torment. He had worried if she'd ever return to any of her former self, but she surprised him with her immeasurable strength. Lucy would rise from the ashes. Natsu had no doubts about that anymore.

Just yesterday, Lucy had been ready to let it all go. She had said she barely knew herself anymore, as if Lucy Heartfilia had already died, and she was merely an empty shell to carry the memory. But she had been wrong, manipulated into such false beliefs by the Daedric Prince that haunted her dreams. Yet last night, something had chased away the shadow at least for a while, and Natsu was certain that it had been her mother. As he had found Lucy this morning, singing her song with words he could understand, Natsu profoundly understood how much power ran in her blood. A power to rival the sun. With it, she could chase away the deepest shadows, if she just believed.

"When our goal is to climb up on that mountain, what do you think is our greatest opposer? What makes it hardest for us to go up?" Gildarts asked.

Lucy thought for a moment. "Gravity," she said then. "The force that pulls us down."

"Exactly," Gildarts answered. "To make this easier, we must temporarily alter our mass, and the way the ground pulls us back. Levitation is the spell's name. It's more commonly known in Morrowind, as the Nords of Skyrim prefer to conquer their mountains like damned stubborn goats. But following the teachings of the elves, we can soar over them like eagles."

"Knowing how much you hate elves, it's surprising to hear this," Natsu commented sourly.

Gildarts paid no attention to him and simply continued his lesson. "This spell doesn't just give us the ability to walk on air, but can also gain us an advantage in a state of combat, but let's not get to that now. Let me teach you the basics first," he said. "We must make ourselves as light as feathers, to be pushed upwards by the currents of wind. We manipulate our weight and movement speed, for a brief moment. But here lie the dangers: we must be able to control it. It takes an enormous amount of magicka to maintain. Lose the spell mid-air? You'll plunge straight down to your death."

Natsu cringed, sighing. "And why didn't you tell me this earlier? We could have jumped straight up to Forelhost and skipped the entire monastery with this little trick."

"I just told the reason, but you never listen," Gildarts answered and cocked his head. "It takes a lot of magicka, especially if you can't distribute it evenly as you cast the spell. Besides, one member of our rescue team members wasn't a mage. What would've you done? Carried Loke up in your arms like a damn damsel in distress? Think again. Using this spell in Forelhost would have drained all of us from magicka, leaving us incapable of combat. But now, as we are going up there to meet hopefully non-hostile monks, we have all our magicka to spend." Then the old mage sighed. "Here is how I do it. Observe carefully."

And in a blink of an eye, Gildarts was gone.

In utter confusion, Natsu and Lucy turned their gazes to the skies, squinting at the bright sun. Natsu lifted his hand to shield his eyes, already sensing the upcoming headache, dreading how bad the sun would be up in the mountain. But he would have to endure – he had no other choice. "Where the fuck did he go?" Natsu asked. Gildarts wasn't anywhere in sight!

"Here!"

Then, the old mage took a few steps forward atop the giant boulder he stood at. He spread his arms like a warm welcome. "Now, follow me!"

"And how do we do that?" Natsu shouted. "You didn't even explain. You just appeared up there without any –"

"I told you to observe. You're both great mages, yet still like infants compared to the true potential at your hands. Follow me."

Lucy was still holding her hands at her mouth in utter surprise. "But how –"

"It's not fair," Natsu muttered.

Gildarts let out a long, frustrated sigh. "You can't be serious, both of you gotta know how life goes at this point. First comes the test, then the lesson. That's how you learn how to be great," he said and crossed his arms on his chest. "I'm waiting."

The young mages fell silent, staring at their feet in confusion. Lucy squeezed her hands into wrists. What were they supposed to do? Natsu glanced at Lucy, hoping to see some clues on her face, or if she could share the secrets she'd unravel to him, but she remained quiet. Lucy closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, brought her hands together to her chest and interlocked her fingers. And as he watched her, Natsu completely forgot to focus on learning the spell on his own.

Lucy's magic emanated from her chest, strong and bright, after sleeping dormant for so long. Astonished, Natsu watched her prepare the spell. She focused on recognising the magicka in her first, then seemed to target it, grasp it tight, before forcing it to alter upon her will.

And slowly, Lucy rose from the ground, floating an inch above the forest floor – and then she was gone. A shrill shriek flew upwards as she disappeared, making Natsu's heart sink to the bottom of his body. But then, a small thump sounded above him, flakes of snow falling from atop the boulder. Natsu raised his gaze. Lucy was there, sitting atop Orphan Rock, with an astonished look on her face.

Then she laughed.

"What… what the fuck was that even? I didn't expect it would take me this high to reduce my mass! Nearly floated up to Secunda here!" she exclaimed, her laughter echoing across the woods like the sweetest song. A sudden warmth bloomed in Natsu's chest, softly smoothing over his pain. It had been so long since he had heard her laugh. "Gods!"

"You did great, Lucy. I knew you would learn this in no time. You're the Dragonborn, after all, and all sorcery should be like child's play to you," Gildarts said and then looked down at Natsu. "But about this boy… well, I'm not so sure. Remember, I'm only sworn to take the Dragonborn to the monastery, not you. Either you succeed or we're going without you. We haven't got all morning."

Natsu grinned in response, knowing fairly well Gildarts was pestering him for pretending to be the Dragonborn back then, when they didn't reveal Lucy's true identity to the old Blade. A Dragonborn he might not be, but he wasn't cut from the ordinary cloth either, this he wanted to prove to the old man. Just out of spite, he would succeed at this.

Then he focused really hard. Alteration was always an ick to him – it just didn't feel right to change something that already was as it was. Turning iron to gold? Wrong. Vitality into magicka? Wrong. And now, he had to make himself light as a feather and fast as an eagle and push himself upwards from the ground. Easier said than done. As if he'd be forced to change fire into ice, it felt simply impossible to do. But he forced past this hesitation, tried to feel all the magicka within his body – and all he could feel was fire.

Maybe that was it.

Be as light as a flame, and ember soaring up to the sky.

Natsu tried it, pushing through the parts of his mind that screamed impossible, impossible, impossible into his ears, and used up the sorcery in him to alter himself as light as the flame. It truly worked, for a moment, the magicka that formed him taking the mass of fire. He felt his feet losing touch on the ground, but he pushed force with his toes, as if jumping, and then, he knew he did a mistake. With full force, he shot up to the sky like being hit by the club of a giant, right up into Secunda, as Lucy had said.

"Kynareth save me!" Natsu shrieked as the ground below him started getting smaller and smaller in his vision, distant, like for the first time he'd see the world through the eyes of a bird. "I fucked up! I fucked up! Gods! How do I fucking –"

Knowing he would die if he couldn't calm himself first, he steered downwards, still unable to fully understand what was happening to him. Taking into the shape of a descending comet, he tried to rotate in the air, aiming for the incredibly small Orphan Rock below him. He seemed to succeed at it, but he went down much slower than he had gone up, and that frightened him. The movement sent his guts stirring with familiar nausea, his motion sickness, but tenfold. It messed up his sense of coordination and balance, he could no longer maintain his spell properly, and so he spiralled down.

Gladly, there was snow atop the Orphan Rock to smoothen his descent.

He had ended up on the edge of the boulder, somehow landing on his feet, but gods how everything was spinning around. It churned inside of him, he was too confused to even realise that he survived, and the first thing to remind him that he was still alive was the bile that rose from into his mouth. Natsu bent forward down from the boulder and emptied his stomach. Great, there goes my fucking breakfast.

"Well, that's miserable," mocked Gildarts snarly. "But at least you did it. Something has to be done to this sickness of yours, or you will die from vomiting your guts out. Ain't a fun way to die, huh?"

"No, it isn't," Natsu said and wiped his mouth, shuddering. "Urgh, gods."

Lucy came to help him up. She gave him her hand and pulled him to his feet, allowing him to take support on her shoulders. "You did well, Natsu. Don't worry about it. We can do this," she said.

Natsu raised his eyes to the mountains. "And we have to go up there. That just… Oh gods, churn my insides in a really bad way."

Gildarts walked closer to them. "I'm doing this for you just once, so be sure to remember how it's done," he said and extended his hand towards Natsu. Then he cast a spell upon his head – some strange illusion this time, to make his world stop spinning. "This should help you to deal with your sickness, but only for a while. It will return once the spell expires, so you must do it again. And remember, it will exhaust your magicka faster to use this spell too often."

Though Natsu wanted to thank, he could only recall in bitterness as they travelled from Riften to Forelhost and the old man did nothing to help his nausea, except offer him a mead. But as he knew by now, Gildarts's teaching methods were like this; he'd throw an infant into a river and tell it to swim.

Then, Gildarts pointed up at the mountain wall. "And there, you can see the little precipices every now and then. These are our goals. We make it as up as we can, and then land on a precipice to catch our breaths and navigate where to go next. Set up a firm goal before you jump, and make sure to land on it. That's the only way to avoid jumping too high or low. Don't focus on the entire staircase – take it one step at a time, and we will make it to the top."

Gildarts paused for a moment, glancing at them, trying to analyse if they had understood. When they said nothing, he continued.

"If you feel like your magicka is depleting, take a break. Hang on there tight, breathe in as long as you need. As we aren't in the depths of a battle, our magicka has more time to regenerate without the disruption of intense stress. Remain calm and concentrate, and we can do this. As we go up, the winds will get fiercer. Are you ready to go now? We have no time to waste."

Lucy nodded to him, and hesitantly, Natsu did the same. Gildarts then faced away from them, gazed at the mountain wall above, and off we went. He appeared as a distant dot far up on the wall and waved at them, urging them to follow.

And upon instinct, Natsu took Lucy's hand.

He wasn't sure why. All this strange floating gave him a sense of rootlessness – as if there was no solid ground to place his foot on, the whole world was spinning around him, yet she was the equation point. The only solid thing amongst his internal chaos. Shyly, Natsu turned his head towards her, seeing how she was gazing down at their interlocked hands.

Lucy's fingers felt so cold and bony between his own. He remembered the warmth and softness there had been – such contrary to his thin and weathered hands, as hers had been full of life, full of love. I shouldn't be thinking of this now, Natsu thought, but could not chase the memory away. While she had been unconscious and lost in the realms within her mind, Natsu hadn't been able to entertain these thoughts of his, but now, when she was back, alive and breathing, did the memories return as well.

Lucy seemed to drift lost in thought. They had held hands so many times, but now, it felt new in a strange way. She might've forgotten most of the times they did. She might've forgotten how intense and tight their hold had been – but Natsu could still remember it, those nights in Riften. He wondered what she was remembering now, but did not have time to ask, as Lucy raised her eyes to him and smiled softly.

"Alright, let's do this."

Natsu gave her a brief, fleeting smile as a response, but then was time to stop reminiscing. They could do that in the safety of the monastery – well, Natsu wasn't sure if those things were appropriate to reminisce at within such a holy place, but he couldn't help himself – and now, they had to focus on getting there.

He was ready to let go of Lucy's hand, but she did not let go.

They would do this together.

On Lucy's lead, Natsu began to prepare the spell. However he thought it might've been different from Lucy's, but it worked the same. The earth began to release its pull on them and let them go, gently, as if holding an armful of air and then sending it to the sky. Lucy pointed at a precipice on the mountain, lower than Gildarts had been at, that she had chosen with her clairvoyance. Natsu nodded to sign on common agreement, and then they went.

It happened so fast. As if Lucy was guiding him towards their destination, the two of them flew like birds and landed on the precipice. Was this how eagles felt as they flew? Natsu caught his breath in astonishment and grasped tight with his other hand the rocky mountain wall. The spell expired quickly – not that they were even trying to prolong its existence for too long. Natsu wasn't sure how long they could even maintain the spell for one try. Seconds? The jump from the Orphan Rock far below had been long, but they had crossed the distance as fast as lightning strikes.

And this intense magic had its toll on Lucy.

Gasping for breaths to calm herself, Lucy clung to Natsu's neck. It had been so long since she had last used any magic – overestimating herself right here in the mountain would be fatal. They were already so up on the mountainside that one misstep, one failed concentration would lead them to their deaths. But as she clung to him, Natsu realized that he, too, was the only solid thing in Lucy's world, amidst her inner disorder. It put a faint smile on his lips, one he still tried to hide, despite knowing there was no need to hide anything anymore. They'd both bared their souls for each other, yet he still shied away for a silly smile.

"This is," Lucy gasped, "rougher than I thought. But… I can do this. Just… give me a second… to…"

"It's okay," Natsu said, caressing Lucy's back as he and avoided looking down. The wind was getting harsher up here, and if they weren't careful, a few precipices further up, the wind alone could be enough to tear them down. "Take as long as you need."

Lucy nodded against his chest, still holding tight onto his hand. "Do you remember when we went down from this mountain? It was closer to Whiterun, though. It was a slope instead of a steep wall like this."

"I remember," he answered. "We could slide down half of the time. Maybe that's why we reached the bottom so fast."

Lucy chuckled. "And I broke my ankles as I jumped down, didn't I?"

"I said I could catch you, but you refused to let me."

"Next time I will."

Her answer staggered him, causing a silly blush to form on his cheeks. Then, they were both silent for a while, just letting their magicka restore in the comfort they found in one another.

"I'm glad," Lucy started and gasped another breath, "that I can remember this thing. Going down from the mountain with you. Even the pain. It… It's still a good memory. It gives me strength. There's so much that I would… I would have rather forgotten."

"You mean about Forelhost?" Natsu asked quietly, the wind howling in his ears.

Lucy nodded. "I have only vague memories from Forelhost. I can…" she paused for a moment, sadness shivering in her voice. "I can remember Loke's death. That is all. I still… hear it, echoing in the back of my mind, and I can't make it go away. But I'm trying to think of the better things, better memories I've had. And slowly, it's growing more quiet. The sound. It's still there, but fading."

"I know. It takes time," Natsu answered, knowing painfully well how the sound, and the sight, of Igneel's death had haunted him. However, encountering Igneel's ghost last night had brought him solace, silencing the splattering blood and his own screaming – he knew Igneel was no longer in pain, and he was in peace. Could Lucy one day meet Loke again, and realise the same, and be freed from the haunting pain? "But as you'll remember more of the good things, it will get quiet, eventually. It never really disappears, but it doesn't have to. That's how we carry their memory within us."

"Indeed. And I'm happy you're helping me remember," she answered. "But before we got into Forelhost, or even Riften, there's a gap in my memory. I recall Ustengrav somehow, but after that, there's nothing." Her speech and breathing had cleared up, a sign they could soon take another leap, but Natsu didn't want to point that out. She could talk to him as long as she'd like, and he'd be happy, even if they were hanging on the precipice of a mountainside. "Did anything funny happen during that time?"

Yes, the sleeping tree sap incident, Natsu wanted to say, but remained quiet, hiding his stupid blush again. He probably shouldn't tell her how she grabbed his crotch in front of everyone in the tavern, and where that had led. "Ehh, there was Barbas," Natsu said, trying to switch the topic quickly. "The Daedric dog, we found it."

"Oh, we did? I somehow remember when Clavicus told us to find his dog, but not that we actually found it."

"Yeah, and the insufferable mutt never stopped talking. I was losing my shit with it but you found it's jokes hilarious."

"Remember any of them?" she asked.

"Gods," Natsu sighed, glancing into her eyes. "Do you really want to know?"

And from her soft smile, Natsu knew she did. They stayed there then, for a moment, with him telling her the memories they had with Barbas, the insufferable jokes, and even though her magicka was already restored, Natsu realised then that these restored her soul, piece by piece.

It was soon time to keep going, and as they took the next leap, and the second one, they kept up the strategy each time they had to let their strength return. Though the higher they reached the unpassable path, the louder the wind got, until they could no longer hear what they said, but it was fine. They knew they could speak more when they would've passed this trial, and even in the silence, they never let go of each other's hand.

And by nightfall, they reached the Seven Thousand Steps, where Gildarts was already waiting for them.

After the final leap, all strength was sapped from Lucy's body. As the sun descended behind the distant mountains and an army of stormclouds marched onwards from the East, she collapsed upon the stone step. Wild winter winds washed harshly over her body, her cloak swaying in the air, but she clung to the stone with her other hand so tight that the wind could not pull her down the cliff.

And as she was hanging on the verge of her consciousness, she sensed how Natsu sat down next to her, still holding her hand in his.

"We… we made it," he said, almost yelling so his voice wouldn't be buried under the wind. "We freaking made it!"

"Indeed you did. I'm proud of you two," Gildarts answered, shouting, "Though I've been waiting here for three hours by now."

"Well, better late than never," Natsu said and gently patted Lucy's shoulder as she was still catching her breath, face down at the snowy stone. "You okay, Luce?"

She nodded, unable to do anything else. Her whole body burned from exhaustion, trembling like a frightened deer. She heard as Gildarts summoned a gateway to his storage, reached for something, and then offered them bottles of water. All their belongings were stored in the old mage's spell, but right now, Lucy didn't need anything else than a sip of water. Natsu helped her to sit and held her still as he placed the bottle on her lips, letting her drink.

"Where are we at the moment?" Natsu asked, gazing around in the twilight. "I can't remember this part of the path very well."

After Lucy had taken a drink, she passed the bottle to Natsu, and tried to examine the environment through her blurry gaze. She could only see the white of snow and the dark-blue sky around them, but something in this energy felt familiar to her. I have bled here, she realised, her mind associating the sensation with the wound on her chest. She placed her hand on where the troll had slashed at her, realising they had to be past the troll's cavern.

"I…" she started stuttering, "I think… we must've… passed… the troll's…"

"Ah, I get it now, it's this place. I'm glad we aren't that far from the monastery then. I can carry you the rest of the way," Natsu said and began to pick her up to his back. She resisted, wanting to insist that she could walk, but Natsu got her up anyway. "Don't even think about it. You can't even stand anymore. I've got this."

"Indeed. You mustn't strain yourself any more than was absolutely necessary, Dragonborn. Let him carry you the rest of the way," Gildarts said. "I think he –"

"Shut up, Gildarts," Natsu said and tossed the water bottle back to the old mage. "Let's keep going. I don't want to wander here after dark."

Lucy sighed in surrender, wrapping her arms around Natsu's neck and leaning her face to his back. He was equally exhausted, possibly even hurting worse than she was – she could feel his heart racing, but still he claimed to be just fine. Why, after all this time, I'm still so weak? Lucy wondered, yet cut the thought out fast. No. Letting him help me isn't weakness. It's our united strength that will carry us to the end of our fates.

She closed her eyes and let herself drift to the verge of sleep as Natsu carried her in his back closer to the monastery. A strange sense of calmness and tranquillity filled her mind – she knew she'd soon be safe. Her mother had guided her here, and the Greybeards could surely help her chase away the demons that haunted her. The fight was almost over, but only for a moment.

Yet the piece was suddenly broken by a familiar roar.

It came from above, from the slopes framing the stone stairway, filled with fury and bitter grudge – as if the angered creature had been waiting there for all this time to set things right. Natsu halted, turning his head towards the noise, but before he could see the beast that stood shrouded in shadows, the massive troll grabbed the glass dagger that was still pointing from its ugly face. It roared again as it pulled the weapon out of its flesh, and then it threw the bloodied blade towards them like a dart.

In a nick of time, Gildarts caught it with his bare hand before it would've struck Natsu's chest.

"Well well, isn't this my old fancy dagger," he said with an excited grin. "And if I remember it right, I gave it to you, Natsu. Seems like you tucked it in a rather… furious scabbard."

"Indeed I did," Natsu grunted as a reply, driven restless by the troll's sudden appearance. The beast growled in rage, drummed its fists on its chest and jumped down from the ledge to the stairway. Natsu stepped into a fighting stance, releasing his other hand from Lucy's leg to prepare a flaming spell. "Hold on tight! I'll try to –"

"I'll take care of it."

Lucy released her hold and slid down from his back, taking support from his shoulder. Natsu gave her a terrified glance. Even the troll seemed to observe her action with great interest – it remembered her for sure, and all its hatred was targeted at her. Though she had exhausted her magicka, there was still power in her soul that could rid them of his beast, a power she had not known when they encountered the troll for the first time.

She parted her lips for a whisper.

"Wuld – Nah - Kest!"

And then she was gone.

The Thu'um, forever imprinted on her soul, could not be taken away from her even though her magicka and physical strength were depleted. The whisper carried her away in the blink of an eye, until she was standing behind the troll. The beast could not comprehend what had happened, it stepped forwards to where she had just been, unaware that these steps would be its last. Lucy grinned by herself, then cast a brief glance to Gildarts, who just spotted her – Natsu was still searching, looking so frightened and left alone.

The old mage seemed to realise what she was about to do, and so he grabbed Natsu from the neck of his robes and pulled him to the side. When they were out of her Thu'um reach, Lucy took a deep breath, and shouted.

"FUS – RO – DAH!"

The words of power echoed across the mountains as her unrelenting force pushed the troll off the cliff. A fearful growl grew distant, buried underneath the howling wind, eventually fading completely. Lucy knew then that the troll had met its demise. She fell on her knees in the snow.

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted and struggled free from the old mage's hold, running to her. "By Sheogorath's beard, you just –"

"I told you I could handle it this time," Lucy answered, caught in Natsu's arms. "Besides, I wanted my sweet revenge," she laughed a bit.

He sighed heavily as he lifted her into his back again – and this time, she accepted the ride. "Yeah, but don't scare me like that again. You just disappear like that, and –"

"Hey, I'm fine, and the beast is gone. We're all good."

"Indeed," said Gildarts, who walked towards them and wiped the bloodied dagger into his cloak. Then he tossed it to Natsu, and over the fire mage's shoulder, Lucy could see that Gildarts's palm was bleeding. Catching the blade had cut through his skin, but he closed the wound with sorcery. "Better not lose it again."

Natsu caught the blade with his free hand and gazed at it for a moment. "I won't," he said, then placed it in the empty sheath on his belt, where his second Skyforge steel dagger had been, before he lost it in Riften. He moved his eyes back to the path ahead of them, and Lucy raised her head just slightly as well. Somewhere in the darkness, High Hrotghar was shrouded, and against the darkened sky in the distance, Lucy could see the silhouette of the shrine of Talos. They were almost there.

"We'll need the horn of Jurgen Windcaller as we enter there," Lucy muttered. "It's in our belongings, right?"

Gildarts nodded. A purple light flashed in the darkness when he summoned the gateway to his storage box, and then he pulled out Lucy's bag. Without asking for any permission, he opened it and reached for the blowing horn, offering it to Lucy, then putting the bag pack to the gate as it closed. Lucy curled her fingers around the horn.

"Thank you," she whispered, on the verge of sleep again. "Let's keep going."

And as they went, the doors of the monastery were already opened for them. Her triumphant Thu'um had not gone unheard, and so the Greybeards expected her arrival. Keeping her grip on the artefact, Lucy drifted to the borderlines of her sleep again until they arrived at the doorstep, where she was wakened by a familiar voice.

"Welcome back, Dragonborn. You've retrieved the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Well done. You have now passed all the trials," said Master Arngeir. The other three monks stood in a line behind him in eerie silence. "Come. It is time for us to recognize you as the Dragon of the North."

A/N: Hi guys! Hope you liked the chapter! I had lots of fun writing this one.

And happy (belated) 3rd birthday to Song of the Dragonborn! on 13th of April, it came 3 years since I started posting this story! Time surely flies :D