Apprehension gripped Aodhan as the boat cut through the waves. As they made their way south, the waves became rougher, higher and more treacherous. The young man clung to the rail, his fear of the sea almost getting the better of him.
Seeing him, Roderick gave a little laugh and approached him. During their two-day voyage, his hair had turned even grayer and his back was beginning to stoop. Age was catching up with him. Still, when it came to steering the ship, he showed the strength of a man in his twenties.

"Don't worry, Aodhan. Look, we're approaching the island. When Yohamitään recognizes me, she'll calm the waves and let us pass between the reefs."

Squinting his eyes, Aodhan did indeed see the silhouette of an island topped by a high mountain. As the minutes passed, he began to doubt Roderick's assertion. He would have been better off staying on land. But before he could think of Arendelle, something else chased his thoughts away.
The sea grew calmer and calmer. The waves disappeared and the weather became milder, until they were sailing on flat seas. Only the wind was still blowing in gusts, billowing their sails towards the island. The island was surrounded by high, sharp reefs, but Roderick maneuvered skilfully enough to dodge them.
Soon they reached the shore.

Aodhan expected to feel relief, but as soon as he set foot on the fine sand, a weight heaved on his heart. An evil presence was here, he felt its gaze on his shoulders, letting a shiver run down his spine. Yohamitään was watching them.
Instead of sea salt, a smell of burning invaded his nostrils, leaving an acrid, unpleasant trail down his throat.
Before them, a dark mass immediately drew his attention, rounding his eyes as he recognized it.

"Is that...?" he began.
"Indeed," confirmed Roderick, advancing beside him. "Just as I remember it. I used Yohamitään's darkness to make it."

Despite his resentment of the man, and his apprehension of the island, he had to admit he was impressed by Roderick's dedication.

"But we're not going there," Roderick continued. "Not yet, anyway. If we want to reach Yohamitään, we'll have to go this way."

He pointed to the top of the mountain overlooking the dark mass. The climb was going to be long and arduous. Aodhan glanced at the old man.

"Are you sure you can make it?"

The man turned to him, eyebrows raised and an amused smile on his face.

"Are you afraid of being outrun by an old man? We'd better hurry. Once at the top, neutralizing Yohamitään will be my redemption before age catches up with me..."

He sighed, contemplating his frail, wrinkled hands. Aodhan tapped him on the shoulder to encourage him, and together they headed up the mountain.

The two men climbed the mountain with difficulty, its clear path quickly turning to steep slopes. Aodhan, slightly out of breath, was nevertheless making good progress. As for Roderick, he seemed weakened by the weight of the years catching up with him.
His trembling hands, with their skeletal fingers, clung to the rocks, while his legs struggled more and more to find the strength needed for each step.
His fingers slipped on the smooth, spiky surface of a rock. He tilted dangerously backwards.

"Careful!" cried Aodhan, rushing forward.

He grabbed the old man by the arm, narrowly saving him from tumbling down the mountain and breaking his back. He pulled Roderick to his feet, and the latter tapped him on the shoulder with a grateful gesture.

"Thank you, Aodhan," he breathed, trying to recover from his shock. "Thank you for helping me, despite everything I've done..."
"We must put our differences aside for the moment," replied the young man. "The fate of Arendelle depends on it."

He gave him a sidelong glance as Roderick nodded slowly.

"And as you said, defeating Yohamitään is the only way to redeem yourself before you die."

Roderick tensed, his eyes bulging as he heard his words. Aodhan's tone was firmer than he was used to, and for a moment he thought the old man was going to throw himself at him. But he simply nodded again, closing his eyes.

"You're right. In the meantime, I need your help to climb the mountain - I'm afraid I'll collapse with every step."
"Lean against me," replied Aodhan, "but you'd better move at a good pace."

Roderick rested on the young man's shoulder, and they resumed their ascent of the mountain. Despite the intense effort and fatigue they were feeling, neither allowed themselves to give in to exhaustion.

Finally, after a long fifteen-minute walk, they reached the top of the mountain. The panorama before them could have been magnificent in other circumstances: all around them, the sea encircled the island and continued to the horizon. But the presence of darkness weighed down the atmosphere.
The wind swept over the waves and the faces of the two companions, the waves reflected the grey of the sky, and below them, the black mass of darkness extended into the ocean, where it progressed like a disease, a mark that contaminated the waves and the seabed, stretching out like evil tentacles. Aodhan had no trouble guessing the place they wanted to reach. Arendelle.

"And now, what do we do?" he asked, turning his back to this vision."

Take the horn," Roderick explained. "From this high point, its light will reach the whole island and dispel Yohamitään."

As he spoke, the man looked around, visibly nervous. He was wringing his hands, obviously on the verge of gnawing himself to death. Aodhan understood his concern, but still thought he was exaggerating.

"Isn't that your job?" he asked, holding out the horn. "I thought this was supposed to be your redemption."

Roderick laid eyes on the horn and took a step back, shaking his head negatively.

"I feel too weak to use it," he sighed. "I'm afraid I don't have enough strength to activate its power."
"I see."

Aodhan brought the horn up to his chest and stepped onto the edge of the mountain. Roderick's anxiety was beginning to get to him, and he could feel his heart speeding up as he swept his gaze over the island below.
He finally raised the horn above his head and closed his eyes, concentrating on invoking its power. "For Arendelle," he thought. "This is our chance - my chance - to save the kingdom once and for all, to prove my worth. To save Elsa..."
The image of the young woman flashed before his closed eyes, and a pain pierced his heart. The more he thought of her, the more the pain took his breath away. When he remembered her face close to his, when she had grabbed him by the collar on the evening of his departure, he felt as if an invisible blade had lacerated his heart.
The horn remained cold and dull.

Aodhan reopened his eyes, bringing the object up to his face. A wave of panic swept over him as he felt the weight of failure on his shoulders and heart. The love he felt for Elsa was no longer enough; he was no longer strong enough for the horn. His feelings were devoured by guilt.
A gust of wind swept over the top of the mountain where they were standing, and everything went black. The clouds thickened and swallowed up the sunlight. The young man's heart missed a beat, and a long shiver ran down his spine. He could feel her presence. Yohamitään was there.

A dark sphere formed in front of them, floating in the air, surrounded by plumes of smoke and sprawling darkness that seemed to want to wrap around their necks. Aodhan took a horrified step backwards, the horn falling back along his body. He was unable to take his eyes off the entity forming in front of them. He could feel all the malevolence emanating from it, an aggressive, dangerous aura enveloping the air.
On the contrary, Roderick stepped forward, spreading his arms, a victorious smile on his wrinkled face.

"Yohamitään! I've come back to you!" he exclaimed. "And as you saw, the horn is neutralized, its power gone. Entrust your powers to me once more, and from now on nothing can stand in our way!"

A hoarse growl rose all around them, seeming to come from the mountain itself. A cloud of darkness detached itself from Yohamitään and surrounded Roderick. The wrinkles on his face faded, his hunched back straightened, his hair regained its jet-black color, and a sinister glow once again lit up his dark eyes. Roderick had regained his presence, his menace, his powers. He turned to Aodhan, a devilish grin on his lips.

"I haven't forgotten you, Aodhan. Thank you for your help."

He stretched out his hand towards the young man. Once again, darkness detached from him and moved towards him. Aodhan wanted to flee, but his body was unresponsive. The cloud of darkness closed around his arms and legs, immobilizing him completely.
In a last desperate effort, he tried to summon the light of the horn in his trembling hand. But his mind was racked with fear and the shame of having failed. The horn remained silent. It seemed almost to mock him as the darkness crept over him.
He could feel it approaching his heart, manipulating it, making him discover the power of its dark powers.

"Forgive me, Elsa," he thought, before everything went black.