Veil-walking
"Breathe in," Doya said, standing in front of me. "Now exhale."
Cold air filled my lungs. I released it slowly, watching my breath fog. He had been preparing me for this mentally. According to him, veil-walking was not about force. It was about control.
We remained near the corner of the ice wall where we had spent the night. Since I would be veil-walking us back to the Temple, there was no need to travel further.
"Imagine the stele over there," he instructed, pointing toward the stone marker standing at a short distance from us. "It doesn't have to be perfect. Just close enough that your mind recognises it."
I closed my eyes and pictured the stele, half buried in snow, the strange symbols drawn on its surface. I imagined the frost clinging to its edges.
"Good," Doya said softly. "Now call on the Veil."
My brows folded together. "I don't know how."
"Think about leaving this place," he said. "Think about stepping from here to there. Draw the Veil toward you. Do not chase it. Let it respond."
I swallowed, then I imagined leaving this place, and replaced it with the stele, where I planned to arrive.
My pulse began to quicken.
"Channel your power," Doya added quietly.
I reached inward.
The energy inside me stirred warm. I gathered it and focused solely on the Veil. A faint hum began in my ears.
I thought about the stele again, the snow, stone and symbols.
The air around me felt like invisible fabric brushing against my skin. The hum grew louder. The cold no longer touched me the same way, I felt much warmer.
"I feel something," I whispered.
"Do not be afraid of it," Doya said. "Step into it."
I leaned into the sensation, letting the hum swallow me—
And then suddenly it broke.
The pressure vanished in an instant. The cold rushed back over my skin like icy water. The hum in my ears stopped.
I stumbled slightly catching my breath.
The veil was gone.
"What happened?" Doya asked.
"I don't know," I said, still trying to steady my breathing. "It just... stopped. The hum, everything. I felt it. It was right there but it stopped."
For a brief second, I thought, maybe I had imagined it all.
"Okay, it's normal," Doya assured me gently.
Kumbuye sat by a nearby tree, watching us.
"Let's try again," Doya said. "Exactly as I told you."
I nodded.
I steadied my breathing. Inhale. Exhale. I pictured the stele again, the carved symbols, the frost. I reached inward, searching for that warmness under my ribs.
"Focus," Doya said calmly. "Do not let your mind wander."
I gathered the power and pulled.
The hum returned, a bit stronger this time. Everywhere began to blur—
Then the Veil swallowed me whole.
Everything vanished. There was no snow or sound. I was floating. No, not floating, but my feet weren't touching the ground. More like there wasn't any ground. I tried to move forward but I couldn't. I was stuck between where I had been and where I had meant to go, trapped in the space that holds places together. My lungs expanded, but I could not feel air.
"Doya?" I tried to call but no sound left my mouth.
I started getting squeezed and pulled, like I was being pushed through a really tight hole that couldn't fit me.
Then suddenly, cold slammed into me. Sound crashed back. And I hit the ground hard.
Pain exploded through my body like thousands of tiny needles piercing through my muscle and bone. I had no wounds, but it felt as if I had been torn apart and forced back together incorrectly.
"Dana!" Doya's voice broke through the haze.
My vision swam. I wasn't where I had started anymore. I had crossed.
"Are you alright?" Doya asked, rushing toward me and grabbing my arm to help me up.
"Ow!" I yelped, pushing him off not to touch me.
"Dana..." He breathed. Kumbuye stood up from where he sat, staring at us.
"I thought..." My voice shook as I finally forced the words out. "I thought I was lost."
"You weren't," Doya said, giving me space to stand by myself. "You did it, Dana. You veil-walked."
I winced, holding my body close as I remained on my knees.
"Let's try again," Doya continued, pointing toward Kumbuye. "This time, you'll cross to him. Are you ready?"
I shook my head immediately. I wasn't about to go through that... that... well that whatever happened to me. Hell no!
"I don't want to go through that again," I admitted.
The first and second time I had crossed through the Veil, I hadn't felt this way. It was much easier. But this... this was different.
"The first time I walked through the veil wasn't like this," I said, shaking my head, terrified.
"Fear and instinct carried you then," Doya replied. "That was different. The Veil responded to urgency, not intention." He took my right hand into his. "What you're doing now is deliberate. The Veil is more demanding than you realise, and your body hasn't adapted to it yet."
"Did you always feel that?" I asked. "That emptiness?"
He nodded slowly. "At the beginning, yes. During training, it felt exactly like that. Like being torn apart and held together at the same time." A faint smile crossed his face. "Over time, it became easier. It still drained me. It always will. But the pain lessened."
"But I stayed in the Veil longer than I should." I whispered.
He shook his head, "No, that's what you thought, not what happened. You moved from over there..." He pointed to where Kumbuye stood, "...and arrived here in a second."
"No Doya, I know what I'm talking about, I spent close to a minute in there." My voice trembled.
Doya sighed. "The first time you crossed, fear masked the cost. Your mind was focused on survival, so your body ignored the toll. Now there's no fear driving you forward. Only focus. So you will feel everything."
I held my chest, squeezing on my cloak while remembering the struggle for air from inside the Veil.
"It will get better," he added quietly.
I took in a deep breath. Doya and Kumbuye relied on me for getting them back to Thyr Vael, so I had to master this thing.
I forced myself to stand, brushing snow from my clothes.
"Again?" He asked quietly.
I nodded.
I closed my eyes, steadied my breathing, and repeated the process exactly as before with my focus directed at Kumbuye's side.
I reached for the veil.
This time, when it took me, the emptiness did not stay as long as the previous one. The strain was still there but it was quicker. And I dropped beside Kumbuye, hitting my knees into the frozen ground.
Gods!
Doya hurried toward us.
"You need stamina," he said, as he approached me. "If you don't build it, you'll keep collapsing after every crossing."
As I tried to respond, a strange metallic taste filled my mouth.
Doya's expression dropped. He pointed toward my face.
"You're bleeding."
I lifted my hand to my nose. When I pulled them away, my fingers had blood on them, dropping to the snow.
"I'm fine," I muttered, before spitting out the blood that had filled inside my mouth.
"I'll go back to the stele," I said, pushing myself up. "I'm ready."
Doya hesitated for a second before nodding. He began directing me again. I followed every instruction carefully. Breathe. Picture it. Draw inward. Call.
The Veil answered faster this time around. And I hit the ground again. The pain was worse. Shit!
I screamed out before I could stop myself. My legs were burning, tears covered my eyes.
Doya rushed to me quickly, Kumbuye running close behind him.
"I think you should rest now," he said, kneeling by my side and holding me in. "The Veil is draining you."
"No," I forced out. I tried to push myself up again, but Doya held me still. "I'll keep going. I have to master this. We need to get back to the Temple as soon as possible."
"This isn't mastery," Doya hissed. "This is you tearing yourself apart."
"I don't care," I shot back, holding my tears in. "If I can't control this properly, I'll only slow us down."
I pushed through again and again. Each crossing struck harder than the last, punishing my body for every attempt. Until finally, it no longer answered, and I crumpled into the snow, shivering and exhausted.
"Dana..." Doya whispered as his hands rested on my shoulders. "Please. Stop."
I tried to respond, but a harsh cough escaped me, and blood slicked my lips.
Kumbuye dropped beside me, "Dana, that's enough. You might end up killing yourself at this rate."
Doya pulled me close. "Easy," he murmured near my ear. "You're safe. Just breathe."
Kumbuye draped his cloak around me, helping me relax. My eyes were heavy. I had pushed my body to its limit and all I wanted was sleep.
---
I woke up to a sweet smell before I opened my eyes.
For a moment, I thought I was dreaming.
The cold bit sharply at my nose and cheeks, making my eyes water as I forced them open. The sky above was deep black.
Doya sat close to the fire, turning something over with a branch.
"What is that?"
He glanced at me, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You're finally awake," he said. "You slept for a long time."
"What is that?" I repeated, pushing myself up, and moving closer to him.
"A hare," he replied simply. "Kumbuye caught it."
My eyes drifted to Kumbuye who crouched a few steps away, with his fingers working stubbornly at the skin of another portion they had yet to set over the fire.
"You should have seen the way he did it," Doya said, crouching lower to shield the fire from the wind. "He didn't have any blade."
I looked at him. "Then how?"
"He found its path under the snow," Doya said. "Hares run the same narrow lines, and he watched long enough to learn it."
The fire popped, sending a shower of sparks upward.
"He bent a small birch along the hare's usual path," Doya continued, my eyes flicking toward Kumbuye. "Tied a loop of rope to it, leaving the loop right where the hare would run." He used his hands to explain. "When the hare ran through, the tree snapped up, pulling the rope tight around its neck."
I breathed out, impressed. "Mmmm," I murmured, nodding proudly.
"He brought it back before the body froze stiff," Doya added, leaning closer to the fire. "Tore the skin off... using only his fingers."
The hare blistered over the fire, fat dripping into the embers with a hiss. The smoky smell curled into my nostrils, making my head swim with hunger.
I knew Kumbuye was a skilled hunter, but I had no idea he could be this resourceful, even without a blade.
He moved closer and sat near us, sharing the heat. Doya handed me a piece of the meat, and the first bite was so good.
For a while, we ate in silence, only breaking it to marvel at Kumbuye's skill as a hunter.
"You should try it sometime Doya." Kumbuye said in-between laughs. "It's fun." And we all joined in the laughter.