Noctisardor Bypass glistening shards

luhtar had not meant to wander this far into the spine, yet the wind had a habit of pushing him toward places he did not plan to go, and he had learned long ago that resisting the north was like resisting the tide.

useless.

stubborn.

beneath him the snow packed down in dense, crunching layers, and his heavy paws sink deep, while his breath comes rolling against the air in thick clouds. puffing from his nostrils and agape jaws.

at first he thought the valley empty, but then he caught the scent of frost; and shortly thereafter, he saw a pale man cutting across the whitened world. looking almost apart of it, as if he had crawled out of the snow itself.

the norseman slows, broad frame steadying, and thick fur along his shoulders rising only enough to shake loose the cold that clung to it.