Three days later I stood, dressed from head to toe in leathers—the only material for clothing that was commonly available—and with a tremble of anticipation, watched Devourer cast the teleportation spell that will bring me to the mortal realm. There wasn’t much to look at—he just stood with the magic book in his hand open on a certain page, and didn’t even say anything or wave his hands around, but I couldn’t contain my excitement.

It was something I never even hoped for, and when I learnt it was possible, I didn’t dare to fully believe… and here it was. I was only sad that I couldn’t gloat about this mission to Wendigo—it had to be a secret from the rest of the army, and for all they knew, I went to some other circle with another recruitment task.

Which Wendigo gloated to me for, again.

“The spell will bring you somewhere near your target, but I can’t guarantee more precision. You will have to orient yourself on your own. Now, get re—”

If he wanted to say “get ready”, I didn’t have any time to. Before Devourer even finished the word, the room around us was suddenly sucked away.

No, I was the one sucked away, like a soul too light for the mortal realm. I flew in the stream of magic like a twig in a boiling river, spinning and bobbing on its currents, for the briefest moment that still seemed to last forever.

The feeling was very similar to what I remembered of my death—all that I remembered of my existence before Hell. I was glad that it was short.

Then I was spit out in the world, and it was just as stunning as the teleportation.

All around me was white. White snow under my feet, white—from more snow and ice—cliffs around me, and white ceiling impossibly far away from me and so bright it was blinding. Sky. Why wasn’t it blue? I also didn’t see the sun, but it was light, so it was day…

Then I remembered what I was told about clouds, and how sometimes they would cover the entire span of it. Still, for a moment, I thought I was just thrown into Cocytus again.

My surroundings I looked very much like it, yet also drastically differed. The wind that hit me was icy, but not freezing and fresh, without a hint of a taint. The snowflakes that hit the tiny bits of unprotected skin around my eyes were cold, but not as sharp as the ice shards that fell from the ceiling of Cocytus. And there was not a single soul inside, unlike in Hell, where they would sometimes just end up too far in the ice for anyone to dig them out after falling in a treacherous crevice or being buried under a heap of snow.

It was overwhelming, and amazing, and a burst of laughter escaped my chest as I took that amazement in. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light, though they still hurt from all the white, breathed that sweet, sweet air some more, and then sobered. I had a mission to complete.

…I didn’t have to, actually. I got what I wanted… and I wasn’t the sort of man to always fulfil my promises. It would’ve been much less risky to just go somewhere quiet and relax… until I died from old age in forty more years, or how long my demonic body would give me.

This wasn’t Hell, after all. For good, but also for bad.

Plus, if Devourer found me slacking off, he’d eat me alive.

I snorted, smiled to myself, and kicked a pile of snow. Ha, like I planned to cross him. Honour or no honour, I actually believed in loyalty, no matter how it was acquired. Devourer got mine for good when he ate a god, and Enforcers—these four won’t lie—were his witnesses.

I looked around more and found that I stood on what must be a mountain. If I looked to one side, I could see stretches of lower mountain peaks and valleys between them stretching until they turned from white first to grey and then to green. This was where I should go.

I supposed I was in the Blue Mountains, so Tinaris should be down below. Or on the other side, but I wouldn’t know until I ask, and there doubtfully would be anyone to ask up here.

Before I left, I gathered a light bag with supplies for a week of travel—some smoked meat, a skin of water. From what I learnt about the mortal realm, there was enough food and water to just grab from the ground that I doubtfully would need that much, even in the mountains.

After a half an hour of walking, I found it was very much true. My eyes and ears constantly found some movement or a noise that could only be produced by living creatures. Birds and animals, from small four-legged things to medium-sized four legged things, even here were so abundant and so fragile in their looks. My mouth filled with saliva from a thought of tasting them, but I was still far from starving, so I kept going without slowing down.

I knew that more dangerous beings also lived here, and kept close to natural covers, as was a good habit of anyone who went anywhere in Hell.

I knew it didn’t betray me here when I glimpsed a gigantic silhouette of a bird flying past me in the sky. It was bigger than an average bird in Hell and looked twice as deadly with its gleaming feathers. From my hiding spot under a rock overhang, I watched it circle in the sky for a while, then suddenly dive to the ground and fly up again with a horned medium-sized animal in its claws.

Only then did I continue on my way. Wouldn’t it be a shame to fail my mission before even approaching a human?