Chapter 198 - 197: THE ROAD ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Chapter 197 — The Road Above the Clouds

The mountain road disappeared into the mist.

Auren stopped at the edge of the forest and looked upward.

The path was barely visible.

Stone steps rose between twisted roots, climbing toward the clouds. Beyond them, the mountain disappeared completely.

He tightened the cloth around his wrist.

The faded strip had loosened during the climb.

He retied it carefully.

Then he continued.

The higher he climbed, the colder the air became.

The trees grew thinner.

The ground became rougher.

By midday, Auren could no longer hear anything from the valley below.

No birds.

No village.

No river.

Only wind.

He stopped beside a large stone and looked back.

The world below had become small.

The settlement was gone.

The village beyond the mountains was impossible to see.

Even the roads had disappeared beneath the mist.

Auren expected to feel something.

Fear.

Loneliness.

Regret.

Instead, he felt strangely calm.

He touched the wooden horse in his pocket.

Rian had given it to him because it was broken.

Auren had almost thrown it away twice.

He hadn’t.

That surprised him.

Perhaps he was still learning.

---

The path narrowed.

Auren had to place one foot carefully in front of the other.

At one point, the mountain wall rose on one side while the other dropped into white emptiness.

He stopped.

A strong gust of wind struck him.

He stepped back.

For a moment, the mountain seemed to disappear.

Then the mist parted.

A narrow bridge appeared ahead.

Not the village bridge.

This one was stone.

Old.

Broken in several places.

Auren approached slowly.

There were no railings.

The bridge stretched across a deep gap in the mountain.

On the other side stood a small wooden structure.

A house.

Auren frowned.

Someone lived here.

He stepped onto the bridge.

Halfway across, he heard a voice.

"Don’t."

Auren stopped.

A woman stood outside the wooden house.

She was old.

Not as old as the healer.

Older than the old man.

Her gray hair was tied behind her head.

She carried a walking stick.

She stared directly at him.

"You shouldn’t cross."

Auren looked down at the bridge.

"Why?"

"It isn’t finished."

Auren examined the stone.

"It looks finished."

The woman shook her head.

"That’s the problem."

Auren looked at her.

"What does that mean?"

"It means everyone who crosses thinks they’ve reached the other side."

Auren frowned.

"I haven’t."

"You haven’t crossed yet."

Auren glanced behind him.

The mist had already closed over the path.

He couldn’t see where he had come from.

The woman watched him.

"Come back."

Auren looked toward her.

"Why?"

"Because you don’t know what’s on this side."

Auren smiled faintly.

"I didn’t know what was on the other side either."

The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Then you really don’t learn."

Auren laughed.

He stepped forward.

The bridge creaked.

One stone shifted beneath his foot.

He froze.

The woman sighed.

"Careful."

Auren looked down.

"You’re right."

"About what?"

"I don’t know what’s here."

The woman smiled.

"That’s better."

Auren continued.

---

When he reached the other side, the woman stepped aside.

"Come inside."

Auren entered.

The house was small.

One room.

A table.

Two chairs.

A bed.

A fireplace.

Nothing else.

Auren looked around.

"You live here alone?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

The woman placed her walking stick beside the table.

"Because I chose to."

Auren nodded.

That answer felt familiar.

She pointed at the chair.

"Sit."

He did.

She poured water into a cup.

"Drink."

Auren accepted it.

"Thank you."

The woman sat opposite him.

"You came from below."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Auren thought about it.

"I was walking."

"Everyone says that."

"Because it’s true."

"Where are you going?"

"I don’t know."

The woman smiled.

"That answer again."

Auren laughed.

"You’ve heard it before?"

"I’ve heard it from people who are afraid of their destination."

Auren looked at her.

"I’m not afraid."

"No?"

"No."

"Then why don’t you know where you’re going?"

"Because I haven’t decided."

The woman studied him.

"Better."

Auren looked around the room.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Long enough."

"That’s not a number."

"I don’t count anymore."

"Why?"

"Because counting years makes people think time belongs to them."

Auren became quiet.

The woman looked toward the window.

"You’ve been learning to let things belong to themselves."

Auren stared at her.

"How do you know?"

"I’ve been watching the road."

Auren’s expression changed.

"The road?"

She nodded.

"People come through here."

"How many?"

"Enough."

"Do they all look like me?"

"No."

"Have you seen someone wearing my old clothes?"

The woman smiled.

"Yes."

Auren leaned forward.

"Where did he go?"

"Back down."

Auren frowned.

"Back down?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he had finished."

"Finished what?"

The woman looked directly at him.

"Waiting for you."

Auren said nothing.

---

The woman stood and walked toward the fireplace.

She added a piece of wood.

Flames rose.

"You’ve been searching for the thing you left behind."

Auren looked at her.

"I found it."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you still searching?"

Auren opened his mouth.

Nothing came.

The woman smiled.

"Exactly."

She sat again.

"You think finding something means understanding it."

"Sometimes."

"Most of the time?"

"No."

"Good."

Auren looked at the fire.

"I don’t think I understand him."

"You don’t have to."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Live with him."

Auren frowned.

"He isn’t always here."

"He doesn’t have to be."

"Then where is he?"

"Wherever you refuse to look."

Auren’s chest tightened.

He looked down.

The faded cloth around his wrist moved slightly in the wind.

The woman noticed.

"Ah."

"What?"

"That’s why he gave you that."

Auren touched the cloth.

"You know what it is?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Permission."

Auren looked at her.

"Permission for what?"

"To want."

He stared at her.

"Everyone keeps telling me that."

"Because you keep resisting it."

"I don’t understand why wanting matters so much."

The woman smiled.

"Because you spent most of your life believing that wanting made you dangerous."

Auren’s expression hardened.

"Sometimes it does."

"Yes."

"Then why encourage it?"

"I didn’t say you should obey every desire."

Auren waited.

She continued.

"I said you should be willing to admit that you have them."

Auren looked away.

The woman leaned back.

"You cannot control what you refuse to acknowledge."

The sentence stayed with him.

---

Outside, thunder rolled.

Auren looked toward the window.

Dark clouds were gathering above the mountain.

The woman stood.

"Storm."

"How long?"

"Until morning."

Auren looked toward the bridge.

"I should leave."

"You can’t."

"Why?"

The woman pointed toward the window.

Auren looked.

The stone bridge was disappearing into thick mist.

Rain began striking the ground.

The woman returned to her chair.

"You’re staying."

Auren sighed.

"Apparently."

She smiled.

"Good."

---

The storm lasted for hours.

Rain hammered the roof.

Wind shook the walls.

Auren sat beside the window.

He watched the mountain disappear behind sheets of water.

The woman slept.

Auren remained awake.

His thoughts returned to the village.

Taren.

The old man.

The river.

Rian.

The burned building.

The child beneath the tree.

The stranger.

All of them had taught him something.

But the lessons were beginning to overlap.

Maybe that was the danger.

Maybe he was turning everything into a lesson again.

Auren closed his eyes.

He didn’t need to understand.

He didn’t need to extract meaning from every moment.

He could simply remember.

The thought felt strangely freeing.

Then he heard something.

A knock.

Auren opened his eyes.

The woman was still asleep.

Another knock.

Three slow strikes against the door.

Auren stood.

He walked toward it.

The storm outside was loud.

But the knocking continued.

Three strikes.

Pause.

Three strikes.

Auren opened the door.

No one stood there.

Only rain.

He stepped outside.

The stone path was empty.

Then he saw the footprints.

Bare feet.

Small.

They began at the bridge.

Auren followed them with his eyes.

The footprints continued toward the house.

Then stopped directly in front of him.

Auren looked down.

A small wooden carving lay in the mud.

A tree.

The same tree Taren carried.

But this one was different.

Its broken branch had been repaired.

Not perfectly.

A rough piece of wood had been tied across it.

Auren crouched.

He picked it up.

A voice came from behind him.

"You shouldn’t touch that."

Auren turned.

The woman stood in the doorway.

She was no longer sleepy.

She looked afraid.

"Why?"

"Because it isn’t yours."

Auren looked at the carving.

"I know."

"Then put it down."

He did.

The woman stepped closer.

"Where did you get this?"

"It was outside."

"No."

She shook her head.

"Where did it come from?"

Auren looked toward the bridge.

"I don’t know."

The woman stared at him.

Then she whispered,

"He’s early."

Auren’s expression changed.

"Who?"

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she looked beyond him.

Toward the mountain.

Auren turned.

At first, he saw nothing.

Then a light appeared.

Far above them.

Not a lantern.

Not a star.

A small golden light moving down the mountain.

The woman gripped her walking stick.

"That’s impossible."

Auren watched it.

"What is it?"

The light stopped.

Then another appeared.

And another.

Three lights.

Five.

Seven.

They moved slowly through the rain.

Coming down.

The woman whispered,

"They’re coming."

Auren looked at her.

"Who?"

She finally answered.

"The people who crossed the mountain before you."

Auren stared at the lights.

"Why are they returning?"

The woman looked frightened.

"They aren’t."

Auren turned back toward the mountain.

The lights were getting closer.

"They’re coming from the other side."

Auren felt something inside his chest tighten.

"Other side of what?"

The woman didn’t answer.

The first light reached the edge of the bridge.

A figure stepped out of the rain.

Then another.

Then another.

Seven people.

All carrying the same golden lanterns.

They were ordinary.

Men.

Women.

An old man.

A young woman.

A boy.

A mother carrying a sleeping child.

And a man at the front who looked directly at Auren.

Auren recognized him.

Not from the worlds.

Not from memory.

From the village.

He was one of the people who had left with the witnesses.

The man stopped.

"Auren."

Auren stepped forward.

"What happened?"

The man looked past him at the old woman.

The woman lowered her head.

Then the man looked back.

"We reached the top."

Auren waited.

"And?"

The man swallowed.

"There is no mountain on the other side."

Auren frowned.

"What?"

The man’s lantern trembled.

"We crossed the summit."

He looked toward the dark sky.

"And found another road."

Auren’s chest tightened.

"Where does it lead?"

The man stared at him.

"Down."

"Where?"

The man pointed toward the sky.

Auren looked up.

The clouds parted.

For one impossible moment, he saw something beyond them.

A road.

Not on the mountain.

Not beneath it.

Above it.

A narrow road stretching across the clouds, disappearing into a darkness filled with distant lights.

Auren’s breath caught.

The old woman whispered behind him.

"The road doesn’t only go forward."

Auren looked at her.

"It goes up."

The man with the lantern shook his head.

"No."

Auren turned.

The man looked terrified.

"It goes home."

Silence fell.

Auren stared at the road above the clouds.

He felt the old hunger return.

The need to understand.

The need to follow.

The need to find whatever waited at the end.

Then he felt the wooden horse in his pocket.

He remembered Rian.

He remembered the fire.

He remembered the question he had asked himself.

What do I want?

The answer came again.

Quietly.

Clearly.

"To see."

Auren stepped toward the bridge.

The old woman grabbed his arm.

"Don’t."

Auren looked at her hand.

Then at her face.

"Why?"

"Because everyone who goes up comes back different."

Auren nodded.

"Everyone who lives does."

He gently removed her hand.

Then stepped onto the bridge.

Behind him, the seven lanterns began to glow brighter.

Above him, the road across the clouds opened wider.

And somewhere far beyond the mountain, a voice spoke.

Not calling his name.

Not asking him to come.

Simply saying one word.

"Choose."

Auren stopped.

For the first time, the road had not chosen him.

It had not brought him somewhere.

It had not demanded that he follow.

It had given him a choice.

Auren looked up.

Then down.

One road led back toward the valley.

The other led into the clouds.

He stood between them.

And for once, he did not ask which road was meant for him.

He asked a simpler question.

"Which one do I want?"

The answer was already waiting inside him.

Auren looked toward the clouds.

Then took the first step upward.

End of Chapter 197