Perhaps it all started when Agon was born – it happened under the stars, the naked sky. The first time ey opened eir eyes, ey just stared off into the vastness that lay above em. The first word ey uttered was "moon" and the second "sun". As a baby, Agon always slept soundest when ey could see the sky, and as a child ey spent hours just staring and studying it. Agon's family thought it was healthy ambition and that once Agon grew up, ey could navigate with just the sky as eir aid or tell people's fortunes from the stars. Ey even kept an accurate weather journal from the age of ten, when ey learned how to write.

In the clutches of adolescence, Agon wrote poems and stories and drew pictures of the sky, the stars, the sun, the moons and the little islands that could sometimes be seen through the clouds and blue. Ey finally learned a profession and ended up being a hunter-gatherer, away from home days at a time, managing in the nature and navigating with the help of the sky.

Agon's homeland, the land of Galon's Forest Plains, was a vast plain of forest, like its name suggests. Every place was covered with thick or thin forest. Large and small trees grew everywhere, pine and leaf tree alike. Only a few open plains could be found there, and somewhere people had cleared away some forest to grow crops of edible plants. The terrain was somewhat variable; there were hills, valleys and flat lands. They did not go to extremes, however – in fact, they were very insignificant compared to what travelers and adventurers told to have seen in their journeys.

There were many villages in Galon's Forest Plains. Most of them were quite small with only a few hundred people and several days of travel apart. The village in which Agon lived and was born was called Midsummer Glade. Like almost all houses in Galon's Forest Plains, the houses there were built in one of three ways: using wood, carving a living space into a large tree or modifying a cave.

To the south of Galon's Forest Plains was the Coach Desert, a more or less barren wasteland. The Coach Desert was very long but not deep – one could easily walk across it in a day and reach the Desert Sea. The Desert Sea was not a very large sea, as many people could relatively easily cross it. People who crossed it from the other side were discouraged at seeing the Coach Desert, however, and few travelers from across the sea ever reached Galon's Forest Plains. In the west was an interesting land of desert and swamp, the Dual Flatlands. The whole area was blotted with damp swamp and dry desert and it seemed incredible how the land did not seem to mix. What was uniform about it was its flatness and heat. Many humans and strange creatures lived there, but they did not want to leave their homeland. To the north was found the High Scene, a land of chasms and rock. As the name implied, they were high, so high that normal people from Galon's Forest Plains had trouble breathing there. Still, many creatures lived there just fine. The High Scene was full of intricate and impossible canyons and ridiculously deep chasms. Not many trees grew there, and what little thrived there was usually small and short. To the east was found Harhalatu, a range of mountains that were said to shift around at an incredible rate. It was known that people lived there and those people sometimes visited Galon's Forest Plains, but no one knew of one who would actually have crossed them. There were some legends of few people who assumedly had crossed them, but no one knew whether they really were true. One of the people who was said to have crossed Harhalatu was Galon, the ancient founder of Galon's Forest Plains.

Agon was never much interested in the Dual Flatlands or the Desert Sea since those lands could not bring em any closer to the sky. Agon was afraid of water; ey thought that sinking under the water would separate em from the little bit of sky and air ey could be with on the land. Ey barely learned to swim as a child and never again went closer to bigger masses of water. As Agon matured, eir obsession for the sky grew as well and ey wanted to get somehow closer to it – mentally or physically, ey could not know. It was not enough for em to see it and create art of it anymore. Ey made frequent trips to the High Scene, so frequent that eventually ey did not have much trouble breathing there. However, the High Scene was not high enough for em, it did not bring Agon any closer to the sky. Ey did enjoy seeing more of the sky, though, and decided that ey would always travel high and avoid sea level and valleys.

The day came when Agon could not sit around without doing anything anymore. Ey intended to go to Harhalatu, find the highest mountain and climb there in eir search for unity with the sky. Eir parents were sad and somewhat disappointed that ey went off chasing such an impossible dream. They tried several times to talk em out of it, but were unsuccessful. Agon said goodbye to eir parents, friends and village and set off to find Sharper, the highest mountain ey had heard people speak of.

It was spring when Agon left on eir journey – ey had heard that the mountains could be a harsh place in the winter and this way ey would have time to get used to the area. Ey would first have to actually travel through Galon's Forest Plains to get to the edge of Harhalatu. Agon bought a horse for that purpose and traveled through the mystical woods and the four towns that were on the way. While the towns seemed normal to everyone, everyone also knew that there was more to the forests than could be seen but no one knew what. Some few trees seemed to grow beyond measure and were gigantic and all-knowing, almost sentient-seeming to the people who had lived by them their whole lives. Some trees seemed evil in their reputation of having dangerous branches that people easily fell off of, and the land they grew on was hard and bleak so as to maximize damage to the one who would fall from their branches. Contrastingly, some trees seemed good and grew branches that were easy to climb on, made fruits that were edible and took root in places that were friendly toward any settlement that might move there. Some trees even naturally grew to resemble houses, caves or other living spaces.

Agon did not care about the trees now. Ey made eir way straight to the edge of the Harhalatu mountain range. Indeed, by the time ey reached Highplain Village, the terrain seemed much more hilly and the mountains loomed very near. The trip had taken over two weeks by now, even with the horse. In Highplain Village, Agon asked around for a way to Sharper, but got only scoffs, sad looks and ridicule as eir answer. Therefore ey gave up quickly and instead asked around for a way to the nearest mountain village. Ey also got emself a new ride: hipera, an animal well suited to traveling in the mountains and long ago tamed by humans. A hipera is a horse-like animal, but only marginally larger than a pony, capable of carrying one medium-sized person. Its fur is somewhat thick and dark brown, it grows two horns like those of a deer from its head and it is quite intelligent, even to the point of understanding simple commands with minimum training.

The trip to the nearest mountain village was not easy, and Agon was about to get lost a few times despite eir good sense of direction. The mountains indeed seemed to shift and change overnight, even though nothing was ever heard. Nevertheless, ey made it and was met with some awe in the mountain village which was called Gaine's Valley. There, people were more willing to give directions on how to reach Sharper, even though one could never be too sure of its location. The people of Gaine's Valley, though they were humans, were smaller than those in Galon's Forest Plains and had noticeably darker hair and eyes.

After having received instructions, Agon left again. Ey traveled for two weeks and got hopelessly lost, though ey thought ey was well on eir way. It was not until ey saw Highplain Village in front of em that ey grew furious at realizing how badly Harhalatu had tricked em. Agon traveled for two more weeks, going more or less in a circle no matter where ey went. However, ey gradually made an observation that while by far most of the days in the Harhalatu area were cloudy, night was nearly always clear as the cleanest glass. Therefore, Agon took to traveling at night and only used the stars as eir guide. Even the stars changed along the night, but Agon had watched them for so long that ey always knew the direction, no matter what. The mountains changed ridiculously – it might happen that upon awakening from a day's sleep, the right direction would be in the opposite direction of last morning. It was frustrating, but Agon made definite progress with eir navigating abilities.

After a time that seemed probably longer than it really was, Agon reached another mountain village. There, Agon found more mountain humans, but most of the population of the village comprised very short and dark-skinned people, most of whom were either very stocky or very thin. The short people called themselves minfers and Agon heard that they were popular for their superior mining and building skills. Much of the village, named Tenke Tarmi, was under the ground and inside the mountain whose side it was built on. A person from as far away as Galon's Forest Plains was certainly worth some glances, but it was not unheard of. The people there were quite friendly toward Agon and appreciated eir efforts in trying to find eir way in Harhalatu, but they also could not understand eir ambition to reach unity with the sky. They were skeptical of whether climbing higher would really bring em any closer to the sky. Nevertheless, they gave some more information as to the whereabouts of Sharper, and Agon left off again.

Using the stars and vague landmarks as eir guide, Agon made eir way toward Sharper. The mountains were high and it was hard to move in the terrain, even for the hipera. It was cold up high and the wind blew hard, but the view was oftentimes beyond majestic. The mountains shone all kinds of different colors depending on the weather and time of day, formed intricate and exquisite shapes that one could stare at for hours, and the various strange plants and animals inhabiting the area gave it some more mystery. Nevertheless, Harhalatu could not sway Agon's possessive obsession for the sky. Not even the most magnificent, colorful and mysterious mountains could match the all-encompassing sky.

Agon eventually arrived to the place where Sharper should be. Indeed, in front of em loomed the highest mountain ey had ever seen, and even though it seemed impossibly high, Agon was mostly filled with joy and energy for the climbing – at last ey would have eir chance to be near enough to eir beloved sky.

The small tribe of minfers living on the side of the Sharper mountain welcomed Agon and encouraged em on eir journey, though they obviously thought em crazy and laughed bitterly behind eir back. Agon did not stay with the tribe for even a day – ey started eir climbing task as soon as ey had gotten a fully satisfying restful sleep.

Climbing the mountain was not very special in the beginning, since it was just traveling along similar terrain as before, though the direction was always upwards, whereas it had previously been both upwards and downwards. The hipera did not have much difficulty moving. However, after a week, when it seemed that Agon was over halfway to eir goal, the cliffs, rocks and paths started getting gradually harder and harder to overcome. Ey had to make some very creative improvisations using rope, pitons and other climbing tools. The hipera, as weird as it might have seemed to Agon, was very good at walking on the rope and could jump to the strangest places, sometimes even when Agon was riding on it.

It took Agon over two weeks to reach the top of Sharper. Even then ey did not find a way to go to the absolute top with hipera, so ey improvised a grappling hook and spent two hours trying to throw it into a place where it would stick. When it finally stayed, Agon climbed up and spent another half an hour trying to throw it even further up. Breathing was starting to be difficult, even for Agon. Ey finally managed to climb up high and reach the mountaintop. Ey felt the grand emotion of accomplishment, the feeling of having achieved something no one had ever achieved before. It was nearly the time for sunset, and Agon sat on the ground, waiting for the sun to set. The view was fantastic and ey could see high mountains and magnificent colors in every direction ey looked.

Agon sat there for three hours. The sun set, the sky grew darker and the stars became brighter. Nothing happened. Agon felt accomplished, but not fulfilled. The sky was not any closer to em. It took another two hours for em to admit it to emself, but when ey finally did, ey was furiously angry and swore at the sky. Ey let loose all kinds of hideous insults and curses, filling eir mind with hate and disappointment. Having yelled eir throat sore, Agon fell down to the snowy ground and wept. Ey woke up due to being too cold shortly after and decided that it would be better to go down to the hipera and sleep with it to stay warmer. Ey descended from the mountaintop with teary eyes. Once reunited with the hipera, ey decided to continue eir descent after all and not go to sleep yet. The hipera gazed at em occasionally and seemed more calm than usual, most probably sensing Agon's fragile state of mind. Many times did Agon think to hurl emself off the cliffs and into eir death, but soon ey also noticed that Sharper might not be the highest mountain in all of Harhalatu and that climbing a mountain might not be the only way to become one with the sky, even for a simple human such as emself.

However, doubt and despair eventually overcame Agon's tired mind and ey had to stop to sleep. Ey curled up next to the hipera and cried emself to sleep. Ey woke up after only a few hours and cried again. The hipera left eir side and Agon cried even more – even eir faithful ride could not stand em crying and stay with em to keep em warm.

Agon had fallen asleep again when the hipera suddenly licked eir face. Ey startled and stared at the hipera, disappointed, but the hipera turned its face toward the mountain. Agon also looked there with tired eyes – the few hours of rest had not made eir tear-sore eyes any better. Ey saw a cave, a tunnel entrance that had not been there when ey had settled there. Even though Harhalatu always changed and it was rather obvious, never had a change been this clear. Agon was perplexed and was both curious and scared. What was the mountain doing, revealing secret tunnels? Was it trying to lure Agon into a trap for shouting profanities at its top? The thought of that made Agon feel anger and hate again and ey thought that if it was a trap, then be it – ey had lived, loved and lost and there was nothing to be done anymore. Agon walked into the tunnel, the hipera following.

Agon walked just far enough in the tunnel for it to become too dark to advance in when ey could see faint light starting to shine on the walls. The light came from weird stripes across the walls, like some very flat ivy growing from inside the mountain. The lights got gradually slightly more powerful, but they were still faint. Agon did not walk long until ey reached a chamber. The chamber was was the source of the light-emitting plant-like stripes that grew from the center of it, both from the floor and the ceiling. The walls were black and dark, but seemed to shimmer lightly, as if there were very fine stripes growing between the bigger ones. There were several other tunnels coming into the chamber from the sides, bottom and up, and Agon could see the sky through some of them. However, in the center of the chamber, surrounded by crystalline and faintly colorfully glowing stalactites and stalagmites, above and below the ivy sources, was a humanoid figure, seeming somewhat ethereal.

The speech of the figure seemed about just as ethereal. "I have heard your wailing, mortal human. I do not understand what galls you so, but I wish to understand. Please explain yourself to me."

Agon stood there in awe. A spirit of some sort was talking to em, asking em about eir feelings. The thought of it was rather unthinkable, and Agon took a long time to answer. However, the mountain spirit did not seem to mind, or perhaps even notice. "I... I traveled from far away to climb the highest mountain to get closer to the sky. But I failed, being so high did not make a difference to me and it made me sad. I uh... I'm sorry I yelled such profanities at the top of your mountain."

The mountain spirit moved in a way that conveyed slight amusement. "You swore at the sky, not at me. I, however, do not understand your need to be closer to the sky."

"I love the sky. I have no other need but to be one with it, to share myself with it and to immerse myself in it. I want to feel completeness, relief and fulfillment from being with the sky." The mountain spirit was quiet and seemed to be thinking about Agon's words. "Would you imagine being separated from your mountain? That's how I imagine I feel right now."

"The mountain is not mine. I am not the mountain's. I am the mountain. The mountain is me. My name is Sharper."

Agon stared at the mountain spirit, trying to absorb the sudden, but not completely unexpected reaction. "High mountain Sharper, could you imagine what it would feel like if your mind was taken and stuck inside a simple human body? Maybe that's how I feel."

Sharper was quiet for a moment. "I cannot, though it is an interesting thought. You may sleep here, human, if you wish." Agon was quiet. It was technically the same for em whether ey slept here or outside, particularly since the chamber was not any warmer than the outside air. The Ethereal figure of Sharper moved out of the encirclement of stalactites and stalagmites and stopped right before Agon. The figure was uncomfortably close to em and ey felt slightly threatened. "Your obsession intrigues me. Remember that obsession and ambition can be a fatal journey, one that could have been avoided. Extremities are rarely for the good or better of anyone. Yet your ambition is healthy since there is no one but you that can burn from your failure." The mountain spirit extended its arms and wrapped them around the somewhat frightened Agon, hugging em. Sharper's touch was coldly nonexistent, yet there nonetheless. It forced Agon sitting down. "Sleep now and I will have better things to tell you in the morning."

Feeling insignificantly small, Agon curled up on the floor. The hipera settled right next to em and they fell asleep.

When Agon woke up, the hipera was gone. Agon looked around to see where it had gone, but saw only the glowing stripes and the chamber. Even the mountain spirit was gone. After Agon had stretched and gotten up, Sharper appeared in the center of the chamber again. "I have communicated with Ogukegeom, who claims to know the location of the highest mountain in Harhalatu. I will give you directions to reach em, if you wish."

"I'd be very grateful." The mountain spirit did not reply, but instead approached Agon again. It came at Agon with such speed that Agon instinctively ducked to the ground. Sharper came at em anyway and somehow forced em to lie on the ground, though not exactly in a physical manner. Having done that, Sharper loomed ominously over Agon for a moment. Agon felt afraid and disturbed at not having a clue what the mountain spirit was doing or what it wanted. Sharper lowered itself so that its whole body touched Agon's. What it did next was not all that clear to Agon, but to anyone else it seemed like the spirit partially submerged in Agon. Agon turned eir head away, and after a few short moments, Sharper got up and went back to the center of the chamber like nothing had happened.

Agon raised emself slowly and sat on the floor for a moment. "...What was that?"

Sharper took its time to answer. "It does not concern you, human."

When Agon was done feeling too insignificant to answer, ey said: "My name is Agon the Navigator." Sharper did not reply. After a moment, Agon continued: "Can I get back to the mountaintop through one of those tunnels?"

"Yes, you can. They are not made for climbing, but you will have no more trouble climbing them than you did outside. Tie a rope to one of your pitons and I shall attach it to the mouth of the tunnel so that you can climb to it." Agon did as Sharper told and once the piton was ready, Sharper took it, floated into a tunnel near to the ceiling and struck the piton into the wall. Agon doubted whether it would hold eir weight, but the piton was surprisingly firmly attached. Ey thought ey would not be able to detach it. Agon then climbed the rope up and continued through the tunnel to the top. Climbing was easier in the tunnel since it was rougher and had better footsteps and handholds. Once Agon had reached the top, ey looked up at the sky again. After a while, ey started regretting all the swearing much more gravely than ey thought ey would have and wept once again. The feeling of regret gradually spawned aversion and Agon spent a few ten minutes weeping and apologizing to the sky, making heart-reaping promises of eternity that only a deranged mortal mind could cook up. Once ey was done, ey climbed back into Shaper's chamber again.

"Remember, Agon the Navigator, that nothing is eternal. Not even I are timeless, nor are the more powerful spirits of this world. Do not make such promises and statements so lightly."

"My promises are not to be taken lightly." Agon was somewhat hurt by Sharper's patronizing. "I might be just a human, but what I feel and will transcends human bounds, even though my body might not. I speak of things in relation to myself, and whatever lasts longer than my body might as well be eternal as far as I care."

"Very well, mortal human Agon the Navigator. For you, I have made a map that will guide you to Ogukegeom. You will be able to reach em if you continue to use the stars as your guide. There is no other way to get anywhere in Harhalatu, and even the stars will deceive you."

Agon was quiet for a moment. "...Will you... do you want anything for this map? I don't really have much to give..."

"I do not require anything more of you."

Agon struggled with words again, but then just decided to say goodbye. "Thank you for your help, high mountain Sharper, and goodbye."

"Fare thee well, Agon the Navigator."

Going back into the tunnel that had originally led em there, Agon found the hipera lurking near the entrance. It looked quite happy to see Agon, but seemed otherwise quite reserved. Agon thought it was weird, but ey had no way to figure out the reason.

Leaving on a journey again, Agon spent a day with the minfer tribe before venturing even deeper into Harhalatu. Though Sharper's map was much better in Harhalatu than what eir own had been, the sceneries and mountains still shifted and it was hard to know where things were. Agon arrived in Steepranch, a mountain village populated not by humans or even minfers, but a tribe of creatures that were part animal and part humanoid. Their humanoid upper bodies were connected to the neck of an animal vaguely resembling a hipera. They were as surprised to see Agon as Agon was to see them. However, the language they spoke was the same, so they quickly came to an understanding. The creatures called themselves anoursas. They lived in houses that were a combination of the kind of house Agon was used to and a horse stable, and they regarded hiperas and other similar animals as simple children and lived in harmony them, being vegetarians themselves. After Agon had spent some time with them, they quickly noticed that ey had given no name to eir faithful hipera ride, so they urged em to name it. Agon then finally gave in and named it Hilvi.

Having spent a day in Steepranch, Agon left again. The deeper ey went, the more impossible the mountains started to seem. In one place, ey even saw mountains that literally were upside down. Ey found canyons that were said to be so deep that one would die of old age before reaching the bottom. Ey traveled through a few mountain dungeons that seemed as vast as the whole of Galon's Forest Plains had seemed. Strange creatures lived inside and outside the mountains, most of them relatively harmless and some mortally dangerous. Agon wandered around the mountains for a long time. Ey was not sure whether summer even manifested itself in the mountains, since the weather seemed to remain mostly the same. The weather depended more on the area according to eir observations this far, but ey could never be sure without spending at least one year in a single place. Agon decided to try to make a somewhat comprehensive map of the parts of the world ey had been to and was going to go.

In time, ey arrived in a village that was vaguely marked on Sharper's map. The village was supposed to be within a day's journey from Ogukegeom. Sharper had not mentioned what kind of creatures lived in the village, so Agon was not totally surprised at seeing a whole new kind of creatures. The creatures called themselves illeas and they were tall, slender, black-haired and almost white-skinned. Otherwise they mostly resembled humans. They mostly dismissed Agon, though they certainly allowed em to spend the day in their areas. A few wandering anoursas also lived there temporarily.

Having rested, Agon left for Ogukegeom. Ey quickly noticed the mountain, for it was possibly even higher than Sharper had been. Agon set on climbing on top of it while waiting for the mountain spirit to acknowledge eir presence. After a week, when Agon had woken up and was just about to start climbing again, ey noticed that a circle of trees had appeared around em in the plain area ey had slept in.

The mountain spirit materialized just above a small sapling in the middle of the other trees. "Be greeted, mortal human." Hilvi sneaked away between the new trees.

Agon was still slightly uncertain with respect to eir behavior. Ey settled for bowing and saying: "Hello, high mountain Ogukegeom."

"I have been told that you seek the world's highest mountain in your quest to be closer to the sky, Agon the Sky-lover." The mountain spirit glared at both Agon and Hilvi in a condescendingly evaluating manner. "There is a price you have to pay for receiving this information. Yet you have nothing to give."

Agon was taken aback a little. "I... Sharper didn't require anything from me."

Ogukegeom looked at Agon curiously for a moment. "I understand why you might say that." Following that, the spirit actually laughed. It then produced a drawing, a map not unlike the one Agon had received from Sharper. However, Ogukegeom did not give it to Agon, instead walking over to eir backpack and placing the piece of paper under it. "You have nothing to give for this, so I will take you." Having said that, the mountain spirit came at Agon, forced em down and partially submerged in Agon's body – all in a manner similar to what Sharper had done but more powerfully. Agon started feeling uncomfortable aversion and soon it felt like eir body was tearing a little from the places where the mountain spirit was submerged. Ey still had no clue what was going on, since whatever was happening felt detached and unclear, much like the surroundings. "May the Scope of Skies and Starfallen Lands give you answers to your longing, mortal human." Ogukegeom parted and faded away into nothingness. Agon looked around em and the circle of trees had disappeared, ey was naked, Hilvi was licking eir navel and all eir clothes were thrown all around em, each piece an equal distance away from em.

Dumbfounded, Agon gathered eir clothing and put it back on. Ey left back for the illea village, more knowing than unknowing of what had happened and spending the rest of the night trying to come up with an acceptable excuse for eir denial. It took em four days to get back to the village. The illeas were a little surprised that ey had returned, and did not seem so mocking now.

The illea village was called Mountainshade, and it resided in a small valley full of graceful trees. The houses built by illeas were high, as elegant as the trees and painted with soft colors. For some reason, the illeas did not seem to eat meat at all – the way in which they treated animals was as if they were equals. That practice was somewhat similar to that of the anoursas, but the illeas seemed that much more serious about their habits, and Agon thought it best to not ask why they behaved the way they did.

One group of illeas invited Agon along with them to eat in some public happening of theirs. The illeas often made several sorts of dishes and then casually shared them with the rest of the village. The illeas mostly inquired about Agon's home and wanted to know what kind of place it was, but when those questions had been asked and most of the food had been eaten, the conversation took a grimmer turn.

"And then you left your village because", started one illea, "...you loved the sky. Did that work out? Did you reach enlightenment while climbing on Ogukegeom?" The other illeas looked a bit amused. Agon, then again, was not amused at all. "You didn't go all the way to the top either, did you? It would've taken longer if you did." Agon was quiet. "That mountain's spirit is kind of deranged." The illeas observed Agon's reaction and waited for em to say something.

"How would you know?" ey then asked, finally.

"Don't deny the fact that the thing's played pranks. We've noticed that it likes to do some unmentionable things to some animals that walk there." Agon looked uncomfortable, and the illeas saw more or less instantly that they had hit a nerve. "So not many go there." Agon did not want to reply, but ey did not want to appear impolite by leaving, either, no matter how much ey wanted to go right then. "So... Was it worth ...to go there? Did it cure you from your unnatural obsession?" The illeas almost giggled.

"There is nothing unnatural about love!" yelled Agon, in an outburst of irritation.

"Maybe the mountain's spirit loved you."

"That's not even near love. That's just unhealthy desire."

The illeas giggled some more. "Look who's talking! What would you do to reach the skies?"

"I would die."

"So unhealthily destructive."

While the illeas continued making their belittling comments and laughing, Agon got up and left. Ey wanted to sleep and get out of the village.

Having slept, Agon left again. It would take another very long journey before ey would reach the Scope of Skies and Starfallen Lands, but it would be worth it. Ey could just climb it up until ey was high enough to be satisfied. On eir journey, Agon met yet more creatures of unknown kind and though they were interesting, ey could never forget the sky. All the wondrous creatures under eir beloved sky felt so insignificant compared to the huge veil that comprised at least half of all the world Agon knew, if not more. As the time passed, Agon learned to navigate more easily in the deceptive mountains of Harhalatu and could once again spend eir time doing something else than just staring at the stars – then again, staring at the stars was one of eir favorite things to do.

Agon doubted eir feelings often on eir way. Was eir love really nothing more than obsessive desire? Was ey chasing something impossible? Would ey never reach eir goal? What would happen if ey really did not achieve it? What would happen if ey did? Could ey ever be happy? Would the love of the sky be enough for em? How could the illeas have been so mean and close-minded? Nevertheless, though eir psyche was unstable more often than stable and ey often cried because of eir doubts and worries, Agon continued on eir way – the clutches of love are not escaped so easily. In eir mind, if ey worked hard enough, ey would be rewarded in the end.

After a long journey, Agon finally saw the faint silhouette of the Scope of Skies and Starfallen Lands in the horizon. It would still be a long way until ey was next to it, but it gave em a bit of strength to finally see it. The villages in this area were mostly inhabited by creatures somewhat similar to illeas. They were called geins, and unlike illeas, they had blue hair and were not as tall. Agon did not tell them much about emself or eir destination, merely stating that ey was a wandering adventurer searching for meaning of life. Many people told Agon to go see the Scope up close.

When Agon finally reached the mountain, ey was certainly in awe. Ey had at no point been able to see the top that came to resemble a needle far away in the heights; it faded off into the sky. The base of the mountain was huge, though it was hard to tell what exactly was its base and what was not, what with the mountains overlapping and starting or ending in different heights. Even from below, the Scope of Skies and Starfallen lands seemed to have infinitely intricate forms and shapes to it. Trees grew on it, there were visible caves and outright impossible rock formations. Some people had said that if a ledge or other part fell off or if there was an avalanche, the mountain actually regenerated itself somehow. Agon figured that it all was just a general part of Harhalatu's magic. Agon was a little worried about what kind of spirit lurked inside the Scope, though. Still, even fear of the spirit did not stop Agon, and ey left on eir journey to the Scope's top.

Creatures lived on the slopes, rocks and valleys of the Scope of Skies and Starfallen Lands. To Agon, quite many of them were rather simple, not realizing what kind of extraordinary place they lived in. As ey climbed, the weather started gradually changing a little. Ey thought that it marked the coming of autumn. Ey wondered if the mountain spirit was watching em all the time, but came to the conclusion that ey could not do anything about it, whichever way it was, so ey stopped caring about it so much.

Agon climbed for over a month. By that time, ey could see that the Scope took even more unimaginable shapes above, and ey doubted if ey would be able to climb there at all. The sides of the mountain were about vertical at the moment, and it was only due to the weird shapes that Agon was able to advance. Eir doubts about being able to climb could not be solved, however, because ey reached a height in which powerful winds blew and ey failed to penetrate them at all. Ey nearly lost eir life after losing grip while trying to go through the winds. The only thing that keep em from falling was the safety rope ey had tied to emself.

This was the end of Agon's journey. Ey could not get any higher. Yet the sky was still above em and ey could see the land below em. It was difficult to breathe and ey did not feel any different. Ey was not any closer to the sky. In a fit of despair, Agon cried on top of the world for a day and then decided to end eir miserable life; and what would be a more fitting way to die than to fall the world's length away from the thing ey loved the most? Agon jumped off the cliffs, was suspended by the safety rope ey had tied around emself and Hilvi, and hit eir head on a rock. While unconscious, Hilvi managed to haul and pull Agon back. Agon woke up to Hilvi being curled up around em and frightenedly licking a wound on eir forehead. Agon had regretted eir choice the moment ey had jumped; ey was too scared of death to die so soon, and ey did not want to leave Hilvi alone now that they had become so close. The hipera was not just a pet or a ride to em anymore, it was a friend, and ey did not want to leave any friends suffering. Besides, there might be a way to get through the wall of winds, maybe. Agon shot at it with eir bow, but no matter how forcefully ey shot, the arrow did not seem to be able to penetrate the winds. Ey started climbing down.

Agon was depressed and cried emself to sleep almost every night. Every morning, ey swore ey would find a way to express eir love and to feel completeness and relief from it. Ey started drawing and writing about the sky again, creating some heart-breaking art The fact that ey had no idea what ey would do now ate at em deeply and ey did not want to reach the bottom of the mountain in the fear that ey would feel lost and purposeless once ey would be there. Eir way down was slow and ey circled the mountain more now than ey had done before. It seemed that autumn was indeed coming.

One morning, when Agon had just woken up and slowly performed eir usual morning chores, ey saw something appear form a cave. Ey instinctively thought that it was the mountain spirit, but something in eir mind doubted it. The cave was concealed by bushes and trees and had thus gone unnoticed. The creature that emerged form it seemed corporeal. The mountain spirits had this far been ethereal and their tricks had pretty much bended reality. Then again, maybe the Scope of Skies and Starfallen Lands had an extraordinary spirit. Agon looked at the creature quite suspiciously. The creature looked somewhat like a gein, and it was dressed in clothing Agon had never seen before. The robe it wore was very neat, leanly formfitting and exquisitely patterned. The sleeves were wide and decorated, and the robe stopped just below the creature's knees, revealing two slender shins and strange boots. Half of the creature's face was hidden by a veil and hood. It had a pretty headpiece that looked like its primary purpose was to keep the creature's hair back.

The creature seemed to be assessing Agon and did not seem all that alerted. It did not speak, and eventually Agon could not wait. "Who are you?"

"Me? I am Valorior Ecthelen, the Shaper of Things and Mage Extraordinaire of the Scope of Skies and Starfallen Lands! A better question might be: who are you, mortal human, to climb the Scope up and down?"

Agon stared at the creature for a moment, trying to absorb the lengthy introduction. Ey could not help coming off a little simple. Ey decided to give eir name and the condensed version of eir reasons. "I'm Agon the Navigator, and I climbed the Scope because I seek unity with the sky."

Valorior looked expressionless, but Agon thought that the expression was taking place under the veil. "You... seek unity with the sky. Why exactly is that?" The tone sounded a bit amused.

"It's love. I love the sky with all my heart and mind and will never stop in my quest."

"...Oh. Well, it could be worse. You could love a tugutro. Still, do you have any idea how extremely silly that sounds?"

Agon was slightly aggravated. "I don't want to explain myself to someone who obviously doesn't appreciate love or another person's feelings." With that, Agon picked up eir backpack and was about to leave.

"Wait a second." The mage sounded commanding, but did not physically try to stop Agon. Agon did stop, however. "I do appreciate your feeling. I just find it ...intriguing. Say, I guess you did not find unity with the sky up there, did you?"

"I didn't." Agon sounded sullen and did not turn back at Valorior.

"How will you find it?"

"...I don't know." Agon's statement of admission was quiet and fairly forlorn.

"Then, why don't we try to find it together?"

Now Agon's mind was stirred. Ey turned back at Valorior now and wondered why the mage wanted to help. Ey had heard mostly bad things about mages – they were greedy, snobby, unhelpful and mean. Of course, ey did not have any sort of previous experience of eir own. "Um... why do you want to help me?"

"Why not? I find your issue and methods interesting and don't want to pass a chance to be with someone like that. And certainly you can understand that my powers could be useful to you."