The Mountain and the Trial

[Flamebird]

The Mountain and the Trial.

Solo.

Picture credit to Wallpapercave.com.

[Flamebird]

Day 14. Mid day. Hungry...

The sky was clear, with a beating sun pounding it's rare rays down upon the bare boulders and snow. While she mostly froze on any other day, the surprising heat was causing a lone traveler to actually sweat beneath the protective bear furs wrapped around her. The leather jacket and green clothes beneath her rippled as she climbed, on all fours, up a steep hill of rubble and rock. Painting heavily, she looked up to the sun and wiped her slightly narrow forehead.

"Eh, it's kinda nice to see "va sun again."

With several bags hanging on her back, the young woman struggled up the slope. Despite the sun's warmth, frosty air still surrounded her. The smell of snow and dirt coldly pounded her sense of smell, even overtaking her taste buds due to its strength. She looked in front of her; the leather half gloves and cloth wrappings beneath did not help her rising temperature. Her bare, scratched up fingers were stinging from the snow as she firmly grasped the ridged stones the arose between the other loose sediments and snow. Great struggle was with her left hand, as her twisted pinky made it harder to grasp the stones. Her two arming swords, in their sheaths, left skid marks behind her as she writhed her way up.

She grunted, her trim muscles bunched, as she pulled herself up the steep mountain side. With no ropes or grappling cables to hold her, she knew that this was dangerous business. It had been dangerous for the last fourteen days. Climbing the largest mountain in all of Eiskalt was the complete opposite of a walk in the park. The perils this snow and ice coated peak had in store were close to insane. The traveler had already cut her unprotected right kneecap on her first week, as the white bandages wrapped around her knee showed. A small scratch on her face, and the dirt coating her entire body, showed signs of physical strain in this mountain. There was no rest here. While no wild animals, aside the occasional rabbit, made any appearances in her path; she found that she could not sleep at night knowing that they were out there.

Close to the top of the slanted area, she knew she was in danger. She had recently refilled her water bottle at a stream down below, but she only had a small handful of rations left. She would need to find food. Fast. Straining to lift her right hand to a far out stone, her peridot eyes squinted as she briefly looked up to the nearby top. Her aching body would find moment's respite soon enough. Her fingers brushed against the sun heated rock. She hissed at the burn, briefly pulling back. She felt a small bit of sediment slip beneath her, the sound of falling stone and dust causing her stomach to jump. She had not fallen, thankfully. Biting her lip and choosing to endure the burn that would come, she reached for the stone again. Endurance and hardened will to make it allowed her to grasp the boiling stone. Gasping in response as she pulled herself up, the young woman proved resilient as she quickly finished the excruciating climb!

Rising to her shaking knees, she gasped for fresh winter air as she shakily stood, staggering over to a large boulder. As she rested her side against the ice coated dark rock, she took in heavy, shaking breaths. She threw off her two bags, three satchels, and two handed sword as she slid down, eyes closed. The odd combination of the sun's heat and the surrounding freeze was an interesting sensation. The scent of nothing but the surrounding elements was too familiar these days. Although, this was the first day that no clouds were there to block the sun. Without the clouds, the entirety of her surroundings seemed to have color now. She mentally looked back to the grey gloom the last thirteen days had accustomed her to. The lonely despair… lonely… alone…

… Alone.

She was alone up here.

Opening her green eyes, the extroverted teen felt her loneliness become supersized.

She was surrounded by strong, bold, extravagant alps. Formidable, boisterous, and magnificent; words could not do justice to the scale of power these brave mounts of unfathomable size possessed. This was a place of the fearless. This place was fearless. The pine forests of the nation elevations below had nothing on this boundless hinterland.

On one end of the emotional spectrum, the explorer was blown away. This immeasurable landscape was enough to make even a giant feel small. On the other side of coin, tears flooded her eyes. There was not a single soul in sight within this frigid whiteout.

She was alone up here.

[Flamebird]

As her flame colored, unkempt, only half braided hair flowed in the wind, the hiker reached for one of the tossed bags surrounding her sturdy frame. Pulling the small satchel made of animal skin over her lap, she pulled out a book bound with more animal hides out. Turning the thick pages of worn paper over, she looked upon a map for instructions. She was alone in this wilderness for a reason.

Hired by the Eiskaltian Legal Agency, this mere sixteen year old was assigned to explore one of the few Eiskaltian regions unaffected by Madison Freebird's plague. Verbotenfels was the single largest known mountain in Eiskalt, both by width and height. Some even thought it was one of the largest within all of Althanas. The isolated and beyond gigantic mountain was rumored to have a massive magic reading even picked up by the country's scholars and scientists. Yearning to make every single natural strength of their snow coated little country worth it, the government was more than willing to send any expendable bounty hunters to explore the region. Yes, expendable. Hooray?

She was close to the source. Very close. This map spanning out the general area of the magic source had aided her better than she thought it would. A confident grin spread across her face. She was feeling just enough of an energy serge to keep going.

Standing up, the young teen pulled out her sloppy braid and redid her hair. Pulling it back into a simple tail, she began to mentally prepare her next following on the map. Her outfit showed visible signs of wear and tear. The jacket had several nags and strips of leather cut out. Several buttons for the pockets had been loose and lost. The child's shirt had a large tear as well, the wrappings visibly showing beneath the cloth. Her pants had the worst of it though, multiple tears, wears, and loose bits of cloth made the pants in poor condition. It would take effort to peel the filthy cloth off however, so they managed to stay on her legs. After wrapping the bear furs around her, she pulled all of her baggage, filled with traveling equipment and supplies, over her. Finishing off her packing by throwing her flame bladed longsword over her back, she turned from the place she had come from and trudged on deeper into the mountains beyond.

~~~

Holding her book in one hand and a compass in the other, she traveled along the body of the mountain. On one side was much higher towers of mountain range. Several feet of ground stretching outward from it, and one would fall from an immense height. The skyscraper level height of the massive, edged, granite wall of crag guarded her from the sunlight. Leaving footprints in the unusually low snow, she looked up from the directions for her destination to find… that a long ways down the hallway-like path, sloping slightly downwards, was a cave.

Smoothly cut into the hunk of rock that was the mountainside, almost appearing to be roughly man-made, a cave was straightly ahead. Tilting her head in confusion, the young woman stared at the rock with an inquisitive expression. She looked down to the instructions again. No caverns were ever noted to exist in the manual that brought her this far. Of course, these were only calculations done by meteorologists in the safety of their underground homes in the city of Felstarke. Looking ahead, the lone traveler felt uncertainty looking into the abyss. When had she been afraid though? The bold redhead took a single step forward.

Feeling the strain of standing on a narrow slope, the traveler took careful step after careful step. The snow crunched beneath her feet; the fortress of heavy mountain stone several feet away from her aided her as she pressed her left hand against it for stability. The cold stone was her one sturdy force to press her palm onto as unstable winds danced around her, threatening to sweep her off the slopes. Slowly walking towards the opening, she noticed the unusually smooth and archaic arch of the structure. This could not be the result of erosion… Even cut out designs seemed to be lined across the archway. The sight of large, powerful stone steps just within confirmed it. Only several feet away from the structure, it was clear to her. She was not alone out here after all.

[Flamebird]

About 7,000 ft. above elevation. Not so isolated in the total wilderness after all.

Standing right in front of the manmade entrance to an unknown structure, the young woman closed her book. Slipping her compass and book into her satchel, she reached for her left hip and pulled out one of her twin arming swords. Wishing she had some kind of shield for protective, the young woman pulled one leg out of the snow and dust and placed it on the first step. Another step. Now standing just within the entryway's shadow, the girl looked back to the light of the mountain way. Closing her eyes as fear settled within her stomach, she turned to the stairway again. Letting out a deep sign, she opened her eyes. She was going in. Still keeping her blade at the ready, she started to ascend down the massive boulders that had been carved into these boisterous, bare stairs. Looking up, there did appear to be ice coated stalactites, as old as the ages, hanging on the roof of the structure. How old was this place? Was she alone after all?

The sound of her leather traveling boots against the elder stone echoed across the cavern. The smell of earth flooded her nostrils as she continued onwards, into the darkness. Losing light fast, as well as her sense of direction, she put her sword away and lowered herself to her hands and knees again. Starting to cautiously climb town, making a torch did not even cross her mind. Too many questions were swirling in her mind instead.

Maybe this is a secret passage?

Had she perhaps found one of the nine secret passages that led people in and out of the country? For it to be located in an isolated location made sense. However, she knew that weeks of mountain treking was to come on the outside. No way could a pass that long be stable.

Neanderthals?

The original inhabitants of Eiskalt, they were still alive but loathed by most of Eiskalt's more traditionalist populace. Out here, literally in the middle of nowhere, it was very possible that a band of their rare survivors had a home here. It would most certainly hit home, as the young traveler herself had their blood boiling in her veins.

[Flamebird]

The surrounding darkness was getting warmer.

Water dropped off the ceiling above.

Drip!

Drip!

Drip!

The stone stairs were wet. Starting to get too wet for her concern of safety. She stood up again, pressing two fingers against the wall and brushing them along the stone structure which was so constricting in this darkness, she was starting to feel claustrophobic. The wall was not only coated in melted ice, but felt slimy and sticky. Was this some form of magic? This cave smelled funny; putrid but without the nauseous effect.

This was starting to get too weird for her liking.

Forgetting for a moment that these were stairs, she blindly took a step forward. As the term would go, pride comes before the fall, but just without the pride this time, she let out a gasp as she felt her unsupported weight fall.

She landed on what felt like cool soil. She took a whiff of it, it was soil. The feeling of abrasive dirt on her clothes and face were nothing new, but there was so much… Reaching out for the walls, she realized that they were not there. She was in some type of room.

Being completely blind to her surroundings did not help. She did not even know the direction to the stairs anymore! Starting to shake, she slowly took a step forward. As water droplets dropped like the footsteps of marathon runners in the background, she stretched out her arms. Walking rather aimlessly, hands outstretched as she tried to feel for anything; she felt that the cool earth that crunched beneath her had no end. First the claustrophobia, then whatever the opposite of claustrophobia was? She felt like she was starting to lose it all alone in here…

All alone in here…

All alone in here…

All alone in here…

All alone…

Drip!

Drip!

Drip!

[Flamebird]

Felicity was starting to think she was going insane over here. Insane. No soul here to communicate with, with light to see, hardly that much sound to go off of… The air only tasted like earth. She could not even feel anything with her hands; it was just the dirt coated floor below her. Only her empty footsteps. Only herself…

She, herself, and her.

She was so losing it! She was just about ready to cry out her. If she did not find a way out soon…

"Felicity."

She froze. Did somebody just speak her name.

"Felicity…"

Okay, now she was hallucinating. This was fantastic! Not…

"Felicity Knopsnider, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"No!" She shouted back, a bit puzzled at the usage of the surname she had used in Corone, "No, imaginawy voice in my head!"

"Felicity, you foolish girl…"

Wait, that voice… she knew that voice…

"Ignorant child…"

No… No, it could not be!

"You have failed me as an apprentice…"

No…

"Felicity, why did you leave?"

No!

"Felicity…"

The redhead slowly opened her mouth. Tears started to form in her eyes as she whispered in the darkness. "A-… Ashwa."

Her sense of time was losing grip holds on reality. Darkness was still surrounding her, causing her other senses to stay on high alert. The warm air surrounding her was becoming cooler, although that dirt rich scent stayed the same. Felicity could still hear that familiar voice. What terrified her was that this voice was not an echo in her head. The sound bounced off her eardrums, settled in her brain. The calls came from all directions.

"Felicity!"

She could feel the droplets of tears draining from her eyes. She could taste the salt rich liquid kissing lips. She was not dreaming.

"Ashwa…"

Shuffling her feet, Felicity suddenly realized that the ground was not made of dirt anymore. It did not feel like stone either. She raised her foot and tapped her boot on the cavern floor. It sounded like… was that glass? The scent of the earth still surrounded her, however. She was more confused, more scared, than ever.

[Flamebird]

For a moment, in this killing void, a brief spark of… something… caught the corner of her eye before it shifted back to shadow. Was she seeing things? With Ashla's close but at the same time distant voice crying from wherever, she did not know anymore. Another brief crack entered her sights. It was blue. Then it faded again…

Protectively, she wrapped her arms around herself. The furs pressed against her body like a thick coat. Starting to become paranoid, she closed her eyes and whispered, "P'ease stop…"

However, whatever was playing in her mind did not stop. It never stopped. Instead, that odd blue light finally became visible. In the distance, a light that seemed to be made of a liquid water ball glowed a ultraviolet blue. Confusion did enter her mind, but the halfling's instincts forced her to race towards it. A hopeful smile, a light and possibly hysterical laugh, came from her as she dropped her bags, stretching her dominant hand towards the light source. As she ran closer, she noticed some silhouettes within the bubble. Those dark figures, they seemed familiar. She ran closer. She heard voices coming from them…

"Neanderthal scum!"

"Useless narrow head!"

"Why don't Deerhead officials just kill her?"

"Who cares if her mother is human? Her father wasn't!"

"Who cares if it's a child? Burn it!

Felicity skidded to a stop at the harsh shouts of an alienating crowd. The dark glass surface forced her to slide, however. Now having slowed down, she was right in front of the bubble. Her tears doubled. It was an image of her home town, that rundown pit of frozen garbage in the mountains of an older Eiskalt. There she was. A little redheaded child, tis two, being defended by an about eight-year-old Eiskaltian boy. Those people, the faceless people who scorned her, they did not care. They loathed her without even stopping to know her. They threw atones, they held mining equipment. They wanted her dead.

"No…" Felicity shook her head, wrapping her right pointer finger around her crippled left pinky in remembrance. She stepped back. "No… No, no…"

"Felicity!"

"Ashwa!" Felicity turned around to the direction they thought that familiar scream came from. Instead of any trace of her teacher however, she was met with another bubble.

[Flamebird]

This bubble had a different image.

There was a young girl, about eleven years of age, was racing after a young man with short black hair and pale skin. Her red tunic dress, which was over a longer white dress, flowed as she ran up to the man who was walking away. They were obviously in Corone. As lush, green grass and maple trees surrounded them, she called through the winds. "I want to come too!"

He turned to the girl, his light armor and longsword responded to his every move. He smiled at the innocent child, raising his hand and scuffling her dark orange hair.

"H-hey!" She shouted, attempting to get away from him.

"Not today," he chuckled, "But someday, you will have the strength to shake the entirety of Althanas. I love you, cousin."

Nostalgia flooded her mind, the young woman standing in silence as she whispered the young man's name. "Jeremiah…"

The sound of mocking laughter caused her to sharply turn again, to another bubble. Wearing a leather jacket and some brown pants, the child was now in her teens. She was on the cool dirt ground of an armory. Surrounded by tents, holding a flame bladed sword, she was being pointed at, laughed at, passed off as a joke by the famed Coronian Rangers.

Through this same bubble, an independent voice from the picture spoke. "I was just like you when I was your age. Kind of pathetic, I know. But I see potential in you. Let me train you; let me show you how to be strong."

"Ashwa…" Felicity choked.

Once again, that distant voice shouted, "Felicity!"

"Ashwa!" The hothead drew her arming sword on the bubbles, causing all of them to break. The water fell onto the glass below as they lost their shine, splattering. Not a droplet of water touched her.

Painting, the girl found that she was alone in the darkness again. Not for long though. She like… somebody was there. She felt warm breath brush against her ear as that same voice whispered, "What are you afraid of, Felicity?"

As soon as it was there, the figure was gone.

Still, she heard her voice echoing around her, "What is holding you back?"

[Flamebird]

Once again, a bubble formed. Once again, it was a memory.

Within the orb, the scenery of Corone's forests came into view. As the leaves vividly fell in a clearing, two young women sparred. One was Felicity, obviously, but the second one was different. She had long, black hair and black clothes. She held a hand-in-a-half sword in her left hand, sparring with a slightly younger Felicity, whom used the same sword that was in her hand now.

"Excellent," the young woman replied, "Your upper cuts are improving."

"My postuwe sti' sucks," Felicity sighed, lowering her sword and slumping in exhaustion.

"We will get to that," Ashla pulled a canister of water from a satchel on her belt, "Remember, Ettermire wasn't built in a day."

Felicity thankfully took the water and started gulping it down. As she did so, her mentor pulled out another sword from her hip, "Ready to practice some duel wielding? Remember, this technique requires form and coordination. I will critique you as we go." A confident smirk crossed the blue eyed woman's face as she continued, "Let me know if I'm too fast for you. I'm sure you can keep up though."

It was here that a blood cuddling scream stretched across the entirety of the darkness, screams of a man named Julius, of a child whom was left behind in motherly protection, of the injustices of the whole world. These screams were loud enough to make one's ear bleed, but they still felt so far away…

Another bubble formed. This time, the long yellow glasses and long dried and dead oak trees marked another place. Raiaera.

The same two people were sparring again, but something was different. Her azure eyes were now spoiled, with one having turned burgundy in hue. Additionally, she was aggressive. Felicity was being continually forced back in the ferocious swings. With the blunt side of her sword sweeping the teen's lower leg, the half-elf forced Felicity to fall to her side, dropping her blade.

"Weak!" She shouted critically.

The redhead tried to pull herself up, but her teacher walked around her and raised her foot, pressing it against her back as her blade slightly pressed into the girl's neck. It was not enough to injure, but it was enough to hurt.

"A-Ash-"

"Ayleth!" She shouted in a dominating, rage filled tone.

"Yeah, vat…" the girl grunted, visibly under both physical and emotional stress, "Ca-can we take five and-"

"No." Ayleth replied icily, "We will stop when your defense improves. Removing the blade and lowering her foot, she took a step back in apathy and waited for the sweating, bruised girl to return to her opening stance. "Get up."

Pushing her shaking body to respond, the young woman stood up, but did not raise her sword again, "Aweth, p'ease…"

The young woman walked up to her, lowering her sword. With bitterness written on her face, she raised her hand and backhanded her cheek. "Obey, apprentice."

Holding her cheek in pain, the girl struggled to stand, but held herself together. Closing her eyes to push back her tears, she responded, "Yes, ma'am."

[Flamebird]

"I'm weaving. Vis is it, I'm done."

Felicity heard her own voice; her own voice and that ridiculous lisp, in the echoes of the air around her.

"You awe my sista, Ashwa… I'm sowwy but I cannot stay. Goodbye.

A sigh was emitted from Felicity's mouth. She remembered that day…

The voice of her teacher, bitter and broken, responded. "Then go."

She closed her eyes, dropping her sword in weakness. This… this was too much.

Another bubble formed, she could feel the liquid vapor against her face. Opening her eyes, she faced the image.

The image devastated her.

There, under the moonlight, Felicity was holding somebody in her arms. Covered in blood, crying as he whispered in her ear, this memory had hardly any surroundings of setting to her. She had been crazed, and the bloodied image of her injured cousin was all she had seen.

"Someday, you will have the strength to shake the entirety of Althanas. I love you, cousin."

He coughed up blood. Red blood. Crimson blood. Her own family blood.

He gave his last breathe.

She screamed.

In her blood, in her rage, dowsed in her cousin's blood, a magical red cloak surrounded her frame.

The bubble flickered to black, just like her memory of the event had.

Seeing this, Felicity fell to her knees, pulling her hand to her face. Her back throbbed as she relinquished her tears from her eyes. The tears dropped against the glass floor, echoing alongside her wails. Still, it was not over. She knew what would come next.

Another bubble formed in the same place as the last, a familiar wood cabin was there. It was empty. Felicity ran through the door, calling out. "Uncle!"

That place was empty, though. Confusion crossed her face as she looked around. Where were the tables and chairs? The bench that had always been under the simplistic glass window? The cupboards were empty. Not even her uncle's favorite green run was laid out on the center floor. It was vacant.

As the floorboards groaned under her weight, she cautiously looked around. She was about to call out for him again, but then an unfamiliar worker came in from the equally vacant hallway. "Hey, we start auctioning off the property on Monday. Come then."

Now she was very confused, "Has Jona'fon Knopsnida moved?"

"Knopsniders?" The man asked absently as he went back for a moment, then came back carrying a small supplies crate, "No, the old man apparently died from a stroke. Nobody was with him, so his body was only found on the kitchen table when a neighbor stopped by to borrow eggs. Poor soul. Anyways, gotta finish packing this garbage, see 'ya on Monday!"

As he left, she stood there. Too shocked. She was too shocked for words. The only soul in this lonely cabin, she dropped to her knees in silence. The dreaded realization that she had lost her uncle too trickled into her mind.

She was alone.