User blog:AzazelScapegoat/Five sons Chapter 2 Part 1: Ace of the mountains

A young man prepared and double checked his gear for the climb he was about to attempt. A new mountain found by map makers, no one knows if it is inhabited by mountain dwelling mamono or not. The young man sat in his makeshift tent on the mountain’s summit. He was putting on several layers of clothing in preparation for the hike up the summit and into the seemingly calm snowy mountain.

His name was Ace, adopted son of Satyr. He had grown up in the mountains. He knew how to climb mountains so he knew that this mountain would be no Different or so he thought. He hauled his traveller pack onto his back, got out his hiking stick and exited the tent. He looked up at the path ahead and gave an eager grin.

The initial hike went smoothly as he walked along a clear but uneven path that was angling upwards in simple manner in which he could hike with ease. He didn’t see signs of native mammon despite the area being outside of order territory. He shrugged off the fact and continued on his hike.

Slowly the fairly lukewarm autumn air edged into a slight chill as snow began to gather at this feet, the path he followed became very uneven but the from the young man’s past experience, no complications arose. In minutes the snow became up to his ankles and cold wind hit his face that was protected by both a thick fur hood and a thick arachne silk scarf. He hiked on into the blizzard that coated the mountain so tightly that it almost mimicked a lamia coiling around her victim.

He was up to his thighs in snow when he came upon his first major obstacle, a sheer cliff spanning at least 300 feet up by simple estimation. The young man took off his heavy backpack and sized up the odds, he packed just enough food and water to reach the top of the mountain along with other essentials into whatever he could pack into his pockets. He left his pack and the rest of his supplies behind instead of finding a way around as he had to keep moving before the blizzard got to its worse.

His two heavy duty ice picks lodged themselves into the mixture of rock and ice that made up the cliff, the young man was climbing directly up the sheer drop. He would wedge a pick in, wedge the second on in, loosen the first and pull it out before pulling himself up wedging the first one above the second and continue the cycle over. He was halfway up the cliff before a small tremor rocked the mountain sending a large pile of snow off the cliff. A particularly large pile was heading straight for the young man. He saw this and braced himself.

The snow hit the young man hard as he held on tight. As he opened his eyes he noticed his right hand was empty. His second pick had been dislodged and taken away by the snow pile. He looked down, he was much more high up than he anticipated. He thought it would take a miracle to get to the top…..or the bottom. It was at that moment that blizzard slowed for a second revealing a lower cliff direct next to the one he was currently climbing, if it weren’t for the blizzard he would have climbed the lower one but he could not see the very top making both cliffs look identical, there were was part of the lower cliff jutting out around the taller on, it was far but the young man had to try.

He swung back and forth on the the first pick hoping it would not give way before launching himself sideways, he ran across the cliff for a second before launching himself side-ways again. It didn’t look like he was going to make it but his hands just gripped onto the edge.

After he got up he followed the wall that was the higher cliff so that he had some form of direction going up the mountain. The snow was much higher here, almost up to his waist but the young man hiked on.

He was far from the cliff wall now. His scarf had been blown away and he couldn’t keep his hood from blowing backwards. His face was by now semi-frozen. He felt several winds as if each wind was trying to guide him somewhere until another winded guided him somewhere else. His vision was hazy, he was cold, his body was giving up. He slowly closed his eyes accepting his fate. Then he heard words, he thought it was the gods, beckoning him to the gates of heaven but then, he felt no longer frozen but warm. He opened his eyes to see an average height chocolate skinned woman with white fur, a yeti. She looked concerned as she looked up at him looking for signs of frostbite. She smiled, she knew he was the one. Without a word she began to guide the young man to her home, he had no further option but follow on.

~To Be Continued~