Wielder's Fate 24 Traven carefully rose to his feet, keeping his wooden spear pointed towards the thick fog in front of him. Nothing was visible in the swirling darkness, but he knew what he had just heard. He waited tensely for another sign of what animal was hiding in the fog. He took a careful step forward to allow himself more room to maneuver if whatever was waiting in the fog chose to attack. All was silent except for his own breathing. The thick blanket of fog swirling around him seemed to deaden sound as well as sight.Traven waited tensely for what seemed like forever, but the creature didn’t manifest itself. He began to wonder if his size had scared the creature away and if it was safe for him to sit back down. His erroneous thought disappeared instantly as he made out a large shadow hurling through the air towards him.Time froze and the particles in the thick fog immediately prepared to obey his commands. His mind quickly assessed the situation with blazing speed. Frozen in the air directly in front of him were the wide open jaws of a giant mountain cat. The creature was almost completely white with black tufts on its pointed ears and a black tuft on its chin. Its head was at least twice the size of his own, and its teeth glistened like small ivory daggers.He was about to form a shield but stopped as he remembered the rules of the trial. No magic was allowed. The thought almost seemed laughable at the moment. He could use magic and live, or he could follow the rules of the trial and end up with his throat ripped out. As far as he knew, no one would know if he had used magic or not. Then again, he had agreed to the rules and given his word. Darian had said that only an honest man could enter the Cave of Eternal Flame and complete the trial with his mind intact.His mind continued racing as time almost imperceptibly moved forward. He quickly rethought his situation. He had to keep his word if he hoped to be able to save the hundreds of thousands of humans depending on him. As he had already decided, risking his life was worth the chance to save so many others. The large mountain cat was now slightly closer to him and appeared to be going directly for his throat.It appeared he did have a chance to avoid the beast’s jaws. He was standing in a defensive position with his wooden spear gripped firmly in front of him. All he needed to do was slightly shift the point of the spear to the left to catch the mountain cat’s shoulder. If he did it quickly enough and with enough force, the cat would be thrown off its intended trajectory and its jaws would miss him. It was his only chance without using the ambience, and he decided to take it.Time came rushing back. Traven yanked the spear over as fast and as hard as he could. The tip of it lodged into the flying cat’s shoulder. The force was so great that it caused the wooden spear to snap in two. Traven braced himself as the cat’s momentum carried its gaping mouth forward just to the side of him. The large animal’s flank slammed into him, knocking him sideways into the boulder.The mountain cat screamed with rage and pain from the wound in its shoulder and thrashed sideways, trying to get at Traven. He positioned the shaft of his spear between himself and the beast and tried his best to stay away from its mouth and claws. The space between the two boulders was narrow enough that the large cat couldn’t turn around. Traven continued to use the shaft defensively as he slid along one side and tried to get out of the narrow space. The thrashing cat repeatedly slammed him against the hard boulder as he worked his way free. He pushed back with his broken spear several times until he finally made it past the savage animal.He knew he couldn’t outrun the mountain cat, so he quickly picked up a large rock as the animal backed its way out into the open as well. The large beast turned towards him snarling. Its white fur was matted with scarlet blood streaming from its shoulder where the broken end of his spear was still firmly lodged. Traven stood his ground and faced the giant cat. He was ready to launch the rock forcefully if the beast attempted to move in his direction and still had the shaft of his spear gripped tightly in his other hand.The mountain cat eyed him carefully as if trying to decide if it wanted to fight or not. Traven hoped the animal had been weakened by its wound and would choose to leave. If not, he was ready to fight back. He was now fairly sure he would survive the encounter but was worried about what injuries he might sustain if the cat attacked again. His reflexes were fast but not as fast as the deadly animal.The mountain cat let out a vicious scream. Traven wanted to run, but he refused to flinch. He hoped his posture and size would be enough to deter the wounded animal from trying to attack again. The cat stared at him for several more tense moments before turning with a low growl and striding off into the fog.Traven let out a large sigh of relief and reached out with his senses. If the cat tried to double back on him, he needed to have warning. Thankfully, the large animal appeared to truly be leaving the area. Traven moved back to the boulder and leaned against it with a wince. His thick coat had prevented him from being injured too badly against the boulder, but he could feel fresh bruises up and down his body. His left hand and the side of his face had been scraped badly, and his shoulder was very sore. He supposed he was lucky to have walked away without more serious injuries but was not looking forward to a hard day of climbing. His body already ached all over.The foggy air was getting lighter, and he decided he might as well begin the day’s climb. His aching muscles longed for rest, but he didn’t think he would be able to fall back to sleep with the sudden attack so fresh in his mind and his body so full of adrenaline. He made his way over to the nearby stream and knelt down next to it. After cleaning the cuts on his hand and face in the icy water, he leaned down and quenched his thirst.He then stood and began following the stream as he had the previous day. The way continued to steepen as the sky lightened. He stayed vigilant of his surroundings but luckily didn’t sense any more large animals. The fog eventually began to thin, and then suddenly he was out of it completely. He paused and took a deep breath of the clear, crisp air.The sun hadn’t risen above the horizon yet but soon would. His eyes traced the path of the stream upwards, and he saw the tree line not far off. He quickly hiked the remaining distance to the edge of the trees and then paused to catch his breath and eat breakfast. He ate several of the bland roots and took another sip from the stream.Traven realized his pockets were close to empty and looked around for any signs of the white and yellow flowers. Unfortunately, just as Darian had said, there didn’t appear to be any this high on the mountain. He wished he had harvested more the day before, but he had been in a hurry to cover as much ground as he could. There were enough of the roots left to sustain him throughout the day if he didn’t find anything else to eat, but he would have to ration them.He bid the forest farewell and continued upwards along the edge of the stream. Sunlight began to illuminate the top of the mountain and slowly crept down towards him. The snow covered peak reflected the light so brilliantly that he couldn’t glance at it without hurting his eyes. It wasn’t long before the sun burst over the horizon and bathed him in morning light as well.He turned and glanced out over the surrounding forest at the base of the mountain as the sunlight illuminated the land below. It was strange to think he was so high above the monstrous trees that had towered over him the previous morning. The clear, crisp air allowed him to see unobstructed far out over the surrounding forest and beyond. If he weren’t pressed for time, he could have stared at the landscape before him for the remainder of the morning. He had seen such things in his screeing dish, but even the sharp clarity of screeing couldn’t compare to the feelings of depth and grandeur one got from seeing such a scene in person.Traven took another deep breath of the crisp mountain air and resumed his hike. He was able to keep a good pace all morning as he hiked up the relatively unobstructed meadow of green grass and moss. By midmorning, he was surprised that he hadn’t yet reached the snow line. The distance was deceiving, and he found himself making slower progress than he had expected. His thighs burned with each step, and he was increasingly short of breath.Just before midday, the ground became wet and spongy. His boots soon became caked with mud, making it even harder to continue putting one foot in front of the other. He paused next to a lone rock and sat down on it. He scraped the mud from his boots but knew they would just become caked in the sticky mud once he continued his hike. After clearing his boots of the added weight, he pulled out the last of his berries and ate them.The snow line was very close now, and the air had become increasingly chilly despite the sun high over head. The effort of climbing the mountain caused him to actually be hot within the confines of the heavy fur coat, but whenever he removed it, his sweat soaked body chilled quickly in the cold air, and he had to put it back on almost immediately. Traven groaned as he got back to his feet and continued his trek up the mountain.By midday, his boot finally crunched down in a small patch of snow. He took several more steps through mud before leaving the sticky foe behind for good. He quickly scraped the mud from his boots against the crusty snow and let out a sigh of relief. He had finally reached the last leg of the climb. Somewhere in the snow, the opening to the Cave of the Eternal Flame was waiting. Traven smiled and began forward with renewed vigor.His smile soon turned to a frown and then to a grimace. The snow rapidly became worse than the mud. As it deepened, each of his steps became more labored, and he found himself slipping more often. The reflection of the sun off the white snow made it blindingly bright, and he had to squint constantly. The cold wind became icy, biting at his exposed flesh. He pulled his hood close around his face. His toes became uncomfortably cold as well.By mid afternoon, he was constantly up to his knees in the freezing snow. Notwithstanding the difficulty, he continued plodding onward through the thick, monotonous whiteness of the upper portions of the mountain. Each step was a struggle, and the air continued getting thinner, making it harder and harder to breathe. Despite the abundance of fresh water from the stream, his lips became chapped and cracked from the icy wind.The stream had been slowly meandering up the slope in a northeasterly direction, and the sun was low enough that it slowly began to disappear behind the other side of the mountain.
