(Year 0)

Esfali’s pack pressed into her back, the weight dragging her down toward the glinting snow. The sun was deceptively bright, but did nothing to warm the frigid air. She forced herself to look up, watching the massive rock cliffs draw closer as she struggled forward. After three days in the snowfield, forced to make camp in the open, it would be convenient to finally have shelter beyond her small tent.

Light glared in her eyes, and she shielded them with her arm, squinting forward. How did it get so bright all of a sudden? The light continued to intensify, and she realized it wasn’t coming from the sun. What- she covered her face as a pulse of heat hit her, burning her forearms where they shielded her.

As soon as the wave subsided, she ran backward, trying to spot whatever had attacked her. A bright spot of light condensed, forming a snakelike figure suspended in the air. It regarded her coolly for a second before splitting into beams that seared her again. She ducked to the side, rolling through the snow. The cold pierced her skin as she shed her pack and cloak in the powder.

A second later, her yo-yo was in her hand. She swept her black hair out of her face, trying to get sight of her attacker.

A blaze of heat hit her from behind, and she screamed, rolling forward and spinning around again. Before the thing could disappear, she swung her yo-yo forward, blades singing. The thing swerved in the air, twisting fluidly up the yo-yo’s string. She ducked, jerking the yo-yo to the side and flinging the snake away. It snapped its glowing wings open just before it hit the ground, but its tail still disturbed the snow. As the puff of cold powder covered the base of its tail, it screamed, flapping up.

What? It seemed too unlikely that it had been hurt by the cold; it would never have survived this long in the Forbidden Peaks.

But it was still something she could work with. As she ran back, she scooped up a handful of snow, packing it in her hands. I am in a snowball fight with a territorial light snake. She spun and hurled the snowball.

It passed through the snake, completely failing to do damage. The snake flicked toward her, moving alarmingly quickly through the air.

The snow shifted beneath Esfali’s feet, and her injured leg twisted painfully. She fell with a shout, and as her hand impacted the ground, a spike of ice shot up into her palm. She screamed in pain and pulled her hand up before the spike went all the way through.

Esfali cradled her bleeding hand, struggling to her feet and looking around. The creature in front of her looked like part of the snow; it protruded from the powder just enough to show its icy fangs and large gray eyes. She’d never seen its kind before, and once again had no idea what its weaknesses might be, or how it might be disposed of.

Esfali glanced up at the snake. It had paused in the air, regarding the snow creature. Realizing her hand was effectively useless, Esfali used the time to switch the yo-yo’s string to her left hand. It felt awkward, but she’d be at least proficient with it.

The snow creature rumbled forward, churning snow in its wake. Esfali glanced around at the barren field. There’s nothing around here to use. She spun and struggled as fast as she could toward the cliffs, only stopping to reach down and sling her pack back onto her back.

The rumbling ground and glaring light were sufficient to tell her she was being pursued. She shot her yo-yo out in front of her and used it to help pull her forward, but it also pulled her down, and she soon gave up on that tactic.

When the rumbling got too close behind her, she rolled to the side, this time grateful for the cold as the creature skidded past her in a flurry of powder. She surged forward and flipped over it as it stopped, running on before it could attack her. The snake darted at her from the side, but she ducked out of the way, forcing herself to move faster.

The cliffs drew closer at an agonizingly slow rate. Her lungs burned, and her pack shifted back and forth on her back, the straps biting into her neck. She was engaged in a sort of frantic dance, running for a time before dodging opponents she couldn’t hurt, then forcing herself to run again.

At last, the cliffs stretched up above her, slicing into the clear sky. She glanced around, using a second to calculate which places would catch her yo-yo; it wouldn’t stick in rock.

She shot it to the side so that it arched up to the top of a low ledge to land with a thump in a patch of dirt. She yanked the string, tugging herself up with a sudden jerk. The blades threatened to slip free as they pulled her up, but she managed to land on the ledge, dumping her pack in the little bit of dirt and looking around.

The snake burst into her vision, wings flashing not five feet from her face as it crested the ledge. Esfali threw her yo-yo out to the side so that the blades lodged into a crevice in the rock. She jumped off of her ledge, wrapping both hands around the string as it pulled taut and swinging toward the rock with alarming speed.

She tugged the yo-yo back to her, only giving herself a split second to find its next trajectory before she’d thrown it and it was pulling her around in a tight arc toward the next stone wall.

The snake collided with the wall behind her, but rather than hitting it, the light just sprayed apart along the wing that had been hit. It fell down for a second before the wing reformed and it chased after her again.

Esfali hit the cliff legs first, then quickly let out her yo-yo’s string to lower herself to the ground. She pulled her weapon back to her, then dashed through a gap in the sharp, spine-like rocks, an idea forming.

I could probably use some fear right now. She clenched her jaw and pushed the thought away, battling back the emotion. She’d trained her battle instincts; she didn’t need natural instinct guiding her.

A spike of ice hit her from behind, sinking into her already-injured leg. She screamed as she collapsed to the ground, string falling slack around her as her hand left the yo-yo and flew to her leg. She yanked the spike out, thanking Dasaria it was slick and cold.

The snow creature reared up to strike again, and she rolled to the side, accidentally inhaling a cloud of snow. She spit it out, coughing, and shoved herself up. I’m going to get through this. She didn’t know why, or what purpose she had left to the world. I don’t care why, but I’m going to.

She pulled her yo-yo to her hand, then shot it up to another nearby ledge. It bounced off, but she pulled it back and tried again, shooting out of the way just before the creature struck her.

She tugged herself onto the ledge, looking around and catching her breath. I’m going to get through this. Maybe Kallista still needs me.

This time, when her breath caught in her throat it had nothing to do with the snow. “I don’t care,” she snarled out loud. “She made her choice. She stayed like a subservient dog under corrupt leadership. She stayed. I don’t care!”

She brushed her soaked black hair away from her face and stood. The snake was already flying toward her. Taking a deep breath, she lodged the yo-yo in the same spot she’d used to pull herself up, then turned and jumped back.

The snake sailed above her head, but turned more quickly this time. Esfali swung down against the cliff, letting herself slide down again. She landed a good distance from the snow creature, which turned around and rumbled toward her. Then she turned around, watching the snake draw closer.

Wait… the snake darted toward her again. It bared its fangs, but she continued to wait, feeling the snow creature rumbling toward her from behind. If she was wrong and the snake was too fast…

A rush of cold burst behind her. Gripping her yo-yo tightly, she flipped backward over the snow creature, ignoring the pulse of pain from her leg. As soon as her feet impacted the ground, she leapt forward again. A tendril of ice whistled toward her but she smacked it aside with her palm, then flung her yo-yo at the snow creature at point-blank range. It howled as the blades sank into it, then began to glow orange, spitting bits of snow out as they spun.

The snake dove at Esfali over the snow creature just as she yanked her yo-yo back, setting off the charge. The snow exploded, and as the particles refracted the snake’s light, it screamed and vanished. She fell back from the explosion, rolling quickly back to her feet, and put her yo-yo away. It had been her last charge; she didn’t know what she was supposed to do if she encountered anything like this again.

Esfali breathed out heavily. Used to the routine by now, she went back to her pack and did her best to clean it of snow before everything was too wet to use. She dug her spare cloak out and wrapped it around her, although it was cold and a bit wet. She realized again that she had no defined destination, but shoved the anxiety deep down with everything else. I’ll get there as I come to it. I’ll survive.