Walking through that door was a mistake. I had entered a snowy wasteland at the foot of a singular tall mountain. There was a blizzard beginning to blow across the land. The door behind me was beginning to freeze over; I had to make a decision quickly. Do I go back to the previous room, where there was nothing, or do I look for shelter here?

I scanned the scene as best as I could, looking for anything that would help. At the foot of the mountain, I spotted a flickering light that looked like a fire in a cave. I decided. I headed for that light, the only issue was that I was not dressed for this weather and I could feel the cold chilling deep into my bones. My feet were freezing and my hands were going numb. I needed to hurry or I was going to die out here.

The light was the size of a match head from the distance I saw it at. Once the storm picked up, I could no longer see it. I only hoped I continued on in the right direction. I marched as fast as I could, the snow increasing in depth and slowing me down.

I kept walking for what felt like hours, the mountain peeking through the blizzard at times. I knew I was at least headed towards that. My feet were completely numb as I got closer and closer to the mountain. My fingers turned purple long ago and I lost feeling in my hands altogether. The light of the cave flashed through the billowing snowfall, increasing in size. I was on the right path.

As the light from the cave became larger and larger, it ceased outright. It couldn’t have been the snow, because I could see the entrance clearly at this point. Shortly after the light had gone, I saw a dark figure leave the cave, heading up the mountain. No! I need that fire! I mustered together all my strength with my numb appendages and ran towards the cave. It was close now. The storm began to pick up once again.

I was beginning to slow down about 100 feet from the cave. I was getting tired. I must… continue… I must…. make it…. to the…. cave. I inched along hoping to make it before I froze to death. Inch after inch, foot after foot, I finally made it to the cave. There was a small red glow from where the fire was previously. I fell to the ground and did my best to crawl in its direction. The glow was getting smaller and smaller.

As I crawled, I looked around the room and found some kindling and logs that could be used. I grabbed as much as I could with my frozen fingers. I placed them over the glow and blew as much air as I could, trying to reignite the flame. Huff after huff I blew strong, firm breaths. The red glow grew brighter and brighter until it finally caught flame. The kindling catching fire and growing larger. I placed a log over the flame. Blowing the air mixed with my fatigue and numb, frozen limbs, caused me to pass out.

I’m getting warm. I’m no longer freezing. This feels nice. Nice and warm and cozy.

Wait, it’s getting a little hot in here. I’m starting to sweat.

Ouch. That hurts!

I awoke to my pants catching fire. I had rolled too close to the fire seeking warmth.

I pulled the fire extinguisher from my bag and sprayed my legs down. I just got this fresh pair of clothes, and now they were burnt, along with the skin on my legs. I was in pain again and again. I needed to get off this train. I saw that my fingers were black and I had no feeling in them. That’s not good. Frostbite.

I remembered back on the food Cornrose had given me. Now was as good a time as any to confirm the food theory, once and for all. I fumbled the cake out of the bag, my lifeless fingers failing me this time. I unraveled the cake as best I could and began eating. Slowly, I could feel the pain in my legs getting weaker and weaker. The feeling began coming back in my feet and in my hands. The color gradually returning to normal. Food is life on this train. Food heals all wounds. That was something I needed to focus on. If I had food, I could heal my wounds. Bandages seemed to keep me at bay.

I looked around the cave I was in. It seemed to be just a checkpoint for the mountain and not a place to stay for long. It had a stack of logs with some kindling in a crate off to the side. The only other thing in the cave was a small chest. I’m freezing still!

I made my way to the chest to see what was inside. Perfect! Just what I needed. I pulled out the snow gear and set it down to get a better look at it. There were two sets, one for someone of smaller stature and one for someone larger. I tried on the larger size and warmed up immediately. It wasn’t a perfect fit, but it got the job done.  I hope no one is going to miss these.

I peeked outside at the snow storm. It was raging as hard as ever. I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs at this point and wait for the storm to die down.

The seconds turned to minutes, which then turned to an hour. It eventually slowed down enough to see well enough in each direction. I left the cave and I walked in the same direction as the figure I had seen leaving earlier, hoping I could find the path up.

As I walked, I spotted a long dark line on the side of the mountain. Not sure on what it was, but when I approached I saw that it was a rope. This must be what they had used to climb up.

I climbed up the side of the mountain, my bag causing me to sway because of the wind it was catching. I had everything I owned in this bag and it felt as light as air. No wonder it was catching the wind.

As I made it to the next ledge, I spotted another rope just near the bend on the far side of the mountain. The higher up I went, the easier it was to see, but the harder it was to breathe.

The ropes I climbed helped me up the mountain by providing me with something to hold onto to prevent falling. They weren’t dangling ropes that I had to use full strength on, but that’s not to say the incline wasn’t sharp. If I didn’t hold onto the rope, I would fall back to where I began, especially with the snow.

As I made it up to the second ledge, I noticed an indent in the side of the mountain. A cave! That must be where they went. I headed over to the cave and peered inside. Dark. Very dark. After being outside in the light for so long, I couldn’t see far into the cave.

I stood outside contemplating on what to do. If I walked into the cave, I wouldn’t be able to see anything, like traps or holes or anything or anyone inside. I couldn’t stay outside with the snow, because I was ultimately getting chilled to the bone the longer I stayed out. That pretty much decided for me, so I slowly entered the cave, keeping my hand on the wall.

I took slow steps being sure to feel the ground before placing my full weight forward. It was a slow and steady process, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and I was able to see a bit more while still in line of sight with the cave opening. Once I rounded a corner, that’s when it went completely black.

I continued slowly, keeping to the left wall I was touching, presumably taking any left-side tunnels while I was at it. Eventually, in the dark, I saw light slowly emerging in the distance. It was flickering against the walls, so it must be a fire of some sort.

The light grew larger and larger and I soon saw the creature that was holding the torch, before it saw me. It was a short creature. Its head was lower than my waistline. It looked like a miniature yeti, covered in all white fur, walking on two legs, and had grayish feet and hands. It was walking nonchalantly until it saw me. It froze. Stared at me for a second and then darted away. In its haste it dropped the torch it was carrying. It must be able to see in the dark or it knows these paths well.

I grabbed the torch and followed after. I never regained sight of it before meeting a branch in the road and the entrance to several tunnels. With my light flickering, I could only see the entrances of the tunnels, nothing deep inside. On my left a noticed a glint far off into the distance of one tunnel, where a flicker of my light must have caught something. That was the one I chose to take.

The ground I was walking on soon changed from a hard dirt to complete stone. The glint was no longer visible, but I had seen it once or twice more and not in the same position. The tunnel eventually reached a corner and it twisted and turned in a downward spiral. I don’t think going down is where I need to go. I decided to give it more time, because this was the tunnel I had seen something in.

Once I made it to the bottom of the twist, just as the tunnel was straightening out, I ran into another creature. Not the mini yeti. This was a four limbed creature with all black skin, or fur, and was the same size as the mini yeti. It had very large beady black eyes in its round head and a row of sharp teeth that I saw as it was playing with a shiny stone in its front hands. It also looked like it might have wings on its back like an imp would. No thank you!

I had my sword and scabbard tucked away into my bag while I climbed the mountain and I hadn’t yet pulled it out. Big mistake. The creature shunned at the light at first, probably used to being in pitch black and that gave me a second to fumble through my bag for the sword. As its eyes adjusted, it dropped the gem and leaped towards me. I barely managed to free the sword from the scabbard as its razor-sharp teeth went straight for my face. With one swift motion, I managed to lop off the creature’s head.

Breathing heavily from the encounter, I picked up the torch I had dropped and watched as the creatures body twitch and writhed as black blood spewed from its body. As I watched it slow down to a stop, I noticed something peeking around the corner from where I had just come from. I readied my sword for another imp encounter, but quickly noticed that it was a mini yeti.

Locking eyes with it, it slowly came from around the corner. It started to ‘speak’, but all I could hear was gibberish. It was almost like it was speaking a foreign language backwards. I slowly lowered my sword, seeing that it didn’t intend to harm me.

As it spoke it pointed at the dead imp-like creature on the ground and started to smile, seemingly happy at what I had done. It then pointed to the ground behind where I was standing at the shiny stone the creature was playing with. I backed up, still facing the creature, and bent to pick it up. I pulled it up in front of me while keeping the yeti in my line of sight. The shiny stone was violet in color and with the flame light shining on it. It looked similar to the blacksmith’s bracelet. 

The yeti motioned for me to follow as it started back up the winding tunnel we both came from. I had nowhere else to go and no idea on how to navigate the tunnels, so for the moment, I trusted the yeti. It took me up the path and back to the branched room. It went down the tunnel that was third right from our current path. That tunnel wound and snaked upward into a longer path lit with torches on the wall that eventually met a balcony overlooking a sizable cavern. There were two yeti’s standing guard near the entrance to this balcony.

After the yeti spoke to the two guards, they apprehensively let me in, eyeing me the entire time. As I looked over the balcony into the cavern, I could see several huts off to the side separated from a large bonfire burning in the center of the cavern. The opposite side of the cavern held farm fields and farm animals, I would assume, of types I have never seen. On the far end of the cavern, behind the bonfire, was a larger hut that appeared to be a meeting house.

They appear to be civilized…