"You know. After so many times of almost dying. It kinda lost its impact." I muse to myself while hanging from a cliff. Upside down. The only thing saving me from falling about twenty meters onto solid rock is some rope, wrapped around my waist, and a few metal spikes.
I hang there for a few moments longer. Just breathing through the pain. Not just from the jolt of the fall being abruptly broken by the rope, but also the general pain in my arms and legs.
Knowing that I can't hang around forever, though. And knowing that this is one of the last, if not the last wall I have to climb, I quickly recover and get back to it.
Dragging myself up the rope with every bit of strength I could muster until I could put my feet onto some of the spikes. To give my arms a break. I shake my wrists out to stop them from locking up.
My right hand, of course, hurts much worse than my left. Without the use of my thumb, I had to rely on just the other four fingers to do what I had to do. Which in turn leads to a lot of rope burn and other abuse.
The four fingers on my right hand feel like they are about to fall off every time I climb a wall. Stiff and barely usable for hours afterward.
And it's the same this time. But at least from what I could see, this was most likely the last large wall I had to climb.
I was very close to the summit now. Maybe another hundred meters give or take. The tip of the mountain is definitely easier to ascend than much of the side of it.
There was a lot more snow. Yes. It went all the way up to my hip at certain points. So it wasn't easy to walk. But it was still easier than in other places. Because at least I could walk and not constantly have to climb over rocks.
This, coupled with my actually being able to see what I think is the summit, gave me enough energy to push on despite my exhaustion. Trudging through the waist-high snow. Against the wind and slope.
Aiming for the summit. And when I finally reach it. When the slope finally tapers off and reveals a fairly flat expanse of white before me, I collapse onto my knees for a while. I'm just happy and relieved that I finally made it up here.
Sure, the weather right now isn't nice. It was fairly windy, so I couldn't see very far because of the disturbed snow. But I could see well enough that this plain of snow I was on continued straight.
Flanked by two slightly larger points of the mountain. Like an indent in the tip of the mountain. This allowed all this snow to gather. The tip of the mountain was shaped more like a small U than I had expected.
Not that it mattered. I was up here now. And even if I had to climb the sides that stick out to really see all around the mountain, I could easily do so.
They were only about fifteen meters high and not so jagged or sheer that I had to bust out the climbing gear. They were just slopes I could ascend if necessary to get my bearings.
But first, I was going to just walk forward and see what was beyond this mountain. Because this whole time, I kept in mind where I am relative to the airship crash. And I was still in line with it.
Or differently put. This side of the mountain was the one I saw from the airship crash site. That place that seemed so far away now.
"It's funny. A lot of things have happened since. But at the same time, I feel like almost nothing did." I trudge through the snow while talking to myself. Distracted by my thoughts yet again.
But not nearly enough to miss what was in front of me. A steep drop. No. A cliff. Well. Two cliffs. Like a cut going right through the mountain that separates it in half.
"Bruh." I quickly check left and right. Only to see that this cut goes all the way through the mountain. It really is like someone had separated the two halves of this mountain with a sword or something.
The cut was too clean to have come about naturally. Though I only see that after carefully inching forward. Just enough to see down the cliff on my side.
"Pffiiiii." I whistle while nodding my head approvingly. Impressed by whatever or whoever did this. From what I could see from where I stood, the cut went all the way down to the foot of the mountain.
Or so I assume. It was too dark for me to see the bottom. So it was fair to assume it went pretty deep. The gash carved into the rock posed a little problem for me, of course.
It wasn't nearly as wide as it was deep or long. But it was too wide to jump. The distance between my side of the mountain and the other side of the mountain was about six to six and a half meters. Way too far to jump, even if given perfect conditions.
"What's the long jump world record again? Like eight meters?" Even given perfect conditions. And my old body, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near that. "I remember the last time I did long jumps was in the military. And I jumped like five meters. No way I'd make that."
As per usual, I stand before an obstacle. And as per usual, I'm not out of ideas. So I spent about an hour going left and ascending the left tip of the mountain.
Not that it matters in the end. The gouge ran all the way through the mountain.
Climbing up there indeed proves pointless. But while up there, I entertain a thought while looking down the canyon. `What if I jump from all the way at the edge of the cliff. Towards the middle of the mountain? Would the height difference make up for the distance?`
It's a foolish thought, of course. The slope wasn't even steep enough to warrant that question. It was like pondering if you could jump from one ten-meter hill to the next just because you aim for the bottom of the other hill. When they are separated by six or seven meters.
It's just not feasible. And I know that. But I continue to entertain the thought as I walk back down the slope. Walking along the gorge and going to the right side now.
Which had me face the same problem as the left side. I expected as much. However. What I didn't expect was to find some ruins on top of the right-side ridge.
Right there. At the actual highest point of the mountain, there were some clearly man-made stone walls. Just pieces. Crumbling walls. Some square stones were dotted around them.
But even so, my feet carry me towards the ruins quickly. Ignoring how exhausted I am, I explore the ruins rapidly. Full of hope that there might be something here to help me cross the obstacle I face right now.
Although there isn't much to explore. "Hmm. It seems like the ruins of some sort of small house. But who the hell would want to live here?" I wonder to myself as I walk around the ruins.
I brush snow off stones and dig around for a while to see if I can find anything that might be useful to me. Though it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that there is nothing here. Just some old rocks.
"Well. At least I have a place that will somewhat shield me from my surroundings while I figure this thing out." I sit on one of the low, crumbling walls while scratching my chin.
Though I already know the answer to what I have to do to make it across the gorge.
"Magic." Even using some very basic magic, I could easily make it across the gorge. All I have to do is figure out how to use magic. That's all.
But that will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm dead tired. Sitting down even for just a moment allows all the exhaustion of the day to catch up with me quickly.
I put the problem of the gorge aside for now and prepare a sleeping area within the crumbling walls of the ruin. Using my tarps and weighing them down with some of the smaller rocks to create a somewhat of a mat.
So I at least don't have to sleep on the hard floor. Like before in the cave. My back is still aching at the mere thought of that ordeal.
Sleep quickly finds me today, as well. As I rest in the shadow of a ruin that must have been here since before whatever happened to this mountain happened.