Chapter 7: The Hike

Arriving at the airport Jake grabbed his bags and headed to a pickup point where a car was waiting for him that he had ordered in advance to take him to the closest point to the village.

The car ride was going to take about 2-3 hours so Jake checked through his notes again and get some rest as after the car ride he would have to hike over some snowy paths to the village, it was no easy feat as the temperatures would be below freezing.

His main goal was to get to the village and climb the huge staircase to the door and knock on it, knowing that the path he was going to take was going to be long Jake made sure he memorized the route he would have to take.

Whilst checking through his phone he got a call from one of his friends harry, Jake cancelled the call at first but then he was calling again so he decided to answer it.

Jake: Hello

Harry: JAKE thank fuck where are you

Jake: Well it's kinda hard to explain

Harry: Just tell me where you are

Jake: China

Harry: ....seriously where are you

Jake: no I'm serious I'm in china

Harry: and what are you doing there

Jake: I can't really say but I'll be back home in a few weeks

With that Jake hung up the phone and decided to turn off his phone to save the battery in it, an hour went by and the driver indicated to Jake that he was at the destination.

Jake: right so it's just down this path

Jake pointed towards the only opening that was in front of them and the driver just stared at him and nodded his head.

Jake: right then I'll be seeing ya

Jake grabbed his bag and covered up and set off down the path, turning back he saw the car driving away knowing that it would be his last sign of life until he reaches the village.

The hike across the mountain range would be a 15-hour hike to reach the village, Jake got there early in the morning so he hoped he would get most of the hike over with before night time.

With him he had packed all his clothes and some thermals to keep him warm, he also carried a small tent that he would need to set up before night time as he would need it to stay warm.

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Jake had been hiking now for about 13 hours and he could feel himself getting extremely tired, the temperature had dropped massively and Jake was freezing, knowing he was only a few hours away from the village Jake decided he would power through and get there without setting up a camp.

He knew how stupid it was but at this point, he did not care as he knew there would just be wasted time setting up the tent, time he could use moving on towards the village.

As he was hiking the weather shifted and was slowly becoming a blizzard, Jake knew he could not make camp now as the weather would be against him in his efforts and he would probably just freeze to death setting up the tent.

His only hope now was to get to the village quickly, powering on through the blizzard with only thermals he had on keeping him warm, his vision was almost a complete blur of white streaks but he could still see right in front of him.

Feeling in front of him he could feel what seemed to be a huge boulder blocking his path, climbing over said boulder Jake could see glimpses of lights ahead of him.

He knew he had made it to the village all he had to do was walk up the steps to the village then the final steps to the door.

Finally making it into the village entrance he could see it was very small with maybe about 20 buildings all clustered together lining 1 path that extended up to the stairs of towards the door.

As Jake was following along the path he started to hear a man shouting from one of the houses.

???: ????????

Jake could not understand what the man was shouting so he walked towards home.

Jake: Sorry I don't understand

???: ah an English man

Jake: yes I'm English

???: quick come in, blizzard cold

Jake followed the man into his house and the man closed the door behind them.

???: do you want some warm tea?

Jake: yes, please

The man then walked towards a small kitchen and got some pots out and started to boil some water.

Jake: sorry what's your name?

Shonji: my name is Shonji, Yours?

Jake: nice to meet you I'm Jake

Shonji: what brings you out here Jake?

Jake: the door at the top of the stairs

Shonji: ah I thought it might be, another traveller hey

Jake: do you know anything about it, the door that is

Shonji: all I know is it is a monastery of monks, they trade with us for food and essentials

Jake was very interested in that as nowhere said it was a monastery or even said more than 1 person was living there.

Jake: a monastery you say

Shonji came back with a small cup of tea and handed it to Jake.

Shonji: yes it's probably best you go up tomorrow now, it's very dangerous now and you can spend the night here

Jake finished off his tea.

Jake: I appreciate the hospitality but I really need to get there tonight

Shonji: well I can't exactly stop you so good luck

Picking up his bags Jake made his way out the house with Shonji leading him toward the stairs.

Shonji: well here are the steps good luck up there

Jake: thank you, sir, I'll be seeing ya

Shonji then left Jake and headed back to his house, Jake looked up the massive staircase in complete awe.

He grabbed the straps of his bag and started making his way up.

As Jake was nearing the top of the stairs his vision started to go fuzzy and he felt his body shutting down, stepping up the last step he could see the door just as he was able to knock on the door Jake passed out right in front of it in the blizzard.

The door then opened and the man that was described in the articles was standing there, the man looked down at Jake and said "well today is the day" grabbing Jake and bringing him inside shutting the door behind them.