Village In An Abandoned Mountain...

The wind howled, clawing at Elyonari's face with icy talons.

Her braid whipped violently behind her, bits of it frozen solid. Every breath she exhaled crystallized in front of her lips, the vapor turning into frost that clung to her eyelashes and chin.

She had never known such biting cold before, not even during her years in the winters of Mintheris. Her body, so often attuned with nature and its rhythms, had always been a haven of warmth, even in the bleakest of winters.

But this... this was different.

The blizzard raged, shrieking through the skies and tearing across the barren land. It felt wrong and not natural. It was like the mountain was fighting her and for the first time, Elyonari felt something creeping up her spine that she had rarely tasted since childhood.

Fear.

She ran fast. Her feet barely touched the snow before they were off again, gliding, leaping, slicing through it as she used Nature Energy to bend the snow beneath her feet into makeshift skis. Her knees bent, her body leaned forward and she shot through the whiteout with alarming speed, dodging frozen roots and unseen dips in the terrain.

Behind her, the chittering shrieks of the Exo Beetles echoed louder. They didn't stop. They didn't slow down. Their eight-legged gait tore across the snow at impossible speeds, some even climbing along the nearby cliff sides to catch up faster.

She clenched her jaw.

"Damn insects."

Flicking her hand behind her without looking, she weaved together fire and earth, compressing heat between two stone layers and igniting it like a sunburst, a searing wall of flames erupted behind her, crashing into the swarm. The force made some of them tumble, and their screeches rose higher.

But they kept coming.

The slope she was skiing down steepened even further and the wind doubled in strength. The blizzard lashed at her face again and this time, it hit deeper into her skin and blood. Her lips were purple now. Her fingertips numb. And worst of all?

Her Nature Energy was weakening. Not even her fire element could warm her up.

She could feel it draining faster and faster the more she relied on it to maintain her speed, warmth and resistance. She had the means to lessen the blizzard, temporarily bend the storm away from her but doing so would demand too much. Too much Nature Energy would be needed. And in a place like this, where life was already dying and the trees had already been drained...

She couldn't afford to waste any more.

The pressure of the storm pressed in from all directions, snow filling her hood, biting into her pointed ears, her shoulders, even through the thick winter gear she wore. And still, she kept moving.

Her vision began to blur. The cold had started seeping into her bones, not just her skin. Her knees trembled beneath her. She wanted to scream from the aching pain in her joints, but no sound came out, only the dry crackle of frozen breath. Her speed dropped. Her heart thundered in her ears louder than the storm.

"Why… why is this happening…?"

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to leap onto a higher ridge. Her hands caught the snow and dug deep, and she pulled herself up slowly, trembling, gasping and spitting out blood-tinged saliva from her cracked lips. She stood on trembling legs.

And she looked up.

She saw smoke.

It was faint, barely visible but it spiraled up through the snow-covered sky. Her heart skipped. Was it another illusion? She blinked. No. It wasn't. Her senses were still active. Elyonari could feel the warmth emanating from that smoke.

Real heat. Real fire.

And then she saw it.

Nestled in a narrow basin between cliffs was a village. Small, yes, perhaps no more than fifteen or twenty log cabins, covered with thick roofs of snow and smoke piping lazily out of their chimneys. A single stone tower stood in the center, a flame burning bright at its tip.

It was real.

Her eyes widened, but just as she gasped, her footing gave out.

The snow beneath her feet collapsed in an avalanche of powder. The edge of the cliff cracked like glass, and her arms flailed as the entire ledge slid out from under her.

"N-no—!"

She tumbled. Her body was spinning as white engulfed her vision, the cold consuming her again like a monster.

She didn't scream. She couldn't.

All she could do was feel the impact of ice, the smack of snow against her ribs and the bitter whip of wind against her face as she fell hard, sliding violently down the slope. But instincts took over. She shifted her knees, spread her arms, and turned her fall into a ski.

It was rough. It was painful and colder than anything she'd ever imagined. But it worked.

She didn't crash. She skidded down the slope at blinding speed, her cloak flapping behind her, eyes squinting through the endless snow, her heart pounding with equal parts fear and focus.

The village grew closer.

And finally, after what felt like hours compressed into seconds, her feet struck flatter snow. Her momentum slowed. Her knees buckled. She fell into the frost, gasping and coughing. Her face planted against the powder and for a long moment… she didn't move.

She lay still then lifted her head slowly, her lips pale, her eyes wet with frost and fatigue.

And for the first time since arriving on the Mountain of Illusions, Elyonari Mintheris felt a flicker of hope.