John stood at the foot of the mountain, shivering in the relentless snowstorm that whipped around him. His heart thumped in his chest as he took in the sheer height of the mountain, wondering how on earth he was supposed to climb it. He adjusted his body temperature with the help of his armor, grateful for the technology that could keep him warm in such extreme conditions.
As he began to ascend, the snow crunched beneath his boots and the wind buffeted him from all sides. The cloak he wore was weightless, but it still flapped wildly behind him, making it difficult to maintain his balance. John gritted his teeth and pushed on, determined to complete this trial and move on to the next.
John took a deep breath as he surveyed his surroundings. The snowstorm was relentless, whipping and howling around him with a ferocity that was almost palpable. It was as if the storm was apathetic to his very existence, just a small speck in the midst of its all-encompassing fury. The snowfall was so heavy that he could barely see his own hand in front of his face, and the biting cold penetrated every inch of his body, making his limbs ache.
Despite the numbing cold and biting wind, John was determined to push through. He knew that he had to reach the top of the mountain in order to complete the trial, and nothing was going to stop him. He pulled his cloak tighter around him, trying to stave off the cold, and began to climb.
With each step, he felt the weight of the snow and the wind pushing against him. It was a battle of wills, and John refused to let the storm defeat him. He pushed on, one step at a time, his feet sinking deep into the snow with each step. The wind howled in his ears, drowning out all other sounds, and the snow whipped at his face, stinging his skin.
As he climbed higher and higher, the storm seemed to grow even more relentless. It was as if the mountain itself was trying to prevent him from reaching the top. But John was determined, and he refused to give up. He dug deep, finding reserves of strength he didn't know he had, and continued to climb.
As John began his ascent up the mountain, the snowstorm grew more intense. The wind howled around him, and the snow stung his face. He pulled his cloak tighter around him, trying to protect himself from the biting cold.
After climbing for several hours, John found himself at the base of a sheer rock face. He called his Grimoire and selected the earth spike spell. Focusing his energy, he drove the spell into the rock and created a series of handholds that he could use to climb up.
As he climbed higher, he encountered a patch of ice that had formed over the rock. He attempted to cast the homing missile spell to shatter the ice, but his fingers were numb from the cold, and he couldn't quite get the incantation right. Frustrated, he was forced to use his bare hands to chip away at the ice until he could make progress.
As he continued up the mountain, John encountered a steep and narrow ridge. He knew that one misstep could send him tumbling to his death, but he had no choice but to cross it. With his heart pounding in his chest, he made his way slowly across, gripping the ridge tightly and trying not to look down.
At one point, a gust of wind caught him off balance, and he stumbled. He felt his foot slip, and for a moment, he thought he was going to fall. But somehow, he managed to regain his footing, and he continued on his way.
Despite his best efforts, John's progress up the mountain was slow and fraught with danger. He slipped on patches of ice, narrowly avoided falling rocks, and battled the punishing wind and snow.
As he climbed higher, he began to feel the strain on his body. His muscles ached and his breath came in ragged gasps. But he didn't give up. He pushed himself to his limits, wanting to use his empty potion bottle to wish for a remedy to his problems, but he kept his hand knowing the potion might give him short relief, but it would not help him in this case.
What astounded John was that even though he had been climbing for hours, there was no night in sight. His mind was so numb from the cold that the didn’t realize he was not climbing a real mountain and that the light was coming from crystals that grew from the ceiling.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, John reached the top of the mountain. But his triumph was short-lived as he realized that there was no exit anywhere to be seen. Only then did he remember he was supposed to fight a monster, a guardian of the trial to exit this god-forsaken place? But they were nowhere to be seen, neither the exit nor the monster.
It was only when he removed his eyes from the ground and looked into the sky did he a rocky balcony of sorts an unreachable distance diagonal to the mountaintop behind the shimmer of the invisible barrier blocking the exit. Panic began to set in as he wondered if he was going to be trapped on this mountain forever because how was he to reach the exit even if he did the shimmer proved that there was a monster on the mountain, one that he had to defeat to unlock the exit.
John's heart sank. How was he supposed to get there? It was too far to jump, and the snowstorm made it impossible to see where he was going. Just as he was about to give up hope, he saw a blizzard hawk flying through the sky.
A glimmer of hope sparked.
The blizzard hawk soared through the sky with grace and power, defying the wind and snow. John watched in awe, as the hawk disappeared on the other side of the mountain. His mind fought the numbing cold to tell him what he had to do to get to the exit. A shiver shook his spine when he realized that he might not have to kill the monster, but subdue the creature instead.
But the blizzard hawk was no ordinary bird. It was a ferocious monster that could kill him with a single swipe of its talons. its wingspan wide enough to blot out the swirling snowstorm. Its feathers were a combination of white, gray, and light blue, blending perfectly with the snowy landscape. Its eyes were a piercing blue, giving it an almost otherworldly appearance. As it swooped and dove through the storm, the hawk seemed almost like a ghostly apparition, blending seamlessly with the snow and ice.
Then it saw John. His heart raced.
The hawk's eyes glinted with a predatory glimmer, and John could feel his heart pounding in his chest. This was it - the final challenge of the trial.
The hawk was the first to act. It screeched in fury and swooped down towards John, talons extended. John quickly dodged and called his Grimoire.
The Grimoire appeared behind him, he found his feet. He hurriedly raised his hand to define the opponent for the spell to act, the weightless cloak fluttering in the biting wind. He had no time for the shot. He chanted the homing missile spell and let it fend for itself while he dashed away from the site, out of the danger that the bone-chilling wind released by the hawk presented.
The homing missile went silently toward the hawk in the swirling snowstorm, but the bird was too quick. It dodged with a powerful beat of its wings, sending a flurry of snow cascading down onto John. He stumbled, nearly losing his footing on the icy slope.
The hawk dove towards him, sharp talons glinting in the dim light. John rolled out of the way just in time, the hawk's claws raking across the ground where he had just been. They left deep ravines in the snow, deep enough to cut the stone hidden beneath the solid layer of old snow.
John scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding with fear and adrenaline.
This dance continued for what felt like an eternity. John would launch a spell, the hawk would dodge, and then it would swoop in for a vicious attack. John managed to dodge most of the blows, but he could feel his armor starting to wear down from the constant barrage.
Suddenly, the hawk flapped its wings hard and a rain of icicles came down, forcing John to dodge and weave through them. He couldn’t dodge all of them and had to retaliate with homing missiles to take out the icicles that he couldn’t dodge. Thankfully, the icicle attack covered a large area and was not homing toward him otherwise no amount of weaving and dodging could have saved John from getting skewered like the goldfish in the last trial.
John was thinking of backing away to regroup his thought and the hawk as if reading his mind swooped toward him. John’s foot got stuck in the snow sidestepping and he ended up colliding chest up with the hawk’s beak.
His chest armor took the brunt of the impact, but he was still sent flying backward, the shockwaves surging through his body like a raging tide on a mission to sink everything.
The hawk circled around, creating another rain of icicles. John couldn’t dodge. He create a shelter made out of Earth spikes to hide underneath, but a few icicles still found him. They grazed him in places, drawing blood. One cleanly entered his thigh, not deep enough to break his bone, but it clearly made the leg useless for now. Thankfully it was cold and he didn’t feel much pain otherwise he would have been left unable to continue the fight and would have probably become the hawk's dinner.
John somehow scrambled to his feet, not putting any weight on his injured leg. His breathing was heavy and labored, he gritted his teeth and pulled the icicle out of his leg. That was a bold move and it proved right. The icicle didn’t seem to have hit any major artery. There was bleeding, but only as much as one would expect to form a flesh wound.
John expected the hawk to turn him into a popsicle by engaging the storm on him, but it chose the most exciting of potion to end the fight. It must have thought so. Why else would it abandon to attack from afar and rush toward John like a goddamned monster?
John planted his feet into the snow. The weightless cloak fluttering behind him gave wind to his sail. He called his Grimoire and started casting spells like he was on his last leg.
The hawk bulldozed through his spells, and tore through homing missile without a flicker of pain in its eyes, coming for John with a macabre agenda. John didn’t back down either. He watched the hawk drawing close and waited until it passed over the only stone rock protruding out in the vast expanse of white. And when it did, a volley of sharp, thick stone spikes sprung out of the rock attacking the belly and wings of the passing hawk.
The hawk noticed. Of course, it did.
And it dodged, dodged what it could, but could not dodge them all. One of the stone spikes jutting out of the rock impaled the hawk’s wing.
The hawk let out a piercing screech and crashed toward John who saw his chance and launched himself forward, barreling into the hawk with all his strength.
They collided in midair, the force of the impact sending both of them tumbling through the air. John swung an arm around the hawk’s neck and grabbed hold for dear life. He felt the hawk's icy breath, and he knew that one wrong move meant certain death.
They crashed to the ground, John's body slamming into the hard-packed snow. He gasped for air, his head spinning from the impact. The hawk lay nearby, its wings spread out in the snow. It was still alive but hurt.
The hawk beat its wings and screeched in pain and fury, glaring at John with madness in its eyes. It tried spreading its wings, probably trying to cast one last storm of icicles to kill John, but John didn’t give him the chance.
He rushed toward the hawk screaming at the top of his lungs.
Unable to cast a spell, the hawk swung his wing at him. John dodged it by sliding under it then stood up right next to the monster, his Grimoire glowing behind him. He threw the rock into the hawk's beak and instantly cast an earth spike spell, forcing the monster's beak open. Then wished for a subjugation potion and forced the glowing purple concoction into the monster's mouth.
The hawk's eyes opened wide as the potion slid down its throat. The hawk let out a piercing screech and started to flap its wings frantically, but the subjugation potion was too powerful. It slowly began to lose its energy, and its movements became sluggish. Eventually, the hawk landed on the ground and let out a weak caw before closing its eyes.
John approached the blizzard hawk cautiously, but it remained still, completely under the effects of the subjugation potion. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowly run his hands over the hawk’s icy-cold feathers.
He could feel the power coursing through the hawk's body, a fierce energy that he knew he could harness. He had done it. He had subdued the creature and could now use it to fly to the exit. He closed his eyes and climbed onto the hawk’s back.
“Let’s go.” He ordered and the hawk followed, its wings beating slowly, almost reluctantly.
They soared over the snow-capped mountains, the blizzard hawk's power carrying them effortlessly toward the exit. John could feel the wind on his face, the rush of freedom and exhilaration that came with flight.
Finally, they reached the exit, and John felt the hawk's energy fading. He thanked the bird, knowing that this was a moment he would never forget. And then he stepped through the exit, back into the world he had left behind.
As he landed on the other side, he felt a sense of relief wash over him. He had completed the challenge of courage, and he had done it without killing the monster. He had shown his courage and ingenuity in the face of a daunting challenge, and he had come supreme against all odds.
