Post by Lone Dancer on Jul 20, 2022 22:37:30 GMT
Shard found himself wondering how he ended up climbing a mountain in the middle of a blizzard, as he wore weights and his wings were tied down, all the while a sadistic thing of a mask somehow pelted him with snowballs despite lacking limbs. All his muscles hurt, and he learned of new ones this way, because ow.
He gritted his teeth and continued trying to find any purchase in the craggy rock face, doing his best to ignore the freezing sharpness of earlier mentioned snowballs. As a dweller of ice and snow, he thought he knew the cold, and was comfortable with it.
He was wrong.
Pebbles skittered on down besides or on his claws, as the wind howled in a flurry of snow. Everything felt sore and battered, and he was so incredibly cold. Still he reached up higher and higher, his claws finding purchase as they dug into the stone. He filtered all other sensory input, focusing on only his breathing and the steady pulse of his heartbeat.
He thought he was doing well until a barrage of snowballs came out of nowhere, and it felt like he was icing over. Spluttering, he tried to keep his grip, but he was teetering. Grimacing, he slammed himself into the rock wall, his claws digging in deeper under his full weight. Broken fragments scattered out, raining over him, plinking off his scales.
“You’re an ice dragon, surely you can handle a few snowballs.”
Normally Shard would snap back, but he was feeling drained after that maneuver. The ring weights around his forearms and hindlegs were ever more noticeable now. The metal frosting over didn’t help with his non-existent comfort.
Breathing deeply, he tried to focus on his center. If any other creature told him he had a center, and could cultivate it by harvesting the energy of the world, he would’ve laughed and ignored them. But it was Teach, and while the mask was brutal, he hasn’t lied to him yet. He still found the air to curse Teach’s name.
Lines upon lines, threads throughout threads, his body was strengthened by them. Nearby his heart was a glowing sphere, ethereal in nature. More snow pelted him, but this time he wasn’t so easily shook.
Shimmering threads of noncolored light pulsed in tune with his heartbeat, as he climbed ever higher. The air burned to breathe, but he threw himself over to the cold. His limbs were stiff, but he continued his vertical march upwards, as the raging blizzard tried to beat him back down.
The snowballs felt constant now, but with every impact he took power from the cold. He was ice. And so Shard lost himself to this mindless yet meditative climb, having finally been pushed over the brink.
His claws easily pierced into stone, everywhere his body touched glazed over with ice and frost, the blizzard now his roaring company.
Shard was the cold, the ice and snow, frost and blizzard.
He was numb, and his very blood felt frozen, but he finally clambered onto the peak, onto sweet, sweet flat ground. Finally having steady purchase, his limbs all gave up, and he collapsed, heaving for air, every inhale pain.
He felt like he was dying, no, he was dying.
He couldn’t even shiver, all his muscles were too stiff. As things began to fade, his mouth was forced open, and a soothingly warm honey flavored liquid was poured into it. His limbs made unpleasant cracking noises as he began to thaw out, cold replaced by the warmth of a hearth. He didn’t realize it until now, but a thick blanket was also wrapped him.
“Easy now, you did it.” Teach’s voice easily pierced through the howling blizzard. Shard was too busy shamelessly gulping down every last drop from Teach’s offered flask, before promptly conking out from sheer exhaustion. He had no dreams.
“Three days. You were climbing that mountain for three days. Rather slow, but you got there in the end.”
“If I have to redo it, I’m tossing myself off this mountain. Death is kinder than you are.” Shard was quite comfortably wrapped up in a blanket, and didn’t care how undignified he looked. He lost his dignity and pride a long time ago thanks to Teach.
The mask in question merely hovered in place in front of Shard, spinning as it did its bell-like laughter. Shard continued their flat stare as they kept themselves comfortable, and more importantly, warm.
Thankfully, the mask gave them some time to recuperate. Teach wasn’t always so generous…
Groaning, Shard stretched and finally shed the blanket despite a large portion of his mind screaming at him to snuggle up and go back to sleep. He was a grown dragon, not a dragonet, no matter how tempting or nice it sounded to sleep more.
“Since you’re now ready, we can begin the next part!” Teach was cheerful, which sent every single alarm blaring in Shard’s head. If Teach was so happy, Shard certainly wouldn’t be.
“But first, you gotta climb down.”
An expletive rang throughout the mountain rage, scaring some casually perching birds into panicked flight.
Then a very curious sight occurred. An ice dragon with their wings bound down simply walked off the edge of the peak, and plummeted their way down to the ground, bouncing a few times off the rock face.
When they finally landed, they laid there for a bit. A odd mask daintily glided on down.
“You know, I didn’t intend for you to use the healing salve for this purpose, but full points on speed, creativity, and not dying.”
Shard only groaned as every broken bone in his body stitched themselves back together. He found this to be much more preferable over climbing on down. He ignored the insanity of it all, at least he was on the ground now.
Spitting out a bit of blood, he pulled himself up into an upright position. The rare benefit of Teach’s sadist nature was Shard’s pain tolerance found itself being raised every day.
“Well, what now, Teach.” Shard hacked out, still trying to get a full breath into his lungs. Ow, his ribs hurt. Ow, everything hurt.
Ow.
He gritted his teeth and continued trying to find any purchase in the craggy rock face, doing his best to ignore the freezing sharpness of earlier mentioned snowballs. As a dweller of ice and snow, he thought he knew the cold, and was comfortable with it.
He was wrong.
Pebbles skittered on down besides or on his claws, as the wind howled in a flurry of snow. Everything felt sore and battered, and he was so incredibly cold. Still he reached up higher and higher, his claws finding purchase as they dug into the stone. He filtered all other sensory input, focusing on only his breathing and the steady pulse of his heartbeat.
He thought he was doing well until a barrage of snowballs came out of nowhere, and it felt like he was icing over. Spluttering, he tried to keep his grip, but he was teetering. Grimacing, he slammed himself into the rock wall, his claws digging in deeper under his full weight. Broken fragments scattered out, raining over him, plinking off his scales.
“You’re an ice dragon, surely you can handle a few snowballs.”
Normally Shard would snap back, but he was feeling drained after that maneuver. The ring weights around his forearms and hindlegs were ever more noticeable now. The metal frosting over didn’t help with his non-existent comfort.
Breathing deeply, he tried to focus on his center. If any other creature told him he had a center, and could cultivate it by harvesting the energy of the world, he would’ve laughed and ignored them. But it was Teach, and while the mask was brutal, he hasn’t lied to him yet. He still found the air to curse Teach’s name.
Lines upon lines, threads throughout threads, his body was strengthened by them. Nearby his heart was a glowing sphere, ethereal in nature. More snow pelted him, but this time he wasn’t so easily shook.
Shimmering threads of noncolored light pulsed in tune with his heartbeat, as he climbed ever higher. The air burned to breathe, but he threw himself over to the cold. His limbs were stiff, but he continued his vertical march upwards, as the raging blizzard tried to beat him back down.
The snowballs felt constant now, but with every impact he took power from the cold. He was ice. And so Shard lost himself to this mindless yet meditative climb, having finally been pushed over the brink.
His claws easily pierced into stone, everywhere his body touched glazed over with ice and frost, the blizzard now his roaring company.
Shard was the cold, the ice and snow, frost and blizzard.
He was numb, and his very blood felt frozen, but he finally clambered onto the peak, onto sweet, sweet flat ground. Finally having steady purchase, his limbs all gave up, and he collapsed, heaving for air, every inhale pain.
He felt like he was dying, no, he was dying.
He couldn’t even shiver, all his muscles were too stiff. As things began to fade, his mouth was forced open, and a soothingly warm honey flavored liquid was poured into it. His limbs made unpleasant cracking noises as he began to thaw out, cold replaced by the warmth of a hearth. He didn’t realize it until now, but a thick blanket was also wrapped him.
“Easy now, you did it.” Teach’s voice easily pierced through the howling blizzard. Shard was too busy shamelessly gulping down every last drop from Teach’s offered flask, before promptly conking out from sheer exhaustion. He had no dreams.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
“If I have to redo it, I’m tossing myself off this mountain. Death is kinder than you are.” Shard was quite comfortably wrapped up in a blanket, and didn’t care how undignified he looked. He lost his dignity and pride a long time ago thanks to Teach.
The mask in question merely hovered in place in front of Shard, spinning as it did its bell-like laughter. Shard continued their flat stare as they kept themselves comfortable, and more importantly, warm.
Thankfully, the mask gave them some time to recuperate. Teach wasn’t always so generous…
Groaning, Shard stretched and finally shed the blanket despite a large portion of his mind screaming at him to snuggle up and go back to sleep. He was a grown dragon, not a dragonet, no matter how tempting or nice it sounded to sleep more.
“Since you’re now ready, we can begin the next part!” Teach was cheerful, which sent every single alarm blaring in Shard’s head. If Teach was so happy, Shard certainly wouldn’t be.
“But first, you gotta climb down.”
An expletive rang throughout the mountain rage, scaring some casually perching birds into panicked flight.
Then a very curious sight occurred. An ice dragon with their wings bound down simply walked off the edge of the peak, and plummeted their way down to the ground, bouncing a few times off the rock face.
When they finally landed, they laid there for a bit. A odd mask daintily glided on down.
“You know, I didn’t intend for you to use the healing salve for this purpose, but full points on speed, creativity, and not dying.”
Shard only groaned as every broken bone in his body stitched themselves back together. He found this to be much more preferable over climbing on down. He ignored the insanity of it all, at least he was on the ground now.
Spitting out a bit of blood, he pulled himself up into an upright position. The rare benefit of Teach’s sadist nature was Shard’s pain tolerance found itself being raised every day.
“Well, what now, Teach.” Shard hacked out, still trying to get a full breath into his lungs. Ow, his ribs hurt. Ow, everything hurt.
Ow.