Chapter 1

The path led through a narrow pass between two mountains. On either side I was threatened by jagged rocks glazed with ice. Cold wind thrashed at me. I held my hand over my face but it was in vain. My lips were starting to crack.

I cleared the pass. I stood on the side of the mountain, one of five the formed a large circle surrounding a massive bowl on the earth. At the bottom was a forest of snow covered pines. They looked like a pit of white needles. Above me the clouds were a deep and furious gray.

My descent down the mountain side was long and difficult. The ice covered rocks proved dangerous. When I reached the bottom the path disappeared into a thick cloak of snow that was determined to hide all clues from me.

A high pitched scream shattered the howl of the wind. I couldn't tell where it came from. My hand immediately fell upon Nightfang's handle, the katana which hung at my side. Half crouched, I listened intently, ready for anything.

Another scream tore through the air from my left. I bolted towards it. The wind crashed into my face as I covered the distance, trees passes by me in a blurr of white motion. As I ran I noticed dark shaped figures ahead of me, not close enough to see well, but they looked like a pack of large dogs.

They turned to the right and I almost was thrown off their trail. I struggled to slow and change direction and keep the pace. They were too fast for me.

We came to a clearing in the forest. A single tree stood surrounded by the others in a wide oval. At the base of it was a small girl, eyes wide with fear, clenching a tiny knife in her shaking hands. She was surrounded by four large wolves. They were massive with menacing yellow eyes and sharp teeth. Each one of them stood about four foot tall.

I slowed to a stop and they turned to greet me with aggressive stares. I drew my sword, its onyx blade ready to kill. Each of the wolves flashed their teeth at me and growled. One charged towards me, fast and precisely. I stepped to the side and slashed through its mid section - a killing stroke. The wolf died and burst, sending shards of light like broken glass into the air until they faded and disappeared.

The other bloodthirsty canines glared for a moment and another rushed forward to attack me. It nearly bit hold of my leg but I smacked it away with the flat of my blade. It lunged with open jaws, teeth ready to tear my flesh to shreds. My sword pierced its face and killed it, sending more shards of light into the air like fireworks of virtual death.

Both of the other wolves ran forward. The first kept into the air, mouth ready for the kill. I kicked it out of the air, sending it rolling across the snow covered ground and into the base of a tree. The other came from the side only to be killed by a lethal cut across its back. When the last wolf had gotten back up it charged me once more and I brought my sword down so that Nightfang's onyx blade sank into its neck. The feral beast died instantly. In the display menu that I could see everywhere I looked my EXP bar raised, nearing me further to the next level. My HP bar was still full.

The girl at the tree was only about ten years old. She had light blonde hair that fell in thick curls past her shoulders, and soft gray eyes now full of fear. She wore a plain dark green dress and over it was a gray cloak. She still clenched the knife and appeared frozen in a battle of powerful emotion.

"Are you alright?" I asked her calmly. She didn't speak, she simply nodded in affirmation. "Why are you out here all alone?"

"I.... got lost...." Her lower lip quivered as she spoke. I stared at her sympathetically.

"Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. Although I wanted to make sure she was going to calm down I knew there was no time. I looked around and saw that the snow had begun to fall harder. Freezing wind continued to play sinister games among the trees. If we didn't get to a shelter of some kind we would both die. I pulled up my area map, a gridded 3D overview of the surrounding landscape with icons representing locations. Not too far from us was a cave that showed up as being a safe haven for travelers. That was where we needed to go.

"We need to find shelter so that this storm can pass without us freezing to death in it. There's a cave just North of here. If we leave now we should make it before it gets too much worse."

The girl nods and follows along with me. We trudge through the snow covered valley as the wind bit at our faces. Soon we had reached our destination, a cave in the bottom of a mountain side big enough for a party of five to camp comfortably. We entered inside and took refuge there.

I looked outside and saw no sign of us being followed by anymore creatures. Relief became resident within since I could finally relax.

The girl sat in the middle of the floor and pulled up a series of menus and after a few taps she had retrieved a small pile of logs and a tinderbox. In no time at all she had a small fire going, warmth spilling into the cave from the dancing flame. I stared in amazement.

"Your Fire Building skill is really high for you to do it that fast. It takes me three times as long," I said. "I assume you have a high Cooking skill as well?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my brother helped me get it to sixty."
"Brother?" I asked.

"My older brother - he's who I came here with. Then the wolves...." Her head sank and her eyes stared solemnly at the floor.

I knew what it was like to lose someone I cared for, and I knew that her loss was causing her a great deal of pain. "Wolves have high Stealth abilities, so they deal extra damage if they attack while undetected. In this area, normal creatures are a lot stronger too."

"I was so scared, so weak," she said quietly, a tear trickling down her cheek.

"There was nothing you could've done against creatures that strong," I said comfortingly. I pulled up my Inventory menu and brought out two bedrolls that I placed on either side of the fire. I gave her an additional blanket just in case it got colder over night.

I sat down on my open bedroll. "Let's start properly, with an introduction. I'm Aquosin."

"I'm Mili," the girl said.

"Nice to meet you Mili," I said with a smile. She smiled back, though it was small.

"Now, I know you probably don't wanna talk about it, but what were you and your brother doing out here?"

"I don't know," she said, "He told me he knew there was something out here worth getting and he wouldn't tell me what it was. He said it was a surprise." She climbed into her bedroll and turned over so that her back faced me. "Aquosin? Thank you....for saving me."

I smiled for a moment, but then I could feel my heart getting heavier again. I pushed aside my pain, my memories. "Get some rest. I'll keep watch for a while."

Reviews

[Kasey Miriam]

You protray the setting well. And the story does not begin like you jump right into it and that makes it even better. It is attention keeping and you are doing very well so far.

[joshua deathdealer]

Haha love it. I like how you go into depth with the menus and the items...Really adds to the game environment. For some reason I am curious of the brothers story but such is normal in the game world. All stories lived this way have got to be good. Excellent first chapter. I really like the name Aquosin also..sounds Native American but I could wrong. Keep it up.

[Draven]

Thanks for reading. Aquosin is a neat name. I made it up a long time ago. Its one of my nick names. I'll post the next chapter soon.