Yes! I did it!

I finaly got him, stupid salamder!

Who's the boss now huuuh?

Well then, what should I do with him?

Good question, I always ask such good questions.

But I should probably deal with all the fire salamanders closing in on my position.

But that's no problem, no problem at all.

Just have to, use my...

Crap.

I used up all my arrows on the big salamander. That’s just typical, now I have to use my dagger to fight.

Darn it.

Close quarter combat has never been my specialty, especially against big salamanders.

It's even worse against those that can breathe fire.

Typical.

So very typical.

Well, you got to do what you got to do.

Though it troubled me that they were climbing this, goddamn mountain so quickly.

Usually, monsters would have trouble climbing a ninety-degree angle straight upwards in an altitude of maybe five thousand meters?

I’m not exactly sure how far up we are.

I stopped counting when the ground stopped being visible.

But apparently these stupid, fire breathing salamanders, are too stupid to understand that they are defying physics and should not be able to sprint up this wall so damn easily.

It’s as if some burglary alarm went off in their home.

And to be more precise, there were four fire salamanders running towards me.

Even with my vantage point overlooking the mountain, the recently killed salamander under my butt.

I felt pretty, let’s just say.

Unprotected, with just a knife.

The way they effortlessly climbed this mountain with no problems also screamed trouble.

Although, it would have been a completely different story if I had any arrows.

Which I do not.

I just used them to make the salamander under my butt into a pincushion.

Just my luck.

Well, my options are to either scale the mountain further up with the salamanders hot on my tail. Or try to fight them in this little cave that i stumbled upon with the, now dead, big salamander sleeping inside.

Wait, a minute.

Was this guy, their boss? or mom?

And i just kinda.

Killed him. It... her?

...

Don’t think about it.

No time like the present!

A tactical retreat it is!

Trusting in my expert stealth abilities, I quickly jumped and grabbed onto a rock sticking out, climbing swiftly.

Feeling inadequate in my skills after just two seconds.

Gaddammit, why am I so weak?

I've climbed this mountain for days, days!

Yet, I feel weaker than when I started.

While deep in thought, I took a second to look down, seeing the salamander gaining on me. Quite quickly, might I add.

Lucky for me, the cave was blocking their path, or maybe it was their destination?

Whatever the case, I tried to quicken my pace, one hand over the other.

All the while climbing diagonally. Hopefully, keeping them from spotting me.

Peaking over my shoulder to look down again. I see big red eyes on the four salamanders, unblinking and shining.

Seeing that, my bum puckered up, clenching as my thigh muscles did the same.

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap

CRAAAAAAP!

I should have waited

I should have WAITED!

Then I could have fought with my knife. Instead of trying to kick them to death.

Why did I not bring enough arrows?

Why did I have to be so stupid?

Wh- oh, wait.

They’ve stopped

Looking at the corpse of the big salamander,

They are licking the air, thinking, pondering… Do salamanders even have brains?

Of course they do, otherwise they wouldn’t be this stupid!

Hahaha get that you stupid lizards!

I am the one who conquers all

And you don’t even know who did it

Hahaha-

Oh.

They are looking up

Looking for something.

Looking for me?

They can’t...

See me?

They can’t?!

Haha! They can’t see me!

Haaa HAA! take that stupid fire breathing, salamanders!

The stealth master strikes again! Another victim within my grasp

Wait

They are looking directly at me.

……

NO!

THEY ARE MOVING AGAIN,

TOWARDS ME!

HOW DID THEY SEE ME?!

AAAH!

Stupid mountain, stupid salamanders

Stupid everything!

CRAP!

Time to move faster!

Here I Go!

How in the hells are they so fast, they are probably only, ten meters from me now

Eight

Six

Oooh crap

Climb you stupid son of a.. Arms

MOVE

crapcr rapcr apcrpcpar cpracprap

CRAP!

Suddenly, something hot heats up my left cheek. Turning to see what did, I notic a black charred mark in the rock, mere centimeters from my face.

Then the smell of burnt leather and hair reached my nostrils, my face souring like a ripe lemon

Why do they have fire?!

It’s SO unfair

Stupid, stupidstupdi STUPID

How in th..

Wait! There’s a hole up there, maybe,

No

Yes!

No?

Yes! yes I can fit there! come one, just a little further, and

Jump.

Pulling with my entire weight, I thrust myself upwards, hearing the sounds of rocks exploding just underneath my feet.

Quickly taking a hold of the, erm I guess, hole, I pull myself in as quickly as possible.

Tucking in my legs as fast as I can while swiftly worming myself in.

The hole was small, barely big enough to fit me.

But the panic of getting my feet nibbled or blown off was enough to make me the greatest and fastest worm.

A loud crashing echoed behind me, probably the claws of the salamanders, maybe its teeth.

My mind giving me pictures of razor sharp teeth and burning meat.

I’m not tasty!

Please go away!

I didn’t mean to kill your mom!

I need to hurry any second and they might breathe their stupid, totally unfair, fire breath

Stupid, lizazaAAAHHH

Suddenly, I’m falling.

Too quick to notice other than to scream

Falling flat on my face.

Uugh, what happened?

Trying to sit up, a bolt of pain attacks my head.

Aowaowaow.. okay sorry I’ll stay down.

Gently touching the top of my head, a spike of hot pain flashes in my head.

Aaah, that will totally be a big bump on my forehead. Darn it, just my luck.

Laying down, lightly caressing my temple, I start carefully looking around. Doing small movements to lessen the pain.

And to my total surprise (not really), I can’t see anything.

Not a thing, nada, zip

Zero.

Of course it’s a dark cave.

Why wouldn’t it?

“EEEECHOOOOEEE! aaaah” (eeechooo aah)

I screamed out, stopped as the pain heightened.

Stupid.

But still, cool.

Okay, cool down now, lets think about this.

I climbed a mountain. Check.

I fought a big salamander, being a total badass. Check.

Then I got chased by stupid, totally unfair, fire salamanders... Check I guess.

And after that, I find myself in a cave.

And I have no idea where I am…

I guess it’s not too bad.

I could have been salamander food.

Well, no time like the present.

Grabbing my backpack, I search for my fire stone, hopefully not dropped in my mad climb upwards.

Phew, it had not. Okay then, Abra-kadabra!

...

Yeah, I know that won’t work, don’t tell me I’m stupid okay!

Focusing my attention to the fire stone for a second, I channel a part of my mana through it and felt it greedily sucking away at my small store of mana.

I don’t understand how mages can use this so often.

I’m usually spent after three of these, maybe four if I press my luck.

After a second or two the fire stone flares up, enveloping my entire hand in a big flame, dazzling, partially blinding me, but not hurting.

Perfect! Time to see where I a-

a-

am...

In front of me stands a very, very tall rocky-looking wall?

Jagged and almost looking like interlocking diamonds, reflecting the light off of my fire as it sparkled blue, reminiscent of sapphire.

Looking further up, stretching my neck to the breaking point, I tried to see an end to the diamond wall.

But I could not see one, seemingly stretching infinitely. Or at least within this mountain. Maybe more than fifty meters?

Probably more.

I quickly close my mouth

Wiping the small trickle of drool.

Hehe, maybe it IS my lucky day.

Ruffling around in my backpack, I find a small pickaxe.

This should be perfect!

Who would have known that the Forbidden Mountain would yield me such a treasure.

I knew coming here was a perfect idea.

Yeah, I know it’s called the Forbidden Mountain. Haviing dangerous fire breathing salamanders and flying wyverns

And I know I was very close to dying

But!

It is actually called “Drepa Fjallið”

And when I came here, I was actually coming because it sounded nice…

Wait.

...

That name is even worse now that I think about it.

So nevermind that.

Let’s just say, I wanted adventure… Yeaaaah.

No time like the present!

With a big overhand swing, I let the pickaxe crash down.

*DING*

Feeling the vibrations from the impact travel from pickaxe, to arm and then to the rest of my body

Feeling very much unpleasant.

Actually hurting, very much so.

Looking closer, with fire stone in hand, I look for any markings on the diamond surface.

But find, to my surprise, nothing.

Not even a scratch, a dent, nor a soot mark.

That’s not good, I really used all my strength on that swing.

Hmmmm, maybe I should shoot-

Oh yeah, no arrows.

Then, hmm...

…

Aha!

But I really don’t want to use that, especially in this small cave.

Wait.

Is it even small? I have not even looked around yet.

Turning around to get a bigger picture of my enclosure, I started scanning.

From the looks of it, I seem pretty trapped in this space of maybe ten meters, going from one end to the other. The room being oval, looking like an egg, maybe more square-ish.

Hard to tell when it was so damn dark!

From where I stand, I can’t see the roof, even with the bright light glowing from the firestone.

But on the plus side, it's a diamond wall,

Even behind me there are diamond walls,

Actually

All around me there are diamond walls.

Hmmm.

Wait a second. The first wall I looked at didn’t seem to stop, no matter the height.

But the wall behind me is small in comparison, going up only eight meters. Give or take.

I could probably climb that.

No time like the present!

I looked in my backpack to find some rope attached to a hook, my go to equipment to climb.

Standing up, I measured the height for a second, then started swinging.

A few swings overhead, aiming carefully

AND SWING!

And a miss.

Okay, one more time.

A few more swings overhead aaaand, away you goo!

Yes, it hit!

I’m not a ranger for nothing.

A few tugs at the rope to ensure that it’s stable before I start climbing.

Good, seems stable

Aaand here I come.

The diamond surface is very slippery, making it almost entirely a case of me using my arms to drag myself up.

And if you have not guessed already, im really not that strong. I focused a little too much on my dexterity.

And to add to that, the rope would wiggle each time I pulled.

Finding my bum puckered up with nerves.

But at least there’s a foothold every eeer.

Length of me.... And I’m not telling you how tall I am!

Although climbing this wall is a new experience.

It is actually pretty weird.

And that’s coming from someone that has scaled an entire mountain at practically a ninety-degree angle.

Yes, I know, I’m perfect.

Anyway, after scaling maybe half the height, about foure meters, the “footholds” seems to always be perfectly placed every...

My length...

And looking closer, they have this oval shape to them.

Hmmm...

Very interesting

For a scientist that is, I really don’t care.

Just count my lucky eggs that I can at least climb it.

No time like the present!

Aaand here we go. Up up and away!

With a few uneasy steps on the very slippery surface, I find myself on top.

A little surprised at the fact that the place I climbed, curves upwards and into a crescent moon shape. Looping with itself as it forms a way up to the part of the wall that I couldn’t determine the height off.

A wall?

Wait.

No, this is not a wall, this is like, like, eeer

A ramp! Yes, a curved ramp that goes from one end to the next, I guess.

But it looks too perfect to be natural, someone must have built this.

Hmmmm,

Maybe the dwarves?

Eeeh.

Nothing for me to consider!

Just report it to the closest settlement.

That is, after I’m back and rolling in the cash money! Hell yeah!

Sooo, where should I put these big boom-thingies (never learnt its name, just kinda thought I’d never use it)

It would probably be best to place it on top, but I don’t actually know the timer for the bombs.

And it would be pretty bad to explode them while standing on top of them.

You know, because it’s hard to survive an explosion.

Eeeh.

Worst-case scenario, I can just jump off the wall or slide down the ramp.

With rope attached, of course, I’m not stupid alright

I’m not. Okay!?

Anyway, walking up this ramp is hard.

Not only is it slippery but also a little curved. Not much mind you.

But enough to tilt it a little to the left and right.

If anyone built this, it is very inconvenient, totally not suited for anyone that might lack a leg or two.

Or four,

It’s weirdly long, this ramp. Going maybe a hundred meters? Not sure, the light doesn’t reach from one end to the other.

I think it’s even longer than that, actually

It’s really hard to tell

Oh, wait.

For how long does the light shine, I don't remember how much mana I need to use for the bombada-bang thing.

It would be totally uncool if im out of mana and the light goes out.

I should think about using the big boom or light.

Or someway preserving mana

Or maybe walk in the dark?

Or just using the light to light the boomer.

Eeeeh, no problem,

Just

Don’t think about it.

Nothing can’t be solved without a little...

Non thinker-y

It will probably solve itself.

Probably.

Phew, finally on top, and I got to say, it’s a neat view.

That is, if you consider darkness and rocks to be your thing.

I don’t really dig it.

Fastening my hook on a sturdy-looking foothold and tying my rope for the third time, I carefully placed the big bang boom.

Noting down where I placed it, and how conveniently hollow it was.

It felt too convenient, like a god wanted to help me out suddenly, and if there’s something I know, it’s that gods never help without repercussions.

When I look at it again, it sorta looks like a closed eye.

...

Well, no time like the present!

Aaaaand heeere we go!

Channeling my mana to the boom-boom, I feel a huge pressure building up behind my temple as it sucks away the feeble supply of mana I have.

Only two seconds later, it audibly clicks and starts ticking.

Okay, so did I arm it?

What do I do?

Should I start running now.

Isn’t it supposed to like, give me a timer or something.

Damn it! I have to listen more when people tell me stuff.

Oh.

Maybe I should tell the boomboom to blow up?

Focusing on it, I let a trickle of my last remaining mana to supply the big bada-boom, then thought.

Erm, blow up, in, eeeh, soon?

A new audible click emanated from it

Huh, I guess it’s that easy.

Then a two red numbers flashed to life, forming the numbers te-

Nine, eight.

Erm,

Wait

Sheeeeeeeeee-

I quickly jumped of the wall, holding the rope in whitening hands, skidding across the slippery surface in a rapid pace.

Almost free falling, feeling the burn on my hands and scratches on my legs.

Don’t think about the burning

Nor the blood.

I have a healing potion!

Wait did I not drink it after that fighting the big sala-

...

No time like the present, MAKE HASTE!

Skip, jump, fall, skip, jump, fall

A little routine as I climbed down very rapidly.

Wind rushing past,

If there was any wind to speak of

At least my hair was flapping around

This was almost nice.

If you forgot about the burning sensation on my hand, and terrible aching on my legs.

If I just had a litt-

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

A loud thunder, then the rope went limp in my hands, making me fall.

AAAAAA- *Thump*

Oof.

I whimpered out as I hit the ground with a big thump, all the air in my body rushing out. Leaving me breathless and gasping.

And as I collected myself, found my head groggy and rollinga round.

That sucked

At least nothing’s broken...

I think.

Okay, nothing was, phew.

Time to get up and loo-

*Thunk*

AAAAH

Skittering away from the sound, I quickly looked to my right, seeing a bent hook, a meter away from me.

I-I s-should probably not stand here.

Quickly looking up, I searched for any more debris, light on my feet, yet clusmy, still groggy from the fall.

Any second now

Any sec-

Or not.

I guess that explosion wasn’t big enough.

Well, I could at least climb up again and try digging where I blew it

It should probably be weakened after that blow.

Picking up the bent hook and firmly attaching it back to the rope, I turned around to climb again.

Only to be stopped in place as I heard something.

Like the start of an earthquake.

All around me the ground started to move, shaking, trembling.

Making me vibrate, stones grinding against stone, chilling me to the bone.

Then the sound stopped.

I turned around

Greeted with the sight of two big blue eyes.

Glowing like the brightest star.

The most beautiful stars.

Did you, Human, Disturb my sleep?

My mouth gaped open.

As the voice of a thousand, pulsating stars echoed out from nowhere, yet everywhere.

Loud enough to shake the weak

Booming enough to make most feel small.

This was not what I was expecting.

It’s a freaking Dragon

Those mystical beasts of old.

Faught by heroes of centuries past.

All thought to be extinct, to have been overwhelmed during the last ages of Dragons.

But no.

There is a fricking Dragon in front of me.

Human, are you here to fight me? To test your might?

I can assure you, Human, that I have fought your kind for millennia, for thousands of years.

And if you think you can defeat me.

Then you are sorely mistaken.

For I,

I AM

“I WANNA TAME YOU! PLEASE BE MY TAMED DRAGON!”

....

“No”

....

“Oh”