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TIMESTAMP: 140030:30:8:32

ID_11011231884423:Rianna:Greyforth:24:loc:-22.6874 138.578198:24/5/2016:ACC_FALL:0

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player_Trawl_Pickup: ----------------100%

player_Cache_Check: ---------------------------------100%

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player_Initial_Login: 100%

Mehelthai: Bio and MHReport added to ID_11011231884423 Rianna Greyforth

player_Awaken: 1

player_Apply_Profile: Explorer

player_Initial_Spawn: ID_11011231884423

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Chapter 1

Cold

Ria

Ria sat up, a sudden blast of adrenaline coursing through her veins. Flailing her arms, Ria looked about with wide eyes. A gust of freezing wind whipped across her face, ice crystals spattered her cheeks with cold wetness. Snow, dark rocks and towering mountains surrounded her. A dark grey blur was all she could see of the sky.

Standing shakily, Ria found herself looking out over a narrow valley. Below a dark river snaked through a large pine forest. The whole valley was blanketed in thick snow, in places even the river seemed to disappear beneath it. Somehow the landscape seemed to have a primal, vibrant wildness to it. The trees seemed bigger, the mountains taller. It was different from anything she had experienced before back home. Home? What the hell is going on? Where am I?

A strange dissonance seemed to come over her. This was not where she had been just moments ago, yet here she stood in a blizzard on a frozen mountainside.

Her vision began to dim around the edges. She stumbled, suddenly off-balance as a wave of dizziness flooded her senses. Vertigo gripped Ria, with a moan of fear and pain she collapsed onto her side. Curling into a ball, she began to whimper as she clutched at her head. Hot needles drove their way through her brain. Shocks of pain rippled through her body as she cried out.

Memories came flooding back to her. The faces of friends and family passed by rapidly in a procession. The last few days, travelling in her car, climbing the rocky trail. Falling, rushing trees and a cliff. Realisation suddenly made her eyes blink open. I’m dead. I fell. Oh… shit.

A burning ache finally reached Ria as she lay in the snow. She gasped, the cold was so intense, her hands and teeth were already beginning to chatter. I need to get out of this wind, come on pull it together.

Rising slowly to her feet, Ria spotted an axe next to her, a simple wooden thing. Picking it up made her feel more grounded, more secure. She noticed her clothes were different, her light shorts and t-shirt had been replaced by thick winter gear. It looked primitive, constructed of fur and hide with wool undergarments. A backpack lay nearby, so she shrugged it on. Noticing a thick scarf and hood, Ria pulled those up too and looked down towards the forest. It seemed like the best chance at survival in this cold.

The hike was difficult, wading through drifts, climbing boulders and constantly falling over. She yelped in fear when an invisible fallen tree-limb hooked her foot, landing her smack on her face in the snow. Motherfucker my nose! Cursing internally at herself. Ria looked up and realised she had reached the edge of the forest.

Huge trees towered over her, from afar they looked like ordinary pines, but now they more closely resembled giant redwood trees. The trunks were massive and the lowest branches were far above her head. Staring up at the sheer size of the trees and stumbling as a result. She began moving deeper into the forest. Everything became muted, the sounds of her boots crunching through the snow seemed softer.

Ria began looking for a spot to finally check the pack she had lugged down off the mountain. A large rock leaning against one of the tree trunks provided both the shelter and a table for the operation.

The pack contained several blocks wrapped in wax paper, some kind of soup stock. A wooden box with tightly stacked biscuits. She bit a corner of one, it was bland, hard and a little salty. Chewing the rest of the bland dry biscuit and swallowing it with difficulty.

Ria continued to search the pack. There was a wrapped roll of canvas, it looked like it had been treated with some kind of oil or resin. A small bundle of sticks was tied in a string with a little wooden box tucked into the stack. Sliding the little box open, Ria saw some bark shavings in a little pile along with what had to be a flint and steel. Tucked under the flint and steel was a small paper packet containing needles, thread, and some fishing hooks. The pack now thoroughly searched, Ria re-packed it with difficulty.

Thinking of the various uses for her gear, she noted that she had the makings of shelter, fire, an axe and fishing tools. Ria was not sure who or what had done this to her, nor why she was in this place. A strange feeling made her think some time had passed before her appearance in this place. One thing was fairly certain, however, she had been equipped to survive in the cold environment, but not with everything she might need. No fishing rod, no blanket, and no pot or pan. Not even a simple knife. Why some, but not all? The thought made her pause, looking back the way she had come suspiciously. A creaking branch broke her from her thoughts.

Looking about Ria noticed a definite drop in the light levels. Shit. She had to get some kind of shelter and warmth or this could get bad.

Making her way deeper into the forest. The thick piles of snow reached her waist in places, making her trip on hidden logs and rocks. It was hard painful work, and she swiftly began to tire even as the temperature fell.

With darkness rapidly approaching and the freezing wind returning in force, she stumbled into a sheltered hollow. It was formed from a pile of dead trees, which leaned against a large boulder. The resulting natural lean-to had left a deep, but narrow sheltered gap, where no snow could reach.

Shaking with cold and sniffling with pent-up emotions, she crawled inside. The relief she felt at no longer being in the biting wind brought icy tears to her eyes. She practically collapsed with exhaustion. Her eyes began to drift closed. So tired… I can rest for a bit…

No! Don’t sleep! Something deep inside her, some instinct screamed in her mind. She tried to push it aside, it was too cold. The pain and weakness in her limbs was beyond anything she had ever experienced in her life. You’re Dying! WAKE UP! The insistent voice screamed deep within.

With a grunt of determination, she opened her eyes. She rolled over and shrugged off the pack and set about building a fire. Something she had done plenty of times before in her life, but never had she been forced to build a fire or die. Her hands shook from both fear and the cold as she struggled with the fire kit. Ria began building it right near the entrance to her shelter. Once the pyramid construction of the fire was built, she used her unfeeling hands to strike a spark on the small pile of wood shavings, pushing them into its core. It took way longer than she liked, but she kept dropping the flint. Ria watched carefully as the fire licked into life on the dry wood fuel. Sitting back Ria started drifting again.

No, you can’t relax, it's not done yet! The voice inside continued it’s complaining. With a groan, Ria staggered to her feet and grabbed the axe. Shuffling out into the freezing darkness, the wind sprinkled her exposed skin with a flurry of stinging particles. She could barely see more than a few meters ahead.

Stumbling into the darkness, she somehow managed to find both fallen branches and skinny dead trees. Using her axe she broke them into conveniently sized pieces and dragged them back to the shelter. Each trip, however, saw her moving further and further from the guiding light of the fire in search of fuel.

Swinging her axe clumsily, Ria chopped the branches from the dead tree trunk, the axe bounced and jarred her hands painfully. It took several swings to remove each branch. The work was hard, and she found herself beginning to sweat from the exertion. The feeling had returned to her hands from the hard work, but her feet still felt like blocks of ice.

She gathered the final branch from the fallen tree and dragged the pile back before returning for the tree. The fierce cold made her teeth chatter violently and she found herself shivering violently. Somehow it was penetrating the many layers of her winter clothing.

She found the tree again and picked up the end to drag it back to the shelter, but the snow and darkness made finding the fire impossible. Ria found herself stumbling aimlessly as she dragged the tree about searching for the firelight. Confusion set in and Ria couldn’t remember which direction the shelter was in. Where is it? Did it go out? Her thoughts became jumbled as she tried to remember something. Did what go out? She blinked in confusion.

Ria awoke, it was dark and freezing. She could not breathe and rose, gasping from the snow in confusion. What happened? Where am I? It's so cold! Her thoughts were sluggish and confused. I was doing something and I was so tired. An inner voice filled with heat and desperation yelled loudly in her mind. FIRE! GO!

With a gasp of fear, Ria realised she had somehow fallen asleep in the snow. She looked around desperately for the shelter in the pitch dark. There, a tiny pinprick of firelight, Ria waded through the snow and fell shivering into the shelter. Unable to move her arms or legs properly she was forced to worm her way inside. The fire was guttering, the flames just licking at the remaining branches.

Ria desperately grabbed at sticks from the stack against the wall. Fumbling with numb fingers and stiff limbs. “Oh please don’t go out. Not now! Stay with me you bastard!” Ria hissed between her chattering teeth. Slowly she fed it and let it build until she was able to put a few thicker branches on and get some coals going.

Ria realised something wasn’t right as the temperature around her rose with the flames, somehow she was still cold. Her eyes widened. Fuck, the sweat, there's ice in my clothes!

Digging into her backpack with her numb hands, she fumbled out the canvas sheet. Using the thin cord it was bound with to help rig it across the entrance of the shelter. It didn’t fit perfectly and she struggled with the knots using her unfeeling fingers, but eventually, she managed to rig it across the gap.

Frantically she stripped, taking off the wet underclothes, which seemed more damp than frozen. She had never stripped and then dressed so fast in her life before. The furry outer clothes were on again in seconds, while the wool garments were now hanging from the logs above.

Ria finally sat back against the boulder and fed more wood into the fire. Ria felt the air warm, the shivering and teeth chattering was receding, but her extremities were still numb, which was not a good sign.

Searching the back of the lean-to, Ria found some large rocks which she brought over and began heating in the fire. Once the rocks were toasty, hot, she took off her gloves and boots. Her hands and feet were a pallid bloodless white colour. She carefully warmed her feet and hands, first with the fire and then with the hot rocks. Once some warmth had returned to them, she massaged them vigorously to get blood back into them. Stop being lazy, stupid hands, you’re not allowed to get sleepy and there is no way I can afford medical insurance in this place if you get frostbit.

The feeling returned to her extremities with some of the worst pins and needles she had ever experienced. Ria took the time to dry out her wool socks and placed the boots by the fire.

The cold was still biting and her teeth still chattered as she hugged her knees. Crowding right up to the fire, getting her core as close as possible to the life-giving fire.

Long into the night, Ria fed the fire and guarded it like a mother duck guarding her young. Her mind wandered as she looked into the flames, not thinking on anything in particular. She had no energy to think of anything but the fire. She imagined shapes and buildings from the burning coals. She made tiny bets with herself, about which bit of coal would fall first and so on.

The wind died down a little outside and Ria was forced to make a trip out to look for more firewood. This included a fruitless search for the axe she had lost somewhere out in the snow. It had been covered and the only way she might find it is if she walked over it.

Without an axe, Ria was forced to drag fallen branches and logs up to the entrance of the lean-to and snap what she could with her knee. Ria decided that if she got desperate, she could just drag up a log and slowly feed it into the fire as it burnt.

By the time Ria had a comfortable stock of wood, she was getting cold again and quickly curled up over the fire once more. Using the rocks to warm her extremities. An idea formed, and once one of the rocks had cooled down sufficiently, she tucked it up under her clothes against her belly. It felt better than a hot water bottle, and she sighed with relief as she warmed up.

Ria drifted off to sleep, still curled protectively beside the fire. It was not a deep sleep, filled with dreams of falling and cold. Ria found herself periodically starting awake, to check on the fire.

Sometime near dawn, something woke Ria, she rubbed her dry eyes as she tried to orient her brain to being awake. She had heard something, but after no further noises occurred, Ria’s tired eyes sagged shut again, and she slept, the fire burning merrily beside her.

Outside, eyes watched the smoke rising from next to the boulder. The air was sampled for scent, hot steaming breath pierced the frigid air. Ears twitched and swivelled to face a distant sound, the eyes turned away. The prey could wait, the others called.