Alone, that’s how Beth woke up. Nobody to slow her down. Nobody to say good morning to. Aware there was no reason for her to wait around she packed up her stuff alone and set off towards Platilda, alone. She set the pace and feeling undistracted by any conflict of opinion or external chatter she continued to attempt to go even faster and to be even lighter of foot. This experimentation continued with her occasionally closing her eyes as she ran or looking to the sky.

It was more risky now as she didn’t have anybody to keep an eye out for her to ensure she didn’t actually fall or to rescue her if she fell but Beth pretended not to care. The pace she’d set was faster than Pauline would have been able to manage at the best of times, let alone as she was currently. She took some delight in that fact, burying the concern that reared it’s ugly head. She was able to push herself even further than she could previously and as a bonus there was no chance the others would catchup. That was a level of awkwardness Beth didn’t think she’d be able to deal with at the moment.

Now she was alone and could practise pushing herself to extremes and beyond she was sure she would only continue to improve. In fact, she ideally wondered, if she kept pushing for the rest of her time there not only would she get back even faster but she would probably also get to a point where she could travel faster than Nate. After all he had no skills and was still significantly younger than her while she had the advantages of both age and skill, if not experience or ability. Her thoughts turned to imagining a race with him after this was all over. A thought that caught in her brain and almost caused her to fall through the foliage when she realised that a race was never going to happen and further she wouldn’t see Nate or Pauline again. A choice she and she alone had made.

“Good riddance” she muttered, though her heart wasn’t in it. But she couldn’t afford to dwell. She’d made her decision and the only way was forwards. To push herself further.

She pushed herself to the edge of her ability and beyond for four full days stopping only to eat and sleep and even then not stopping nearly as often as perhaps wise.

Based on her map she was pretty sure she was only half a days travel outside of the ravine town. She wasn’t willing to stop for longer than it would take to buy some resources. It might have been slightly against the spirit of the ritual but she wasn’t taking the ritual anymore if she ever even had been. She was on a Trial and that had no such restrictions. Plus she had a collection of money and if that let her buy a hot meal of a higher quality and enough supplies to make the rest of her journey a piece of cake well then that was a clear win. The money might have proved more valuable at home but food variety had a value that couldn’t be underrated.

She was annoyed to find that she had probably made the same time as they had made heading out towards Naia. She had taken a basic map but hadn’t taken the one with all the extra details Pauline had found. As such she’d had to hunt around slightly more for food and to know where to avoid the volisears properly. Thus taking a little long than she would have liked. Still short enough that she was making good time though. As she got closer to the village she hid her ritual medallion. Better she get seen as some kind of tourist.

She couldn’t help but smirk at that, she was entering the village pretending to be the very thing Nate had once been willing to leave her to die for. She felt that pang in her stomach again but ignored it and continued on. They’d all made their decisions. There was no point turning back now or regretting anything. Besides there was no chance the others were travelling as fast as she would need. It would only doom her completely if she waited for them now. Maybe if she hadn’t been so hasty...

No she didn’t have the capacity to think like that. She’d made the right choice and she was going to see it through. Arriving at the village she found they were much more pleasant to visitors than Nate had been. Fortunately none of them directly recognised her and she avoided the ravine edge just to be sure. Nobody noticed the medallion under her clothes either. She’d considered getting rid of it but figured it would be a good memento of the Trial. After all she’d had fun and even if it was ending under less than favourable terms she still wanted to remember it. Plus it wasn’t like she was swimming in belongings, especially those from her new life, she’d got rid of as much from her old life as she could get away with without leaving herself lacking.

Having updated her rations and other supplies she found herself a small underground inn. It was great to get out of the heat for a couple of hours and the food was all the better for it. She splashed out a little more than was perhaps wise to get a good cut of meat, feeling delighted to eat a meat that wasn’t slimy. Something that the kapoal were no matter how overcooked it was. It was delicious and she spent longer than she had intended just enjoying being in the different environment. Eventually however she began to get antsy again. She was ready to get home. To feel cool for longer periods of time and to be able to bathe more frequently.

Supplies in hand and feeling rejuvenated Beth set off once more. She’d purchased a detailed enough map that most importantly outlined how to climb the mountain itself and what to look out for. She had been offered a guide to take her, for a price of course. One was even willing to work with her small timescale but she decided she’d be better off alone. She wanted a break from people and she wouldn’t be able to convincingly pretend to be a new visitor if she was jumping between trees with ease. Plus her hidden medallion wouldn’t remain quite so hidden if she was running with it. It usually bounced as she travelled setting a pace and helping Beth keep consistent in her pace.

Three more days of travel later and Beth had reached the mountain. She was once again ahead of schedule. Pauline and Nate had clearly just been slowing her down. Leaving them behind was the best decision she’d made. She let out a cheer of success at reaching the mountain. It came out as a croak making her wander when she had last used her voice. Had she really not spoken since the village? It made sense but she was slightly alarmed none-the-less.

With the climbing guide she’d purchased Beth knew to travel around the base a little before starting her climb. Something she wasn’t sure they would have thought to have done otherwise. Unless of course Pauline had done more research. This mountain was the tallest of the three but if you knew the correct route it was documented as the easiest to climb. That was of course not taking into account the unique difficulties of the ritual.

According to what Beth read for those not taking the ritual the quirks of the mountains were just that, small quirks. It was only because they had been taking the ritual that the effect had been so bad. Beth suspected there was something further in play that that though, the feelings caused by the mountain had proved more than a little drastic in their group and she couldn’t picture everybody being so successful if it was that way for everyone. The size of the effects on the youth was one of the best kept secrets of the villages as they didn’t want their young ones to be able to prepare. As such there was a steep punishment of a permanent banishment for anybody who was known to have intensionally advised a ritual taker. Or who had helped through carelessness. Beth hoped this wouldn’t effect the person who had sold her the book but figured she wouldn’t find out either way so it wasn’t worth worrying.

For Platilda there were apparently memory issues which could get quite sever but were all temporary. On her arm she wrote the most important information,’reach the top of the mountain through any means’. With that message in mind she was confident she would easily conquer the mountain. After all it was the easiest of the three and she’d survived the others. Feeling confident she began her journey up the mountain proper.

The beginning of the climb was very easy the mountain opened up fairly early into a system of caves that connected in such a way you could get a good height from the caves alone. She navigated the caves easily, following the well worn route of those before her. She was sure she would be at the top before long.

She was a good couple of hours into her climb when she suddenly realised Pauline and Nate were nowhere to be seen. She looked around frantic, she’d managed to lose them. How had she managed to lose them? She couldn’t even say if they had gone ahead or fallen behind. Were they waiting for her ahead or had they gone a different way completely the caves split up at points. They could be anywhere. She shouted their names a couple of times, listening as her voice echoed off the cavern walls but there was no response no matter how much she strained her ears.

Breaking for lunch Beth pondered where they could be. Fortunately there was more than enough food in her bag. Hopefully they had split up the food, she imagined they must have but couldn’t say for sure it had happened. Beth resolved that they must have suspected they might get split up like this even if she couldn’t remember having that conversation. She ate slowly in the hopes that the others would turn up while she ate but eventually she finished and couldn’t afford to wait any longer. She could clearly see she’d written that’s he needed to get to the top, which she knew anyway because of the ritual and her Trial. The message on her arm must have been put there so the three would know where they would meet up again. She continued her climb hoping it wouldn’t take until she reached the top for her to bump into the others again.