The Sword of Athrar

Trudging

I took one more step, and my foot sank deeper into the thickset snow.
I'd lost track of how many hours I'd been trudging through the ice,  and I was starting to feel... Mildly frustrated...

I let out a scream of defeat, and collapsed into the snow in tears. It was all just too much. I should never have accepted this quest. I should've known the cold would better me at some point.

I was defeated by the elements.

I couldn't even see my surroundings. About an hour ago, crisp snowflakes had started to fall, which slowly turned into thick, drifting snow, which very quickly turned into a snowstorm, and now my back was being pelted by the wind with icy hail. I could feel bruises starting to form, but I didn't even want to look: my back was probably purple.

I could feel my tears freezing onto my face. Soon, I was sure, my soul would cease to exist on this plain, and my body would become part of the frozen wasteland, like many before it.

A moment passed.

And another.

One more moment,

and I was sure I was already dead.

But then the ground shook. Slightly at first, then more than I'd ever felt it before. We'd had many earthquakes back home, but none so violent, but eerily quiet, as this.

It didn't feel like any earthquake I'd felt before - more like millions of vibrations charging at me through the earth beneath the snow.

Vibrations.

Oh no.

With adrenaline pumping through my body, I forgot all about my pain, and pushed myself up off the ground. Turning around quickly, I ran.

I ran as fast as I Gods damn could.

The vibrations got stronger.

I couldn't tell how far I'd gone, but I pushed myself to go further.

Even stronger yet.

My heart was beating out of my chest.

This was it.

A huge explosion of snow behind me, and I was thrown forwards onto my stomach.

I twisted around to see the beast flying into the air. Worm-like in shape, but scorpion-like in structure, it twisted around in the air, and circled back towards me.

Surely, this was the end.