A New Save File

Chapter 1.9

It had only been an hour or two since you left rito village and you were already shivering, clutching your arms tight with the reigns in one frozen hand.

It felt like microscopic razor sharp needles were seeping into your body, slowly numbing everything. You let out a groan wishing you had turned back or at least worn something warmer before all of this happened.

It was a torturous, soon it had fallen dark, a blizzard had just hit and you were riding in pitch black darkness, slowly freezing to death, you huddle up against Fortans neck in desperation for some sort of heat, it may have just bought you some time, you can barely see the heartless tundra that enveloped the land. You hear distant roars that chill you even further to your bones, you make a mental note to never set foot in the direction of the roar and continue to huddle up for warmth as the night rolls on.

After a few more hours, you start to feel bleary and dazed as the cold continues to drag you further into unconsciousness, you can hear Fortan whine but its growing more and more distant.

You close your eyes...

You were back.. in the void.. you still felt dazed and now confused as a blue flame floats in front of you, it flickers and waves around gently like it were in a calm breeze, you hold a hand out underneath it and lift it closer, you lower your head to look closer but its dissipates slowly while wisps of the fire trail along your arm.

It ends and you stay suspended for a moment, questioning what happened when you get thrown back violently through the void and back into your body, you shoot up off of Fortans neck gasping in air, gripping your chest, feeling your heart start beating again..

You dont think about it for now, you just spur Fortan into a gallop, you had to get out of this region and fast or find somewhere warm at the very least, the night dragged on for a few more hours. You keep pushing Fortan, you didnt want to but if you didnt get out then he'd be as good as dead too.

After you were certain the temperature had at least climbed beyond deathly low levels, you slow Forton into trot and try to wrap your head around what just happened, you recognise that flame somehow but that didnt matter at the moment, you just died... how are you still alive, how have you managed to survive even after such a miracle...

You lightly slap your face trying to snap out off it, you were still in the region even if it was significantly warmer, there was other things lurking about beyond the peaks of snow and distant hills, right on que another roar echoes in the distance making you spur fortan into a slow gallop.

A few more hours pass by as the sun started to peak over the horizon, you near another stable encased in a wooden fence with pine trees lining around its perimeter, it looked quite scenic and peaceful.
You take a moment to get some sleep as you slow to a stop and dismount Fortan.
Hopefully by a fire as you still shiver, you look around and spot one, walk over with Fortan in tow and take a seat on the ground, surprisingly Fortan joins in too, laying down to enjoy the warmth too, you were so tired that you hadn't seen two others enjoying the heat.

After a few minutes of staring into the fire, you lay back yawning, not noticing that you had propped yourself up against Fortan and fallen asleep. You hear a few chuckles from the others around as you drift asleep.

You didnt dream this time to your relief as you open your eyes slowly, you wince your eyes as the sun glares down into you.
The other two had left long before you were awake.
You lift an arm to shade your eyes from it, it was mid day now and you had no clue what to do, you feel your body being lifted gently, you look back to see a slightly annoyed Forton start to get up seeing you're awake now, you get up also and see all the dead foliage and dirt on his side giving you something to do.

You walk over to the stable and ask for a brush and other horse care equipment, thank the owner and get to work, you start with Fortans mane, getting knots and twigs out, then his coat, it didnt seem to be all that bad but then his hooves were the worst part, packed with who knows what...

you grab a pick, lift a start scraping out as much as you can, by the end there was a hefty pile of dirt to be cleaned up, you grab the most of it and dispose of it.
With one last yawn, you set the tools to the side and mount Fortan to set off again.

You keep thinking about what you saw last night, trying to remember where you had seen that flame, it teased you, just dangling at the back of you mind, almost taunting you.

"Uuugh.. where have I seen that?.. I know I've seen it but where!?"

Holy shit this is gaining more traction than I expected, I know I've already said this enough but really, thank you for reading this

I wanna apologise for making this one shorter and more.. lackluster than the others, I'm writing this at 4am and I'm brewing up some ideas that would be a waste to use so soon

And once again, so sorry for my poor grammar and such