Kimaria

Chapter 5 | The Climb

A/N 

Sorry for the late upload, I just haven't felt like writing. This chapter is probably just mostly filler and exposition as well. Hope you enjoy anyways!

The group are now halfway up the mountain. When they were at the foot of the landmark, they manufactured climbing gear. The gear consists of one-sided pickaxes that were shaped in a certain way for maximum rock sticking action, one and a half yards of rope made up of silk from a spider species that grew to about the size of a entire person, and coats made from skins of artic animals. Most of the climb was anti-climatic, mainly just the trio maneuvering up the mountain, avoiding areas that looked unstable and made camp in places where the mountain face caved in.

They have been climbing for 5 days and the group is exhausted. They are running low on food, despite carrying enough food that would have lasted months if they weren't undergoing the extreme physical labors that they had to experience. They had little water issues because whenever they ran low, they tightly compacted snow and ice into metal cups that they made, and warmed up in a fire or their body heat.

As they were climbing a particular steep cliff face, the trio were doing the classic climbing while tied to each other by their waists. The weather was pretty clear, which gave a spectacular view of the mountain range. As the summer dawn sun peeked out of the horizon the snow capped mountain peaks sparkled like a white Christmas Day, the clouds dyed the warmest colors of autumn and a spring breeze swept over the snow, decorating the air with the white powder, bringing the still, lifeless area with movement.

"This castle better be worth it. I didn't starve myself for a few trinkets that we can't even sell because someone *cough* Gelatin *cough* got us banned from just about every other kingdom for casually murdering people. I mean you might as well have murdered them in front of the King at that point!" Rallebon said.

"If you remember, I actually did. I attended a military parade, and one of the guards thought that I was a "shady character" and tried to search me. You can guess what happened next," Gelatin flatly stated. 

"You're just proving my point, y'know that?"

"I was never trying to disprove it."

Morpheon cut in, "OK children, lets keep it down. We don't want to trigger an avalanche, now do we?" The two then muttered something under their breaths before Gelatin spoke up.

"Well, to answer your previous question, I do think that there will be some pretty valuable things in the castle. The enter or leave it is quite perilous, so that means that it is most likely a glorified vault that is completely self-sufficient. I mean, they did have to haul all of that material up this mountain, so a rich and powerful kingdom must have funded this structure."

"Or that castle's role is alike to all of the other castles; to expand and increase a kingdom's control over an area," Rallebon said.

"Then where are the patrols? This castle looks isolated, so it can't possibly control much of anything. Plus, the reason why we went here, is because there aren't any kingdoms in the area."

"It could be part of that ancient underground civilization you theorize about. The castle looks like it's made of Blackstone, that material is only found deep underground, but that redwood accent is unfamiliar to me. It isn't like anything I ever seen before. It looks almost pink? That certainly isn't part of the local flora." 

"Like I said, a kingdom could've imported exotic wood and Blackstone. You know how nobles just love to satisfy their egos with big, expensive monuments."

"Well, either way, there is going to be some sort of big treasure, so I'm happy."

Gelatin nodded his head as he continued the climb. The rest of the climb was largely uneventful except for the occasional wind that threatened to send the group to their deaths. As the group neared the top, Gelatin (who was the highest up) readied his gear, as they heard monsters at the top. When they reached the top, Gelatin stuck his climbing hooks onto the edge and made footholds for his feet. He nodded towards the others, who nodded back before Rallebon untied herself and climbed onto Gelatin's back. Gelatin handed her a weapon, which she sheathed before grabbing her bow. Rallebon peeked over the edge and saw a good size horde of zombies combined with some skeleton archers and creepers. Rallebon lit a few arrows on a handheld brazier before unleashing the arrows upon the group. She targeted the creepers first, causing them to explode their allies. After a few minutes of shooting, she ran out of arrows and climbed on top of the mountain top. Right as Rallebon left Gelatin's back, Morpheon took her place. She also claimed her bow and weapon of choice before joining her comrade. After the others left, Gelatin anchored the backpack he was carrying before grabbing his weapons and bow before also joining the fight.