From a Thousand Year Ago

Chapter I: Arrival

A/N: Based on a thread-fic I posted in Twitter for the past couple of days. The thread-fic itself is already finished, but following everyone's suggestion, I decided to post it in AO3, as well, so it wouldn't get buried in Twitter. I also tried to fix the typos and improved the narration. ^^

Link to the thread-fic: https://twitter.com/Akatsuki_Shin04/status/1490233426452303873

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Heavy snow continued to pour down from the sky. The wind was strong and fierce, as if the temperature that was never above freezing was not already troubling enough for one caught in the midst of this blizzard.

Pushing one leg forward at a time, Gong Jun was panting hard under his mask and scarf. The piling snow almost reached his knees. Even taking a single step was such laborious work, draining his whole energy. Everywhere he looked there was only snow, snow, and more snow, with a couple of rocks and boulders scattered irregularly. Visibility was extremely poor; through his goggles, he could only see a few meters ahead of him. If there was a hole or a slope somewhere nearby, there was a good chance he might not notice them and fell straight away.

In his heart, he began to question himself if coming here was a good decision at all.

Since his student days at university, Gong Jun had gained an interest in outdoor activities, particularly hiking and mountain climbing. He made many friends through this hobby and joined a community made up of fellow hikers and climbing enthusiasts. Even now as a working adult, he still found some time between his busy schedule to join the hikes organized by his community. In fact, most of his paid leaves were almost always used on these occasions.

It must have been around six months ago that someone posted in the community's group chat about a snowy mountain in a faraway region. The name of the mountain itself was unknown to them, and there did not seem to have been any record of anyone ever climbing it. Even the plateau surrounding the base was almost bereft of inhabitants, only having a few small villages spread far from one another.

To most people, even the idea of scouring such untamed wilderness was already more than intimidating enough. Yet for these nature enthusiasts, what would be more exciting than subduing a summit never once been subdued before? It did not take long for members of the community to start signing up for the climb, and Gong Jun was one of them. He'd had experiences climbing difficult terrains and he was physically fit as a climber. Besides, although it was an uncharted territory, it was not Mount Everest. The height of the mountain was actually just average and from the pictures he saw, the field did not seem dangerous. With sufficient preparation, there shouldn't have been much trouble they would encounter on the way.

Who would have thought that it wasn't the terrain but the weather that would be their enemy?

Gong Jun and his friends were only halfway through the climb when the wind picked up all of a sudden, followed by a violent blizzard. To make matters worse, he ended up getting separated from the group. He did not know where his friends went, whether they continued to the peak or decided to back down. Even if he called and shouted to the top of his lungs, there weren't any responses. For a moment, he thought about turning back but how could he when he wasn't able to tell north from south?

Nobody knew how long he'd been walking through the blizzard, dragging his body across the thick pile of snow. Gong Jun could barely move anymore, his legs felt as though they were to give out. If he collapsed here, would it still be possible for others to find him? It couldn't be that this was where he would meet his end, buried under the ice that even his body couldn't be found, could it?

As he was dreading this particular possibility, all of a sudden he noticed some shadows in the distance. The pelting snow endlessly storming all over his face made it hard to see what exactly it was, so Gong Jun had no choice but to force his exhausted body to crawl forward, approaching that unknown object. "It could be a mere rock"—his brain told him, but Gong Jun thought "What difference would it make?" If it really was just a rock, then his situation wouldn't change. But what if it was something useful? Or at least a landmark that could give him a sense of direction?