10 Minute Tales, Part 2

Aug 1 - Mountain Climbing

He stopped himself, panting quietly as he gripped the unforgiving rocks for all he could. The cliff he faced had been daunting from the start, but he had underestimated its strength. He grunted in frustration, glancing around for some sort of rest. There was an outcropping not too far from him. Sighing in relief, he carefully shuffled over. His grip slipped once, but he kept a hold and made it to the platform. He slid onto it with a relieved groan, flopping against the cliff. His chest heaved as he recovered, glancing down at the scene before him. The expanse of the plains was beautiful, stretching as far as the natural border the distant mountains provided. Vast fields of green grass, with the start of a forest to his right and a gentle plume of smoke betraying the location of the nearest town. The view was beautiful. He fumbled into his bag and brought out a camera, fiddling with the wrist strap before taking a shot. This was why he climbed. This was why he risked his life. Some birds took off nearby, flying quickly into the distance. He took another photo, then returned the camera to the bag and stared into the distance. This was paradise. A gentle rumble through the air broke him out of his break. He looked up. "... ugh, great..." it was threatening to rain. That would make the cliff much harder. He needed to get up. "Okay, let's go..." he shrugged the bag onto his back and started to climb again. The first couple of drops fell onto his hand almost playfully, but they spurred him on harder. He was nearly at the top when the thunder rumbled again. It almost sounded like... laughter? He looked up, confused. He could almost make out a... face, in the clouds? "Hey!" he yelled up, a flush of anger in his voice. "Stop that!" the face's laughter stopped and it looked down at him. "Yeah, you! Leave me alone, okay? I just wanna climb here, and if the cliff's wet I'm gonna slide off!"

"You... see me?" the voice rumbled, the face clearly surprised. The rain started to die down a little. 

"Yeah, I see you!" he grunted, gripping a little harder and stopping his climb. "You damn spirits always toy with us! We're alive too, you know!"

"But... you're so flimsy and feeble, you die when your first body breaks." the storm pointed out, frowning in puzzlement. "You're barely alive now."

"Well, you think I want to die?" he risked moving a hand up. "It's all the more important that I enjoy my life while I still have it!"

"Hm... well, that would depend on if you had a life to begin with. Can you prove that?"

"Well, I..." he blinked, caught off-guard.  He hadn't expected to get this philosophical, though he hadn't expected to encounter an intelligent storm.

"If you can't, well..." the storm seemed to shrug. "Guess I gotta do what nature tells me to do. Sorry!" The rain resumed.