Dragon's Khu'meir

Chapter One

The cable snapped tight, loosened, and swayed again as the climbers ahead of me pulled themselves along the steep slope. I held tight as I tried my best not to fall down. The trail was slick, and I was having a hard time gaining purchase as I stepped forward. I was by no means a mountain climber, this particular trail -if it could even be called one- was by far the most difficult thing I'd ever decided to do. Sweat drenched my shirt, covered my face and fell into my eyes. The sunscreen was undoubtedly doing little to fight off the sunburn I could feel against my cheeks, as I looked up the path to see where I actually had to go.

Almost to the top. I noted, as the slope began to taper above me. The cables stretched nearly vertically ahead. Climbers clung on tightly, each step slow and measured as the ascent took on an entirely different level of ridiculous. To think, I was only halfway up the steep slope.

"Fuck," I muttered to myself as I watched. I couldn't help but wonder why the hell I'd thought this was a good idea in the first place. I positioned myself against one of the metal poles holding the cable and rested as much of my weight as I dared against it. I made myself as small as possible for other climbers to pass as I took a moment to breathe. I dared to wipe at the sweat that trickled down my forehead gripping the bar behind me tightly as I balanced precariously. I looked back up at the momentous feat ahead of me.

With another deep breath, I prepared to continue forward, all the while muttering to myself. "Do something new, it'll be good they said. That is the last time I listen to that shit."

The cables pulled taut as I dragged myself forward off of the pole I'd been leaning against. Shifting my weight forward, I struggled to pull my weight. Right as I tried to reach for the cable to move forward again, I missed and caught -nothing. Realising that I didn't actually grab ahold of anything, I lost my footing, and tried to reach for anything, my stomach jolted and I suddenly felt very damn sick. I hit the rock hard, hands scrapping as I sought for something to hold onto. For a moment, it felt as if I was floating, but in a bad way. Trying to reach for anything I could get my hands on, I let out a horrid scream as I left the safety of the marked trail.

Skin tore open as I clawed at the sheer stone, people shouted, someone reached out for me, their fingers barely grasping my shirt before their hold was torn apart. I watched in horror as a group of climbers could only look on as I fell. They became small nearly instantly, rock flew past as I slid. Then I felt nothing, air rushed past my face, tearing the scream from my lungs as I struggled to breathe. My heart pounded wildly, flooding my body with wild panic. Darkness edged into my vision. The panic was the worst, coupled with the inability to breathe properly, I succumbed to unconsciousness.

My head hurt and all I could think about was how I could have possibly survived that fall. It was then that the pain in my head was amplified by the loud noises of colliding metals. I didn't want to open my eyes, I wanted to sleep longer, and there was so much noise, too much noise. I gave a groan, slowly testing my body as I rolled to my side. There was pain, but it didn't seem like I'd broken anything. Odd, considering I'd just fallen off the side of a fucking cliff. I braced myself against my arm then pressed the palm of my free hand against my head. The first look I got was of thick vegetation, brilliantly green fauna -a shade I didn't think I'd ever seen before. Trees cluttered the area, making it hard to see ahead. I sat up slowly, reaching to lean against the trunk of one as I did so. Wildly colored flowers filled the bushes ahead of me, their petals a strange shape -long and twisting into curls. Their purple and orange coloring was rather wild.

The sound of metal scraping caught my attention again, followed by a shout. It boomed through the air, taking the air from my lungs and sending me flat on my back. Gasping, I stared up at the canopy in shock. I'd never heard something like that before! Fear flooded me and I felt my chest constrict with the familiar sensation of panic that I'd just gone through.