Chapter 4: Avalanche!

  she cautioned herself.

  Chastity slipped the leather glove back on and tried to concentrate, ignoring the fact that she had appeared out of nowhere on top of a freezing mountain that looked as if it had been painted by Thomas Kinkade by way of Peach Momoko.

  “Detect Evil.”

  Mercifully, the text box vanished. Chastity breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the vapor of her exhalation in the cold air.

  Chastity smiled at the thought, remembering the countless hours she spent badgering the Professor with philosophical questions after class.

  The reality of the situation came flooding back to her. Damien Tahquitz, back on campus years after his expulsion–on the day of her graduation, no less. That was clearly not by accident. He was armed and screaming threats of revenge. Chastity had to get back and help the Professor. No matter what.

  Dropping her bundle of javelins in the snow, Chastity went to the cave entrance. She gripped the rocks on either side and looked in. All she could see was darkness. As her gloved hand brushed ice and snow off one of the rocks, she noticed an engraving. There was a strange symbol carved into a stone. It looked like a stylized , with one line stretching out like a comet’s tail. Perhaps it wasn’t an X at all, but some kind of pictograph.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Ignoring the symbol, Chastity ducked into the cave. It was very narrow, and her chainmail armor made it hard to squeeze through.

  And soon she came to a dead end. She could barely see a thing but there was clearly an alcove of impenetrable stone. No matter how long she felt and prodded, there was no way to go any further into the cave.

  “A one way trip,” she muttered, finally giving up and squeezing out of the cave again.

  Chastity began enumerating the points of evidence on her fingers, a habit she often engaged in when having an internal dialogue.

  Chastity plucked the bundle of javelins out of the snow and cautiously walked toward the edge of the mountain. It was a steep, sloping plunge down the side, dotted with evergreen trees and exposed stone between heavy patches of snow.

  Light flakes drifted from the gray clouds, sticking to her long strands of golden yellow hair. Something caught her eye.

  Chastity’s foot slipped on a patch of ice and she tumbled off the side of the mountain.

  “No-no-no-no-no!”

  She desperately tried to grab for any handholds as she plummeted, but her metal armor skidded right over the slick icy crust. All around her it was as if the mountain had awoken. A fine dusting of snow dislodged above her, dancing under the gray skies. Then–a fissure spiderwebbed across the slope. A vibrating groan sounded as if from the belly of a rock giant. Soon a wave of cascading snow poured down in an unstoppable surge.

  Ancient rocks dislodged. Branches snapped. And Chastity was hurled even faster. She jammed her javelins into the falling snow and ice but found no purchase. Her body bumped and bounced roughly off the hard slope and she shifted her weight to narrowly avoid crashing into a tree, pointing downwards with both feet.

  “Ahhhhhh!!!”

  At the base of the mountain she slammed into a snowbank. Instantly, the crush of powder and wintry slush fell upon her, burying her several feet under.

  At last, the rumbling ceased, and an eerie silence settled over the land.

  A notification chimed and a new text box appeared in Chastity’s blurry field of vision.

  But Chastity did not notice, as she had lost consciousness.

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