A Wild Winter Wandering (Round Two)

[MaskedLegend]

It was a frightful evening for the troubled teen as he headed down the large ravine. Ralis had decided to search for a nearby village as he trekked through the knee high snow. He hadn't seen a civilized settlement for leagues and wondered if he could ever find shelter. As the frost chiseled and cracked his lips, Ralis needed warmth... and quickly.

"Ss-ooo... damn... fr-freezing!" he explained, watching the cloud he formed with his breath. "Gotta g-get.. warm!"

With that, the shadow caster bundled up his cloak extra tightly and pulled the hood to cover most of his face, then stumbled through the snow to a hollowed out place in the ravine to rest. After getting comfortable, Ralis set his palms ablaze within his gauntlets and with tremendous precision he heated the armoring, making them gleam a bright red glow.

"That's... better," he sighed with relief. Ralis felt the snow around him trickle into normal water, getting his cloak damp and heavy.

"Ugh, should've picked a better spot than here," he groaned. The teen slowly got from his icy abode and continued to look for an actual shelter.

Ralis wandered out of the ravine and up a slippery hill, melting the snow in his path. After trudging up the hill, he was faced with the black nothingness of night and more snow once more. Although there was a cliff to his left, all but that had not changed. He moaned again and continued forth when his boot caught something under the winter's rain and he tripped face first. After spitting the snow out he rolled over and suddenly his legs flew out from under him and dangled helplessly. He had forgotten his surroundings, a most foolish mistake.

Ralis felt small pieces of snow and rock fell to his shoulders as his gauntlets sunk into the sunk, lower and lower.

"Son of a," was all he could say before he plummeted to the danger unknown below.

Maybe it was minutes, or hours, but it seemed like an eternity. The boy rose to his feet and tried to stand still, dazed from the fall. Ralis felt sick and lightheaded from his drop and he sat down for a moment to stop the world from spinning. His illness faded when he heard strong footsteps heading toward him...

"Who is there?" he called out to the night, hoping it was his imagination.

But it wasn't a figment of his mind's tricks, it was real and heading toward him. Ralis felt paralyzed with torn emotions... fear, despair, sick, and angry all rushed through him. He stood straight up and made sure his gauntlets were cool before reaching the hilt of his blade.