The transition is as smooth as ever. One second I'm standing in a field of blue light wondering if the description of my Boon implies the true existence of a soul, and the next I'm standing on a slope of snow and ice, frigid wind howling in my face. A glimpse is all I get before the pain and weariness slam onto me like a ton of steel bricks. I flop gracelessly onto the slope, sliding a few feet down the steep mountainside before my foot catches on a rock. Every inch of muscle in my body feels like it's been through a food processor. Twice. The snow feels good, at least.

  “Not good,” I mutter, the keening wind snatching away my voice. I can barely think through the pain.

  “Indeed,” Kora says drily.

  “I'm not going to be able to… move. Seriously… I just tried to move my hand. And failed, obviously. Is there anything you can… do? You know, whatever ninja move you did… against the lion thing? I didn't know… I could move like that.”

  “To save you last time, I had to fire every muscle fiber at once. Your weak, emaciated, childlike muscles promptly tore under the pressure.”

  “Wow. Okay, we could have said that a bit more… concisely, let's say. So that's a no?”

  Kora falls into a silence that feels contemplative. I let her think, concentrating on my hearing. It's pretty much the only sense that'll do anything for me right now, since I can't even lift my head more than an inch. The wind covers anything but the most obvious sounds, but it could be our only warning.

  “So there isn't much I can do to help you. I could probably turn off your ability to feel pain.”

  “Uh, yes. That. Please.”

  “Careful. It comes with several, perhaps fatal, downsides.”

  “More fatal than lying here?” I ask sarcastically.

  “Fair. Your muscles won't work any better. You'll still be weak as a newborn kitten. If you push them any farther, there might be permanent damage.”

  “Not more permanent than dying,” I snap, losing patience. “Which is what's going to happen if we don't move. You think the asshole trying to kill me gave me a freebie?”

  And, like flicking a lightswitch, the pain disappears. It is so shocking I gasp in its absence. My arm raises, trembling, at my command. I try to roll over. My arms and legs flop around in the snow. It would be hilarious if I wasn’t racing death. It takes three attempts before my body manages to flip over. I don't pause, but lift myself into a shaky pushup. I can't hear anything, can't see anything. Whatever's hunting me probably doesn't share my current, uh, infirmities.

  What a weird sensation. My body moves like I'm on the edge of death, but the only thing I feel is frustration that it won’t do what my mind tells it to.

  “So, can you see things that I can't? You know, watch my back?”

  “Only using your senses. My own Mentor felt like he was real, like I could turn at any moment and see him standing there. It took a long time for me to understand that he shared my body with me.”

  Ice crunches softly somewhere up the slope. Shit. We're out of time. I lift my head as far as I can to peer in that direction. My eyes jump about in my skull. I can’t focus. What the hell?

  Oh. My neck is vibrating like crazy with the effort of holding my head up. Jittery as it is, my Legendary Perception catches sight of the creature crouched a little ways up the slope. It doesn't look nearly as large as the stone lion, which is at least some relief. Though, my shaking vision seems to keep adding legs…

  Identification: Cuddles, Feral Ice Centipede of Wrulgaren Peak

  Level: 25

  Strengths: Agility, Stealth

  Weaknesses: Giant Shoes

  Though often kept as pets by Klaspe children, this particular specimen escaped her bonds. I guess being named ‘Cuddles’ didn't suit her. Her carapace is made of iron she metabolized as a wee worm eating her way out of a cacoon of solid metal. Known for their icy venom, the slightest touch from an Ice Centipede’s stinger is enough to stop the heart of creatures four times their size.

  The monster rears up, a dozen hideous legs waving in the storm. Twelve feet high, at least twice as much monster still trailing behind, the thing looks like it's tasting the air. Its mandibles click together with a sharp crack loud enough to echo down the valley. Seemingly satisfied, it drops back onto its legs and nearly disappears in the snow. Nearly. If I didn't have my new eyes, the massive creature would be invisible in the storm.

  Known for its venom? Uh, why? It's built like one of those old Soviet steel trains, but meaner. I can't even imagine what kind of psychopath looked at Cuddles and thought ‘yep, let's domesticate that.’ Or what it would even need venom to kill.

  The massive insect darts forward on eerily silent legs. Even my enhanced hearing barely picks up the whisper of its advance.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Uh, thoughts?” I mutter quickly.

  “I wish I could say it was nice knowing you, but this has been a grand disappointment.”

  Damn. I want to say the words don't hurt, but they land. It's almost like I can hear my mother speaking them in tandem. Well, fuck her and fuck Kora, too. Those are not the last words I'm going to hear.

  “Just keep the pain turned off.”

  On shaking limbs, I plunge my arms through the snow and push as hard as I can against the rock beneath. At first, nothing happens, my arms trembling with pathetic effort. As the monster closes in, the whole mountain begins to vibrate, loose bits of ice twitching in a manic dance. Shouting aloud, pushing with muscles I can't feel, finally I begin to slide.

  My speed quickens on the icy slope. Noticing, Cuddles darts after me. All I can do is watch as the giant centipede’s scuttling legs devour the ground between us. Her mandibles, black and glistening, stretch wide. Closer, closer, spreading on either side of my head until they're all I can see.

  They snap together with a sound like a gunshot. My head jerks to the side, and my slide turns into a spin. The world is an endless swirl of white. Ears ringing, I lose all sense of place. All I know is that I'm still alive and moving. The endless snow goes dark, and I have an instant to wonder before I crunch—

  ***

  “Competitor?”

  Oh. Hm. I can't feel, or see, much of anything. Either I’ve gone blind, or someone turned the lights off.

  “Competitor?”

  “Mm?” My mouth doesn't seem to be working perfectly. There’s something wet… Ah. Blood. I try to spit to clear it, but it just dribbles out onto my cheek.

  “Though my opinion of you hasn't changed, much, I wanted to honor your stubborn insanity by waking you before the end.”

  “Pretty shitty prize,” I murmur.

  “It's all I can offer. The creature is coming, and your body is broken. I am… sorry I brought you here, Competitor. I thought you were something you aren't. I wasn't trying to get you killed.”

  “Can't be it.” My words are slurring, so I can't tell if they make any sense.

  “I can hear your thoughts, Competitor. You don't have to say everything out loud.”

  Right. This can't be it. You're some kind of ninja swordsman, right? Don't you have powers or something?

  “Even a master can't play on an inferior, untuned, broken instrument.”

  Ignoring that. Is there any part of me that still works? I can't really see. Or feel.

  “Your right arm is the most intact piece of your body. I could start to catalog your injuries, but you'd be dead before I finished, Cuddles or no.”

  There is a rustle of limbs somewhere behind me, followed by a hiss that sounds suspiciously delighted. Cuddles must have found me. With a mental push, I get my body to flop that direction, freeing my right arm and getting a look at where I've ended up. A cave of some sort. I'm partially wedged under an overhang of icy rock. The light is dim enough that I imagine I'd be blind without my Perception Skill. A few rocks fall with dull thuds as I shift my weight.

  Cuddles stalks me slowly, legs lifting up and down with the slow patience of a predator. There's nothing I can do to hurt the iron clad monster, not really. And, for the love of all that is holy, I am exhausted. Whatever happened to my body has to be fatal.

  “What… why are you doing this, Competitor? Why do you still struggle? You were ready to die against the stone lion. I don't understand.”

  You may not have meant to, but you did some Mentoring back there. That stuff about your people… it made me think of mine. My people, good and bad. I don't really care what happens to me. But I'll do whatever I can, sacrifice whatever I can, for them. It's… I don't know, it's kind of fucking freeing, to care about other people instead of yourself.

  “I… Competitor…”

  Hush. Talk to me after I kill this thing.

  While we carry our silent conversation, Cuddles has continued her slow advance. Her legs twitch excitedly. I may not be an expert on giant centipede body language, but I imagine she's gearing up to charge. My eyes slide past her, rising to the ceiling of the cavern. It's higher than I realized. Massive icicles leer down like teeth in a jagged smile. Something in the back of my head feels drawn to one in particular. Larger than the rest, there's an imperfection in its crystalline smoothness. A hair thin crack.

  “Cuddles!” I shout, or try to, but it comes out in a bubbling rasp. At the sound of my voice, though, the massive insect freezes. Directly under the frozen spear poised above her back.

  My right hand wraps around one of the rocks my violent impact dislodged. There's no way I can throw it far enough. There's no way it'll strike with force enough to break the ice. But fuck it. I literally have nothing to lose.

  Got anything for me?

  “Prayer.”

  Save it.

  I flick my arm forward. The rock spins into the gloom.

  I don't pray. I will it to fly. Go, damn you.

  There is a spark of violet light, brief and then gone. A sharp crack fills the cavern. The mountain groans. Cuddles rears up, waving her limbs in confusion. The icicle above her lurches free of the ceiling with an earsplitting snap. Point first, it crunches into and through her iron carapace with a sickening squelch. She twitches once, then again, and then falls still.

  “How in the name of—

  Achievement! “The birds and the bees!”

  You defeated an enemy using only your mind and the environment!

  Reward: Your soul gains slightly increased affinity to the natural world.

  Skill learned! Soul Expression (Common).

  You have learned to extend your will into the natural world at the cost of the very energy that makes up your soul!

  Achievement! “Who needs training wheels?”

  You learned your third Skill before even choosing a Class! What a special little girl you are!

  Reward: Skills you acquire prior to choosing a Class do not count against your Soul’s normal maximum.

  Congratulations! You've absorbed soul energy!

  Error. Missing Class. Soul energy held in stasis. Please select a Class.

  Addendum! You probably think you've done something, don't you? Look at you. I don't even have to do anything else. I just get to watch you die. But, in case you come up with some other bullshit lucky fucking hqjepeisksnuwjg

  You said Dickhead was a god, right?

  “Yes, though I am not sure which of the Twelve it is.”

  Did they really just get so frustrated they keyboard smashed?

  “Apparently. This is all very… abnormal.”

  Addendum! I didn’t want to have to do this, but I'm just going to make sure. Really sure.