The Game: Aether and Mind

A wave of hardened, freezing wind crashed into my side and threw me onto the cold, pillowy ground of snow. The sensation of all of my warmth being stolen and drawn out, ripped out and sucked away, I could feel how my body terribly shook. The endlessly howling storm cut through my ears like a swarm of sharpened needles, an invisible and intangible force pushing me into the ground, and a sharp biting, tearing of my flesh dominated my enhanced senses.

"What the fuck?!" I forced out a vulgarity and tried to lift my head, only for my vision to be plastered with snow that stuck to my fur like an angry swarm of ants. The snowstorm stole my vision in this sparsely populated forest, few trees stood great enough to be visible even when only a few meters away, little else but the piercing, blinding white in this darkened night dared to show itself to me, nothing but the amber flame at my side, burning stalwart against the storm, and a punny flickering light far and up away.

Warning: Outside temperatures reside below habitable depths and above resistances. You periodically receive "100" points of damage. Extended exposure will apply the debuffs [Frostbite], [hypothermia], [Slowness], and [Freeze] onto you.

I grunted painfully, and let out a cloudy mist from my mouth, and already I was dearly missing the lost warmth. "Change to Warrior class." I commanded and felt how my muscles, flesh, and hide thickened, bones hardened and my warmth found a slightly fonder vessel to reside in. Like a strong heartbeat, I felt the pain tick throb twice more, and nearly a total of 300 health was lost in an instant.

With little time at hand, I ripped out the Ram Crest Shield and quickly consumed whatever hot item I had nearest to me, even when the said item was but searing oil I used to deep fry fish, I gulped it down. I gagged, nearly vomited at the greasy substance filling my stomach and forcefully commanding the game to crank down my metabolism, let the burning brew scar and scorch my insides, it was, however, despite being a torture for the average pony, a deadly one at that, a welcomed grace, for it heightened my temperature and decreased the damage per tick.

You now periodically receive "50" points of damage.

I grunted and with my shield at hand, combined both Charge and Sprint to rush forward. The wind stood like a wall in my path, never yielding, barely giving, while the snow parted in front of the mighty shield soaring over a hundred kilometers an hour, the frozen ground below still yearningly grasped at my hooves, desiring to drag me deeper into the ground, deeper into a dream I might just not awaken from.

A sudden impact made every last one of my teeth chatter in my mouth, I could feel the frost slowly claiming them, and the cracks spoke no better of the moment. Looking past the shield, I saw a hulking figure perched over a stone. I jumped back, expecting the beast to attack in my moment of confusion, only to see that it was only a recently deceased carcass.

"What a beast." I spared a feeble moment to utter in disbelief, looking at the creature appearing like a beastly mix between polar bear and yeti, with white, thick fur and pointed black dots. Little of the face could be seen, nothing but small, black eyes and four great fangs, so large they didn't fit in the maw.

I pulled at the corpse, but despite the wounds being fresh, the monster was frozen in place, and I couldn't spare the time and energy to free it to make a coat, but at this point, I wasn't against setting myself ablaze. With a distasteful grunt, I walked around the corpse and rushed further upward, for there was a little bit of hope I had. The slim chance of seeing any sorts of settlement, or place of safety regardless if it was on the other fucking side of this damned world. If not, then I really hoped that I picked up how to build an igloo somewhere. At the very least there was a place safe enough for a light source, preferably fire, to burn without the wind blowing it out.

[Health: 850/1350]

"I know Game." I choked with anger and rushed forward once again, but dreadfully I realized that the slope wasn't as even as I hoped, as despite coming nearer to the light source, it still resided at a place much higher than I was. "Don't make me climb, don't make me climb, oh for fuck's sake don't make me climb." I grumbled under my breath, and my anger warmed me almost as much as my tired body that was slowly being drained of stamina, and the hot oil inside me.

I could feel how the frost was slowly claiming my flesh, the sensations in my hooves had long since left me, just as my nethers and my flank would soon follow. The white, sharp smoke that exuded in my throat was becoming a sluggish,grey cloud and my very fur began to freeze. This wasn't just far north, this was perhaps the very pole of this world at which I suddenly found myself. Accursed be; this blasted forest amalgamation, burning it down was once again rising on the list of possibilities.

A dreadful howl echoed through the landscape, bouncing off and repeating like this was a sort of valley in which I was trapped. Seeing the corpse I encountered a few moments ago, a state I dearly wished not to enter myself, I could do little else but fear the other creatures, or even rivals, that lurked in these hostile lands.

[Health: 500/1350]

Dammit, all, I haven't been ten minutes in this frozen dessert and I had already broken through the halfway point of my health, but something else broke. A flood of pure rage and determination filled not just my mind, but my body as well. It was... invigorating, pushing me beyond my limits, and I saw my surroundings differently as the adrenalin pushed through my veins almost like a thick mass.

[Warrior Determination] has been activated - physical damage output has been increased by 50%, and speed by 25% for one minute.

I lowered my head and increased my charging speed even further beyond, faster than any unicorn alive, rivaling the speediest of earth ponies and possibly outpacing even some pegasi. To the left. I dodged to the left, still not halting my charge towards the light, and the slope sharpened, but I couldn't slow down, even if it meant risking crashing into a tree or two.

To the right, left, right, right, right, left - Jump!

Over a tight, but seemingly endlessly deep ravine did I jump, against the heavily blowing wind I was almost hurled into the depths, if not outright before my leaping point.

[Health: 300/1350]

Fuck! The minute wasn't even over and another two hundred points were scraped off my life. With a grunt, I pulled out a fish taco (don't judge me) and consumed it in one bite to slow down my falling health bar, even if it was just a little. I tried to push myself to even faster speeds, but my mind-numbing enhanced senses screamed all of a sudden and I rammed my hooves into the snowy ground, only painstakingly slowing down my progress. Pushing the shield past my shaking, quivering visage, I saw extended, frozen spikes growing horizontally from the tall hill away.

"You made me climb!" I grunted, before a wave of despair washed over me, another tick passed and I could feel how this body was starting to fail me. My lungs were heavily damaged, my legs' musculature was quickly dying and my heart was having a hard time pushing my thick blood. A dark filter started to encircle my vision, and deep sleep was trying to lull me into a false sense of comfort, mortality was once again ready to remind me of my place, and it was so numbing I couldn't even pick up the messages that were appearing in my skull, not that I could even read them here.

With a cough, I tightened the little strength and courage I had and summoned a [Fireball]. The flame had great trouble sustaining itself, so much so that I had to continuously fuel it with my magic. I gritted my teeth, before letting out a sigh of defeat. Suddenly from my body burst vilethorne, and the sensation was, or would've been, agonizing were it not for my numb flesh and lack of pain receptors. The vines tightly bound themselves around my body, and while the insolation would only last a few seconds, that was not exactly why I grew them. Strangely enough, my hair turned into vilethorne, instead of simply regrowing a new mane of plant matter.

I let out a shrill shriek and slammed the flame into my plant armor, and my body was set ablaze like grassland after a three-month-long dry season. But despite the sheer, overwhelming stimulation, and the damage being done to my body, and as absurd as it sounded, the flames allowed me to regenerate my health, but it would not stave off the cold for long.

I lowered my form, and jumped up as high as I could, before summoning a [Mana Construct] platform below my numb hooves. The heavy wind tried to blow me off the platform, or maybe even through me, but I subdued the discomfort, and jumped again and again, towering myself upward with the platform and recalling the used mana after my hooves left the previous platform.

I fought the urge, I waged a battle against it desperately, but in the end, I couldn't resist and dared to look down, and after a few dozent jumps I already reached ten meters, but with this wind, and from this height, it appeared much more extreme than it was.

"I better not get the 'Fear of Heights' flaw, or I'll seriously torch this lumber mill in the making." I grit my teeth as, despite a nice chunk of health regained, the vilethorne was burning out, not just hosting lingering embers from the merciless wind.

You periodically receive "35" points of damage.

Shut up! I know this!

I growled like an animal and jumped from platform to platform, quicker and quicker all the while digging my hooves into whatever ground I could claw myself upon. And finally, I've reached the desired height. A little cave, only with a tight entrance but ample space inside, from which its depths shined a sharp light, awaiting me. I smiled weakly with blue lips and a shivering jaw, before taking a few steps back, my fetlocks touched the very edge of my circular platform, and I bolted with just [Sprint] and [Charge] but without my shield, as the weight would, pun intended, be my downfall.

My heart beat meagerly, but still with some strength as I flew through the air and over the little gap, but suddenly a heavy gust pushed past me, or rather, pushed me a few meters further than I liked and I collided with the wall next to the entrance, further dragging my health bar down. I grunted and cringed as I felt my shoulder joint dislocate, but had more severe problems at hoof. With an uneven trot, I moved towards the intended entrance and pushed myself through the gap.

Warmth awaited.

I let out a bitter, frightened chuckle and fell to the hard, chilly, but warmer ground with barely an ounce of strength left. It wasn't warm enough to be comfortable, by far, but I could feel my health regenerate by a few points a minute. Like I was paralyzed, I laid there a little while, mustering the bare strength and senses in my flesh, to pull out a bowl of laksa, though not enough to lift a spoon, I let my muzzle fall into the bowl and drank as vigorously as I could, pushing my regeneration per minute to almost a hundred, at least, for the next three minutes.

Your muscular structure experienced a shock from the frost, rapidly damaging your ability to move and debilitating it. A normal pony your size would have to undergo amputation. Three of your hooves, even with regeneration, suffered tissue decay.

"Thanks for the notice, Game." I said meekly while absorbing the last few drops of warm broth in my stomach, and once again, keeping my metabolism low. However, I had to return to the standard soon as the regeneration and growth of vilethorne, even with the Game's magic at play, used up a lot of my protein reserves, and I needed to quickly bolster them. And fat, that most certainly wouldn't hurt either right now.

I slowly pushed myself up, with some... something in my body waking up again, I don't know, I still felt pretty numb, and looked around myself. There, hanging from a ceiling, hung a sharply glowing crystal that, while able to be seen from far away, donated little light. I walked up to it, with a raised eyebrow, as clumps of snow, chunks of ice, and bits of burned vilethorne fell off my armor. I looked at it sharply and realized that the poor thing had been burning at least for a little while, but its durability was almost used up. I extended my hoof, as shivering as it was, and focused my magic on it. The crystal first flickered, before releasing a bellowing boom of light, engulfing the cave in brilliant, warm light and revealing what was hidden from me.

Just below the shining crystal lay a frozen corpse of a starved minotaur.

The body was huddled into as tight of a ball as she could, but even the heavy fur clothing did little. Her pale blue skin almost shined in the light, as did her pristine, ever-open eyes staring at the sad remains of what once was a campfire, now a pile of ash and petrified, frozen splinters.

"Fuck, just...fuck." I held up a hoof to my muzzle and held my breath.

Name: Copper Horn. Age: 32. Gender: Female. Duration of Death: 29 hours.

I stared at the body with solemn eyes and a shivering heart, feeling a sense of alienation and uncertainty spread throughout me. At this point, I wasn't a stranger to bodies, most certainly not after the encounter with ol' Brawly, he definitely put this point across every goal line, however seeing this made me feel... sadness. It wasn't the emotions of another, nor me trying to force the sense into my skull, but just an uneasy and sorrowful feeling.

But...

I fleetingly looked through the slit and felt something large looming over me, and I haven't felt closer to death since the day all this started, and now, I wasn't talking about the colt.

... Niceties, honor, and tradition only really meant something in times of safety, now? Now wasn't a time of safety, but a moment of survival - and survival demanded a heart that wouldn't be influenced by others' anguish.

"Let's see if there's something useful." I said coldly with a heavy breath before my eyes fell onto her backpack of linen and some sort of pelt. I walked towards it, the sound of my hooves echoed through the cave a little too loudly for my tastes and made me wonder if something else was there in this very room, to the point I halted my hoof in the air, just to listen. I shook my head and quickly snapped the bag away from the corpse, and the sound of hair claimed by the frost being pulled, resulting in an awful ripping and crackling made me cringe.

"Almost a pity that I have a metaphorical inventory, otherwise this might've been a boon." I mumbled and opened the pack, but the contents were a mixed b- it had objects of varying usefulness. A compass, map, and medicinal herbs were, at least right now, the least useful, with the first pair being an inferior version of the inbuilt features I passed, but I might be able to plant them if the fire crystals do radiate warm light. Climbing gear, a steel survival knife, and a bronze lamb with a hollow interior were by far more interesting to me, but what intrigued me most was a little pendant sitting in a silk tissue.

Something was written in the silk, and by the many bending marks, it was folded many times:

Dearest Sister,
I know I cannot persuade you, neither stop nor make you stray from the path of adventure you've chosen since we've been but little runts, so at the very least know that I never doubted or wished you to fail, just been worried for you. Outside the clan, there'll not be an ally equal to your clan or family, none to whom you can turn or those who will trust you like us, and keep your back safe, but know that despite the clans teachings, I, and this be the only time, say against those rules but six words. I will always be with you.

~Copper Hoof, of the copper crumble clan and brother of Copper Horn.

"Sister went on a big adventure through a frozen hell and the brother doesn't know if she's alive or not... I-" The rest of the sentence stuck in my throat and my jaw quivered for a second too long, before I forcefully closed it with a resounding click that echoed quietly twice.

I shook my head and looked at the pendant shaped like a humble circle. It could be opened, though fiddling with my hooves ultimately proved useless, thus my magic came into play. Inside the copper pendant, was a picture of a three-headed family, with the father having one of his eyes whitened out, and two little minotaur children sneakily pinching each other, while in the background a tree growing near a river could be seen.

Copper Heirloom. Level 40 item. Quality: unique. Effect: Raises Health Regeneration and Stamina Recovery by 10 percent.

I opened my mouth before my lips fell into a dead slump, and a dreadful shiver crawled across my back as I had unintentionally turned back to the corpse, the cold, empty eyes staring at me. The light from the crystal mirrored my image across the white surface, but I could also see something else reflect light towards me. A thick ring that clung to her petrified, snapped off finger.

'Don't say anything Game, please I can't-'

Earth Mover’s Ring. Level 80 item. Quality: Rare. Effect: Increase strength and endurance by 20 percent. Half the equipment burden. Grants the boons of the level twenty-five miner job: Increase eyesight, odds of finding rare minerals in the earth, and ability to use metals and gems. As is tradition, the ring of the Earth Mover shall be granted to the firstborn daughter of the clan chief's finest smith, while their brother, were one to be, shall receive the earring of the smith. This item, dating back to the clan's first days has been forged by Malkechir, the finest smith to ever have graced the clan lands.

I grit my teeth and felt... not exactly angry though disappointed. "I didn't want to hear it, Game. I didn't." I said, and enveloped the ring with my magic and pulled it towards me. I didn't know how I could wear these items, and it wasn't the space on my horn that concerned me.

"I..."

And then I heard my own voice in my skull. The endless screeches, screams, howls, and roars that I've encountered, the music of bones breaking, blood dripping, and worst of all, a fraction of the memory of my arrival in this pony world: The nightmare realm. I breathed heavily, and no matter how much I breathed I couldn't get enough to swallow. I Punched my chest to break the cycle and looked down onto the frozen ground. Once I'm strong enough I'll leave this dirtball behind. I didn't take the gamble for myself, and most importantly, not in favor of these ponies and griffons or whatever is in that weird world of magic and rainbows but for the little chance to get back what was taken from me.

"Why are you showing me this?" I knew exactly why, I was daft at times, but this wasn't one of them.

Although I do often attempt to push you to further the hunt, I haven't done anything in the last ten seconds, nothing but fearing for your health and monitoring your respiratory systems.

I was speechless, and although the voice seemed so familiar, it was mine after all, the concern was so... alien to me, but that was indeed my opinion long ago. Not a conclusion formed from anger, hate, or sorrow, nor a drastic reaction, but an actual standpoint I would've defended against anyone trying to lean me away from it. Almost crazy how twelve years can change a man.

My eyes slowly turned towards the items that I'd dropped and then panned over to Copper Horn. I felt my lower lip quiver, but it was useless. I sighed, and the white fog clouded my face, before I walked towards Copper Hoof, and knelt down. "I don't believe in gods, nor an afterlife, anything really after death, but if you do hear me, I'm sorry. I-it pains me, but I need these items, I can't go without, just know, and please do understand, that this way they and thus you can help me keep your family and clan safe from monsters none of us should ever face or be stolen from."

I smiled, not the perk smiled, I did, but it didn't mean I was happy. I was disgusted, but I couldn't pass off these trinkets, these items of power. I lowered my gaze and lifted my hoof to her face. The warmth from my hoofs slowly melted the ice that claimed her eyelids and allowed me to close them finally.

"What were her last thoughts, do they still linger?" I asked meagerly and averted my eyes, turning around and slowly walking towards the frozen valley.

Upon death the most important memories mesh into a final goodbye, and at times their imprint may linger. I see... a landscape, a little town which matches the local flora seen in the Bronze Heirloom item. The depiction is quite detailed. Entity: Copper Horn must have spent many years there, for this image to be this clear.

"Do you know how their tombs look, or how they are buried?" I asked, using the same tone as before, only now I turned back with a tight breath and pulled out a large blanket and splayed it across the ground. Cracking sounded from Copper Horn's body, but I pressed on and pulled her from the floor, from the wall, and laid her down onto the fabric, before pulling it tight around her body.

Images have been saved for later usage.

"Good." I answered shortly, before pulling her into my inventory. Call it guilt, name it sympathy, or even familiarity, but it felt less than a courtesy and more like a duty for what I needed to do. For this kindred soul, and for me. Still, despite knowing that I'd give her what she needed, this entirely foreign ~~mare~~, woman, I still couldn't bear to equip the items until I'd actually finished it. But I knew, where it truly came to a challenge, a foe, I'd break this statement in half without thinking for a second.

I looked through my inventory and pulled out a thin blanket, it would never be enough to keep me warm, but enough for this purpose. I enveloped the frozen body with my magic and slowly lifted her up. The sound of her fur crunching painted a look of unease on my face and the ice breaking helped not an ounce, but she was still soft enough to be moved onto the blanket, within which I wrapped her. I spared a single, additional glance to slowly drag my hoof over her face and close those eyelids one last time, before pulling her to my inventory.

"At least I can help someone for once." I muttered with disdain and just as I forbode, I equipped the items. It made me feel ashamed, but the sensation of my chances rising bolstered my mental walls against the guilt I felt.

I turned my head towards the rest of the cave, but nothing greeted me but a plain stone wall. Suddenly a crack sounded below me and I looked down with confusion, seeing cracks form in the pristine stone. Although I was startled, it did make sense, I now reached the median of earth pony strength with over 150 points. Of course, the great majority actually lay around 130, but damn do some really heavy mares and stallions drive up the middle number.

"Salt and limestone in dense quantities make up this peak. By the looks of it there are also many other minerals just powdering the ground... This is not just some random hill, Copper Horn had a reason to come here and I just wonder what drove her here of all places." My face tightened as I muttered, and licked the air around me. There was something else in the air, something that made me very nervous. "Charcoal dust and potassium?"

I slowly walked towards the furthest away door but halted when I noticed scraps of burned paper in the fire. I raised an eyebrow and grasped as many scraps as I could and pulled them towards me, before attempting to repair it, but the results were less than pleasing. The parchment stitched itself together, but the image was barely visible, I could only guess that it didn't look much better when it wasn't burned.

"Now why is a minotaur from a clan so far away, lightly equipped and with a map at a place as hostile as this one?" I said with distrust to myself, mostly to warm my lips, and trotted closer to the wall, before activating [Spirit Senses]. My Pupils dilated and the image I saw sharpened not just beyond that of a pony, but even possibly surpassing predators like cats or eagles. Every fine grain, dent, or imperfection in the rock became as visible as a splat of ink on a silky sheet. The structure appeared to have formed almost like stalagmites, however, this was not a spike, but a flat wall.

I slowly closed even nearer to the construct and a sudden smell overpowered my nose with a stinging sense odor that quickly dissipated in the air. With a slow movement, I raised my right hoof and gently tapped the wall, but all that echoed was a "normal" wall sound. I don't know how to describe it, a thud if you will, however when I knocked a second time, or to be more precise, punched with the strength of an earth pony with nearly 160 points of strength, a hollow sound erupted through the little cave.

"Intriguing, rock that swallows sound up to a certain level of vibration. Copper Horn went here for something, and the thing was right in front of her nose." I said with a dry tone and stared at the mineral formation with a frown. "Pickaxe." I said in an imperial voice, and the Game, heading my wish, actually obliged and pulled it from the depth of my inventory. I actually expected a smug remark. Now I felt a bit bad...

I shook my head and hopped onto my hind legs, before slowly and carefully picking away at the rock, just making a teeny, tiny hole to see what was hiding there. The tool was very poor, it did belong to level 5 goblins after all, but I would not risk having my hideout somehow taken by whatever could possibly lurk behind this wall. Ye-es, I can feel just how my occupation is influencing me, how long will it be till I only use bronze silverware, I wonder.

A crack sounded, and the tiny bit of wall I worked on gave away, but instead of just losing a single layer, the stone below started to bulge, dent and grow towards me like a hyper-aggressive pimple. "Oh, fuck." I said as a surface the size of my hoof bulged and suddenly popped, releasing a blue steam venting right into my face. I recoiled, shouting wildly while falling backward, flailing my left hoof while the right one rubbed my face. The icy-cold gas burned and clawed at my skin, so much so that I felt not just my newly acquired frost resistance rise greatly, but also quickly pushed my poison resistance up 'till it reached level 50. This vile concoction was above the toxicity of vilethorne, above level 50, this shit could literally kill any pony alive.

"Ahh! Fuck! Damn! Shit!" I roared vulgarities out into the cave while coughing and gagging in between spits. I gagged as I felt the substance eat away at my flesh and tears rolled down my eyes as if I had just rammed an onion into my eye sockets. My regeneration in combination was almost able to keep up with the damage, but it did little to soothe the intense irritation that would've eaten away a pony.

Blue Rust. I am intrigued at seeing it here of all places. It usually stains weapons of epic and higher quality, not the arsenal most mortals would possess. The Game noted amidst my howling. Worth noting is that technically you possessed level 50 poison resistance since acquiring the vilethorne resistance, however, it wasn't mentioned directly and you couldn't level it until being afflicted by an even stronger toxin.

"Ouch, damn, fuck..." I growled, rubbing my bloodshot eyes while staring at the gas vent that weakened with every second, though the taste of it ever so lightly tainted the air around me. "Thanks for the exposition, but a warning would've been even more appreciated." I took a sharp breath and spat out a black, congealed blob of blood onto the floor.

Apologies, but the natural minerals blocked my signals, and the presence of Blue Rust was very unlikely. The Game lamented in a painfully apologetic way.

"Alright, alright I didn't ask for your penance, just spouting insults to dull the feelings. Goodness, arkh, I am so happy I can't feel pain ‘cause that sensation, I tell you, is like if coca cola replaced your blood." I said with a yelp as the geyser let out a final belch, as the rust was used up and the air began to fill the space behind it.

"Now, I think I really need to amp up my resistances. I'm going to make my spirits shoot me, dip my hooves in molten metal, ram ice spears through my chest and to raise the poison resistance I'm just going to try smoking a pack of cigs every day... okay, maybe not the last one, that's too much even for me."

"But first-"

The Chamber. The Game finished my sentence.

"Yes, let’s see what Copper Horn was willing to risk her life for."