Post by Piyano on Jan 16, 2017 9:52:59 GMT -5
Cold winds howled down from the high slopes of the Tsumisumbri Mountains, peaks looming over the horizon like a fang tearing through the night sky for dozens of miles in every direction. The wind chill wafted through the mountain range with enough force to slam stone with gale force strength and its icy grip was enough to freeze even the sturdiest subjects of Earth’s animal kingdom to death in seconds. No human was crazy enough to risk the horrendous climate of the Tsumisumbri Mountains, which meant the humans of Earth often hired out expeditions to the icy peaks with visiting aliens who could better handle the cold.
Piyano was one such being, the Namekian had landed in the Cold North of planet Earth and had simply fallen in love with the wintery wonderland. So when word had reached the tall green alien’s sharp ears of paying work that involved trekking through the northern mountains, the happy Namekian had readily signed on. Wrapped head to toe in thick winter wear and pushing his legs through foot feet of snow the Namek was coming to regret his decision. Normally Piyano was immune to the concept of ‘cold’ as it was known throughout most of Earth. The Tsumisumbri Mountains were proving to be a whole different trial for the alien however. Even fully shielded against the wind and snows as Piyano was the raw chill of this place cut through the man to his very blood. Every breath Piyano breathed felt like razors tearing through his throat, and every drop of sweat that coated his body under his clothes from the challenging hike frozen against his skin.
Slumping up hill one foot at a time Piyano determined simply walking through these mountains was harder than any training the Namekian had eve before experienced. The entire landscape was working towards his death, the green man couldn’t even fly as the severe winds contained so much power Piyano would be lucky if he ‘only’ crashed from their strength. The powerful gales could just as easily send him hurtling miles back away from the mountain peak, forcing the Namek to start his trek all over again. So the man continued on the ground in thigh deep snow, one foot in front of the other.
Gazing up at the mountain to gauge his progress a overwhelming dread grip Piyano’s heart. The peak of the Tsumisumbri Mountains continued up for miles and at the Namekian’s current pace it would take him three days to even reach halfway. A audible sigh escaped the alien through the thick scarf wrapped around his lower face, only to be lost in the howl of another gale breezing down from the mountain. Needing some kind of break the green man dug himself out a small cave in the snow, it’s open face pointing away from the strong winds sweeping of the high slopes of the mountain. Plopping tiredly into a sitting position with his back against the snow caves wall, Piyano pulled forth a specially designed canteen and drank several gulps of warm water after pulling his scarf down from his jaw.
Thinking back to why he had been hired as he rested Piyano’s memories reached back to several days prior. A company based in the Cold North had posted a job notice for any alien capable of surviving extreme colds. Intrigued the Namekian had signed up alongside several other non-humans, only for nearly all of them to turn the offer down when the name ‘Tsumisumbri Mountains’ came up in conversation. Unaware of the dangers Piyano had boldly taken the job anyway. The company had been a jewelers company, and had explained to Piyano that the ice at the top of the mountains was so cold that it could never be melted. The Namekian had been skeptical at first, until his employers had thrown a small cube of ice into a fireplace before his very eyes. Piyano had watched for a hour as the ice cube sat within fierce flames and never so much as released a drop of dew. When the fire had finally died Piyano had been the one to pick that cube out of the ashes, and it had been cold to his touch.
The next few days Piyano had been given a full briefing on his mission, including actions to take to help him survive, how to use equipment and dress for safety, a layout of how and where to travel. The company had been sending expeditions for dozens of years and truly knew the best way to help its employees live through the harsh trek. Even so Piyano had been shocked to learn that only one in every four trips was successful. Thinking back now Piyano couldn’t believe he had been so stupid as to have accepted this job, even if it would pay him enough zeni to last the rest of his time on Earth. Shaking his head clear of memories Piyano drank the last of his water, scoped snow into his now empty canteen until it was full, sealed the heated device and stored it carefully into his heavy traveling pack.
Normally the Namekian would simply eat the clean snow that surrounded him for miles on all sides when he grew thirsty, but the alien had been strongly warned ‘not’ to consume the snow without melting it first. The humans had tried explaining to the Namek why he shouldn’t eat the snow with fancy scientific words, but in the end all they had to tell him was the raw cold of the snow would lower his body temperature until Piyano froze to death. After twenty minutes of resting Piyano crawled out of his hand dug cave and continued his path up the mountain. Piyano had been instructed that he could only sleep in a natural cave and only with a fire burning by his side, otherwise he would never survive the night out on the mountains.
Pushing on through the powerful landscape Piyano walked for hours more until the overhead sun began to disappear behind the highest peak of the Tsumisumbri Mountains. In the dying light Piyano spotted a row of caves lining a face of sheer stone ahead of him. Rushing his feet as fast as the deep snow would allow Piyano made the row of caves just after nightfall. Bounding into the first tunnel he could reach Piyano collapsed against the rough stone floor feeling as if he could simply die right then and there. It took the Namek several minutes of heavy breathing to roll himself off the stone and set himself up a campsite. Popping several capsules given to him for the trip Piyano sealed off the cave mouth with a tarp and several pitons, than the alien built a fire out of some logs that had been sealed away inside another capsule.
Before the next hour had gone by Piyano had a roaring fire and was shielded from the wind, yet even still the alien felt cold grip at his thick green skin. Most of Earth was a beautiful planet, and at a distance even the Tsumisumbri Mountains were visually appealing, but Piyano could not believe just how deadly this land was. Even with his substantial gains in power since coming to the blue planet Piyano knew that these mountains could, and would take his life if he was not very careful. Readying himself for sleep Piyano checked over his gear one last time to make sure he had not dropped anything. The most important device the man had was a experimental that he would need to cut the ice on the mountain's peak. The ice at the top of the Tsumisumbri Mountains was said to be unmeltable, unbreakable, and uncuttable and as far as the humans of Earth were concerned all these things were completely true. This was where the laser came into play, Piyano didn’t fully understand it but the laser was actually some kind of focused sonic emitter. Apparently the device released a concentrated beam of sound that could break atomic bonds on a molecular level, which would allow Piyano to ‘free’ sections of the ice. Confirming that the powerful item’s capsule was safe the Namekian stowed his gear and settled down for the night, tomorrow was going to be a terrible day of climbing. Closing his eyes to sleep Piyano could never know that something was watching him from the shadows deeper into the cave.
The next few days Piyano continued his routine of climbing, resting, climb, and sleeping in any natural formation that would keep the elements off his back for the night. Each day presented new challenges as Piyano had to scale vertical cliffs without being able to fly for fear of the intense winds. One day the alien had lost completely to a snow storm that had dropped another four feet of snow in his path, and another day Piyano had reached a slope of pure ice that ran for dozens of yards around. The alien had found the ice too slippery to walk over, and had learned that even with his full strength behind his strike that his claws could not so much as mar the surface of the hard ice. That day Piyano had to travel nearly half a mile out of his way to simply go around the field of ice.
Each night Piyano had been forced to search out caves and caverns before the sun fell out of the sky, and each night the alien felt a disturbing sense of eyes watching him in his sleep. Piyano never found anyone or anything however, and was left to simply believe that the solitude of the dangerous mountains was starting to play with his mind. After nearly a week into his expedition Piyano had finally crested the halfway point of the mountain. Looking out over the land the Namekian felt as if he could see the curvature of the planet, even though he knew such a thing was impossible. It helped though that Piyano now stood on a piece of stone that was higher up than he normally went when flying through the air and as a individual who flew around the Earth a lot it was a confusing feeling.
Turning his back on the amazing view Piyano search overhead for the sun, only to see that the fiery orb was beginning its descent from the night sky. Knowing now from experience that he would only have a few hours before the moon chased the sun from the sky Piyano pressed onward, hoping to find shelter before he would lose his sight to darkness. It took the tall Namek two whole hours, but Piyano successfully found a small cave carved into the natural stone of the mountain. Sun nearly gone for the day Piyano set up his camp, intending to catch a early night's sleep and start strong in the morning. After setting everything up and checking his gear like he did every night Piyano drifted off into an uneasy sleep, his mind still fearing eyes in the night that could not possible exist.
-clack-
-clack-
-clack clack-
Piyano awoke drowsily to the soft gloom of his campfire, the embers and ashes still glowing a soft red in the darkness of the gave. Eyes working to adjust to the poor visibility it took the Namek a few seconds to recall what had awoken him… was it some kind of noise in the night beyond the constant howl of the wind? Rubbing sleep from his eyes Piyano’s mind finally started to clear as he realized something, his campfire was nearly burnt out. The alien was using a special ignition for his flames that prolonged the life of fires, so how come this night the fire had suddenly burned so low? Lost in thought over the mystery Piyano wasn’t alerted to the attack until it came, as a blunt blow struck him hard across the back of his head. Sent spiraling forward from the strike Piyano rolled across the ashes of his campfire, the coals burst into small flames and ash along the alien’s back, giving him a rough burn and kicking embers into the air to float down lazily about the cave.
Coming out of his roll to slam his back into the stone wall of the cave opposite of where he had slept Piyano stared after his attacker, only to be horrified by what he had lain his eyes upon. The dancing embers in the air provided just enough light for Piyano to see the broken, naked body of a human woman. Her skin was chalky white and pale, flesh torn in rivets along his limbs exposing bones beneath as well as rotting organ tissue. The woman’s hair was pale white as well and stringy as the few remaining strands clung to the woman’s face. Worse of all was the woman’s eyes, completely frozen from the mountain her eyes looked like sparkling glass reflecting the light of the floating embers back at Piyano. This woman was obviously dead, Piyano knew not how or why she walked again before him, but there remained no doubt in his mind that he was watching a departed soul stand before him. This… zombie simply stood there after attacking Piyano as if waiting for orders the Namekian could never possibly hear.
“By what blasphemy?” Piyano began to say, but his voice triggered the undead creature. Releasing a powerful shriek that was far too loud for any human to muster the woman charge him with her fingers out stretched, curled into wicked claws. Shaken from the earlier attack Piyano lashed out with a wave of energy and a scream of his own, the compressed air blast of Piyano’s ‘Gentle Push’ technique sent the woman hurtling back into the wall of the cave with a thunderous crash. Quickly hopping to his feet Piyano was surprised to see the woman also getting up despite his KI blast rending the skin of her torso from her bones. Head still covered in frozen flesh, legs still covered in frozen flesh, and arms and ribs nothing more than a clanking pile of bones the woman came at him again. Sickened by the sight Piyano stretched one of his arms forward the wrap around the woman’s exposed rib cage, forcing the undead monster to stay distant from the Namek. Luckily this zombie didn’t seem capable of rational thought as she never reached down to attack the Namekian’s elongated arm, instead she simply continued attempting to rush forward failing to defeat Piyano’s strength.
Unsure how to destroy the zombie Piyano stretched his other arm to tear down his tarp revealing the morning sun sending its very first ray over the horizon as it started to rise. As comforting as the sunlight was however Piyano found his gaze instead looking to the cliff face not far from the mouth of his cave. Whipping his stretched arm with all his might Piyano threw the zombie far out over the edge of the cliff, his arm releasing the frozen woman and retracting back to his side. Piyano watched as the dead woman fell in silence down to the fields below, nearly a half mile drop. Piyano couldn’t tell how much damage the drop did to the woman’s corpse, but even if she could continue to walk after the long fall Piyano knew he would have many days before the woman even reached as high as this cave again. The Namekian had zero intention of being here by than. Moving back into the cave and out of the cold air Piyano checked over his gear and broke down his camp, everything seemed to be there, but the Namekian could tell the zombie had been searching through his belongings. Luckily the dead woman didn’t seem to find what she had been looking for.
Before beginning his climbing for the day Piyano checked the deepest reaches of his cave in hopes to finding some clue as to where the zombie had come from, the man came up with nothing after a hour of searching however. Not even cobwebs could be found, the harsh cold of the mountain simply too powerful for a spider to survive in. Curious and fearful of what the alien would find higher on the mountain Piyano decided to push forward to the top, the zombie hadn’t been very strong and it would take a great number of them to cause him trouble. So Piyano climbed, he at least managed to take comfort in the fact that he wasn’t going crazy… something really had been watching him.
The next four days proved to be even worse for Piyano than the first week of his journey. The sheer slope of the mountain had increased dramatically, making every gain in elevation that much harder to achieve. The night’s were little better, for some reason the upper half of the Tsumisumbri Mountains were littered with caves, and Piyano was fearful that each one might contain a undead horror ready to strike out at him while he slept. In Namekian culture the deceased were to be honored and revered for the journeys they had undertaken in life, to raise a dead Namekian was considered one of the most heinous crimes an individual could commit. Piyano feared not the undead themselves, but it hadn’t taken the Namek’s mind long to wonder if he would become one of them should he die upon the mountain. No fate seemed worse to the green alien than that.
Several days later Piyano could see that the peak was finally in sight. The Namek guessed in two days worth of time he would breach the summit of the mountain, and from the top Piyano could simply fly off. The winds would be dangerous for certain, but the alien was willing to risk the rough flight down to the ground than have to scale back down the mountain’s surface. That night Piyano was busy setting up his campsite like normal when he heard a roar cry out through the dusky air. This roar thankfully did not come from within the man’s cave, but outside on the steep slopes of the mountain. Deciding he would rather battle his foes outside the confines of his shelter Piyano tossed his tarp aside, dropped his gear and stepped out to confront whatever awaited him in the darkness.
Visibility was poor but the starlight shining overhead gave Piyano at least some amount of lighting to see by. Searching the slopes below him Piyano could not find anything unusual until a second roar sounded not from below him, but from above. Turning the Namekian looked up towards the peak to witness three shambling shadows traveling down from the peak. The creatures moved at dangerous speeds as they more fell than ran down the slopes but if the crashing falls brought them any harm there was no way for Piyano to tell. Soon enough the three fell to Piyano’s level and scrambled to their feet. The biggest of the trio was a bear like zoanthrope, massive in size and brown in color the furry creature would almost seem alive if it wasn’t for its face. Rotting flesh was peeling away from the undead things mouth, fully revealing its massive jawbone and fangs for all to see. The second to reach the small landing could have been a human, could have been a lot of things. Naked much like the woman from earlier this frozen man lacked hair of any kind, as well as his entire head. The headless zombie somehow was still standing though and his shoulders pointed Piyano’s direction as if he could ‘see’ perfectly.
The last to fall among them was completely a skeleton and Piyano couldn’t discern anything about the pile of bones previous species, gender, or anything else. The only true feature to the skeleton was that it had come armed with a sword, the weapons sheath slung through its rib cage to hang off its back. “What are you creatures?” Piyano asked more to himself than any of the creatures, the Namekian didn’t expect any answers. So he nearly fell off the mountain in shock when the sword wielding skeleton spoke up to answer him. “We are the cursed of Tsumisumbri Mountain, those of us who have died on this mountain have found ourselves risen again… to… kill others I guess. We rarely receive any directions” the Skeleton said in a nasally voice that was very cringeworthy to the Namekian’s ears.
“So you're just killing for no reason?” Piyano asked the strange monster, not understanding why the undead would bother. “No No No… we have a reason. We hate you, hate you for the very life you possess. GET HIM JERRY!” the skeleton said before screaming suddenly, with the order to charge given the headless man rushed Piyano. His movements were awkward and hard to read without a head but Piyano managed to block the man’s initial strikes. Amazingly this headless zombie didn’t fight like the female one Piyano had thrown down the mountain days before. This man fought with actual martial arts, his strikes measured and deadly. A palm strike from the headless man took Piyano in the chest and nearly sent him over the cliffside behind him, in awe of the raw skill this headless man possessed Piyano knew he could not take the monster lightly. Choosing to be the attacker this time Piyano charged the zombie, his straight forward attack prompting his foe to launch a high kick no doubt aimed for Piyano’s face. Except the Namekian dropped to his knees in the snow and slide hard underneath the headless man’s high kick. Suddenly behind his first foe Piyano turned in the snow and launched another blast of air with his ‘Gentle Push’ technique. His blast struck the headless man in the spine and violently blew him off the mountain.
“Dammit Jerry… useless bastard. Okay Bear he is all yours.” The skeleton said as his first companion disappeared from sight and Piyano regained his feet. The bear zoanthrope zombie simply snarled and released a might roar before slowly marching towards Piyano. Unlike the headless man this zombie moved at a lumbering pace, but thick arms ending in sharp claws raked out at the Namekian as soon as the bear got into range to strike. Dancing and dodging as best as he could on the snowy slope Piyano watched as the bear’s missed strikes tore great furrows from the stone beneath the snow, this monster was slow but clearly possessed enough strength to crush Piyano should he ever hit him. Slipping out from under a lunging stab Piyano delivered a combo of punches to the bears side, and suddenly his knuckles hurt as if he had been fisting boulders. Shaking the sting from his hands as he ducked underneath another swipe of the bear’s claws Piyano knew he was going to have to come up with a plan of attack that wouldn’t actually involve attacking this enemy. A sudden flurry of swipes forced Piyano into a roll, not a easy thing to do in several feet of snow, and come up with his back towards the cliff again. The bear proved its cunning but holding back it’s charge however, knowing Piyano would try to throw him from the mountain.
Realizing the bear wasn’t going to come near the edge Piyano knew he had to come up with something, if the bear couldn’t be tricked than maybe he could be held in place? Piyano had been developing a technique designed to take down foe’s non-lethally, the point seemed moot now that he faced a enemy he likely couldn’t kill but the attack might hold the bear in place long enough for Piyano to remove him from the battle. Taking a calming breath the Namekian’s body began to be enveloped in a pale green energy as he flexed his psychic abilities to their limits. Extending out both his arms towards the bear zombie Piyano focused his thoughts into a zap of power and launched a attack at the bear’s mind. The ‘Psychic Spark’ invaded the bear’s brain and locked his muscles and bones in place, Piyano’s technique preventing his decaying nervous system from sending signals to his limbs. Knowing his foe to be frozen in place Piyano rushed the bear and wrapped his arms around the huge zombie in some kind of ‘bear-hug’. Heaving with all his might Piyano lifted the frozen bear zombie over his head and threw him over the cliff after the headless man.
Lungs heaving from strain it took Piyano a moment to realize he could hear clapping from behind him. Turning the Namekian saw the skeletal swordsman applauding him, his skull face locked in a forever smile. “You fight pretty good traveller, but you won’t toss me over the edge. Say goodbye to your life blood.” the skeleton said as he drew his sword, the thin bladed saber making a scraping noise as the rusted blade left its sheath. In the light of the stars and moon Piyano could see the age of that saber, but he could also see the weapons razor edge. Still unsure why the undead wished to do him harm Piyano finished catching his breath and dropped into a defensive stance as the swordsman inched forward. The headless man had been skilled, the bear had been cunning and strong, but this monster… Piyano knew this monster was the dangerous one, the slow approach and careful movements as the swordsman launched short stabs Piyano’s direction were proof of that. The skeleton was testing Piyano’s defenses, and it wouldn’t be long before the true attack came.
The skeleton suddenly burst forward with a lunge, knowing Piyano wouldn’t be able to jump back without risking falling over the side of the mountain, forced to pick a side Piyano dived to the left to avoid the lunge. A flick of the skeletons wrist however was all the undead needed to drive the point of his weapon home into Piyano’s calf as the alien dived aside. Pain surged from the wound as the skeleton ripped his blade free of Piyano’s flesh, he could fell a stream of his purple blood run down the back of his leg to pool in the snow beneath his feet. The Namek would have loved a chance to adjust to the sharp pain he felt putting weight on his now injured leg, but his foe wouldn’t allow that. The skeleton came in again with a cross cut, his swift movements sending his weapon spinning in wide arcs to cleave at Piyano’s flesh. Knowing dodging would be unlikely the Namek instead oppted to fire a blast of KI directly into his enemies spinning blades. A glowing ball of energy struck the quick sword before it completed its swing. The blast sent the skeleton flying away from Piyano, but it quickly regained its footing with seemingly no damage done. Even worse the skeletal swordsman’s blade was now glowing yellow. “Thanks.” was all the warning the undead man gave Piyano as he lashed his blade through the air, sending a sharp razor of KI back at Piyano. Thanks to the distance between them Piyano managed to roll aside as the KI blade scraped along the empty ground he had once inhabited. The energy cleaved snow and stone as it shot off into the night, if Piyano was guessing correctly the return blast had been more powerful than the one he had fired at the skeleton.
Deciding not to use another KI blast unless he had no choice Piyano forced himself to his feet and braced himself for the skeletons next charge. Sword tip leading the way the undead lunged, Piyano spun out to the left again, this time correctly guessing the monster would not use the same attack twice. Dancing around the blade Piyano brought a spinning elbow into the skull face of his foe with a loud crack, several teeth fly free from the animated man of bones. Even as Piyano landed his strike however he felt knuckles press hard into his gut and a ball of metal strike his temple as the skeleton smashed the hilt of his blade over Piyano’s head. The Namekian dropped hard to the ground dazed from the blow, only the skeleton taking the time to cackle gleeful saved the Namekian as a sword tip dived down towards his chest. The undead taking time to laugh at and taunt Piyano gave the Namek enough time to shift his body, taking the stab to his right shoulder instead of his heart.
Pain lancing through his shoulder as the skeleton twisted his weapon the undead’s gap toothed skull leered down at Piyano, victory clearly etched over his red glowing eye sockets. “Any last words living man?” the skeleton asked as he wrenched his weapon out of Piyano and held it in a reverse grip ready to plunge for Piyano’s flesh. Writhing in pain Piyano could only mumble something too low for his enemy to hear. “What was that?” the skeleton asked mocking, right before Piyano’s leg extended out like his arms had earlier to kick the skeleton in the knee with enough for to break the bone. “It’s time you die again!” Piyano shouted as he thrust both his arms forward into the chest of the collapsing skeleton, a electrified burst of air taking the now one legged skeleton in the rib cage and blasting the creature dozens of yards into the air. Breathing heavy Piyano watched as his attack began to die out and the skeleton hit the ground in a explosion of bones.
"I swear I'll kill you one day you smug warm blooded bastard! Or my name isn't Jack the Skeleton! I'll peel your flesh from your very bones!"
The animated skull shouted death threats as Piyano went about collecting the undead mans pieces and throwing them off the mountain at different points on the cliff. The skeletal swordsman might not have been killed, but it would likely take weeks for him to put himself back together again. Piyano disposed of the skull last, which he threw with all his might far into the tundra to land over a mile away from the Tsumisumbri Mountains. Using the rest of the night to regenerate Piyano stayed awake as long as he could until exhaustion felled him into sleep. Waking up the next morning still alive and wound free the Namekian pushed himself hard to make the peak in one day as opposed to two, Piyano had more than his fill of this mountain range. Reaching the peak Piyano started to dig through layers of fresh snowfall until he hit a clear wall of solid ice. Removing his fancy sound device that the company had given him to farm the ice Piyano aimed the strange device carefully and switched it on, nothing seemed to happen and for something based around sound to go unheard for even a Namekian’s ears was strange indeed. It wasn’t until Piyano moved the device that he saw it left a carving in the ice below it’s tip, the man would never know how this device would function, but it did its job as Piyano pulled forth a five pound block of ice from the mountain peak.
Taking care to secure the ice and the sound emitter into capsules Piyano secured his gear tightly to his body and readied himself for flight. Leaping off the high peak the man fell fast and hard towards the ground even as he expended KI to try and stay aloft. The mighty winds that surrounded the mountain brought the Namekian on a harrowing ride that nearly saw him flattened against a jagged slope of rock, but the alien managed to pull up in time to avoid death as he flew down the mountain. At about the halfway point Piyano saw his undead attackers below, the four slowly ambling back up the mountain no doubt planning to find and slay the flying Namekian. Piyano nearly laughed when he noticed the bear zombie carrying a bunch of loose bones and a talking skull in his arms.
Days later Piyano returned the ice and all his remaining gear over to the jewelry company, the humans were so thrilled with Piyano’s success that after they paid him they tried to offer him a permanent job in their employ. The Namek managed to politely decline their offer, even though he wanted to tell them all to go dive off a mountain.
End.
Word Count: 5,500
PL: 75,467
Medium Weighted Clothes: ON (37,233)
PL please!
Piyano was one such being, the Namekian had landed in the Cold North of planet Earth and had simply fallen in love with the wintery wonderland. So when word had reached the tall green alien’s sharp ears of paying work that involved trekking through the northern mountains, the happy Namekian had readily signed on. Wrapped head to toe in thick winter wear and pushing his legs through foot feet of snow the Namek was coming to regret his decision. Normally Piyano was immune to the concept of ‘cold’ as it was known throughout most of Earth. The Tsumisumbri Mountains were proving to be a whole different trial for the alien however. Even fully shielded against the wind and snows as Piyano was the raw chill of this place cut through the man to his very blood. Every breath Piyano breathed felt like razors tearing through his throat, and every drop of sweat that coated his body under his clothes from the challenging hike frozen against his skin.
Slumping up hill one foot at a time Piyano determined simply walking through these mountains was harder than any training the Namekian had eve before experienced. The entire landscape was working towards his death, the green man couldn’t even fly as the severe winds contained so much power Piyano would be lucky if he ‘only’ crashed from their strength. The powerful gales could just as easily send him hurtling miles back away from the mountain peak, forcing the Namek to start his trek all over again. So the man continued on the ground in thigh deep snow, one foot in front of the other.
Gazing up at the mountain to gauge his progress a overwhelming dread grip Piyano’s heart. The peak of the Tsumisumbri Mountains continued up for miles and at the Namekian’s current pace it would take him three days to even reach halfway. A audible sigh escaped the alien through the thick scarf wrapped around his lower face, only to be lost in the howl of another gale breezing down from the mountain. Needing some kind of break the green man dug himself out a small cave in the snow, it’s open face pointing away from the strong winds sweeping of the high slopes of the mountain. Plopping tiredly into a sitting position with his back against the snow caves wall, Piyano pulled forth a specially designed canteen and drank several gulps of warm water after pulling his scarf down from his jaw.
Thinking back to why he had been hired as he rested Piyano’s memories reached back to several days prior. A company based in the Cold North had posted a job notice for any alien capable of surviving extreme colds. Intrigued the Namekian had signed up alongside several other non-humans, only for nearly all of them to turn the offer down when the name ‘Tsumisumbri Mountains’ came up in conversation. Unaware of the dangers Piyano had boldly taken the job anyway. The company had been a jewelers company, and had explained to Piyano that the ice at the top of the mountains was so cold that it could never be melted. The Namekian had been skeptical at first, until his employers had thrown a small cube of ice into a fireplace before his very eyes. Piyano had watched for a hour as the ice cube sat within fierce flames and never so much as released a drop of dew. When the fire had finally died Piyano had been the one to pick that cube out of the ashes, and it had been cold to his touch.
The next few days Piyano had been given a full briefing on his mission, including actions to take to help him survive, how to use equipment and dress for safety, a layout of how and where to travel. The company had been sending expeditions for dozens of years and truly knew the best way to help its employees live through the harsh trek. Even so Piyano had been shocked to learn that only one in every four trips was successful. Thinking back now Piyano couldn’t believe he had been so stupid as to have accepted this job, even if it would pay him enough zeni to last the rest of his time on Earth. Shaking his head clear of memories Piyano drank the last of his water, scoped snow into his now empty canteen until it was full, sealed the heated device and stored it carefully into his heavy traveling pack.
Normally the Namekian would simply eat the clean snow that surrounded him for miles on all sides when he grew thirsty, but the alien had been strongly warned ‘not’ to consume the snow without melting it first. The humans had tried explaining to the Namek why he shouldn’t eat the snow with fancy scientific words, but in the end all they had to tell him was the raw cold of the snow would lower his body temperature until Piyano froze to death. After twenty minutes of resting Piyano crawled out of his hand dug cave and continued his path up the mountain. Piyano had been instructed that he could only sleep in a natural cave and only with a fire burning by his side, otherwise he would never survive the night out on the mountains.
Pushing on through the powerful landscape Piyano walked for hours more until the overhead sun began to disappear behind the highest peak of the Tsumisumbri Mountains. In the dying light Piyano spotted a row of caves lining a face of sheer stone ahead of him. Rushing his feet as fast as the deep snow would allow Piyano made the row of caves just after nightfall. Bounding into the first tunnel he could reach Piyano collapsed against the rough stone floor feeling as if he could simply die right then and there. It took the Namek several minutes of heavy breathing to roll himself off the stone and set himself up a campsite. Popping several capsules given to him for the trip Piyano sealed off the cave mouth with a tarp and several pitons, than the alien built a fire out of some logs that had been sealed away inside another capsule.
Before the next hour had gone by Piyano had a roaring fire and was shielded from the wind, yet even still the alien felt cold grip at his thick green skin. Most of Earth was a beautiful planet, and at a distance even the Tsumisumbri Mountains were visually appealing, but Piyano could not believe just how deadly this land was. Even with his substantial gains in power since coming to the blue planet Piyano knew that these mountains could, and would take his life if he was not very careful. Readying himself for sleep Piyano checked over his gear one last time to make sure he had not dropped anything. The most important device the man had was a experimental that he would need to cut the ice on the mountain's peak. The ice at the top of the Tsumisumbri Mountains was said to be unmeltable, unbreakable, and uncuttable and as far as the humans of Earth were concerned all these things were completely true. This was where the laser came into play, Piyano didn’t fully understand it but the laser was actually some kind of focused sonic emitter. Apparently the device released a concentrated beam of sound that could break atomic bonds on a molecular level, which would allow Piyano to ‘free’ sections of the ice. Confirming that the powerful item’s capsule was safe the Namekian stowed his gear and settled down for the night, tomorrow was going to be a terrible day of climbing. Closing his eyes to sleep Piyano could never know that something was watching him from the shadows deeper into the cave.
The next few days Piyano continued his routine of climbing, resting, climb, and sleeping in any natural formation that would keep the elements off his back for the night. Each day presented new challenges as Piyano had to scale vertical cliffs without being able to fly for fear of the intense winds. One day the alien had lost completely to a snow storm that had dropped another four feet of snow in his path, and another day Piyano had reached a slope of pure ice that ran for dozens of yards around. The alien had found the ice too slippery to walk over, and had learned that even with his full strength behind his strike that his claws could not so much as mar the surface of the hard ice. That day Piyano had to travel nearly half a mile out of his way to simply go around the field of ice.
Each night Piyano had been forced to search out caves and caverns before the sun fell out of the sky, and each night the alien felt a disturbing sense of eyes watching him in his sleep. Piyano never found anyone or anything however, and was left to simply believe that the solitude of the dangerous mountains was starting to play with his mind. After nearly a week into his expedition Piyano had finally crested the halfway point of the mountain. Looking out over the land the Namekian felt as if he could see the curvature of the planet, even though he knew such a thing was impossible. It helped though that Piyano now stood on a piece of stone that was higher up than he normally went when flying through the air and as a individual who flew around the Earth a lot it was a confusing feeling.
Turning his back on the amazing view Piyano search overhead for the sun, only to see that the fiery orb was beginning its descent from the night sky. Knowing now from experience that he would only have a few hours before the moon chased the sun from the sky Piyano pressed onward, hoping to find shelter before he would lose his sight to darkness. It took the tall Namek two whole hours, but Piyano successfully found a small cave carved into the natural stone of the mountain. Sun nearly gone for the day Piyano set up his camp, intending to catch a early night's sleep and start strong in the morning. After setting everything up and checking his gear like he did every night Piyano drifted off into an uneasy sleep, his mind still fearing eyes in the night that could not possible exist.
-clack-
-clack-
-clack clack-
Piyano awoke drowsily to the soft gloom of his campfire, the embers and ashes still glowing a soft red in the darkness of the gave. Eyes working to adjust to the poor visibility it took the Namek a few seconds to recall what had awoken him… was it some kind of noise in the night beyond the constant howl of the wind? Rubbing sleep from his eyes Piyano’s mind finally started to clear as he realized something, his campfire was nearly burnt out. The alien was using a special ignition for his flames that prolonged the life of fires, so how come this night the fire had suddenly burned so low? Lost in thought over the mystery Piyano wasn’t alerted to the attack until it came, as a blunt blow struck him hard across the back of his head. Sent spiraling forward from the strike Piyano rolled across the ashes of his campfire, the coals burst into small flames and ash along the alien’s back, giving him a rough burn and kicking embers into the air to float down lazily about the cave.
Coming out of his roll to slam his back into the stone wall of the cave opposite of where he had slept Piyano stared after his attacker, only to be horrified by what he had lain his eyes upon. The dancing embers in the air provided just enough light for Piyano to see the broken, naked body of a human woman. Her skin was chalky white and pale, flesh torn in rivets along his limbs exposing bones beneath as well as rotting organ tissue. The woman’s hair was pale white as well and stringy as the few remaining strands clung to the woman’s face. Worse of all was the woman’s eyes, completely frozen from the mountain her eyes looked like sparkling glass reflecting the light of the floating embers back at Piyano. This woman was obviously dead, Piyano knew not how or why she walked again before him, but there remained no doubt in his mind that he was watching a departed soul stand before him. This… zombie simply stood there after attacking Piyano as if waiting for orders the Namekian could never possibly hear.
“By what blasphemy?” Piyano began to say, but his voice triggered the undead creature. Releasing a powerful shriek that was far too loud for any human to muster the woman charge him with her fingers out stretched, curled into wicked claws. Shaken from the earlier attack Piyano lashed out with a wave of energy and a scream of his own, the compressed air blast of Piyano’s ‘Gentle Push’ technique sent the woman hurtling back into the wall of the cave with a thunderous crash. Quickly hopping to his feet Piyano was surprised to see the woman also getting up despite his KI blast rending the skin of her torso from her bones. Head still covered in frozen flesh, legs still covered in frozen flesh, and arms and ribs nothing more than a clanking pile of bones the woman came at him again. Sickened by the sight Piyano stretched one of his arms forward the wrap around the woman’s exposed rib cage, forcing the undead monster to stay distant from the Namek. Luckily this zombie didn’t seem capable of rational thought as she never reached down to attack the Namekian’s elongated arm, instead she simply continued attempting to rush forward failing to defeat Piyano’s strength.
Unsure how to destroy the zombie Piyano stretched his other arm to tear down his tarp revealing the morning sun sending its very first ray over the horizon as it started to rise. As comforting as the sunlight was however Piyano found his gaze instead looking to the cliff face not far from the mouth of his cave. Whipping his stretched arm with all his might Piyano threw the zombie far out over the edge of the cliff, his arm releasing the frozen woman and retracting back to his side. Piyano watched as the dead woman fell in silence down to the fields below, nearly a half mile drop. Piyano couldn’t tell how much damage the drop did to the woman’s corpse, but even if she could continue to walk after the long fall Piyano knew he would have many days before the woman even reached as high as this cave again. The Namekian had zero intention of being here by than. Moving back into the cave and out of the cold air Piyano checked over his gear and broke down his camp, everything seemed to be there, but the Namekian could tell the zombie had been searching through his belongings. Luckily the dead woman didn’t seem to find what she had been looking for.
Before beginning his climbing for the day Piyano checked the deepest reaches of his cave in hopes to finding some clue as to where the zombie had come from, the man came up with nothing after a hour of searching however. Not even cobwebs could be found, the harsh cold of the mountain simply too powerful for a spider to survive in. Curious and fearful of what the alien would find higher on the mountain Piyano decided to push forward to the top, the zombie hadn’t been very strong and it would take a great number of them to cause him trouble. So Piyano climbed, he at least managed to take comfort in the fact that he wasn’t going crazy… something really had been watching him.
The next four days proved to be even worse for Piyano than the first week of his journey. The sheer slope of the mountain had increased dramatically, making every gain in elevation that much harder to achieve. The night’s were little better, for some reason the upper half of the Tsumisumbri Mountains were littered with caves, and Piyano was fearful that each one might contain a undead horror ready to strike out at him while he slept. In Namekian culture the deceased were to be honored and revered for the journeys they had undertaken in life, to raise a dead Namekian was considered one of the most heinous crimes an individual could commit. Piyano feared not the undead themselves, but it hadn’t taken the Namek’s mind long to wonder if he would become one of them should he die upon the mountain. No fate seemed worse to the green alien than that.
Several days later Piyano could see that the peak was finally in sight. The Namek guessed in two days worth of time he would breach the summit of the mountain, and from the top Piyano could simply fly off. The winds would be dangerous for certain, but the alien was willing to risk the rough flight down to the ground than have to scale back down the mountain’s surface. That night Piyano was busy setting up his campsite like normal when he heard a roar cry out through the dusky air. This roar thankfully did not come from within the man’s cave, but outside on the steep slopes of the mountain. Deciding he would rather battle his foes outside the confines of his shelter Piyano tossed his tarp aside, dropped his gear and stepped out to confront whatever awaited him in the darkness.
Visibility was poor but the starlight shining overhead gave Piyano at least some amount of lighting to see by. Searching the slopes below him Piyano could not find anything unusual until a second roar sounded not from below him, but from above. Turning the Namekian looked up towards the peak to witness three shambling shadows traveling down from the peak. The creatures moved at dangerous speeds as they more fell than ran down the slopes but if the crashing falls brought them any harm there was no way for Piyano to tell. Soon enough the three fell to Piyano’s level and scrambled to their feet. The biggest of the trio was a bear like zoanthrope, massive in size and brown in color the furry creature would almost seem alive if it wasn’t for its face. Rotting flesh was peeling away from the undead things mouth, fully revealing its massive jawbone and fangs for all to see. The second to reach the small landing could have been a human, could have been a lot of things. Naked much like the woman from earlier this frozen man lacked hair of any kind, as well as his entire head. The headless zombie somehow was still standing though and his shoulders pointed Piyano’s direction as if he could ‘see’ perfectly.
The last to fall among them was completely a skeleton and Piyano couldn’t discern anything about the pile of bones previous species, gender, or anything else. The only true feature to the skeleton was that it had come armed with a sword, the weapons sheath slung through its rib cage to hang off its back. “What are you creatures?” Piyano asked more to himself than any of the creatures, the Namekian didn’t expect any answers. So he nearly fell off the mountain in shock when the sword wielding skeleton spoke up to answer him. “We are the cursed of Tsumisumbri Mountain, those of us who have died on this mountain have found ourselves risen again… to… kill others I guess. We rarely receive any directions” the Skeleton said in a nasally voice that was very cringeworthy to the Namekian’s ears.
“So you're just killing for no reason?” Piyano asked the strange monster, not understanding why the undead would bother. “No No No… we have a reason. We hate you, hate you for the very life you possess. GET HIM JERRY!” the skeleton said before screaming suddenly, with the order to charge given the headless man rushed Piyano. His movements were awkward and hard to read without a head but Piyano managed to block the man’s initial strikes. Amazingly this headless zombie didn’t fight like the female one Piyano had thrown down the mountain days before. This man fought with actual martial arts, his strikes measured and deadly. A palm strike from the headless man took Piyano in the chest and nearly sent him over the cliffside behind him, in awe of the raw skill this headless man possessed Piyano knew he could not take the monster lightly. Choosing to be the attacker this time Piyano charged the zombie, his straight forward attack prompting his foe to launch a high kick no doubt aimed for Piyano’s face. Except the Namekian dropped to his knees in the snow and slide hard underneath the headless man’s high kick. Suddenly behind his first foe Piyano turned in the snow and launched another blast of air with his ‘Gentle Push’ technique. His blast struck the headless man in the spine and violently blew him off the mountain.
“Dammit Jerry… useless bastard. Okay Bear he is all yours.” The skeleton said as his first companion disappeared from sight and Piyano regained his feet. The bear zoanthrope zombie simply snarled and released a might roar before slowly marching towards Piyano. Unlike the headless man this zombie moved at a lumbering pace, but thick arms ending in sharp claws raked out at the Namekian as soon as the bear got into range to strike. Dancing and dodging as best as he could on the snowy slope Piyano watched as the bear’s missed strikes tore great furrows from the stone beneath the snow, this monster was slow but clearly possessed enough strength to crush Piyano should he ever hit him. Slipping out from under a lunging stab Piyano delivered a combo of punches to the bears side, and suddenly his knuckles hurt as if he had been fisting boulders. Shaking the sting from his hands as he ducked underneath another swipe of the bear’s claws Piyano knew he was going to have to come up with a plan of attack that wouldn’t actually involve attacking this enemy. A sudden flurry of swipes forced Piyano into a roll, not a easy thing to do in several feet of snow, and come up with his back towards the cliff again. The bear proved its cunning but holding back it’s charge however, knowing Piyano would try to throw him from the mountain.
Realizing the bear wasn’t going to come near the edge Piyano knew he had to come up with something, if the bear couldn’t be tricked than maybe he could be held in place? Piyano had been developing a technique designed to take down foe’s non-lethally, the point seemed moot now that he faced a enemy he likely couldn’t kill but the attack might hold the bear in place long enough for Piyano to remove him from the battle. Taking a calming breath the Namekian’s body began to be enveloped in a pale green energy as he flexed his psychic abilities to their limits. Extending out both his arms towards the bear zombie Piyano focused his thoughts into a zap of power and launched a attack at the bear’s mind. The ‘Psychic Spark’ invaded the bear’s brain and locked his muscles and bones in place, Piyano’s technique preventing his decaying nervous system from sending signals to his limbs. Knowing his foe to be frozen in place Piyano rushed the bear and wrapped his arms around the huge zombie in some kind of ‘bear-hug’. Heaving with all his might Piyano lifted the frozen bear zombie over his head and threw him over the cliff after the headless man.
Lungs heaving from strain it took Piyano a moment to realize he could hear clapping from behind him. Turning the Namekian saw the skeletal swordsman applauding him, his skull face locked in a forever smile. “You fight pretty good traveller, but you won’t toss me over the edge. Say goodbye to your life blood.” the skeleton said as he drew his sword, the thin bladed saber making a scraping noise as the rusted blade left its sheath. In the light of the stars and moon Piyano could see the age of that saber, but he could also see the weapons razor edge. Still unsure why the undead wished to do him harm Piyano finished catching his breath and dropped into a defensive stance as the swordsman inched forward. The headless man had been skilled, the bear had been cunning and strong, but this monster… Piyano knew this monster was the dangerous one, the slow approach and careful movements as the swordsman launched short stabs Piyano’s direction were proof of that. The skeleton was testing Piyano’s defenses, and it wouldn’t be long before the true attack came.
The skeleton suddenly burst forward with a lunge, knowing Piyano wouldn’t be able to jump back without risking falling over the side of the mountain, forced to pick a side Piyano dived to the left to avoid the lunge. A flick of the skeletons wrist however was all the undead needed to drive the point of his weapon home into Piyano’s calf as the alien dived aside. Pain surged from the wound as the skeleton ripped his blade free of Piyano’s flesh, he could fell a stream of his purple blood run down the back of his leg to pool in the snow beneath his feet. The Namek would have loved a chance to adjust to the sharp pain he felt putting weight on his now injured leg, but his foe wouldn’t allow that. The skeleton came in again with a cross cut, his swift movements sending his weapon spinning in wide arcs to cleave at Piyano’s flesh. Knowing dodging would be unlikely the Namek instead oppted to fire a blast of KI directly into his enemies spinning blades. A glowing ball of energy struck the quick sword before it completed its swing. The blast sent the skeleton flying away from Piyano, but it quickly regained its footing with seemingly no damage done. Even worse the skeletal swordsman’s blade was now glowing yellow. “Thanks.” was all the warning the undead man gave Piyano as he lashed his blade through the air, sending a sharp razor of KI back at Piyano. Thanks to the distance between them Piyano managed to roll aside as the KI blade scraped along the empty ground he had once inhabited. The energy cleaved snow and stone as it shot off into the night, if Piyano was guessing correctly the return blast had been more powerful than the one he had fired at the skeleton.
Deciding not to use another KI blast unless he had no choice Piyano forced himself to his feet and braced himself for the skeletons next charge. Sword tip leading the way the undead lunged, Piyano spun out to the left again, this time correctly guessing the monster would not use the same attack twice. Dancing around the blade Piyano brought a spinning elbow into the skull face of his foe with a loud crack, several teeth fly free from the animated man of bones. Even as Piyano landed his strike however he felt knuckles press hard into his gut and a ball of metal strike his temple as the skeleton smashed the hilt of his blade over Piyano’s head. The Namekian dropped hard to the ground dazed from the blow, only the skeleton taking the time to cackle gleeful saved the Namekian as a sword tip dived down towards his chest. The undead taking time to laugh at and taunt Piyano gave the Namek enough time to shift his body, taking the stab to his right shoulder instead of his heart.
Pain lancing through his shoulder as the skeleton twisted his weapon the undead’s gap toothed skull leered down at Piyano, victory clearly etched over his red glowing eye sockets. “Any last words living man?” the skeleton asked as he wrenched his weapon out of Piyano and held it in a reverse grip ready to plunge for Piyano’s flesh. Writhing in pain Piyano could only mumble something too low for his enemy to hear. “What was that?” the skeleton asked mocking, right before Piyano’s leg extended out like his arms had earlier to kick the skeleton in the knee with enough for to break the bone. “It’s time you die again!” Piyano shouted as he thrust both his arms forward into the chest of the collapsing skeleton, a electrified burst of air taking the now one legged skeleton in the rib cage and blasting the creature dozens of yards into the air. Breathing heavy Piyano watched as his attack began to die out and the skeleton hit the ground in a explosion of bones.
"I swear I'll kill you one day you smug warm blooded bastard! Or my name isn't Jack the Skeleton! I'll peel your flesh from your very bones!"
The animated skull shouted death threats as Piyano went about collecting the undead mans pieces and throwing them off the mountain at different points on the cliff. The skeletal swordsman might not have been killed, but it would likely take weeks for him to put himself back together again. Piyano disposed of the skull last, which he threw with all his might far into the tundra to land over a mile away from the Tsumisumbri Mountains. Using the rest of the night to regenerate Piyano stayed awake as long as he could until exhaustion felled him into sleep. Waking up the next morning still alive and wound free the Namekian pushed himself hard to make the peak in one day as opposed to two, Piyano had more than his fill of this mountain range. Reaching the peak Piyano started to dig through layers of fresh snowfall until he hit a clear wall of solid ice. Removing his fancy sound device that the company had given him to farm the ice Piyano aimed the strange device carefully and switched it on, nothing seemed to happen and for something based around sound to go unheard for even a Namekian’s ears was strange indeed. It wasn’t until Piyano moved the device that he saw it left a carving in the ice below it’s tip, the man would never know how this device would function, but it did its job as Piyano pulled forth a five pound block of ice from the mountain peak.
Taking care to secure the ice and the sound emitter into capsules Piyano secured his gear tightly to his body and readied himself for flight. Leaping off the high peak the man fell fast and hard towards the ground even as he expended KI to try and stay aloft. The mighty winds that surrounded the mountain brought the Namekian on a harrowing ride that nearly saw him flattened against a jagged slope of rock, but the alien managed to pull up in time to avoid death as he flew down the mountain. At about the halfway point Piyano saw his undead attackers below, the four slowly ambling back up the mountain no doubt planning to find and slay the flying Namekian. Piyano nearly laughed when he noticed the bear zombie carrying a bunch of loose bones and a talking skull in his arms.
Days later Piyano returned the ice and all his remaining gear over to the jewelry company, the humans were so thrilled with Piyano’s success that after they paid him they tried to offer him a permanent job in their employ. The Namek managed to politely decline their offer, even though he wanted to tell them all to go dive off a mountain.
End.
Word Count: 5,500
PL: 75,467
Medium Weighted Clothes: ON (37,233)
PL please!