The Smith paused a moment to catch his breath and observe the opening. It was hard to see very far into the passage, as it was dark, and snow blew around fiercely within the passage. He turned a full circle, observing the area, checking for monsters.

The chill wind blew from the snowy passage.

The cliffs were devoid of monsters, possessing only small trickles of Pure Water and various ores.

The pebbly beach was mostly flat, with hills and valleys only inches tall and deep here and there.

In the distance there were ponds and pools leading towards the lake.

The ceiling remained covered by white clouds, producing a flat light that illuminated the area.

No monsters in sight.

James took one more deep breath. His muscles, especially in his left arm, still ached, but the cool breeze from the snowy passage felt good on his skin. He had grown used to it, but his armor often grew uncomfortably warm after prolonged fighting, leaving him a sweaty mess until he took it off at the end of the day.

He hefted his shield and hammer and carefully stepped forward, towards the snowy passage.

As he grew closer, the snowy passage grew in his vision until it was all he could see through the visor in his helmet. The lack of visibility struck James as odd: he was used to the darkness of the upper floor of the dungeon, but there was plenty of light within the passage.

But it was white. All featureless, indistinct whiteness, with nothing to be seen.

His grip on his shield tightened.

He continued walking forward, entering the passage proper. His boots now crunched down on snow, plunging first a couple inches, then nearly a foot deep, before he found the snow piled higher than he could lift his feet. He started pushing through the snow, scanning around for enemies, holding his shield higher to keep it above the snowline.

The whiteout continued. No matter how deep James went, the visibility didn't let up.

After a period of time, James didn't know how long, he stopped to rest. Breathing heavily, he felt the biting cold first in his lungs. Breathing deeply actually hurt slightly, so he took faster, shallower breaths. He rested his shield's edge on the snow, and after a minute, he shivered.

He shivered.

James raised his visor and felt the biting cold wind on his sweaty face, sucking away his body heat. Looking down, he saw himself waist deep in snow, and didn't see his legs or feet.

But he could feel the cold.

It was worst in his feet. Completely buried in snow, but not waterproof at all, snow was invading every gap and crevasse in his boots, melting against his skin, leeching away his body heat. Next were his calves and shins. His armor was latched closed, but not sealed: snow worked its way in those gaps as well, and left his skin soaked in freezing temperature water. His upper legs fared slightly better, but only because the freezing water ran down his legs to pool in his boots.

As bad as the freezing water was, it was only slightly worse than his upper body.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Now that he had stopped, all the sweat he had built up was exposed to the biting cold wind blowing through the gaps in his armor. The armor itself acted as something of a windbreaker, which was good, because the small bits of cold air that James did feel were like knives stabbing at his skin. Snow didn't settle on his armor, being blown off by that same wind, but James quickly realized the danger.

The shivering was now constant.

James looked around, still not seeing everything, even after a full circle turn.

James gasped.

Which way was the exit?

Every direction looked the same. The wind blew erratically, first in one direction, then another randomly.

As he began to panic, hyperventilating and causing his lungs to ache from the cold air, he glanced down and saw it, off to his left: the trail he'd left in the snow pushing through to get here, quickly filling back in from snow carried on the wind.

The Smith wasted no time, setting off back down the path he had come, barely visible in the white out conditions. It was so hard to see, the dip just barely standing out from the featureless white snow being kicked up and deposited back down by the wind.

He tripped and nearly fell, catching himself on the thigh high snow.

He could no longer feel his feet.

But he didn't panic.

That was because the cold had sapped so much of his energy, he couldn't muster up an emotional response.

Only the stubborn, almost mindless persistence of the Smith set on his task kept him moving, as the numbness spread from his feet up his legs. One senseless step in front of the other, through the now knee-high snow, following a trail barely an inch lower than the surrounding snow.

James was no longer shivering. He stumbled again, pushed from behind by a gust of wind, when he saw it.

A bright patch in the distance. A feature, something different in the endless white cold surrounding him.

He tried to stand and couldn't. His legs were totally numb, and he lacked the strength. He stowed his shield and hammer in his magic bag and crawled, hands and arms quickly growing as numb as his feet as they dug into the snow.

The snow grew shallower and shallower, and eventually he heard the crunch of pebbles beneath his hands and knees. His surroundings grew brighter, and the wind diminished, and then he was out, back in the open area.

The wind, though weaker, still blew from the passage, so James continued crawling, back along the wall of the cavern, until he was out of the wind.

He still couldn't feel his legs at all. His hands started to recover, with a feeling like a million pinpricks all along his skin. As soon as he could move his fingers, he pulled three warding stakes from his magic bag and set up a ward, then pulled out some firewood and a spare flint and steel.

But he fumbled, dropping the flint. His hands were still too numb. He blew on them, trying to warm them, when the shivering started again.

Rattle rattle rattle clank rattle rattle clank rattle

His shivering was entirely out of control, producing a cacophony of noise within his tiny ward.

It was lucky that no monsters took notice.

Eventually he got enough feeling in his fingers to set some firewood alight and slowly, over the next hour, warmed himself back up. Slowly, oh so slowly, the shivering slowed and stopped and James found himself ravenously hungry. He ate his fill of bread from his magic bag but couldn't bring himself to drink water, given how cold he still was. Even warming himself by the small fire, he felt chilled to his very core.

It was sudden when James came back to full alertness. One moment he was still dazed and focused solely on warming up, the next his mind was racing. He felt the magic power in the wards instinctively, topping it off. He looked around, seeing the entrance to the snowy passage some thirty yards away, with snow spilling out up to twenty yards in every direction. The wind blowing from the passage didn't directly reach him where he was, but there was still the usual breeze that could be felt in the dungeon, the slow circulation of air. His fire had nearly burned out, a small log and some kindling having burned nearly entirely.

He sat up. His legs felt as though they had fallen asleep, with millions of pinpricks all over as circulation resumed. He was still cold, but now it was manageable.

As he sat up, he saw a crab monster approach his ward, reaching the edge only six feet from where James sat. James considered killing it immediately, but decided to wait until he felt fully recovered. It was uncomfortable, having a monster that close, but there was no helping it.

Another meal and another hour later, James felt ready.

He swiftly dispatched the crab monster, harvested the water magic crystal, and left the rest of the carcass there. Although he felt recovered from the freezing cold, he still felt weak and unsteady. It was all he could do to walk carrying his shield and hammer in hand.

And there was still the nesting ground to pass through on the way back to base.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.