Kiht Jakkya blinked her eyes; her body facing up towards the sky as she slowly started to awaken from her daze. She let out a few groans, and slowly moved to sit up. Despite tumbling amongst snow-covered rocks, none of her bones were actually broken, or at least, it hadn't felt like it to her. She slowly stood to her feet. She was dizzy, and it was difficult to stand. Her body felt very weak, but she didn't feel any pain. Her entire body felt numb.
She peered up into the sky, and saw no sign of Ixal airships or dragons. Slowly, after a few minutes of recovery, she walked over to the edge of the rock and peered down into the canyon. There was still quite a distance between her and the ground; enough to where if she jumped or had fallen the rest of the way, she would've died. However, she saw a small glint at the bottom of the canyon. The spear somehow remained intact.
Despite losing her spear and crushing her pack, everything was still attached to her. She pulled out her two mythril hunting knives. It was time to climb down. Fortunately, the massive rock formation was asymmetrical and jagged enough to help with climbing.
Kiht had to descend slowly and carefully. There were rocks that gave way, and moments where she slipped a bit. Her feet would connect with a snow-covered rock, her blades were not always getting deep enough into cracks and it was difficult to maintain her holds. As she climbed down, she kept gasping nearly every time she felt she was going to fall. It took all her discipline to focus and continue; climbing as slowly and as carefully as she possibly could.
Before she was expecting it, her feet touched the ground. She slowly maneuvered away from the rock formation, and found herself on the bottom of the canyon. An exhale of relief escaped her lips as she fell to her knees. Her knives fell to the ground then she began to breathe heavily - almost as if she had been holding her breath most of the way down.
Kiht was exhausted, but another two loud, high-pitched roars echoed through the canyon to remind her that she could not linger. She surveyed her surroundings quickly, but saw no dragons. The roars sounded distant. She picked up her knives, sheathed them on her belt and moved to retrieve her spear.
After retrieving the spear, she strapped it around her shoulder, and looked into the sky to try and get her bearings. However, she didn't know where she was. As her adrenaline wore off, different parts of her body began to ache. Her surroundings looked all the same – rocks, canyon, snow, mountains, ice and formations. She pulled her map from her pack; trying to ignore the pain that coursed from her arm through her chest. She let out a hiss and winced, but slowly she moved to finish retrieving her map.
While what the material of the map was made out of could not be ruined by being squished, it did her little good. She could not see the ledge that she had originally come from, there were no airships flying or crashed nearby, there were no Ixal bodies, there were no dragons and there were no discernible landmarks. She growled in frustration. Everything looked the same. It was very possible she could be off the map, or in an area that was uncharted. Even if it was charted, she saw no landmarks that she could relate to the map. She rolled up the map, put it back in her pack and began walking a direction.
The Coerthas canyons were massive, and rather consistent. It was a repetitive wasteland with no signs of civilization, and no signs of trails. Kiht walked until; finally, in the distant sky just above a small mountain, she saw the smoke trails she had seen before. She clenched her fists and began striding towards the smoke trails.
It took several more hours, but finally, Kiht was to the mountain. By then she had tried her linkpearl, but it hadn't been working. She did not know why as she had no knowledge about how linkpearls worked. Regardless, she began navigating around the mountain; doing whatever she could to find a way. She kept the rising smoke trails as a consistent point of navigation. Not before long, she began to hear distant voices and a few squawks echoing quietly from somewhere ahead of her path. She had found Natalan.
It was a sight to see; a massive campground of tents and other tent-like structures. Various Ixal moved about, chopping wood, relocating supplies, stacking boxes, standing guard and tending bonfires. It was a busy camp with large palisade walls. Of course, the Natalan watch wolves were the real problem. Ixal sense of hearing didn't seem so strong, nor did their vision and sense of smell. However, the watch wolves that Ixal used to guard their encampments, and even help during battle, were abused, half-starved beasts that the Ixal intentionally trained in a way that would keep them vicious and ruthless. The huge gangly wolves with extremely sharp claws, teeth and fangs were one of the biggest problems Kiht could possibly face. Their sense of smell, sight and hearing was far better than the Ixal. That was the reason why they were used to guard the encampments, and they made it very difficult to infiltrate. Even if Kiht tried, and even if the wolves were tied to posts and unable to attack, they would detect her. They would bark and snarl.
Kiht knelt behind a snow-covered bush. It was the only bush that she could see. There was nothing but more snow, stone rocks and boulders. A quiet growl of frustration escaped Kiht's throat. Based on what she had seen in the camp, she drew out her map from her pack once more, and began to examine it. Unfortunately, it didn't help. The map was somewhat old, and the camp had been rearranged. She couldn't tell which part of the camp she was looking at. After all, Natalan was a huge series of interconnected Ixal camps. She had no way of knowing which one she was surveying. The way the Ixal had built their camps in Natalan meant that there were very few passages from camp to camp. They were all gated and walled. It was done so that attackers would have to fight their way through hordes of Ixal, and pass many walls and gates. It had been the construction of Natalan which had allowed them to hold out against the many dangerous forces in Coerthas.
Kiht was beginning to regret not having sold the damn map. She folded it up, and put it back in her pack. She unstrapped her spear, and readied it in her hands. The only path she knew of to get back home was to somehow make her way through the Ixal camps.
She peered up into the sky, and saw no sign of Ixal airships or dragons. Slowly, after a few minutes of recovery, she walked over to the edge of the rock and peered down into the canyon. There was still quite a distance between her and the ground; enough to where if she jumped or had fallen the rest of the way, she would've died. However, she saw a small glint at the bottom of the canyon. The spear somehow remained intact.
Despite losing her spear and crushing her pack, everything was still attached to her. She pulled out her two mythril hunting knives. It was time to climb down. Fortunately, the massive rock formation was asymmetrical and jagged enough to help with climbing.
Kiht had to descend slowly and carefully. There were rocks that gave way, and moments where she slipped a bit. Her feet would connect with a snow-covered rock, her blades were not always getting deep enough into cracks and it was difficult to maintain her holds. As she climbed down, she kept gasping nearly every time she felt she was going to fall. It took all her discipline to focus and continue; climbing as slowly and as carefully as she possibly could.
Before she was expecting it, her feet touched the ground. She slowly maneuvered away from the rock formation, and found herself on the bottom of the canyon. An exhale of relief escaped her lips as she fell to her knees. Her knives fell to the ground then she began to breathe heavily - almost as if she had been holding her breath most of the way down.
Kiht was exhausted, but another two loud, high-pitched roars echoed through the canyon to remind her that she could not linger. She surveyed her surroundings quickly, but saw no dragons. The roars sounded distant. She picked up her knives, sheathed them on her belt and moved to retrieve her spear.
After retrieving the spear, she strapped it around her shoulder, and looked into the sky to try and get her bearings. However, she didn't know where she was. As her adrenaline wore off, different parts of her body began to ache. Her surroundings looked all the same – rocks, canyon, snow, mountains, ice and formations. She pulled her map from her pack; trying to ignore the pain that coursed from her arm through her chest. She let out a hiss and winced, but slowly she moved to finish retrieving her map.
While what the material of the map was made out of could not be ruined by being squished, it did her little good. She could not see the ledge that she had originally come from, there were no airships flying or crashed nearby, there were no Ixal bodies, there were no dragons and there were no discernible landmarks. She growled in frustration. Everything looked the same. It was very possible she could be off the map, or in an area that was uncharted. Even if it was charted, she saw no landmarks that she could relate to the map. She rolled up the map, put it back in her pack and began walking a direction.
The Coerthas canyons were massive, and rather consistent. It was a repetitive wasteland with no signs of civilization, and no signs of trails. Kiht walked until; finally, in the distant sky just above a small mountain, she saw the smoke trails she had seen before. She clenched her fists and began striding towards the smoke trails.
It took several more hours, but finally, Kiht was to the mountain. By then she had tried her linkpearl, but it hadn't been working. She did not know why as she had no knowledge about how linkpearls worked. Regardless, she began navigating around the mountain; doing whatever she could to find a way. She kept the rising smoke trails as a consistent point of navigation. Not before long, she began to hear distant voices and a few squawks echoing quietly from somewhere ahead of her path. She had found Natalan.
It was a sight to see; a massive campground of tents and other tent-like structures. Various Ixal moved about, chopping wood, relocating supplies, stacking boxes, standing guard and tending bonfires. It was a busy camp with large palisade walls. Of course, the Natalan watch wolves were the real problem. Ixal sense of hearing didn't seem so strong, nor did their vision and sense of smell. However, the watch wolves that Ixal used to guard their encampments, and even help during battle, were abused, half-starved beasts that the Ixal intentionally trained in a way that would keep them vicious and ruthless. The huge gangly wolves with extremely sharp claws, teeth and fangs were one of the biggest problems Kiht could possibly face. Their sense of smell, sight and hearing was far better than the Ixal. That was the reason why they were used to guard the encampments, and they made it very difficult to infiltrate. Even if Kiht tried, and even if the wolves were tied to posts and unable to attack, they would detect her. They would bark and snarl.
Kiht knelt behind a snow-covered bush. It was the only bush that she could see. There was nothing but more snow, stone rocks and boulders. A quiet growl of frustration escaped Kiht's throat. Based on what she had seen in the camp, she drew out her map from her pack once more, and began to examine it. Unfortunately, it didn't help. The map was somewhat old, and the camp had been rearranged. She couldn't tell which part of the camp she was looking at. After all, Natalan was a huge series of interconnected Ixal camps. She had no way of knowing which one she was surveying. The way the Ixal had built their camps in Natalan meant that there were very few passages from camp to camp. They were all gated and walled. It was done so that attackers would have to fight their way through hordes of Ixal, and pass many walls and gates. It had been the construction of Natalan which had allowed them to hold out against the many dangerous forces in Coerthas.
Kiht was beginning to regret not having sold the damn map. She folded it up, and put it back in her pack. She unstrapped her spear, and readied it in her hands. The only path she knew of to get back home was to somehow make her way through the Ixal camps.
