Rebirth: Over the Horizon

"Huh?" Colosson frowns, puzzled. "Palindera sent you little mortals to climb the mountain?" He studies each of them for a moment. "You don't look like mighty warriors."

Callia rolls her eyes. "First off, only these two are mortal. I'm a muse, remember? Do you not see the glow? We've met before. Several times."

The Giant peers at her more closely for a moment. Then a wide smile breaks across his face.

"Oh! Yes! You're the one who makes all the little lovely songs. Colosson likes the one that goes like this." The giant does a terrible job of attempting to whistle a jaunty tune.

Callia sighs again. "No, that's my sister… never mind. Look, each of us was commanded by one of the gods or goddess to climb the mountain."

"They didn't say anything about fighting each other. I'm sure this will all become clear once we reach the summit."

"A simple task!" He declares. "Behold the might of Colosson!" The giant wastes little time in beginning his ascent.

He tackles the steepest part of the mountain with ease, making use of his incredible strength to hoist his bulk up the mountainside. Dannis stares, shaking his head.

"If it's that easy for him, he should have at least offered to give us a hand."

Callia narrows her eyes. "We have to recover our strength and quickly catch up."

Dannis raises an eyebrow. "I thought, we will depart this instant."

Callia marches resolutely up the mountainside. "Now it's more important that we not let that brute reach the summit ahead of us." Apparently, the mouse has a competitive streak.

"Even if tried climbing now, our pace will be greatly affected, Quickly eat something and take a nap to recover your strength"

Adam wasn't hungry, so he quickly went inside the shed and lay down to recover his strength.

Though he is full of energy.

---

Mountain climbing quickly proves an extremely tiring activity, especially since Adam had not gone hiking for years after his parent's death.

They are making progress, but as sunset arrives the end is still nowhere in sight. The giant disappeared from view long ago, speedily ascending with ease.

"Look, you should have taken my advice after all." Says Dannis, sounding slightly out of breath.

"But we'll be completely out of daylight soon. Perhaps we should think about finding a place for rest."

"We can still climb by moonlight." Callia insists, now focused on her rivalry with her fellow demigod.

"Er… isn't it a new moon tonight?" Dannis points out. His climbing is slowing down a little.

"By starlight, then," Callia replies, hoisting herself onto another ledge.

"Didn't you say that would be dangerous?" Dannis asks, hopeful.

Callia doesn't have a ready reply to that. "Fine. But we'll have to make up for a lost time in the morning."

Dannis exhales with obvious relief. "Yes, yes. We'll do that. Now let's look for a place we can build… a…"

His eyes trail off. Adam follows his gaze, noticing the faint flicker of an orange light coming from a ledge above. "… is that a fire?

How many people are climbing this mountain?"

'Is this truly a trial...It seems like I am in some sort of fantasy quest..with a bunch of NPCs'

Adam decides to see for himself.

He pulls himself onto the ledge, finding himself upon one of the more sizable outcroppings Adam has seen on the mountainside, thus far.

A campfire burns in the middle of a small ring of tents, sheltered from the rush of the cold winds this high up the mountain.

The gradual sun descending from the horizon caught his breath, it was very beautiful.

He stands still for a moment, enjoying himself with the beauty of nature when a slight pat lands on his pack.

"Beautiful, Right?" Callia asked.

It was the first time, Adam got to see her face up to this close. 'She is a beauty, huh' as he thought he gave a silent reply.

"Hum..."

Suddenly, Dannis called them from behind, the duo quickly caught up to Dannis.

Adam spotted two figures crouched by the flames, warming their hands. The first is a young woman with green hair and weathered skin, and pointed ears, dressed in the usual robe of a traveller.

The man looks to be old, portly and bald with a neatly trimmed white beard and short in height.

His clothes are in the accent of a blacksmith. Adam quickly recognized both of them one was an elf and another one was a dwarf.

Both of them look up at you as you climb into their campsite. They look a touch wary at first, though the dwarf eventually gives you a friendly smile.

"Welcome!" He says, getting to his feet and offering his hand.

"Were you looking to make camp? We don't have much, but you're welcome to share what we have. I was just going to make soup."

The elf looks a little more afraid than her companion, shrinking back towards the tents. "You aren't friends of that… giant that passed through earlier, are you?"

"No." Answers Callia, who has just managed to climb up onto the ledge after you. She gives Dannis a hand up before she continues. "Did he make trouble for you as well?"

"Oh, no, not… well, trouble is such a strong word for it." The dwarf says with an almost friendly sort of smile.

"He was very rude." The elf adds, scowling at the fire.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to be. He was probably just in a terrible hurry." The dwarf insists.

"Oh! But now I'm the one being rude. I haven't provided introductions. I am Chenxi. Well, Lord of Yeganyan, if one must be formal. But please, call me Chenxi, if you like."

steps back, gesturing to the woman by the fire with a sweep of his arm. "And this is Tiara … I'm so sorry, Tiara, I don't think I caught your title."

"Don't have one," she replies, only briefly glancing away from the flames. "Just, Tiara. I'm a herbalist. Nobody special."

Chenxi smiles warmly at her. "Oh, I'm sure that isn't true. Everyone is someone special, and that goes double for anyone who would find themselves here."

The dwarf had a Chinese name, well the game developers were also from China, right?

As the introductions finished, Adam catches Dannis rolling his eyes.