Taol's Compendium of Nent

Chapter 15: Scopulus Mountains (Petram)

It would take days from the Sediment Stream for us to reach the start of our long journey through the mountain range of Petram – it was going to be unforgiving, and judging by how high some of its tallest peaks reach, there was also the risk of the both of us potentially losing our breath quickly, so energy conservation was a must…but honestly, even something as seemingly simple as that looked almost impossible for me to handle, and that was because of everything I was going through – it was as if fate was trying its absolute hardest to shoot me down, taking all measures necessary to wear me down to my absolute vulnerable state.

Still, as long as I’m not alone in this arduous journey, I’ll try my hardest not to break under pressure, no matter what happens to me.

Now, back to our experience on the Scopulus Mountains. While the Haranae Desert can be traversed one way or another by simply walking forward once we were past the mountain range, we had to figure out how to get through the mountains first – more importantly, we had to figure out how to get past the range without having to get ourselves involved with the tallest peaks of the range. However, due to a lack of knowledge involving how the range is, and with the map providing very little help to us, we knew that this was something that we were forced to take on blindly by following what our eyes could see.

So long as we avoided the highest peaks that we could see with our own sight, we would be fine – of course, this was easier said than done.

We would spend roughly half a week trying to scout and make a rough map out of the front of the mountain range in order to make the most optimal trail for us to follow – sure, it wouldn’t mean much, because we wouldn’t have any form of physical indication of our direction on the terrain we would be walking on, but that was a risk that we had to take either way.

After spending enough time to make a raw, unrefined image of the front part of the mountain range, we knew that the first half of the journey was more or less sorted out – of course, there was still the other half that we had to deal with, but perhaps the way up was going to be a lot easier than the way down. At least we hoped, anyway.

With that, we would start from the lowest, flattest point on the range before making our move.

It would be roughly two months before we reached the desirable, as well as the safest peak of the Scopulus Mountains, but our experience of climbing and trekking through these grounds were far from easy and simple…

If anything, it was on par with our experience on dealing with the first half of the Ingentes Mountain Range – if not worse, actually. While the Flos mountains provided us with a reasonable amount of shelter and safe ground for us to utilize in order to defend ourselves against the spots with temperature spikes, the Scopulus Mountains had none of that.

The whole notion of even stopping in place to rest up was almost unheard of during our intensely long trek to get through the first 50% of this place, and the amount of times we actually had an overnight rest were few and far between, and of course, this usually meant that I was putting myself into even more danger, for I never knew when my magic would play tricks on my head again – a place like this…it was definitely a good spot for me to die a horrible death. Just play another hallucination again and chances are I’ll fall countless feet down below.

This had only amplified my paranoia even more as our journey progressed at a snail’s pace – injuries were sustained here and there by me and my companion, especially my companion. Given her lack of exploration training, considering how her skill tree was completely focused on offense due to her nature as a game hunter, there were times where she had scraped herself all over herself while trying to get herself up, and sure, while I had suffered the same fate due to my own declining concentration, the magnitude of it wasn’t as bad as what Tirza went through.

Halfway through the journey, one month in, we decided to force ourselves to a stop, knowing that we couldn’t carry on with this much longer – our wounds needed to heal, and just because we covered them, doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows. Thankfully, in a rare stroke of luck, we had found a decent flat ground for us to make use of. Sure, it was relatively bumpy and uncomfortable to rest on, but it was better than the unforgivingly high inclines that the mountain range mostly possessed.

We had spent most of our time eating a sizeable amount of food, considering what little we ate during our journey all the way up to this point in time, and more importantly, redressing our wounds while making sure they were sanitized – after all, we wouldn’t want to chop off any of our limbs, you know?

Oddly enough, this was the time where I expected another hallucination to show up, and as a result, I spent most of the night awake, staying outside but just close to the tent so that if anything where to happen, I would be able to call for help. But despite my desperation to go through what I considered to be my second mental trial…

…it never came. It just refused to. Here I was, calling for lightning to strike me down again as it did before back at the Sediment Stream. But this time, not even the thunder that comes after it even showed up to greet me or knock on my door.

Deep down, I was begging for it to happen. I was almost craving for it, even. I genuinely thought that I was at my weakest, and that this would be such a perfect time for my mind to play tricks on me in an attempt to let this corrupt magic overrun me and send me to an untimely end. But no. Nothing happened. No signs ever showed up throughout the night, and by the time I realized nothing WAS going to happen…it was already too late as I saw the light of the sun beginning to rise from the view before me.

When my mind wasn’t trying to kill me, I sure was trying my hardest to kill myself.

I never spoke a word of this to Tirza, and when she asked why I looked so disheveled after she woke up and saw me sitting outside the tent, I just said that I woke up too early for my own good, explaining that I just wanted to get through these mountains as quickly as possible. Sure, I tried to sound more convincing by saying that I was just groggy, but deep down, I felt like she didn’t see through my web of lies. It was as if she knew that I was lying, but even I never knew for sure – and I didn’t want to think about it too much, either.

After having a quick bite for breakfast, we took our tent down and got our things packed up before leaving this makeshift rest stop. As mentioned earlier, we were only halfway through the first half of the mountains, meaning that we still had another month ahead of us – the only way we knew that we reached the halfway line was if we saw signs of the desert before us. The desert…not exactly the most comforting sight to see after going through one of the most annoying roadblocks in our path thus far.

Still, at least it was some indication that the last obstacle in our road to Petram’s capital was upon us – we were getting close, and that was enough to give me some semblance of relief…at least to some extent, anyway. It was better than nothing, at least.

That one month passed by as we painfully forced our way through the nonexistent trail that we mapped out crudely, but it felt like one year had gone since we took that short break. I had reached a point in time where I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since we began our trek to scale the first half of the mountains – but finally, after having to climb so many of these mountain walls, we had, at last, reached the peak that we were looking for, and ahead of us was the mass expanse of desert that was partially obstructed by the remaining ground that we had to cover and get past.

Just upon looking at the terrain before us had left me worse for wear deep within my fragile mind – nothing but sweltering heat enough to knock both of us out from heatstroke or sunstroke alone…and who knew what lived underneath or above the sand…it was going to be a field of disaster out there, and I didn’t know how long it was going to take to get through the Haranae Desert. Still, I tried my hardest to keep my chin up, knowing that I had to press on either way. Just one more, I told to myself…just one more…

Another two months were left on our clock before we were expected to reach the base of the other end of the mountain range, which would complete our rather sluggish traversing through those god forsaken mountains. And you know what I think is the worst part?

I think this is just barely the start of what is to come.

What kind of spine-breaking obstacle will be offered in Ventus? What about Candor? More importantly, what about the very destination that I was supposed to reach in the first place – Inanis? Just what will they have in store for me in their attempts to break me from within? Surely nature will do anything it can to just try and kill me, right?!

It’s almost as if everything is trying to get me, it’s almost as if some higher power wants my blood or something! I’m getting sick of it! It’s almost as if I was set up for a disaster that seems almost impossible to get out of!

I can feel my own mind slowly slipping away from my conscience – I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore…and I just feel like a child, having to be watched over so that I don’t do anything stupid, but the issue here is that if I do anything stupid, then I’ll be disappointing the entire world…not just Flos. This isn’t just about Lord Bell and the others back home now…it feels like the entirety of Nent is about to embroiled in something which neither me nor the world understands…I desperately want to hold on…

But it just feels like I can’t…

But I think my own personal grieving can wait another time – I don’t want to be wasting precious pages on my journal here.

After taking a few minutes to really process just what was coming our way, we would get a move on, attempting to at least find a similar resting ground that we previously found back when we were about a quarter-way through our journey. I could only HOPE that there was a spot that could be merciful enough to provide some space for respite…

Even if it were for just a few minutes.

There was little to be said about the second half of our climbing trip – we were forced to be slower than usual so that we wouldn’t exacerbate our already existing injuries, which were admittedly far from healed. We didn’t want to add new ones to the list, nor did we want to worsen the injuries that we already sustained.

Halfway through the second half of our journey, which meant that it had been three months since arriving at the Scopulus Mountains, we were met with an unfortunate stroke of luck unlike before – no area of respite which could allow us to make use of a tent so that we could get some z’s, much to our utter chagrin…and I think I might have reacted worse. Had it not been for Tirza attempting to calm me down when the realization dawned on me, then chances are I would’ve tried to fling myself off the mountain in a fit of blind fury.

Nevertheless, knowing that it would ultimately be pointless to get mad over something I couldn’t control nor change, I knew that it would be best to just press on, and that was exactly what we did – whenever we found a decent spot to rest up a bit, we took our chances. The only difference was that we couldn’t use our tent, so we were forced to stay close, our backs to each other as we got a few snoozes in before leaving roughly two or three hours later.

Somehow, the way down was a lot harder to handle compared to the way up, which we had experienced a long time ago – maybe it was because it was harder to maintain our balance while on a downward descent, and there was, of course, the same risk of potentially losing your balance and smacking yourself into the ground below, which definitely meant certain death. It felt like my magic, at least in this particular area, was proving to be more of an enemy that I was dealing with rather than an ally which I once initially perceived, so I couldn’t trust it to save my life even if I hoped for such.

Another month had passed, and soon, one fateful day, we found ourselves scaling our way down from the lowest point of the mountain range, and at last, when nightfall arrived, we finally managed to fully traverse through the mountains – four months in the making, and it was finally over. Now the only thing that was left for us to travel through was the Haranae Desert.

As much as I considered getting a move on right now, I was gravely hampered by the fact that my legs were incredibly sore and aching from all that climbing and walking – considering that we were now on flat ground, we quickly had a tent set up before getting a few bites in and swiftly falling asleep. And again, I was having a difficult time trying to sleep as I kept stirring and moving about in place – I was desperate to just get a move on, but I’m pretty sure if I did exactly that, my entire body will just flat out shut down from the lack of sleep that I have been experiencing for a really long time? How long? I wish I knew…time has almost become a second thought to me, almost irrelevant, to a degree.

A long night would pass, and when dawn arrived, we prepared ourselves for what was to come – all we could do now was just stare into the sandy lands before us, and more importantly, we had to mentally prepare ourselves for whatever nature could possibly throw at us. Chances are it could be a sandstorm, maybe a snake bite, or maybe us falling to the delusions of mirages. Whatever it may be, it sure did look like it was going to be just as much a test of the human mind as well as a test of the human resilience.

If this was me two years ago…I would be enthusiastic.

But now…not anymore…