Stranded on the Mountain

"Oh man, this thing is a beast to carry!" the two men groaned as they trudged up the mountain, their backs bent under the weight of the portable shrine.

"I mean, Frena is no featherweight, let's be real here. But I guess we gotta do our part and make this offering to the gods, right? Even if it means hauling Frena's heft up this mountain like a couple of pack mules."

Frena, meanwhile, was feeling pretty miserable inside the shrine. "I can't believe they're talking about me like that," she thought, scowling. "Like I'm just some burden they have to bear. It's not like I want to be carried around like this either, you know."

As they climbed higher, the fog grew thicker, enveloping them in a white mist. The only sounds were their own labored breathing and the creak of the shrine's wheels.

"How much further do we have to go?" one of the men panted. "Beats me," the other replied. "I think we're just following some ancient tradition that doesn't really make any sense."

Frena perked up at this. "Wait a minute, what do you mean?" she called out.

"Are you saying we might not even find God up here?"

The men shrugged. "I don't know, it's not like the tradition tells us where to take you," one of them admitted. "For all we know, we're just lugging you up this mountain for no reason. But hey, at least it's not like we're leaving you on the side of the road or anything, right?"

Frena sighed, defeated. "I guess you're right. I just wish I knew what the point of all this was."

"Don't worry about it," the other man said with a chuckle.

"As long as we make it to the top, we can say we did our part. And who knows, maybe we'll find God up there waiting for us."

...

"Okay Frena, looks like you're on your own now," one of the men carrying the portable shrine called out as they plunked it down on the ground with Frena still inside.

"Finally, the plague-bringer Frena will be gone from the village," the other added with a chuckle as they hightailed it down the mountain.

Frena watched in disbelief as they left her alone on the cold, misty mountaintop. "What am I supposed to do now? If I can't be properly delivered to God, then all of this was for nothing, right?" she thought, her mind racing.

"Maybe I should just run away? But where would I go? I'm stuck here, and even if I could escape, I'd rather die as an offering to God than live like this. But even that hope is fading fast."

She sighed and curled up inside the shrine, resigned to her fate. "Maybe I'll just freeze to death or starve to death up here. Either way, it's the same as being eaten by a God and dying. At least I can rest peacefully now," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

"I can't believe I'm actually able to sleep so soundly. I've been working like a horse ever since my parents were executed. I might as well just keep sleeping until the end." And with that, Frena fell into an unprecedented rest.

...

As Frena drifted off to sleep, she felt a sense of peace wash over her. She was exhausted after days of hard work and was grateful for the chance to sink into a deep, deep slumber. Even though she was slowly freezing, starving, and dying, she was happy to drift off into nothingness.

But then, something started to nudge her awake. "Hey, hey," a voice whispered. "Come on, wake up." But Frena was in such a deep sleep that she barely registered the noise.

No matter how cold or hungry she was, she just couldn't seem to shake off the slumber.

"Die, you," the voice hissed. And then, she felt a sudden jolt, like she was being lifted off the ground.

She struggled to open her eyes and saw that she was indeed being carried through the air.

"Uh!?"

"Waaaah!?"

"What the heck is going on?" she yelled, thrashing her legs to try and escape.

The person carrying her was taken aback by her sudden resistance and dropped her.

Frena tumbled to the ground, her vision spinning as she fell. She groaned as she landed on her shoulder. "Ow, what the hell happened?" she muttered, rubbing her sore arm.

As she tried to piece together what had happened, she realized that she was no longer inside the portable shrine. "I was asleep in there, wasn't I? So why was I being carried?" she wondered, her mind slowly clearing.

She brushed the dirt off her dress and looked up to see a handsome man standing in front of her.

"Don't act so violently all of a sudden. Are you injured?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.