Chapter 1: An Irritating Fellow.

Update Schedule: Twice Monthly.

---------------

"You really scaled it…."

Around him, a crowd of climbers stared in shock at the photos strewn about. Charlus sat there, his cracked icy goggles on the floor, and his gloves hanging from the side of a tent. To the side, a small heater let off a warm glow as they huddled about.

The camp was crowded at this time due to the storm, with many climbers having to postpone due to the danger that the mountain currently possesed.

The pictures were clear enough for one to tell that it was indeed the Ninth Purgatory. Treacherous terrain, jagged rock faces, dead corpses frozen in time, there were a few notable landmarks that made up this "trail" that were included. Meaning, that this man indeed did scale that hellish lane.

And at such a young age to. The veteran climbers stared at the young man before them. About twenty years of age, Charlus was brimming with youth and exhilaration. Pale faced, he was tall and lanky, possessing slick black hair, coming down in bangs all the way to his neck, and icy-brown eyes, dark and foreboding, with speckles of gold sprinkled about. His eyelashes were long and curly, and a small scar ran along his lip.

He looked quite broody.

The virtual screen floated above him as he engaged in casual conversation with the group. It seemed that they were a mixed group of climbers from Poland and some other places, who went about scaling mountains. Everest had been there second spot on the list, and there journey had been filled with much annoyance. Resources, customs, some political stuff that got in the way of their travels, along to some other interesting stories.

They had managed to make it to the top and back down, barely brushing past down the death zone before disaster struck. Close shave indeed. Thankfully, pretty much all of the climbers had made their way down in time, and there were only a few small injuries among them.

The plan Charlus was going for was to depart the next day after getting some rest. The rest of the trip was probably going to be decent, as there weren't as many known SCP's down the mountain. Most of them were in the death zone thankfully.

So, it wasn't his problem any more. Now, his biggest problem, was this dumb screen floating in front of him. It was being extremely irritating. Maybe he should press it? But this was turning out to be kind of suspicious….

The whole thing screamed suspicion, but Charlus hadn't heard of any SCP like this…. Hallucination? Doubtful…

So what the hell was it?

Waving goodbye to the group of European travelers, Charlus sat down on his mattress, before raising his finger, and looking up at the screen.

[Collect Reward Y/N?]

"Yes." He said, growling a bit. Charlus watched as the screen disappeared, promptly to be replaced by another one.

[Choose One:]

[Unphased By Ice And Snow]

[Iron Grip Of The Mountain]

[Gaze Of Gilded Warmth]

Staring at the three floating options, he sighed. Another screen. From what he could surmise, these three abilities seemed like the Mountain King's abilities…?

Gaze Of Gilded Warmth. That false gaze lured those climbers in, only for them to die from the cold. Unless you didn't look at its face, and if it didn't get kicked off the mountain by someones foot.

Iron Grip Of The mountain. The Mountain Kings ability to hold on and climb with ease, never letting go. Unless he was kicked off with thy foot.

Unphased By Ice And Snow. Its superhuman endurance against the elements. To bad it couldn't do anything against his foot.

So… By now, Charlus's heart beat faster and faster. These achievements… If he were to get more of them, what power could he achieve? How did he even get achievements in the first place? Kicking SCP's off of mountains or something?

There was probably some pattern to it. But for now, if what he was thinking was genuinely correct, then if he were to choose one of these, then he would gain that ability. Hopefully. Or something horrible would happen and he would die.

Now… Which one should he choose?

Gaze Of Gilded Warmth. It would be cool having some Tsukiyomi-style ability, but he wasn't exactly interested in freezing people to death in an illusion.

So it was either between the Iron Grip, or the Snow and Ice. Which one would be better? Honestly, the more reasonable option was Unphased By Snow And Ice. It was handy, and if he were to ever be trapped in a room with SCP-244, he wouldn't freeze to death.

But, Iron Grip of The Mountain seemed fun. If what he thought was correct, then he could freeclimb mountains. Seemed interesting. He liked the idea of being able to climb pretty much every mountain face.

Self-Preservation? The rest of Everest would be a lot easier, and he would probably not die. Plus, the Iron Grip would in a way, help him. And so, Charlus decided. Raising his hand, he flicked it, choosing "Iron Grip Of The Mountain".

[Ding!]

[Iron Grip Of The Mountain]

[Description: Allows the user to climb most surfaces with great ease, while only using your hands and feet.]

Suddenly, the young man felt a burning sensation in his gut as his wrists crackled and his feet shifted and twitched, until suddenly, he felt a feeling of euphoria wrap over him, his hands and feet no longer numb, but instead, filled with burning warmth and strength. He felt like he could twist an iron bar like a pretzel….

Truly a novel feeling.

Standing up, Charlus stretched, walking outside. The air was cold and thin, and the icy wind spun about, howling mournfully. About the camp, various figures walked about, some preparing for there ascent or descent, while others simply lazing about, relaxing.

He nodded to a few people he knew, before walking next to a wooden post, leaning against it. There wasn't much to do at the moment. Packing his bags, took some food, and then headed back down.

Standing there, he put his hand on the side of the pole, and suddenly…. He could see it. Suddenly, this pole, which seemed unscalable, with no clenched surfaces, was an easy climb. Charlus hoisted himself up, gripping onto its side as he scrambled up, as if a monkey.

In a matter of seconds, he had reached the top. Kneeling there upon the pole, Charlus's eyes sparkled as he found his new view slightly above the camp. Below, a sea of red, yellow, and blue tents flapped in the wind, and the snowy ground sparkled.

A few figures moved about, and in the distance, Everest's towering peaks loomed overhead, still shrouded in stormy grey clouds, though it had resided quite a bit.

Elegantly, Charlus jumped off, grabbing the side of the rough old pole before sliding down to the ground.

"Nice." The young man smiled. It really had worked…. Meaning that this whole achievement business was no joke. He could be set for life if he were to gain the abilities of other SCPs…..

Meanwhile….

"What the actual f*ck is going on!?" Senior Researcher Bu Zhidao stood there in shock and frustration. He pursed his chapped lips, mustache flapping, and straight hair swinging about. Arms trembling, the man slammed his fists on the desk. It had been over twenty years since he had joined the Foundation, yet still, things out of his control seemed to happen at least once every month.

First, the Sect Incident, and now this. SCP-1529. An elusive, mysterious anomaly of great power. Able to scale Everest with its bare hands, the entity was an enigma that seemed hellbent on "helping" travelers freeze to death while hallucinating that they were instead in perhaps the Sahara, or next to a bonfire safe at home.

Though Zhidao and the rest of the team had studied the creature for years, there was still much to learn. But they had thought the being had a pattern to it. It would never leave the Death Zone, save Incident 1529-1, and seemed to prey on loners.

That was all something the people of this site knew. Another Incident such as that had not happened in years, and Bu Zhidao and the rest of his team had gotten a substantial hold on the creature.

And then, this happened. A surprise instance of SCP-1529 activating and heading up the Death Zone, all while a great storm was happening, obscured Foundation monitoring. There were three groups going up the mountain today. The Poland Group, a small but experienced mountaineering group from America, and lastly, a solo climber who was trying the Ninth purgatory, Everest's most deadly mountain path.

Even without the involvement of SCP-1529, Bu Zhidao still felt that the young solo climber would be sentenced to death. Maybe it would have been better for the Mountain King to take him….. So, in this period, under the convenient and very real excuse of possible avalanches, Zhidao had Everest shut down, leaving the climbers scaling the mountain at the time to their own devices.

And so, time went on, with the American Team returning safely, followed by the Polish Team, and surprisingly enough, the young solo climber. It was a monumental achievement from such a young person that would probably never happen again, and Zhidao was quite impressed.

Having seen everyone currently on the Death Zone safe, the Senior Researcher had felt a lot better of himself. And then, the Foundation Telescope located SCP-1529. The entity was not acting the way it normally would.

It climbed at a fast pace, seemingly scouring the mountain crazily…. For something. Or someone. Going at the highest speed probably ever recorded out of it, the Mountain King was, from Zhidao's perspective…. Enraged.

It went up and down, grabbing and heaving rocks about while shaking its head back and forth. It punched the side of a mountain face as it climbed, kicking icicles and diving into heaps of snow.

The first thought was that it was annoyed that everyone had escaped its grasp, but the entity had never been anything like that with previous similar happenings. To the researchers, it didn't make any sense. While anomalies were in themselves, not supposed to be understandable, something about the whole situation was strange.

It was frantic, but not fearful. If another anomaly had encroached on its territory, or a major threat to itself loamed overhead, then it would make sense. Albeit, terrifying. But the wool-clad humanoid was in Assistant Researcher Xi Taoyin's words:

"Pissed as hell, like someone stole his Peking Fried Duck that he spent a million Renminbi on."

Senior Researcher Bu Zhidao, one of the Foundation's Chinese Branches most illustrious scientists, really, didn't know.

Back On Everest….

Charlus Osiris Gaunt was feeling good. There was something about stomping down and completely humiliating the anomaly that gave way to euphoria. Was it sadism? To him, no. 1529 was a sadist. He was just someone putting the sadist in its place with sadism. Giving the guy a taste of his own medicine, foot edition.

The young man chuckled, thinking of the anomaly. From the Incident Interview Log, he had read on the forum, it was probably going to be pissed. Having someone fight back, and actually completely overwhelm it was most likely a first.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations on gaining the achievement" One Who Threw The Foundation More A̶n̶n̶o̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ "Lovely" Work I]

[Collect Reward Y/N?]

"Pfft...!"

Charlus stared at the message for a second as he sipped a canteen of lukewarm water, before spitting it out across the tent floor, soaking the canvas floor in water and spittle.

"This…. Is a thing?" The young climber traced across the message, before breaking up into laughter. These achievements, really were for him, hilarious. What a riot really…. Gloved finger raised, he tapped the yes button and watched as the screen before him shifted.

-----------

Hope everything is coming along all right.