Blood Snow

The snow turned thick with the sludge of beast blood.

I could feel the drool on my lips trickle down my chin as I trudged forward on instinct, my brain having completely shut off. I was close, I could feel it transmitted to me through my link with the string of Aeter.

I was not allowed to rest. Not allowed to stop walking forward.

To every beast that lunged at my neck, I spared but a few swings of my staff. No matter their size or their magic, everything fell by my hands. Those of giant blood, those of wolf blood, those of bear blood, those of all blood....

The terrain had long been mutilated, filled by fires of Shakti and the mangled cloth of earth.

Drag one foot, and the other follows. That is what I convinced my body to do.

One more beast, One more swing, One more kill, One more life.

I continued moving, unfettered by any element of life. Like a machine set on completing its programmed action.