The Last 7 Days of My Life: Nils Stylus Diary

The Climb Part 2

It was the greatest relief I've ever felt when my feet were no longer dangling and could be solidly placed on the land. I laughed in relief, gingerly pouring some of my water over my hands that burned from the sores. Now that I was on land somehow, it newly motivated me. I could smell the sweetness of flowers even though I could barely see them. Should I continue walking?

"Hahahaha."

A faint giggle caught me off guard. I looked around quickly. "Hello?!" I asked in alarm. Was someone else here with me? That would be amazing and scary as well. Why would anyone be out here? I was far from my village, and as far as I knew, there was no other village nearby? I hoped it was my imagination. My eyes went up the mountain's grit-filled coursing rock hunched into each other in bridled massive chunks. The cracks vectored in many outshot and shallow crevices that held in the moon's gloss's white blaze that smoothened the rock out of its horrific face.

Maybe I could get some bandages to wrap my hand and possibly find a place to rest for the night. The promise gave me hope that helped me to continue walking. As I tried to make out anything in the darkness, I saw no one. Could it be that it was coming from afar? My travel had been a long one. If I think back on who I was before this, before the curse, there was no way I would have ever done this. I smiled, because I have achieved a lot. Pride swelled up in me, for I knew I can do more if I pushed myself.

I took a deep breath and continued my journey up the curved path. It felt like I had been walking for hours and still I couldn't see if there were any homes here. There was no light that looked like a candle illuminating a room through a window. No sign of anyone else, but the smell of lavender was calming and became sweeter the further I climbed. Where was the smell coming from? I wondered? Were these the purple flowers that gathered at the top?

It was a nice smell, but at this potency, it was stuffing up my nose. I was kind of in a trance when I tripped over a big chunk of rock that I hadn't seen.

"Oof! Ouch!" I yelled as I fell forward in my hands. I could almost smell the blood that oozed out there. "Owwww." I started crying as I rocked back and forth, trying to soothe myself from the pain that shocked my body right now.

I labored onto a slim ledge and stiffened to prevent myself from falling into the wind.

"What am I doing?" I cried out as my voice echoed back to me. I sat there sobbing for a while, questioning everything, when I heard the softest singing.

This time, I couldn't be sure of what I was hearing. I doubted my sanity at this point. Then again, I was cursed some days prior, and I was climbing a mountain to go and pass away at its apex. So, I was not crazy in that respect, but the singing seemed to be something that my body couldn't help but respond to. I found myself rising up from off the ground and my feet carrying my body forward.

I wanted to just fall asleep here, but my body was not having it. It was set on following whatever and whoever sang that song. I let my feet be dragged along the ledge, and the path had become noticeably rockier.

There was no soft grass and flowers beneath my feet. Instead, I could feel the sharp edges of stones attempting to puncture my footwear and embed themselves at the bottom of my feet. This was not pleasant in the least and the further up I climbed, the more on this ledge I realized that the clothes I wore were nowhere warm enough.

Was it snowing? I asked myself as I could feel my eyelashes on my face like they were sticking out over my eyeballs and each time I blinked, the coldness of my eyelids startled me. My teeth started chattering, and I was terrified I would bite my tongue off. My breathing became shallow, and my strength felt like it was waning. But each time I felt like stopping, that dang singing started again. I muttered to myself as I continued on my path, pouring some more water on my wounds that stung, walking on my toes to avoid the pain of the stones.