Zone E -- Highlands

[Strazio Rockwell]

One’s first step into the Abyss was often quite a doozy and Strazio’s was no exception. Cold wrapped around him, prodding at his flesh with knobby fingers. Each breath fell just short of filling his lungs, the air too thin for comfort.

“Just great,” he muttered.

Syntech had placed him atop a fucking mountain. Not just any mountain mind you, but the tallest damned mountain in existence. Well, maybe that was hyperbole, but in Strazio’s mind it was pretty close to accurate. A gust of wind buffeted his face with snow. He cussed and pulled his cloak tight. The gust was short-lived and when the whirlwind died down the island opened up before him. For a long moment he stood there and gathered his bearings, mentally forming a rough map of the surrounding area.

Strazio shivered. Time to go.

Though he imagined that climbing the mountain was more difficult than descending, it was still a bitch eitherway. The thin air forced him to stop and catch his breath every so often and the cold made his body sluggish. After about an hour, or what felt like an hour, he passed the snowcapped threshold and reached then crag-covered midsection. Once out of the cold he stopped to chew on a protein bar and catch his breath. There was something serene about the first few hours on the island. A sort of peaceful tranquilty before the unrepetent bloodshed.

He fingered the metal collar around his neck. A small spark traveled across his fingertips and he smiled. Magick still echoed in his heart and for that he was grateful. Memories of the knockdown drag-out fights of his last Abyss sent a small shot of adrenaline through his veins. While there was somethjng to be said for a good old-fashioned fistfight he felt a lot less vulnerable with his magick intact.

moving from e5 ro e4