Zone E -- Highlands

[Strazio Rockwell]

As the prime shuffled forward it seemed that the path before him grew narrower. Each step forward forced him closer to the edge. He had turned and pressed his back against the wall of rock behind him. Occasionally the path would turn so skinny that the toes of his boots hung over. While he did not suffer from vertigo there was a sort of cerebral focus that accompanied one brought face-to-face with their own mortality. It was made manifest in a quickening of the pulse and a soft buzzing between the ears. Below him the ravine began to close as he moved further from the head of the river. As the ravine narrowed the path before him widened, offering a safer path with every step.

With safety so clearly in view Strazio was spurred into action. That was until his hand brushed against something that felt a lot like a ball of dried leaves. He craned his neck to try and see what his hand had discovered, but the angle proved too steep. Curiosity took hold and he pawed at the object. It crunched beneath his hand and crumbled into a flaky mess. It wasn’t until something stung his palm that he realized just what the object was. Hundreds of blue centipede-like insects swarmed the hand that destroyed their nest. Few things frightened the white-haired maniac, but creepy crawlies held a horrifying place in his heart.

Panic gripped Strazio and he yelped in fear. Hundreds of stingers ravaged his hand, tearing into the raw flesh and filling it with a cocktail of venom. A burst of white light erupted from his hand, disintegrating a healthy chunk of the swarm. He shuffled away, firing another blast of magick at the encroaching horde. As he backpedaled his foot caught the edge of the pass and the rock crumbled beneath it. The ever-present pull of gravity took over and dragged the panic-stricken prime to the depths below.

Moving E5 to E8