Wheua Mīti [Dark Data]

[Skeletor]

Skeletor rode along the cable of the ski lift with a grin. It was entirely possible that the grin was simply the fading illusion spell leaving his jawbone bear to view, but it could also have been the pure glee that the sorcerer felt as he ziplined past the last few feet before reaching the ravine itself. His havoc staff skipped and sparked as it scraped along the metal cable above him, but the eldritch metal that formed it remained sturdy despite the constant friction.

He gave a slight whoop as he crossed the edge of the ground, the yawning depths reaching out below him. Almost immediately, his elation turned to apprehension. He had made the mistake of looking down, and now the unfathomable depths over which he hung became all too readily apparent to him. He tightened his grip on the staff as his hands started to sweat. the cold air sucked greedily at the newfound moisture, robbing it of its heat and starting to freeze his hands to the metal of the staff.

The suddenly uncertain warlock continued to skid across the cable, but as he reached shortly beyond the halfway point, the momentum he had built up during his downwards descent deserted him, and the now thoroughly unhappy Skeletor found himself no longer sliding, instead simply hanging from his staff, above a potentially bottomless abyss. The scourge of Eternia struggled to maintain his composure as he tried to think of a way out of the situation.

Below him, the Schnee girl rocketed herself forwards, using timed applications of what firepower she possessed to extend the length of her jump. It looked somehow like she was actually going to make it. He considered trying to replicate the maneuver with his Havoc staff, but the girl had far more momentum behind her attempt than Skeletor had at this point.  Kopaka’s tangle with the yeti had put him slightly behind them, but he was nearing the bottom of the slope now as well. As Skeletor watched, the yeti leapt, abandoning its third snowboard to the avalanche, instead body slamming the Toa of ice. Skeletor lost sight of them in the cloud of snow, but it was clear he could not rely on the Bio-mech for help. He needed to come up with a solution before he was left here!

Skeletor began to swing, back and forth, building up momentum as best has he could. With a jerk of his impeccable stomach muscles he heaved the Havoc staff forward, hopping it slightly along the cable. With a grunt of effort he repeated the maneuver several more times, trying to get as far as possible. He had made it little more than five feet before he ran out of energy. The mage could feel his grip slippling. Though icy frost was starting to form between his hands and the staff, the cold was only numbing his fingers more quickly.

“Come on, you blasted staff!” the Warlock screamed, the adrenaline of his terror allowing him to force a few more hops out of his quickly tiring muscles. The far edge of the ravine was still a distant thing. How could Skeletor possibly reach it?

A twanging of the cables along with an entirely too excited roar caused the Sorcerer to look behind him with dismay. TRiKy FLipZ, the extreme yeti had somehow knocked Kopaka aside and clambored atop the tower nearest to the ravine. To Skeletor’s horror, the yeti had seized the cables in his massive hands and was actually managing to shake the large metal cords as he yanked at them. The swaying motion twanged its way across the chasm towards the stuck sorcerer, jolting the staff into the air and shaking him violently.

One of Skeletor’s hands came loose, and the warlock made a desperate grab, dropping the havoc staff completely to grab the cable itself with both hands. The Ram-skull weapons started to plummet away from him, as Skeletor used the momentum from another of FLipZ’s jolts to get his elbows up and over the cable.

“You Flea-bitten sno-cone! I will make you pay for that!” Skeletor shouted shaking a fist, though his voice lacked confidence as he hung perilously over the expanse. Quickly, the eldritch warlock grabbed hold of his havoc staff mentally, commanding it to return to him before it fell out of range.  The havoc staff flew back upwards, hovering patiently next to Skeletor as the Sorcerer struggled to get into a more stable positon.

“What do you think of this? Take that, you snow-surfing party suit!” the warlock shouted, pointing a finger at the yeti and firing a blast of magical energy. He swung dangerously from the cables, one arm looped around the metal, swaying slightly as he adjusted his aim.

TriKy FLipZ bellowed in indignation and shook the cables harder. Skeletor grabbed hold with his other arm as the metal cord shook, but the moment he felt like he was not immediately going to fall he fired another blast at the yeti.

“You can’t reach me out here, can you! It looks like this time you’re plans to kill me have been put on ice! Nheeheheehehehe!” Skeletor cackled another beam shooting from his fingertips towards the enraged yeti.

Then FLipZ did the unthinkable. The illusory eyes of Keldor widened in surprise as the spray-painted yeti swung down from the tower and began to make its way out to Skeletor, pacing hand over hand along the cables. The massive paws wrapped snugly around the metal, and the warlock could hear the cable straining as the several ton yeti moved quickly his direction.

All his bravado vanished in an instant, and Skeletor began to frantically shimmy as best he could towards the safe side of the ravine. There was little doubt in his mind that the yeti would catch up to him before he could make it the rest of the way. Even now his shoulders and arms were crying out as he clung to the cold metal cable for his literal life. He needed to think, he needed a plan! Looking back he saw the rapidly approaching form of the yeti, but behind him, a welcome beacon of hope. Kopaka the toa of ice, had just pulled himself out of a snow drift.

“Kopaka!” Skeletor shouted in obvious panic, “The Cables! Quickly!”

1056 words according to MS word.