At long last, she had reached her destination. 

In the waning light of dusk, she looked upwards through the sparse canopy of trees, to see the great mountain with five peaks, looking almost like an open hand with five stony fingers spread out, known as the Mountain of Five Elements. The orange sunset coloured the mountain in broad strokes of flame, making it look as if it was the hand of some giant fire elemental, thrusting its palm forward.

For a moment, her eyes blazed as brilliantly and as fiercely as the mountain seemed to. Her fists clenched and her entire body tensed, trembling, like a bowstring pulled to its limits. Her expression twisted and her lips were tightly compressed. It was as though she was holding something great and terrible within, desperate to keep it from escaping. With an explosive exhalation, she seemed to succeed in restraining whatever it was that had been building up within her, causing it to subside. For a while, she panted, looking like she had just gone through some great exertion. Gradually, she returned to her previously relaxed and ready posture. 

She squared her shoulders, as her face resumed the expression it had most often held, ever since her journey had begun. It was an expression of focused determination, one that announced that there was nothing that would stop her from achieving her purpose.

It had been a long, difficult journey, and there had been days when she almost doubted that the mountain even existed, much less what was said to be underneath it, but the steel core of stubborn persistence within her kept her going. Through uncertainty, through doubt, through fear and danger, she kept moving forward. Now, she just needed to find the entrance leading to the one who would help her with her mission.

She had picked her way through the undergrowth and uneven terrain, avoiding tree roots, dense clumps of bushes and thickets of trees, until she reached the vantage point she was at. It gave her a clear view of the foot of the mountain. As she took a break from the arduous hike, she drank a sip of water from the canteen hanging from her backpack, then took off her black hat, revealing a completely bald head. She fanned herself with her hat, wishing for a cool breeze. Through it all, she never took her eyes from the foot of the mountain. Now, she was more certain than ever that her information was correct, so somewhere among the dense bushes and vines, there should be an opening...

Suddenly, she realised that the forest, previously filled with the sound of insects and birds that had faded into the background, had become quiet. Totally quiet. Straining her ears, she began to hear the rustling tread of many pairs of feet, somewhere behind her.

Immediately, she threw herself down behind a thicket of trees. As she hit the forest floor, she heard a loud CH-ZWOOP-THUNNGGG, as a short spear embedded itself, quivering, into a lone tree about 5 feet to her right.

Musket-shot and arrows then started zipping all around her. A few lucky bullets hit the sides of the tree, throwing up wooden splinters. A ray of frost hit the tree with the short spear in it, freezing a large part of the trunk. 

The group of twenty-something bounty hunters had finally caught up to her. Even though she had spent the last few days in the woods being so careful about evading them. Well, evading and picking them off whenever she could. There had originally been thirty-something bounty hunters.

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While still behind the tree, she drew her revolver, then laid prone, inching forward cautiously to peek out from among the ferns at the base of the tree. The dim evening light cast the entire forest in shadow, making the muzzle flash of firing muskets and pistols stand out clearly amongst the gloom. Carefully, she aimed her oversized revolver, shot twice at two points where she’d seen muzzle flash, then immediately rolled and crawled her way towards better cover behind a nearby moss-covered boulder.

“Bro Shi! Bro Ni! Nooooo!”

Digging into her backpack and the pockets of her long black duster coat, she pulled out two forked branches, small stakes, and string. As she pounded the stakes into the earth with a pebble, a cold smirk crossed her lips. Twenty-something bounty hunters, now minus two.

“Shut up! Pick up those muskets and keep shooting!”

“For the brothers we’ve lost! Fire!”

She pounded the two forked branches into the ground, bent them backwards with string, which were themselves secured with another stake each pounded into the ground. After positioning two candle stubs beneath the strings that were pulling back each forked branch, she carefully nestled an earthen flask into the fork of each makeshift catapult.

By then, the initial storm of bullets and arrows had tapered off a bit. Though sporadic, the firing continued. She crawled to another tree away from the boulder.. waited... and shot at the next two muzzle flashes she saw.

Again, without waiting for confirmation that she’d hit anything, she crawled back to the boulder, lit the two candles, crawled away in the opposite direction, then crouched and sprinted as fast as she could towards the foot of the mountain. 

As she ran, leaped, and dodged her way through the trees and undergrowth, she counted off the seconds.

“5… 4… 3... 2... 1...”

PLING-PLANG!

“Arrrrrgghhhh! Fire! Fire!”

“Drop and roll! DROP AND ROLL!”

PLING-PLANG!

“Urk! It’s spreading! Aaaaaaa!”

“Get back! Everyone get back!”

“Drop and roll doesn’t work! IT DOESN’T WOOOORK!”

Without sparing a moment for the commotion behind her, she dived towards the deepest patch of vines at the foot of the mountain that seemed to be covering dark shadows instead of rocks, and started scrabbling through them. After wriggling her way through the vines, she found herself in a small cave, at the back of which was a metal door.

Even though the cave had a dirt floor, and the scant rays of light coming through the vines revealed the dust specks floating in the air, the door itself was incredibly clean and polished. As was the metal frame around the door, except for a darker square patch on the left side of the frame, at around shoulder height.

Breathing hard, she paused to catch her breath, while making sure the curtain of vines behind her was intact. Only then did she feel the pain of a gash on her left cheek. After making sure that the wound was not serious, she simply cleaned it with some water from her canteen. Then, she reloaded her revolver while approaching the door.

Taking a deep breath, she raised the metal bracer on her left forearm, and touched it to the dark square patch. A loud BEEP sounded, and a dim green ray of light shot out from a point above the door. Patiently, she waited as the light made its way from the top of her head down to her toes, then disappeared. With another BEEP, the metal door hissed open. A rush of cool air came flowing out, as did a strange smell. One that, although not encountered in the natural world, reminded her faintly of home.

Letting out a controlled breath, she extracted a small lantern from her pack, then crouched down to light up the candle inside with flint and steel. Holding up her lantern, she stepped forward into total darkness, and the door hissed shut behind her.

-- Chapter 1, End --