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My personal freedom
Chapter 3. The first hardship

Chapter 3. The first hardship

Before I started the ascent I funny enough realised that I was naked after feeling the breeze down there. I thought to myself how the hell did I not notice that I don't have any clothes on me. Thinking back to when I talked to the Barbarian she did not in any way seem bothered by it.

I mean I'm not ashamed of myself in any way but I could stand to gain a couple of pounds. I'm quite skinny but at least it makes the big guy down there look bigger. Didn't really feel it before but the temperature was quite pleasant, not too cold or too warm.

Realising that the dilemma about my clothes isn't going to fix them self and I don't know how to make clothes it gave me another reason to hurry up. Luckily the forest seemed to end a few metres aways and the warmth of the sun was shining against the mountain side, so I dont think I'm going to have problems with being too cold.

And almost like clockwork I heard the roar again and it sounded like it was coming closer so the reasons to hurry just kept coming. After starting my climb I realised that the mountainside started with what looked like an angle of about 130 degrees but sadly enough it seems like it was increasingly becoming steeper. It did not help that the rocks were wet and slippery but hopefully the sun would take care of that problem.

The climb went quite smoothly for the first 20 metres but as the plants I used to pull myself became scarce I ran into some problems. I now had to zigzag up instead of going in a straight line and it wasn't long before I needed to start to actually use my hands to try and find grips.

Now I was about 40 metres up and realising I had really calculated the height to the cave wrong and it was more like 70 metres from the ground. I gritted my teeth and kept going and around 50 metres I needed to take a break. I Found a big enough rock that was sticking out of the side of the mountain and restated there for a while. Laying atop of the rock I looked down for a moment and it made me realise that if I fell from here I would not just take a nasty fall and then get away with just a few scratches I would probably die.

After lying comfortably on the rock for about 10 minutes sunbathing, the roar that I heard all throughout my climb seemed to have quieted down. I thought that maybe it had found its prey and I kinda hoped I wouldn't hear it again.

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After another 10 minutes I reluctantly left my place of rest and started to climb again and it was then it happened. The roar returned but now it even made the hard ground vibrate. After the roar ended I kept feeling small vibrations that seemed to increase in intensity every second. Once again I could feel my heartbeat start to increase again and my hands were starting to sweat. It really didn't help me climb. As the vibrations and roar were coming closer I hurried my pace without even noticing, coupled that with my hand sweat I made my first real mistake.

I tried to reach for a rock that looked strong enough for me to put some of my weight on and it did but Instead of evenly distributing my weight through like I had done before I put too much weight on it trying to reach another stone that it broke.

Having lost my footing I started to rapidly slide down the mountain. Trying desperately to reach for some plant or anything that could slow my fall, I finally stopped when I caught the roots of a plant but the price I had to pay to slide down no more than 2 metres where the sole of my feet and hands became a bloody mess. Before I knew it a stinging pain filled my mind, something that I haven't felt since I was a child but now 10 times as intense.

What I failed to notice was that the pain seemed to lessen around my hands after what felt like an eternity. I forced myself to calm down and noticed that the plant roots I was holding seemed to excrete some sort of fluid and when it covered my hand it was slowly numbing the pain from my hands.

I had an idea and when I finally found some footing I yelped in pain from my feet touching the ground and me putting weight on them. Fuccccck It hurts, noticing again that the vibrations were only coming closer. I gritted my teeth and tried to yank the plant out of the ground but it didn't want to be uprooted. Having expected it to be hard or else it would not have been able to take my weight when I fell, but I didn't expect it to be this hard.

Seeing no other option than to bite the stuff loose after remembering humans can produce quite the amount of force through their teeth, after sewing in the same place for quite some time I finally got part of the root loose. Applying some of the greenish liquid on my feet through balancing and some determination I put the rest of the root in my mouth to try and suck out the liquid.

And it was then it happened the vibrations suddenly stopped and the roar did not return but what replaced it was way worse. It was like you could feel a sort of heaviness surrounding you and the world felt like it became a bit darker, it felt like my heart stopped beating and the world became deathly quiet. It stunned me and without the liquid from the root that filled me with a warm feeling I probably wouldn't be able to move. I knew it was stupid but I still turned around to try and see whatever it was that caused this feeling and when I saw it my mind went numb with fear.