A figure walked, gliding on silent steps.

Animals looked up, unable to see what it was that passed by them.

Moving with perfect stealth, the figure entered the forest undetected.

Quiet as a whisper, swift as the wind.

---

A girl opened her eyes.

She was hanging from a cord, suspended in the air with a metal wire. Then the abominable abdominal pain shot through her torso, and she wished for death with all her being.

But he is not so kind nor fair as to grant ones' wishes.

She hung, swinging slowly from side to side, with the snow falling gently through the air, innocently gliding smoothly downward. Meanwhile, the girl swore and cussed her bad luck, blaming her failure on fate and destiny as is traditional. The fact that fate had nothing to do with it, as I'm pretty sure she was elsewhere at the time, was unknown to the girl.

Destiny, on the other hand, cannot be tracked down so easily. Luckily, she was accompanying someone else at the time.

The girl cried, yelled, swore and begged. Through it all, the pain did not ease, nor did anything happen to ease her lot. God did not descend in a cloud of smoke to grant her freedom, nor did the devil rise from the earth to claim her.

It was while she swung from the cord, helpless and hopeless, that she finally realized what she was.

Forsaken.

...

The sun rose and fell twice while she swung from the cliff side.

Forsaken? So what!

She grasped the cord in both hands, gripping it until her hands turned white. Then she twisted, failing, trying again, and still failing.

Again, she tried.

Fail.

Again, she tried.

Fail.

Again!

Fail.

Again!

Fail.

Again!

Fail.

Ten times. Twenty times. Thirty, fifty, a hundred, two hundred, until her hands were slippery with blood and her chest numb from pain!

Until all purpose had left her mind, until nothing but the attempt, and the failure remained!

Until all meaning of the word failure was gone from her mind!

Until her feet landed on the side of the cliff, and she knew she had succeeded. Then her feet slipped, and her head crunched against the stone and she blacked out.

...

Again.

Fail.

Again.

Fail.

Again, again, again!

Fail, fail, fail!

She was forsaken.

She was left for dead.

She was doomed. Hopeless, mindless, purposeless!

And yet, she still tried.

And she smiled. Through it all, she grit her teeth to keep from bursting into laughter. No matter how many times she failed, no matter how many times she came close only for it to slip away...

She still tried.

Who was god to give her aid?

Who was fate to give her success?

Who the hell was destiny to ensure victory?

She swung on her cord beside death, and she laughed with him. She played with him. She clasped hands in friendship with death, and tried again to beat him!

And her feet landed on the side of the mountain, firm and centered. Most would be surprised.

But she just knew that it was only a matter of time.

Running in a crescent from side to side, she looked into gravity's face, and spit.

Defying god, defying fate, defying destiny, saying 'come at me' to death, she played on the mountainside.

Running from side to side, building up momentum, she gradually got higher and higher. Up, up, up...

She slipped, she crashed, she was hurt, she was wounded, she was discouraged and beaten.

Yet she did not stop trying. Not until she ran up the side of the cliff, and reached the top.

Holding on with one hand, pulling herself up with the other, she rolled onto the place that she had started.

All of that effort. All of that blood, sweat and tears...all for nothing.

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But the girl was still smiling.

Winding the metal cord around her hands, she approached the edge...

And tried once more.

---

Wind and rock whistled through the air, and a figure slid from the top of the mountain.

Its' cowl whipped and tore at its' face, but through it all the figure did not flinch.

In its' right hand it wore a steel gauntlet, barbed claws at the fingertips. Matching steel boots scraped against the side of the cliff, tearing up the rock from its' resting place and throwing it down the mountainside.

As it slid down the mountainside, it laughed. Laughed so loud it echoed off the mountainside, reaching the heavens themselves. Like a raindrop, it fell and cascaded down the mountainside, its' companions the rocks and dust displaced by its' passage.

When it reached the bottom, it scrapped to a halt and stood for a moment, looking back up at the height it had descended.

Then it let out a chuckle, and took its' first step into the unknown.

---

The boy opened his eyes.

He tried to sit up, and felt a searing pain from his entire being explode from his bones. He immediately blacked out.

...

Some time later, he awoke. Being more careful, he felt at his side.

Excruciating agony erupted from everywhere his fingertips touched, and his vision darkened once more...

But his eyes remained open.

He let out a scream, yelling his defiance to the world, and once again set out to explore his wounds.

Pain. Pain. Pain.

The sweet release of the void called out from the blackness of his soul, beckoning with her warm embrace. All he had to do was close his eyes, and go to sleep...then the pain, the worry, the struggle, the trouble would go away.

But he remembered something.

That feeling of air on the bottom of his feet.

That view from the top of the world.

That wonderment that came from flying at the top of the world, and looking down.

Then he got back up.

His back was beat by pain. He still straightened it.

His legs collapsed beneath him. He still got to his feet.

His eyes threatened to close, to offer sweet release, to End. The. Pain.

But he got to his feet, straightened his back, and looked forward with both eyes.

Gasping and stumbling, he crashed through the trees until he could no longer remember what happened two steps ago.

And not once did he look back.

---

As it lay gasping on the floor, it said for the first time a phrase that would become its' motto.

Chance is a bitch.

But it still got up, and it still walked through those trees. It still took that hook, and it still remembered its' purpose.

Except now it had a sarcastic grin to accompany itself.

---

The map.

How many hands have held this yellowed artifact? And how many of those hands were warm when they reached the bottom of the mountain?

Along with the paper, I have a gauntlet and a metal wire. A hook is also included in my gear. The design for a contraption is drawn upon yet more yellowed paper. All of these things come from my progenitors, and yet I have no clue as to their use.

If this is all that remains from before, what happened to the countless others that came before me?

Sunlight filtered through the leafy canopy overhead, and the chattering of squirrels kept me company. The crunch of leafs beneath foot helped to take my mind off of the ominous creaking coming from my person.

Trees I passed were unmarked, untouched by human hands. Four legged-creatures scampered off at my coming, not knowing what to make of me. Spring was such a pleasant season.

Leaving the mountain behind, I walked forward, to a new horizon. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.