I always wanted to be an adventurer.

The idea of traveling the globe -a land of mystic wonder and unfamiliar danger- with a trusty sword at my side; it sounded like a dream.

Maybe I could wield magic, if there was any. Maybe I could ride atop a dragon, if they existed. I could play numbers with alchemy, ride waves with a mast held high. Save the princess and slay the Dark Lord; those were the thoughts I had often while holed up in my high school classrooms.

Often did I sketch designs in my textbooks, of wizards and knights and warlocks; dreaming that I was the man behind the armor, that it was my voice chanting those bedazzling spells. I had dreamed and hoped and prayed for the opportunity to live in such a reality.

So?

When I obtained such a dream by happenstance?

When my entire class found themselves in a world of swords and sorcery at the drop of a hat? On a Late-November afternoon?

Was I excited?

I was ecstatic.

I could hardly believe my luck.

Away with my distaste for my tedious future. Away with my concerns for my lackluster lifestyle. I may have been despised in school, labeled as our strict principal’s son since day 1. But I thought my life had just been filled with so much color; I was scarcely able to believe it.

I believed I would become a hero…

...

I just never thought I’d become the villain.

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Winds blow; winds tear.

Snow falls; the blizzard overwhelms.

I trudge through waist-deep snowfall, hugging my own quivering body with frostbitten hands.

I cough; I hack.

A voice; my own voice… calls out into the white void; I’m spitting blood as my lungs crack from the vile chill.

“Help…”

I cough feverishly, before I shout once more.

“Help me!”

I nearly fall to a knee, swaying as my vision blurs. In the corner of my sight, shrinking at an alarming rate, my healthbar vibrates, changing from green to yellow, and dropping still.

Blaring in front of my eyes, pestering me to no avail; a warning label flashes crimson red, displaying text alongside the symbol of a snowflake.

You have entered an extreme climate. Your health is freezing away…

Despite my pain, despite the fear and despair that clings to my solidifying feet; I grit my teeth. I whip my hands about, as if I could claw the notification away.

“You think I haven’t noticed!?”

I cough, crimson splatters onto the alabaster beneath me.

“You think I- *cough* -have a choice?”

My torn clothes flap about me; old bruises and festering abrasions still wrack my dying body. I have spent only thirty seconds in this place.

I will be dead before I reach 5 minutes.

And how did I end up in such a place?

I was sent here… banished here… under false accusations.

Under short-sighted blame.

He only needed to point his finger, and his word was taken over mine. I was given no say, no chance to defend myself, no opportunity to even say my piece. I was grieving over her death, her sacrifice, and I wasn’t even given the time to cry.

At least, not on her behalf.

Prison for two months.

I spent two long months imprisoned.

Two months of bitter nights. Two months of unneeded torture. Two months of misguided beatings and inhumane depravity.

All for what?

What was the light at the end of the tunnel for me?

Banishment.

That's what.

A death sentence.

To the aptly named Space Mountains: A colossal ridgeline that would rival Mt. Everest on Earth in elevation. A height so high I feel like I’m suffocating. An encompassing chill so extreme I can feel my own skin tense up and tear.

I will die.

I know it.

Death will come for me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

It frustrates me, vexes me, infuriates me to no end. I’m here because they wouldn’t listen to me; I can’t remember my own name because they took it from me.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I’ve been wronged, beaten, spit upon, cursed and hissed on my name, until that name was forgotten in everyone’s minds, including mine.

I’m Nameless, that’s who I am.

A cowardly criminal, charged with the responsibility of her death.

Of her demise…

Her sacrifice.

I’ve been held solely responsible for the untimely passing of Jenna Anderson.

My only friend back on Earth, and my savior here.

At this rate, her sacrifice to save me will be in vain.

At this rate, my life will be forgotten.

At this rate, those who wronged me will walk unanswered, stand ignorant of their…

Their...

I growl.

Despite my pain, my sensations to curl up and die; my thoughts that giving up and lying down feels all the more enticing; I hiss.

“I’ll… kill you…”

My own words crack in my mouth, breaking tune and choking from the blood clogging my throat. But, even if none could understand me; I understand my words. They’re propped up by an anger that builds in my ceasing chest; a fury that clouds my running thoughts.

A wrath that floods my vision, until I can see is red.

“I’ll destroy you… Eradicate you... All of you!"

I cast my head skywards, screaming until my voice dies in my own mouth.

“I’LL KILL YOU ALL!!!”

A thunderous roar answers me.

A cacophonous noise that sounds like a jet’s engine drowns out my shout. It makes me wince, and-

A massive body slams into the sloped ground in front of me; the violent rumble it causes makes me fall to my knees. A blast of snow rides on the shockwave, and what I see, is a sight like the grim reaper himself.

In the tsunami of a dissipating cloud, a monster resides. A legendary beast. A horrid being. Snow-white scales, rigid blue talons. Sickle-shaped spines, bat-like wings. A razor-tipped tail lashes in anticipation, and a serpentine head looms over me.

A dragon.

Above it, hovering in dark violet lettering, a name and level resides; my eyes widen at the sight.

Boss: Frostbite Lv. 2048.

It’s slit eyes watch me and only me.

I-…

I…

I run.

I turn and run for my life, my own panicked breaths sending my thoughts over the edge.

“No. No no. Nononononono NO! Please! Not like this! Please! NO! NOT LIKE THIS!!!”

My voice is manic, my eyes wide. My vision, displaying my dropping health, measly level 4, and the time:

March 12th, 1046. 3:43 p.m.

The time of my death.

Frostbite’s roar berates my reddened ears; he wrenches open his maw. Behind those rows of silverine fangs, vomiting forth past that forked black tongue; frigid breath unleashes like a colossal firehose.

Particles of glittering ice; clouds of sub-zero flames.

Icicles the size of swords lash out, stabbing into the mountainside like spears. They zip by my head, miss me by mere inches…

One hits me.

It doesn’t impale me, doesn’t take an arm or sever my neck. It grazes my right leg. It cuts through my pants near my calf, dawns upon the skin, severs a measly hair.

Only a hair.

It didn’t even touch me.

But the skin around that hair blackens instantaneously. My entire right leg ceases up, shifting to dark violet and swelling. I gasp; half my remaining health disappears.

I tumble; I fall.

A new warning blares in my eyes, as I try and fail to raise my head from the snow.

Frostbitten. Passive health regeneration heavily reduced. Movement speed heavily reduced.

I lay motionless, as that dragon saunters over, each step threatening to start an avalanche. Frostbite growls a guttural growl, seemingly delighted with himself. He’s caught his prey; he will have his snack.

But beneath him, I feel tears bead in my eyes. They freeze almost instantly, biting into my nearly dead skin. But they come nevertheless; my chin quivers.

Why?

I think to myself, agonizing my own fate.

Why am I here? Why did this happen to me?

Those maws open, lowering. Ready to snap on me, ready to snap me in half.

What did I do to deserve this? Why?

This is it. This is the end for me. My dreams of becoming an adventurer, a savior. A hero. They die here with me. Never will my name grace another's lips, never will memories of me ever be looked upon with anything other than resentment and disgust. I'll forever be known as the hated child of the principal, the loose end of my class; the despised child who only ever wanted to dream.

It's over.

The ground cracks, sounds of deep ice driving asunder echoes about the mountain. Frostbite shifts his weight about, hissing.

Something’s wrong.

The ground beneath me sinks, my planted hands fall into open space below. It comes after the sound of shattering glass... I fall.

The ground below swallows me up, or rather, the ceiling to a cave breaks from Frostbite’s weight. Frostbite tries to snatch me, but I’m already past his reach.

I fall; I plummet.

I drop at a heart wrenching speed, and-

My arm smacks into a passing ledge, snapping and dislocating. A chunk of my healthbar slips away.

You have a broken limb. Health regeneration slowed. Accessories unavailable.

I deflect off a rocky outcropping, practically splattering against the adjacent wall. That healthbar falls into the red.

You have internal bleeding. Maximum health reduced. Defense decreased.

I hit the icy cave floor headfirst, tumbling and sliding away like a tossed corpse. My health can't even bee seen anymore; it's nothing more than a sliver.

My vision doubled; I see a blurry sight of Frostbite high above, clawing angrily at the mouth of the hole. He tries to force his way in to follow me, he breathes his frost breath, but it cannot reach me.

I bump against a freezing wall, out of sight of the dragon; a trail of blood paints the path I took.

I’m blacking out, in more pain than I ever thought possible. Warnings plague my vision, until all I can see is the void.

You are concussed. Perception and movement speed reduced.

Boss notification: You have entered the Ice Dragon Frostbite’s Lair.

You are heavily injured. Health regeneration decreased. Engaging in combat drains health.

You are losing consciousness. You will be unable to defend yourself.

I lay broken, nameless, and forgotten. In the depths of a dragon’s lair, on the brink of death with only a sliver of red left in my healthbar.

I’m better off dead at this point… nobody will care if I return.

My future is uncertain; I'll die if I leave this cave.

...

But I’m alive.