Scarlet Snow

Chapter Three: Open Sky

By: Nekhs

She screamed.

Of course she did - the ground had started moving under her!

This was not precisely how she had expected things to work. She had imagined a large staircase would lead her up through the densely packed stone above, but no.

No, instead, there came the most awful noise, a creaking and a whirring and a deep groan, as though the world was going to tear itself asunder. She clung to the ground, even while that very same ground pushed ever upwards, and all she could do was hope that it wasn't going to crush her against some impossibly high ceiling. That would be a particularly cruel joke.

It didn't, though. Right before it struck the ceiling, it ground to a screeching halt.

Scarlet could not wait to get off the platform that had taken her up. She staggered out through the metal doors. Landing on hands and knees, she proceeded to empty her stomach of everything she'd ever eaten.

This new room was large, she noted, bigger than the cell that had held her for so long, but much, much smaller than the caverns below. There was a large, bronze colored pipe that had burst open from the ceiling, leaking steam and warming the entire room.

The bedroll that lay on the ground, the long dead campfire, and the free-standing pot next to it all suggested someone had been here recently enough. They weren't here now, though, so she went to investigate the things they'd left. There was a barrel that contained salted meat, a backpack that had a potion and a necklace and a few other useless things. On closer inspection, the pot by the dead fire contained some mushrooms she recognized from Uncle's books as edible.

She munched on these dry mushrooms as she moved through another set of double doors to the next room.

Here was a wonder.

This room was dominated by what seemed to be some kind of immense sphere. Curiously, though, it looked as though parts of it were meant to move. Much, much larger than any of the constructs she'd encountered yet, this thing towered over her. It was large enough that whoever had built this place had installed a second floor to circle the top of the sphere, with openings for the ramps that climbed its sides. She had no interest in finding out what other kinds of technology could kill her, so she left that alone entirely.

As soon as Scarlet found another exit, she took it, planning to get far, far away from the (probably) terrible creation she'd just witnessed. Whatever it was, she was certain the thing was evil, and just as importantly, it was huge.

The short hallway led onto another platform, with another lever at its center.

Feeling certain that this machine would be the one to take her to freedom, she steeled herself for what was to come, and pulled this lever, as well.

With incredible speed, this new platform shot up its hollow tower. The noise, although still deafening, was less than the first rising platform had made - perhaps that was because this tower had seen more recent use? She didn't know, and she was fairly certain she didn't care.

She had told herself she was ready, but she still felt queasy after her rapid ascent.

None of that mattered, though.

A gate was all that stood between her and the wide open world, now. Her eyes went wide in awe, and she gripped the chilled bars with her bare hands. This was her first breath of truly fresh air in over a decade, and she cherished it, inhaling deeply. It was cold enough to sear her lungs, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Only when her fingers began to hurt from holding on to frozen metal did she pull back, tucking her hands under her arms to warm them.

The world above was incredibly bright to her sensitive vision. She let herself adjust to the light as she savored the incredible view. The tower she stood inside looked proudly out over an impossible distance; the mountain it was perched upon seemed to scrape the sky, and yet there was still more open air above.

There was no ceiling to the world any longer - she felt light-headed, as though she were going to float off into the fluffy pink and orange clouds of the evening sky. Far, far away, she saw tiny green spikes that she remembered as trees. Plants - plants that weren't some form of fungus! She knew them from Uncle's books, of course, but it was another matter entirely to see them for real. Sure, they didn't glow, but then, in the world above, they hardly needed to. Everything was so brilliant, here.

Another lever hung on the side of the massive gate, and she pulled it, watching in wonder as the bars swung open for her.

Nothing was stopping her from just - leaving. No prison would ever hold her, again.

She couldn't help herself. She ran forward, throwing herself at a huge pile of fluffy, white snow. She played in it, throwing it up in little showers of white powder, watching in wonder as it melted on her skin. It was so, so cold, but she didn't care.

Snow! She hadn't seen snow since she was little!

Honestly, she couldn't say how long she reveled in the magic of nature. It was long enough, though - the sun sank well below the distant horizon, and the cold became harsh, cutting through her thin robes as though she'd instead chosen to come up naked.

In that moment, she had a choice. She could make her way back to the tower. It would be safer to try to wait out the night underground. She knew that, of course she did. Uncle's books had taught her well enough how to survive in all manner of places. In cold places, shelter was vital to survival. She knew that.

Unable to bring herself to return to her prison, even though it was the only safety to be found on the mountaintop, she instead tried to make her way down. It was a perilous climb though, and not one that she was truly prepared for. She slipped on a bit of ice buried under the treacherous snow, and that was it, really. As she rolled down the mountain, she cracked her head on a rock, and all she knew from there was darkness.