Walking back to base took quite a bit of time. It being the start of blizzard season didn't help matters any either. But the fact that my stomach is full of meat gives me a bit of hope. Not enough to smile, but enough to keep me moving towards my goal. Sigh, if only the damn snow wasn't so deep.

...

Hiding in a cave for the night saved me from the blizzard, and from freezing to death. The previous resident of this cave wasn't too happy with my moving in, so we came to an agreement pretty fast. An extra bit of meat never hurt anyone though, and it gives me an opportunity to study the anatomy of a snow bear. I just hoped that I wouldn't get any gut worm from the amount of raw meat I was eating. At the beginning I refused to eat raw meat. "Nope, nope. N-E-V-E-R. It's FUCKING RAW." But hunger has an interesting effect on a person's will. It can change a person from a rabbit, to a wolf.

I reached the base the next evening. If it could even be called a base, it was a small hut surrounded by an endless sea of mountains. There wasn't even a tree to be seen for miles, shame maybe they could give a bit of shelter from the winds. I open the door and sigh in relief, as I throw a few logs into the fireplace. While the snow melts I take of what's left of my clothes, and do a quick scan of my body. It was filled with small cuts and injuries I had received during the "mission". Nothing critical, but still better to clean them all out, small injuries can be fatal if left to their own devices. Don't have any antiseptic though, so snow will have to do.

It takes some time but eventually the snow melts. I look around the shack for a clean cloth, and by the time I return the water is warm enough. I start to wipe my body down, now that I think of it, it's been a long time since I've had an actual bath. After I get to a state where I don't smell like fermented goblin balls, I go to bed. At least what I call a bed, in actuality it was a few furs spread on the ground, ahh how far my standards have fallen.

...

The next morning I wake to a sun under which millions of lowlifes, scum, and bastards live. I dress in whatever I could find laying around that doesn't smell like zombie vomit, and I start moving down the trail towards the outpost with a very simple goal, report the results to the "mayor". Oh, how I wish my ass had as much hair as the number of living beings in a twenty kilometer radius around the post. Maybe wiping my ass would be easier. Can't say I was ever the life of the party, but having someone to talk with once a week would be great. Years of loneliness can get under your skin even for a total loner like me.

The "trail", if I could call it that, was nothing more than a thin road covered by snow. There was barely anything to hold on to, so one wrong step and down you go. Well, at least the leftover wolf meat would assure that I wouldn't die from hunger on the way to the outpost.

...

Damn, it's already noon and I haven't even covered a third of the path. Fucking snow. It's taking more time than it should. Surveying the slope I was on, I found a path that would be much faster than my current one. It's just three weeks, no need to take any risks.

[But will you survive the night?]

The blizzard will end in a week, but by then I'll already be a snowman. I sigh again, it seems there is no other choice, or at least nothing else is coming to mind. Bracing myself for what awaits me, I jump off the cliff. Immediately I start to circulating my mana to stop the nausea, but this sure as fuck isn't rolling, I'm a goddamn basketball. The slope looked so smooth.. There's at least two meters of snow on top of the mountains, so why the HELL does it feel like I'm a fucking ping-pong ball in a game between two titans. Fuck.

After a few minutes I finally start to slow down, getting up took a few tries but eventually I was upright. The desire to empty my stomach was held off by pure willpower, that food is MINE! And I will not waste energy to digest my food just because of an urge to make a Picasso painting on the snow. Looking around I'm quite pleased that less than a quarter of the path is left. One leg after another, one way or another, my ass must be there before dawn.

...

Following the light from the outpost. which I could only see due to the fact that the blizzard is just starting. Thirty minutes more and I'm not sure what my fate would've been. A "couple" of starved wolves halted my travel for quite a bit, fucking scouts. It almost seems like they go out of their way to fuck up and get incorrect information. Wolves a few kilometers from the outpost, un-fucking-believable. Open gates greet me total silence, I really should've been used to the reliability of the people around here, open gates and non-existent guards.

The outline of the houses are barely visible, and dark clouds block the light even from the biggest of the four moons that hung low in the sky. Anyone would've though that the outpost was empty, but there were people inside, most sleeping, but a few were having..."fun". The main hall light guides me through the dark streets, the door opens with a small creak.

Alive,... for now at least.