My first few attempts were disastrous, as one may expect. After the first makeshift iceberg that I actually got to hold together properly went merrily bouncing down the river, I decided I would freeze the anchor rope into my iceberg. This was actually an unintentional good idea, as I was able to slowly concentrate and freeze water around the rope, first making a giant popsicle like construction, then slowly forming it into a solid rectangle. I pulled it up on shore, before packing a good covering of dirt into the top of it, then freezing heavy stones into the bottom for ballast once I found out how top-heavy it made my craft.

The more I used my power the more it seemed that it was becoming second nature to me, and I found I could actually stream power from the river to directly power the formation of my iceberg. Finally came the moment of truth where I pulled up the anchor and tucked my limbs in. I had made a depression in the iceberg and grips to hold on but I wasn’t quite prepared for just how fast I shot away when I got going.

I bounced and slammed around the sides of the river before I went into a dizzying spin down the center for a bit before I went weightless and gave a shriek as I plunged downwards off a waterfall. I landed with a massive splash and kept on going, banging and spinning and tumbling so fast, that I just closed my eyes and wished for it all to end one way or another.

The lights of glow crystals became a blur as I streaked past open caves, down ravines and often launched off of waterfalls, I had to duck and lie flat, pressing my slight frame into the iceberg a few times when the roof rushed down at me, then expanded again as I streaked out into more massive caves.

I have no idea the distance I traveled, one instant I was in a cave, and the next light and sound exploded around me and I was weightless, falling. I looked down and saw I was hundreds of feet over a mountain valley, the glow of the sun was disappeared below the horizon as I tumbled and fell, letting out a shriek of terror and tucked into a ball as I spun off my iceberg. The water slammed into me like I hit a concrete wall. My power was uncontrollably ripped from me for a few instants and I momentarily saw stars and blacked out before my mind grasped my power and pulled the energy of the water around me, to bring myself back before I passed out. I shot out of the water like a cannon ball, and tumbled across a muddy bank before a heavy thicket caught me, tearing new furrows into my body as I tumbled into its depths.

I lay there, dazed for a bit my world spinning dizzily as I tried to come to my senses. As luck would have it, my naked body was now covered in thorns and it seemed every inch of me screaming in pain as I carefully extracted myself from the thicket to crawl back to the river bank. Pulling energy from the water, I let it wash over me and gave a gasping sigh of relief as my wounds slowly healed and my head began to clear. I gazed far above me, and my eyes widened in shock at the sheer scale of the drop.

I now suspected that that dock I was at was to avoid this waterfall, and likely a drop that was normally fatal to someone without my odd powers. I looked around for my iceberg, but it was nowhere to be found. Either it had overshot the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall and shattered along one of the riverbanks, or it was now continuing on a wonderful journey of discovery somewhere far away. I felt along the sides of my loincloth and breathed a sigh of relief when I found the firestarter still there wound tightly around it. I was starting to shiver now, and I could feel the darkness of night swiftly descending. I needed to dry off quickly before I got sick, or became hypothermic.

Not one to tempt fate, I made sure I built my fire in the shelter between a group of rocks that would hide most of the light. Finding fuel was no problem, the gigantic fir trees or whatever they were growing around the banks of the river in this mouth of the valley generated a ton of needles and dead wood. I heated stones in the fire, then put them in a circle around me, and wedged myself deep into the crevice of two of the stones before covering both ends with fir needles and branches to hide myself from anyone, or more likely a roving monster would investigate my little fire. It took me a while to doze off, but I eventually managed it.

The next day I awoke to stomping and shaking. Something was snorting and sniffing my campfire. I laid very still, my heart pounding as I saw massive, hairy feet with warty knobs on them shuffling around as something monstrous growled and grumbled to itself. Hiding myself for the night turned out to be a pretty good call.

My growling stomach almost gave me away. My heart pounded for a moment as the thing gave a snort, then seemed to lose interest in my campsite, before the ground shook and it sounded like the monstrous thing had decided to rove on down the river. It took me at least twenty minutes before I was calm enough to extract myself from my hidey hole. I studied the wreckage of my campsite, the massive footprints, and when I peeked over the rocks I gasped as something massive was running along the river roaring and scaring everything for miles around.

Flocks of birds took flight; wolves ran in terror and I swear I even saw a boar the size of a minibus run in the opposite direction. Whatever that thing was, it was probably a good idea I hadn’t made introductions.

My body was stiff and grimy, and maddingly itchy so I stretched and idly scratched at a few bug bites as I tried to consider what to do now. It was hard to tell where I was or how extensive this valley was. I had caught a glimpse of it from the top of the waterfall, but not much stuck in my mind other than the terror of rushing green and approaching water that had filled my awareness before I had plunged into the pool of water under the massive waterfall.

It was I had to admit, quite beautiful. The morning light in the spray of water caused a rainbow to form in the heavy mist and fog that hung over the bottom of the valley the river curled down into the fog, following a valley that opened up on both sides to straddle massive mountains that touched the sky. High above me it the jagged peaks were topped with snow, and a few of the tops disappeared into the clouds. It was truly breathtaking.

I took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. Yes, everything in Endaria wanted to kill me…in horrific ways. But… it was almost worth it just to see stuff like this. I had never been in such a realistic VR dive before. All of this was completely indistinguishable from reality. Well except the multi-story monsters and murderous spiders… and the other stuff that I hadn’t even been introduced to properly before they had tried to make a snack of me.

Shuddering, I gave a whispering shiver as my teeth chattered in time with cold mountain wind roaring through the valley. Abruptly, I realized that being nearly naked except for a breast band and a loincloth was a very bad idea. Heck even with my starter clothes I would have been shivering. I almost longed for a cramped hospital room, with the smells of antiseptic… and impending death. At least it was warm.

I had to remember why I was here, because my dying body wasn’t long for the world. I couldn’t afford any more respawns, especially since I wasn’t sure if I would respawn nearby or back in that stupid cave system I had spent so long getting out of. Prancing around I tried to think, think of anything that would help. While I shivered and schemed, I heard a roar, and suddenly being cold seemed like the least of my worries. I took off sprinting as I saw a massive, multistory monster, one that has rather familiar looking knobby legs and feet rumbling back my direction.

It may have spotted me on the open riverbank. I supposed that it you’re a monster taller than most office buildings, perhaps you have a good vantage point to spot a stupid teenage girl that was out in the open. It was futile, I knew in the back of my mind that for every dozen of my clumsy strides he must be covering the same distance with a single bound.

Yep it had most positively seen me. Trees crashed apart or were just run over in the distance as I sprinted, then I began to sob in terror as I felt the thing getting closer and closer. Then I was falling, tumbling and bouncing down a hill. Something hard slammed into my shoulder and I felt bones give a sickening snap, but my heart was pounding so hard and I was so filled with adrenalin I barely noticed the instant. Far ahead of me I saw reflections of aqua blue, and more importantly I could hear the rushing of water. It was a small stream, some branch off of the river I had left, and spread out ahead of me I saw that I was on the edge of a massive lake, with tiny islands in the center.

I part tumbled, part fell, and bounced down the slope to the lake before I gave a leap and plunged into the icy water, my body nearly going numb from the heavy impact, but I reached deep into myself and propelled forwards, wishing for the water to help me along. And… it did. I felt like it was pushing, aiding me as I channeled power through my body, shooting like a tiny torpedo across the lake, just under the surface. The water was crystal clear and I could see deep down. It was a pretty deep lake, like one of those deep European lochs. The islands were spurs of gigantic stones that towered out of the depths and I made towards one of them, grunting as I flopped out of the water and looked back. That gigantic monster was standing on the far bank, giving me the stink-eye and roaring at me. I retuned its attentions with the middle finger.