You have entered sector 107 of the Endless Dungeon. This sector is level 3 of 5 of the Guardian Tower.

I rolled to my feet in a world of white.

It was cold. Blisteringly cold.

Wind tugged at me, and I staggered. Icy fragments whipped into my eyes and my feet were buried in snow. I turned about in a slow circle but beheld the same thing in every direction.

A wall of white.

The ground—hard packed snow—was white. The sky—overcast and heavy with clouds—was white. Even the air—full of falling snow—was white.

Goddamnit. Where am I?

Already, I could feel the cold seeping in. Neither my thin newbie clothes nor the smelly ratmen rags I’d draped about myself earlier offered any protection. Shivering, I hugged myself tight and searched again for a landmark. Anything.

Nothing caught my eye.

I opened my mindsight, but it was likewise empty. Worry nagged at me. Without a landmark, I had no way of navigating. And it was palpably obvious I couldn’t stay where I was.

How in hells do I—

I broke off.

A consciousness had tumbled into the range of my mindsight—less than three feet behind me. Impossible. How had it gotten so close? I spun about.

It was a ratman.

My eyes widened. He’d come through the portal.

Realizing the danger, I tugged free my weapons and rushed forward, slashing simultaneously at the creature from the left and right. My foe appeared as befuddled by the weather as I’d been and didn’t notice my attack until too late.

You have killed a ratman.

Another ratman emerged from the gateway—a brute this time. Lunging forward, I speared him through the throat.

You have killed ratman with a fatal blow.

More ratmen spilled through the portal. Swirling amongst them, I dealt death. I plunged ebonheart through the gut of one, slashed the throat of another, staked a third through the heart, and chopped off the head of a fourth.

You have killed 4 ratmen. Your two weapon fighting has increased to level 61.

You have reached level 114!

I stepped back, chest heaving and bloodied blades at the ready. If the savant himself emerged, I was going to be in trouble, but I was not yet ready to flee aimlessly into the sector’s snowy depths.

A squad of ratmen poured through in a single group.

I was on them before they realized the danger. Bobbing and weaving, I cut and slashed. The ratmen were disorientated and disorganized, and despite their greater numbers put up little resistance as I slew them indiscriminately.

You have killed 10 ratmen.

In a shockingly short span of time, I was done, and more ratmen lay dead at my feet. Covered in blood and gore, I fixed my gaze on where I knew the portal to be and waited.

A slow minute went by, but no more foes appeared.

My teeth chattered. In the heat of the skirmish, I’d forgotten the cold, but now I could feel its icy claws digging deep.

I need to get warm, or the ratmen will be the least of my problems.

I couldn’t afford to wait any longer. Relaxing from my tense pose, I sheathed my blades and surveyed the butchery I’d wreaked. Already the weather was whitewashing the bodies, but the ratmen’s rags were still salvageable.

My lips curling in disgust at the need, I began stripping the bodies of their clothing. On its own, each ‘garment’ was insufficient, but tied together… they would provide more protection against the cold than I had right now.

~~~

A little later, I rose to my feet draped in a cloak of rags. But by then, it felt as if the cold had already settled in my bones. I shivered uncontrollably, leading me to wonder if the time I’d spent clothing myself had been worth it.

More alarming was that I didn’t feel notably warmer in the cloak. Either the rags were doing little to shield me or… or my physical condition was worse than I thought.

Almost as if on cue, a Game message dropped in my mind.

You have failed a physical resistance check! Due to the harsh environmental conditions, you have been afflicted by frostbite. Your health is degenerating by 0.5% per second.

Well, that’s just dandy.

Another grimmer thought followed on its heels. If I don’t find shelter, I am going to die out here.

Pivoting in a slow circle, I wondered which way to head.

There was still nothing to distinguish one direction from another. Realizing I had no other choice, I picked a heading at random and began wading through the snow. At the same time, I cast chi heal. I couldn’t warm myself, but I could at least slow down the damage I suffered from the cold.

For as long as I had psi, anyway.

~~~

I trudged through the snow for what felt like days—but in reality, was probably less than an hour—searching for some relief from the expanse of ice.

I failed to find it.

The landscape remained unrelentingly white.

This has to be a tundra of sorts, I thought. It set me to wondering about the level’s design. The link between the elements and each dungeon sector was obvious.

In the first sector, I’d encountered fire creatures; in the second, denizens of the earth, but so far on this level, I’d encountered… nothing.

Where were all the water creatures? Had I chosen the right direction to explore? What if, instead of heading along any point of the compass, the right course had been… down?

Was there an ocean beneath the snow? Was that where I was supposed to go?

Gods, I hope not.

But surely, if this was a water-type level, the gnome’s notes would have said something. It was a key piece of information, after all.

But truthfully, it didn’t matter. Even if the right way was down, I couldn’t go that way. I wasn’t equipped for a prolonged dunk in water, much less water as icy as this sector’s was likely to be. Setting aside the unsettling possibility, I scanned the horizon—again.

It hadn’t changed.

The snowstorm had not let up either and my frostbite was steadily worsening. So far, I’d managed to keep it at bay, but a new concern had arisen.

I was starving.

I hadn’t eaten anything since entering the dungeon, and I found myself regretting not eating the ratmen’s food when I had a chance. Right now, it would’ve made for a veritable feast.

If wishes were horses, pigs would fly.

Sighing, I put my head down and kept moving.

~~~

Your meditation has increased to level 93. Your chi has increased to level 63.

The hours passed slowly. And with it, all my concerns—be they of mantises, ratmen, or even hunger—diminished to nothing. My world had shrunk to my feet, and only two imperatives drove me: placing one foot in front of the other, and casting chi heal.

I no longer looked up to scan the horizon. Hell, for all I knew, I was walking in circles. It didn’t matter. Nothing did, except the need to keep moving. I wasn’t sure why I bothered, but it wasn’t in me to give up.

Twenty steps. Heal. Another twenty steps. Heal again.

It became my mantra, and sticking to it kept me upright long past the point when I should have been.

Game messages scrolled endlessly through my mind, warning me of the damage I was sustaining. And I knew I had attributes points to spend too. But I couldn’t seem to muster the energy to bother with either.

Still, despite my single-minded focus on walking, I was not completely oblivious of my surroundings, and gradually the prickling at the back of my neck percolated through my mental fugue.

Danger.

Blinking half-frozen eyelids, I jerked my head upright and glanced over my shoulder.

I was not alone.

A sleek shape shadowed me. How long it had been there, I had no idea, but I suspected the creature had been trailing me for some time.

Analyze it.

Obeying the mental urge, I did.

The target is a level 118 snow leopard. Your insight has increased to level 93.

Despite me looking straight at it, the beast did not attack. It met my gaze fearlessly but hung back. It was waiting, I suspected. For the weather to do me in.

A careful hunter, then.

I shook myself into a semblance of alertness. Here, if not shelter, was sustenance. I must kill the beast, I determined, nearly salivating at the thought.

I measured the distance between me and the leopard. Maybe eighty yards separated us. I could charm the beast. But would I be able to cover the intervening distance in ten seconds? Not in my present state.

Make it come to you.

That sounded reasonable. I stopped moving and, almost of their own accord, my legs collapsed beneath me.

There. Surely now, I must make for irresistible prey. Lying flat on my back, I gripped ebonheart in one hand and waited.

A minute passed, but still the leopard did not approach. Snowflakes piled atop my body, though I barely felt their touch. Opening my mindsight, I searched for the beast.

It was nowhere to be seen.

My eyelids closed. I snapped them back open. I tried to tell myself it had only been a slow blink, but I knew better. Unconsciousness beckoned. I was falling asleep.

Perhaps this wasn’t such a smart plan, after all.

At any other time, the thought would have warranted a chuckle at least. Now though, even smiling felt like too much effort.

A shadow fell over me. The patient predator had arrived.

Displaying no little patience of my own, I did not look the beast’s way. Padding softly over the snow, the leopard lowered its head over my feet and snuffled.

I didn’t react.

Emboldened by my inaction, the beast stepped closer. Tightening my grip on ebonheart, I waited. Its breath coming out in frosty white clouds, the leopard’s head moved up my legs, over my stomach, past my chest, and towards my—

I struck.

It was the moment I’d been waiting for. The beast’s position left it exposed and almost perfectly framed for stabbing. Wrenching ebonheart upwards, I plunged the black blade through my target’s neck.

You have injured a snow leopard.

Sadly, the blow was far from flawless, and I failed to kill the beast, or even to impale it properly. Thankfully, the creature did not flee. Seeming determined as I to finish the kill, the leopard thrust its head downward, searching for my throat.

Expecting the move, or something like, I thrust my left arm into the beast’s open jaw, foiling its attack. Then, using every ounce of my remaining strength, I flung myself sideways, toppling the beast and shoving ebonheart deeper into the creature.

The black blade sliced through muscle and bone to emerge out the other end.

You have critically injured a snow leopard!

The beast meowed pitifully. Realizing its fight was nearly done, the creature tried to get its legs under it and flee.

I didn’t let it. Hanging on grimly, I worked ebonheart back and forth, widening the already gaping hole in its neck.

It was enough.

You have killed a snow leopard.

Your dodging has increased to level 78. Your shortswords has increased to level 86.