Miranda
The ice and snow swirled about in a violent torment about Isaac as his paws numbed in his gloves. The icy air smashed into his face and sliced through every pore in his clothes. He shivered at times, but the shivering that was once simply a nuisance became regularity.
He stepped up again, and he set his cold feet down back into the deep snow. His lungs felt vaporized by every breath of cold air he drew in. The picks in his hands fell to his side. He would not need them, even if he could hold on to them.
The summit was growing closer. The Apex of the great mountain that had once loomed overhead days before had lost it's grandeur, and was now only the great bulge of the horizon as it stood like a monument against a grew and white sky. It had once taunted him with it's sheer size and scope, but that jeering was fading away.
Surely if the mountain had feelings, it felt worried now.
Isaac's breath into his mask was perhaps the only warm feeling he had on him. The stinging of the snow and ice and cold cold air was beating out every inch of strength he could muster.
He shut his eyes for a moment to rest, but knew that he had to keep moving. The sound of the gusts crowded his thoughts. It was hard to concentrate on anything other than the great summit of the mountain. It had never been reached before, but there came a time when everything had to be conquered.
His feet trudged on, following a beat that he could not hear, perfectly in step with the sounds of his heart as his muscles ached and his eyes great teary from the ice and the wind. This was the one thing that he could not lose to. This was the one thing that, no matter what, he must not fail to accomplish.
Miranda would want this. This is what she wanted him to do, above all else.
She was his warmth, she was his strength. Nothing could stop him because no matter what gales and winds and impediments nature could cast down on him, in the end, nature did not have Miranda. The winds could blow, the thunder could boom, the whole Earth itself could twist and rumble.
But that would not be enough.
Isaac's balled up tail began to lose feeling long ago, and by now it began to hurt him. The tips of his fingers were growing cld. He could even see the frost gather on his muzzle. He trudged on, he trudged upwards, he did not stop.
It was not but moments later his strength gave way and though he tried to stay up he simply could not. He fell forward into the snow, into the great white blanket that had been tormenting him for days now.
All was still. All was quiet. Nothing seemed to move about him. The loud winds had suddenly ceased, and though he was sure they were still blowing around him, he would never have given them a second thought.
He rested there, tired and worn and cold. All was calm.
"Isaac?"
Voices in the wind were the only sounds he could hear.
"Isaac?"
"Yes, Miranda..."
"Are you alright?"
He felt a tear freeze on his cheek. He came to the realization that he was not alright at all.
"No...I don't think so..."
"Can you make it?"
"I have to, Miranda. I have to."
"Then, come on. Get up. I'll help you."
Isaac felt her hand on him and he pulled himself up with her help. She patted him on the back and he kept walking. He had to make it now. Miranda was with him. He had to keep going. For her.
He made a good distance forwards until he finally fell again. Again came the calm, and again came the peace.
"Isaac?"
"I'm tired, Miranda. I don't think I can do it..."
"No, Isaac. Don't say that. You can make it. "
"But it's so far," he said.
"No, it isn't. You can make it."
He craned his neck and looked up at the top, and was surprised by how much closer it had become since he last gazed up at it.
"C'mon, Isaac. Time to get moving."
Her hand was warm on his, and he took it and got back up. His knees ached and his mind was growing fuzzy, but he had Miranda, and that was enough.
The snow battered him, the wind blew against him. And he trudged up the mountain, the cold and the ice matched against his iron will. His will, and Miranda.
Upwards he stepped, the snow growing more solid, the ground far beneath him, far beneath the ice, far beneath the snow. His feet lost feeling, his toes began to hurt him, his tail was in anguish from the cruel frost.
But that did not matter to him now. He had to get to the top. He said that he would, he promised that he would. He knew that he could, and he would, because he had Miranda.
Every time he faltered, Miranda was there to help him up, every time his spirits were lost, she would revitalize him. Every movement he made he made for his trek up to the summit. The closer it grew, the greater his strength waned and fell. His knees trembled, his eyes burned from the frost, and his nose began to freeze on his muzzle.
"You're almost there, Isaac."
"Yes, I am..."
The steps began steeper, the rocks jutted from the ice and snow, and his frozen hands pained themselves to grab the rocks as he pulled himself upwards to the top. Many times he fell, but every time he knew that Miranda was there to help him back up.
"You can do this, Isaac. You can do this."
And he did.
By now his energy was almost completely gone, his whole body was frozen or in pain, and every inch of muscle that he could muster was focused on climbing to the top, making the last push to the finish. He could make it, because he had Miranda.
He pulled himself up the rock, that last cruel rock, the blood from his scratched muzzle staining the snow as it froze red beneath him. He clambered on his knees to the top. He could practically touch it now.
With his hand, he reached out for it.
There.
He smiled for the first time in days and with the last amount of energy he had he turned himself on his back. The cold was unbearable, but he was losing his feeling. Soon the pain began to cease, and his breath grew shorter. The winds were quiet again and the violent sky was still.
"I made it, Miranda. I made it."
"Yes, you finally did, Isaac."
"I hope that was enough, Miranda."
"Shhh, Isaac. Rest. You need to rest."
"I do...I'm so tired. So weak..."
He felt her warm hand on his cheek and closed his eyes. There was a sudden feeling of peace.
"It's really beautiful over there..."
"Yes, Isaac."
He promised himself when she died that he would get to the top, and through everything that the Earth had done to stop him, Isaac made it.
He made it to the top.
Because of Miranda.
This story I wrote for the Dragons lair contest thingy. It looked interesting, so I decided I would actually do some writing, and listened to the song they gave me as I wrote it, and this was the first thing that came to my mind.
In all honesty, some of you may think it's a bit dark, but there could not have been a better ending.