Triss knelt where she was, taking a moment to honor her long lost friend. Climbing these very mountains was what ended her life, and it was Tsuki’s one and only dream to reach the highest point in the world. Triss, being the Fennec Fox she was, supported the grey-furred Lynx from the very beginning, and was devastated when she heard about their lack of a return. Now Triss knelt at the place Tsuki died, having vowed to finish the journey for them.
Finished with her mourning, Triss stood back up and reached for the nearest stable rock, grabbed it, and pulled herself upward. She was determined to finish this, and she now felt that she wasn’t alone on the mountain she was scaling. Nobody quite knew what had killed Tsuki, but everyone blamed it on a fall, but Triss knew the Lynx was too careful to have died to a mere slip of their grip. It was because of this that she brought a single weapon with her on the trek: a well-sharpened dagger.
Above her, three pairs of green eyes with blue, snakelike pupils were watching Triss as she climbed. The long, slender beast traversed the side of the mountain easily, its feet made for moving across the terrain as its black and green fur blew in the wind. It had enjoyed its last meal, the Lynx having been one of its first in at least a week, and seeing a potential second only made it more determined to eat again. It had picked a good hiding spot, and was able to watch the Fennec Fox come ever closer without being noticed in the slightest. She was only a small distance away now, but the beast held its ground as she kept climbing, waiting for the perfect moment.
Triss was unaware of her physical company, the spiritual companionship she felt being all she needed at the time. When it came time for the beast to lunge at the fox, Triss was completely vulnerable to its attack, and was quickly pinned on the side of the mountain as something held her down. She felt something drip on her back, and it immediately stung as the substance ate into her back. She felt herself being turned around, and was soon facing her opponent, looking directly into those glaring eyes.
The beast’s jaw hung open, its saliva now dripping all over her and quickly starting to eat into her just like the drop on her back. Any attempts to reach for her knife resulted in the beast further tightening its grip, and soon that exact beast was only inches away from chomping her face off. With one final jerk, Triss managed to get an arm free for long enough to grab her knife and slash at the beast’s throat. The strike, albeit missed, still frightened the creature enough to make it stumble off of her, and Triss took the moment to scramble further up the mountain, just enough to gain the high ground on her adversary. Turning, she faced her opponent to quickly realize one thing: there was almost no real chance of her to defeat the beast. The choice hung over her now, whether to fight to what would probably be her death, and thus fail to finish what her friend started, or to attempt to finish the journey while being chased, yet complete this last leg of her trip before she was eaten.
The choice was easy to make, and Triss turned around again to quickly find another place to climb further up, scaling the mountain with whatever speed she could gain. Behind her, she could hear the creature doing its best to catch up to her, and whether it would achieve said goal was left to the few remaining trials of the trek ahead.