There was a noise, she heard it coming from on the other side of the rocks.

There was still no end in sight to the wall she was following so she looked along the face to see if she could somehow climb it. The rocks, as rough as they were, their surface was smooth with very little cracks and even fewer indentations. Celeste ran her fingers along the surface in hopes to find something to grab on to without any luck. There was however a small crevice just out of arms reach that if she could reach, she could pull herself up. She unsheathed her ax and used it for extra reach. The blade caught on the precipice above her and got stuck. Pulling hard with both hands the ax remained wedged, she felt along the surface with her other hand for something to grip, finding a small, rounded bulge that she was able to hold onto as she pulled herself up as she gripped tightly onto the hilt. s her feet left the ground, shocked also in the strength of her arm!s ability to support her weight, she was worried her feet would find not traction on the surface of the rock but found that the padded leather of her boots were more than happy to keep them where they were put. "ith a #uiet grunt she heaved herself up and thrust her hand into the pocket her ax was and held on as she took it with her other hand and swung it above her for another hold. She missed and the ax gra$ed along the surface towards her until she was able to regain control of it. fter taking another breath, she swung again and this time the weapon held above her. s she pulled herself up again, the climb became easier as the rocks began to slope inwards, she wasn!t on a direct incline anymore. %nce she pulled herself up to her weapon, she sheathed it and finished climbing the rest of the way by hugging her body to the rock face, using the tips of her toes to keep her in place and pushing herself forward as she spread her hands out above her. t the top, before fully coming over the rise, Celeste stopped and listened for the noise she heard earlier when she was on the ground. This time the sound she heard below was louder and animalistic. &ooking ahead, she had only another foot or two, and she!d be able to see what was down there. minute later Celeste was hugging the top of the rock incline, her face was pressed low against it as she rolled herself over into the crease between the next one and looked up. She saw what looked like wolves fighting over one hell of a bloody mess that stained the snow with crimson guts and former glory. The beasts were snapping at the ragged and bloody carcass, tearing strips of meat as they savagely devoured the beast that fell to them. Snarls arose whenever one of the wolves got too close to the other. They!d snap at each other before going back to feasting on the pri$e before them. Their long snouts revealed multiple rows of long and jagged teeth that shred the carcass as they pulled at it, their faces and paws stained in blood. Their fur was a grayish white, thick and coarse, with tails that produced a black tuft at the end. Their ears stood tall, very tall from their heads, and they shot straight back, flat when they bared their teeth in a challenge to the other. s she watched, Celeste tried to make out what it was they were fighting over, but the body was torn apart so badly and covered in fresh flesh and blood, she couldn!t be sure of what it was. 't was, however, something that was bigger than the wolves themselves, so it must have been an animal too slow to escape. Too slow to protect itself against the smaller and more agile predators. Celeste shifted her body to prevent a kink from forming in her shoulder and her belly growled loudly. The sound was muffled by the rock she pressed herself against, gratefully, or she most likely would have interrupted her supping friends below. The entire time she was watching them, she was si$ing them up, determining whether or not engaging them would yield better results than the dead animal they fed upon.

She was convinced almost too confidently that she could handle the two of them. s long as there were no more, she!d be able to overpower the two beasts. (efore thinking it through any longer Celeste rose to her feet and pushed herself forward, launching off the rocks and landing in the snow below. She brought her body up slowly from her crouching position as she drew her ax from her sheath and into her hands. She looked up to see that the wolves had not noticed her yet. There was a good twenty or so feet between her and them, and they were too focused on their dead prey. Slowly, Celeste took one step forward, followed by another over the first. She continued to inch closer to the beasts, her hands s#uee$ing around the shaft of the weapon in anticipation, until she stood close enough that she could smell the carcass they tore into viciously. Celeste halted her advance the moment she saw the ears on one of the wolves go up and it raised its head. She could hear it growling a low, deep belly growl as it turned itself towards her. 'ts teeth were bared in a snarl, the large canine fangs gleamed red as blood dripped from them. The second wolf stopped and brought its attention towards her aswell. The two wolves began to circle around the dead thing and towards her, slowly and growling at the new prey that had intruded upon their meal time. They stalked around her, circling her as they snapped at her in challenge before stopping and crouching low. Celeste could see their long claws protruding and carving scars into the snow beneath them. They were in attack mode. They snarled and Celeste snarled back.

t that moment she had snarled back, the wolves had lunged at her and she was caught completely off guard by her own reaction. 'nstinctively she knew they were about to attack, she could feel it, she anticipated it without even knowing it. She had felt fearless and defiant. s if she were returning their challenge with one of her own. t the moment she felt as if she knew what she was doing. "hat she didn!t reali$e was that she didnt) not yet. nd all that was about to change when she felt the teeth of the first wolf that jumped at her sink its teeth deep into her forearm, snapping her back to reality and out of her da$e. She screamed and the ax dropped from her hands, droplets of blood fell to the snow as she fell heavily into the snow under the weight of the beast as it landed on her. 'ts jaws snapped viciously at her throat, biting at the air as she crossed her arms to hold it back, feeling the heat of its breath on her face, the steam lifting into the air and the stench of dead animal filling her nose. She felt a burning, needling pain in her shoulder as the second wolf buried its teeth in and cracked the shoulder bone. Celeste shrieked in pain again, her head flew back as a surge of adrenaline flushed through her. *er body grow hot as she pushed with all her strength to heave the massive beast off of her and into the snow. The wolf rolled itself in the snow, disoriented and clawing at the deep powder to get back to its feet. Celeste stumbled to her feet in time to see the other wolf launch itself at her. "ith the wave of adrenaline that was running through her, she threw her body full force into the oncoming wolf and knocked it to the ground with her. Scrambling to her feet she wiped her chin, bringing back her hand, she saw it was covered in blood. She had bit her lip and she could taste it in her mouth. She could taste the blood, and the

taste caused something inside her to snap and she burned like an inferno. Celeste spat the blood from her mouth, drenching the snow with it, the snow itself had suddenly taken on a reddish tinge, and looking up she noticed everything else had. The beast she body+slammed was about to make another attack at her and she did something she wouldn!t have believed or dared to, she lunged at it first. s soon as the beast!s legs left the ground she had its snout in her hands. &etting loose a growl so deep, she felt it build from inside, she ripped the things jaw apart. 't was dead before it hit the ground. 't fell heavy to the ground with a thud, Celeste snapped her neck in the direction of the other which was snarling at her, challenging her. She looked around for her weapon and found it laying in the snow a few feet away, and she scrambled to pick it up. The wolf had lunged as the weapon was back in her hands and she spun around and swung the axe down hard upon the beast. The tail end landed on one side of her and the front end landed on the other side, eyes open and gaping at her in a deathly stare as blood splattered the snow around her.