A Sub-Zero Conquest

A simple glance, a simple smirk and two feet joined the earth as Fabio’s visage lit up with glee as the desert of ice appeared before his very eyes. A humble lodge of mahogany and a view of the lifetime was all he needed as a wake-up call, whilst his life of adventure awaited him in the form of the perilous ski slopes beneath his cabin. At the age of 24 he lived a perfect life: his own house, his own lifestyle, and a job that brought jubilation to all around. As the owner of the ski slopes in the surrounding land, he allowed anyone and everyone to ski down them, with a small entry fee of course. Today was a day however, where his bittersweet lifestyle would begin to dissipate.

The wind wailed upon his eardrums as he flew down the mountain with joyous images flashing through his mind; only to intertwine with a small pebble at entirely the wrong angle as he suddenly plotzed to the frigid floor, the final image of sleet slashed into his temple. He awoke what he could only assume were hours later in a cave at temperatures too cold for his feeble mind to comprehend. He took a simple glance around at his surroundings only to see icy stalactites and stalagmites bladed to the tips. Adrenaline pillaged his veins as he suddenly arose to the familiar sound of slashes upon the snow. Skiers soared northbound of his current position. The realisation of his current circumstances flowed through him, there must be a huge ravine system below the slopes, and no one had any knowledge of his whereabouts. 

As time flew by like an albatross in the atmosphere Fabio recalled to darker times of his dejected youth. A scrawny lad slouched upon a wall, 15 years behind his back, 11 years of joy and 4 years of agony. At the age of 11 upon the eve of his 12^th birthday a car horn sounded outside his window, accompanied with the grinding of metal and the snapping of bones. He leapt up, fright fluctuating his spine and ran out the front door to see the wreck of a car and a mangled corpse. That was the day his brother left him forever. The sound of silence shunned his temple as his parents held him tight, but nothing could mend his mentality from that point onwards.

A blast from the past was not what Fabio needed right now; right now he needed a little faith, a little perseverance. And thus was granted to him. His bones cracked as he sauntered northbound towards the continuation of the cave. Shivers struck his cranium as foot after foot he carried himself forwards the light at the end of the tunnel; however the light was misleading as an opening appeared beneath him dragging him down into the fathomless cavity. Frostbite took his limbs as all thoughts of salvation came to an abrupt end. His time had come and he was ready to move towards the final light.

Suddenly a new light appeared not heavenwards but forwards as the chasm of hullabaloo presented an escapade from Fabio’s’ tenebrosity of life. Limb after limb, grunt after grunt he writhed towards the only hope he had left in his shattered fragment of a body. Fortunately the light did not hoodwink Fabio this time as the autumnal glaze of sunset materialised before him. Salvation was at hand. He stepped forth towards the luminescence of daylight only to stumble and tremor at the mere calefaction of the sun. Nevertheless perseverance continued to pillage his mind as Fabio let out a pained grunt, now desperate to return to his humble abode atop the summit. His dream of arrival back to his lodge was now put into action as Fabio’s frozen limbs began to feel the harsh effects of frost burn. 

Upon reentry to the surface realm, Fabio began to succumb to his wounds and winced in pain at the sparks of snow freezing his limbs. Woefully, a sudden blizzard of agony struck down upon Fabio, depriving him of all last remaining ounces of willingness and integrity. The snow fell like nails upon his flesh and mentality as he lumbered in a southeasterly direction towards an imperceptible aura of light emitting from a petit wooden hut of the spruce variety. As his ever-decaying body arrived at the hut, the ambrosial scent of salvation pillaged his nostrils. Unfortunately, upon arrival the sudden realisation of the emptiness of the hut struck Fabio where it hurts; he sauntered inside to realize how unlucky his life could be if fate depicted it so. A lonesome tear strolled down his cheek as the wind wailed outside, whilst the blizzard continued its reign of pandemonium. Inside the wooden remains lay a forsaken fireplace, no sparks as far as the eye can see. Fabio’s hands still shivered and quivered at the thought of moving them, so the idea of starting a fire remained pointless. Nevertheless, he was not ready to leave the mortal realm just yet, finding a lighter upon a neighboring table and barely igniting the chimney. Salvation still remained at hand…

The conservation of Fabio’s current remaining shreds of mentality lay in the sparks of a ramshackle fireplace. Whilst the odds were not in Fabio’s favor, perseverance still shone throughout his veins. The very moment his limbs halted in the quivering and shivering, he leapt up and out of the building, remembering its aid decades later. Before his mahogany lodge laid a lonesome lake of verglas proving to be his final gauntlet before the preservation of his lifeline. Many thoughts echoed amongst the everlasting emptiness of his mind as the ambit of his abilities had been reached via a mere lake. Were all of the struggles of his life now meaningless? Were all thoughts of salvation erupting to an abrupt and depressing end? These disheartening questions and thoughts flowed through Fabio’s mind as one foot after the other he stepped forth upon an ocean of fear and a lake of boreal, unaware of the outcome that would shun his life for the rest of eternity…