NV Ch: 1 [Piercing Cold]

[Location: Classified] [Time: 2:00 PM]

The avalanche comes faster than God on a skateboard. One minute the slopes are pristine, and the next, they're moving. It would be funny if it weren't so deadly, but there isn't time to laugh anyway. In seconds the white powder is around me, kissing coldly.

In another moment, the weight of the snow is on my back, and my forward momentum is no longer under my control. I tumble over and over, crushed from all sides. It hurts like freaking hell. It's as if someone is tossing a pan filled with fried vegetables with a single slab of meat.

Yup, I am that meat. I can't scream even if I try to. There is just no time. Moreover, my mouth and nose are filled with snow.

Time passes both in slow motion and in a flash, then I am still. The light is gone. Darkness looms over my vision. I am not sure if my eyes are open or closed. The snow could be any color, and I wouldn't know the difference.

I try to move, but my body isn't moving. The avalanche... Humans didn't evolve for such things. I am sure my bones are broken. I'm cold, colder than I've ever been. I can barely feel anything other than cold. Either the snow is sucking my heat in like a drug, or I'm bleeding out. Perhaps underneath me, the snow looks like a Halloween seven-eleven slushie.

Had it been a cartoon, I would roll comically to a stop in a giant snowball before shaking it off and springing to my feet, but this is no animation for children.

I remember a movie where the demon freak with a head full of pins said, "Welcome to the worst nightmare of all... Reality." I guess this is it. My worst nightmare... My reality is that I can never escape because I am slowly dying. Haha! Look at me, thinking of a movie before dying.

Luckily, I am still able to think... It might take a bit for the cold to grasp my brain. My body fell asleep a few minutes ago. Breathing is hard... I don't even know if I am breathing...

Five minutes ago, I was in the sunshine, not a care in the world. Now... I'm buried deep, and there is no way out of this snow cage. Perhaps this is the time to relax and make my peace with the almighty, but right now, my anger is all that's keeping me alive.

Why angry when you are going to die soon, you say? Well. Let me enlighten you all with my cliche story before I die.

I was raised in a mercenary camp and trained by the best killers and degenerates in this fucking world. By the time I was 15, I was already in the midst of a killing zone. I killed on their command. I fucked on their command. I did anything they said until I got caught by the government agents on my 30th mission.

You see, those fucking bastards taught me the way of survival. So the first thing that came to my mind when I was caught was to survive at any cost. So I spilled everything about my leaders and their bases without a second thought. The government took action, And within a mere week, they annihilated all the bases.

Now, it's my time to face the judgment. But as you know, those agents don't like to waste their chess pieces and lose a talented killer. The agents offered me a contracted job for 20 years.

For 20 years, I became their dog. In return, I will get money, and freedom and don't have to worry about a thing in life. So I took their offer. I became their spy. With my talent and experience, I needed very little training. Then, I was on the field once again... Doing dirty work of another organization.

I learned something from my new trainers, who groomed me to become a spy.

Being a spy is being alone and learning how to make fear of nothing at all. When fear is gone, the focus remains, and you become more than others can become. It is a sacrifice none of those movies ever capture. Glamour is fake. It's all forms of pain. In reality, to become a thing others are not, you are doing things others aren't. Spies are only normal to other spies.

There's a reason Bond never bonded to anyone, why the character is such a misogynist - being a spy damages you. Love and relationships take real trust, what does the spy become? Is there any reverse gear on that road to full autonomy and a life without normal human dependencies?

In this line of work, there isn't a way out. There is only an entrance but no exit. But death can set you free... You can fake your death, get a new identity, and live the rest of your life in fear of death.

Yet, I hoped those bastards to keep their promise of freedom and money after the fulfillment of the contract. Hahaha! Those fuckers let me go without any resistance. I knew something was wrong. I saw it coming, but I didn't want to believe it. To think I got this rusty... It must be my age.

And here I was, minding my own business and fulfilling my dream of climbing a mountain... Who would have thought those fuckers would crash a fighter jet on the mountain just to get rid of me. Hahaha! I wonder if this is called karma. You reap what you sow. I killed countless people, took part in crimes, and betrayed others just to survive... It looks like my karma has caught up to me.

It's funny. I can recall everything... See everything I did in my life even though it's dark... I guess this is what they call life flashing before eyes on the verge of death... Haaa! Enough talk... I am tired... Sleepy... Cold... Huh? I see... Can't feel... I... I am... sorr...y... Lin... I...

...

...

A warm breeze grazes my face. A feeling I craved before...

Huh?! I... I am alive! How? I... I died... It was so cold... Hairs on my body straightened as I shivered... It's warm and sunny, and yet I am feeling cold. A feeling that I detest. That horrible dark ice cage... That piercing cold. I can still feel it...

Right now... I have to get out of here before those agents find me. As long as I am alive, I can take my revenge. I don't know what happened, but I have to hide.

Where the hell am I? I look around. It's an unknown place.

A far-stretched green forest lies before my eyes. But I can't hear any chirpings of birds or the buzzing of bugs. My senses are telling me this is a dangerous place. I looked around.

There is no sign of life. Everything is still and quiet.

I have to get out of here and gather more information. I want to know what happened to me. I want to know, how the heck am I still alive?

"Water Style: Water Dragon."

Huh? Woman's voice. I swiftly hide behind a tree. That voice came from the north. I carefully made my way toward the north while hiding behind trees and rocks.

[Booom!] A pillar of water rose in the sky, catching me by surprise.

Freaking hell?! A fucking dragon!

This isn't earth. Where the fuck am I?

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