The Steppe -- Karna

## Transcript

```
PANDOR.

```

Exploration commenced.

```
Karna

```

Karna clutched her gear pendant in her hands. "Sumire...You came back." she sadly uttered as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Now was the time. She wanted to finally wear her precious armour again, hold that sword again. But she couldn't risk it being this close to the others. She had to find a location that was far away. She leaped out of her window, and sung her sacred chant, immediately activating the relic. After finally transforming into that form once again, she rode down to safety on a wave of flame. When she reached the ground, she noticed some of the grass was burned. "Damn. I shouldn't keep posting fire emojis. They might guess it was me." She thought to herself. She looked around, trying to find a perfect place to go. Then she noticed it. Mountains in the distance. Pretty far, but also pretty isolated, and she doubted anyone would follow her there. "Oh hell yeah!" She went up into the air again after making some flame steps, then rode towards the mountain on another flame wave, making sure she was high enough to not burn any grass this time.

```
PANDOR.

```

Only a tiny bit of grass is singed on this ascent but otherwise, you soar into the air, cruising towards the mountain. The skies are clear, as they always are in Epoche, and tinged with the shade of sunset. There is no trouble to be found just overhead of the city.

```
Karna

```

As she blazed across the sky, getting close to the mountain ahead, she felt something. A sharp sting. Karna realised. She didn't have her linker. The flying fire wave was taking up a lot of her power. Her body was starting to take in a bit of pressure and pain. She had to stop the wave, or she'd probably fall to her death soon. Karna began to ascend, with the armour pieces of her gear starting to spark a bit. The wave disappeared before she intended, causing her to fall face first into snow. "Cold....Cold... COLD!!" She quickly got up and almost slipped again. She activated a small flame in her left hand to try and warm herself up. She was most likely somewhere in the middle of the mountain range, she thought, looking around and noticing she was seemingly surrounded by mountains. Although she couldn't quite see the peaks from where she was. "I may as well look around this place, while I can." The naive assassin began to slowly trudge through the snowy terrain, not knowing what to expect. Her gear was still sparking occasionally, but she didn't bother to deactivate it, assuming she would be okay in the long run.

```
PANDOR.

```

The cold mountain air is gusty, freezing you to your bones despite the flame you are able to produce. Still, you manage to trudge through the snow, but there's no sign of safe cover anywhere, no shelter from the bitter cold. Luckily there aren't any nasty things roaming about where you are, but it's likely in your best interest to reach somewhere safe, and quickly, to get your bearings.

```
Karna

```

Karna shivered. She started to realize she was in a bad situation, especially with her gear acting up. How would she get back? She couldn't pull off another flame wave without possibly dying. As she trudged through the snow, she looked around to try and find somewhere to sit and think. She thought she saw some kind of cave in the distance, but she needed to get closer to be sure. As she was about to run, her gear gave out and deactivated, along with the flame in her hand. She coughed up a bit of blood from the effects of the gear. "Shit..." She couldn't just die here. She wouldn't accept that. What would Kirika think? She was starting to get frustrated and desperate. Karna was determined to not die, and yet, she wasn't sure how she would live either. She let out a loud, determined scream and dashed towards the maybe-cave. Perhaps she'd be warmer in there. Worth the risk perhaps.

```
PANDOR.

```

Along the way to the cave, hard patches of packed snow have formed on the ground, solid enough that it's easier to run on top of. However, you still slip and fall in your desperation to get to safety. As if the world is taunting you, your body stops just short of the cave.

```
Karna

```

"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIII" Karna screamed as she slipped and fell. Her whole body had goosebumps from the cold. She said every swear word under the sun as she got up and brushed herself off. She pointed at the cave. "Okay you! You're not stopping me!" Even though she felt really weak at this point, she ran into the cave...straight into a seemingly never ending hole in the ground. "HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" Karna never stopped screaming this until she eventually died from the fall.

```
PANDOR.

```

Exploration ended due to death.