For the entire day we didn't speak so much as a word to each other. It wasn't because we hated each other, but the shock of regaining part of my memory had drained me of my will. All I wanted to do was lay down and give up. Mikoto probably felt terrible, and for some reason, I felt bad for her. I wanted to tell her I didn't hate her, but I wasn't in the mood to speak.

By the time we cleared the rocky portion of the hike, the terrain changed. Powder snow covered the ground like icing on a cake. The temperature dropped significantly and the cold began to set into my toes and hands as the sun began to set below the horizon. I was glad I had my sweatshirt else I'd freeze, but I grew more concerned for Mikoto who only wore shorts and a croped top. She didn't have shoes, either, so I could only imagine how her feet must have felt.

The higher we traveled, the harder it became to breathe. My muscles ached and my stomach churned. I knew these were the symptoms of Altitude Sickness. A took a short swig of water from my canteen to try to treat it and stared up at the sky. It was getting dark fast and the threat of trolls was imminent. I was beginning to doubt that there was a cabin or any form of shelter up in these peaks and we'd be stranded out here for the night, but my doubts were dashed away when the roof of a small cottage peeked over a snow capped fell ahead of us.

The first words were spoken in hours. "You weren't bullshitting about there being a cabin up here."

Mikoto turned to me and gave me a tender smile. "Doesn't look too bad, does it?" She put a hand on my shoulder, "let's check it out then."

We made it over the steep hill and peered down at the old wooden cabin. It had a traditional design; crafted from interlocking logs atop a cobblestone base. A triangular roof made of darker wooden shingles sat on top; glazed with fluffy snow. The windows were boarded up and a tall fence skirted the parameter of the plot.

"Anyone live here?"

"I doubt it. No sane person would live in a place like this. I reckon there's a couple more of these cabins around these mountains. We'll just have to make due with this for the night." She slid down the icy slope an stopped outside the oaken fence. She motioned me to follow. I met her by the fence and stared up queerly at it's height. The top was rimmed with pointed metal spikes, so climbing wouldn't be an option.

"I'll give you a boost." She insisted. She crouched low and held her hands out for me to step in. Even though I was fairly light, I feared that she'd falter and I'd get skewered on the top of the fence. When I stepped into her hands, she effortlessly lifted me high over her head so that I could easily peer over the top of the fence.

"Hop on over and I'll be over in a sec." Now at a safe height, I was sure I could clear the fence. I leaped from her hands and sailed far over the spikes. I land on my knees in the snow on the other side. Mikoto was next. I had no idea how she was going to get over without help, but as usual I underestimated her. She paced back to get a good running start, and made for the fence at full pelt. With one powerful push, she leaped clear over the fence, sticking the landing on her feet a few inches farther than me. What else could I say? The girl had hops.

I followed close to her as we came upon a pointless set of stairs leading to the front door. It was nailed shut and boarded up like the windows. Mikoto examined it and sighed.

"I don't like the look of this," she whispered, her expression conflicted, "there's a good chance we might have some company waiting inside. Stay alert. If there's a person or people in there don't expect them to welcome us with open arms. They may not make a second glance at you, but if they saw my tail it'd be a different story. I hate to say it but we're nothing more than monsters to them. It's sad but it's reality." I knew she was trying to be supportive, but it still stung. I wasn't a monster, I just got unlucky. Drew the low card in life. But Mikoto's words made sense and I knew they were true.

I did as she told and stood at the ready. they'd freak if they saw our fangs and her tail. I stood behind Mikoto as she ran her hand along the wooden boards that barricaded the door shut. She fixed her fingers between a wooden plank and the door. She inhaled deeply and flexed her bicep. With a sharp crack, the plank was torn away from the wall. Dragging splinters and part of the door frame with it. A stared at her in awe. I knew she was stronger than she looked, but not even a grown man could muster the strength to tear nailed planked right out of a house. She proceeded to do the same to the remaining planks, not even breaking a sweat.

Ever so slowly, she pushed the door inward. No light escaped from the crack as we peered in. It was totally dark on the inside. Mikoto turned to me and nodded, then took a cautious step inside. The moment she was all the way through, her face turned a sickly shade of green and she clenched her nose in disgust. I stepped through after her and almost lost my lunch. The worst stench imaginable assailed my nostrils. It smelled similar to the rotting undead, but so much worse that I choked on the rancid air. I knew what we'd see before laying eyes upon it, I regret doing so.

"Poor sap must've gave up and offed himself." She pulled the lip of her shirt over her nose.

A dead body lay in the far corner of the dark room. It sat sprawled out and slumped to one side. From the look of it, the man must have shot himself; blood and brain matter splattering the wall behind him. It was a horrible sight, even more sickening than the undead. I turned away and heaved until my stomach hurt.

We stepped outside for a minute to gather ourselves, then Mikoto turned to me.

"We're gonna have to get rid of the body for two reasons. The first being that it'll attract trolls, and the second is that it stinks. It really stinks." I couldn't bear the thought of laying eyes upon the gruesome seen. It was one thing to see gore in movies, but the real thing was so much worse. The stench was what sealed the deal; like a filthy barn filled with, sick, neglected animals.

"I'll clear out the body and burn it," she said with a nauseated frown, "set yourself up in there, it's not safe to be out after dark, but I'll manage. Hopefully the stench will subside once the bodies gone, but we'll clear the windows just to be safe."

I waited for her to drag the corpse away, then once gone, sat in the corner opposite where the body had been. There was a mattress on the floor a couple feet away, but it was encrusted with mildew and soaked with some unidentifiable liquid. I wasn't touching it. After about a minute or so, Mikoto returned brandishing a large silver revolver. Before doing anything, she went to each window and smashed the planks that boarded it up out using the butt of the gun. Once that was done, she sat down on the opposite side of the door than me and slid the gun over.

"You'll do good to keep that on you. It's not going to do much to the stronger monsters, but you never know." I stared vacantly at the weapon. It had been responsible for taking a mans life, but honestly, that was meaningless at this point. "It's got three rounds in it, I'd use them wisely if I were you." With that she leaned her back against  the wall and stared out the window.

 I brought my knees up to my chest and tried to sleep, but as the last light was squelched, the bitter cold began to set in, chilling to the bone. The sweatshirt did some good, but my fingers and face were bitten. It was impossible to sleep and I soon regretted the idea of clearing out the windows. Although it did help with the stench somewhat, the draft was just as bad.

Out of concern, I looked over at Mikoto to see how she was dealing with the cold. In the darkness I could see her shivering, rubbing her arms and using her tail in an attempt to warm herself. It must have been a lot worse for her, having no way of blocking the chill with the clothes she wore. 

Go warm her up, said the voice in my head I knew as my Anima, she's not going to be any good if she freezes to death.

"Warm her up? How am I going to do that?" I whispered.

You know.

I tried contacting the voice again, but it didn't respond, but I knew what I needed to do. I left the gun where I was and paced over to her. As I sat down beside her, I removed my sweatshirt and placed it over her shoulders. She gave me a fascinated look but said nothing. After thirty seconds, my bare chest began to freeze and I shivered violently, but Mikoto seemed to have warmed up and some so it was worth it. Even if she treated me badly earlier, leaving her to freeze would have been worse.

As the minutes went by, the cold began to sap my energy away. It felt as if my scars were reopening. It got to the point where I couldn't keep my head up. On an impulse, I rested my head on Mikoto's lap in a desperate attempt for warmth. I half expected to get tossed across the room, but what followed shocked me completely.

She placed her hand against my forward and caressed my hair, running her fingers through the tangled mop. My face instantly warmed up as heat traveled to the surface of my skin. I didn't say anything, laying there in silence, her legs like soft pillows against my weary head. She smelled of sweet vanilla, totally overpowering the rancid stench of the room.

"Oi, Look. . . I'm—"

"Don't worry about it," I interrupted, "I'm not mad at you at you or anything."

She gave me a tender smile and ran her finger along the deep vertical scar down my chest. "Do you remember how this happened?"

I nodded. It was still foggy, but I could recall someone coming into my home and in a rage, slashing me down the chest with a broken beer bottle. I remember the pain and the blood. I also remember crying and the sounds of ambulance. I told her this and her expression changed to a sympathetically one.

"Don't feel bad for me," I reassured, "I'm not the only one who has scars." I said, outlining the faint gash across her abdomen with my thumb. "Who'd you piss off?"

She shrugged. "Can't remember," she admitted, "I feel as though I have most of my memories, but things like this scar and my bestiary don't add up."

"And you think you'll find everything out when we find this Bloodblade of yours, am I right?" she smiled and nodded. "I pretty much have you figured out, Mikoto." When I said her first name aloud, I expected her to protest, but she didn't. Instead she ignored me, staring out the closest window, with a fiery look on her face. Even before she told me, I could sense it. I can't explain how, but it felt like a large, threatening presence was some feet away from the fence outside, coming closer and closer by the second. My heart rose into my throat, but I mimicked Mikoto and stayed perfectly frozen. Every second fear squeezed tighter on my lungs. I realized I wasn't breathing and exhaled. I had an idea of what we where sensing.

"Something aint right," she muttered, "I burned the body a ways back where we came. Trolls shouldn't be this close."

I wanted to scream and run at the mention of trolls, but I kept my cool. "M-maybe they smell the stench coming from here."

She shook her head. "No, trolls are only attracted to the scent of living humans. Unless you stink something fierce, you're not going to smell like corpse. Something's definitely up."

"Well, what does your Anima say?"

She laughed, "Says a troll is right outside, and coming this way."

I listened carefully, but I couldn't hear a thing save for the howling wind.

Run.

My feet scraped against the wood as my body tried to obey, but Mikoto held me fast. "Hold it!" she snapped, "If you go barreling through the woods like a lunatic now, you're as good as dead." Even as she was telling me this, my Anima spammed the same command: Run. I knew with all my heart that if we didn't run now, we where going to die. I had to convince her to leave before the monster set upon us.

"Mikoto, what if the troll smells me?" I offered. "You said yourself I was still more human than rifter, and I wore these clothes when I was still pure human, so what if it's coming to us because it thinks I'm a human." She paused and thought hard, then made her decision.

"We go. When I say run, you stick to the trees and run as fast as your legs can carry you."

She let me go and I turned to her, "What about you?"

"I'll distract it. Once it's trying to eat me, you should be long gone. The other side of the mountain is only fifteen or some miles off. You can make it."

"B-but what if you don't—"

"I'll make it, that much is certain. It's you I'm worried about." The though of her worrying about me brought tears to my eyes. I was scared—terrified— but I had to be strong If I were to survive in this world.

She put both hands on my shoulders and stared hard into my  eyes. She had a wild beauty about her. The way her emerald eyes blazed with determination filled me with confidence.

"If you set your mind on something and want it bad enough, your Anima will guide you as if it were me there, but you have to trust it. It'll never lead you astray." Her words sparked courage in me and I breathed in and gave a resolute nod.

After ten minutes, I could hear the faint sound of branches and snapping. Something heavy was definitely coming our way. I held the gun tight against my chest. Mikoto gave me a quick tutorial on how to use it. To fire I had to pull back the hammer of the gun and make sure there was a bullet in the chamber. I only had three shots, so most of the chambers were empty. I doubt a gun would do much to a monster anyway. My best bet was to keep moving.

Moments later, a dark head peaked over from the fell. Through the broken window I couldn't make out any features, just a lumpy shaded mass, rising slowly like a black sun. It didn't take a generous to figure out this was the head of the troll, far bigger than I imagined. In seconds, it's entire body now visible, it stood high atop the fell, surveying the ground below for food.

When I thought of a troll, I pictured a fat little monster that hides under bridges. What I now looked at was the total opposite. It was gigantic, much taller than the cabin we now held up in. Thick fur covered its arms and fat stomach. The tail of a mule swung around by its legs and in the moonlight I could make out the ugly features of its face. It had crooked, bucked teeth within a gaping mouth. A lumpy, swollen nose hung over it's mouth, sniffing frantically at the air to locate us. I could tell it didn't rely on it's eyes as they were no more than beady spheres sunken into its face.  It let out a chilling cry that shook the earth we stood on. It sounded like a subwoofer mixed with the angry roar of a grizzly bear.

Mikoto held the Bestiary out to me. I holstered the gun with my belt and took the book from her.

"Keep that on you at all times. Even if you don't remember everything in it, your Anima will keep it recorded and share it's knowledge with you." She smiled, "It's time. Be safe, Little Fangs. When you make it out I'll be waiting. Try not to take too long." With that, picked up her sack and kicked the cabin door free of its hinges to face the troll. The moment it caught sight of her it let out a roar and advanced, taking slow, heavy steps towards her. I knew not to flee until she gave me the all clear, so I waited in unease as the distance between her and the monster closed. It was directly on top of her now, coming down with grasping hands to seize her. It was all over, there was no way she was going to avoid it.

The monsters hands grasped only air. For a split second she was gone, then reappeared behind it's left leg, her own tail poised for a lethal strike. It struck the back of the trolls leg like a deadly viper, bringing the beast to it's knees with a mighty roar. Then she flicked a glance to me and before she even spoke I was flying across the snow-glazed earth at full pelt. I didn't look back and made a silent prayer that we'd meet again on the other side of this nightmarish mountain.

I cut through the tree branches like an arrow in the night, my feet virtually gliding along the ground. I lost track of how long I'd been running, but I could still hear the spooky cry of the troll. Whether it were the same troll or another one I had no clue, but regardless, I'd follow Mikoto's exact orders and  stick to the woods until I was out. I had no idea where I was going, so I attempted contacting my Anima. It didn't respond so I cursed and shouted for it to talk. Nothing. It started to seem hopeless until I remembered what Mikoto had said.

If you set your mind on something and want it bad enough, your Anima will guide you as if it were me there, but you have to trust it.

Mikoto's words repeated in my head. I had to set my mind on what I wanted, and trust that my Anima will answer. I took a deep breath, continuing to run, and exhaled.

"Guide me out of here." I commanded. There was silence, and for a moment I believed it had failed. But before I could ask for it's help again, it's voice appeared in my head in the form of rapid thoughts.

Three trolls ahead. Turn left.

At the mention of trolls ahead of me, fear gripped my heart. But I had to trust in my Anima that it'd guide me to safety. I made a sharp turn left and kept going until I hit a rock face.

"This is a dead end," I exclaimed, "where do I go now."

Stick to the wall and continue on.

I did as it said and continued running the direction I was originally, only this time sticking close to the rock face. Sure enough, I was out of the woods and looking straight ahead at a snowy patch of land. What stood in it's center took my breath away that it forced me to stop.

A grey tower, stacked impossibly high, stood peerless in in the night, unrivaled by any sky scraper I've ever seen. Against the moonlight it looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but with a careful eye, I could see that the tower was constructed of symmetrical stone bricks, much, much larger than the ones used in the plains.  Why this one was so big was a mystery to me, but Mikoto had said that these structures were built by Giants that went extinct long ago. Looking at the enormous ruin before me, the only thing I could picture building such a structure is a Giant.

I knew it would be smart to avoid it and continue on, but all at once, subwoofer like cries arose from all around me.

Four trolls are closing in, my Anima warned, the tower is our only option.

As if on cue, four giant trolls  through the trees behind me. For their great size and fat builds, they ran faster than I could, their mouths salivating as they caught my scent. I couldn't stop to think. I had to trust my Anima and head for the tower. I made a break for the safe haven, not daring to look back. My only mission was to make it to the tower and hopefully the trolls wouldn't be able to follow. From this distance I didn't think I'd make it before the trolls got a hold of me, but as I closed the distance between me and the tower, the trolls retreated. By the time I made it within the stone walls, the trolls had sunken back into brush, but instinct told me they were skulking about at the outskirts of the clear patch.

Once the adrenaline drained, fear took it's place. I had trapped myself as far as I could see. I knew the moment I left the tower the trolls would burst from the cover of the trees once again. Would they wait until I starve to death, then devour my corpse?

At ease. Take a look around, get your bearings and think.

I was surprised at my Anima's reassurance. I did as it suggested and surveyed the area inside the tower. It was smaller on the inside then on the outside—well, horizontally at least. The inside was  a simple circular chamber, the walls only about sixty or some feet from its center. I assumed the stones were a lot thicker then they seemed, which made sense since the goal was to climb them, not to live within. I peered up into the vast darkness above me. Rectangular stone beams jutted out from the walls above like diving boards. Higher than that, I couldn't see anything. I could only assume the tower went up straight to the sky. Maybe a Giant had actually been successful in reaching the clouds above.

"It's called Pico Del Cielo, heavens peak." Before I even looked up, I could tell who it was just by the accent. She dropped down from the lowest stone beam, landing inches away from me. "Deemed that by the men of old, it was. When the blood of warriors ran strong through their veins."

The vampire queen, Xias Redblaed, gave me a friendly smile. Unlike the rest of her kind, she looked harmless and could pass for a human easily. But I knew what she really was and how badly she wanted to drink my blood, but right now the only thing I could think about was how the hell she was here.

"We meet again, friend."