Summer Event - Prologue | Far From Home

      The harsh wind whipped at Ozi's back, sending her hair flying uncontrollably and making it harder to see than it already was. The air grew more and more frigid as they drew further from home. The mountains stood as a warning to anyone who dared to brave them, and here she was. She was going directly into them. They had arrived at the last trail marker to the Tartok Mountains. Ozi's nerves began to settle in and take over. She brought Syd to a stop and contemplated turning back... it would be far less dangerous to do so. She sighed and fidgeted with the reins for a moment, though that moment seemed to carry on forever in her mind. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Syd trying to bite at the rope attached to his collar.

  Syd still has a long way to go on his training, maybe he isn't ready for this. Sure, he's made leaps and bounds from who he was when he came to her. To say his progress was impressive would be just short of insulting. But still, their bond was fragile. There was no prediction as to what events would take place on that mountain, there was no guarantee for anyones safe return. Just a group of brave, borderline foolish, individuals who decided  'now is the time'. These thoughts raced through Ozi's mind as she desperately clung to any reason to not do this. The wind picked up again, once again breaking Ozi's thought process. She pulled her coat in close and pulled her scarf up over her face, trying to conserve as much body heat as possible.

  "You think we're ready for this, Buddy?" Ozi asked her mount, leaning down to pat his neck. Syd let out a slight gruff and shifted impatiently. Ozi chuckled at his obvious unrest and looked ahead. It was almost startling how dark the way forward was. The beaten path had trickled away, from here on out it was all instinct and following what little tracks there were. She cursed herself under her breath for getting such a late start and not going with the main wave of traffic to the mountains. Maybe if she had headed out sooner, the fresh snowfall wouldn't have covered most of the tracks. Taking one last glance at the trail marker, she signaled for Syd to head forward.

"No turning back now, I guess." She thought out loud, her scarf muffling her words as she hunched her back and drew her shoulders up to try and guard herself from the unforgiving wind.

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