Blackness.

All encompassing blackness. It was all that Nasim could see. His body was heavy, as if made of stone. Any attempt at moving only left him with a flaring pain. It never made any visible sign, not that the human was aware of such things. All he knew was black, inky, suffocating darkness. Had he died? Was this the end of his life, betrayed by two of his own kind on the day that he was to become a man. He wasn't even a man yet, at least not in the eyes of his people, since he had been cut down before he was able to complete this challenge. That meant he would die a boy, not even being able to come of age before he was slain. 

It wasn't fair. There was no way this could be his life, an ache forming in his chest, only adding to the pain rolling through his body. He wanted to scream, to fight, to rage, but he couldn't move, locked within his own body as a creature of myth carried him to saftey at the risk to its own healthy. Nasim was unaware of this, convinced he'd been taken before his time, a sob bubbling up but never escaping. He could feel the burn of tears that welled in his eyes, slipping down his icy cheeks. 

He didn't want to die.

Not like this.

It wasn't fair!

----

Further down the mountain, the men gasped for air, hidden away in a small cave as the snow roared over them. They'd miscalculated the blast, how much slow it would displace. Shivering as nothing by cold wrapped around them, the two started a fire, choosing to rest until the roar of the mountain ebbed. They could dig their way out come morning, but for now they would stay, in the warmth of a fire and rejuvenate. Their plan was a success. They just had to get back down to the main land, let the parents mourn the lost of their eldest and then buy them out without a challenger.