[@Kalleth] [@Zelosse]

[center][h1][color=a187be]ShiZhen Fang[/color][/h1]
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ShiZhen had never been very athletic. Despite her ability to meld her understanding of physical chemistry and her elemental abilities, that weakness was showing through now. It was a miracle she had made it as far as she did, given her general lack of stamina. She had lived through each upward step she had taken to get this far, hyper-focusing on her every action. There was no going on 'autopilot' for the complex maneuver she was doing. A mix of numbing cold and naive obliviousness had allowed her to somewhat ignore what was happening to her body. The task alone had consumed her, and despite her shivering, and the dull cold that penetrated her, she felt no emotion: no annoyance, no anger, no sadness. She could have thought how difficult, unfair, or inhumane this test was, but the thought hadn't crossed her mind. Yet seeing herself near the top broke her out of her delirium. Suddenly a wave of negative emotions hit her. Panic, thoughts of failure, hope turning to despair. Could she make it? They say that in a journey of a thousand steps, the last step was the hardest. Did ShiZhen have the resolve to finish?

Haste makes waste. Such is the fate of those who lack confidence, that in their desire to prove themselves, they lose caution. ShiZhen had lifted her foot to refreeze it again against the wall of ice. She did not give it enough time to freeze completely. Putting her weight on it to lift herself up, the ice thin ice she had created shattered, causing her to lurch downwards. This caused several things to happen. The sudden drop caused her to lose her concentration on the layer of water she kept around her body to keep herself insulated from the cold, at least as much as was possible. With the water falling from her, leaving many tiny droplets evaporating from the wind, her temperature dropped tremendously. Since her hands were safely frozen to the ice wall, she was saved from falling, but the sudden movement wreaked havoc on her hands. Already cold, wet, and blistered, the sudden slip caused her hands to scrape against the insides of their tiny ice prisons, breaking raw skin in multiple places. ShiZhen screamed, but her voice was carried away by the cold winds. She looked in horror as the frozen handholds slowly filled with her warm blood and dripped down the mountainside.

ShiZhen was tired, so tired. Heat left through her wind-chilled skin and through the blood that escaped her fingers and palms. Her mind was exhausted from the heightened sense of awareness that she had had to maintain during this long, arduous climb as well as from the concentration required to freeze and refreeze water constantly. Dangling from her hands, laying against the side of the mountain, ShiZhen wanted nothing more than to sleep. Just a quick nap, to recover her stamina. Her hands didn't even hurt anymore, after all. When she woke, she would have the presence of mind to finish the climb. She just needed to close her eyes for..but...a...moment...