Mount Apikuni one: entrance

you seek: death / you believe: in proving yourself valuable

under cover of dark and snow the body moves, searching, pacing, freezing, yes. instinct dull and throbbing warns: find cover or this storm will take you. the mind replies: and so what?

yet treacherous paws seek shelter in the copse of trees they encounter. yet the body does not want to die despite the mind's clamoring for some release. at what point does hypothermia set in, worms dully wonders, and will it ease his quickened thoughts as it slows his surly pulse?

keep moving, his joints urge, find warmth, his bones order, and he thinks, if i die at least i should want to be sustenance for someone. that his frozen corpse could feed some creature, wretched like he is not, is enough. but the bones won't give up and so the wolfdog keeps his pace unrelenting and waits to see which will give out first, the brain or the body.