“Impressive, but you’ll have to do more than that Hemming.” The King of the Mountain bellowed down to the challenger, who was making better progress than he expected. This was likely to be a closer contest than he had previously thought, something he enjoyed immensely, he relished the challenge.

The mountains irritability towards the two racers charging up its rocky body was growing progressively more noticeable to the King, he was after all very familiar with this terrain. Arguably, though he was the king, it was the queen who held the power here, the Mountain herself.

His quick and practiced steps up the mountainside flicked the snow from his body before it could settle, and he soon found himself closing in on the first of five way-stones marking the way up the cliff. One fifth of the way to the summit already, and the challenger seemed like he was also close, they were going to make exceptional time reaching the top.

As the snowstorm raged into a blizzard visibility dropped significantly, forcing the challengers to rely on both their endurance towards the cold and their other senses to navigate. Even the King was forced to slow by such conditions, striding forward with a determined trot rather than the flat climbing sprint he had adopted beforehand. The mountain had perhaps provided Kei’taro a chance to regain the lead, provided he could battle the elements effectively.