With supernatural speed I appeared behind the frost wraith.

  YAAaaaa!

  She screamed as I thrust my magically enhanced sword through where her heart would be. The blade does it's job, as had the enhancing skill. The wraith vanished, dissolving into glittering snowflakes that swirled away in the wind.

  I sheathed my sword, continued trekking.

  It had been a wonderful couple months with Audovald, Isabelle and Layla. Adventuring naturally slowed during the winter months, thankfully I hadn't needed to make up an excuse to leave for a while.

  Audovald and Isabelle went to visit their parents. Layla, her tribe. Both the siblings and Layla offered me to come with them, they knew I was an orphan. I politely declined, saying I was going to visit a friend.

  Was Richy the master forger a friend? He had asked me to stop by so he could check how his "most complex work to date" was holding up.

  We'd made the occasional small talk, worked together, and he knew details of my assignments. He'd also been supportive of me leaving, though I did still make him swear a blood oath to keep my new life secret. He'd drop dead if he broke it.

  The real reason I needed time alone was to grind. At lower levels the progression was something fierce. I needed more skill points to improve my healer's skill tree in line with the level I was pretending to be.

  This icy mountain offered plenty of grinding, the odd frost wraiths, many snow golems, and a vicious pack of wolves that genuinely posed a challenge due to their speed and numbers. I opted to kill only as many were needed to get them to run away, while the pelts and certain other parts were worth good money, plus decent XP, I couldn't help but admire wolves.

  I'd also massacred a large group of gonks, nasty gnome-like creatures that steal livestock, pets and children. If found sleeping on their turf without making an offering, burning certain herbs they dislike, or at very least having a party member awake to keep watch, you'll likely not wake up.

  I felt as though Layla would have loved tearing those cutesy vermin apart, would've made for a great boost to her level too.

  I arrived at the ruins of a shrine to Ullr the winter god. Research indicated that those who braved the trek in winter would be rewarded with skill points.

  Pillars lined the steps, upon them inscriptions and pictograms. The ruins were guarded by the spirit of a yeti, OK...

  There was however, something more... I stopped, retracing my steps, rereading each pillar. One had fallen. I used a basic strength boosting skill to roll it. Wonder if Audovald could've done it sans magic? He'd probably have tried to wrestle a snow golem too...

  The final inscription made the underlying sadness to the story clearer and presented a possible peaceful option to deal with the yeti.

  He had married the love of his life at the shrine in its glory days. It had started to fall into disrepair, but he kept it maintained. The couple grew old together in the area, their children flew the nest. One fateful night raiders attacked, his wife was brutally slain in front of him, then he was left for dead. He made a deal with the gods that day, for the power to avenge his wife they could have his soul.

  As the cruel marauders camped at the shrine they'd desecrated, their laughter turned to screams when the old man, turned yeti, tore through them.

  Gravely injured during the fighting, the yeti died at the shrine and the gods trapped the old man's soul there.

  You could fight the guardian spirit (which most people likely did to get a few skill points) or grant it peace, reminding it of the love it once knew by playing a simple melody on the shrine's tubular bells. The melody that had played on his wedding day.

  I rolled my eyes at the unnecessarily cryptic way the order the bells needed to be struck in was given. Shrines, dungeons, towers etc, they all seemed to love puzzles.

  TrapAware, a skill available at a lower level to thieves, but also available to assassins, told me crossing the threshold was the trigger. Looking through the broken archway into the circular shrine area, I could see the tubular bells against a side wall. Two had fallen. One lay in front, the other must have fallen backwards, there was no backing, it was open to the mountain side.

  I walked the crumbling narrow path, jumped over a fallen away part to reach the spot directly behind the bells.

  Of course it wasn't right there. Looking down I saw it glint from the middle of a plateau below. There was a path leading to it from somewhere directly behind the shrine. The path beyond the spot I was standing on had fallen away. To the other side of the shrine was sheer cliff face to the peak just visible above. If the path did continue, the route like the shrine being circular, meant I couldn't see the other side to jump to.

  The top of the shrine's wall was fairly flat, not too high up. It was too narrow and had various urns and statues preventing walking along the top, plus it may count as entering the shrine.

  I ran part way up the wall and took hold of its edge before shuffling along sideways.

  It reminded me of climbing with Isabelle. She'd love this adventure, freeing a trapped soul. The whole time she'd likely look very serious, only to smile at the very end.

  I eventually reached the continuation of the path at the rear of the shrine. There was another entry to the shrine via an extra wide archway, the threshold there would also trigger the guardian spirit. The wide archway allowed a view of lands below the mountains from within the shrine, a lovely backdrop to get married against.

  The path also continued round to where the shrine met the side of the mountain. Before I headed down, I took the short walk out of curiosity.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Crumpled at the end of the path were the remains of one the raiders, who must have been thrown to the top of the wall before falling down onto this side, head first. He'd died clinging onto a sack.

  A quick rummage and I found a few coins, a silver candlestick and some wooden tablewares. On the raider was a rusty low level mace and scraps of leather armour. I left the wooden tablewares, scraps and mace, not worth their weight.

  Heading down the path I found it once again broken away. Too far to straight jump, conveniently there were the remains of the rope handrail.

  Along the path, well anchored into the wall every couple metres was a rope that served as a handrail of sorts. four detached anchors swayed along the rope. I checked the anchor closest to me, tugged at the rope. Seemed secure. I lowered myself, took hold of the rope, then hooked my legs onto it.

  Having shimmied across, I finally reached the little plateau. A love seat beneath an arched pergola was against the side, looking out at the beautiful vista. The remains of creeping flowers still adorned it. Pots and raised flower beds around it were now full of dead weeds buried under snow.

  My senses alerted me to a trap. I couldn't see anything, looking about I couldn't tell what the trigger was or what would happen. I crouched to try to sneak to the fallen chime embedded in the middle of this lover's cliffside garden.

  Of course the trigger was pulling the tube out, but I had no choice. I yanked it out, and no sooner than it left the ground, the world around shimmered, taking on a dream like haze.

  I felt the warmth of the summer sun. The pergola was blooming with roses. A festival of flowers all around.

  Sobbing.

  An elderly woman at alone on the loveseat, face in her hands as she wept. She's moaned about something. I could make out the gist of it. A man, presumably her husband, had made a stupid mistake. Why was he so angry. Why had the gods entertained his... err... wish made in anger?

  I stuffed the tube down my jacket, started creeping away.

  "WHY!?"

  I paused as the scene flashed briefly back to the grey winter of reality. She continued weeping and moaning. I crept forward.

  "WHY'D YOU HAVE TO COME!?"

  We were back to reality, I glanced toward her. Her hands were down. She's glared at me with murderous intent. Of course she was a high level wraith.

  "WHY!? WRAHHHHH!"

  The hideous corpse bride flew toward me, I ducked and rolled. She came at me slashing with her clawed hands. I dodged and wove arond her onslaught. She stopped, her hands returning to holding her face. As though in a spotlight of summer sunshine, an elderly woman stood weeping. Uh huh, OK... Curious, I wanted to see how this played out.

  But I'm not stupid, I figured if some god has set this up for their amusement then I had a chance, albeit a slim one.

  I dashed the end of path, slowed then jumped while extracting my sword. I caught the rope with my left hand, wrapping around as I slashed the rope behind me.

  My side slammed the dirt and stone below the path up to the shrine. Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath, sheathed my blade to pull myself up.

  "WHY!? WRAHHHHH!"

  The wraith appeared just off the end of path from the secret garden, slashing at the air. I clambered up onto the path and RAN! I felt the warmth hit my back as old weepy returned.

  At the top of the path I heard her battlecry again, turned in time to see she'd cleared the ravine and was attacking the air on the other side... Darn! I realised I could have used a skill recently acquired at my true level, DashJump. Jumping from a dash would have cleared the ravine, but I'd forgotten.

  Judging the distance she travelled each time I figured she'll make it to where I was standing next. I couldn't run around, shimmy along the wall like I had to get here. No choice! I had to enter the shrine.

  Thankfully the bells just hooked on; the receiving hooks looked intact.

  I ran to the chimes ignoring as the shrine started to glow. I kicked the tubular bell lying in front so it rolled to under the rest. The wind picked up, swirling louder and louder. I focused on hooking the chime I'd got from the makeout point into the correct position, they went left to right in ascending length.

  "How dare you enter here! Have you not taken enough from me!" The yeti declared.

  I went to pick up the other fallen bell, but sensed an attack coming. It was getting cold, really cold, really fast. I turned to look at a pulsing, spiky ice covered Yeti.

  "RaaaAAAH!"

  I ducked, wrapping myself tight in my cloak. The blast of cold covered me in ice. I burst out of it in time to jump over a giant icicle being swung at me.

  Light from the rear arch of the shrine.

  Old weepy is at it again. The yeti stopped to look at her. Recognition dawned on his face. Now's my chance. I turned, grabbing up the last bell to hook it on. Hang on... there's a broken chain but where's the mallet to play these things!?

  "A trick, you nasty deceiver! Rarr!" Cried the yeti.

  I easily avoided the same icicle attack as before. He went for a follow up, an ice beam from his free hand. I ducked and rolled into a run. The entry arch was frozen over. I ran onto it, then back flipped off as the giant icicle passed beneath me.

  "WHY!? WRAHHHHH!" The wraith went to where I'd been and attacked...

  In what I could only describe as a major plot contrivance, her slashes struck the chimes in the correct order.

  Ding, Deng, DING, DUNG, DING, Deng...

  The air calmed. The icicle was dropped as the yeti's icy spikes softened to messy fur.

  The old lady wasn't crying, she stood looking at the tubes in shock.

  "Nidbiorg? Is that you?" Asked the yeti.

  "Odinkar?" The woman said turning.

  When their eyes met it was as if time slowed. They ran to each other. In the few paces the yeti ran, his fur flew off and he shrunk. A large, bearded, old man reached the old woman. They embraced.

  I better get my skill points for this.

  Everything glowed brighter till I had to shut my eyes.

  The howling of wind, I opened my eyes to find myself in the deserted shrine, entrance uncovered. Where there had been a giant icicle something glowed.

  I picked up a staff of perma ice topped with a brilliant, clearest i'd ever seen, shard of diamond. I'd never heard of this staff, StatSight told me it was higher level then I'd expect from this area.

  The staff was meant for users of ice related magic. From the looks of it, it was among the most powerful ice related artifacts around. Legendary even.

  Should sell for a good price.

  I pulled out my adventurer card to perform the necessary code of taps and small lines, they revealed my true card.

  More skill points than expected... and generous XP? But I didn't fight them?

  Up on that frozen mountain I discovered the organisation had lied, many many times. They had told me there was no reward for kindness or mercy.

  I picked up my pack, stashed near the start of stairs to the shrine and headed off. I made so much progress... Maybe I'll visit Layla's tribe after all.