(This is my first fiction, so I'd appreciate as much criticism as possible. And don't expect me to update this too often, it takes a while for an idea for a new chapter to pop in my head. That being said...)
Chapter I/Prologue
It was late spring in the Himalayas, torrential winds ravaged the rock, snow, and ice continually throughout the night despite it being the minority compared to what usually batters these mountains. Somewhere on the Lhotse face, there was a small cave hidden by snow. It seemed to be a regular part of the rock that had been there for centuries. Nevertheless, something new was going to happen there that night. Just before dawn, the rock in the back of the cave broke apart and a creature emerged to be greeted by the winds. It appeared to be a giant dog with a large lower jaw, a hide of chestnut color, blood red eyes, no tail, enormous muscles, and sharp thick claws to match. The creature stepped forward and sniffed the air, as if it was a boy trying a chocolate for the first time. The creature then looked behind him and said a few strange syllables accompanied by a few grunts. Four beasts of similar looks emerged and did the same with the air. The five creatures then stepped towards the entrance of the cave and could see that the sun had begun to rise. The winds almost stopped altogether as if to greet these newcomers, or to be more precise, old friends returning. As the first of their kind to see the sun and feel the wind in years, they all let loose a howl. It sounded like a lion imitating a wolf. The howl echoed around the mountain and began an avalanche three hundred feet above them. Barely noticing that something else was coming to say hello, the five animals started straight down the mountain. They accelerated faster and faster, until they were breaking supersonic speed and kept going. They were almost down the mountain when they reached their maximum speed, when friction became so great, it heated up the air around the beasts until it began to glow red, melting all the snow around it. They shot through the world famous Everest base camp and beyond. Until they cleared the snow and disappeared into the closest forest. Here, they stopped and relished some more of the planet's wonders.
At ten' o' clock in a private mansion in Colorado, a man was sitting on a recliner enjoying a coffee and watching CNN news on his plasma TV. The top headline for that morning was known as 'mystery avalanche'.
"Take it away Mei," the reporter at the desk said, then the news switched to live footage of the Himalayas.
"This morning, at six twenty-three; local time, a huge avalanche occurred out of the blue on the Lhotse face and covered half of the base camp at the foot of the snow-zone. Three tourists and a Sherpa guide were killed, along twenty individuals injured. Although this may have been a natural avalanche, mountain experts are skeptical," Mei, the reporter explained. A Sherpa was talking from the edge of the displaced snow in his local tongue, and subtitles at the bottom of the screen translated him.
"Avalanches like this one are almost never caused on their own; something has happened on that mountain and it could have been foolish climbers. If the avalanche were natural, we would have known it could happen a month in advance. These odd markings in the ground are a mystery, even to me. But it is no coincidence and could hide evidence to what happened this morning" the text displayed, the screen then returned to the reporter,
"What the Sherpa means by odd markings is the five lines that appeared last night and now run through the camp," she explained, the screen showed one of these. A line of bare, black rock streaking across the camp and beyond, "The area where these lines appeared is covered in snow and ice all year round. Reasons for these lines to appear may be the melting of the snow and ice that once covered it. Scientists in the area are baffled and are informing colleagues around the globe to see if they could figure out what phenomena could have caused this incident. Investigations on the lines show that they go beyond the snow zone and somewhere near Dogalbitta. What happened then is yet to be confirmed," she continued. The report was brought to a close, but the man that once occupied the recliner had left, the coffee still steaming on a placemat.
The man went straight to his study, opened a safe behind a stack of books on a shelf, and took out an old-fashioned, leather-bound book. He sat in the armchair across the room and opened the book to an area in the middle of the book. He read through the next twenty pages for about an hour, closed the book, and the beginnings of a smile appeared on his mouth, "Speed-hounds by the looks of it… it is time to finish your research great-great-grandfather" he whispered to himself, clutching the book close to his chest as if it was to make him the richest man to ever exist, and in a sense, it could.
Chapter I/Prologue
It was late spring in the Himalayas, torrential winds ravaged the rock, snow, and ice continually throughout the night despite it being the minority compared to what usually batters these mountains. Somewhere on the Lhotse face, there was a small cave hidden by snow. It seemed to be a regular part of the rock that had been there for centuries. Nevertheless, something new was going to happen there that night. Just before dawn, the rock in the back of the cave broke apart and a creature emerged to be greeted by the winds. It appeared to be a giant dog with a large lower jaw, a hide of chestnut color, blood red eyes, no tail, enormous muscles, and sharp thick claws to match. The creature stepped forward and sniffed the air, as if it was a boy trying a chocolate for the first time. The creature then looked behind him and said a few strange syllables accompanied by a few grunts. Four beasts of similar looks emerged and did the same with the air. The five creatures then stepped towards the entrance of the cave and could see that the sun had begun to rise. The winds almost stopped altogether as if to greet these newcomers, or to be more precise, old friends returning. As the first of their kind to see the sun and feel the wind in years, they all let loose a howl. It sounded like a lion imitating a wolf. The howl echoed around the mountain and began an avalanche three hundred feet above them. Barely noticing that something else was coming to say hello, the five animals started straight down the mountain. They accelerated faster and faster, until they were breaking supersonic speed and kept going. They were almost down the mountain when they reached their maximum speed, when friction became so great, it heated up the air around the beasts until it began to glow red, melting all the snow around it. They shot through the world famous Everest base camp and beyond. Until they cleared the snow and disappeared into the closest forest. Here, they stopped and relished some more of the planet's wonders.
At ten' o' clock in a private mansion in Colorado, a man was sitting on a recliner enjoying a coffee and watching CNN news on his plasma TV. The top headline for that morning was known as 'mystery avalanche'.
"Take it away Mei," the reporter at the desk said, then the news switched to live footage of the Himalayas.
"This morning, at six twenty-three; local time, a huge avalanche occurred out of the blue on the Lhotse face and covered half of the base camp at the foot of the snow-zone. Three tourists and a Sherpa guide were killed, along twenty individuals injured. Although this may have been a natural avalanche, mountain experts are skeptical," Mei, the reporter explained. A Sherpa was talking from the edge of the displaced snow in his local tongue, and subtitles at the bottom of the screen translated him.
"Avalanches like this one are almost never caused on their own; something has happened on that mountain and it could have been foolish climbers. If the avalanche were natural, we would have known it could happen a month in advance. These odd markings in the ground are a mystery, even to me. But it is no coincidence and could hide evidence to what happened this morning" the text displayed, the screen then returned to the reporter,
"What the Sherpa means by odd markings is the five lines that appeared last night and now run through the camp," she explained, the screen showed one of these. A line of bare, black rock streaking across the camp and beyond, "The area where these lines appeared is covered in snow and ice all year round. Reasons for these lines to appear may be the melting of the snow and ice that once covered it. Scientists in the area are baffled and are informing colleagues around the globe to see if they could figure out what phenomena could have caused this incident. Investigations on the lines show that they go beyond the snow zone and somewhere near Dogalbitta. What happened then is yet to be confirmed," she continued. The report was brought to a close, but the man that once occupied the recliner had left, the coffee still steaming on a placemat.
The man went straight to his study, opened a safe behind a stack of books on a shelf, and took out an old-fashioned, leather-bound book. He sat in the armchair across the room and opened the book to an area in the middle of the book. He read through the next twenty pages for about an hour, closed the book, and the beginnings of a smile appeared on his mouth, "Speed-hounds by the looks of it… it is time to finish your research great-great-grandfather" he whispered to himself, clutching the book close to his chest as if it was to make him the richest man to ever exist, and in a sense, it could.
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