{"id":4473,"date":"2025-04-03T00:05:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T04:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4473"},"modified":"2025-05-09T12:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:00:31","slug":"c-climb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4473","title":{"rendered":"C – Climb"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story, \u201cDestiny,\u201d was written for the 2025 April A to Z Blog Challenge. Twenty-six words, one for each letter of the alphabet, were preselected by a random word generator (MacChatGPT). Each selected word is included in the section of the appropriate letter in the Challenge. The chosen word is highlighted within the text.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

To start the story from the beginning, go to https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=4443<\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When we last met in <\/span>Part 2 – Brightly<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Adriana has turned 19. On her nineteenth birthday, she has to choose her destiny. Once chosen, she can\u2019t change it. Her decision is not supported by her family or culture. She chooses to be a princess. There is no royalty in her land. Taking a bite out of an apple that has fallen at her feet. There is a flash of light, and Adriana disappears.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n

Destiny<\/i><\/b><\/span> – Part 3<\/i><\/b> (climb)<\/span><\/p>\n

Light gave way to darkness. When this cleared, Adriana found herself on a path leading to a small hut. Seeing no one around, she went to the door and found it unlocked. She slowly pushed it open and stepped inside.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t many furnishings. What stood out was a table with all sorts of things to eat on it. There were fruits, some raw vegetables that looked like a cross between a carrot and a turnip, an assortment of baked goods, and a pitcher of a sweet-smelling liquid with an empty glass next to it. With no one there to answer her questions or instruct her, hunger guided her to pick up the food and eat. She filled the glass with the liquid from the pitcher and drank. Everything she ate was fresh and seemed to have just been picked or made. The liquid quenched her thirst. She felt newly found energy. She tried to be careful and not eat or drink too much, but she was very hungry after her journey and probably ate more than she should have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When she had sated herself, she explored the hut more carefully. \u201cThere must be a reason I am here,\u201d she thought. \u201cIt can\u2019t be just for the food.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the food, she found a backpack filled with assorted items by an open window \u2013 a blank notebook, some writing implements, a small axe, a carving knife, a canteen, and binoculars. Leaning against the window was an oaken walking stick, perfect for her size, and a length of rope.<\/span><\/p>\n

She stared out of the window and thought over what Springbounder had said. <\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>You must go high to reach the next marker; from there, you must look to the sky to find the ones to follow.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

She decided to take the backpack and its contents, add as much food as possible, and fill the canteen with the liquid from the pitcher. She grabbed the walking stick and rope, then returned to the path outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adriana surveyed her surroundings. \u201cThere must be something here to guide me,\u201d she thought. She decided to make a wish and take another bite from the apple. To her dismay, she had inadvertently eaten the apple while craving food. There was nothing left of the apple to be found.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Springbounder had told her she had to seek her answers by herself. Maybe it wasn\u2019t an accident that the apple was gone. She had made three wishes. She needed to rely on her own resources instead of unknown magical ones, revisit the clues she did have, and move forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>You must go high to find the next marker,\u201d<\/span><\/i> she remembered. It was clear that she would not find it at ground level wherever she was to go. She took out the binoculars and examined her surroundings, near and far. She even looked up in the sky to see if there was anything that might be a clue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The terrain before her was mainly level but had many twists and turns. From what she could see, there were many forks along the path. Some veered off into wooded areas, others toward bodies of water, and others just appeared to disappear. Decisions would have to be made at these junctures. But which way?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, her binoculars stopped on a landform very distant, beyond many of the paths. It rose from the ground up to the sky. It was a mountain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, <\/span>she thought<\/span>, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>You must go high\u201d <\/span><\/i>entered her mind. Adriana knew she was destined to climb<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\u00a0that distant mountain she saw.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be continued in<\/i><\/b> D – Dance<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story, \u201cDestiny,\u201d was written for the 2025 April A to Z Blog Challenge. Twenty-six words, one for each letter of the alphabet, were preselected by a random word generator (MacChatGPT). Each selected word is included in the section of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[482,4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2025","category-original-stories","category-story-writing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4473"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4670,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4473\/revisions\/4670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}