Author's note: With Far Cry 4 being my latest obsession, I was really intrigued by the whole Yuma questline. The end of chapter two is actually what I thought was going to happen in the game while I was playing through it for the first time. Since it didn't happen there, I just ran with it and wrote this story. It's just another take on Yuma's storyline and how I saw it going. As with my last few stories, I'm going to be posting a chapter a week, but I'm posting the first two chapters together because I feel like the first one could be really similar to the game, at least until you get into the context moving forward. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. And, as always, enjoy! :)

UPDATE 4/17/17: The full story is now up

Chapter One

It had been hard going for the Golden Path. Ever since they had broken through to the North, Pagan's forces had been hounding them from all sides. And Ajay was right in the thick of it. He had been instrumental in capturing several outposts in the North that were now serving as the front line for the Golden Path.

Ajay was on his way toward one of them, the truck's headlights cutting through the night. Sabal had called him in earlier, said he had an urgent mission. It was time to find out what was going on.

Ajay parked his vehicle and stepped out, grabbing his gun from the passenger's seat. Sabal broke away from the group of men he had been talking to and strode over.

"Sabal, what's going on?"

Sabal seemed restless and worried. "We've just gotten word from one of our spies in Yuma's camp. They're holding over twenty prisoners in a cave to the East. They're all to be executed at dawn."

"How have we not heard about this until now?" Ajay asked, disbelieving.

"Communication has been spotty at best. We're lucky we even received the message in time."

"Alright so what's the plan?"

"I'm sending you in to scope out the situation. It's too risky sending a frontal assault. They could kill the prisoners before we ever get to them. Alone, you can sneak into the caves. Once you've located the prisoners, you can defend them while we attack from the main entrance. I'm sorry to ask this of you, brother, but I would trust this task only to you."

"There's no need to apologize. I'll do it. Anything to help."

Sabal clasped Ajay's shoulder. "Good. Then let's get moving, midnight is fast approaching."

It took them a couple of hours to get into position. Ajay had parted ways early on to climb the cliffs around the back side of the caves. He knew there had to be an alternate entrance somewhere. He just hoped it wouldn't take him too long to find it.

Kyra must have been watching out for Ajay, because he found it in less than an hour. The entrance was small, less than two feet high. Ajay went down on one knee and peered inside. There was light from torches coming from within. Ajay pulled out his radio to tell Sabal.

"I've found the entrance. I'll let you know when the prisoners are secure."

"Copy that, Ajay. We are in position and ready for your signal. Good luck, brother."

Stowing his radio, Ajay went down on all fours and crawled into the darkness. The passageway let out onto a ledge high up on the side of the cave. It was a perfect vantage point to survey the large cavern. There were torches lit along the walls and a steady trickle of water coming from somewhere high above. But no guards that Ajay could see. Good. Maybe the prisoners weren't as heavily guarded as Ajay had thought. Still, there were several other openings below that led to more passages. That had to be where the prisoners were held. And where the guards were stationed.

The climb down to the cave floor was treacherous, the slick rock almost making Ajay fall to his death on multiple occasions. He barely kept himself from crying out in one such instance when his fingers lost purchase and he slid several feet before catching onto another ledge further down. Though, after that, Ajay made it down without further trouble. He held his SMG up to his shoulder and picked his way over to the openings, stopping every now and then to duck behind a boulder and check his flank.

Ajay tread carefully through the tunnels, ready to put down anyone that might raise the alarm. The tunnel dead-ended in a small chamber. Rows of prison cells lined the walls.

But there were no prisoners. No guards.

Strange. How many cells did they have if they were holding that many prisoners and none of them were here? Suspicions aroused, Ajay backtracked and took the next tunnel.

Nothing.

Ajay was running now as he checked the last few passages. He slid to a stop at the end of the last tunnel, panting as he searched. Not a soul in sight. Frantically, Ajay pulled out his radio.

"Sabal, there's no one here."

"What do you mean? They've taken the prisoners somewhere else?"

"No, I mean there was no one here to begin with. No prisoners. No guards. I checked the whole system and haven't seen a single person."

"How can that be? The intel—" Sabal broke off.

"Sabal? What about the intel?"

His voice came back panicked. "Ajay, get out of there now! It's a trap!"

Ajay was sprinting for the main entrance before Sabal had finished his sentence, dread hastening his steps. He was almost there, he could see the jeeps parked out front, headlights flooding the cavern. Sabal waved frenziedly next to the car, urging Ajay to greater speed.

Ajay never made it.

A mechanized beeping drew his attention a split second before a massive explosion sent him flying backwards and caved in the entrance. In a daze, Ajay rolled over onto his elbows, coughing the dust from his lungs. He was lucky he hadn't been crushed by the rubble, but he had still been close enough to the blast for its full concussive force to takes its toll. Sabal's voice came blaring over the radio, the intense ringing in Ajay's ears dampening the sound.

"Ajay?! Ajay, are you there? Come on, brother, answer—"

There was a soft click as the radio turned off and Ajay belatedly realized that it had not done so on its own. Struggling to turn his head, Ajay found himself at the feet of two men with Yuma glaring down at him from behind them, radio in hand.

She smiled coyly. "How predictable. Sabal gets word that there are prisoners set for execution and he sends his little golden boy in alone. Pity, that he values their lives over yours, Ajay."

It had been a trap. From the very beginning, they had been betrayed. And now Ajay was in Yuma's clutches.

Ajay fought to get to his feet, to reach for his gun, to fight, to run, to do anything to escape this fate. But he couldn't get his arms or legs to work properly. The best he could manage was to fumble along the floor, dragging himself a few paces away. He could hear Yuma chuckling behind him. Then a faint explosion coming from the rubble—Sabal was trying to break through. Ajay knew it was no use. They hadn't brought enough firepower to get through that much rock and it would take them too long to go around.

Yuma voiced his thoughts. "Looks like you're on your own, Ajay."

Her demented laughing filled Ajay's ears just as a sharp pain rammed into the back of his head.

Then everything went dark.

A howling wind ripped Ajay from unconsciousness. He sprang to his feet, wrapping his arms around himself in an effort to warm up. It was freezing, so cold that his teeth were chattering. He was in a prison cell, one carved from stone. A set of steel bars were embedded into the rock on one side, leading out to a narrow stone corridor.

It was Durgesh, Ajay gathered. It had to be. He had heard stories about the horrors committed in the mountain prison. How most that were sent there were never seen again.

This was bad. But there was one tiny glimmer of hope—the cell door was open. In fact, all of the cell doors were, Ajay discovered as he made his way down the corridor. And there weren't any guards either. As if they knew escape was futile. There was only the occasional prisoner huddled in a corner, mumbling to themselves, swiping at invisible foes. And that incessant wind that grew stronger with every step Ajay took. Soon, he figured out why.

Turning a corner, Ajay flung up his hands against the blinding sun that came streaming in through a large hole in the wall. It was maybe ten feet across and stretched from floor to ceiling. Ajay peered over the edge and knew that all was not lost. The drop was steep, over a thousand feet high. But it looked scalable. That was enough for Ajay.

He had to get out. Ajay was no fool, he knew help wasn't coming. His only hope was to escape on his own and to do that, he needed supplies; most importantly—a grappling hook. It was surprisingly easy enough to craft one out of spare scraps he found lying around. It took maybe an hour for Ajay to scavenge the parts he needed—a loose bit of rebar curved just enough to function as a hook and several lengths of rope that Ajay tied together. The makeshift grappling hook wasn't ideal and, had he been in any other situation, Ajay probably would have refused to use it, but he didn't really have a choice. It was that or stay and be Yuma's guinea pig.

So Ajay took his grappling hook to the sheer drop-off just outside his cell and, with a silent prayer, rappelled down the cliffside. The going was slow. He was moving with far greater care than he ever had normally. He didn't have a parachute to bail him out after all. It didn't help that the mountain gales were buffeting him with every step, sending him lurching to either side and blinding him with updrafts of biting snow.

After what seemed like hours and more close calls than Ajay cared to reflect on, his feet touched solid ground. But his ordeal was far from over. Ajay soon came to realize that he had only rappelled into the front courtyard of the prison. Filled to the brim with heavily armed guards. He would have to sneak past them, doubting very much that he could overpower them in a confrontation. And if he were caught? Somehow Ajay didn't believe for a second that they would grant him the mercy of death. Or a second chance at escape.

A deep breath to steady his nerves.

Then he moved.

Like shadows dancing through water, Ajay weaved his way through the complex, dodging, sprinting, diving, and waiting; all the while straining to hear the faintest sound above his thundering heart. To hear a shocked exclamation, the sounding of the alarm, the annihilation of his one chance at ever tasting freedom again.

But none came.

He made it outside without incident and was then hidden from sight by the blessing and curse that was a storm picking up. It wasn't until almost an hour of trudging through thigh-deep snow, surrounded by an impenetrable blanket of white, that Ajay began to realize he had nowhere to run. He would never make it off the mountain. Yuma would have the last laugh after all.

Only determination and sheer will kept Ajay walking for another hour, he refused to let them win. To let Pagan win. The world grew darker as a numbness spread throughout Ajay's body. Because of the indistinguishable landscape, it took a few moments for Ajay to realize that he had stopped moving. His body had stopped responding to his commands. As he fell face first into the snow, the last thing he saw was a shadow creeping towards him. He could only assume that it was Yuma. And hope that she would let him die in peace.