Snow blew across the barren snowy tundra. The wind would howl like a wolf and then slowly pitch up into a screeching hawk or down into a groaning bear. The wind hurled hard snow particles across the flat tundra in waves and rivulets so that an observer could make out the shape of the wind. Occasional boulders stood resolute on the tundra, bulwarks against the indomitable winds. They picked up great drifts of powdery snow and parted the raging winds. On the northern edge of the tundra, boulders grew more and more common and more and more large until there stood a massive cliff face on which the wind and snow finally broke. In the winter months, the snowdrift on the side of cliff would sometimes pile above the cliffside and spill out onto the flat lands above.

It was on such a winter night that a woman stood by the cliffside. She was wrapped tightly in a fir coat and wore scarves, a wool hat, and heavy winter boots. Still, such was the cold that she shook like leaf and was tinged with blue about the ears, and lips. The woman glanced back at the glittering city light behind her and thought of warmth, light and food. Indeed, the woman had hiked for miles of to reach the cliffside, and was famished, and exhausted. Still, she stood there, staring out into the dark snowy abyss without acting. From a cloth bundle in her left arm there came high wail and out reached a pale pudgy arm which grasped weakly. The woman moved slightly and raised a gloved hand as if to act, but paused and slowly moved her hand to her side. There the woman stood for nearly an hour, growing bluer and bluer around her ears, lips, and fingers, her shaking growing into violent spasms which wracked her. Then in a sudden blur of motion, the woman hurled the cloth bundle over the edge of the chasm and watched it shrink into the darkness for a few moments before turning back to the city. A tear fell from one dark bagged eye before freezing on the woman’s cheek.

After the woman had turned away and the cloth bundle had fallen through the air for a few seconds the first of several miracles occurred. The woman’s throw had been at the precise strength and angle that as the child fell toward the ground it missed numerous sharp jutting rocks and great round boulders, which would have broken the weak bones of the child. It instead landed in an improbably small section of soft snow. The second miracle was that the child did not get stuck deep in the snowdrift and promptly freeze to death, but instead the snow broke the child's momentum before the drift lost its integrity and broke apart (the drift had collected on a small ledge and was prone to break apart). The child was sent tumbling down the huge snowdrift on the side of the cliff and it was a lesser miracle that its blanket did not unravel. Here, as the child fell, the third miracle occurred. Somehow, the slopes and turns on the massive drift redirected the bundle towards a lone cave mouth which was not covered by snow, the angle of the drift began to straighten out, and the child’s momentum slowed such that it was sent rolling into the cave at a safe speed. Finally, the child rolled to a stop inside a small crevice in the dark recesses in the back of the cave. Though the cave sheltered the child from many of the elements the baby still was in poor condition; he was bruised and battered from the fall, though his streak of luck had spared him from breaking any bones or acquiring any serious injury. Additionally, the pervasive cold had penetrated the layer of blankets and the small body of the child shook violently. Even for a healthy adult, the cold would be overwhelming, but for the child it was imminent death. He would live for a few hours if he was lucky, and to avoid permanent maiming from frostbite, he would need heat in a half hour. Despite being only three, the child displayed some survival instincts as he feebly gathered the snow crusted blankets tighter around himself. As the minutes passed, the child began to feel a strange warmth and a feeling of relaxation which lulled his mind to sleep. Again displaying a surprising amount of foresight, the child attempted to stay awake and overcome the feeling. He exhaled warm breath on his arms and rubbed himself as briskly as he could. However, despite his strongest efforts the sensation became overwhelming and the child’s eyelids pulled down like they were attached to lead weights. Soon he fell into sleep and his body grew colder and colder, it’s various functions started to fail as they all worked in overdrive to stave off the cold.

At this time, it feels prudent to describe the wildlife in the winter tundra; there exists on the tundra several winter varieties of animals such as the giant winter wolf, the gray eagle, and the great white rabbits. However, there are also creatures with stranger forms and mystical abilities. These creatures are feared and revered by the people of the city above. One creature is whispered about in the city, though it’s existence is not confirmed. It is named the snow snow hulk and it is said to look something like a massive hunched humanoid whose indistinct silhouette is sometimes seen wandering the tundra. In the city they say that if you see the snow hulk you are marked for death and that a monster of covered in teeth and spikes with many arms and whirling tails will come for you next.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A thick reddish and veined foot came thumping into the entrance of the cave, followed by a heavy muscled leg and a red torso with a large fat belly and spines running down the length of its spine. The creature had a smooth shiny head with a few red spines slowly growing smaller until reaching the edge of its forehead. It’s eyes were black voids that were far larger than one would expect for the size of its head. The thing had long, long arms covered in ropey muscle and ending in bulky hands with broad stumpy fingers. The creature leaned its head down to fit through the cave entrance and thumped in, dragging the carcass of a white furred deer. It kicked aside some bones as it made its way toward the center of the cave. The creature paused and grunted, then sniffed the air loudly. It stood still for a moment and surveyed its cave. Upon closer inspection it looked lived in, there were bones on the floor, wood in the corner, and a some stones holding raw meat, furs, and some metal tools. After surveying for a minute, the creature slowly continued moving to the center of the cave where there sat a pile of cinders . It set aside the deer, sat by the cinders with a thud and reached out with a long arm and grabbed several logs. It carefully piled up logs in a cone shape then leaned its head close to them. It opened a mouth full of blunt yellowing molars and belched out a burst of fire from its mouth. The wood burst on fire as if it was dry and not crusted in snow. As the red firelight flickered on the creature, it’s muted red skin gradually turned a deeper more vibrant red, and its skin lost its dullness growing shiny. The creature let out a sigh of contentment and laid on the stones by the fire; its breathing soon turned rhythmic and the creature slept.

Unknown to the creature, in a crevice at the back of the cave a baby stopped shaking as the warmth of the fire spread through his bones. It wasn’t until deep into the night, when the fire had turned to smoldering embers that the baby woke. He felt, warmth, darkness, and blankets, and felt like he was at home again, but then he felt a pain of hunger in his stomach, the hard stone underneath him, and the bruises he had taken, and remembered. He laid there in his blankets for a moment before wondering how exactly he had come to be warm at all. Hadn’t he been freezing to death earlier? The baby shivered as he remembered the unnatural warmth and exhaustion, that had overtaken him before he had fallen into darkness. By chance, he turned his head and noticed a warm red glow coming from the entrance to his crevice. The baby felt a flash of fear, but also curiosity and crawled out of his blankets toward the crevice. He cautiously poked his head out around the corner of his crevice and saw the red hulk slumbering by the hot coals of the fire. It was only the child’s unusual self possession that kept him from wailing loudly upon seeing the beast. As it was, he had to take a moment to calm himself and examine his situation. Despite being only three the child was able to realize several immediate issues which threatened his life. Perhaps the most immediate was the imminent return of the cold. The child was able to realize that the coals of the fire would soon burn out and the cold would creep back into the cave. The second problem was the beast, the child was unsure why the creature had not found him yet, but he was under no illusion that the creature would not find him eventually. After the first two issues, there came the problems of food and water. The baby considered his tiny pudgy hands and knew that he could not find food on his own in the cold. He might be able to steal from the beast, but that source was perhaps as fraught with danger as scavenging on the cold tundra. The baby let his thoughts whirl, but could come up with no solution to his problem. As it stood, he had two obvious options to pursue: the first was stay in the cave until the cold returned and froze him, and if he somehow survived the cold, eventually attempt to steal food. The second option was to venture out onto the tundra, where he would freeze in a matter of minutes. It was no choice at all really. The first option was a slow death of skulking and stealing and hoping the monster didn’t find him. The second option was a fast inevitable death to the merciless cold. He would have only the barest chance of survival. When offered a fast death or a slow death, the baby chose slow. He would stay in the cave, steal food and hope he didn’t freeze when the monster left. Mind made up, the baby crawled back to his blankets, wrapped up, and turned to wall determined to try to sleep before tomorrow, and almost certain death, came.

Then he noticed the hole in the wall.

There it was, perhaps slightly taller than he would be if he could stand, and just as wide. In the dark, he could see only slightly into the tunnel but there was no obvious end in sight. For a moment the baby considered. The monster… the snow… death…hunger. Then he crawled into the tunnel.