The snow transformed the landscape into a fresh, white desert. Sparrow and Zoe weren’t dressed for the weather - so they flew, hovering a few metres above the ground.

For a while they followed a river that cut its way through the snow. Then when the river disappeared they followed some banks until they reached a little circular door in the snow.

The door was made from rough-sawn planks of mountain cedar and contained a tiny glass window.

Zoe was shivering, her breath misted in the air in front of her and her shoes were saturated.

‘Should I knock?’ Sparrow asked.

He didn’t get an answer. Zoe just walked up to the door and thumped on it.

There was a smashing sound from inside. Like someone had been building a tower made of forks and it had just come crashing down.

There was a curse, then some muttering, then the sound of a sandwich being eaten, and finally a sigh.

The door squeaked open, spilling a little snow onto the wooden floor behind the door where a little man with a round stomach and a long beard stood naked.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ the man said.

Sparrow couldn’t work out whether he was young or old. The only thing he could tell about the guy was that he was very, definitely a man.

‘Hi.’ said Zoe, ‘I’m cold.’

‘Of course you are.’ The little man said. ‘You’re standing outside.’

There was a pause, the little man didn’t move aside to let them in. He just stood there. Staring and tapping his foot.

‘I-I don’t suppose we could come in?’ Zoe said.

The little man blinked, and then a big smile spread across his face, ‘You want to come in? In here?’

“Y-yes please.’

‘Well I'll be damned.’ The little naked man spread his hands, ‘welcome to my humble abode.’

And so they walked in, the place was homely, tight and cosy with a roaring fire in a large fireplace and a bunch of forks on the ground.

‘Sorry to be so rude,’ the little man said, ‘I was just in the middle of stacking forks - and your knock made my tower fall over.’

Zoe moved towards the fire. Snow melted from her clothes as she shivered next to it.

‘You look cold,’ the man said, then he held up his hand in front of him, slightly bent his fingers and pointed in Zoe’s direction.

His hand trembled, and in front of it a little white speck appeared. As his hand shook the white speck grew into a snowflake which began to spin, as it spun it grew until it was a ball of snow spinning and growing as Zoe stopped shivering. Her cheeks turned from white to red, and she even took her jacket off.

The snowball landed in the little man’s hand and he laughed, ‘It’s been a while since I’ve had to do that.’

Zoe waved her hand, ‘I’m… I’m hot… how the heck did you…?’

The little man laughed, ‘Oh that… that’s nothing…’

‘Could you teach it?’ Sparrow said.

The little man’s smile faded slightly as he turned to look at Sparrow, ‘Aye. I could. But it’s a painful skill to learn.’

‘I don’t mind pain.’ Sparrow said.

‘Oh… but this is no ordinary pain.’ The little man said, all trace of his happy exterior was now gone, ‘this is the sort of pain that makes you wish you’d die.’

Sparrow licked his lips, ‘What else can you do with it?’

The little man closed his eyes. Snow started to fall from the roof of the little cabin. It was soft and light as it melted on Sparrow’s eyelashes. He tried to spot where it appeared from, but there was no one point… little seeds crystalised out of nowhere, then formed the flakes that got thicker and thicker until the room was a blizzard - so thick Sparrow couldn’t see the little man any more.

It coated his everything and made him cold, so cold…

****

Sparrow opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor beside the fire. The little man had a snowball above his hand. He was talking to Zoe in a calm, even voice.

‘Better for him to freeze now and be put off then to have to go through what I went through.’

‘You don’t know him,’ Zoe was saying, ‘he’s crazy, he’ll do anything.’

The little man shook his head, ‘Not this. So many try and so many fail and it’s such a waste.’

‘What’s a waste?’ Sparrow pushed himself into a sitting position. His head throbbed and his hands looked pale.

‘Your life, if you want to learn to do what I do.’ The little naked man said.

Sparrow rubbed his eyes, he tried to remind himself of his original promise - he was going out on the road and learning everything he could for… for his grandma. He rubbed the side of his head, it was like he’d been hit by a mountain.

‘I want to learn,’ Sparrow stood with shaky knees. The little man’s cottage was darker now - only the fire lit the place.

The little man stared at him, then pulled a piece of stick from between his teeth. The snowbell that had been hovering in front of him had disappeared.

‘Okay.’

‘Okay?’

‘Okay, I will teach you.’ The little man shrugged, ‘those that know the ways of the snow are growing few and far between. We always need new people to uphold the tradition. But it's a painful tradition. Half of us want to see it continue, half of us want it to die with us.’

Zoe stuck up her hand and the little man nodded at her, ‘yes?’

‘I want to learn too.’

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The little man rolled his eyes, ‘God… didn’t you hear everything I just said about the pain and the cold and your heart stopping.’

Zoe tilted her head, ‘You never said anything about his heart stopping.’

‘Well it’s going to happen.’ said the old man, ‘Tell you what. You can both stay here in front of the fire for the night, then in the morning, I’ll bury you under ten feet of snow until your heart stops. Then you’ll have to find the way out.’

There was silence. Outside the wind whistled as it swept snow into large, moving banks.

‘Thank you.’ Sparrow said, ‘Thanks for the offer of your home and the offer of your teaching. You’re a kind man.’

‘You won’t be saying that tomorrow.’ The little man said, ‘you’ll be cursing the day you walked in here.’

‘Well, all the same.’ Sparrow said, ‘Thanks…’

And Sparrow gave that half-flinching, half-smile you give someone when you’re trying to guess their name, and the little man said.

‘It’s Tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow?’ Zoe said, ‘What’s tomorrow?’

‘My name,’ the little man grinned, ‘is tomorrow.’

‘Well…’ Sparrow furrowed his brow, ‘I guess we’ll see you tomorrow… Tomorrow.’

And the little man gave another laugh, ‘Nah… I’m just messing with ya. My name’s Ernie Yan.’

Sparrow and Zoe gave a slightly uncomfortable laugh, ‘Well Ernie. I look forward to you burying me in snow until… umm.’

“...until your heart stops.’And with a nod Ernie left, disappearing somewhere in the back of the little house.

Zoe threw another piece of wood onto the fire, then curled up beside Sparrow on the wooden floor in front of it.

‘So…’ she said, ‘you looking forward to getting so cold your heart stops?’

Sparrow shook his head, ‘No. I think this is going to be one of the worst nights of my life.’

Zoe brushed a hand through his hair, ‘Come on. You’ve died before, right? It’s not that big a deal the second time.’

‘No.’ Sparrow reached an arm around her, ‘But last time I died, it was… well I was still living as a sapling, and also it happened pretty quickly. I didn’t have an entire night to think about it.’

Her face was slightly lit by the light of the fire as she kissed his forehead, ‘Don’t let it consume you.’

Sparrow swallowed, ‘I won’t. And you too!’

Zoe just grinned, ‘Oh don’t worry, I won’t let the thought of being buried in snow until my heart stops consume me… nope. I’m pulling out.’

‘But you said…’

Zoe laughed, ‘I know what I said, but that was before he told us all that other freaky stuff. Look… I want songs… things to write about. But if someone else is prepared to do incredibly painful things for me to write about… well, who am I to complain?’

Sparrow squeezed her and she laughed, ‘Seriously! Are you sure you want to do this Sparrow?’

Sparrow shrugged, ‘I don’t know… what he did was amazing… especially taking the cold from you. But I’m not a fan of pain. Noone is.’

Zoe nodded, ‘I remember leaving home. For me that was a massive leap, trading comfort and security for the road. When I was wondering whether I should leave, I thought about being about to die - and not just dying for a moment or a week or something - properly dying as in gone forever. I imagined myself in that position… reviewing my whole life and I just thought to myself would I regret not doing this?’

Sparrow rubbed his forehead, ‘well if I was about to die - and properly die then looking back I wouldn’t care about this one night, so… I guess I will let some crazy guy from the mountains bury me in snow until my heart stops.’

Zoe laughed, ‘You’re an inspiration.’

****

The next day the little naked man named Ernie made pancakes using the ground-up seedheads of mountain grass.

The pancakes were slightly grainy and did little to warm the cold feeling sitting in the pit of Sparrow’s belly.

Zoe poked him with her foot, ‘You doing okay? Your eyes look like little pools of death.’

‘Yeah.’ Sparrow put down the floppy pancake he hadn’t eaten, ‘They’re reflecting the amount of sleep I got last night.’

‘Couldn’t stop thinking about it huh?’

‘Nope.’ Sparrow groaned, ‘It’s going to be a relief to just get it over with.’

Ernie finished cooking, then used a snowball to clean the pan before hanging it up next to a tiny stone sink.

‘Right.’ He sighed, ‘I suppose it’s time.’

He looked at Zoe - ‘I can see in your eyes that you’re not so keen today.’

Zoe smiled, ‘I think I’ll leave dying for another day.’

He nodded, ‘You are smart - far smarter than Sparrow or I.’

The wind was cold and biting as they walked across the snow. Sparrow and Zoe had their arms wrapped around their bodies while shivers shook them.

Earnie, still naked, didn’t have a single goosebump. His feet walked lightly over top of the snowdrifts while Sparrow and Zoe sank deep into them. In each hand Ernie carried a shovel.

When he reached a snowdrift deep enough he passed one shovel to Sparrow and one to Zoe.

‘Now you dig a hole the size of a coffin - ten feet deep.’

Sparrow sunk his shovel into the ground and biffed the shovelful of snow he dug to the side.

‘Can’t you like, w-wave your fingers and magic the snow out of the hole?’ Zoe said.

Earnie waved a finger, ‘No. No magic. Life doesn’t work like that, you’ve got to do it properly, or not at all.’

The swirling snow blocked out the sun, leaving the entire area a whitey-grey catastrophe. Eventually, the hole was dug, and Sparrow had to bash the shovel against a rock just to break his frozen fingers free from its handle.

‘W-What now?’ Sparrow said, his hands were still bent in an arch from holding the frozen shovel.

‘Now you take your clothes off.’ The little man said, ‘You want this to be as fast as possible, anything that prolongs your suffering must be left behind.’

Sparrow’s fingers cracked as they pulled his clothes from his body. The fabric was so stiff that when he put them on the ground they stayed in the same shape they’d held on his body.

The shivers were intense now and little tears that formed in his eyes froze and pierced at his skin. He wanted to go inside. He’d never wanted anything so bad.

‘Get in the hole.’ Ernie said, ‘Quickly.’

Sparrow was rooted in the snow. It took him five minutes just to shift his feet, and when he did he stumbled forwards and fell head-first into the coffin-shaped pit.

Zoe moved to the edge and peered down.

‘Are you okay?’

Sparrow lay in the hole, shivers rippled through his body. He clenched his fist and stone-skin shot up the side of his body.

‘No!’ said Ernie, ‘No magic Sparrow. No matter how much you want it to ease the pain. Don’t use it. If you do, the ice won’t take hold and this’ll all be a waste.’

Sparrow clenched his fist. The stone didn’t go away.

‘Sparrow!’ Zoe shouted, ‘Don’t do it. Look your mind’s not in the right place and…’

The stone on Sparrow’s skin slowly slipped away. Gonebumps appeared as his body convulsed in the cold.

Ernie grabbed his shovel, and started throwing snow over Sparrow’s body.

‘Remember Sparrow. Surrender to the cold.’

Zoe glared at him as he shovelled the snow over Sparrow’s face. Ernie glanced up at Zoe, his face was impassive, although a single crystalline tear dribbled down his cheek, ‘you want this to last any longer than it has to?’

‘No.’

‘Well, start burying him.’

Zoe closed her fingers around the shovel and started digging.

At first the snow seemed almost warm to Sparrow, like a heavy blanket. But as more and more of it piled in the cold started to sink into his bones. He could feel them shrinking and cracking and he tried to scream but his jaw was frozen shut.

Little bubbles of ice grew in his veins and spine, a pain so terrible he couldn’t help himself. He tried to start a fire with his hands, but the damn things wouldn’t move. Nothing moved. His eyelids froze over and then his world slowly blurred into a dark valley of pain.

Above the hole Zoe and Ernie scraped a few last shovelfuls of snow over the hole.

‘There. Now it’s done.’ Ernie said, he glanced up at Zoe. her hair was frozen to the side of her face, ‘Come on. Let’s get you warmed up. Elderberry tea’s the best thing for the cold.’

Zoe stared down at the patch of snow.

‘And w-w-we just l-leave him l-like this?’

Ernie nodded, ‘If you like you can plant your spade in the ground - that way you’ll know where he is.’

Half an hour later Zoe was blowing on a cup of elderberry tea while Ernie tossed a snowball out the front door.

‘How long?’ she asked, ‘before we have to dig him up?’

Ernie peered at the lonely shovel that marked Sparrow’s grave, ‘We don’t dig him up. If he’s brought back, he’ll do it himself.’

In the snow beneath the spade Sparrow lay, he wasn’t shivering any longer, he wasn’t even breathing, his heart gave one last beat, then it stopped.