The sudden snowfall did not stop but fell even harder. The winds carried the biting cold into the rags she wore. Each step up the hill away from the valley took her further away from the wreck.

The mournful song sung from behind her hit her head like the strike of a hammer, sending a shiver of fright down her spine. Her frozen fingers burned. The metal cuffs on her hands became ever colder, almost freezing to her skin. The cold bit into her bones.

The howl came again, but this time Kirea shook off the fear that rooted her in place. She took off running, but her red bare feet slipped in the half-melted snow she stood on. Her body ploughed a deep trough in the snow. A hidden rock beneath the snow sliced her soles open, but she was too cold to bleed. She even couldn’t feel her own body anymore.

Maybe she should just stay there. Pain lanced through all her limbs as her fingers and toes froze, but it would be easier to just give up, sleep, rest eternally. She closed her eyes and the world began to fade from all her senses, the pain retreating, warmth replacing cold. She will die here, and no one will find her when the snow finally covered her bodied, preserved eternally in this frozen wasteland.

Crunch.

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Something heavy crushed the snow as it walked.

Crunch.

Closer and closer, the sound came. Although her body was heavy, she looked up, the straining her stiff neck. Through the thick curtains of snow, showed nothing. She was about to sleep again, but slowly, a dark shape materialized, outlined against the blinding white background of frozen trees.

The monster that came with the snowstorm.

The one that caused the tendrils of ice to creep up the veins, killing everyone else in the slave merchant’s convoy, leaving only her alive. She, who was unwanted even by death.

A sudden rage welled up in her, chasing away her exhaustion, and she dragged herself off the ground. She won’t wait idly for her end. She will accomplish something!

She barely took two steps before she slipped again, tumbling back down the hill until she slid to a stop before the white giant.

It’s okay, you are safe now, child.

She blinked. The monster, the monster the color of snow and frozen rivers stepped forward one more time. The wind seemed to fade in its presence. Even in this storm, the monster’s pure white fur did not have a single snowflake. The giant circled her, before settling down. It curled up next to her and its tail draw her closer. Its warm belly thawed her body and inexplicable liquid flowed from her eyes as she buried her face into the silky fur.

I have answered your calls, snowsinger. Will you tell me your name?