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kiruamon · 2 months

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Spring through the Seasons - Meeting the Winter

Second story part for this AU. Includes Y/N wandering into the snow covered parts of the island and meeting another deity of the seasons. Also, I had so much fun drawing the sketches! (Like last time the art/sketches are embedded in between the text.)

As if you had crossed an invisible line, a landscape so otherworldly stretches out before your eyes that for a moment you start to question your plan. It's not that the sight is completely unfamiliar to you. You've often seen the strange, white landscape from a good distance when you've gone to the lake. But today is different. Today it was no longer just a distant, obscure place, but lay spread out before you in its strange grace.

It was as if someone had stripped the landscape of almost all its colors. Only the green needles of a few fir trees stood out here and there among the white, wondrous mass. The deciduous trees that used to adorn the plain in front of you had degenerated into bare skeletons, frozen by the cold air and stretching towards the sky as if begging the sun to give them a little warmth. No young shoots, no buds or tender leaves could grow on the branches in this cold.

This sight triggered a feeling of uneasiness inside you. And yet… You can't help but feel a certain fascination that makes your heart beat faster with excitement the longer you gaze out at this strange world. The sparkling of the white mass as the sunlight breaks through the clouds and falls on it takes your breath away. You feel as if someone has picked the twinkling stars from the night sky to grind them into a fine powder to spread it over this patch of earth.

You step closer to the invisible border between your home and the icy, beautiful landscape in front of you. Step by step, you get closer to it. Leaving the blooming flowers and growing bushes with their young shoots behind you. Only a few more steps lie ahead of you before the grass beneath your feet is swallowed up by the white dust - or whatever it may be.

You pause as you stand directly in front of the white substance, which spreads out untouched and motionless in front of you. Can you just walk on it? Crouching down, you inspect it with a curious look and slowly stretch out your hand towards it. You are surprised to see how easily it sinks in. But you don't have long to marvel at how easily it gives way under your touch as a slight shudder takes hold of your body and causes it to quiver. Cold. The vines on your stole tremble and curl up a little. Brrrr. You didn't think the shimmering mass would feel cold. Or… wet? Curious, you pull your hand out of it and watch as what's stuck to it slowly changes shape on your warm skin and… … turns into water. You stare in amazement at the drops of water on your hand. This white mass is water! Stunned, you absorb this information and slowly get back to your feet. Hardened water. Is that what it is? Unbelievable. What an incredible place! Your enthusiasm is now even more ignited.

You simply have to see more. Find out more about this place. You have finally found the courage to go further and put your first foot into the strangely stiff water. It sinks a little into the mass, but that doesn't stop you as long as you can feel the ground beneath your soles and slowly but steadily venture deeper into this unknown world.

The further you progress, the stranger, but also more beautiful, the landscape appears in your eyes. Odd formations hang from the branches of some trees, like small runnels of water frozen in the air. The green needles of the fir trees are often covered in a layer of white, as if they had wrapped themselves in a blanket. Even the air is different in this place. There are fewer scents than in your home. The air seems drier and the cold bites a little into your reddened nose and cheeks. It's not painful, but it's unfamiliar. You are used to warmer temperatures in the forests and meadows you are accustomed to, but your body still seems to be able to tolerate the colder weather here. On your way into the unknown, you approach a forest that looks as if it has died. The tree trunks are tall and the branches are at such dizzying heights that your neck hurts if you look up at them for too long.

In the distance, you hear the howling of wolves. The sound doesn't worry you. Quite the opposite. It teaches you that animals live even in such a cold place. You have often wondered where they came from or where they were going on their wanderings. Looks like you've learned something new.

Footprints. Still very fresh. The ruler of these lands eyed the peculiar tracks in the otherwise almost untouched winter landscape with suspicion. Here and there between them were strange little patches of frozen ground under the masses of snow. Had an animal - a deer perhaps - pushed the snow aside with its muzzle to look for roots to eat? But no. The snow looked as if it had melted and little green stalks were sticking out of it, trembling. Strange. Very strange. The shape of the footprints too. It didn't look like an animal. And the wolves hadn't gone hunting for it either. Whatever it was, it sparked his curiosity. In the company of the wolves, he decided to get to the bottom of this.

Are you still heading in the right direction? In this foreign place, you find it more and more difficult to keep your sense of direction. Perhaps you should have tried walking closer along the lake or the coastline. But your curiosity and carefree attitude had drawn you deeper into these lands. Had driven you to see what wonders awaited you here. But now the sky was already darkening. Swallowed the twinkle of the white mass around you. Dark, gray clouds hang in front of the sun, making it difficult to guess how much daylight you have left before it disappears completely. Is it going to rain? But there isn't the typical smell of rain lingering in the air. In search of shelter and a suitable place to rest, you continue to wander through the rows of petrified trees. Each of your steps is accompanied by a slight crunch as it sinks into the white mass and suddenly the sound seems strangely out of sync with your own footsteps. You pause in surprise, but you can still hear it. Blinking in confusion, you turn around and exhale in shock through your mouth as your breath rises into the air like a tiny wisp of mist. Someone is standing there between the rows of trees.

For some reason, the air seems even colder and more stinging now. As if it wants to drive you back to your warm home. Telling you that you don't belong here. But you can't run. You feel frozen and completely mesmerized by what you see in front of you. It stands upright. A pair of curved horns on its head, like nothing you've ever seen before. Translucent, like the shapes you have already spotted on the branches of the trees. Is that an animal? But it doesn't look like one and it's wearing clothes. A coat with thick fur around the edges that the cold wind can't harm, no matter how much it tears at it. In its left hand it holds an oddly shaped staff. Only at the second moment do you notice the company it is in. Three wolves walk by it's side. Their fur is much thicker than the fur they wear in your lands. And yet their fur patterns seem familiar to you. Slowly they circle you with their watchful gaze and you follow them with your eyes in wonder. It is this brief moment of distraction that the entity takes advantage of. Because suddenly you feel a cold breeze on the back of your neck as it stands directly behind you and leans down lightly towards you.

The entity's breath is as cold as if it was the wind itself that sweeps across these lands. Instinctively, your body shivers. You are not sure what it wants from you. Carefully, you turn your head to the side. Trying to catch a glimpse over your shoulder and under its hood. But you don't even get that far when, out of the corner of your eye, you notice a hand with claw-like fingers slowly moving towards the thin vines on your stole. The touch is far more careful than you would have expected it to be. A tiny nudge against the delicate flower at the end of the vine, causing it to sway slightly and recoil from the coldness of the touch. Could it be… that you weren't the only one wondering what or who you had stumbled across here? A new confidence grows in you, like a little sprout digging its way out of the warm earth to greet the gentle rays of the sun. "He… hello," you mumble rather shy as you try to turn your head a little further around and this time you actually manage to catch a glimpse of the face under the hood, which is staring at you in surprise.

A pair of multi-colored eyes blink at you in amazement. Its mouth opens slightly in shock, but closes again a few heartbeats later before it opens again and you are no less startled to hear the being's voice. "You can talk," you hear him say and somehow this brings you a huge sense of relief and makes you giggle. "So can you." He seems almost embarrassed when he hears this. He slowly straightens up and circles you, while you follow him curiously with your gaze. "True enough."

He looks at you with a thoughtful expression. Trying to take in every detail of you in an attempt to understand what or who he has in front of him. You can't blame him for this, because you feel the same way. You're still fascinated by his appearance, which is so completely different from yours. His face, which is divided into a dark and a light section, reminds you of a crescent moon in the dark night sky. And while on the light half his eye is as white as the landscape around you, his other eye glows as red as the evening sun. Beautiful. "Where are you from?" you suddenly hear him ask and are dragged back from your thoughts to reality. "Where I'm… oh! From the southern lands." "South. The green forests?" You nod and your answer only seems to make him more thoughtful. It's difficult to tell what he's thinking. Does he find it curious to hear where you're from? Or is he angry with you for some reason? "But why shou- ", for some reason he breaks off his words in mid-sentence. Blinks in confusion and stares down at your feet. You follow his gaze and… are no less startled than he is to see what you find there. The strange white water has disappeared right around your feet. Grass and snowdrops sprout from the thawing ground, their white blossoms swaying in the wind.

"How did you do that?" he sounds genuinely astonished. "I-I… just stood here…", is that so unusual? It happened all the time in your homelands. No matter where you settled, life followed you everywhere. Shoots that crawled out of the ground. Vines and grasses that stretched towards the sky and spring flowers that began to bloom. To be honest, you didn't expect it to happen even here, so far from your home. You can see how his eyes seem to shine as he looks down at the delicate flowers. "What's that?" "You mean… the flowers?" "Flowers… those are flowers?" You nod gently. "Yes. Snowdrops." Before you had traveled to the western border of your realm, you had rarely seen them either. But the further you had progressed, the more of them had appeared. Apparently… they seemed to cherish the cooler temperatures more than other flowers you knew. "Snow… drops," he repeats slowly. And then… then you hear him let out a soft laugh. "How fitting."

You blink at him in amazement. "Is it?" "Yes, very much in fact. After all, this is the land of winter. Shrouded in snow and ice." The land of winter… Snow and ice. You look around and slowly start to understand. "So this… is snow?" He laughs again, it sounds… friendly. "Yes. What you see here is snow. And over there, do you see what's hanging from the branches? Those are icicles," he explains to you, almost amused, while you can hardly contain your excitement and slowly realize why he found the name of the flowers so funny. Now you can't help but smile. "Right, that is fitting." He nods at you with a satisfied look in his eyes. "Say, what's your name?" Your name? You blink. No one's ever asked you that before - how could they, when there's never been anyone to talk to - and honestly… you've never thought about giving yourself one. "I… um… I'm afraid I don't have one," you say with an embarrassed smile. "But if you want, you can think of one for me?" You wouldn't mind, at least. But admittedly, the question he just asked makes you curious. "Do you have a name?" Now he looks no less embarrassed than you were a moment ago. "I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer in that respect either," he mumbles to himself a little absent minded. If that was the case… "Can I call you Moon, then?" He looks at you in surprise, remains silent and you already fear that your suggestion was perhaps a little silly after all. But then the corners of his mouth twitch upwards and he says with a genuinely gentle expression in his eyes: "I… would quite like that."

"What brought you little snowflake here in the first place?" asks Moon as he accompanies you through the snow-covered landscape together with the three wolves. Oh, that's right! You hadn't even told him about that yet. You clasp your hands together and look up at him. "I'm looking for the place where the red leaf came from." He furrows his brow when he hears about it and his gaze wanders from you out over the untouched snow filled plain. "A red leaf…" his voice sounds calm, but you can tell that something is on his mind again. "Do you know where it came from? I thought it might have come from here, but… " but so far you haven't seen one deciduous tree with the tiniest of leaves on it. "You won't find it here." How odd, is it just you or does Moon's voice sound strained? Is he perhaps angry with you? Did you say something that might have offended him? "O-oh, that's really too bad…" you say and start to stare at your hands, rubbing them together a little. Is it just you or has it suddenly gotten colder? You look up into the dark clouded sky and… you are completely dumbfounded to see little white dots floating down from the gray clouds as if they were flower petals.

"What's that?" you ask, unable to take your eyes off it. Next to you, you can hear Moon laughing. "Snowflakes. It's snowing." Snowflakes. It looked beautiful. You see them stick to your clothes, but as soon as they fall on your skin, they melt and turn to water. So this is what the snow looks like before it huddles together so tightly on the ground. "It's beautiful." You miss the gentle smile that your words bring to Moon's face and when you finally manage to tear your gaze away, he is already a few steps ahead of you, so you hastily follow him through the snow. "We should hurry though. A snowstorm is coming. And then our vision will be so poor that we won't be able to see a thing. Not to mention that night is about to fall." Oh dear, that didn't sound so good. "Follow me. I know a place where we'll be safe."

As Moon had predicted, the snowfall was getting heavier. While at the beginning, scattered snowflakes had been dancing playfully across the sky, the wind and snowfall was steadily increasing. The air was cold. Much, much colder than before and the daylight is becoming more and more sparse. Although the cold temperatures didn't bother you that much before, they are now becoming increasingly uncomfortable and slowing your progress. Moon seems to notice that you are struggling more with the unfamiliar conditions. That your strength is dwindling. Something heavy slides over your shoulders and Moon's hands reach around you from behind to put the fur-lined cape over your shoulders before he gently pulls the oversized hood over your head. "Can you handle it for a bit longer? It's not that far anymore." He pushes past you and his face appears right in front of yours as he peers under the hood, which now protects your cold-reddened face from the icy winds. "Y-yes. It's all good. I can do it." He nods at you, gently placing his hand on your back and leading you forward with steady steps that are matching yours.

It is dry and dark in the cave. The snow and wind can't get you here. Nevertheless, you feel completely exhausted after this long walk through the snowstorm and when you think about how long you've been on your feet. You're truly thankful that you have Moon by your side. Otherwise you might have collapsed somewhere from sheer exhaustion while looking for shelter and have been ended up buried under the snow. Instead, you are now safe. Tired, but unharmed. As soon as you have settled down on the rocky ground, two of the wolves join you. Their warm bodies nestled close against you. With a small smile, you brush your hand through their still slightly damp but thick winter fur. You are still wearing the cape that Moon lent you and even when you offered to give it back to him, he refused, saying that you needed it far more than he did at the moment. You are grateful for his kind offer, because you still feel a little cold. And tired… You rub a hand over your eyes as you slowly lie down, resting your head gently on the back of one of the wolves that you now remember why they seemed so familiar. They are the same ones you saw back home. Once last year and two years before when they were still just small pups. It's like seeing old friends again. And they obviously recognize you too.

Your gaze wanders over to Moon, who is sitting on a rock that rises from the ground, watching you in silence. At his feet lies the third member of the small wolf pack. "Moon?" you ask quietly into the darkness. "Yes?" His voice sounds calm. Soothing. "Even if I couldn't find what I was looking for here… I'm glad I came to this land. After all, thanks to it, I met you." You may not have achieved your goal, but… you have found something else that seems so endlessly precious to you.

For a while there is only silence in the cave until you hear his voice calling softly for you. "… Snowflake?" You smile a little at the thought that you've somehow already gotten used to the nickname he's given you. "Yes, Moon?" "I know the place you're looking for." What? How? Suddenly you feel wide awake again, despite your earlier drowsiness. "Really?" A faint nod of his head, which you can barely make out in the darkness, confirms that you haven't misheard him. "Yes. But you'll hardly be able to reach it from here." "What do you mean?" you ask, a little confused and your heart pounding with anticipation. "The land of the colorful leaves and mist borders my land. But the cliff that lies between them is steep and higher than you can imagine. I can lead you to it, but it would be utter madness to try to climb down there. I'm not sure how the animals manage to get past it… maybe there's a passage somewhere, but I don't know where. Also, the weather near the border is unpredictable. It's simply too dangerous." There is a certain urgency in his words. You can tell he's serious with his warning. "Your chances might be better if you try to take a different path." That sounds really discouraging. Being so close to your goal and yet so far away from it. A different path. Dark, green leaves come to mind. Treetops so lush and full that the forests swallow up the sunlight. The realm that lies to the east of yours. Could there be a way from there? "I see… thank you, Moon. For telling me about it," you whisper softly into the darkness, hoping he can hear you. As you continue to think about his words, your eyes become heavier by the second. The warm, cozy fur of the wolves who have snuggled up close to you lulls you more and more to sleep. You simply can't stay awake any longer. So you nestle yourself tightly into Moon's cape and allow the long-awaited sleep to finally catch up with you.

Hope you had a fun ride with this entry. I surely did with finally showing some of the character interactions for this au.

TBC