Chapter 18: 16 : Dying Flowers Under the Falling Snow

North-east of the fishing village, past the lush forest Tsuki had crossed, in the mountains clothed in a soft blanket of snow with peeks piercing the clouds above, is where the scene is laid. As peace reigned with a lofty hand over the world, atop those secluded mountains that civilization had yet to infringe, the catalyst of a war able to drown the driest desert into bloody seas was brewing.

Falling snow would impede any life from growing on this giant rock. The sun, warm and comforting, could barely spot any path in this kingdom of snow since dense and oppressive clouds stood in its way, protecting the glacial world they were making. The deluging snow ate away any sounds and any warmth that dared present themselves, creating deep sediment of cadavers of those who were once brave. This lake of glacial snow was being traversed by a lone and small spirit whose path carved in this sea of cold was painted by a warm and scarlet carpet.

The spirit had a head of red hair that ended just above the ground in the form of an old brush. She, Yuu, walked slowly in this cold and desolate location. The snow covered up to her chest acting like a proud wall blocking her advance. The girl’s horns which looked like small branches with strange flowers growing from them had some petals wilted and missing. The tail she had that would spark red lightning was low to the ground, dragging behind the girl and displaying how tired she was. On her left side was a gory wound with claw marks that were so deep that any normal person would simply die from it. The wound would vomit blood that her hand couldn’t keep from escaping and would roll down her leg to paint the landscape in an ever longer carpet of red. The missing flesh, the lost blood, and the leaving warmth, she could make do but at a cost. She was a spirit after all, and this body wasn’t fully needed for her survival. Even if her heart was ripped from her chest and her head detached from her neck, she would be able to survive. Her body was more akin to a puppet than anything.

Still, Yuu couldn’t simply give up on this body yet as there was a rope tied around her that was tied to a sled of simple craft. On this sled were about six people, some wounded while some were fine, all blotted in a fort of warm cloth. They were the villagers she had managed to save. They were about 30 when she found them, and a large beast was guarding them against other predators. It wasn’t an act of kindness; it was simply securing its food. As such, Yuu searched for its nest and placed a small talisman inside that would create an explosion visible to the beast when she was ready. If it didn’t want to see its young burn, it would then need to leave those villagers.

When she activated her talisman, the beast started to kill some of the villagers and Yuu had to protect them. 20 survived after the beast left, goring the girl’s side in the process. Yuu guided the survivors but after some time, the beast managed to track them with rage in its eyes. Those who could run all left her side and she was then stuck with those who still needed protection to survive. She only managed to distance herself from the creature after causing an avalanche. She needed to find someplace safe to either hide from the ravenous beast or deal with it herself somehow… And at this moment, she was looking for anything that could protect those behind her from the deadly cold.

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Yuu walked in this land carpeted in snow, heading toward a large twisting hill with dark crevices. The rock formation looked more like a piece of metal, many hundred meters wide, that barely survived a bombardment of some kind.

She found a crevice that was both hard to find and large enough to welcome the six that were in her care. Inside, she produced a small blade without a handle and spread some of her overflowing blood on the carvings on its flat. It began producing heat, warming the cave-like structure they were in. Those who had escaped might already be dead. It was best to take care of the few that remained…

“WAAAAAAAAA!!! MAAA-MAAA!!!” a baby cried, less than two years old, in the arms of his brother.

“Shhhh! Mother’s coming back. She’s… She’s coming back. Don’t cry. Please.” The brother tried to calm the crying child, but his words were in truth aimed to calm himself.

The atmosphere was heavy as everyone felt defeated after everything. They were just like pigs in a slaughterhouse when faced with that strange beast…

“Pass me the young one, boy,” said an old lady whose skin was filled with dark spots. “I’ll take care of him. Can you help my husband? His old bones aren’t strong enough for him to move and he’s been freezing for a while.”

“Su-Sure… Here you go. Please take care of him… Mom was one of those who ran…”

“It’s fine darling. I took care of five of my own. His little pointy ears, they make me think of my second. I had to roll them every day because I was scared he would get bullied...”

Slowly, most of the survivors managed to hobble around the heating metal while taking care of the wounded. As for Yuu, she was at the entrance of the cave where she placed a talisman that created a sort of illusion, hiding the entrance.

She looked outside for a brief moment before letting out a tired sight and going back inside the cave. The beast was bound to find this location, it was only a matter of time. She had to prepare herself to face it. That is, she needed to face it to save the remaining villagers.

The beast was called a nem-wer, the descendent of a primordial beast, they had the head and utter of a bovine but the body of a ferocious and agile tiger. Those beasts could reach a height of 15 meters, and some were reported as being 50 meters long with multiple limbs sprouting from their side. The one Yuu needed to face was only a young adult whose size was comparable to a bus.

The nem-wer itself didn’t worry Yuu too much. She was able to defeat it with ease. But those beasts lived close to the top of mountains. The only reason there would be one so low was that stronger predators now existed at the top and the weaker wildlife had no choice but to descend. If it was the case, the chance she would meet stronger creatures while descending was high. What would happen if whatever was at the top was to suddenly go down to where she was…

“Humm. Miss?” It was a small humanoid with a heavy, floppy mushroom atop its head who tried to take Yuu’s attention. It was an ashen blue with some parts that were hardened and cracked because of the cold. “Miss, are you ok? You’re bleeding a lot”

“I won’t die… I’ll take care of that when I find how long we have before it comes back,” Yuu responded while looking at the snowstorm that was forming outside.

“HOW! There’s no way it should be able to follow our track. All that snow…”

Yuu lowered her gaze to this small creature. In its furry arms was the nem-wer’s young that she had kidnapped. “It’s tracking this little one… It won’t be able to find us if it’s dead”

“No no no! You can’t! You promised!”

“I know. I’m only stating the fact. Anyway, you guys need food… You’re all skin and bones…”

Yuu fished out a small metal container from a bag tied to her right side and sat down on the ground. The small being was only a head taller than Yuu like that and in truth, Yuu herself wasn’t the tallest person. She had modeled parts of her body, such as height, to be similar to someone she once loved. Her name was Aysha. A young elf who couldn’t grow that well because of poverty. She died when she was 17 years old but looked a bit younger because of many growth issues. As such, Yuu didn’t look like an adult even if she had seen many stars die in her lifetime. For a spirit, love was more like a curse, and she kept this appearance since then.

Yuu took a few tools that were inside the container and used them to grind a few different dried flowers together. “Can you give me a hand?” She asked the little guy.

“Yes! What do you want me to do? By the way, you can call me Sedudu and this baby is Dedun.”

“I’m Yuu. I have a stack of talismans on my left side. A lot are either broken or unusable. Could you make a pile of those that are mostly intact? There are some which have three blue dots in the bottom right. Most of them work like healing spells. Just tell me if you find one, please.”

“Yes!”

While Sedudu was separating the bloodied or broken talisman, Yuu made herself a sort of bitter brew which she drank, and it had the effect of giving a bit more strength to her tail and restoring parts of her horns.

“Miss Yuu… Why does it seem to me that the others dislike you?”

“…Aren’t you the same? Ho noble one of Rikishi…”

Yuu curtly responded to Sedudu’s question who became awfully quiet as a response. Only his hand clasping at his mushroom-like hat, as if wanting to rip it from his head, made movement.

“But then,” continued Yuu. “They hate me for what I once did. You, they hate you for what your clan did. Don’t let the actions of those who came before you shape your future. If you choose to walk in their steps, then rule your clan with kindness and not greed…”

Sedudu’s race came from living beings who were once under the control of a hivemind. With time, the hivemind allowed them consciousness but each had a role to fulfill. Those who bore a mushroom similar to Sedudu were royalty. They produced spores that infected any living organisms in order to use their corpses to create new kinsmen. This race was almost fully slaughtered because of this: they wanted to invade the world, making their weakened hivemind, which now acted more like a god, proud. They only survived because a method to neuter them was found…

“I… Ha, the talisman. Is this the right one?” Sedudu revealed a strip of paper with only a few drops of blood.

“Yeah. Pass it to me,” she took the talisman, and the paper dissolved in her hand to only leave the ink floating in the air. A warm aura was produced from the strange floating ink and a soft light seeped into Yuu’s side, reforming the flesh as if clay was added to a construct. “The big one is coming. Show me what I have to work with.”

Sedudu presented about ten strips of paper of which Yuu needed to reject half. She was only left with six talismans of various uses. It wasn’t much and she needed to preserve them in case something really bad would happen.

Yuu took a strange metallic cube from her bag and using a bit of magic, transformed it into a large halberd with the dangerous part being bigger than normal. It looked as if someone had simply glued an axe and a gnarly hook to a long spear whose tip was as long as an arm. Equipped with her weapon, she took one last drink from the brew she made herself and left the cave without a word.

This spirit was a mercenary renowned for her talents in easily dispatching her targets but lacked any talent when it came to protecting others. It was at the point that some considered her more like a barbarous assassin than a protector. As such, many were surprised when she received the request of rescuing those villagers, her even more so. But now there was a disturbing feeling as if someone was planning something awful that haunted her.

Her walk became a run as she headed to intercept the gigantic beast. The nem-wer billowed warm clouds of air as it breathed with anger and tiredness seeing the girl, who had killed its young and kidnaped another, coming closer to it. Its large limbs made quick pace of the heavy and deep snow and it was in reach of the girl in an instant.

The beast struck with its large paw and created an upward cascade of snow. Yuu managed to dodge to the side and used the rotation of her body to plunge the hook of her weapon deep into the creature’s eye which the girl used to pull herself up atop its head. She took hold of the large horns in front of her to stabilize her position. Then, she pulled her weapon toward herself, tearing the beast’s eye in the process, until it was free.

The nem-wer fell to its side from the pain and produced a large wave of snow. On impact, Yuu was ejected from its head and the raging wave hurled her upward in the air. She took one of her talismans while still in the air and activated it which produced dark and strong threads in the form of a giant butterfly. Yuu changed the shape of her weapon into a large sword lacking any sharp tip, something closer to a sharp rectangular piece of metal, before landing the best she could on the deep and soft snow.

The strange threads became strong strings that wound themselves around the beast’s body until it couldn’t move anymore. Its head was lifted, baring its strong neck just waiting for the girl’s blade. The many strings were starting to break from the muscular nem-wer that could uproot trees by accident. Thus, Yuu acted quickly by placing her weapon vertically at the animal’s neck, plunging it into the ground, and ready to spill blood.

She lifted the blade upward while pushing in the flesh, it wasn’t near enough to painlessly dispose of this unlucky giant. Thus, she slid it downward, pushing again, in the hope of cutting the blood flow to the brain. But yet again, she wasn’t successful as the strings all broke at once from the desperate nem-wer which pushed the snow with all its strength to escape the girl. Doing so, the girl was caught unprepared and her left arm as well as many chunks of flesh were sent flying by the sharp nails of the nem-wer.

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The confrontation had forced the nem-wer to be facing the tall mountains, its home, as it tried to find the strength to lift itself. Its mind was unable to create any thought, the pain and confusion were wreaking havoc. It tried to breathe, but it wasn’t the cold air it had always loved that entered its large body, but a burning liquid that seeped into its lungs. It exhaled out of reflex, creating a spray of blood followed by a gurgling from the liquid absolute desire to drown the one it ought to serve.

Its limbs trembled and even if fear had taken his mind, reason also existed. It knew it was dying and that there was nothing it could do. There wasn’t pain at first, only lightness. But now the pain was trying to blanket its mind while corrupting the signal going to its every nerve, causing its body to shake and tremble.

In truth, it could now only control the movement of its head. And so, it looked at the mountains in the distance with both adoration and melancholy. The snow falling in his eyes, not even bothering it. It felt parched and pushed its long tongue out of its mouth, tasting the snow, a coldness it would soon be part of. It had accepted its death…

From the corner of its teary and intact eye came the girl, the one at fault for its current state. It was so fast and ugly, but so was life. The beast partook in a small joy seeing the wounded girl, yet it pitied her. Life was to be enjoyed and not live in suffering. And also, the beast could still feel the connection with its last child. It was angry at what she had done, but if it somehow tried to quell its anger by taking revenge upon this girl, then its last kid was likely to also die in those dangerous mountains… And so, it allowed the girl to move closer.

Yuu trod upon the red snow and halted in front of the dying giant. Her hand caressed the side of the animal while looking without fear in its remaining eye with a look filled with both envy and sorrow. “Dedun,” she whispered in the beast’s ear. At first, the beast didn’t understand the girl’s word but there was understanding in her eyes as if they both had something similar, and it understood it was the name its young received.

The two of them didn’t need words to communicate, their eyes said all they needed. ‘A good name. Strong. A good life it will have,’ said the dying parent.

‘Yes, its master will take good care of it,’ responded Yuu.

‘You won’t take him?’

‘No, someone better will.’

‘I see. I’ll trust you. Thank you.’

Yuu reformed her halberd; it was time to end its suffering…

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Yuu came running into the cave, disturbing those resting with her large and scary wound. “Everyone!” She screamed in panic. “Get up! We need to leave! NOW!”

Someone wounded tried to communicate his displeasure after just starting to calm down but in return, Yuu grabbed him by his arm to then throw him violently into the sled.

“Those who can walk, get the sled ready. If you don’t, I’m leaving you all to die. Move! Now!” Yuu commanded the survivor with a threat before leaving the cave into the raging snowstorm.

She had inspected the nem-wer body after killing it and found a mass of shifting flesh on its rear. She instantly casted a spell out of reflex which froze the thing in ice. She knew too well what this thing was and signified and fear was apparent on her tired face.

When the survivor left the cave with the wounded strapped to the simple sled, they saw the girl expending an excessive amount of magic which made their advance hard with how thick the air was filled with it. The girl could use magic herself and didn’t really require the use of talismans. It was simply that the use of them didn’t burden her body as much.

“Ever changing. Ever moving. Ever dying. Ever living. Never the same. Always changing. Muto! Under my divine will, I, Yuu, will bar you any more advance until my powers may run dry!” Yuu screamed while pointing at the mountains above. Her power created a box of divine white light surrounding the mountains from their mid-point to their tops. An impressive feat as it spanned many kilometers on each side.

The snowstorm broke from her power and allowed a better sight of what the girl had locked. Things that shouldn’t exist, things that couldn’t exist. Whatever those things were, they kept changing their shape as if it was as natural as breathing to them but also, they kept changing the laws which governed them. Gravity, light, mass, conservation, and many more, all so simply broken.

Yuu’s action forced them to show themselves from wherever they were hiding, and their voices reverberated as one: “Become us, become we, become I, become them,” It was as if thousands of synthesized voices tried to speak at once with some even resonating directly inside everyone’s mind. “Rule us, rule we, rule I, rule them. Become our ruler, you will be our ruler, you are our ruler. We pray to you. Accept us. Princess of the Gale. Control us. Yuu.”

“SIIILLLEEEENNNCCCEEE!!!” shouted the wounded and tired spirit and so their voices became silent.

Yuu took the reins of the sled and led it toward the mountain foot without looking back. Her vibrant red hair was slowly fading to a tired white followed by her skin cracking and her horns rotting. The box she created was taking a toll on her body and would last three days at most. If she didn’t get far enough during that time, they could simply catch up to her. But if she did manage to escape, she would be able to share with others that the River of Change was coming. Those creatures would then have to take more time before invading the world below...

As the group left, they could hear the word ‘mother’ produced by the unmoving nem-wer. Yuu wasn’t fully able to freeze the moving mass before, but kept pulling the sled, never looking back.

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“STOP MOVING”

“NOOOOO!”

“Get in the bath! You stink. You’ll get sick!”

“Unhand me, woman!”

“What is that way of talking? You sound like an old man.”

“Let go of me. I bath alone!”

“If I had the key for that chain, sure. Just stop complaining, I’m blind. I won’t see your shame.”

“DOESN’T MATTER!”

“If you don’t get in, I’m calling Rouhong, the scary man.”

“He won’t come anyway. You’re ugly and old. You’ll die unmarried and unloved. He doesn’t care about you!”

“…”

“Hum…”

“…”

“I’m getting in. All right?”

“…”

Tsuki entered the water and tried to stay immobile since the dangerous predator in front of her had bad eyesight and couldn’t see her if she didn’t move.

“Sorry…” said Tsuki after nothing happened for some time.

“Why don’t you wash your mouth while you’re at it.”

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