[Chr24] Frozen beliefs

Frozen beliefs 

The forest stood in heavy silence, the air thick with the scent of pine and the crunch of fresh snow under their feet. Mia, Corpse, Psych and Rhys had decided to go for a walk through the forest. Psych, the most excited of the bunch stood at the forefront, eyes wide with wonder, his breath misting in the crisp air, the snow, thick and untouched. The trees towered above them, their branches heavy with a blanket of white, arched high above, weaving together. The ground beneath was a soft, untouched and unbroken, apart from the occasional trail of animal prints weaving through the underbrush. Or were they kaeraa prints fading off into the distance? 

The group walked in silence, Psych often running ahead before circling back to the others. Mia walked slowly, her hands deep in her pockets and a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, trying to shield herself from the frosty air. Corpse walked beside her in a comfortable silence. 

Through the whirling veil of snow, Psych caught a fleeting glimpse—a figure of shimmering light, ethereal and formless. It moved with a grace that defied the chaos of the blizzard, its glow casting fleeting rainbows against the ice. For a moment, it seemed to turn, as if meeting his gaze with an unspoken understanding, and then it dissolved, fading into the storm’s relentless white embrace. 'What was that?' Psych asked, staring up into the horizon. 

'Hm?' Mia looked around, failing to see the wisp disappear into the wind. Psych excitedly ran in the direction of the strange wisp of air, Rhys curiously followed at the same pace, whilst Corpse and Mia trailed behind. 

The group eventually came to a stop, even Psych was silent at the sight in front of him. In a shallow burrow, half-hidden by snow, lay the still form of a woman, her skin slick with the cold, her eyes vacant, yet her body still warm, as if her life had only just slipped away. Beside her, nestled in the curve of her body, was a tiny buck, its fur damp with the remnants of birth. For a long moment, the group stood frozen, grief and awe settling over them like the snowflakes that drifted slowly from the trees above.

'What...' Mia was the first to break the silence. Her eyes darted from the deceased mother to the baby. Her voice was thick with disbelief. The child was small, its eyes wide and glazed, still flickering with a trace of survival. "How is it still breathing?" Her first instinct was to pick the child up, but she stopped herself upon seeing it's appearance. She had never seen a buck like this before. 

'Her death was recent', Corpse muttered, crouching down next to the deceased womans body. What was she doing here? Why would she give birth in a forest so far away from civilisation? What happened? He sighed and stood up, staring at the child with the same puzzled expression as Mia. 

They stood in silence, the weight of the scene pressing down upon them like the heavy snow around them. Eyes flickered from the lifeless woman to the tiny, struggling child, but no words came. Questions swirled in their minds—how was this child still alive? Why had the mother not lived to see her child grow? The forest could not answer their questions, only the cold, still silence, as the snow continued to fall.

Rhys was the first to reach for the bucks small, blue-tinged fur with a hesitant hand. The fur was wrong—unnaturally so. It shimmered like moonlight on water, a faint, ethereal glow that didn’t belong in this cold, hard world. "It’s... strange. The coat is wrong. It’s too blue, almost like it was touched by magic."

'Can we keep it?' Psych asked, enthusiasm in his tone. Mia and Corpse glanced at each other, and then the icy blue child still settled on the ground. 'Psych...' Mia started, hesitation in her tone.

There was another stretch of silence, the group uncertain. The wind howled through the branches, sending shivers through the group. 'It's not right,' Mia spoke up again, shaking her head. 'This creature... it’s not natural. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.'

'Well yeah' Rhys murmured, his voice full of wonder, 'maybe it's something special'. He reached forward again, his fingers brushing the bucks fur. It squirmed weakly, and for a moment, his eyes softened. 'If the spirits meant it to survive, shouldn’t we help it? It’s just a child. A life.'

'It’s not just a child!,' Mia snapped, her voice sharp. 'It’s a thing out of place. Out of balance. If the spirits intervened here, there’s a reason. We don’t know what that reason is. We could be bringing something dangerous into our home!'

'But how can we leave it to die? It’s just a baby!' Psych yelled. 

'Just a baby?' Mia's voice turned cold, her eyes narrowing. 'This could be a trap for all we know!' 

They all fell silent, the weight of her words hanging between them like a fog. The bucks tiny, fragile body trembled in the snow. It made another weak sound, a pitiful squeak, as if calling for its mother. Corpse let out a long breath and finally stepped back, running a hand through his dark hair. ‘I don’t like this. But I can’t ignore it either.’

Mia exhaled, a long, resigned sound. She glanced at the child once more, her eyes full of wariness. 'Fine. We take it with us. But we watch it. Closely. If it shows signs of trouble—if something shifts—it’s out'

'Agreed,' Corpse muttered, though his tone was far from convinced.

Rhys smiled softly, a flicker of hope in his eyes as he scooped the small creature into her arms. The baby weakly nuzzled against him, its strange blue fur still glowing faintly under the pale winter sun.