An Eternal Wintre

Prologue

The young girl's mother clutches her pale hand as they run through the rain storm, the creatures closing in. She tries keeping up, her lungs burning, her feet blistered and bloody. "Hurry Anai!" her mother shouts over the howl of the storm and the shouting of the things following them.

Anai keeps running, her hand slowly slipping from her mother's. Just when she felt she'd lose the woman, she's pulled into a dark cave. Water drips somewhere far off deeper in the cave, gently making ripples in a puddle that never is seen.

They both breathe heavily but still their bodies into statues as the stampede of feet and shouts grow closer. Anai's mother presses her against the wall of the cave hard, stones and jagged rock digging into her back. Anai tries her best to stay still, stifling her breathing until her head grows dizzy and her vision blurry.

When the footsteps and voices grow faint and dissipate entirely, her mother lets her go and pulls them both to the cave floor. Cupping her face between gnarled hands, Anai's mother looks firmly into her eyes, "We're going to stay here the night my love. Everything will be alright." With a kiss on the forehead, they lie down; Anai too young to understand and too naïve.

Leaves rustle as a gentle wind rushes through the Rein Forest, tickling Anai's cheek and waking her. Without making a sound, she sits up and rubs at her eyes tiredly. Her body feels oddly cold and she looks over to find her mother gone. No traces are left to say another woman stayed the night. "Mother?" she whispers, fearing they would find her if she spoke any louder. When no answer came, she dared to get up and sticks her head out of the cave.

Everything in the forest was calm and quiet, no animals made any noise -they'd all been gone during the harsh Wintre season, with Spreeng just having come. Anai didn't dare speak as she gingerly steps out of the cave to look around better. Something snaps far off above her and without even realizing it, she's upside down, ensnared in a trap. A rope holds her by the leg and dangles her teasingly above the ground.

Anai starts struggling which seems to only tighten the rope's grip on her ankle even more. She winces quietly and gives up, letting her body slowly swing before stopping. Who would lay a trap in front of a random cave in a cursed forest? She didn't have to wonder before she heard them. Men shouting and loud boots crunching over foliage.

With quick hands of a thief, Anai rubs over her clothes before procuring a hidden knife that she snuck before her mother took her away. Craning her neck at an odd and uncomfortable angle, she stretches to reach the rope around her leg and starts sawing at it with the measly knife.

When the sound of men draws closer, Anai cuts faster, nicking herself in the process. She drops with a hard thud and springs to her feet before running. She didn't care where; she just had to escape from them. If they caught her, they'd kill her.

So Anai continues to run, unaware of the blood running down her leg, dribbling into her wool "shoes". The small girl leaves no trail as she makes it to the river. Voices aren't far off behind her as she splashes into the rushing waters in an attempt to cross to the other bank.

Rapids pull and push Anai, making her journey too difficult to overcome. She's soon swept away, being pulled under and sucked deep into a dark watery depth. Along the way, she hits her head against a stone and falls unconscious.

Blood pools form Anai's cut on her leg as well as the freshly made wound to her head. She lies on a bank far from where she was pulled under, confusion passing through her. With great effort, she sits up, grasping her head and wincing silently. Taking her hand away, it comes away red and sticky. Somehow, Anai can't register the blood loss or trauma she starts slipping into. All she can think of is: Her own mother betrayed her.

The sudden blood loss renders Anai weak and powerless, leaving her exhausted by the time she even drags herself far from the water's edge. Gravity pushes her down and she crashes onto the pebbles, looking up at half of the skies, the other half obscured by trees.

Cocking her head to the side, she noticed something odd about the trees. They seemed as if they were turning white right before her eyes. Was it snowing? She reached a shaky, bloody hand towards them. The curse must be taking its hold of her as darkness takes precedence in the corners of her vision.

The sound of paws padding over stone makes her ears twitch slightly, but she can barely move her head let alone speak. A blur of blue passes across the white scene, blackness around the edges of her vision. As Anai slips into the unknown that is death, she utters words that she never thought she'd have to say with such dire need, "I won't die here."