Book 2: The Mysteries of Winter

Chapter 1: The Angel of Winter

A young twenty-year-old Airis was walking alone in the middle of the forests of Russia admiring the beauty of the snow as it fell from the sky. She took a deep breath and sighed, a cloud of freezing breath forming over the calming peace of winter. This was what she loved the most about her job. Watching the snow as it danced to the waltz of the ever changing seasons only to fall so gracefully down to earth. Her long silvery greyish hair was hidden beneath the thick fur rimmed hood of her shawl. She wore a lavender dress with snow hare fur around the edges of her sleeves, and all along the bottom rim of her dress. Her dress was made for the bitter cold of the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal, but the cold chills of winter never bothered her.

Airis's pale peach colored skin was flawless like polished porcelain; her eyes were a beautiful vibrant electric blue and pulsating with peace and harmony. Even though her age was, only an illusion she enjoyed feeling young and the freedom it brings. She was humming to herself as she walked all alone along the very top of the two-foot deep inch snow; leaving no footprints behind. Birds were following her and were chirping along as she hummed her little song. Besides the birds that called this part of Russia's vast northern region home, the forest was silent of all other animals only the occasional moose track was seen within the snow.

After an hour of walking upon the snow she stopped, planning to practice her throw against the Snowball Kings of the Himalayas formally known as the Yeti's; to whom she can never seem to beat in a snowball fight. She made a snowball appear out of thin air in the palm of her right hand and then blew an icy wind over it freezing it solid, aimed, and threw it at a nearby snow drift where there was a small dead tree; except that tree wasn't a tree...it was a man. Airis blinked in shock when a tree branch crown suddenly came tumbling down the snowdrift as a man yelled in shock and stood up.

"OWWW!!! Hey who's tae bloomin' jokester who threw tha---that?"

The man stuttered over his words at the end of his sentence when he turned around and found himself staring down at a very beautiful woman at the bottom of the snowdrift. Airis looked up at him beneath the shadows of her hood and slowly removed her hood to reveal her face. Her long silvery grey hair flowed elegantly over her shoulders. Lightening was pulsating through her hair while her electric blue eyes were shockingly beautiful leaving the man utterly speechless. She was holding his tree branch crown in her hands and quickly ran up to him. The man blinked in shock when he noticed she was walking on top of the snow leaving no footprints behind whereas his feet sunk just five inches into the partly hardened snow. He was eye level with her when she stopped a good thirty inches away from him. She looked up to gaze at him before speaking with a slight sophisticated accent.

"I am so sorry! I thought you were a---a..." She stuttered slightly and gulped as she fought down the blush creeping up to her cheeks when she saw his eyes gleaming like emerald gemstones. "A tree..."

Airis found herself staring in shock as she gazed into the emerald green coal colored eyes of a twenty-year-old man dressed in a Russian fur suit. He had two curved Russian swords and a strange gem covered staff strapped to his back. He had a creamy ivory colored skin tone and long snow-white hair that went a little bit past his shoulder blades. His face looked like it was carved out of stone; he had a strong jawline, chiseled chin, and high cheekbones. Airis instantly blushed before ducking her head and gained her composer before she looked up and spoke.

"Again a thousand apologies I didn't see you there...I-I believe this is yours?"

"Aye yes et es, thank ya very much for returnin' et."

Airis tried to match the dialect of his voice, but she was torn between a Scottish accent, or was it maybe Russian? Needless to say, he had an accent. The man smiled as he took the crown and placed it back on his head. The base of the crown was embroidered with brown bear fur. The man smiled kindly at her making her blush a faint pink. She noticed how his smile had seem to make the birds sing around them. As Airis spoke, her face was still a light pink.