Beyond the snow
Snow pressed against the child’s face, cold enough to steal thought itself. When they stirred, the world revealed itself in fragments—white sky, broken stone, silence so deep it rang in their ears. Hunger ached beneath their ribs, sharp and constant, grounding them in a body that felt far too small for the place they had fallen into. They pushed themselves upright and saw the village below the slope. Roofs had collapsed inward, streets were buried, and bones lay scattered where people had died without burial or prayer. Rusted armor clung to skeletons, and weapons stood frozen in the ground as if abandoned mid-battle. Moss and pale fungi bloomed freely, feeding on what war had left behind. Above the ruins, carved into the mountainside, loomed a shattered castle. Its towers were broken, its windows dark and hollow, yet it endured, watching over the valley in silence. The child felt its presence long before understanding it, a weight that settled deep in their chest. They took a hesita
About Beyond the snow
Snow pressed against the child’s face, cold enough to steal thought itself. When they stirred, the world revealed itself in fragments—white sky, broken stone, silence so deep it rang in their ears. Hunger ached beneath their ribs, sharp and constant, grounding them in a body that felt far too small for the place they had fallen into. They pushe...Read more