Marse walks around the cabin, wrapped in a blanket, gathering food to eat from the cabinets. With the kitchen back in a mess again, he sits in front of the fire, warming himself up while eating. He then starts to throw twigs softly into the fire, making it grow and lighting up the cabin more.
Don gasps for air; his breathing is raspy. He tries to breathe in, but he clenches his chest in pain. Though it hurts, he slowly gets up, coughing, kneeling in the snow as he looks up to the moon shining through the dense clouds. The Owl now resting on his shoulders is covered in fluffy snow and watches him struggle; not being able to help it, just sits. Don's face is a sheet of ice, almost frozen solid, and from his breathing, he starts coughing blood on his coat.
"Bleh!" Marse spits out the food and wipes his sleeve over his face.
Marse huddles up, grabs a bigger branch, and with his anger, he snaps it in half and throws it into the fire with force, slowly making the fire bigger. The fire radiates its warmth onto Marse, giving off his shadow on the wall. Looking deep into the fire, his eyes are in a trance by the way it moves and sways.
Don slowly gets up while his legs shake and his mouth coughs up blood, staining the white pure snow. On the mountainside at a steep angle, he hides from the deadly weather. Catching his breath, he rests his hands on his knees to gain leverage. With all his strength, he pushes up to stand tall. But suddenly, throughout his entire body, he gets a tingling sensation. Looking down, in distraught lies his right arm on top of the snow in a blackish purple color, which fell through his sleeve.
Marse, still in a trance, looks over at a certain contraption on the wall hanging above the top of the front door. The device has four dials on its circular body, with each resembling a word or picture engraved on it. The circular body has four different rings inside, with each getting smaller in size. The first ring on the very outside has sixty tick marks. The second has sixty, but the third only has twenty-four. The last in the dead center one only has two ticks, both pictures resembling an animal. The one on top depicts a large bird with its wings opened up, while the bird on the bottom is inverted with its wings closed. Its biggest hand points to the outer circle near the right side, while the second biggest moves much faster around in the circle. The third is much slower, moving almost stationary, pointing to a tick mark at the top, while the last lies still at the bottom of the picture of the bird.
Marse snarls and looks back at the fire. He grabs a big log and rips it in half from his anger, and throws it into the fire.
Don rises again after his arm snapped off and begins to walk.
"Fine! If you don't want me so bad, I guess...I guess you picked the wrong man to mess with."
He begins a slow walk, which then turns into a hop, the hop then turns into a slow jog, which turns into a sprint. Don is now running against the harsh winds while having the owl rest on his right shoulder.
With his eyes frozen shut, with nothing but his will to keep him running. His whole face is now turned bright pink from the pelting snow, and frost begins to form on his face. His fingers on his left hand begin to fall off one by one, not even leaving behind blood. The Owl looks at Don and flies off of him for a moment.
Fluttering above him, Don stops. His body slumps back down to the ground again. The owl lands on him, and now Don's face is fully frozen with his body as hard as stone.
The owl pecks his head really hard, and his hood falls, revealing his pitch-black hair. Time passes, and then unexpectedly, Don's hair begins to turn white, starting from the top and seeping down, giving off a warm glow. Soon, his hair turns white, radiating a white glow off into the night.
With his body so hot, steam begins to radiate off his body, warming the surrounding area. The snow begins to steam and melt where he steps, leaving behind puddles of water, which quickly refreeze again. Don's Face begins to steam, instantly his clothes catch on in ablaze, torching most of them. The owl quickly flies away from him again. Trying to get away, the owl is met with a shock wave, which sends it off its course.
The owl looks back and sees Don now shirtless, radiating warmth from his body with the white strands of hair swaying slowly while standing up. He lunges down and bursts off up the mountain. Don moves through the wind with ease, now tackling the mountain quicker than ever. With each step, his feet sink into the snow, warming it up and melting it.
The owl looks up at the moon and notices that it's about overhead. In a flurry, it dives back down the side of the mountain, gaining more speed the further down it goes.
Thereafter, his pushing and relentlessness, he reaches the peak. The winds here are strong enough to slice a person in pieces, and the snow is colder than the bottom of hell.
He sees a little light emitting in the distance. He walks closer to investigate. The closer he gets, the winds lessen and the snow lessens. Soon enough, it ceases. Finally, the winds are at peace, and a stillness sets in around him while looking at the light in front of him.
Marse, standing on his tippy toes, is looking out at a window, looking up at the moon, which is trying to peek through the dense clouds.
"Will he come back for me?" he wonders.
Marse looks back at the living room, which is empty, and starts to worry. His worryness then turns into sadness, and he begins to weep next to the fire.
Don creeps closer to the light, and the closer he gets, a strange sound emits from the light. The sound of whimpering becomes louder and louder, and the cries start to become louder. Don now stands over the light and kneels to get closer.
A white little ball of light resides on the top of the mountain, perched on a little rock. The light cradles itself, holding itself tight while crying out. The ball of light's tears scroll down his body, evaporating from the heat of itself.
Curious as to what this little creature could even be. His left hand reaches out, and he tries to touch it with the only finger he has left. He stops himself as soon as he is about to touch it, frozen in place he faints.
A cold breeze grazes the back of Don's neck, giving chills down his body. Looking around himself, all he can see is a vast plain of snow untouched by man or animal. Tall evergreens stand in the distance, but there is no sign of any life. The snow slowly drifts down as if the clouds were at a standstill. Standing on top of this hill with nothing that his eyes can see, he starts to hear multiple voices coming from down the valley. Giggling followed by laughter, in an instant, two young girls bolt past him as if he wasn't there. Throwing snowballs at one another, they dance around him. They wear thick white fur cloaks, with their heads covered by their tall hoods. They stop throwing snowballs at each other, and they split off, still playing in the snow.
Trying to gain their attention, he waves at them, but no acknowledgment from either. "Hey"! Don shouts impatiently at them, but they keep dodging the call and play. Annoyed, Don walks up to one of the girls who is stomping in the snow. She wears a coat that grazes the top of the snow, with delicate decorations and ornaments. As he reaches for the girl's shoulder to acknowledge her, a strange feeling crawls down his back. He backs off but then quickly swipes his hand across her.
His hand touched nothing. He tries again, but his hand just fades through the girl, as if he is trying to touch fog. Looking down at his feet, he becomes entrenched in surprise. He looks back from where he came and quickly looks back. He starts jumping around in the snow, trying to kick the snow around.
"What in the far side is this"? "I have no tracks"! He screams, shaking the air around him.
As fast as it can, the owl dives down into the foliage of the trees into a clearing. Circling the lit cabin from above, it swoops down to the opened door at full speed. Right when it reaches, the light coming from inside the door smacks shut.
Wham!
"What in the..." Startled, Marse quickly opens the door again, only to see an owl barely conscious on the porch, twitching. Gathering a blanket, Marse wraps the owl, setting it near the cozy fire. Marse sits next to the owl, both watching the fire, and he begins to pet the owl.
"Don't worry, little guy, my friend will be back in no time. "He will fix you right up," he says while stroking the feathers gently.
Enjoying its treatment, the owl slowly closes its eyes to each soft and caring pet, almost like it's being put in a trance. Falling almost asleep, its eyes shoot open, it sporadically gets out of the blanket. "What's wrong, what's wrong!" Marse shouts, trying to get the bird to calm down. The owl dashes up and smacks into the ceiling. In chaos, the owl flies around the cabin, knocking over various items while Marse tries to catch it. The owl turns sharply and flutters down a hallway. Trying to catch his breath, Marse runs after it.
In his dash, he quickly comes to a halt upon seeing the owl standing right in front of Don's room.
"He's not here, sorry to disappoint you. I know it's late, but he should be back later." The owl looks up at Marse and pecks the door with force. "Why do you want to go in? Wait...you know Don?"
In a stale air silence, the owl looks back at the door, but instead of being harsh with the door, it rubs its head gently on the soft but rough wood, almost bowing down to it. Marse opens the door ever so slightly, revealing the room to the owl.
"Funny enough, this is only my second time ever in here. The last time I was here was when I was a baby. All I could remember about the room where the wooden carvings hanging from the ceiling."
Both look and gaze around the room, in a state of peace. Marse looks at a small painting of a rather large house inside the frame on a bookshelf. "Don always said to me that this world is more to which meets the eyes of those who have lived and will ever live...I guess I'm starting to understand him more now."
The owl flies up to a chest tucked into a corner with a lock on it, starting to peck the lock. Marse comes over. "Here, I'll open it for you."
Dust flies out with cobwebs all around, making him cough. The owl lands on his shoulder, with both looking down into the chest. There, dead center in the wooden chest, is a single envelope. Picking it up to examine it, he blows off the dust and flips it over. "What is this?" Marse turns to the owl, and it leans forward and opens its mouth to grab it. The owl flies out of the room, turning right to the living room. Before Marse gets up, he looks around the room one last time. Returning to the hall, he turns off the light and closes the door.
Waiting patiently before the door to the outside is the owl with the envelope till in its beak. "It's too cold out, you might as well stay, Don says it's dangerous at night," he says while opening the door. The owl looks at Marse and flies to the porch's balcony. "Is he ok?" he asks. Looking back, monetarily, their eyes lock, though the owl files away.
Looking up at the owl flying away, he bites his lip.
"Wait!"
The child exclaims suddenly. He rushes back inside, returning moments later with a cloak and gloves. The owl hovers in the air, waiting patiently. Marse shouts while throwing the cloak on. "Ok, let us go!"
Wind blows Don's hair in a gust from behind him, making him put his hood over his head. Bored and frustrated, he tries to grab snow on the ground while watching the two kids run around. In a panic, he starts to jump around, kicking all over the hillside. He screams at the girls, but they go about their business. In defeat, he slumps back down on the snow, lying down flat. "I'm going to go insane here...maybe I'm already insane," he says to himself.
"Claire, Claire! Where are you going?" One of the kids shouts.
Don peeks up his head to see what is going on, he sees one of the girls jogging away from the other. "Wait up for me!" the girl says. With a quiet sigh, he lays his head back, and he rests for a moment. "Finally, some quiet."
In an instant, the scenery changes around him.
Jolted up by force, Don now stands in the evergreen forest, surrounded by nothing but trees around him. "Huh!" he exclaims, spinning around in confusion. Looking into the distance, he sees only a dark eeriness from afar. The sound of snow crunching in front of him becomes louder and louder. Just as he braces himself, one of the young girls jogs past him. He looks at the girl in confusion, as he stands still, the voice of the other little girl appears.
"Wait...Claire, stop." The little girl stops for a moment to catch her breath. Leaning on a tree, she folds down her hood.
She has a pale face with red cheeks and hair as bright as the moon, which comes down to her neck, with a thread of crystal that twists and glimmers. Her eyes are like crystals that shine from within. She adjusts her hair, and two fluffy ears pop out from the sides but quickly go back in, hidden by her white hair.
Looking around the forest, she saw no sign of her sister. She called out to her, but still no answer. Now looking worried, she frantically runs around trying to find her. Screaming out of her name while running around, she becomes scared, tears start to run down her face. Her breathing becomes rapid while leaning her back on a tree to rest for a moment. The forest begins to darken. An empty void now consumes the trees she sees from afar. The Darkness drifts closer to the girl, swallowing everything around her. She begins to run away as fast as she can. Looking back, she sees that as the draw nears, she screams even louder, waking up the birds. Not paying attention to what's in front of her, she hits something soft but sturdy.
"Arani!"
The girl's head looks up. There in front of her stands a man tall and burly. His eyes are orange with short, grey, wispy hair. The man wears a white all white suit with pendents all around and a black fur cloak around himself.
"What are you doing here?! You had me and your mother worried!"
Arani begins to cry hysterically, hugging his leg. In relief, he pats her head. Lifting his head back up, he scans the surrounding area. Kneeling to Arani, he hugs her and kisses her on the forehead.
"Arani, I need you to tell me where Claire went. Where was the last place you saw her?"
"The last time I saw her was in the forest, she was running away from me. She didn't even tell me where she was going; she just went." The father looks at her, confused. Thinking, he stands up, looking around again.
"Arani, I need you to be brave for me. Mom is still home, and I can't leave you here; you'll come with me looking for her, is that ok?" She nods her head up and down.
"Good, the snow isn't falling too much, so her tracks are still visible, but we're running out of time." He kneels down to her. "Here, hop onto my back." She grabs his back and climbs on as he lifts her up. "It will get fast. Wrap your hands around my neck. I'll hold you."
"Okay," she whispers.
"Ready, one...two...three!"
In an instant, the father rushes far into the snowy terrain.
Watching while slumped on a tree, Don raises an eyebrow. "This is getting pretty interesting," he remarks. "I wonder where I'll end up next."
The owl screeches from above the trees in a flash, Marse runs, keeping pace beneath it. Marse now holds the envelope in his hand, making sure his grip doesn't leave it. Maneuvering the forest, Marse jumps over frozen creeks, falling over logs, and boulders. Looking up in the air to see the owl-but it's gone.
"Where did you go?" he mutters.
Just in that instant, the owl swoops down, perching itself on his right shoulder. He looks over at the owl, staring directly into its eyes. The owl moves its head to the right.
"To the right, you want me to go that way?"
The owl nods.
Marse hesitates. "But...that's the direction of the mountain. Is Don there?"
The owl nods again. Flying off his shoulder, the owl goes back into the sky.
"What a strange bird." Marse looks up, seeing the clouds that form around the mountain.
"Don said never to go there."
His hand begin to tremble while holding the envelope. Tightening his grip, he stops shaking. Without another thought, he sprints off chasing the owl.
Arani and her father look toward the ground and notice small tracks from shoes. The tracks wind up going toward a large tree. Instead of stopping there, the tree is toppled over, dented, with bark scattered all over the place in the direction where the footprint continue.
"Arani, do you recall how fast Claire was going?" the father asks.
"She wasn't going fast at all, just a normal jog," Arani replies.
The father looks puzzled-and so does Don as they both look at it.
"That's one strong girl," Don comments as he looks over at the two, acting like they can hear him. "I'm no genius, but after seeing this, I can definitely tell the two of you that she is unde-"
"She's under a spell," the father says, cutting in.
Don grins. "Ah, taking the words right out of my mouth now, I see."
The father looks onward. "Brace Arani." The two bolt off again following the path of destruction from Claire. Don takes one look at the tree again before the scenery changes again. "I wonder how this is going to end."
The scenery changes before him now in a more open area where no trees grow, only snow-covered ground stretching in every direction. Looking around, trying to find the two, he finds himself behind Claire, who is standing still in the opening.
Just in that second, the father comes rushing in. He skids to a halt at the sight of Claire making the snow spray all around him. Don watches as the two slowly walk up to the girl. The father touches her shoulder and turns her around. Her eyes are closed with frost on her eyelashes, motionless, and he shakes her, pulling down her hood. Claire has white hair, the same as her sister's.
"Claire, can you hear me?
Arani peeks over her dad's shoulder with a worried look on her face. Her father tries to wake Claire, but to no avail.
The scenery dims around Don as the father still tries to wake the girl. The voices become unintelligible as they fade out into silence.
Don stands alone in a pit of darkness. "Don't bring her back," he whispers to himself.
Now standing in front of a rather large two-story cabin, he looks at his feet in defeat as the father brings the two girls inside. Maids and butlers surround the two girls, giving them both blankets and carrying them inside. Don walks over to the front and sits on the front steps of the cabin as he hears the commotion go on inside.
"They snuck out?!" one of the butlers exclaimed. "How did they sneak out?!" he says in frustration.
The Butler is a skinnier older man with facial hair, shorter than the father. He wears a suit and tie in only white and grey. His left eye is grey with a scar running through it down to his mouth. His voice is raspy and deep, making each word he says have more meaning.
"It's okay, don't fret over it, they're girls for crying out loud-they're allowed to explore," the father says calmly.
He turned his gaze across the living room, where Claire lay curled on the sofa, wrapped in blankets near the gentle flicker of the fireplace. Arani creeps down the stairs, peeking around the banister, trying to hear what was going on without being seen.
"Were you followed?" the butler asks.
"I felt no presence on my way to and from, but someone definitely did this; this wasn't sleepwalking," he says while looking outside.
Out of nowhere, a little voice appears. "Father?" Claire's eyes are now open, drifting unfocused across the room.
"Claire! He rushes over to her side. "Sweety, are you ok?" Placing his hand on her head, he quickly takes it off. "Moss, I need cold towels. She's burning like crazy."
Moss runs to the back of the cabin in a hurry, scrambling for materials. The father picks her up, taking her away from the fireplace into a colder corner of the cabin, with only the moonlight peeking in. He sets her on a chair at a table.
"You're ok now, sweety, daddy just needs to know what happened to you so we can help you."
Struggling to speak, she answers. "I...I saw a butterfly outside, so I decided to follow it. I went into the forest with Arani, but then I lost her, and then... I saw it."
Her father leaned in. "Saw what? What did you see?"
Her eyes light up with fear in the moonlight. Her lips begin to tremble, and her eyes water up, and tears come from her eyes. Trying to speak, she cries more. Slowly, her trembling arm raises from the bed sheet, and her finger points to something behind her father.
"It's right there."
Her father slowly turns around, the air becomes thin, and the silence becomes deafening. The fireplace blows out in an instant. His eyes meet the window where a pair of eyes glow from the bottom of the window. Two silhouettes stood motionless on the porch. One figure stood at eye level, its face just inches from the glass, watching with only the top half of its face to be seen. The other loomed behind it, a muscular man so tall that only the bottom of his chin, bathed in moonlight, could be seen through the window.
Neither one blinked. Neither one moved.
The father felt the weight of his chest sink into him.
Marse now stands at the foot of the mountain, looking up to the peak. Clenching the envelope in his hand, he begins to walk the treacherous path ahead.