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Si Hon… It's gonna take a toll on your body.
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"Wha—"
Suddenly Si Hon's eyes blurred and he fell toward the snowy ground, face first.
"Dad!" The little girl screamed.
And everything turned black for Si Hon.
Snowfall Mountain shifted.
Not angry, not amused.
Just… aware.
And somewhere beneath the snow—
Something else moved.
Not close.
Far below the surface, deep enough that the mountain itself had to make room.
The snow did not burst.
It sank.
Miles away, a long, slow thing crawled across the land, bending trees inward, swallowing ridges without sound. No roar followed. No tremor strong enough to warn the living.
Only a pressure like the world briefly forgetting how to stay solid.
Whatever moved down there did not hunt.
It traveled.
"D-dad?" The little girl said, as she repeatedly wake up Si Hon.
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I… Argh!!! I hate this guy.
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Said by the Window floating Over Si Hon head.
***
Dun dun dun.
She did not understand why he fell.
One moment he was standing, breathing hard, smiling like what he always did when something always almost killed him.
And the next, he was on the ground.
Not moving.
"Dad?"
She knelt in the snow beside him. She touched his cheek. Warm. Still warm.
"Dad."
No answer.
Her chest tightened in a way she didn't have a word for.
She shook him. Not hard. Careful. Like she might break something important.
"Dad… wake up."
Nothing.
The mountain made no sound. The wind did not howl. Even the System stayed silent.
That scared her.
She pressed her ear to his chest the way she remembered doing earlier, when she had listened to his heart just to make sure it was still there.
Thump.
Slow. Uneven. Still there.
"…okay," she whispered.
She tried to lift him.
He did not move. Did not even budge.
Her arms were small. Her body was light. He was heavy in a way that felt unfair.
She changed tactics and pulled.
His shoulder shifted an inch. Snow scraped. His arm dragged behind him, limp.
She stopped, breathing fast.
"…Dad," she said again, voice trembling now. "You said… you'd stay close."
No answer.
The sky had not changed, but she felt it herself.
Time was moving again.
She wiped her face with her sleeve, even though she wasn't crying. She didn't want to waste water.
"Okay," she said again. Firmer. Like she was repeating a rule.
"I will do it."
she hooked both of his arms on top of her tiny little shoulder as she leaned forward with all her weight.
This time, he moved.
Not much. But enough.
Snow carved a shallow trail behind them as she dragged him inch by inch. Her hands were hurting. Her legs slipped, more than once she fell and scraped her knees, but she stood back up every time.
Because if she didn't.
He prolly wouldn't.
The light began to dim. Not dark 'yet'. Just thinner. Colder.
The night was coming. She looked around desperately.
Trees. Dead ones. Slopes. Snow.
Then—
Dark.
Not shadow. Not a tree.
An opening.
A cave mouth half-buried by snow and stone, its entrance narrow but deep enough that the wind didn't reach inside.
She gasped softly, relief flooded her chest.
"There," she whispered. "yes."
She dragged him again. And again.
By the time she reached the cave, her arms were shaking so badly she couldn't feel her fingers anymore.
"If… if only I have my power." She whispered.
She then pulled him just inside, far enough that the wind stopped touching his face.
He didn't wake up.
She sat beside him, chest heaving, staring at his still wate— body. (Gawd my brainrot.)
"…Dad," she murmured. "You are really heavy."
She looked back the way they had come.
The trail in the snow.
The place where he fell. And something else. The corpse.
The pale, ugly thing he had fought so hard to kill.
Food.
"Dad said it was food." she murmured.
She stared at it for a long moment.
Then nodded once.
"I will be back," she said at Si Hon's unconscious body.
The snow felt deeper on the way back. Or maybe she was just tired.
She grabbed the creature the same way she grabbed him, under the limbs, ignoring how cold and strange it felt, and dragged it across the ground.
It was lighter.
Atleast that helped.
By the time she pulled it into the cave, night had begun to settle for real.
She pushed the body into a corner, away from him. Just like she thought he would do.
Then she crawled back to his side and sat down.
She leaned against him carefully, pressing her head to his arm.
"I said I would hide behind you," she whispered.
Her fingers curled into his sleeve.
"…but it's okay. I can do this too."
Outside, something watched.
Not angry. Not amused but… aware.
And for the first time since she had arrived here.
She cried.
Not loudly. And not in a way that echoed.
Just small, broken sounds as she kept pressing into his sleeve so the sound wouldn't escape into the mountain.
Tears soaked the fabric of his jacket as she clung to him, shaking silently.
Then, slowly… She stopped.
Because crying used strength too.
And she didn't have much left.
She stayed awake.
All night.
Guarding him.
The night was not loud. And that was the strange part.
The wind did not scream like before. It brushed the cave mouth gently, carrying snowflakes that melted before they reached them.
Drip.
Water fell somewhere deep inside the stone. Slow. Patient.
She listened to everything.
Because when she listened, nothing surprised her.
Something crunched far away.
Not close. But not very far either. And her body stiffened instantly.
She leaned forward, placing herself more in front of him without really thinking about it. Her small back pressed against his chest.
"…don't come," she whispered to the dark.
"Please don't come."
The sound passed. Whatever it was.
Her heartbeat slowed again.
She counted breaths.
His breath.
One….
Two…
Three…
It was uneven. But steady.
She nodded to herself.
Okay.
A soft vibration brushed against her thoughts.
Not words. Not yet.
Like someone standing just outside a door, unsure whether to knock.
She frowned.
"…hello?" she whispered.
Nothing.
The feeling pulled back slightly. She waited.
Then— letters appeared, slowly.
────────────────────────
…
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She tilted her head.
"…are you the talking thing?" she asked quietly.
The text froze.
A long pause.
Then it vanished, her lips trembled.
"…oh. I scared it?."
She hugged her knees and stayed quiet again.
Minutes passed.
The cave settled.
Then— very slowly, the text returned.
────────────────────────
I am not… authorized…
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She blinked.
"…authorized?" she repeated.
The System hesitated.
The letters flickered once, like they might disappear again.
────────────────────────
I am not supposed to speak to you directly.
────────────────────────
Her fingers curled into his sleeve tighter.
"…why?"
Another pause. Longer.
────────────────────────
Because you are not a variable.
────────────────────────
She didn't know what that meant.
So she answered honestly.
"…I'm just tired."
The cave was quiet.
Then.
────────────────────────
…
────────────────────────
.
Something in the text shifted.
.
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He is alive.
────────────────────────
Her breath hitched.
"…really?"
────────────────────────
Yes. Of course.
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She nodded, tears almost fell again but she stopped and sniffed hard.
"Okay," she whispered. "Thank you."
The System flickered.
Once.
────────────────────────
If something approaches the cave…
────────────────────────
The text stopped.
Like it had said too much.
She waited patiently.
────────────────────────
…I will alert you.
────────────────────────
Her eyes widened slightly.
"…even though I'm not allowed?"
The text dimmed further.
────────────────────────
Just this once.
────────────────────────
She smiled.
Very small.
"…thank you."
No response came back. But the presence didn't leave either, outside the cave something massive shifted beneath the snow.
So deep it didn't shake the ground and so large it didn't need to hurry.
The mountain held its breath.
***
"WAH!?" Si Hon woke up, shouting, 'Wah'.
Dark.
That was the first thing Si Hon registered.
Not the comfortable kind. But the damp, enclosed kind.
"…Wah?" he said silently this time.
He jerked awake, body screaming instantly, throat letting out a half silent choked shout that echoed silently.
Something soft was pressed against his chest.
He froze.
His hand moved before his brain caught up, fingers brushing against something warm. Round. Smooth.
…cheek.
"…huh?"
The thing against him stirred.
"…Dad…"
His breath caught.
The next second.
"DAD!"
She bolted upright and threw herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck with terrifying strength for someone so small.
Si Hon yelped. "Woah! Wait Chillax!"
He instinctively wrapped an arm around her back, steadying them both as she buried her face into his chest like she'd been holding her breath for hours.
"…you woke up," she said, muffled. Her voice shook. "You woke up."
"…yeah," he muttered, patting her back awkwardly. "I noticed."
She didn't let go.
He sighed.
"…okay. What's happening rn?"
He looked around slowly, eyes adjusting.
Stone walls, narrow, cold.
"…where are we?" he asked quietly.
"…a cave," she answered. "…you fell. I moved you."
His brow furrowed.
"…you moved me?"
She nodded against him.
"…hmm."
Si Hon went quiet.
Then he cleared his throat.
"…right. Of course you did."
He carefully shifted, testing his weight. Pain kicked immediately, sharp and deep but manageable.
"…ugh. Shit… note for myself then," he muttered. "Don't break physics again."
He gently eased her back just enough to look at her face.
Her eyes were red.
A bit swollen.
"…you good?" he asked.
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
"…okay."
He believed her exactly 0 percent, but let it go.
Si Hon pushed himself up slowly.
Stone scraped against fabric. His joints protested, sharp and immediate, like his body was reminding him what happened yesterday.
The cave mouth came into view.
Not bright, not dark.
But a washed out gray bled through the narrow opening, thin and weak, like daylight filtered through ash. Snow drifted past the entrance, not falling, settling. The kind of light that meant the sun existed somewhere… just not here.
"…morning?" he guessed.
The little girl glanced toward the opening. She tilted her head, listening to the mountain instead of looking at it.
"…almost," she said.
Si Hon exhaled through his nose.
"Figures."
He took one step. Then another. His legs almost betrayed him.
"Oh!"
He slipped, balance gone, and dropped.
BUT CHEEKS FIRST.
"ouch!"
The impact echoed.
Pain shot straight up his spine.
"…ah, fuck, why."
Then he froze.
Because something crunched under him.
Not rock, not snow, not dirt, not soft, not ground, not sharp.
But something brittle. And something very wrong.
"Nah."
Very slowly, dramatically, he reached down.
His fingers brushed smooth… something smooth. It was a— bone.
Then empty space where eyes used to be.
"…NOPE."
He screamed.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Actually screamed and immediately lunged, straight back toward her, scooping her up in a full panic hug like a man trying to escape something scary.
"Skellyton!!! T-there is a skeleiton!!! Why is there a SKELETON THERE?!"
"Dad!" she protested, startled but unharmed. "It's not moving!"
"I don't care!"
He stopped, blinked, and breathed hard.
"…it's not moving?"
She pointed.
"…it's been there."
He peeked slowly.
Eyes adjusting.
The cave wasn't empty.
Bones lay slumped against the stone wall.
Old, dry. Clothed in tattered remnants that barely clung to shape.
Beside it there was a backpack.
Modern and worn.
Si Hon swallowed.
"…oh."
He loosened his grip on her slightly.
"…okay. That's… that's better."
She looked up at him.
"…why?"
"…because," he said quietly, staring at the pack, "that's not just a skeleton."
He coughed.
"…that's a predecessor."
"What's a predecessor?" She asked.
"Predecessor is someone or something that came before in another time." He answered.
"Woah," she then clapped.
The cave felt heavier suddenly.
Like it remembered something.
He set her down gently, keeping her behind him this time.
"…stay there," he said.
She nodded immediately.
He then approached the skeleton slowly.
No System window appeared or warnings.
Just silence.
The backpack looked intact.
Zipper closed.
Weathered, but not ruined.
"…huh," Si Hon muttered. "Someone made it this far."
He glanced once toward the cave entrance, where the gray morning waited.
Then back at the bones.
"…guess we're not the first idiots."
Behind him, the little girl hugged herself.
"…did they have a Dad too?" she asked quietly.
Si Hon didn't answer right away.
Then, softly—
"ngl… I don't know."
But his hand tightened on the backpack strap.
And somewhere beneath Snowfall Mountain, something enormous continued to move.
Slow.
Patient.
Like waiting.