The Big Snow

“Onii-chan! Onii-chan!!”

…Huh? Sora? Now? Where am I? Am I dead?
Sorry, Sora…

“Onii-chan!!”

“Uh—huh!” I jolted awake as something ice-cold poured over me.

I sat up and saw Sora right beside me… and with her, a girl about a year younger than Sora and a boy maybe two years older than me.

As soon as I sat up, Sora threw her arms around me and sobbed, “Onii-chan! You’re finally awake… I… I thought… you’d never open your eyes again…”

I managed a tired smile and patted her head.

She clung to me even harder, crying like a child. “Onii-chan! I was so scared!”

“Hey, Sora. Don’t cry. I’m awake, right? See? Didn’t I promise?”

At those words she started crying even harder, hugging me tighter and tighter.

“Ah—ah! Sora, careful. My body still hurts—”
“Uhh—woops!”

She instantly let go and closed her eyes, whispering, “Sorry, Onii-chan… I didn’t realize.”

I ruffled her hair softly. “Ahh, it’s okay, don’t worry. But… who are these two?”

“Oh. I met them while running from there,” she said quickly. “I found them after crossing a long distance. I told them about you, Onii-chan. Then they came here with me. They tied your cut hand with cloth and stopped the bleeding in the other areas.”

I looked at them and said quietly, “Thank you… for saving my life.”
Then I nodded my head.

The girl stepped forward a little and said, “Don’t worry about it. But… to think—you actually killed a Nanananggal? They’re not supposed to die without salt or fire…”

“Oh… about that…” I scratched my head. “I really don’t know myself… I wasn’t thinking straight when I did that…”

…No way I’m telling them I tore it apart with my teeth…

“I see,” the girl said slowly. “But still… that Nanananggal’s condition was even worse than yours…”

“Haha… I guess my brute strength is more than I thought… hahaha…”

I tried to shake off the awkward, uncomfortable feeling building inside me.

“Don’t think too much of her, you just stay calm,”
said the slightly older-looking guy.

“Uh… okay,” I replied.

“Big brother!?” the girl said with an angry, annoyed expression, as if this kind of situation always happened between them.

“So, what’s your name?” her brother asked.

“Oh… mine is Ruu. And yours?”

“You can call me Ricky.”

“So… Mr. Ricky?”

“Hey, no need to be formal. We’re almost the same age, I think. Just call me Ricky, Ruu.”

“Oh, okay then, Ricky.”

“Nice. And this is my younger sister, Luna.”

“Oh…” I just muttered.

“Okay… we can talk about all this later, big brother. First, let’s take him to our village. He still needs proper treatment. This alone won’t be enough. The Nanananggal has slow-acting poison. We’ll need to give a separate antidote.”

“Ha, you’re right, Luna. Let’s go.”

“Urgh-huh…” I tried to stand but I just couldn’t. My legs felt almost numb.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing? You’ll open up the wounds. Don’t push yourself, just let me carry you.”

“Ohh… thank you.”

“Nah, don’t mention it. You’re not weak, I know. You risked your life to protect your little sister, knowing you had the highest chances of dying. I respect you for that. I don’t know if I could really do that myself…”

I didn’t say any words, just listened.

He carried me on his back. He was quite muscular. Although in that dim light, I couldn’t really see their faces well; and from losing so much blood, I couldn’t even see properly. I was far too tired and exhausted.

“Hey, Ruu, so what were you all doing in the forest of the Nanananggal? This area is so dangerous that even animals and birds don’t live here.”

“Ohh… actually we’re lost.”

It’s not wise to tell them our memories are lost… you can’t just say those words to strangers.

“Lost? But how could you get lost here? The direction you were coming from… ahead is just the big cliff; you couldn’t have come from there. And the way I’m heading now, the only way to reach here is by crossing our village… I don’t understand how you could be lost.”

“Actually, we were kidnapped and sold, and then just tossed aside here. Maybe they wanted us dead.”

“You guys were kidnapped!? Then you aren’t from our neighboring lands?”

“No… actually, we’re from a very faraway land.”

“Very faraway?”

“Yes.”

“I see… well, I guess it doesn’t matter either way. You’ll need treatment first, regardless.”

“Hmm… you’re right.”

We kept walking for about an hour.

Then suddenly, the girl said, “Okay, we’ve finally reached it—our village.”

“Ohh, Ruu, we’ve reached our village. Welcome to our home, The Big Snow.”

“The Big Snow?”

“Yes. That’s the official name of our village.”

“Ohh… I see.”

We reached the village. Snow everywhere, small houses, smoke curling from chimneys. Not many people outside, just a few looking curious.

Ricky carried me on his back, Luna beside him. Some villagers came closer slowly, peeking from doors and windows.

Luna spoke first. “Everyone! He’s hurt badly. He fought a Nanananggal. He needs treatment!”

The villagers murmured, worried.

Then Sora stepped forward. Her voice shaky but clear. “This… this is Ruu. He’s my brother. He fought the Nanananggal to protect me. He’s poisoned and injured badly. Please… help him.”

The villagers looked at me, some wide-eyed, some whispering. I tried to lift my hand, too weak to speak.

From the largest house, a man came out. Tall, serious, strong presence. Luna ran to him. “Father!”

He looked at me carefully, then at Sora.

“What’s going on? Who is he?” he asked Luna.

Luna explained quickly. “Father, this is Ruu. He fought a Nanananggal in the forest. He’s weak, poisoned, needs immediate treatment. I brought him here so he could be safe.”

The man studied me, then nodded. “I see… Very well. Bring him inside. We will treat him.”

Villagers cleared the way as Ricky carried me through the snow.

They took me to a small house. Inside, an old man was waiting, bent and frail. He looked at me carefully and said, “How long has it been since the poison entered your body?”

I said, “I think… about three hours ago.”

“Three hours…” He studied me closely, then said, “Let me check something.”

He reached into a bag and pulled out a sharp instrument. He heated it in the fire and carefully touched my arm and hand, drawing a small amount of blood. He studied it for a few moments, then looked at me and said, “Hmm… as I thought. Your body is immune to the Nanananggal’s poison.”

“What? Immune?” I asked, shocked.

“But how? Is that even possible?” Luna whispered.

The old man looked at my arm again and said, “It wasn’t immune before. It became immune on its own. Your body created its own antidote. I don’t need to give it separately. I just cleaned your wound and wrapped it carefully, same with your hand. That will be enough. But you’ll need at least one month of rest. And proper nutritious food, fruits… then after a month, you’ll be back to normal—except for that hand. You won’t get it back.”

I looked at my bitten-off hand and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah… I know that.”

Sora then hugged me tightly from behind, holding me close like she wanted to keep my missing hand safe anyway.

I patted her head gently. “Don’t worry, Sora. It’s not your fault… not mine. It’s that Nanananggal’s fault.”

Later, they gave Sora and me a small empty room to stay for the night. My whole body ached—arms, legs, everything—so I just lay on the bed. Sora carefully lay down on the floor beside me, making sure not to hurt me.

I didn’t stay awake all night; I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing.

“Uh… nggg… what..? A rooster? In this snow?”

I looked down, but Sora wasn’t there. I realized that if I tried to get off the bed, my whole body would scream in pain. Last night, I could barely feel it, but in this freezing cold, every ache felt three or four times worse. Every joint in my body hurt. I couldn’t even move my limbs.

I stayed lying on the bed, unable to get up.

Suddenly, I saw the door open.

Sora stepped in, carefully, her whole body wrapped in layers of clothing. She was wearing something like a yukata, the fabric loose but fully covering her from neck to ankle. A piece of cloth was draped over her head, hiding her hair and most of her face, leaving only her eyes and front part of her face visible. Her feet were covered in thick socks, keeping her warm in the snow-covered cold.

“Sora, what’s that?”

She put a bowl down on the table beside my bed and said, “These are the kind of clothes all women wear here.”

“All women? Isn’t that… a bit too much covered?”

“Actually, it’s the dress code for women. They can only show their face and hands to men—other than their husbands and close male family like father, uncle, brother…”

“I see.”

“And women, according to them, are like diamonds or jewels. They’re treasures. You don’t show off your treasure to other people.”

“Woah… that’s really nice. Yeah, I like it. I think the same way. Women really are priceless treasures. And you want to keep your treasure hidden from others… hmm… hmm… yeah, that makes sense.”

“Anyway, Onii-chan, drink your soup from that bowl.” She quickly left as she said that.

It felt like, for some reason, Sora suddenly got embarrassed. Her face was even blushing…

Why? Why did she suddenly get embarrassed like that?

I took the bowl in my hands and tried sipping from it.

“Hmm… it’s really tasty. I wonder who made this…”

“That would be me.”

I heard the voice as soon as I said that. Someone entered the room again—a girl wearing almost the same outfit as Sora, but in a slightly different color, more brownish. Everything else was the same.

“Umm…”

“I’m the one who made you that soup.”

“Ohh… thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“Hmm-hmm, no problem. It’s okay. You can thank me later. Now just drink your soup. It will give you strength.”

“Ohh… okay… but may I please know your name?”

“What? You forgot my name already? I’m Luna!”

“Ohh, Luna! That’s you? Sorry, sorry, my bad… actually last night, my vision was too blurry from all that blood loss. I couldn’t really see anyone’s face clearly… haha…”

“Ohh… it’s okay then, don’t worry about it. You just drink that soup of yours. It’s very nutritious. I made it using a lot of herbs that actually taste better and will help you grow blood again.” She left just after saying that.

“Hmm… it’s really tasty… so herbs can be this tasty too? I used to think herbs were always bitter. Well whatever, it’s my win if it’s this tasty.”

I finished it and placed the bowl on my table where Sora had put it earlier.

After that I just lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how I even survived yesterday.

It’s truly a miracle, isn’t it?

I was deep in those thoughts until—

“Hey, Ruu, you there?”

I immediately recognized that voice.

“Oh Ricky, come inside, I’m here lying on my bed.”

He came inside and said, “Hey, what’s up man? How you doing?”

“Ahh… I’m doing fine except my whole body, every joint is in pain… I can’t even move once from my bed, and it’s really making me too bored…”
I said with a gloomy face.

“Hey, what’s with that gloomy face of yours? You’ll have to be like this for the next 30 days, you forgot? And you’re already bored on the first day? You guys must be used to going outside a lot in your homeland… I guess…”

“Yeah, we used to…”

“Hmm… I thought so. I can tell just from looking at you guys’ expressions.” said Ricky.

Suddenly something came into my mind that had bothered me a bit yesterday.

“Hey, Ricky… didn’t you say that the forest of Nanananggal is so dangerous that even birds and animals don’t live there?”

“Yeah, I did. So?”

“Well… I was wondering… then how did Sora find you guys? What were you doing in the forest?”

“Ohh, that. We were actually going to investigate the sudden smoke we had been seeing for the last 2 days.”

“Smoke?”

“Yeah. Since no animals, let alone humans, live there… smoke would mean wild fire. That could’ve been dangerous… so me and Luna went to investigate it. But then we found out it was you guys who were making the fire. The smoke was from that.”

“Ohh… so that’s what it was.” I said, nodding.

Then Ricky went out, saying on his way, “Okay Ruu, see you later. Got a lot of work to do.”

“Ohh… see you later then.”

Then Ricky left, and I was inside my room all alone, lying on the bed with nothing to do except random thoughts creeping into my mind.