Crimson Snow

A few years ago, somewhere in the mountains of Russia.

The thick snow numbed the girl’s bare feet, while her frail, withering figure trembled in the frigid air.

A thin dress clung to her body, whipped by the hissing wind. She sprinted across the frozen ground, a thunder of footsteps pounding close behind her.

“Don't let the Faithful whore escape! Release the wolves!”

Heavy boots crunched behind the girl as hunters chased after her, glacial wind lashing their filthy, quilted jackets and fur hats.

The girl’s platinum hair ruffled in the wind as she turned her head. Her scarlet pupils reflected the wolves charging toward her.

Despite the wounds marring her battered body, she did not stop.

Suddenly, as if the world itself cursed her, the clouds split, allowing the rising sun to fall upon the frail girl.

The moment the sun’s rays touched her skin, it began corroding to dust. Her hair gradually crumbled to frost, fading with the wind.

In mere seconds, even the sharpest eyes might mistake her for a corpse.

Defying nature itself, she kept running across the endless snow, tears freezing along her pale cheeks.

Particles from her skin froze in the air with every step as blood spattered from her wounds.

“She's a Devil! A Devil! Fire!” The hunters’ rifles glinted in the dawn light. Smoke erupted from the barrels.

Bang! Bang!

The bullets pierced the girl’s abdomen and shoulders.

The raging wolves caught up, tearing at her legs.

Dark blood slid down her frostbitten feet. The searing, ripping pain shattered her senses.

Yet, she refused to yield.

Eventually, her eyes closed.

Even she couldn't tell whether she was alive, or merely a moving corpse.

Suddenly, the ground vanished beneath her, and a rush of wind surged past her body.

She was falling into a rift she had meant to reach all along.

The wolves halted. The girl’s figure faded from view, slipping out of sight.

Her body plunged into the thick snow, bones broken, and blood staining the white powder.

As if sealed, she was pinned between the rift’s tight, merciless walls.

The remnants of her face withered under the sunlight.

Make it stop… the sun… please… hide it… Her thoughts guttered like a dying candle in the wind.

Evading the sun that seared her eyes, she turned her head with whatever strength she had left. Then, she noticed a glowing, gem-like stone, a crimson ruby. It was set into a pitch-black obsidian ring.

Her broken, injured hands reached out, seized the ring, and slid it onto her right index finger.

Warmth coursed down her spine as she gazed at the ruby.

Looking down at the rift, the men stood beside their hungry wolves.

“Where is the bitch?”

“She offed herself.”

"Too bad. The villagers will be disappointed."

"Let's hunt some deer.” Their footsteps pounded as they withdrew.

The clouds slowly vanished, allowing the sunlight to claim the girl's body.

“Please… Hide it…” Amidst the rising waves of agony, she hopelessly whispered a prayer.

An unclear, fractured call for a savior.

…

Suddenly, a soundless howl tore through her senses, and the girl felt as though she were connected to every living thing.

She sensed the racing hearts of rabbits in the burrow above, the cold engulfing the crawling worms beneath the snow.

The cries of an ecosystem.

A cascade of scenes flashed within her mind. For a few moments, she visualized every corner of the globe.

The moon and the sun bled into an abyssal eclipse. The trees splintered, the mountains quaked, and the very sea recoiled, all beneath its primordial presence.

Crimson gleams writhed across the sky like a warped mirage, driving all who dared look into insanity. The departing hunters included.

They shot themselves to death while their wolves cannibalized each other.

As the world sank into madness, the girl smiled.

The erupting crimson rays engulfed her with warmth. Her skin knit itself whole, and her platinum hair returned strand by strand.

From her right shoulder, an incarnadine magical chain erupted. It lashed to the ruby on the ring, then, in a blink, anchored itself to the obscured sun.

The girl trembled with exultation, her scarlet eyes as dark as the eclipse above.