Awakening in the Snow

The wind tore across the frozen expanse, shrieking like a thousand voices screaming at once. Snow stung Elias Thorne’s cheeks as he struggled to sit upright, the world a blinding swirl of white and gray. Every muscle in his body screamed with cold; frost had already begun to claim his fingers and toes. He couldn’t remember how he had ended up here.

Where… where am I?

His thoughts were sluggish, weighed down by exhaustion. He tried to move but his legs felt like lead. The snow beneath him was loose, shifting with every motion, threatening to swallow him. A sense of panic began to rise in his chest, but he pushed it down. Panic would get him killed faster than the cold.

A sharp gust nearly knocked him over. He clutched the edge of a jagged rock protruding through the snow and forced himself forward, each step a monumental effort. The wind seemed endless, and with every inhale, his lungs burned.

Then a voice cut through the howl, grating and human.

“Hey! You! Stop wandering into death!”

Elias froze. A figure emerged from the blizzard, moving with sure-footed confidence, tall and bundled in thick furs. The man’s face was mostly hidden by a hood, but his dark eyes glinted through the snow.

“I… I—I don’t know where I am,” Elias stammered, his voice barely audible over the wind.

“You’ll die out here if you don’t move,” the man shouted, striding closer. “Grab my hand.”

Elias hesitated, shivering violently, before grasping it. The man yanked him to his feet, steadying him against the storm.

“I’m Kael,” the man said, voice rough but controlled. “And unless you want to become another frozen corpse, you follow me. Got it?”

Elias nodded, too numb to speak. He didn’t have a choice.

They stumbled through the snow, Kael leading him toward what looked like a faint outline of a structure—a makeshift shelter built into the side of a rocky outcrop. The wind gusted again, almost knocking them off their feet, and Elias clung to Kael like a lifeline.

Inside the shelter, a small fire sputtered in a stone hearth, its warmth a revelation. Elias sank to the floor, letting the heat creep into his frozen limbs. His teeth chattered uncontrollably.

“You’re lucky I found you,” Kael muttered, untying the furs he carried. He draped them over Elias’s shoulders. “Most people don’t last an hour out there.”

Elias tried to stand, but his legs trembled. “I… I don’t remember anything. How did I get here?”

Kael shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t help you survive.” He sat across from Elias, watching him carefully. “Name’s Elias, right?”

“How… how do you know that?”

Kael smirked faintly, though his eyes were serious. “Luck. Guesswork. Call it intuition. Doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping you alive tonight.”

Elias sank back against the furs, heat crawling into his numb limbs. He tried to form more thoughts, but his mind kept wandering to the snowstorm outside. The blizzard howled like something alive, like it was watching him, waiting.

It feels… wrong, he thought. Like the snow itself… hates me.

A sudden shift in the shadows of the shelter made him flinch. He thought he saw a figure—tall, dark, silent—standing just outside the doorway, but when he blinked, it was gone.

“Who’s there?” Elias called, voice trembling.

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Relax. Just your imagination. Storm plays tricks on you.”

But Elias wasn’t so sure. The feeling of being watched didn’t fade. Somewhere deep in the storm, something moved. And in the icy silence between gusts, he thought he heard a voice—a whisper, soft but clear:

Elias…

He shook his head violently, trying to dismiss it. “I… I must be losing my mind,” he muttered.

Kael studied him for a long moment, then sighed. “No. You’re not losing your mind. You’re alive. That’s all that matters right now.”

Elias looked into the fire, watching the flames crackle and dance. For the first time, he realized how fragile life could be. A single misstep in this frozen wilderness, and it would all be over.

And yet… something deep in his chest stirred—not fear, but a flicker of defiance. He would survive. Somehow.

Outside, the wind howled, and for a fleeting moment, Elias swore he saw a shadow lurking at the edge of the blizzard, watching, waiting.

This is only the beginning.