Winter’s Red Snow

I stood in a bed of spiderlily’s, my swarthy skin absorbing the beaming sun's rays, slamming against me. I felt warm as I took a breath.

My name is Zeke December, also known as the Winter’s Red Snow. I got that name at birth.

Sometimes, I have dreams about my birth. My mother tried to kill me. I remember it vividly every time I dream of it.

I remember the way she held the knife, the way she looked at me with nothing but pure hatred in her eyes. Yet I was never told the reason why she attacked me, just that after she tired and failed, she cut the cord between us and threw me outside into the snow.

“Oi! Zeke! On the west, there are about five boars just waiting for us to slaughter them!”

Tenten, a raven that traveled with me, called out the locations of our diner. She comes from an unkindness of ravens that preferred to speak the common language.

“Alright! Let’s get some dinner ready!”

With the snap of my finger, Tenten flew towards my hand. With the sound of a poof, she turned into a black blade with a guard handle.

She could turn into a sword. I only knew Tenten for about three years; it was about a week after my foster mother, Baba Yaga, kicked me out. She used to teach me potion making.

I quickly pulled out a small bottle of green liquid. A potion of enhanced speed, I downed it within two gulps. My thighs tensed for just a moment.

The ground cracked and bent at my strides. I quickly spiraled west into a forest with trees that had red bark and purple leaves.

The tree’s blurred as I continued my path. Within a few ticks of a second, I spotted the five boars; they had this odd blue hue to them when normally they would have a red hue.

The leaves of the trees were quickly covered in blood after the boar's head was severed from its neck. All five of them were cut down by me.

“Ain’t they a bit weaker than normal?”

My blade, which used to be Tenten, shocked in response, although no words had been spoken; we created a sub-language that we call “Sword Talk.”

“Yeah, they did look a little weird today, huh?”

I threw my sword up, and with another poof, Tenten turned back into her raven self. The sound of metal piercing through flesh danced into my ears as I cut open the dead boar. The flesh seemed normal, but again, the hue of it was off.

I felt the vibration of heavy footsteps approach me. Once I had turned around to view the source, I saw boar-man.

Boar-men are half boar, half human. It’s not known where they came from. Some say that a man got drunk and slept with a boar, some say a woman got bored and slept with a boar, and some say that a witch got drunk and began to turn a man into a boar, but fell asleep halfway.

Honestly, I don’t personally believe in any of these origins. But one thing is for sure, Boar-men are insanely strong, so strong that they absorb the natural magic from other boars.

It walked up to me, each footstep thundering through my ears.

“Tenten, let’s test out some of my new potions I’ve been brewing!”

“Don’t bark orders at me, you dog!”

The grass bent to my speed as I leaped backwards away from the boar-man in front of me. He charged at me at the same time while I threw a random potion in the air.

Tenten quickly grabbed it and tossed it back to me as I snapped my fingers, she turned back into my blade as I downed the second potion today.

I usually only drink up to three potions; after that, my muscles begin to cramp up.

“Seems like it’s a potion of-”

Time seemed to slow down; his movements slowly fused. Every second became a minute. It was a potion of enhanced perception.

I don’t get faster, and the boar-man doesn’t get slower. It’s just that I can perceive time faster. It does make it easier to see what my opponent’s next attack will be.

He started with a right hook; based on his movements, I could tell he was aiming for my chest. I’m guessing he’s trying to punch the breath out of me first, then kill me with the next strike.

I quickly ducked under his first strike, and my right hand jabbed forward. I aimed directly for his throat; his feet backed away from me. It was enough away from me to swing with my left hand.

I aimed straight for his neck; however, because of the potion, it was taking forever!

Maybe I mixed the potion wrong? When Baba Yaga made this potion before, did she use spiderlilys or roses? It doesn't matter at the moment; what matters is that I need to adjust my speed with my new perception.

I flexed my body at the last second, my speed increased just slightly, but it was enough. I managed to graze his neck, but all in all, I did miss.

Luckily, the potion wore off just after I grazed him. I leaped back, but since time flowed normally again, I put too much force into my legs. I nearly tripped, but my feet found the ground.

“Well, that just means I shouldn’t use random potions.”

I followed the boar man's motion; he moved in this zig-zag-like motion. Each point of the zig-zag was the only time I could clearly see him. I went to pull out another bottle, but he was too fast.

Another hook, this time with the left, but something was off about it. I pulled my sword up to block, but at the last second, he pulled back his left hook and exchanged it for a right straight.

“Fuck!”

I tried my best to adjust to the attack, but I wasn’t fast enough. I felt a flaming pain rush against my chest as he landed his attack. My feet lifted from the ground, and I quickly found myself slammed against a nearby tree.

“Ack!”

Blood traced my lips as a river flooded out of my mouth. The taste of iron flooded my tongue. My hands felt like a rush of sand was being poured onto them, and I couldn’t move my right arm. Luckily, I’m left-handed.

I used my feet to push myself up against the tree. My raven sword was heavy in my hand, but light enough for me to continue wielding the blade.

The way the boar-man walked towards me had a sense of pride. He left himself wide open, as if he wanted me to swing at him.

“Don’t make it so easy for me.”

I threw my sword into the air and snapped my fingers once more. I charged towards the boar-man bear-handed, my left hand pressed against my left cheek as I moved forward.

He moved on instinct, and both of his hands approached my head in a clapping motion.

It was okay. Despite the speed of his attack, I was sure my plan was going to work.

The splash of blood covered my face as the boar man's skull was split open. I threw Tenten into the air so that she would land blade-first onto his head.

I tried my best not to laugh as Tenten struggled to wiggle herself out of the boar's head. She was screaming that his blood was getting into her eyes; well, she was speaking in “Sword Talk.” I quickly pulled out a potion with a red hue.

“Are you okay?”

I pulled out Tenten from the boar-man as she answered the question after transforming back into a raven.

“Am I okay? I got blood in my eyes, you moron!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, there’s a river nearby, let's wash up there.”

“Hmmp!”

After a huff, she rested on my right shoulder. It was feeling better after I drank my third and final potion of the day, a healing potion.

It’s nothing compared to what Baba Yaga could do, but I was surprised that I was able to pull it off. For some reason, healing potions have always been hard to brew for me.

It didn’t take long for us to wash off, but while bathing in the beautiful river, I noticed a ruined temple north of us. Some of the bridges were connected to the river. It was like something was telling me to explore that bridge, to explore that temple. To explore that connection to the past.

“Yo, Tenten? You up for just a bit more adventure?”

“You ass! Are you dumb? What if we get into some trouble? You can’t drink potions, stupid!”

“Yeah, I know, but just look! It’s practically asking for us to explore it!”

“You’re kidding…”

She huffed again and dunked her head in the water. After a few seconds, she allowed her head to dry in the wind.

“Fine, go die, see if I care. But I’m staying to rest, so just call me if you’re about to die, loser.”

I let out a giggle. She always acted like an older sister to me. Even when we first meet.

“Of course, I’ll be a bit. Don’t get eaten, okay?”

“As if I’d die first out of us two.”

I smiled and decided to head north. My first few steps into the ruins were shaky, not because I was scared but because it felt like the bridge was going to collapse under my weight.

I could already feel the judging eyes of Tenten. But before I knew it, I had already entered the temple, and my footsteps had more confidence in them. The grey stone was covered in green moss as I entered the square-shaped entrance.

It was like entering a cave; each step had an echo. It took a bit of time before I saw something interesting, an old tale Baba Yaga used to tell me.

“The tale of the twin angels, one of the Moon and one of the Sun. They lived for almost ten thousand years, but they disappeared about three hundred years ago.”

After I recounted the beginning of the tale, Baba used to say to me, I began reading the symbols on the walls. This temple seemed old. If I had to place a guess about eight thousand years old.

“This info is so outdated. They only tell the tales of the sister until right after they fought the mad storm king…If I remember correctly, that was about eight thousand years ago. I guess the people built this temple as thanks.”

I kept walking down the hallway until I saw this open passage. It descended downward into a room of graves and pillars. There was this text at the top of the entrance; the first part of the text was faded out, but the second half was readable.

“Don’t know where, don't know when.”

It was a simple phrase. I looked down into the room. I walked into the room, looking at the sculptures on the walls.

One sculpture caught my eye; it was a young-looking female angel. I only know about them because Baba Yaga was big on history. However, unlike the other sculptures, this one felt more real. Her proportions were closer to a life-like model than anything.

I traced the work of the sculpture, and the way the hair and clothes flowed felt natural. Whoever made this is clearly passionate about sculpting.

I noticed a pendant on the stone angel woman. I pressed my finger against it and noticed that it began to glow a bright white light.

“Oh shit.”

It began to crack bit by bit, until the entire temple burst into a white light. After a few seconds, something strange happened. There was a woman in the stone, a real angel woman.

She had brown hair with golden eyes, her skin was fair, and she was wearing a yellow shirt. Her wings were white, and her eyes tracked my movements.

“Wh-Where am I?”

-Chapter One End-