Kai stirred as warmth ebbed from his limbs, replaced by a dull chill that clawed at his skin. His eyes fluttered open to a ceiling of gray cloud above, mottled with ash drifting like dirty snowflakes. For a brief moment, he didn't remember where he was. Then his entire body pulsed with residual soreness, and the pain he had endured came flooding back like a crashing wave.
A face leaned over him—eyes brimming with concern, framed by silvery white strands dusted in frost.
"Mom…" he mumbled hoarsely.
His mother's hand cupped his cheek immediately, trembling not with fear, but from the cold. "Kai… thank the stars. Are you alright?"
He managed a weak nod. "Still alive, somehow." His voice cracked, but there was a wry smile tugging at his lips.
She exhaled in relief, tension melting from her shoulders as she leaned closer to rest her forehead against his. Her touch was soft, and for a moment, they shared a rare peace. But the biting wind howled through the crater walls, a brutal reminder that peace was fleeting in a world like this.
Kai sat up slowly, testing his limbs. They obeyed him, albeit sluggishly. His body still ached from the searing trial he had endured, but it was a manageable pain, more soreness than suffering now. He clenched and unclenched his fist. He felt… different. Not stronger, necessarily—but changed.
"We should go," he said, breaking the silence. "It's only going to get colder the longer we stay up here."
Asha nodded and helped him to his feet, though it was clear she needed help herself. Together, they climbed out of the crater and began their descent, snow crunching underfoot. The sky remained a heavy curtain of smoke and cloud, dimming the world in perpetual twilight.
It was nearly sundown when they found a shallow recess in the mountainside, just wide enough to crawl inside and shield themselves from the worst of the wind. Kai scavenged for scattered rocks and stray branches—remnants from trees broken by the eruption—and used them to form a crude barrier at the entrance.
Asha, shivering, pulled her fur-lined cloak tighter around her. She moved stiffly, every step more labored than the last. When they were finally inside the meager shelter, Kai sat beside her and started a small fire using a flint and the driest tinder he could find in his pouch. It was pitiful, barely more than a flicker, but it was enough.
They sat close to it, knees drawn to their chests, the heat barely reaching their fingers. From his satchel, Kai retrieved a small pouch of smoked meat and berries—some of the last provisions that survived the cave's destruction.
They chewed in silence, each bite slow and deliberate. The food was cold and dry, but it gave them something to focus on besides the gnawing chill and weariness.
Asha leaned against him as the night deepened, her head resting on his shoulder. "You're warm," she murmured.
Kai glanced down at her, noticing how pale her face had become. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.
"Get some rest," he whispered. "We'll move at first light."
---
The days blurred together after that.
With their home destroyed and their surroundings becoming increasingly inhospitable, there was little choice but to leave.
But leave to where? His cave and the mountain it rested on were all he knew in this harsh wilderness. If anywhere was better than here, then they just had to choose a direction.
And so, Kai made a decision. Since the disaster but also a fortuitous event occurred due to a fearsome dragon, why not follow its lead once more? With a heavy heart, Kai lead them to follow the path the dragon departed toward.
Every morning, they awoke to more snow, more ash, more wind. They moved steadily, with Kai always taking the lead, carving a path through the frozen wilderness. The mountain gradually sloped into a sprawling expanse of hilly forest, or was, as the treetops barely peaked out of the deep snow, offering little shelter from the elements.
At night, they found whatever cover they could—a fallen tree trunk, a shallow ditch, once even a narrow cleft between two frozen boulders. Kai started to notice the changes in his body more clearly now. He didn't get tired as quickly. The cold bit at him, but didn't sink into his bones as deeply. His steps were surer, his balance more precise even over icy terrain.
But Asha… she was suffering.
Each day her movements grew slower, her face more pale. The color had drained from her lips, and her hands were almost always shaking. Her leg—while wrapped and healing—stiffened painfully in the cold, and she limped heavily.
Still, she didn't complain.
Not once.
Kai pretended not to notice at first. He cracked jokes. He told her made-up stories about how the next mountain pass would have hot springs and roast pheasants waiting for them. Asha would smile, but it never reached her eyes.
Then came the blizzard.
It arrived like a beast in the night—silent at first, then roaring without warning. The sky turned white, and the wind shrieked with fury. Snow tore through the air like knives, cutting into their skin. The world vanished into a whirlwind of white.
Kai didn't think much of it when it started snowing earlier, as it had done on a few occasions before. But this was the worst storm he had ever seen.
They had passed an area with sparse trees in the morning, but that was already hours ago and to double-back with no visibility would do more harm than good.
There was no shelter here. Just open hills and rocks half-buried beneath the ever-thickening snow. The cold slammed into them like a wall.
Kai grit his teeth and pressed forward, one arm around his mother to shield her. Each step was a battle, his legs sinking into drifts that reached his thighs. The wind shoved him sideways, and he had to plant his feet wide to stay upright.
Asha stumbled.
Kai caught her just in time, pulling her against his chest.
"Stay with me!" he shouted over the howl of the storm.
Her head lolled slightly. "I… I'm fine…" Her voice was barely a whisper, immediately stolen by the wind.
He looked down at her and saw the blue tint forming on her lips, the slow blink of her eyes. She wasn't fine.
Panic clawed at his chest, but he shoved it down.
"We need to find cover," he muttered to himself. "Anything. A rock, a hollow, a damn hole in the ground."
But all around them was endless white, a storm with no mercy.
Kai squinted against the wind, holding Asha tighter as he trudged forward, heart pounding with every step.
Each moment felt heavier than the last.
And deep inside, fear whispered a cruel truth:
He might not be able to protect her this time.
The blizzard clawed at them with howling fury, a white nightmare that swallowed sky and earth alike. Snow whipped in every direction, erasing the landscape into a shapeless void. Kai could barely see two steps ahead, but the weight in his arms kept him grounded—his mother was trembling now, her limbs stiff, her breath shallow and uneven.
They couldn't keep going like this.
Kai's mind raced. No shelter. No trees. No cover. Nothing but snow...
Then a thought struck him. Primitive. Desperate.
The snow itself.
He stopped moving, his boots sinking into the powder with a crunch. His arms wrapped tightly around Asha as he turned and scanned the ground. The drifts here were deep—easily taller than him in places. His breath came in steaming gasps as he shifted Asha's weight and lowered her gently to the ground, shielding her as best he could from the wind.
She looked up at him, lips pale and cracked. "Why… why did we stop?"
"I have an idea," Kai said through clenched teeth. He knelt beside her, gripping her shoulder firmly. "Just hold on. I'm going to get us out of this."
With that, he turned to the nearest snowbank and began to dig.