*Creak*
The soothing warmth draws the librarian's attention, thinking that the cleric was close. To her surprise, she saw only a man—and a man so thin as a tree and desperate as a bird, that he had done the unthinkable.
The man was resilient, being able to resist such cold alone with only a fire. But it was only a facade to hide the cost of lighting that fire out. It wasn't as merciful as the librarian had thought. There was no coal, wood, or even flammable—except some discarded flesh.
"Fire...feed the fire....feed the sun..." Said the man under the burning tent. Lives behind those clothes are not his, but they are gone because of him, warming the desperate with temporary comfort.
"The sun loved us...he gave us fire...because he loved fire...must burn for the sun..."
The man seems content with his warm fire. He had the sun, but he wasn't holy as he thought. Roast scent lingers in the air, but not the one that she was hungry for. The librarian left quickly before she would become the next charcoal for the man's fire.
Terrified, the librarian can only hold herself back from throwing up into the snow. The ridge leading to Frayfoil was covered in thick snow, making it hard for her to navigate with her eyes. But she insists, as she has found her way deeper into the cleric's trail.
"Are you sure he was here, human?"
"I don't know. I just hope he didn't see what I see there."
"Nothing's wrong with a man who wanted to live."
Faith came with a scent, and the scent of confidence is so thick in the air that it could be seen with the naked eye. It is yellow, like the sun—burning as fire and leaving like ashes.
Unfortunately, the snow was getting thicker each second, blurring the line between light and darkness in the librarian's gaze. Her feet were buried in these white particles, freezing to death. Frostbite is only an inch away from her, but she was adamant so as not to give up now.
However, it was against her plan that this storm would be this severe. Even in the protection of her clothes, the ice still claws its way through the vulnerable skin. She couldn't see
"Ugh! Aumph! Creature..." Eve walked dizzily.
"Human, are you alright? Be sure not to lose your sight in these snows or we will got—"
"Aah!"
Foolish. The librarian cannot see the weak step under the white plain grass, and now she has fallen into a thick, inescapable hole. One step unveiled a fake grass hiding nothing but air below her foot. She was drawn into that trap like a mouse was drawn to the trash.
Inches of snow are slowly burying them like an artefact, leaving them vulnerable to unjust death. But they are still alive, only to witness it happening before their eyes.
"Ugh, what the...where are we...?"
"Human! Human! We need to go up! AAAH!"
"Creature, what happened? Why are you buried under there?"
"Can't you see?? I'm sinking because of your lousy move!"
They tried their best to climb up, but they were too frail to do so. The librarian's arms are not made to reach the edge of a cliff, and the snow is pushing in a landslide, slowly rising above their waist. But the metal is already sunken in the snow, screaming and pleading in pain.
"Aagh!"
"Whoa, hey! Don't tuck on my coat that hard!"
"Put me up! Put me up! Don't push me down!"
She kept reaching for the surface, even with the snow that had sunk her past her chest. But no matter the struggle, the effort is pointless. The snow is too cold for her to move, and it only hurts her to fight. She was shivering like her spirit had left her.
"C-Charger...I can't move! Stupid arms should've practised before leaving!" Eve flaps her arms.
"What? Come on! You can't!" Charget stood on top of her head.
"I...can't! Can't you...d-do something...?"
"I wish I could! But I didn't bring my stuff here! I don't even think my arms could reach that...far."
There's no choice for her. She had to accept this death as the snow took her by the neck. The darkness is close to her ears, and the voice of promising tomorrow echoes in her ears. But she didn't want to die, and she couldn't smile like this when she died.
"Eve? Eve??" Charger shook her head.
"Heck...I can't believe I'm going to die...like this..."
"No, no, no, no! Stay here! Don't let me die, you fool!"
Suddenly, from the gaze of the freezing librarian, she sees a shadow standing above the surface. A rope falls into her head, before a reassuring call for help arrives to their struggle. The librarian and the metal still hoped for another day.
"Quick! Use the rope if you want to live your life!" Echoes a person.
The librarian reaches out with her still-poking fingers, channelling all her strength to grab the rope and pull her body out of the snow. It was difficult, but with the determined possibility of her journey, she didn't have time to embrace her death. She climbed despite her paralysed feet, like a soul escaping purgatory.
"Aagh! Goodness..." Charger lay on the surface, embracing his life again. "I'll never do that again! Never!"
"Ugh! Aamph! Finally...freedom...!" Eve crawls out of the hole, nearly blue if it wasn't for the rope that saved her.
"You can thank me later." The man pulls out the rope.
When the librarian opened her eyes, the surface was clear, and she was free. Thinking that she was saved by the citizen for her negligence, she felt humiliated, only to find out that her saviour was yet another outcast of this town. This one didn't speak tree, strangely.
"W-what?" Eve asked. "What are you?"
The man appeared taller than a human, even for an adult. But he wasn't a tree like the blind one. A strand of wheat slips through his leather sleeves, showing that the man is made out of hay. He isn't blind, and he's definitely not a foe worth being hurt by the librarian. The unusual farmer clothing sewn on a hay explains he might have been a scarecrow.
"I am 'Hunter', or at least that's what the entire plot said about me." He pauses. "I am a farmer..."
"The hay speaks, too?" Eve glanced suspiciously.
"Only a few. Some are dead, ignorant, and fated to die. The others? They only speak when the winds are getting noisy."
"And speaking of noisy, what brings such voice like you to ended up here?"
The librarian explains to the scarecrow about her trouble with the town and her missing friend. The day is about to come close to silence, and she wanted to leave this place as soon as possible to chase the answer she had been looking for in her life.
"Interesting. Lost friend? I haven't seen anything like that around here since the snow comes. Not sure if anyone could even be alive as you, human."
"You're quite a brave soul to begin with."
"What are you? And how long have you been here?" She asks.
"Me? Not even a year! I was just born a few days ago as a scarecrow before my owner left me to keep the farm. Heh, guess that means I'm free for the rest of my life."
He was a newborn in this town, made to sway crows for the family who left him a farm plot to care. But the wheat has died long ago, under the dark thunders, heavy rainstorms, blazing sands, and freezing snow. The scarecrow had nothing but a walk to find his new purpose.
The scarecrow seems calm and unaffected by the season he is in. It isn't a perfect time for someone to sow wheat for the people. But the librarian was more than glad to ease the scarecrow's uneasiness further.
"Do you know what happened here? It's all cold here..."
"Well, I can tell you. But I doubt you wanted to know..." Eve replied coldly.
"Oh, don't tease me, human. I would eager to know rather than to live in the blindness of the farmer."
"Alright, if you insist."
She gave him one more answer, revealing the scarecrow of his undeniable fate in this town to die and wither like others. It was inescapable, unless they were willing to prepare and save themselves, rather than to deny and fight the invisible and untouchable. Resistance only creates more space to kill hope.
To her surprise, the man showed no fear. Not a single whine or gulp down his throat was heard when he was told of his fate.
"That's...horrible. To think that such place could offer us peace, and now it was gone."
"What are you going to do about that, human? Will you escape this place, too?"
"You're not afraid?" Eve asked.
Even more surprisingly, the librarian had learn that the scarecrow was neither a preacher nor a witness. He was simply a man, living moderately in his beautiful farm plot until he was disturbed by the snow. No belief is in this man but a pure disregard.
"I'm not. But I heard your little 'desperate' call talks about leaving this town? Do tell me how you are going to and how can I join?" The scarecrow pleases.
Eve replies, "Pfft! Why should I? I can't hold many people in one boat!"
"Aww! I thought we were friends! You know how much good it would be to have a
"No, thanks. I've already had a friend like Charger."
"Welp. You have a nice friend there. Have fun, I guess..."
No hard feelings behind his words, and he left as the fog concealed him once. The librarian felt an uneasy feeling from his abandonment, as if he would've appeared once again. The scarecrow didn't even offer her any guidance to the town.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. But it's not the reaction I've looked from a creature like me."
The scarecrow left a few strands of hay for the metal to grab. Fire burns faintly, but the warmth heals the librarian's body as it wills on her body. The scarecrow's gift granted her path once more from the decaying snow, which led her even closer to the Frayfoil.
"I saw a light...we're close..."
"We're close!!"
A glimpse of yellow lights emanates from the distant, passing through the thick ice fog. It gave the librarian strength to run towards the light, believing that she had finally found the cleric once more.
"Frayfoil, here I come!" Eve yelled.
But as she gets closer to the light, the blue soft light from the lantern is nothing more than a hanging beacon for a lost house in the middle of the snow. The heart is as shattered as ice falling down from the roof of a cave—into pieces.
Seeing how extreme the weather is, the librarian and the metal couldn't risk going forward through the snow with their cold feet. The old house appears lively enough to keep them warm, and the lantern was a sweet surprise in return.
"Oh..." Charger glanced with disappointment.
"Yeah, horrible. But hey! At least we've find something more than snow here..."
"Or dead body..."
"I'll take the lantern!" Charger rushes to the pole, grabs the yellow dim lantern, and immediately regains his source of light once more.
They took shelter under the roof and quickly recovered with the remains of the yellow fire inside the lantern. How far have they gone through this journey? Because nothing seems to be close to home other than this. They are hungry, and there's no food in this house.
*Growl* "Eurgh..."
"Don't look at me! I'm not the one who came up with the idea of finding this 'preacher' without eating first. Should've stayed for a session with weekly cod cuisine with me..." Charger tampers with the lantern, using the remains of the wheat to fuel its fire.
"Maybe I have something in me to help us out..." He rummages his head.
It appears too promising for the librarian to take. A gift cannot appear in the function of suffering, lest it be a snare to another. She wandered through the cabin, noticing how dead and old it was. Nobody could have lived in this place with their souls.
Surely enough, the librarian wandered further into the cabin, where she found that someone was still here in the house with her. It was not a stranger in her eyes. Rather, someone with a familiar face yet a stranger's gaze resides in this house, not too long left in her memories.
"Oh, hey there! Humans, I didn't realise you were so eager to find my house here!"
"This is your house...?"
"Correct, and it seems that fate bring us both here! How wonderful it is!"
"Okay...can we stay here for a while? We're about to leave and headed back into the town after this..."
"Yes. Anything for my friend."
The scarecrow was kind enough to share the cabin with the librarian and the metal. She was happy, and she was even offered food to satiate their hunger for a while. A loaf of bread was offered for her and the meat to eat today, which should've been enough to put them on another adventure.
But little did she know that she would have the worst rest of her life. For as the bread was too fresh and baked, the scarecrow's smile is also as malicious as a devil's. The bread has been poisoned, and the librarian insists on eating it.
"Yes. Anything for my friend."
The librarian and the metal reunited on the table to finish the loaf of bread, tasting nothing but a perfect sour taste from the yeast and the sweet sugary sprinkle in addition. It was gone in their hands within seconds.
*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*
"My, that was tasty."
"That...is the firs time I've ate something in this world." Charger taps his head. "What was the last food I ate in Quasor?"
"Oh, I'm feeling so ready to adventure!"
"Are you sure, human? Don't want to take a few rest first?"
But the librarian was so satiated that she fell drowsy and weak. The bread she ate was so tasty that it made her sleepy, just as the scarecrow had planned. Now she was trapped in her dream of enlightenment, just as the scarecrow had planned.
His true face was revealed, and he was no gooder than those humans. He wasn't as good as the librarian had thought.
"Huh? Human? Are you alright? Why are you sleeping?" Charger shook her body.
"Human, this isn't funny! Why are you sleeping? You know we have a business to do right?"
*Pak* "Aaugh!" Charger was struck on the head with a shovel.
The scarecrow smiled, for he had deceived the librarian successfully. Gazing at the human who fell into his trap, he had finally completed what he needed to leave this island. His true facade lies behind his 'indifferent' face.
"What a wonderful day! All of my friends are sleeping today. Must've been too tired for them to go outside today..."
"Must've been too tiring to keep your 'escape' occupied all day. Right...?"