"Eek!"
Vera grabbed onto Naren, who was quietly gazing at the spectacle before his eyes. As best he could, keeping his heavy eyelids from closing. It seemed like here — wherever he was — his drowsiness was amplified. Even breathing was laborious after all.
Vera was shivering now. Holding onto Naren tightly. Both their teeth's chattering as they spoke. As they spoke, visible vapor plumed from their mouths. Dissipating into the freezing air.
"What...what are those"
"Dunno...doesn't look like...they'll attack us though"
"How...do..you know?"
As another beast erupted from the ground, Vera's eyes shut tight as her grip tightened.
"I don't think...they can move...well"
Her eyes slowly opened to see that the creatures were all far away, only going up and down in the same position. She slowly loosened her grip as her gaze fell on the ground and she mumbled: "Be an adult"
"What?"
"Snow!"
"Snow?"
"Yeah...snow."
Vera blinked a couple times, staring at the ground, a smile creeping onto her face.
Naren's attention though, was now all over the place. Looking from one thing to another. Until he finally pointed at the beasts rippling in front of them. Teeth still chattering.
"Those...are...called snows?"
Seeing them once more Vera couldn't help but latch onto Naren once more. Even if it was looser this time.
"No no...This down here is snow."
Naren brushed his hands along the ground. The white fluffy material giving way. Densely compacted into a ball as he rolled it. The wet, dense substance that was suffocating him not even thirty minutes ago was now completely at his mercy. It was even kind of fun.
"What's it...used for?"
"Nothing...It's just water."
His tired eyes shared a glint of disappointment. He rolled the snow around a bit more, before pressing it in his palms. It crumbled away, like sand on the beach.
Above him, the day was slowly weening. Well at least that what it looked like. A thick layer of fog that could've just as well been clouds completely blotted out the sky above. Instead, a grey murky canvas floated above the white fields. Beyond it, the little light it was letting through was slowly getting dimmer and dimmer.
Shivering, Naren slowly got to his feet. Both hands still wrapped around his coat in a warm embrace. At least he wished it was warm. The chattering of his teeth only irritated his sensitive ears. Which were a bright red. Frost forming on his breath.
"So...cold...We gotta make a fire..."
The thoughts were all in good intention. Probably what they should do as soon as possible. The only problem was where they were. As Naren looked around in front of him, nothing but white field exalted before him. And similarly to the sky above, a dark, less pronounced, fog layered the atmosphere. Not enough to ruin visibility, but enough to add a dark tinge to the world.
Fortunately for him, reflections didn't need bright lights. As long as even a tinge of light was possible, that was enough for him. Well in this field at least, where there were millions of tiny reflections everywhere.
"Naren...look..."
He went to go turn his body. Moving like a rusty machine, his joints and muscles croaking. Before them, off in the distance several hundred kilometers away stood an enormous white tower swallowing the sky. Even the fog was helpless in trying to hid it. The tower was crooked, bending like a rib, converging itself into a point at the very top, barely visible through the atmosphere.
His golden eyes marveled at the construct. An odd sense of awe completely eating him away from the inside. Something about that, whatever it was felt like it needed him. Like it was calling out to him. As his eyes lingered, the last of the light above flickered, then vanished all together.
His body was on the floor. Sprawled out on his stomach an abnormal pressure pushing him down from above.
Suddenly, without warning, both he and Vera were incapable of moving, like an invisible weight was placed atop them. Naren's muscles croaked, his bones making rough sounds. Slowly he was being pushed into the snow below him. The previously compact ground now making way for his body.
Vera's situation was a bit better than Naren's. Her small body seemed to be effected less by the pressure. But for someone like her, who was infinitely weaker than Naren, it was probably way more excruciating.
'Agh...This is...Too much.'
Naren wanted to scream, his voice box ringing in pain, but his mouth wouldn't open. It couldn't. Breathing itself was now something that was hard to fathom. From the corner of his eyes, he could see the worm-like beasts pushed all the down, to the depths of the snow. Who knows how far low they went.
A couple seconds went by. Ones that ticked down in the cascading rhythm of an eternity. Naren didn't know how long he could hold out for. He could still feel the glints of reflections surrounding him, but what could would that do. No matter where he came out, it seemed like the entire field was effected.
His attention was forced down as the pressure consistently intensified. Slowly getting way to unbearable to even stay conscious. However, Naren noticed something. Down below, the sounds of compression were not as great as up in the surface. The lower he concentrated the less he could hear the crumbling and collapsing of snow.
Down. The pressure was not as pronounced deep underground. That explains why the worms sunk back into their holes. It was the only way to survive.
Naren slowly gathered his strength in his hands. Pulling away at the snow little by little. Crawling to the hole of the beast he jumped off of not too long ago. With one hand he propelled himself forward, with the other, he dragged Vera.
Their bodies left a deep groove in the slow. His arms burned. Way more than he could explain in words. With every twitch, his muscles screamed in protest. The thick air adding insult to injury. The pressure above him continued relentlessly, pushing down on his back like an invisible hand trying to flatten him into the ground.
He couldn't think. Couldn't afford to. Just one pull. Then another. Then another.
The hole was close — he could see it now, a dark circular gap in the white where the worm had burrowed back down. The edges were smooth, polished by the creature's body sliding through. Naren's vision blurred at the edges, darkness creeping in again.
'Stay awake body. I'll reward you with a nap later.'
He reached the edge of the tunnel and didn't hesitate. Fingers gripping the lip of the whole, he had one more push. Rolling over the edge, their bodies were swallowed by the darkness. Letting gravity take hold of them.
The fall wasn't long — maybe three meters before he hit something. Not the creature, instead it was the tunnel floor. Compressed snow, harder than what was above, packed tight by the worm's passage which now turned ninety degrees as the creature change directions. Vera lay beside him in a heap, slowly regaining consciousness.
And the pressure — it was less. Not considerably, but enough of a difference to where he could feel it. The walls of the tunnel seemed to absorbed most of it, the snow above bearing the weight. Naren's chest loosened just enough that he could breathe without feeling like his ribs were caving in. Vera's breathing followed suit as she laid there trying to get even an ounce more of rest.
Similarly, Naren laid there, panting, shivering, staring up at the small circle of dark patches of fog above him. The entirety of the outside world was now set in a black haze. Nothing could be seen, not that it would matter. nothing could move up there anyways.
Then he felt it. Both him and Vera quietly acknowledged the difference.
Warmth.
Faint at first. A shift in the air that didn't make sense. The tunnel had been freezing, biting cold seeping through every surface just moments ago. But now, from deep below, the temperature was rising.
Naren's hand instinctively went to his scarf, tightening it. His body didn't want to move. Every muscle protested. But he forced himself to sit up, tired eyes straining to see into the darkness of the tunnel stretching below them. His ears had picked up on this a while ago, but Naren wasn't sure if he was hearing things — something crackling.
'I know I promised body, but you understand, right?'
The warmth grew stronger. Almost inviting. Followed by a wet, tearing sound. Distant. Rhythmic. The sound of something being pulled apart. Hurried and ravaging, echoing through the ground below.
And with it, a faint orange glow flickered against the tunnel walls as they slowly withered away, melting.