Chapter II - Frosting

It was cold in Yekun even during the day, after all the region is in the winter solstice, all vegetation was covered by snow crystals that had a unique coloring, an orange tone, the dirt road that leads to the Central City was visible because its leveling was lower, so even covered by snow it was possible to locate. Crossing this path were Max and Sophie.

- Max did you have to choose today to run away? - said Sophie with her arms crossed, trying to keep warm.

- And how was I supposed to know that it would snow today? - replied Max shivering from the cold.

The orange frost was more than a thin layer, it was barely possible to identify the flowers in the place. After a few minutes walking, the children find the fork, where one path leads to the Central City and the other to the forest, there were signs indicating which path was which, but they were old and worn out, it was not possible to understand what was written on them, wisely Max remembers that he had the map and immediately looks for it in the backpack he carried.

- So let's see... we are here, right? - Max stared at the map with a look of doubt. - So I'm pretty sure that Central City is to the left.

Max holds the map in both hands as Sophie pulls it out quickly:

- Let me see this here - She looks at the map, but doesn't understand anything, turns it upside down and swerves, but still nothing. - What language is this written in? Aren't you the brains of our duo?

Max just expresses confusion, neither of them had noticed before that the map was in a language they didn't know and since they had never seen a map of the region before, they had no idea where the orphanage is, much less which way to go to the city.

- Calm down, calm down, I have an idea. - Max takes the map again, begins to analyze it from top to bottom. - If I consider this, disregard this...

Max thinks out loud while marking some points on the map, until his expression changes, finally it seems he has an idea.

- Look Sophie, all the cities have only one path leading to the Central City, if I disregard the ones with no detour and some that are different from the path we have taken so far... there are only two that are similar; the path on the right leads to the city and the other is... the path on the left. - Max's expression changes to dismay.

- So we come back to the same place, you know what? - Sophie points to one of the paths, then switches to the other, this indecision lasted for a few seconds. - THIS ONE! Let's go to the left.

- So... left? That's good. - Max puts the map back in his backpack.

- That easy? I thought you would disagree.

- What other option do we have? Whatever it is, we go back and take the path to the right.

Then the children take the path on the left. After a few minutes of walking, the flora of the place was slowly changing, until they reached a point where there were trees with dry sticks with only a few leaves, all thanks to the frost.

- Sophie, I think we are entering the flowers... - Max interrupts himself as he turns to see the way back, and there are several leading to different places.

When Max turns again, he realizes that Sophie was not on his side, he immediately goes into a fit of despair looking everywhere, until he sees her, entering a completely new path.

- Sophie you crazy girl! Come back here! - Max shouts while running after the girl.

Max follows her, passing by many crystallized plants, indicating that he was entering more into the forest, something was wrong, the more he followed Sophie, the less snow there was and the cold also decreased, until at one point no leaves or plants were covered by snow, and the path was as clear as day. Finally Sophie stops running, and Max catches up with her. Right away the boy notices that the girl seems to be hypnotized or something, her gaze is fixed in one direction and her pupil is dilated, and Max looks in the same direction.

What there was was a man, or rather looked like a common man, floating a few centimeters in the center of a large lotus flower - the incandescent black petals of the flower surrounded the figure - what kept him off the ground were his wings; It had six wings in total, three on each side, a plumage that tuned to white and gold, its clothes; they were concentrated on cloths that covered its waist down, its skin was gray and full of crack marks, it was like a marble sculpture, it was barely possible to see its face, it had a glowing aura that illuminated it.

The heavenly figure did not notice that the two children were there. Max took hold of Sophie's shoulders and began to shake her.

- Sophie! Sophie! Sophie! - He calls out in a whispered and desperate tone, so that the being there would not hear him.

After a few useless attempts the girl finally comes to her senses, confused by what had happened, looking from one side to the other.

- Where are we? - The girl notices the winged creature's presence and is surprised. - And what is that?

- It doesn't matter, we're just getting out of here.

Max answered, holding Sophie's wrist, but at this moment the creature noticed them and turned towards the children, they got scared and started running the same way they came. After running a long way, they were in the middle of the forest and out of breath, they decided to stop at a tree to breathe a little.

- Do you think he followed us? - said Sophie breathlessly, taking breaks to catch her breath.

- Hopefully not, if I saw what I think I saw, that was Yekun. - Max also spoke slowly.

- Yekun? But...

Sophie was interrupted by a wind so strong that it managed to pluck some flowers from the ground, and from the windstorm a silhouette formed that faded in color and became the celestial figure from before. Now it was possible to see her face, the first thing that could be noticed was her long white hair that reached the height of her chest, her eyes were deeper than the ocean and the same color, it was possible to get lost just by looking at them, her face itself had a delicate affection with fine features.

The winged man appeared in front of Sophie and Max. First he stared at them without saying anything, then he turned and then a bright glow emerged from his body, and it grew stronger and stronger until it was no longer possible to see anything or keep one's eyes open.

When the children opened their eyes, they were no longer in the forest, they were in front of the fork again, and it was no longer morning, the moon was bright in the sky, but it didn't illuminate everything, leaving it still dark, with only a few points illuminated by fireflies. Max and Sophie stood next to each other, understanding absolutely nothing, and stared at each other with a look of doubt and with their heads throbbing with confusion.