Ice and Blood

My eyes closed. The warm sheets that should have covered me had no effect.

My body was cold. Ice-cold droplets touched my skin, my mind wandering, wondering why this feeling? Why was ice everywhere?

My eyes remained shut, yet I could feel it. The freezing touch, the way ice clung to my back and hands, sending shivers down my spine, tightening around my nerves.

BAM!

"Huff!!" I gasped, my breath visible in the frigid air. My eyes snapped open. The cold, this wasn't just a feeling. It was real.

Snow. Ice. What the fuck is going on?!

My mind struggled to grasp the situation. I was in my bed just moments ago, so why the hell was I lying in the middle of a frozen forest, sprawled across a sheet of snow?

My clothes were still on me, the same ones the lieutenant had given me. Even they couldn't keep the biting frost from seeping in, stealing the warmth from my skin.

I clenched my hands together, bringing them to my mouth, breathing into my fingers, desperate for warmth. The cold was unbearable.

The wind howled.

I was surrounded by towering trees, their skeletal branches stretching twenty feet into the sky, half-dead and covered in frost. They looked eerily familiar, just like the trees near my village.

"This must be a dream… How the hell did I end up here? Did I die again?"

Barefoot, I took a step, flinching. The ground was unforgiving, the ice burning into my soles like fire. I forced myself to move faster, trying to escape the coming blizzard.

The wind screamed. The snow thickened.

More trees blocked my way, their creaking branches echoing through the storm. Then pain. A sharp, wet sound. I looked down, blood dripped onto the ice, staining the pristine white. Jagged pieces of broken wood had punctured my foot. I was bleeding, yet I felt nothing.

Numb.

If this was real, if this wasn't a dream, then my foot was already lost unless… there was magic to heal it.

My steps grew lopsided, uneven, my balance failing. I was crippled, struggling against the storm.

"I need to find shelter… If this is real, I need to get the hell out of this storm before I die."

I spun around, scanning through the relentless snow, my vision blurred by the wind. Then I saw it. A mountain, massive and distant, yet my only hope.

I took a step toward it.

Then stopped.

Something was there.

A shadow in the storm.

The snow weakened for a moment, just enough for me to see.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?! I need help!!"

I forced my body forward, limping toward the figure, hope flaring in my chest.

The shadow grew.

Not a man. Not a person.

A wolf.

Ten feet tall. Golden eyes. Fur as dark as the deepest ocean. Teeth the size of my hands.

Its presence carried a single, undeniable truth.

Death.

I froze. My body refused to move. My mind screamed.

"No… No… I can't die again."

I turned, tried to run.

But my legs were already gone.

BANG!

I hit the ice, my body crashing into the snow, blood spilling like wine across the white. My legs, no longer mine.

Tears welled in my eyes. It's over.

The wolf stared at me, its golden gaze locked onto my soul. I could see it, hear it.

Flesh for food. You are nothing but my meal. I will take my time.

"No. No. No. NO!!"

I screamed.

"Someone… help me! HELP ME! I"

BANG.

The wolf bit down.

My body was gone. My vision blurred. My thoughts faded.

CHOMP.

My head was taken.

Gone.

Death, once more.