The voice faded, and everything turned to absolute darkness. When the world resolved again, Ryan found himself standing in an endless expanse of snow. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but a blinding, featureless white. The sky was a solid sheet of grey cloud, and a wind sharp enough to flay skin tore at his clothes. The cold was a physical force, seeping deep into his bones, threatening to freeze him solid from the inside out.
"What is this? Another illusion?" Ryan looked at his own hands, watching them already begin to turn red and numb. "Yes, it's an illusion. But if I die in this illusion, my body will die with it. The old man wasn't lying about the price."
He had to find shelter. His eyes scanned the horizon, squinting against the stinging wind. In the distance, a dark shape broke the monotony of the white. A mountain.
"That's my only chance. I can find shelter there."
Ryan began to walk, each step a battle as his feet sank deep into the drifts. The wind intensified, howling like a demon, and a powerful gust slammed into him, throwing him face-first into the snow. He pushed himself up, spitting out ice, his body screaming in protest.
He fought his way forward, using large rocks as temporary shields from the relentless gale. But it was a losing battle. The cold was turning his hands into useless blocks of ice, and his legs felt like leaden weights, refusing to obey. His vision began to tunnel, the edges turning black.
He took one more stumbling step and collapsed. The endless white consumed him, and consciousness fled.
---
A sensation of warmth. It was the first thing he felt—a blessed heat seeping back into his frozen core. Ryan groaned, forcing his eyes open. He was no longer outside. He was lying on a rough woolen blanket next to a crackling wood fire in a small, simple room. The firelight danced on log walls, revealing a single bed, a table, and a sense of stark solitude.
Where am I? Who brought me here?
His instincts, sharpened by betrayal and survival, kicked in. He spotted a hunting knife on a nearby stool. Silently, he rolled over, grabbed it, and moved to stand with his back against the wall, right beside the door.
He didn't have to wait long. The crunch of footsteps on snow outside grew closer. The door handle turned.
The door opened, and a figure bundled in furs stepped inside, shaking snow from their hood.
"What? Where is the boy?" a female voice murmured in surprise.
In a flash, Ryan moved. He slipped behind her, one arm wrapping around her, the other pressing the cold blade of the knife against her throat.
"Don't move!" Ryan hissed, his voice a low, dangerous whisper. "Who are you? What is this place?"
The girl froze, her breath catching in her throat. "It was me!" she gasped, her voice trembling with fear. "I found you on the mountain. You were half-frozen! I brought you here to save you!"
Ryan's grip tightened for a moment, his mind racing, assessing her story. "Where am I?" he demanded.
"This... this is a village on top of the mountain. We are hunters. We live here."
Something in her voice—the genuine fear, the lack of guile—made him pause. Slowly, he lowered the knife and released her, taking a step back. "Thanks," he said, the word feeling foreign on his tongue. "Thank you for saving me."
The girl turned to face him, rubbing her throat, her wide blue eyes studying him. "It was nothing," she said softly. "I am just happy you are alive."
Ryan retreated to the fire, the warmth a stark contrast to the cold suspicion in his heart. The girl joined him, sitting on the floor opposite. In the fuller light, he could see her clearly. Her hair was a strange and beautiful shade of pale blue, like winter ice, and her eyes were a deep, crystalline blue. She looked young, but her eyes held a weight that spoke of hardship.
"You said this is a village," Ryan began, breaking the silence. "So there are other people here?"
"Yes," she nodded. "There are about twenty houses. Here." She reached into a small pouch and handed him a tiny, dried piece of meat. "We can't eat much in winter. This is all I can give you."
Ryan took the meager offering. It was pitifully small. "Do you have enough food for yourself, that you can give this to me?"
She avoided his gaze. "Yes, I already ate."
He didn't believe her, but he ate the meat, the gesture meaning more than the nourishment. "Can I go outside?" he asked. "I want to see the village."
A look of pure panic flashed across her face. "No!" she said, her voice dropping to an urgent whisper. "You must stay hidden. Our village leader... he is a glutton. He hoards almost all the food for himself and gives us only enough to barely survive. If he finds out I brought a stranger here, he will kill us both."
Ryan stared at her, a cold anger beginning to simmer alongside his gratitude. "Then why did you risk it? Why bring me here?"
She met his eyes, her gaze unwavering in its kindness. "Because I couldn't leave you. I cannot even leave an animal to die in the snow. How could I leave a person?" She stood up, her energy seeming to drain away. "Now, you should sleep. We will talk more tomorrow."
---
Ryan slept fitfully. The next day, when Sora left the cabin, he decided to follow. He had to see the truth for himself.
The village was a cluster of small, snow-covered wooden huts nestled against the mountainside. Smoke curled from only a few chimneys. The largest building, in the center, had a thick plume rising from it. Ryan moved silently, using the huts for cover, his breath pluming in the frigid air. He crept to a window of the large house and peered inside.
The entire village was there, standing in a shivering line. Before them stood a mountain of a man, with greasy yellow hair and cruel yellow eyes, his body swollen with gluttony. He was the village leader. With a sneer, he hacked a tiny piece of meat from a haunch and tossed it to an old woman.
"So this is the glutton," Ryan thought, his jaw tightening.
The old woman pleaded, "Sir, my children are so hungry... can we have just a little more?"
"Food, food!" the fat man bellowed. "Is that all any of you think about? In this cold, every scrap is precious, and you dare ask for more?" The woman shrunk back into the line, defeated.
Then, it was Sora's turn. The man's demeanor shifted slightly. "Ah, Sora. You are a good girl. Never a complaint." He gave her the same pitiful portion. She took it without a word, her eyes downcast.
Ryan's heart clenched. I eat that meat every day. She eats nothing. Of course she is weak. God damn it! I am the reason she's starving.
After the villagers were dismissed, Ryan watched as the leader went into a back room and returned with an enormous roasted leg of meat, tearing into it with gusto.
"You bastard!" Ryan seethed silently. "You feast while your people starve!"
Furious, Ryan returned to the cabin and pretended to be asleep when Sora returned. She placed the small piece of meat beside him. "Eat this, Ryan."
Ryan kept his eyes closed. "No... I'm not hungry today. I'm full. You eat it." He rolled over, feigning deep sleep. After a moment, he heard the soft sounds of her eating the meat before she lay down to sleep.
---
In the dead of night, a gasp of pain woke him.
He turned to see Sora writhing on her bedroll, her body convulsing. Dark blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes, when they met his, were wide with pain and tinged with a terrifying red.
"Ryan, what is happening?" she choked out.
"Sora!" He was at her side in an instant, cradling her head. "Sora, stay with me!" He looked at the blood on his hands. "It's poison! How do I save you? What do I do?"
Her trembling hand gripped his arm. "Ryan... please... see if the people of the village... are fine..."
"Why are you thinking about them now?" he cried, his voice breaking. "You're dying! Let me help you!"
She looked up at him, her blue eyes clearing for a final moment, filled with a profound and ancient sorrow. "Ryan," she whispered, her voice as soft as falling snow. "I love you."
The words struck him like a physical blow. "Ryan? How... how do you know my name? I never told you!"
A faint, knowing smile touched her bloodied lips. "I have known you for a long time. I am leaving this world now... but always... always be kind to everyone."
Her body went limp in his arms. The light in her beautiful blue eyes faded away.
Ryan held her, frozen in a silence more absolute than any winter storm. He had lost everything once. And now, in this cruel illusion, he had lost someone who had shown him pure kindness, someone who had known his name all along.