Same scene, different day.
It was yet another bad afternoon for Kievan Rus', the poor excuse for a state made up of a collection of Eastern Slavs, because he happened to run into a member of the unofficial team that had been terrorizing him for quite a while now. The Mongolian one, in particular.
'Where is the General when I really need him?', he thought frantically, momentarily struck with a moment of shock at the Mongol's sudden appearance before taking off into the never-ending snowfall that was his lands' forests.
All this endless running into nothingness was starting to take its toll on his small body, malnourished despite his extended stays with the bear family that had rescued him from his last encounter with a human. The berries, medium-sized animals and fish they gathered could only do so much for him and even with his deep appreciation for their help, it was not always enough to sustain him when such incidents as these occurred. That become more clear once a certain fresh patch of snow tripped him up and he landed face first in one of nature's welcoming white blankets.
"Ah..." The young state mumbled softly, slowly sitting up to wipe the frost off his face, a small gasp of terror escaping him at the proximity Mongolia must be in regards to himself by then. He needed to get up and fast.
Stumbling to his feet with shaky legs, he was halted by an ominous call from behind.
"Your time has come, little one..."
The chilling tone alone was enough to alarm him. Still, it was the next words he said that truly threw Ivan off and made his blood run cold.
"Such vibrant reds. What a shame they destroyed the purity of this once beautiful snow..."
Red?
What, where-
Violet eyes began flicking over a variety of areas in a feverish attempt to understand what was going on and, and...
'Why do I... feel so lightheaded?'
"Is this what it comes to? Must I tell you what is happening for you to realize it?"
Ivan began wheezing in his frenzied state, his vision blurring with the onset of hot tears as he soon fell to his knees, something wet ran down his neck profusely. And it wasn't simply his tears being shed.
A long instance of silence persisted between the two before the elder chuckled humorlessly and took a few steps closer to the hysterical youth. "Your neck shows everyone you got what was coming to you, Rus." Another step was taken in his direction, the boy not doing anything except clutching at his open neck wound. "This is the end of the chapter..."
Squeezing his eyes shut to stop the vision of his tormentor standing above him so triumphantly, Ivan shrunk into himself and flopped down into the snow, his blood coating the entire area around him in a quick tide of crimson red.
He had given up. His short life was done for, finished and unable to be recovered.
He should have known leaving the cave too soon would result in something similar to this, and yet, he wanted to try and believe maybe it would be better today. Maybe, things could be different...
Resolved to his ultimate fate, it was quite a surprise to the suffering youth when he heard shouts of fright at the discovery of his barely-conscious body. He could not tell when they had come. They just showed up one minute after he likely considered himself left for dead. They took away this possibility of impending doom in the end and nursed him back to health, sewing up his wounds and later removing the stitches, all-too happy at seeing him make a miraculous recovery from the condition they originally found him in.
To this day, Ivan does not know why he was not more thoroughly killed on the spot, but he does not question it any further than necessary.
He chose to believe it was divine intervention that saved him until the cycle repeated
Then it would be a new day for another to try and end his pitiful existence once more.