Help me! Please help me!

Who are you? a second voice replied curiously.

He's taken him. He's going to kill him...

A small white head with two black stripes around the eyes and down the center of the head popped up out of the ground. Two small brown eyes scanned the snow-covered ground, looking for the source of the strange voice. Lying on top of the snow, covered with a thin layer of the white stuff was a boy in a red coat. His hair was black and white, much like her own fur. It was the boy she had sprayed several seasons ago, in the cave. At the time she had thought that he was another skunk trying to invade her home. That was wrong, but at the time that was what it had seemed like.

What is this? Humans seem to be everywhere in these hills today. the skunk complained, coming out of her hole. She poked the human with her nose but he didn't open his eyes. He looked quite frozen, as he should have been, lying asleep in the snow.

Not asleep. Knocked out. By the thing that took him away.

The skunk snorted. If you're knocked out, how is it you're talking?

I don't know. Please, help me. The voice begged, whimpering like a lost pup.

How am I supposed to wake you're body up. I'm not big enough to warm your body up.

Please. I have to save him. The creature is going to kill him.

What creature?

The voice inside the boy's head didn't answer, and the skunk poked him with her nose again. Still no answer. Snorting, the skunk tugged the hood of the coat away from the boy's head and bit his ear as hard as she could. That not only woke up the voice, but the boy as well.

"OUCH!" the boy screamed, rolling away from the skunk. "You bit my ear!"

Well, I woke you up. She said smugly. Now will you explain what this creature is?

The boy sat up and looked down at the skunk, his blue eyes filled with pain. There was a nice bruise forming on the side of his head, and the way he held his arm showed that the lower part was broken. All in all, he was in bad shape.

"I don't have time to talk to a skunk," the boy growled, struggling to get to his feet. "I have to get to the Heart of the Forest before Netto gets killed."

Fine. But last I knew, humans weren't fireproof.

Enzan growled and kicked some snow at the skunk. "I don't care what you think! I can't even believe that I'm arguing with a skunk!"

"So why are you still doing it?" a second voice called out.

"Kichi!"

Enzan had never been so glad to see the older girl in his life. Actually, it was the first time he'd ever been glad to see her. She was covered in soot much like Enzan was, and her legs were covered in a thin layer of ice. She looked about as miserable as he felt, and just as mad.

"I see our friend left us tracks to follow. I plan to thoroughly thrash his hide for doing all of this. C'mon, lets get going before this snow covers all of the tracks."

******

Cesare hummed all the way through the forest, carrying Netto on his back like a sack of grain. Netto couldn't do much, still frozen as he was. Every so often he would attempt to kick Cesare, but they were feeble attempts, causing no damage whatsoever. In fact, Cesare seemed very amused by the antics.

"Don't worry, boy. Very soon you won't have to worry about anything."

"Go to hell!" Netto growled, kicking Cesare a couple more times.

"Hmph. Been there, the weather was very nice. Very soon your world will become a living hell anyway. Full of darkness and destruction. Oh yes, my master has big plans for this world."

"Don't count on it. Enzan will stop you. Just you wait."

"Oh really?" Cesare snorted. "He's probably an icecube by now. You might as well give up. Especially since we've reached our destination."

Cesare stepped through the line of trees into the large clearing. The quartz crystal jutted out of the ground, shimmering softly through the fallen snow. Amazingly the water in the spring around the stone was clear of ice, as were the small riverlets that emerged from the spring, weaving their way through the snow covered grounds. Cesare carefully avoided stepping in the water, and had to do a bit of fancy manuvering so that he didn't get wet trying to reach the giant crystal.

Without any care Cesare dropped Netto onto the relatively flat surface of the stone, knocking the breath out of Netto. It took a moment of gasping for the boy to get it back. At that point the snow stopped and the clouds moved away, revealing a dark sky filled with stars. They seemed brighter than usual, and Netto's thoughts flickered briefly, wondering if it was because he was about to die.

"Comfortable? No? Good," Cesare chuckled, taking the dagger back out of his coat. It gleamed evily in the dim starlight. Netto closed his eyes and let out a small whimper. That was about all the noise he could manage to make at this point. "The time has come to release you, my master! I bring before you the Blood of the Mirror! Take its strenght and be reborn in this world!"

A scream of pain and fear echoed through the chill night air! It died as quickly as it had been born, and all went silent. Everything was still, the trees, the wind, the snow...Nothing moved, save for the gurgling stream. The stream alone continued to bubble up around the crystal, its once clear waters slowing becoming tinged with red...