Hypothermia chapter 5

Mannen awoke. He was curled up next to a wolf in the snow. He looked around and saw a pack of them around him, some standing and some sitting. The wolf he was currently laying next to reached over and licked his face. Mannen sat up and looked around at all the wolves while snow and ice fell from the sky. The snow was very deep by now and ice hung as icicles from the tree branches. He looked up at the white clouded sky then at the wolves again as he stood up. They all looked at him as if to say something.

"Why are you here? Did you save me" He asked them and they began to howl. After that, all the wolves got up and turned toward a forest that was next to the snowy field he was standing in. They looked behind them at Mannen to say "follow" as some walked away. Mannen took one step and the others began to walk as well now knowing that the knight understood. He then fallowed the pack.

-The book 'The Mountain Deity'

There lived a beautiful woman in a cave on a mountain covered in snow. She was called 'A Spirit of the Snow' there were others like her but they were very rare. Her name was Tsumetai. Tsumetai lived with wolves and a man, her husband. The man was, in fact, human who left his village to be with Tsumetai. They were in love. One day her husband gave his life to protect her from the very people he had once lived with. Tsumetai and her wolves fled from the mountain and traveled for six months till they came upon an underground cave at the base of a new mountain.

At this time, her stomach had grown large with her husband's last gift to her. A child. The wolves gathered food for her like always as well as for the unborn child. Once her child was born, she named her new son Zutto, meaning forever, for how long she would cherish the child.

Zutto grew to look like his father and mother. He had dark blue hair that he tied up like a samurai, grey eyes, and pale skin. He, like his mother, wore no shoes but bore clothes made from a moose that the wolves had caught once. He was still young only 12 or so. He learned the way of the wolves and his mother. He was curious and playful and very brave.

The villagers, however, found Tsumetai, Zutto, and the wolf pack. They wanted to kill them because of her husband who they thought betrayed them by going with Tsumetai. They captured Tsumetai and tied her to a tree then killed her wolf pack slowly. They also had hold of Zutto. And after the wolf pack was done in, they killed her then her son.

It is said that Tsumetai, not knowing of her son's death because she was killed before Zutto, that she still searches for him even in death.

The library-

Go shut the book and looked around at everyone's gloomy face then looked back down at the book.

"What a horrible story..." Himino spoke.

"Maybe Tsumetai wants Mannen because she lost her son." Hayate suggested.

"Technically she doesn't know he's dead." Kei said.

"Then what" Sasame asked.

"Himino..." Hajime said pulling on Himino's skirt. "Mannen is coming back, isn't he?

"Of course he is." She tried to keep their hopes high.

The forest-

Mannen followed the wolf pack. It seemed like forever and he was still walking. The snow became deeper and deeper as it snowed on. He guessed the city had just as much and was causing trouble for people. No other life seemed to be around. They neared a clearing and noticed the wolves slowly turned translucent before ultimately disappearing. When they were all gone, Mannen was alone and he walked to the middle. The middle of the clearing, however, when he stepped on it sounded different. It was almost a hallow wooden sound beneath him.

"Mannen." It was Tsumetai's voice in his head. He looked up at the sky and the falling snow. "Play out my ballad. Begin or end this story." Mannen looked down at the snow beneath his feet where it had sounded different to step on. With his bare hands, he began to dig through it until coming upon two wooden doors that lead into the ground. There was a rusted lock that once prevented others from getting in but it seemed so old now that it wouldn't do much for locking.

The ice knight grabbed the lock and pulled at it. It was not very difficult for him to break it open. He then opened the wooden doors to find stone steps leading down into the darkness. This was somewhere he needed to go so down the steps he went.

The library-

"So what do we do now" Takako asked. Go was reading more of the book for information. Everyone one else was trying to think of what to do but weren't getting very far.

"Let's find Mannen." Kei said. "He could give us answers."

Himino came into the conversation. "He must have a reason for doing what he's doing." Everyone was quiet until Hayate got up.

"Let's go." They all were about to leave to find Mannen when Go stopped them.

"A stone." He said. They all turned their heads to him.

'The Mountain Deity'-

There is legend of a stone Zutto had worn. A very rare stone that was given to him by his mother that was originally his father's. It is also said that that was a reason why Zutto was killed last. It was due to that stone which was once his father's. They say that Zutto reminded the people who killed him of his father who they considered to betray them. They wanted their former samurai to be tortured for leaving them unprotected from other warriors. Since they couldn't have him, they killed the one that was of his flesh and blood. Zutto, the son he never met. To torture the samurai farther in death, they locked the stone away in an unknown place.

The underground stairs-

Mannen felt the wall as he continued down. There was no longer any light where he was and an unknown feeling of his feet being stuck when he lifted them to step, indicated that his powers where continuing to go out of control. When Mannen reached a certain step, he could not find the next. He assumed he was now in a room or at least flat ground. He continued to walk blindly which he was now getting used to. When he did not bump into a wall, he assumed he was walking down a hallway and this proved to be true when a strange light up ahead lit the hallways in which he walked. It was not sunlight for it was a blue aura.

As he got closer, the light became brighter until he had to close his eyes due to the intensity of it. Fortunately, his eyes adjusted or the light calmed down to reveal a room with a large trunk in the middle. The roots had torn up the stone floor and most of the tree was no longer there. The knight walked over to the trunk and looked what sat upon it and where the light was coming from. It was a necklace that had a blue stone and was oddly cut but still shined as bright as the moon.

Mannen picked it up and it stopped glowing. He put it around his neck in the darkness and tried to find his way back up to the surface.

Town-

The group searched for their friend everywhere they could think of. They searched from the ground and the sky. The city was cold and icy with snow dunes everywhere. None of the citizens were on the street visibly and the few cars parked on the street were covered in snow. Even a car was blown over by the extreme wind.

Go heard a cry coming from the overturned car so he approached it cautiously. It sounded like a young girl and under the hood of the car, which was pointed down to form a tent like shelter, was exactly what he expected. Except, this girl had fox ears and a foxtail. She was dressed in a thin white dress with thin straps to hold it up. It only reached down to her knees. She was pale, had orange eyes and long orange hair that was tied back in a white ribbon. He wore no shoes and looked to be about Mannen's age.

The girl was huddled under the car seemingly afraid and lost. It didn't look like the cold bothered her at all but the wind did.

Go stepped toward her but as soon as he did, she ran off and was no longer seen. It was as if the dense snowfall pulled a vale over his eyes. He decided not to chase her and continued looking for Mannen.