1 A Calamtious Winter [1]

In the far east of Cachal, my village is near the Dead Zone, a unnamed village of only 80.

The dead zones walls of ice loomed over, and the people lived off the dead zones resources, treating it as a infinite bounty.

They mined there way, day and night through the ice to reach frozen great trees that would supply the entire village enough wood for a month or more.

But a calamity was destined to fall upon our little village, for any good harvest has its price.

The endless snow covering the wall fell down from the over looming wall of ice and was picked up by the devastating winds, the snowstorm started raging without end.

The villagers of this town had already adapted to the environment of snow for years though, having built roofed underpasses to connect the town for whenever they must leave there homes.

As the snowstorm blew, many villagers looked towards the only beam of light in the endless white flurry, a magic tower nine stories tall, with a faint light shining down from the top.

In that tower lived a girl, her mother, and the father.

They have the responsibility of keeping the town safe from danger, and as the only family with a magic bloodline in the backwater village, they also owned it in the eyes of the governance.

Two weeks in to the winter storm, it picked up again, while rare, it was a common event at the border of the dead zone.

Three weeks in to the winter storm, the storm did not die down once, but picked up, the villagers gathered together, there worries increasing, while the mother living in the tower tried to calm them down, assuring them that it is a natural event.

On the fourth week, a man with thick fur clothes ran back into town, saying there was a man in the outskirts, watching him and following him with his head till he got out of sight, refusing to go back to the breeding pit.

On the fifth week, one of the stronger ice miners that went along with the lizard breeder reported that he also saw a man watching them from the snow, when he called out to the figure, it didnt react, only watching from a distance.

On the sixth week, the people were getting worried, and were preparing to ration food, and drank more water to try and feel full.

On the seventh week the outhouses started to fall, and by the start of the eighth week, the older houses with worse foundations started to come down, half-way through the people were starting to lose there homes and had to make shelter in the tower.

The ninth week has started, every house outside has fallen, the lizard farmer requested to dig a new lizard breeding pit near the tower, but even with all the people digging, the hole just filled back up with snow before they could dig further, this snow storm was so brutal, it was like Tambra wanted us dead.

Everyone's huddled up in the tower by now, with the wood collected from the houses and everyone in the same room, as long as the tower doesn't fall, we may make it through winter, food is abundant due to the rapidly breeding lizards and the rare bear carcass, one of the hunters suggested that we should try and migrate to Fort Joy, but father said there was no need, and mother was more logical, saying we risk our safety trying to navigate in this weather.

The tenth week, father told mother in private that he had saw the illusive shadow, the hunter from earlier had overheard and told the others, now people would glance outside at every moment, trying to catch sight of the figure, and eventually they did, but to there disappointment, like the man knew they had seen him, he would stop moving and respond to no calls.

Father tried leaving the tower to make contact, but the closer he got, the wind would pick up and the snow came down more, eventually, he had to put his head down and his arm over his head, blocking the raging gale, when he got close enough to where he should've seen the man, he looked up, and like the man was gone, there was only snow.

On the eleventh week, the people hid downstairs, a dense shadowy mass appeared behind father while he was observing the area from the top of the tower, when father turned around, the shock almost made him fall, but before he attacked the shadow mother hurriedly stopped him and wouldn't reveal why.

He had no appearance, he was shadow like with just the figure of a man, when father tried touching him, his hand passed right through, Mother would stay by the shadows side every day and would tell it stories, she says he is worth the trouble, some people wanted to ask more, but she said he was a decent magical creature.

The others tried talking to him, but he seemed to not respond, I went up to him and tried to give him a ball of snow, and he started following me wherever I went, soon I could walk outside and it seemed like snow refused to land on me.

My mother didn't worry, but my father did and repeatedly tried to run at the shadow, and sometimes he would even yell at it, but the shadow ignored him.

The eleventh week finally passed, but each passing comes with a new beginning, the snow is still picking up, the tower is creaking and I'm worried, father says he cant do anything, and mother says she's good, but not good enough to change the weather, I tried begging the shadow to stop the storm, but it simply followed me, but my mother quickly told me to stay around others.

The shadow seems a bit shorter today?

The thirteenth week, I had been staying with mother and father the entire week, the winds had reached a point that no one could walk out of the building, and everyone was told to stay on the bottom floor, two days into the week the snow on top of the ice wall had been blown off by the wind and created a resounding boom, the shadow blinked his eyes open only for a moment, I've learnt he has eyes, but there always closed, mother says when the shadow keeps his eyes open and gains consciousness, he will be complete.

The fourteenth week, father and mother heard creaking last night while everyone was asleep, some of the children woke up because of it, but mother quickly coaxed them to sleep, I remember Anthony refused to go to sleep out of fear, but mother ended up casting a spell on him, and he fell asleep with his eyes open, I never saw mother use a spell like that before, she always told me the sleeping spell took a few minutes, but Anthony went to sleep immediately, afterwards she slouched while she packed and looked exhausted, she seemed fine earlier though?

I don't think mother really use a sleeping spell, but I trust mother would only lie to me if it was for my own good.

I dont know how long has passed, father led me and mother to a cave and then went out to hunt, but is yet to come back, mother went outside for a while by came back with food, she said father went back to town to bring the others, and we should stay here till the storm ends.

Another days passed, and father is yet to show up, mother suggested that he probably lost himself with the villagers in the heavy snow, and they most likely retreated to a different cave before they made it here, I could see her squinting her eyes, I wonder if the snow has gotten in them.

Four days have passed on this routine of questioning and explaining, mother has given me many reasons, but I dont think father will return, our meat is running out and mothers portion keeps getting smaller, as I was falling asleep she said she will go hunting, and if she doesnt return she also went to the village, and that the last of our food will be outside when I wake up.

After I woke up, I found what seems to be around 30 pounds of meat, though I noticed a lot of the meat seems to have breaks in the cuts, and seems to be from many different parts of the animal, I assume mother brought some with her to the village.

The shadow was the only one I had left with me, though it no longer looked blank, the shadowy mass now had long shadowy hair aswell, no longer just a bald outline, and seemed to be slimmer and shorter than when I first met him.

I was able to cook the wood on a slate of rock with fire magic, though it didnt cook as evenly as when having firewood under it, I miss father.

Soon, the snowstorm was dying down, and the shadow seemed to keep its eyes open for longer, The shadowy substance it was made of was slowly melting off.

Are people really born from there shadow, and not their parents?