Thread: Snowing Inside the Heart - Survivor00 & Notte

??Snowing Inside the Heart? By Survivor00 Notte Cold? So?cold? Alyx Whittaker had never seen a beach, never felt a summer breeze, never witnessed a world that was not covered in snow and ice for most of the year those things were part of the Old World, from stories passed down from generations gone. But as she trudged ankle-deep through the freezing snow, the hungry wind devouring her body heat, all she could feel was warmth. Somewhere in her confused and sluggish brain, she knew that she was suffering from hypothermia, but no matter how hard she shivered, how tight she pulled the ragged coat to her body she couldn??t stop her body from sending the precious, fading warmth in her core to her extremities. Alyx had been walking through the frozen forest for days, sometimes in circles, away from the settlement that she had grown up in. A violent Illness had ravaged the village, spreading rapidly between the packed huts and weakened bodies. Many died quickly, before any care could be given to them. They had no medicine to treat it, and she had taken a desperate bid to reach the next village and barter for any medicine they had, anything that might aid them. She had understood that the odds of her making it there were slim, even strongly against her, but she knew that if she didn??t try, they would all die anyway. Already, the damage might have been irreversible. Alyx pushed onward, the numbness in her body spreading through her ever faster. She leaned against a tree, her frosted breath whisking away in the wind. Her strength was ebbing rapidly, her famished stomach growling for a proper meal, but she didn??t dare open the pack that she was to offer. She brushed the heavy flecks of snow from her face, peering into the whiteout. She didn??t even know where she was?she had never made this journey before, she could have been miles away from where she wanted to be, without hope of saving anyone, including herself. Alyx had stopped shivering, her movements becoming disoriented. She took a few steps from the tree, seeing a small clearing in the trees up ahead. Her legs, numb from cold and exhaustion, buckled beneath her, and she fell into the snow. She wanted to get up but she couldn??t command herself to rise, her strength completely exhausted. The pack was so heavy? ??Mother?help?? She whimpered, calling out to the only person she could think of. As if in answer to her plea, the heavy veil of snow lightened for just a moment, revealing a clearing in the distance, the faint shapes of snow-covered huts emerging from the storm. She was so close? She reached down deep inside her, grasping for any energy her body had left, willing her frozen body to her feet. ??Just one?step?at a time?? She whispered to herself, struggling towards the village as the veil closed in again, surrounding her. But she knew it was there? Step after agonizing step, she made her way to the center of the village, throwing herself against the door of a house, sliding down to the ground, weakly knocking against it. ??Help?please?open?up?? Her voice, frail and tired, swept away in the wind. Her eyelids felt heavy, closing on her despite her protests, and she slipped into unconsciousness.