Winter Pass

Haolin no longer heard the shuffling of feet in his grove, the tension in his body eased. The caution toward the sudden change in his mind fizzled out with the lack of intelligent lifeforms. Haolin finally felt, at peace. No pestering human at his side, no annoying requests for things. It was quiet. He dozed off in tranquil silence, nothing but rustling greenery and the occasional distant songbird.

Feeling a cold tap on his snout, Haolin opened his eyes and looked above him at the cloudy grey sky that reminded him of the stubborn woman who would look down at him curiously every day. How long has it been? Haolin didn't count, he could only remember sleeping when she left. Unable to stop the curiosity in his bones, he went searching for her with his foresight. Within the valley, within his mountains. He could see everything, everyone, and anything. He was mildly surprised to discover that they had traveled quite the distance from his grove.

They were less than a day away from the pass. Haolin eyes the falling snowflakes observing indifferently as they pile on and melt once landing on his body. He grunts and stands up to collect the tossed-aside dead trees he had ignored since he destroyed the shrine basement. Deftly using his sharp claws and long tail to drag loose logs toward the shrine. Haolin piled the sturdy logs above himself, mimicking a crude but solid roof. His eyes curved with a bit of satisfaction, and the languid dragon crawled beneath the makeshift roof.

The silver king lazed around with most of his silver body under the shelter, not caring for the snow that was quickly accumulating around him. Even if he was buried in snow, he wasn't worried as he knew he was strong enough to crawl out anyway. Haolin's eyes blink slowly, watching the snowflakes endlessly fall by the hundred. His bronze eyes grew drowsy like a bear during hibernation. Before finally, Haolin was quietly lulled into a deep sleep. 'Haolin...Haolin! HAO-' "-FENG!! DAI LING!!" Dai Lu desperately called out for her brother and Hao Feng.

She shivered in her suit and wrapped her jacket tighter around herself. Her lips were blue, her eyes and nose as red as a button, her stiff face filled with horror and desperation. Dai Lu stubbornly moved forward, her teeth chattering and her mind rattled after being separated due to the sudden storm roaring in their ears. Dai Lu's blue lips quaked as she gave another shuttering cry. "Older brother!!! Hao Feng!!" But no matter how much she shouted no one could hear her, Dai Lu choked on her cry.

Feeling hopelessness and despair flooding her the young woman felt the air around her only growing colder. It was her fault. She was distracted after leaving the grove, and her brother gave her space. They were just a step or two in front of her. Now they...They. In the vast sudden snow flurry of a valley. Dai Lu's fierce expression fell under the mental pressure of being lost in a storm alone. She trembled, feeling her knees weaken beneath her.

"Older brother!!!" Dai Lu appears fierce when she is with her brother. However, internally she was still a young woman barely out of her teens. Every waking moment Dai Ling had been with her, being her calm rock whether to wear down her fiery temper or settle her uneasy nerves. Clinging to her clothes for warmth with snot and tears freezing on her face. The dangerous valley, swallowing her cries whole Dai Lu calls out again. "Older brother-!" Sniffling, Dai Lu's legs finally gave way after pushing against the wind that wanted to send her thin frame flying with every howl. "Ugh!" Covering her face, Dai Lu curls up under her jacket. Unable to keep on pushing against the harsh storm in search of Dai Ling and Hao Feng.

Dai Lu could feel the frostbite settling in, and in a desperate attempt to delay it, rolled into the trunk of a tree and breathed warm air into her hands. The storm came suddenly, so, so if she managed to pass the worst of it. "*Ha-" Blowing her pale fingers, Dai Lu sniffled and wiped her dried snot and tears. She tried to keep warm within her jacket, pressing with what strength she had left into the tree trunk. This weather, although Hao Feng predicted it. Came too suddenly, and too quickly, they were unprepared.

Dai Lu was helpless, not knowing if they had rushed to cross the pass without her or not. Maybe they didn't even know she wasn't able to catch up. If her brother knew she wasn't with them. "...." Dai Lu didn't know if she hoped her brother made it through, or if he turned around to save her. Dai Lu of course hoped Dai Ling was safe. But she was also scared without him. She drew her knees in further in an insecure manner, shivering and seemingly losing the energy to even speak anymore. Her numb fingers held on tightly to her slowly dimming talisman to her chest. Haolin coldly eyed the restraints on himself, he shifts one arm forward out of the grove.

His expression did not change even as the chains dug into his skin, tearing his body and threatening to break his bones. He indifferently relented and eased the strength he used to pull away from the chains. Small streaks of blood painted the snowy white ground with tiny red flowers. Haolin remained still, staring at his bloodied wrists for awhile. Then, brought his gaze back up in the direction of the desperate cries. Unable to hear, or see, the woman or her companions anymore.

Grey eyes which were full of life and curiosity, stared down at himself without fear like the people of the past. Who did not cry or faint upon seeing his fangs and claws? Who did not fear him? The throbbing in his head intensified, making him grunt grumpily. With the flurry of a new round of snow, scales replaced human skin, and a body of silver replaced the scarred human male. 'Older brother, if one day, I suddenly become lost in my own mind.'

The girl, so similar to their mother. Sat on a stump beside him, staring off into the distance appearing to be harboring deep thoughts and heavy emotions he no longer understood. Haolin waited for her to finish speaking, as he always did, even if he lost himself. He always listened to her and waited for her to finish speaking. Because he knew, he loved her once too. 'If one day, I too have to fight for our valley, forget who I am. Hurting those around us without knowing, unable to quell my thirst for destruction of those beyond our valley.'

She tilts her head at the view he couldn't remember in front of them at that time. Smiling softly even if it was full of sadness, not for herself, but for him. '-Will you have to kill me too?' Haolin waited, and waited, before shaking his silver scales and leaning into the chains with his full weight. Wearing a nonchalant expression he didn't seem to feel the pain in his groaning limbs at all. She turned to him then, as his scales ripped from his legs, as the metal tore at his body. Groaning, bending, protesting his escape.

'Older brother, if it hurts too much... Don't try so hard and let us carry some of your burdens, ok?' She grins at him cutely, seemingly not noticing the strain and blood the silver king was shedding in fighting the chains that bound him. The silver king, chained against his will, had always been fully grown and ready to break free. But what had been the point after everyone died? Haolin growls deeply, his powerful muscles rippling beneath his scales like a whip sending the snow around him away like a bag of flour being dropped from the counter and exploding from the impact. If it was anyone else, anyone else who was freezing to death he could turn a blind eye. Perhaps it's because she was the first to look at him and express fearlessness. With a bit of curiosity instead of running away or attacking, and a small smile when pestering him and offering him useless things.

Just like another young girl with loving eyes and a charming laugh dancing around him fearlessly in the past. Haolin's sister finished her proposal softly with a warm gaze, undisturbed by the wave of snow rippling away from the mighty silver king. 'That's what families are for after all, right? Big brother?' "*SNAP!"