"So... cold..." The young girl shivers in the cold as snow falls on top of her. The individual snowflakes pile between the gaps in the bear's fur. She had skinned the polar bear and worn it as a jacket.
Her clothes were still stained with blood, making her an obvious spot in this white world. She looks up and sees that the clouds have split, creating a massive canyon above her where she can see the sky clearly through the massive storm of snow raining down on her.
"Blue!" A familiar voice screamed for the girl, whose name was Blue. "Blue!" Blue turns around and sees another girl chasing her, her arms extended.
"Straw!" Blue dropped her jacket onto the snow as she embraced the oncoming hug. Straw jumped and clung onto Blue, causing the both of them to fall to the ground. Straw looked identical to blue. They both had the same pale white skin, but her white hair was long and flowed freely.
The two of them embraced one another as they rolled around in the snow. "The whole village has been looking for you! Where have you been?"
"I just went hunting for samples!" Blue pushes Straw off, pushing her to the side as she sits upright. "I got a perfect sample, but then this massive bear attacked me." Blue pointed to the red stains on her shirt, showing them to Straw.
"Is that where you got this from?" Straw reaches for the massive blanket of fur on the blanket of snow on the ground. A large lightning strike interrupts their conversation as her hands stretch to reach for the blanket. "Hail!" Straw stops what she's doing and immediately stands up, forgetting all about the cloak.
Blue stumbles for a moment before standing up. She wobbles slightly before wiping the snow off her hand. They look each other in the eye, knowing exactly what to do in the next few moments.
Straw grabbed Blue's hand, wrapping her cold and slender fingers around hers. The two of them started running in the opposite direction Blue was headed.
Above them, the clouds started to darken. The individual snowflakes that fell on them became denser and larger, covering the entire forest in an even thicker layer of snow.
"Is Dad home yet?" Blue and Straw ran through the field of snow together, outrunning the massive dark clouds above them. Their breaths turn into the giant mist that wraps around their feet and bodies, covering them in a veil of mystery.
As they ran through the forest, the mist and snow became thicker, making it harder for the two of them to see where they were headed. Blue's feet started to burn as the snow got colder, seeping into her feet and sapping the temperature away from them.
Both of them blended in with the background as their pale and cold complexions camouflaged into the white snow being overcast by the dark clouds. At this point, the snow had become so thick that the sun had been blocked completely, allowing no light to seep through the clouds.
"Dad caught a massive ice speaker; we're going to eat it for dinner." Straw turned around and looked at Blue. Blue smiled at Straw as she turned back, focusing on the cold path forward. "He wants you to kill it."
"Really?!" Blue stops immediately, dragging Straw to a halt with her.
"Yeah." Straw smiles as she can see the excitement in Blue's eyes. "It was massive, nearly twenty feet long."
"No way!" Her blue eyes widened as a drop of saliva dripped down the side of her mouth, instantly crystallizing in the cold temperature.
"C'mon, let's keep moving; we don't want to end up as ice speaker bait." Straw wipes the saliva off the corners of Blue's mouth. Blue could barely contain her excitement as she held onto Straw's hand tightly.
The two of them continued walking as their surroundings got darker and darker; the sun had completely set in a matter of minutes since they had started walking. The forest was awfully quiet, creating an unsettling environment.
In the distance, there was a single flame that lit up the dark path—a torch that was being hung on a wooden pole. "We're not far from home." Straw dragged the exhausted and tired Blue by the collar, dragging her through the snow and dirt. Blue cried in boredom as she pouted her cheeks and crossed her arms.
"Are we there yet?" Blue yawned.
"Almost." Straw dragged Blue's body and herself up a steep hill of snow, the path getting narrower and narrower. The stone path had started to disappear under all the snow; the only thing Straw had to go off was her memory and the occasional torch.
Straw was wearing a fur coat with boots and a fluffy hat, while Blue was wearing nothing but a white shirt and shorts. However, Straw was the one experiencing the brunt of the coldness; her fingers trembled in the cold, while Blue's toes were merely going numb. Yet Straw, the older sister, was the one in charge of dragging her useless sibling home.
Foot after foot, one step at a time, Straw had reached the top of the hill, overlooking a massive valley of snow. Straw looked over the massive and vast empty wasteland of white as the golden green northern lights illuminated the night sky. A view too beautiful to ignore.
Blue opened her eyes and wondered what was going on. "Why are we stationary? Has the train run out of coal?" Blue teased Straw.
"No." Straw pulled on Blue's collar from behind, choking her with her white shirt as she raised her up, pointing her towards the northern lights. Straw was at a loss for words at the clarity and size of the northern lights; she had never seen them this close and vivid before. "Just as my father told me..."
"The brightest lights occur on the third day of the winter eclipse." Blue finished Straw's words. "In less than three days, this entire valley and forest will be overrun by them."
"Even more reason for us to get the hell out of here." Straw reached into her fur coat's pocket, pulling out a cylindrical object with a trigger that resembled a firearm. The barrel was circular with four long prongs that extended from the main body of the gun and converged on the tip of the barrel, forming a tiny slit. "I'll signal to Dad that we're going to be home soon." Straw extended her arms upward and pointed them towards the northern lights, putting her finger over the trigger. As she was about to pull the trigger, Blue ripped the gun out of Straw's hand, snatching it for herself.
"I want to do it!" Blue grabbed the gun like a dog playing fetch, her eyes fixated on the barrel of this tiny weapon.
"Wait!" Straw was caught off-guard by Blue's actions, not giving her enough time to snatch the signaler away from her. "Be careful!"
Blue pointed the gun directly upward and pulled down on the trigger, allowing the signal to go off. For a brief moment, it seemed like nothing had happened.
"Hot!" The gun exploded into a massive spray of color and effects, sending a massive ray of rainbows into the sky. The gun had exploded into tiny bits in Blue's hand, causing tiny shards of metal to pierce her skin and burn the top layer of skin. Even though Blue was going through a whirlwind of pain, she couldn't help but be mesmerized by the spiral of colors that had escaped through the tiny barrel of that signaler.
"You idiot!" Straw grabbed Blue by the hand and threw her down the cliff as she herself jumped for shelter, using her thick jacket as a shield from the shrapnel. Straw had a mortified look on her face as Blue smiled with an idiotic grin, the expansive array of colors providing a colorful backdrop to Blue's idiotic decisions.