Infront of the family stood a tall, blue haired man, holding what seemed to be a makeshift rifle, the wood seemed to have been neatly carved, and the steel on the tip of it seemed to have been growing rusty.
The man, called Zane seemed to have a sharp physique, which was hidden under a big, puffy coat, with a wide hood which appeared to have dark, brown fur on the back of it.
He had sharp, un-bothered blue eyes, that correlated perfectly with his blue, short messy hair.
"Have you seen someone who looks like me, but with slightly longer hair?"
Asks Zane, who seems un-bothered by the terrifying beast he managed to kill in one blow.
"W-what was that thing?"
Asks Ayase, ignoring Zane's question.
"This is a mutated animal, it's 'special ability' is that if you are to look into it's eyes, you'll be frozen in fear."
"It's actually a rare animal, and tastes good."
"But the risk to kill it is too much. But thanks to all of you, I was able to blow it's head off."
"It's even said that after you kill it, if you look into it's eyes, it can still curse you with the same affects, even if it's dead."
"Have any of you seen a person just like me?"
Replies Zane, before asking the same odd question.
"No, we haven't. Now, I can tell you have some sort of fire going on further up north, so could you take us to it before we freeze to death?"
Asks Levi, annoyed at his repetitive question.
"I suppose. After all if a wild Snowgeezer appears, I could use you as bait. Come along, chop chop."
Replies Zane, with only one thought grinding in his brain. Bait.
Ayase, Sylvia, Levi and Carl all reluctantly follow the robot-like Zane, who seems to have no perception of human emotions.
As they neared closer towards the fire, slight growling could be heard coming from what seemed to be a hand-made wooden hut, big enough to fit an elephant.
As the family peered inside the surprisingly warm, cozy hut, that held a fire beneath a stone fire place, there stood two wolves, one very bright blue, and the other very dark blue, that seemed to be twisting and turning as they grappled onto eachother, there sharp claws, and pointy teeth chomped and scratched eachother, in a playful manner.
"Those are my two pets, they assist me in hunting."
Said Zane, before sitting down on a cloud-like sofa, as he softened into it.
As the family sat on the other sofa, that was also facing the warm campfire, they turned to Zane, with many questions, more than his single, weird question.
"Did you make this yourself?"
Asked Sylvia nervously.
"Yes, but it was mainly my 'brother'."
Replied Zane.
"Is your brother the one your looking for?"
Asked Carl, intrigued.
"Yes, he went missing a few years back."
Replied Zane in a cold tone, before stepping up from the soft sofa, and towards the half-broken glass that glistened in the cold, frosty snow that spreads through the windows edge.
There, he peered out into the now-dark forest, that shined brightly through the moons bright glaze.
"I usually wouldn't tell anyone this, but seeing you are the only other humans I've seen other than my brother, and seeing that the snow is no longer falling heavy, I might as well."
"You see, a few years back, when I was young, I was stranded in the middle of nowhere, I knew nothing, not how to talk, not how to walk or anything of that sort, and while I was nearing the end of what would have been my short life, the fire that was slowly depleting was suddenly covered, and warmed by a blurry figure, with long blue hair, and cold eyes just like mine."
"As I felt my body being dragged beneath me, my legs were holsted up, and I felt like I was floating towards the sky. But, in a sudden everything went black. Once I had re-awoken, I was no longer deserted in this very forest, but instead of a warm, cozy fire, that burned off the snow and frost that had climbed over my body."
"My, who I prefer to call 'brother' managed to save my life that day, and from that day onwards, I was completely loyal to him. He fed me, cleaned me, saved me, and I returned that favour by doing various things, such as hunting wild beasts for food, doing almost all of the chores he used to do by himself, and I even assisted him in building the hut we are in right now."
"We even managed to save a pack of wolves at one time. Sadly only two survived. There names are Snowy and Drak. While they were friendly to my brother, they didn't dare even look at me. But that all changed when my brother decided he wanted to know more about this world, after finding a map that took him towards a place of knowledge, called 'the owl's den.'"
"He informed me that he was only simply going to venture out a little at a time, and that when he found his path, he'd come back, and we'd both go out towards the 'Owl's den.' But, one day, on the final outing, he disappeared. I figured he had a run in with maybe a Clawrabbit, or maybe even a Snotfox, but as I waited, hours, then days, then weeks went by, and nothing."
"As time went on, I was lost, I couldn't function without my brother. I was merely a lifeless being."
"So, I worked up my ambition, by doing the same stuff my brother did."
"And throughout time I slowly became more resilient and gained ambition. But the only way I found I could do this, was by pretending to be my brother. I looked up to him, so I became him. My usual warmhearted self became detached, as I turned into the cold-hearted brother I knew. But throughout all of that I still held on to a slip of my ambition. I think maybe the flame still burns inside of me, but yet I can't reach it, it almost seems as if it's being covered by a shield of ice."
"Never-the-less, I kept on pushing, and started to search east, where my brother had gone missing."
"But, as you can see, that hasn't worked out, and now, years later I still look for him, alongside Snowy and Drak, that haven't been able to pick up his scent once, but we still try, again, again, and again."
As Zane begins to finish off his story, he is stop abruptly by Levi, who's eyes were beaming sharply, as his genius mind starts to turn it's large, abundment of cogs.
"If your brother supposedly went missing around east side, how come you were searching towards the south, where we were?"
"Oh, I almost forgot. I felt some weird presence that passed through south not so long ago, so I decided to check it out, incase it was my brother, but all I ended up seeing were all of you."
"Nevertheless, it felt good to speak to others surprisingly."
Replied Zane.
"A weird presence huh? Like a scary one?"
Asks Sylvia.
"You could say that. Unlike any mutated beast in this forest. Most you can feel when they are close to yo-"
Before he could finish his sentence a unsettling, loud pressure appeared.
"That presence! I know what that is.."
Zane quickly rushed towards the window towards the left side of the hut, and as the two wolves, Snowy and Drak started to bark and howl furiously towards that exact same window, what could be seen wasn't his brother, nor Teddy, but a huge, 8 foot tall beast, that was covered under huge, thick snow, pointing out of it were sharp shards that pierced out, through it's back, and dangerous claws that ripped through parts of its hand, in all directions.
As it's footsteps shook the thick snow off of the leaf-less trees, each step shook the hearts of each and every one of them, with each step giving them the same feeling the mutated boar had given them. One of fear it was..
"T-the Snowgeezer.."
Said Zane, with a slightly worried face that appeared on him. One the family had never seen him pull, as for the past few hours, he had kept the same cold expression on his face, to reinact his brother. As they all looked at Zane, the ice cold hunter, they new that this was a problem. A big one.