In the coldest of the nights, the moon chose to turn its back on the snow forest. The caves were the only refuge of the creatures, together with the trees that took the lead to hide everything away from curious eyes, making the forest almost inaccessible with all its numerous paths leading to the sweet illusion of an exit.
However, the taboo silence of the snow forest, was once again broken. The sounds start echoing between trees and leaves, ignoring the calm atmosphere as if it was never there to begin with.
Metal clashing against each other. It collided making a high pitched sound, disturbing the once quiet forest.
The almost rhythmic sound found it's way towards a small creature, behind a large tree and came without warning.
The creature was sitting with its back on the tree. It resembled a little boy, almost invisible on the snow. His clothes were thorn and dirt, being the only thing keeping his skin away from the cold snow.
The wind brushed against his skin, moving the leaves in a synchronized dance as they slowly passed, the cold air making the boy tremble. The sounds, however, didn't stop, the metal clashing against each other was as vivid as the drops of red running down his cold hands.
He held his head trembling as he looked down at the red painting the snow, truly a strange sight, but somehow familiar.
His throat felt dry, the words trying to escape its prison in a desperate attempt. His creaked lips slowly started to part ways.
"M- om..."
The shaky whisper barely came out and his lips were sealed once again. The call wasn't heard, nor there was someone who would.
'What did I do wrong? What did I do? What did I do? what?'
His thoughts racing and his heartbeat fast, the things around him started to get farther and farther away, and more difficult to make sense of.
His lungs burned as he took rushed breaths, with each breath his pain extended. His far away pupils trembled together with the air vibrations, still persisting in a even more violent and intense manner.
The night, unfortunately, seemed longer that day.
***
The rays of sunshine ignored the trees as they passed between the leaves, rushing to reach the boy curled up laying down on the harsh snow.
As they reached the boy, the sunshine caressed the boys gentle face with pity. The warm breeze circled around the boy, reinvigorating the persistent small plants battling against the snow.
The boy didn't move, didn't make a single sound, his eyes were firmly closed, subtle dark circles under his eyes could still be seen.
The snow around the boy still had small signs of red and small footprints imprinted on it, as a reminder of the reality.
The clouds began to hide the boy away from the sun, as it was theirs time to give one last gift to the boy once a prince, once a son.