The smell of blood lingered in the forest, snow falling as if there's no tomorrow, and maybe this statement it's indeed true. The chilling eerie feeling accentuated the dark and heavy atmosphere casting its shadow on the interity of the forest, it all announced the nearby end. The air felt as dense as ever, the mist covered the surface, making the ground difficult to distinguish and comprehend its form.
Slowly, a path started to take form, trees contorted in a strange way the further it went. As a invinting hand, the road to nowhere reached the little human. The child looked at it with his clean eyes, no reflection on it, the brigth and light blue eyes stood firmly staring at somewhere contained deeper in it.
A sudden felling of danger washed over him, paralyzing the boy completely, a chill ran down his spine. Cold sweat started to form on his forehead. The bitter and metallic taste lingered in his mouth, he cleaned it with his sleeve while something tried to break its way to escape. The dark red attire decorated with golden threads the boy wore firmly stood up, proudly overpowering the blood completely, leaving but a memorie of its presence.
His clean eyes still looked at a point far away, but whitin his reach at the same.
His legs started moving, slowly but surely. The snow melted as he walked, each step engraved its mark on the disappearing snow.
He started walking and then he running and becoming increasingly faster each second it passed. The thought of stopping didn't crossed his mind in the slightest, it was too late for that.
He had already began paving his own path.
***
The boy suddenly opened his eyes and stood up, clothes completely drenched in sweat. His fast heartbeat in synchrony with his rushed breaths.
"Huu... Huuu..."
He grabbed his heart tighty and hastly looked around, the dark blurs slowly forming the known symphony. His eyes started to adjust to the dark and he started recognizing the walls of the cave, the delicated marks engraved on the walls that he had been using to mark the time, his improvised bed and rests of last nigths camp fire.
The familiarity caressed his heart, comforting him further. He sat back down checking his pocket and this time another feeling of relief made his heart slowly calm down.
He blankly stared at the ground for a few minutes, his breaths forming a small steam in the cold night. He muttered with a strident voice, waking himself out of a daze.
"Ok...Fire"
He skillfully moved to build a camp fire with what lasted of the wood he had gathered. After some minutes a fire ignited and started to slowly increase in size, its heat melting down all snow around him. The flames reached a bigger extension, making the cave warmer and cozier.
He stood up in front of the fire, looking at its form, the irrationality of its movimemt. The flames danced the predetermined choreograph with grace. He felt his hand slowly reaching out to the bright red light.
'No, no, no, that's dumb'
He stopped, pulling away from the fire. He finally noticed the void in his stomach and immediately looked towards the place where he stored the berries before sighing with a gentle smile after noticing some berries missing.
He went towards the pile and ate a few berries. His eyes moved towards the small hole in the roof of the cave, taking notice of the moon almost finishing its cycle.
'Already?'
He sighed as he started storing all berries he could fit in his cloak, leaving some behind.
The forest was silent, only the pleasant sound of fire poping could be heard together with the subtle aroma of coal rising in the cave. The boy tiredly leaned on the cave's wall, slowly closing his eyes and taking in his peaceful surroundings, his thoughts however were scattered everywhere.
***
"Food, herbs...."
He counted the things with his fingers, repeatedly checking the "backpack" he had improvised with his cloak. Finally he saw everything one last time, before facing his final problem: water.
He took on the mission cheerfully, taking his backpack with him, he exited the cave appreciating the daylight and missing the warmth of the sun as usual.
He started walking in the direction of some familiar locations with a smile on his face and a hopeful expression.
'I got this-'
***
'-I don't got this'
After tirelessly going through every river he knew of, the same result repeated itself, the water was still frozen and the backpack he carried started to become heavier and heavier which each passing second making matters worse. And it didn't really help that he had the strength of a kid, literally.
The winter reined in the forest with iron fists, not leaving a single drop of liquid water. Meaning only frozen water as far as the eye could reach, and to not forget the snow, covering every inch of the forest, not giving a single break to the already tired boy.
He sat down on a nearby rock next to a frozen river, holding his head low while looking at the ground.
"Seriously?!"
His loud and disappointed voice broke the silence, startling neaby birds that flew off. He then stood up trying to rise the corners of his lips as he started to walk in circles. His tone was reassuring as he hastily talked.
"Its okay, I got this I will just-"
He abruptly stopped.
"-Well, who am I trying to deceive? ... I can't eat ice, It's gonna kill me faster than the thirsty in this cold weather, so what...."
He signed sitting down again as he looked around one more time.
"Hmmm... I think I have no other choice then"