[Windsong Mountain] - Forgotten in the Snow

An icy wind, feeling like needles on her face, buffeted snowflakes against her.

The journey to Windsong had been long, and at a far faster pace than she would have expected. Teles seemed nervous. Although she herself was used to days of travel, some of the others were less so. Teles wasn’t treating them poorly, more so anxious about her visions that she was enthusiastic about reaching the mountain quickly.

As they were climbing the peak, Avezi was trailing further behind the rest of the group. There were Greater Snowbird tracks on the path, and she paused briefly to examine them. They didn’t seem too recent…

Distracted by the footprints, she let the group get further ahead then she intended. When she looked up, Avezi saw they were turning a corner. Quickly, she hopped up, taking leaps over the snow. She shouldn’t get separat-

Avezi whipped around as she heard Boo call out her name behind her. Too far behind her. She wasn't surprised that the earth draken had broken off of the group but her breath still caught in her throat as she looked around. Luckily, he wasn't too far away. She easily spotted the bright green draken against the dreary greys of the mountain.

The draken seemed to be making her way back to Avezi, stumbling through the snow. Avezi halted, waiting for her to catch up. Boo moved through the snow slowly, clearly not used to the rough terrain. Boo’s slow pace made her nervous, especially as she briefly looked at the rest of the group, pressing on without them.

When she looked back at Boo, or where he had been, she didn’t find a trace of the draken. She rushed forward, hopeful that if she got to the spot she had last seen Boo quick enough she’d still be able to save him.

One paw caught something hard in the snow and sent Avezi stumbling onto the drifts.

She managed to get her head above the fresh layer of powder again, briefly grateful for the firmer layer of icy snow underneath. Shaking off the cold that now covered her head, she pushed herself up to scramble in the direction she had seen him. Probably tripped on a rock- she’d deal with that later. Boo came first.

Where did they go?

It was when Avezi rounded around a large boulder that she saw him, right next to the fragile edge of a cliff overlooking the expanse below.

“Boo?!” She took leaping steps to cross the snow as fast as she could and stopped a few paces away from the cliff. “What are you doing? You don’t know how sturdy the edge is.”

Boo froze, for once not oblivious to the danger he had put himself in. “Ah there was-” he paused for a bit, hopefully realizing how ridiculous his next words would be “a bird?”

Avezi stared.

Shoulders relaxing, she waved Boo toward her. A bird was silly but…She eyed the large form of the creature flying in the distance. A Wraithel… Something that shouldn’t have been here, something that was incredibly dangerous. She couldn’t help but feel exasperated.

“Boo, you’ll attract it over here,” Avezi told the earth draken. “And we really don’t want one of them over here right now. Let’s catch the group before they get any further away.” Looking ahead, she tried to get a glimpse of the rest of the expedition group.

As she started heading back to the group, Boo in tow, her mind fell back to a few moments ago. Rocks weren’t unusual on a mountain, but the way that the one she had tumbled over seemingly spiked up out of nowhere had been strange.

She scanned the snowy mountaintop, wondering if she could find the place she had fallen. Part of her knew that it would be wise to return to the group as soon as possible, but another felt drawn to the spot.

It was Boo who found it first. Avezi was, once again, drawn out of her thoughts by the earth draken, this time by a surprised squall as the draken fell face-first into the snow. Avezi wasn't sure how the draken was this accident prone…

Boo pulled himself up, sitting on his knees in the snow. “What was that?” Before Avezi could answer, Boo was already digging through the snow. “It was right here, wasn’t it?” his hands disappeared elbow deep in the snow a few times, until they suddenly met something halfway through.

“There it is!” he exclaimed, using his arms to brush the snow away. “What do you think it is, Avezi? Some kind of statue?”

Avezi waded back to where Boo had fallen, looking at the newfound object curiously. It was a statue. Specifically, a statue with a heart shaped face, curved horns, and an orb between its horns. A carved stone statue, buried in the snow. It reminded her of the statues carved in Zuggabug’s honor.

Crouching down next to Boo, she helped them slowly dig the statue out with their arms. Fortunately the top layer of snow was fresh and much softer than the deeper layers. As they dug, they unearthed a long neck, puffy fur sprouting from its neck, and four blank eyes watching the world around it. With enough work, they cleared deeper layers of snow until they had almost excavated the whole statue. The two of them sat back, looking at the carved creature before them.

As Avezi looked at it, she felt a twinge of familiarity tugging at the back of her mind. She could recall during her research of Spiritualism reading something about…

Even as she had the thought, she could feel it slipping through her paws. It was on the tip of her tongue, yet every attempt she made to complete the thought faded.

Maybe she had just seen an animal that had looked similar to this statue in one of the books she had read on Windsong Mountain.

“What do you think it is?” Boo brushed a small bit of snow off the statue’s head.

“I’m not certain,” Avezi answered. “Maybe an animal.” She removed an icicle that hung from the creature’s face.

It was unfortunate it was abandoned here. Brushing more snow from its surface, she tried to clean it up. Boo followed her lead until the lonely statue stood once again uncovered amongst the snow.

They’d have to research it when they returned from their journey. Whatever it was.

Avezi stood, looking down at the statue, before turning to Boo. “Let’s rejoin the group, before they get too far ahead of us.”