YCH from the talented  eger

---

No sooner had the ocean vanished from under me did my wings lock up, sending me crashing to the ground. The exertion of the flight alone I could handle, but the chill wind quickly ate its way through my coat, seizing my bones in its merciless grasp and numbing my wings, and I could fly no more. I barely righted myself before I struck earth, the snow crunching beneath me. I growled softly as I hefted myself back to my feet, aided by the strong wooden staff I had been gifted. How I wished to search out some shelter from the howling wind that now enveloped me, curl up around a fire and rest, just rest. But every moment I hesitated was another section of forest lost beneath a blanket of ice. I couldn’t know what I was searching for here, but if anything could be found that might tell me what had brought the tundra’s frost across the seas and to the forests and meadows to the south, the tundra itself was the most logical first step. As I finally rose and straightened myself, I saw the sun peek out from the pines that now towered in the distance. Rising or setting? I couldn’t even guess. Time itself was blurring together, now.

The only clue I had was a faint light, an eerie aurora, localized entirely within a small section of wintery forest upon the horizon. I looked down the cliff upon which I now stood. I couldn’t leap down. I didn’t trust my wings. I gathered my coat around me, kept tight grip upon the staff, and begun the all too familiar trek down.