Legends: The Emerald World

Shin could feel the sharp cold piercing his back, Ase's warm body above him wasn't helping, not even a small bit. Mary cried as she found herself in the middle of the frozen snow. Just a second ago she was submerging herself in the hot tub after a much-needed bath.

The cold wind blew down from the mountains, roaring against the dead trees with a horrid rumble. She could feel her fingers and toes jolting with pain, each breath felt like inhaling flames and her nose bled in pain.

"What is this-meow!" Ase jumped up, throwing Mary into the snow as she stood, looking around with a terrified face. "MARY! You said the bath is warm! You lied to ME!"

Mary had just realized that she was naked in the snow and finally panicked. "Where are we?! This isn't the bath."

"MEOW!?" Ase looked around, "I've heard a voice. Something about a dead egg and Char." She looked around with a worried face. As a beast, she had more resistance to cold than normal humans, but even she wouldn't last long.

"I appreciate the view…but start by taking your feet off my chest," Shin growled beneath Ase's feet. She looked down and saw him, pushed deep into the knee-high soft snow beneath her.

He too was naked so Ase immediately realized that something had gone wrong. She immediately bent down and extended her hand to him, pulling him out of the snow. "Shin, what did happen?"

Mary was already shivering to death at the side, too cold to even care about being naked in the middle of nowhere.

"We must find shelter first, I'll explain later." Shin looked around, spotting a large hollow tree in the distance. Most of the trees around here were long far dead. Their black trunks contrasted with the pale snow and glowing icicles dangling from the dead branches.

Ase carried Mary and started following Shin. He on the other hand called Char, she's a key component to succeeding and would be a disaster if she died from the cold. Spiders are extremely small and would instantly freeze in such conditions. Luckily she had Shin's constitution so she was barely alive, curled into a ball inside his hair.

To make sure Char stayed alive, he held in her his hands and started blowing at her, warming his hands at the same time as he jumped inside the hollow tree trunk.

Ase jumped in right after him, her lips had already turned purple and Mary was now fighting off her sleepyness. Shin gave Char to Ase, "Keep her warm and alive no matter what, we need her."

Shin jumped into the freezing cold outside and looked around, quickly nabbing some of the dead branches off the tree that looked a bit dryer and threw them inside the hollow trunk. After getting a handful he rushed back inside, barely feeling his hands and feet.

Shin pushed himself beside Ase and Mary, sticking to them as he rubbed two branches together as fast as he could. He must ignite a fire, he must keep moving to generate heat and stay alive. Sitting still and sleeping are sure ways to death, and he couldn't afford to rest.

He rubbed the branches together and rubbed them again, over and over until his hands almost bled.

Mary who was barely able to move from the cold earlier, struggling with the uncontrollable shiver could now move a bit thanks to the warmth from Ase and Shin's bodies. She looked forward, seeing him slaving away on the branches, trying to ignite a flame.

Mary extended her hand forward, pointing a finger at the branches. A spark burned from her nails and crackled on the wood, igniting it into flames. The simple daily magic that almost all people learn, she was competent enough to at last learn how to ignite fire.

Shin looked at the fire for a second and back at her, "You're a lifesaver." He couldn't be happier to see something burning in his life.

"Then at least stop pushing against my breasts." She growled, annoyed but not angry.

"Sorry." He moved a bit, but she pulled closer once again the moment the frigid cold jolted her. He and Ase were like a warm blanket in the morning, getting away from them was nearly impossible and the cold didn't help Mary think straight. The only thing that surged in her mind was heat, how to keep warm and stave off the cold.

Shin stood, "Sadly you're right. I can't stay close." He looked at the opening in the trunk to the outside, "Someone must collect wood to burn and block that hole." He walked outside and started looking around, this time searching for resources that could help them. After half a minute of looking, he saw a tree in the distance that had plenty of dry-looking dead branches.

Shin returned inside the hollow trunk to warm up for a few minutes before rushing out again, making a run for the tree and nabbing as much wood as he could before bolting back to warm up.

After five runs of painful cold, Shin had managed to gather enough sticks to somewhat close the hold and store enough to keep the fire burning for a while. They didn't have to worry about the smoke choking them as no matter how tight Shin tried to make the lid he made, it would never be enough to keep the smoke in or the cold wind outside.

The three sat there for a few minutes, warming up their bones as Shin finally got to explaining what had happened. Since he still didn't trust Mary he decided to twist the story a bit, calling it a trial from AO, the overgod.

He explained how he met him and how they now must find the dead egg of a massive spider around and feed it to Char. He didn't have any explanation as to why, only that they must do it to get back to their world.

The two girls weren't that thrilled about it, the cold outside was far harsher than anything they had ever seen in their lives. It was a violent snowstorm. They are fully naked and exposed and what made it even worse is that they know almost nothing about their target and how to find it.

As if to make it worse, Shin heard something something slithering outside. He approached the branch door he had made and looked through the cracks, the tears in his eyes almost freezing solid.

Right outside the tree, a horrid monster slithered away, long brown tentacles with suction cups akin to that of an octopus. Like a massive snail, it crawled around leaving a long line of smoking melted ice. From what Shin could see it didn't have eyes or that long of a body, just a bit over three yards in length.

"It's an abomination." He growled.

Shin had almost forgotten that the overgod mentioned that abomination now inhabits this world. They are something far different and more horrifying than other creatures, being beyond mortal comprehension.