Ohhh.... so you place layers of snow on the rockbed and the fire under it melts the snow into warm water. And here, I thought I was in some hot spring at first. This is amazing though. You even carved a hole on the ceiling to let the smoke out, like a chimney. This makes for a really warm bed. Thanks.
"No. Thank You. For feasting my eyes."
Uhh, right. No idea what you mean by that, and don't wanna know, but moving on. How did you build this huge igloo anyway? I mean, I've seen igloos before, but never this big. I didn't even think an igloo this big could even be made.
"Are you really that curious about how a house made of snow is made?" The bat asks without even looking at me.
Well, maybe. I'm just making small talk. What else are we supposed to do while we wait out this blizzard? Y'know, I'd have preferred waiting in the cave since it has a river where we can hunt for food. Just lazing around here is boring me. I wanna go out and do something.
"Why don't you start by not being sleepy when you do go outside"
Hey, I can't help it if my body is slothful towards the cold. I can only respond to it.
"Then, respond to this...!"
The bat throws a tiny snowball at my face.
Hey! No fair! I can't throw back, I don't have hands!
"Hah! More snowballs for me then!"
The bat flies up and continues his relentless snowballing, with me as the target, and all I can do is get hit. What a one-sided game of snowball fight this is. Then, a batch of snow falls atop the bat, knocking him down to the ground. It was the falcon, hovering over the bat. He just dropped a snowball on top of him.
Another snowball falls on my head. And then, it wriggled. That surprised me, until I realized it was actually just the baby snake all wrapped around in snow. He fell on top of me? But from where?
I look up. There's a wall behind me. Come to think of it, if this is the same spot where I fell from the cliff before, then this wall must be the cliffside. This igloo must've been built with the cliffside as its base, and that's why it looks like it's merged with the wall. Surprising that you can build an igloo big enough to house a giant yeti and a six and a half meter crocodile, while still having space for extra. There must be a crevice on the wall, and that's where baby snake has been this whole time.
I look at the tiny hatchling snakelet slithering in front of my eyes. It could just be me, but I think he's grown a little since he hatched. I can't keep calling you 'baby snake' anymore now, can I? I wonder if I'll be around when you grow up to be a big snake. Well, not as big as me, obviously. But, one can imagine.
The little snake bobbles his small head, looking all sleepy-like. I blink once, and already, he's all coiled up in a really small spiral. Poor snake, he's even more sleepy than I am in the cold. I don't really know if he's sleeping though since his eyes are still wide open, but I'm assuming that position is for when he sleeps.
The falcon flies over, picks up the sleepy snake, flies up to the crevice and places him there. I guess this confirms that there is a crevice up there in the wall. And just when I was thinking that, a snowball hits my face.
Hey! What's the big idea?!
"You said you were bored. I thought I'd change that"
Well, thanks for turning my boredom to annoyance. You know throwing snow at me only makes me feel more sleepy since you're just adding more cold snow to the pile.
"Aw, but wouldn't more snow mean more steam? It'll only make you warmer"
The bat throws a few more snowballs at me before another pile of snow falls on the bat. This time, it's the yeti who dropped it.
"Better?"
Uh, yeah, better... I guess. .........
"............"
.........
.........
......... Woof. This is getting awkward. Um, mind if I ask some more questions?
"Yes."
'Yes', as in, you do mind if I ask questions and I can't? Or, 'yes', you don't mind if I ask questions and I can?
"............"
...... Right. I'll just ask questions.
So, what are you? A reincarnated person like me and bat? An artificial experiment by some evil scientist that you escaped from? A mutated snow gorilla? Or... are you an alien??
"Isn't he just some kind of bigfoot?" says the bat as he digs his way out of the snowpile.
I thought he was a yeti. Or, the abominable snowman.
"I swear, if we meet a unicorn or a sea monster, you're going to be the first to ask if they're a horse or fish". The bat then crawls near the fire and warms himself up.
Hey now, that'd depend on what the sea monster is.
"We are the forsaken ones", the yeti finally speaks.
Oh? Forsaken, you say? For what? And by who?
The yeti then looks up, not really looking at the ceiling, but rather, he's looking past it, further up, and into the sky. No, it's probably beyond that.
"T̸̫͋h̷̡̓ê̶̖ ̸̰͒O̴̗̒n̷̲͘e̵̬̐ has cast forsaken us."
They yeti spoke in a tone that I can only describe as... empty. Like, there was no feeling in his words at all. No regret, no satisfaction, just... nothing. Like it was just a word for him. Usually, when a person says a word, like 'I'm hungry', it actually says something. This time, even though it sounded like he was abandoned, it didn't feel like abandonment, or rather, there was nothing to feel in his words at all. But, maybe that's just me. Bat may have a different opinion.
Hmmm.... cool, cool, interesting. Next question. You said 'we' and 'us', so does that mean there are others like you?
"Yes. Many."
Really? Are they yetis like you, or are they just other mythical creatures? Like you.
"Yes."
....... What?
"............"
.........
......... Sheesh. Does this yeti ever talk straight. Alright, this does confirm that there are others like the yeti out there. No idea what 'others' mean. They could be other yetis or other monsters, or something else entirely, but whatever it is, I can't wait to meet them.
"Great. More supernatural. I don't know about you, but I want to go see my kids, even if they don't recognize me. Don't you feel like going home to yours?"
Of course I do. But, it doesn't help that I keep getting sent to different places in time, so I can't meet them that easily. And, even if I end up back in my home, it could be in a different time when I wasn't born yet. And the worst part... I don't even remember their names. Much less mine.
"............ Right. You can't even hear my name too. Like something is stopping you from hearing names"
"It's a price", the yeti says.
A price? What do you mean?
"Something must've happened to you, and in order to fix you, a price was paid. Unable to process names must be that price."
Something happened to me? Plenty of things happened to me! I don't get what you're trying to-.... wait... this all started after I woke up from being poisoned by little snake's mom. By 'fix', you mean, I was cured from the poison and the price was I can no longer process names? Well, that's... I don't know how to feel about that. On one hand, I was saved, and on the other, my life has changed...... This is giving me really mixed feelings.
"..... Hee~ey, uh... at least you got us"
Yeah... I know.
A snowball then falls onto my snout. It's the little snake, still looking sleepy as ever. The falcon is perched on my back, eating fish. And, the yeti adds more snow on my rockbed after most has melted.
Thanks, guys. At least you're still here for me. Bat is questionable though since he'll leave me eventually to go find his family.
"Well, I won't be leaving this group anytime soon, that's for sure. But, we are gonna leave this dome"
Huh?
"The blizzard's gone. Don't you wanna get some fresh air?"
Yes! Definitely! I've been wanting to move around in an open space!
Immediately, I crawl down my rockbed, taking care not to get burnt by the fire literally underneath it, and head outside. Light pierces my eye as I step out of the igloo and what I find is... a beautiful sunrise illuminating the mountain ranges in the horizon.
The others exit out of the igloo and join me in viewing the sunrise.
"So... feel like scaling down a mountain now?" The bat asks.
Hmm... yeah, sure, let's go for it.
"There is... something I'd like to do first. May I have a moment alone with you?" Says the yeti as he looks at me straight in the eye.
Uhh, sure? Wonder what it's about.