Synth: Day Two of the Snow (2)

Synth realized that he felt differently. He had treaded around in the snow a little, looking for clues as to what had happened, and he realized something strange. The first thing that he realized was that he didn't feel cold at all. He looked at the frost all around him, and at the bushes blowing in the freezing wind, but he didn't feel cold.

As a matter of fact, he felt totally fine outside. After realizing this, he decided that he'd go ahead and walk back to the village. He remembered that the traders were due back today, and since he felt like he could manage alright in the snow, he began to gather his things.

He had brought insense, which was required by the village traditions to be kept burning in the Shrine of Privilege, and some food and water for himself. He wrapped the sack around his shoulders, pulled the door tight with a wooden latch, and headed down the path to the south, back toward his village.

As he walked, he wasn't sure why, but he debated whether or not to tell his father, or any of the village leaders about what had happened. He hadn't really figured out himself what had happened yet, and there was no use in getting anyone worried.

There was one person that he couldn't wait to tell, however. Crag was Synth's good friend, and they always told each other everything. Crag was a herdsmen of sheep in their village, and Synth used to sneak out into the fields with Crag to play and talk when they were younger.

Synth was always going to be the supplier of the shrine, but he never really cared all that much. Nobody could really give him a straight answer as to the meaning or importance of the shrine. Somehow, it supposedly protected the village from what lie to the north, but it wasn't really known how or why, or from what. He was told that such things weren't meant for him to know, but he wondered if the knowledge hadn't simply been forgotten in the generations that preceeded them.

Synth was shaken from his pondering by the realization that his teeth were chattering. He hadn't noticed, but he had grown unbearably cold. He hadn't been walking for half an hour yet, but he felt the frost and the wind now in his bones. Why hadn't he felt it before?

He tightened up his robe and pulled up his hood, but after another minute, he had to stop behind a hill to rest from the biting of the cold on his face. He tightened his fists on and off, trying to feel his fingers, and banging them on his legs. The snow was starting to fall again, and it was finding every loose strap and inlet into his clothing. He had hours ahead of him to make it back down the hill and to his village. So, he had no choice; he turned back and hurried back up the hill toward the shrine for protection from the cold.