Warmth

Face down in the freezing snow.

Josef Willard slowly peels his eyes open and that's the first thing he notices. He’s on his stomach, in the cold and wet of a frozen field.

Get up! He wills himself… unsuccessfully.

The panic begins to set in as his eyes dart in any direction for something to focus on. Anything. Anyone to help him.

He catches a glimpse of red a few feet from where he lays paralyzed. As his brain makes sense of what he’s seeing, the panic worsens.

It’s a corpse. One he recognizes as his kid brother, Markus Willard. He rests prone, open eyes glazed over and looking directly at Josef.

Josef lets out a wail of confusion and sorrow.

“Markus! Markus! Get up!” he shrieks. His denial turns to blind rage. “We can’t die yet. Not ‘till spring! Not ‘till it’s warm again! Get up!”

His words turn to meaningless screams and he racks his brain for pieces of any memory he can find to help him make sense of this.

We were ambushed? No… we ambushed… someone…

The details don’t come, but they seem unimportant now. Now, Josef was fated to freeze to death, alone, unable to move. Surrounded by his slaughtered friends and allies, staring at the body of his only family.

Josef attempts to hold on to the rage for as long as possible to help fight off the overwhelming terror and grief that he knows will follow. This is short-lived as the sobs and screams rip from his throat.

Josef has no clue how much time has passed, but eventually his voice leaves him and the exhaustion from what he can only assume are multiple injuries sets in.

He wills himself again.

Stay awake!

He knows the cold won't allow him to wake up if he does sleep. But what exactly is the point? A search party? A rescue from a benevolent stranger? He knows better. But he can’t give in. That’s not the Warrior’s Way.

Do not surrender!

After what must have been hours, Josef’s nostrils burn from the cold. He can no longer feel his ears and his eyelashes cling to each other with every blink. His determination is fading.

His eyes can barely focus, but he registers movement in front of his face. A tiny centipede skidders towards him over the snow. He has no brain power left to ponder how strange it is to find it in this climate and instead focuses on keeping it away from him.

He tries to blow it away weakly. It scurries even quicker after being washed with the warm air.

Josef tries to turn his head in disgust but doesn’t have the strength. The centipede burrows under where his cheek meets the snow and the sensation almost makes him wretch.

Josef can feel it under his face now. He looks around him to find a distraction. To his horror, a horde of different insects clamor over each other as they make a direct line for him, seeming to ignore the multitude of bodies strewn around the clearing.

A cruel joke? One last jape from the gods?

Josef closes his eyes and tries his best to ignore the feeling of thousands of tiny legs scratching against his face and neck.

He imagines the ocean. He can feel the waves rocking him as he floats. He can feel it almost too vividly. He opens his eyes and sees the gray sky above him. He can still feel the waves. He turns his head to see that he is in fact being rocked onto his back. And he’s moving.

He’s being carried by a conveyor-like system of insects. He’s almost relieved that he’s not being eaten alive but confusion and fear take over immediately.

This isn’t natural.

Josef notices Markus again as he passes him.

I’ll see you in spring, brother…

Josef tilts his head as far back as he can to see where he’s being taken. He’s shocked to see a forest unlike the one on the opposite side of the battlefield. Unlike one he’s ever seen.

Where it meets the field, the snow transitions to dirt. The trees and plants are unfamiliar to him. As he and the insects approach, Josef can feel his eyelashes begin to thaw. His face warms and blood fills his cheeks once more. He welcomes the sensation, forgetting his terror for a moment.

As he’s dragged head-first into the treeline, Josef notices that the sky is completely blocked by the canopy above him. It’s significantly darker. And it’s silent. Not birds, no wind rustling the leaves. Only hot, dense, humid, stagnant air.

Josef’s fear returns.

His stomach drops when he notices that he’s no longer moving. He now rests in the buttress of a colossal tree.

The bugs have stopped and are now surrounding the joints of his armor. They make quick work of removing the straps holding the plate mail together and suddenly Josef is unprotected and exposed in only a tattered shirt and loose trousers.

Josef shivers despite the heat and looks around at the dark, deep green of the trees and plants. Not an animal in sight. He turns his head to look at the ground around him. He watches his insect companions retreating into the shadows. Josef catches himself wishing they’d stay and keep him company.

He looks around for any other signs of life.

Oh, thank the gods…

In the distance he sees a gray fox prancing towards him, deftly avoiding the tree roots around it. The fox comes right up to Josef’s face, giving it a sniff and a lick.

“Hi there. I was worried I was the only one here.”

Josef’s relief is short-lived. The fox moves to his leg and begins gnawing at what he assumes is an open wound.There’s no pain. He can’t feel anything. But he must still defend himself.

“Get off it! Scram!”

The fox doesn’t even flinch. It tears open more wounds and eats feverishly. As it does, it brushes a small root with its tail.

All at once, that same root snatches the fox by its tail and lifts it into the air. The fox flails and struggles, screaming. Josef watches, completely spellbound, as the roots around him shift slowly out of the dirt and surround the still-squirming fox, creating a cocoon around it. The roots continue to wind tighter and tighter until Josef can no longer hear the animal whining and scratching inside. The roots retreat back into the earth, dragging the entombed carcass down with them. As they do, one of them brushes Josef’s neck lightly.

The roots pause for a moment but continue with their task. Josef’s breathing quickens as he slowly realizes… he’s next

When the fox has been completely sucked into the earth, two more roots slither out from either side of Josef’s torso and surround him. Another root slowly begins to wrap around his neck.

The roots are surprisingly gentle, soft and strangely warm to the touch. Unfortunately, this brings no comfort to Josef, as he strains his neck against the chokehold. He lets out a strangled grunt of effort. The tree freezes in response.

A voice booms, seeming to be coming from everywhere at once.

“You are man?”

“...I am.” Josef’s voice comes out calmer than he expected it to.

He tilts his head as far back as it will go to see if he can find the source of the voice. The tree has no mouth, no face at all. Josef gives up and chooses instead to close his eyes. His brother’s face appears in his mind.

“You are injured?” Markus’s mouth moves in time with the tree’s words.

“Yes, and I’m still alive. I need help! Please–”

“Help...” Markus says.

A wave of hope washes over Josef for the first time since he opened his eyes hours before.

That hope shatters as he feels the root around his throat continue to curl around his shoulders and down the rest of his body. His eyes snap open.

“No! Please! I need medicine! A healer!”

Josef strains his neck again. The roots don’t stop this time.

“I am sorry… natural order.” There is sorrow in the voice. Josef takes pause.

He looks around, this time really taking in his surroundings. He notices the deep greens of the strange flora he’d never seen before. He feels the warmth, breathes in air that doesn't sting his lungs. Feels as sweat collects on his brow for the first time in months. His breathing slows and he rests his head back down against the wet dirt, letting himself sink into it.

Josef closes his eyes again. Markus is there to meet him.

“Words of comfort… Do you have any to offer?”

The roots continue their work but the voice returns after a moment of thinking.

“Thank you,” Markus smiles at him warmly.

The tree doesn't try to comfort him. It doesn’t know how. Instead Josef feels a rush of overwhelming gratitude coming from the roots that have now almost completely enveloped his body. They continue to thank him wordlessly, for the nutrients his body will grant them. For giving his essence back to the earth.

There’s no pain. Only warmth.

Josef slowly feels himself losing consciousness as the roots have finally wrapped him up completely. He has the innate and familiar urge to fight it. Markus pulls him into a hug.

“Rest…”

Josef wraps his arms around his brother, finally allowing peace to overtake him.

Spring has come early, brother…