A storm broke out. Snowflakes thrashed through the trees, hitting Boro and Hem in the face, while Cineris was shielded in Hem's arms.
A thump echoed through the forest as they hid behind the trees. Their breath hung like a wall of white.
The monster—with the body of a man and the head of a rabbit—slowly walked toward them, looking around, squinting its eyes.
Hem gestured with his hands for Boro to take Cineris from him. He whispered, "Take her from me. I'll distract it, and you run."
Boro swallowed and took her into his arms as Hem drew from inside his thick brown wolf-skinned coat a dagger—an extremely fine dagger—and, inhaling, prepared a swing over his head before throwing it at the monster's chest.
It flew past the trees, slicing through the storm, rotating at astonishing speed as it neared him.
As it flew close, a reflection blinked into his eyes, and he slashed upwards at the dagger, slicing it in half.
It was his mistake. The upper half of the dagger flew through his head and embedded itself into a tree, splattering deep red everywhere.
The lower half embedded itself into his abdomen. With a powerful impact, blood gushed from his abdomen onto the ground.
The force of the attack didn't even make him stumble. He just stood there and received the attack, his eyes wide open in shock.
The hole in his head gushed blood down his face and covered his sight in red.
He gritted his teeth and ran at Hem, disappearing from where he stood.
Hem made a run for his life, taking out an ordinary but durable sword from under his cloak. He jumped up with a groan, leaping from tree to tree. The snow made it hard to see, allowing only a few meters past him to be visible.
Sensing impending doom mid-air, Hem turned and sliced downward at the snow—and as he did, a primitive axe weapon clashed with his sword.
A struggle of power ensued mid-air. The impact of the axe sent him flying, and he ricocheted from tree to tree.
The primitive axe returned to the monster as a bluish, glowing flame engulfed it. He sliced downward through the air, and as suddenly as he sliced, the space where the trees had been was gone.
Hem barely avoided the attack. Where the ground and trees had stood was simply gone. All he could do was widen his eyes in shock as the monster appeared before him.
And as it attempted to slice him cleanly in half, its eyes rolled up into its skull—and from the hole in the middle of its rabbit face, its brain matter flew out.
The rabbit's eyes turned lifeless, and it fell to the ground with a THUD!, sending a cloud of snow flying into the air.
Hem's pupils shrank to a dot in utter terror as his life flashed before his eyes.
His eyes rolled up as well as he lost consciousness, falling down into the snow, leaving a hole in the ground and a cloud of snow.
***
A figure stood cloaked over the body of the monster, his coat thrashing in the harsh snowstorm's wind. He crouched down, took the primitive axe, and walked away into the storm.
***
In the middle of the snowfield just outside the village, Boro struggled through the drifts with Cineris in his arms, dragging an unconscious Hem toward home. Their faces were red as beets, their fingers deathly white.
They arrived at the village, and everyone desperately rushed to help, tending their wounds and fighting the hypothermia and dehydration.
No one asked why or what had happened; it was common for no one to come back, or only one.
The hunt for sacrifice in those harsh lands was almost always death.
Hem, Boro, and Cineris were exceptionally lucky to have returned safe. Yet, a simmering anger lingered toward Cineris, who had sneaked out of the village to join the hunt. But the anger did not last, washed away by relief that she was alive. Everyone rejoiced in their spirits that she had come back.
They rested for two weeks until they were healthy.
In the meantime, the village hosted a funeral for Haru. Everyone mourned and wept for their family and friends, and the ceremony lasted the whole day. As the new day came, everyone moved on with their daily activity.