Mariel’s breath steamed in front of her face. Her skin burned with the cold. White covered everything as far as she could see. The sky was dark except for a couple of faint clouds, the stars, and the moon. She knelt down and felt the cold blanket on the ground at her feet. It glistened in her hand as she scooped it up. It was bitter in her fingers stinging them with its frigid touch. She crushed the strange substance in her hand and opened it again to see her print formed in the cold material. The sound of crunching snapped her head to the right. A man was walking toward her slowly looking up at the white blanket hanging on the bare tree branches. “I call it snow.” The man said as he shifted his glance to her. He had dark eyes like rich soil. His dark hair crinkled tight to his head and his skin appeared as dark as a chipmunk’s fur. His white robe glowed like the light of the moon. He walked closer smiling at her. Mariel looked down at his sandaled feet. He had powerful feet. She found herself watching them flex as he lifted them. Listening to the crunch as they landed each time. Her breath floated before her face again, a steamy mist rising before her face and vanishing. The man came to a stop before her, and she looked up from his feet to his strong shoulders and finally his face. The short beard on his face was so peculiar. It wasn’t of vines with small leaves like the Viv. It was finer more like the hair of a lion but darker. As she stood pondering the strangeness, she felt his gaze upon her and looked up into his sparkling eyes.

“Hello, Mariel.” His white smile broadened. “I am HaShem.”

The name. The name broke her from her musing and buckled her knees beneath her. She dropped all at once feeling her strength drain from her. She nearly toppled over when he reached out with a strong hand and steadied her filling her with strength. Flashes of her lashing out at her father, cursing her mother under her breath, and teasing her brother raced through her mind. She looked up into HaShem’s piercing eyes and knew he could see everything she was imagining. She wanted to scramble back but her legs wouldn’t respond. Her breath even escaped her. She swallowed and trembled in his grasp. He was the maker. She could feel the tingle in her stomach. Her heart shuddered before him. “I shouldn’t be here.” She forced a mumble.

“I brought you here.” HaShem released his grip on her shoulder and held his other palm out to his side in gesture. “The winter is coming. It will cover all of Lumiterra. To the north, the land will be covered by mountains of ice. To the south blankets of snow will cover the blood of men and wash the soil clean. I will look down and see only pure and holy white from my throne. I will see the land preserved, cleansed, refreshed.”

Mariel looked around at the woods around her. The white glistened in the moonlight it was so bright in the darkness. It was mesmerizing. “It is a good thing to see HaShem.” She whispered tears forming in her eyes.

He hung his head and shook it. “It is a tragedy.” His face filled with sorrow. The glistening in his dark eyes faded. “Many will die.” He looked away just as his eyes began to fill with water.

“Why don’t you stop it?” Mariel softly asked. She leaned in trying to turn his piercing glance back on herself. “You can stop it.”

“If I stop it the night gates will remain exposed.” He looked up at the stars above his voice began to crack. “The ones who come from the outer dark will come down and demolish all the living. Man has given Lumiterra to tyrants. He has failed all the living.” HaShem looked back down at Mariel not hiding the tears on his cheeks. “The red man surrendered the throne. Others have discovered the gates and have opened one of them. I have to bring the long winter so that there will be time for a new king. A king that will close the gates forever with the words of his mouth. A king that will never betray, a king that will give all for the land and the creatures I have created.”

“Where is he? I will go to him. I will plead with him to destroy the gates now.”

“It is not his time yet. It is soon.” HaShem lifted Mariel to her feet gently.

“How do I recognize him when he comes?”

HaShem looked up at the sky as if a sound had come down. “He will travel land and sea. He will heal the broken and speak the truth. Nothing will bring him low. He will defeat even death.”

A cold wind from the north rushed between them stealing the air from Mariel’s lungs. A deer ran out of the darkness and rushed past them. Mariel turned to watch as it disappeared behind them over the hill. The wind began to roar, and the cold stung her skin so strong she ducked behind HaShem. Then her cheeks flushed, and she looked at the ground. She was hiding behind him but what did he have to hide behind.

She was about to suggest they stand behind a tree when a cacophony of hooves surrounded her. Animals of all sorts rushed past them. Wild cats ran ahead of deer, horses, and elk. Bears tromped through the snow on all fours brushing Mariel aside as they passed too close. She stumbled and leaped out of the way as a pack of wolves shot past.

She had to cover her ears from the sounds of flocks of birds, bats, and dragons flying overhead squawking and chirping madly. Squirrels, rats, chipmunks, beavers, and weasels scrambled across the ground and over her feet. The wind grew stronger and colder, and she found herself hunkering in tighter behind HaShem. Elephants roared as they stomped by.

Snowflakes larger than her eyes began to fall so fast she could hardly see the animals just a few trees beyond her. Flakes landed on her cheeks and nose. She reached up and touched one watching it melt at her touch. She closed her eyes and grew her bark out on her arms and legs to cover her bare skin.

The snow grew up to their knees in moments. The charging animals began to slow as they burrowed through the ever-deepening snow. Some cried out in terror falling over in the cold blanket. Panicking creatures climbed over the fallen and charged onward. Whining, whimpering and desperate screams began to surround them from all directions in the polar blackness. “Help them HaShem.” Mariel cried out.

“You must help them, Mariel. Save as many as you can. Destroy the stone. I will give you the strength.” He shouted over the roaring wind.

What did he say? She couldn’t destroy the stone of worship. Her skin crawled. Was HaShem trying to bait her? Did he want to take away the power of the Viv so he could destroy them? She looked him in his fiery eyes. He was far more intimidating than the childhood stories. “I can’t.” She clung to his back curling up as tightly as she could behind him.

Disappointment crept across his face. “You must, your chief doesn’t understand the object he uses.” Mariel felt her heart sink. She could not imagine the stone being gone forever. She had to find another way. “Protect Jabin. Protect him from the outer dark ones.” HaShem turned to look out to the distance. “They are deceivers. They will try to trick him. They will seek him out first. It is his blood that will open the gates. Keep him from the gates. Take him far from this place. Behold he comes from across the great sea. The dark ones watch him. Drive them away. Save him for me.”

“I will find him HaShem. I will protect him. I will defend Lumiterra with my life.”

“Then you will be remembered forever,” HaShem said in a soft tone that carried only barely to her ears over the wind and filled her heart with warmth. Then a sharp pain in her left hand ripped her from the vision.