I swirl my dry tongue around my mouth to get rid of the leaden feeling. It comes to my attention that it's a little chilly. It also comes to my attention that the reason everything is dark is because my eyes are closed.

I open my eyes. Everything is blurry. I reach for my glasses, only to be stopped by the fact that I am being carried in someone’s arms.

I look up.

“G'morning, Snowflake,” I mumble.

“I see you are finally awake, my liege.” A pause. Snowflake looks down at me and raises a brow. He looks back away. “Snowflake?”

I am suddenly very wide awake.

Oh shit, I slipped up.

I flail and nearly fall out of his arms. He tightens his hold on me, and I become very aware that my head is resting on his collarbone.

“If you wish to call me Snowflake, my liege, I have no objections.”

I peer at his face and find no sign that he’s just saying that.

“Snowflake,” I test out. Both his face and body language fail to display any dissatisfaction. In fact, it could just be my imagination, but is he looking a little... pleased?

Nah, must just be seeing things.

“However, only by calling my true name will I be able to come to your side.”

I nod. “Good to know. By the way, can you put me down now? Being carried like this is kinda embarrassing.”

“If that is not an order, I must refuse. My negligence almost lead to your death and you still have not fully recovered.”

“What do you mean? Wait, put me down first; that's an order.”

He purses his lips but stops walking to gently set me down. I immediately collapse.

Snowflake's arms wrap around my waist before I can hit the ground. He sighs, exhalation misting in the air.

“Okay, so you were right,” I grumble once back in his arms. “Will you explain what you meant by ‘my negligence almost lead to your death’ now?”

“Gladly, but your human companions have been waiting for you to notice them for a while now.”

He gestures to the side with his head. Xiuying-jie and the rest walk a respectful distance away, shooting us glances every so often. The injured leader of the other team is being supported between Kui Renshu and Jin Hailin. She's alive, but for how much longer?

“Xiuying-jie, hi,” I say and wave. “Why are you walking so far?”

Xiuying-jie smiles and takes a step closer, only to step back away when Snowflake's gaze falls on her.

“Xiao Lin, I'm happy to see you're okay,” she says, keeping a wary eye on Snowflake. She doesn't say anything else.

The whole group seems to be afraid of Snowflake. I mean, I get it, I was scared of him too, but it's hard to continue being scared of someone when you've seen their ‘shit I fucked up big time' face and they're carrying you so carefully.

I suppose it's the display of power that's gotten them all in a tizzy. When they showed their abilities to me, they could barely produce anything useful, so the presence of someone who can instantly coat an entire battlefield in ice will naturally cow them. His glacial mien doesn't help any.

Still, they shouldn't be this frightened. I eye Snowflake. Did he do something?

“Xiuying-jie, did you pick up my glasses?”

“Sorry, I was too busy.”

No one else turns up with my glasses either. Damn, so unless we can find another pair I can use, I'll remain blind.

“Where are we going?”

Lu Yang, who is leading the group with a map in hand, answers me.

“We're going to the --- we heard about on the radio.”

The only thing I know about the unfamiliar phrase is that it has something to do with the military. Are we going to a military camp? The biggest difference between Chinese and American apocalypse stories is that the Chinese military seems to get its shit together a lot a more quickly and plays a bigger role in the story.

“Only they can save Liu Guanjun.”

So the other team leader's name is Liu Guanjun. Not that there's really another team anymore.

No one seems inclined to make small talk with me so I turn back to Snowflake. At least with him I have no trouble communicating.

“Okay, I'm done talking to them. So..."

“As you know, I must manifest my power through you.”

“That's the first time I've heard of this though?”

He gives me a strange look. “It should be written in the manual.”

Does he mean the weird phone app? I fish my phone – thankfully intact and working – out of my pocket and navigate into it. Another option has been unlocked in the main menu screen. The crystal bar in the corner now displays a number of 42.

“Do you mean this? Yeah, I can't read it. Oh, but you can, right?”

Snowflake peers at my screen and dismisses it with an imperious sniff.

“I could never recognise such a bastardised form of Chinese.”

Right, he's probably from ancient China. I want to ask him his story, but now's not the time.

I sigh. Of course it couldn't be that easy.

“That's too bad. But you know how this whole summoning thing works right? Can you explain it to me?”

“Very well.”

As he gathers his thoughts in preparation to explain, I spot something that makes me shoot up in his arms.

I grab his face and pull his lips back. I was right, his teeth are sharp!

“Omg, they're like a shark's,” I whisper reverently. Two rows of sharp triangular pearly-whites line his mouth and I can't resist sticking a finger in to feel them.

Snowflake yanks his head back, to my disappointment. He glowers at me.

Oops. I just got so excited seeing his cool teeth that I forgot how intimidating he could be.

He usually covers his mouth with his fan or faces away while talking. Is he perhaps sensitive about them?

“It would behoove you to keep your hands away from my mouth,” he snaps, two spots of colour high in his cheeks.

“Sorry, sorry,” I say, raising my hands in surrender. “I just really like your teeth.”

The spots of colour spread, but I don't think it's from anger.

“If you like sharp teeth so much, then go molest a zombie,” he tells me. I pout and cross my arms.

“Boo, it's not the same. C'mon, just let me feel them. Just once? Pretty please?”

“Enough,” says Snowflake, putting as much distance as he can between his head and my eager fingers. Given that he's holding me, that distance is not very much. “Do you want me to explain how everything works or not?”

I settle my hands back on my lap. ‘Another day, perhaps,’ I think, staring longingly at his mouth.

“Sorry. Go on.”