I decided to tell my companion about my last mission, trying to say even the tiniest detail as it could be useful.

I still remember my feet in the new, soft white snow. The tall frozen trees of the Forest of Serahfiya covered the cloudy sky with their branches, while musks and plants shined shily on the path that I had to follow. 

Feeling those cold snowflakes on my face was marvelous and the simple pleasure of that moment will live forever in my best memories.  

Kea-hfa, a planet on the 1258927790th plane, was on its knees due to a tremendous plague, an obscure disease of a rebellious nature. For many years the jewel makers had brought at the end of their tether the forests on the south of the globe, squeezing their sap to create the most sparkling stones. The plants, the earth that nourished them, and the air that caressed them, tired of the atrocities of that dominant species, gave life to those that people called "light tears". The resin of trees changed, drizzling from their wounds, showing the pain that tore those beings apart. The Seekers didn't or wouldn't understand that message of pain, gathering those tears, turning them in priceless valuable jewels, unaware of the inauspicious destiny that was about to come true. 

The resin was in fact made of toxin, able to change sentient creatures in monstrous beasts, ruled by their instinct. Slowly, the cursed jewels crossed the lands, spreading the horrors of the plague. The screams of the mutant men were the screams of nature itself, taking back what was once lost. Many started to hunt down the beasts, but just a few succeeded. Between them, the most heroic and known for his skills: Dogmar the Snow-Capped.

He was the one I was looking for, in the faraway forests, where trees grew frozen and found their nourishment in the snow. Dogmar was in fact installed there, after years of hunting, looking for a cure. He had protected his perimeter with ancient magic, on the four corners of his lands, by using old crystals that floated on the ground.

Once I had found one of them, I caressed its surface and felt something. The magic in that object was able to amplify the fibers of my essence. In the blink of an eye, everything disappeared and I went back to my path.

Finding the home of the ex hunter was easy, but gaining his trust was hard, although, underneath his skin toughened by battles and cold winds, I found an affectionate partner.

Weeks went by and Dogmar, after accepting my help into looking for the cure, got closer to me, as often happens in stories I read in books. I can't really say what his hearts hid, I am not good with feelings, but I must admit that it felt good to spent the nights in his embrace. A sensation I rarely felt, but one I link to the moments where - I admit this to myself, not to my drunken interlocutor - I was with Morton.

His callous hands touched my skin as an artist shapes clay and his lips framed by a streaked prickly beard tickled my self with the skills of an expert. He must have owned many bodies before mine, his moves showed this, how his hips looked for mine. As far as it concerned me, satisfying his needs after long days of work was a pleasant pastime. Hearing his moans as I bit his savage skin being one with him, made me feel inebriated as wine does with drunks.

It was after one of these moments though, that the sensation felt in front of the crystal got back, bringing faraway voices. Those auditive visions got more and more frequent, distant screams and useless prayers. Even Dogmar noticed something in me had changed, but he never asked why I used to stay silent. The most violent episode happened on the day a storm fell on the forest: the day we got attacked.

As my mind looked for answers to those voices, one of the crystals got weak, after craking due to a fall. The force field created by my pale lover got weaker, enough to let one of those beasts inside.

Lead by the smell of roasting meat and the warmth of our eternal fire, I got back to our home of wood and stones. 

The magical seals on the walls signaled the arrival of the enemy and thanks to this we got to defeat him, but now without consequences. The voices during the battle didn't disappear, they made me lose focus and allowed the beast to injure me.

The following days were tough, but thanks to the wound I got to study my skin during the illness. Dogmar got gloomier and gloomier, hiding inside, blaming himself for my sickness.

I don't understand why, I am not saying that I was not feeling pain, but by becoming a test subject we found out many things.

Almost at the end of the incubation - my body almost changed - the voices were even more frequent and I honestly don't know if it was because of the fever. I understood that our research was at a turning point, therefore I held on so that Dogmar could work and experiment on my body. Once we got to the result though, there was no more hope for my flesh, so I decided to leave it by dying.

Letting all that pain go made me feel better, the sensation of the decaying flash was carving my soul. I thought that my leaving my body voices would disappear, but I still could hear them, far and faint.

I let Dogmar in his despair, happy with the result and the knowledge that one day he would forget that sadness. In the end, my sweet snow creature had the soul of a true warrior and his real battle still had to happen. I floated around those snowy trees, looking at the snow shining underneath the sun, shadows playing with the ice creatures. The memory

of the cold sensation, I felt touching that wonderful, soft, white substance had been with me until the end, along with a sugary feeling I still can't explain.