Nix

I.
The blue Bogsneak rubbed her paws together and sighed.
If she was being honest, Heavenwing Eyrie was perfect. She had been given a cushy position as Clan Sorcerer — especially cushy given that most everyone was in perfect health.
Most of the clan’s demons had been exorcized. Her mate Kirea was the light of her life.
If anything, the job was too easy, and the sorceress wasn’t fond of easy jobs.
She gazed outside her glass-walled hut. Inside, it was warm from magic embers and trapped sunlight, which was good for her exotic herb garden. Outside, the bare trees were glossy with snow. Thick rimes of ice capped the ponds and sashed the bridges’ handrails.
As she look at the snow-bound land, an idea began to stir in the bottom of her mind. It was vague, amorphous as a lump in a witch’s brew.
Slowly, leaning on her staff, she ventured outside and began to shape something out of the snow.
II.
There are a few ideas about where souls come from.
Most sorceresses believe that souls exist in the ether, waiting to be given form in a physical body. Some go a step further and say that souls exist in a land that is a mirror of the mortal realm.
Given all this, Sachi was a snow-sprite who lived in the wintry mirror-world of the Wyrmwound. While most other snow spirits were bright, playful things, he was slow and thoughtful. He spent much time gazing up at the foggy white sky and wondering where he had come from, where he was headed.
Above all else, he was lonely. Every time he made a friend, it seemed, they were whisked away to somewhere else — summoned to enchant boudoir mirrors or swords, or to protect wealthy homes.
So he spent unfathomable amounts of time wandering through the ice, snow, and chilly gray air, waiting. He didn’t know for what.
One cold morning, he spied something on a small hill: a glossy light shaped like an oval. With nothing else to do, he headed toward it.
It seemed like a sheet of clear glass, and floated a few inches above the harsh gray. But it looked out onto another world.
The world on the other side of the glass was also snowy and ice-bound, but much more beautiful. His eyes hungrily took in the elegant bridges, the orange-red roofs and pillars of small temples. Most striking was the deep blue dragon crouched over the snow, poking it with her staff.
“No, no,” she was muttering to herself. “That’s not right. If I wanted a Pearlcatcher, I would have whiskers, like so —“
She sketched whiskers into the ground, and Sachi felt a tingle around his mouth.
“And a pearl, of course.” She inscribed a circle.
As he did so, Sachi felt a heavy weight gather in his arms. If he had a heart, it would have thrilled with excitement. He drew eagerly nearer to the window, thinking finally! It’s my time! It was the happiest he could remember being.
The oval window began to glow brighter. The blue sorceress muttered to herself. Feeling his consciousness drawn into that world, Sachi closed his eyes —
III.
And opened them on the cold ground, looking up into the sorceress’ friendly face.
“Well, I suppose you’ll do. You came over quite quickly. Eager to get away from that place, eh? I’ve heard it’s horrible.”
Sachi shook snow from his ears, shivering. With this body, shouldn’t he have felt…warm?
Shaking and coughing, he let the sorceress escort her back into her glass-walled hut. But though his skin felt warm on the outside, everything within him was empty frost.
IV.
Bermuda was a good enough sorceress to know when things had gone awry. The snow-golem, a handsome body inhabited by a thin spirit, sat alone every day. He seemed to be especially fascinated by things that had doubles, twins, or mates. This ranged from the two marble swans on Bermuda’s mantle, to the two glass lamps hanging overhead.
Other than eating a bowl of thin salty broth every three days, Sachi didn’t do anything.
Well…maybe this won’t do after all, Bermuda thought, watching him. She didn’t want to show this to Drema or Lilac, considering it a failure. She even hid him in a broom closet whenever Kirea came over to check on her.
As for Sachi, he spent hours wondering why he felt cold and empty. After all, according to the spirit realm, he had made it. He had a body. He was in the mortal realm. But whenever he looked on a paired object, his mortal heart gave a great shudder, like an earthquake.
One twilight, sighing hard, he bedded down to sleep in the corner of the Sorceress’ hut.
The Sorceress thought hard. It was considered very tactful to send a summoned spirit back into the other realm. Furthermore, if he got angry enough, he would haunt her.
She grew frustrated and began nibbling on her staff. Well, you’ve accomplished it: giving yourself a problem. Are you happy now?
Bermuda sat up straight. Happy? He should be happy. Yes, of course! But how?
Her eyes lingered on the two small marble swans on her mantle. Their beaks were pressed together in a silent stone kiss.
Ah yes. Of course.
She hurried back out into the snow.
The moon was full that night. Heavenwing Eyrie was so beautiful, lush, soft and silver that it brought tears to the eye. But no-nonsense Bermuda had no time for tears.
This time when she sculpted the snow, she did so in a curvaceous, lovely little shape. A pearl again — and in the moonlight, it twinkled like a captured star.
Gracious. I might fall in love with this one before I’m done. She swiped sweat away from her brow and whispered the incantation again.
As she watched, the snow hardened into flesh, sprouting a delicate lacy pattern on the scales. The icy belly and neck took on physical form. Soon, an angelic ice girl blinked up at her beneath long, soft, black eyelashes.
V.
“Sachi, dear, I’ve got something for you. Or rather, someone.”
Sachi opened his eyes with great effort and pain. Sleep was the only time he didn’t feel cold and lonely.
But he thought he was still dreaming.
The girl standing in the doorway in front of Bermuda looked like one of his dreams. A heavenly spirit given physical expression…
Someone just like him.
As he crossed to her and took her in his arms, she fell against him with a shiver. All at once, his body flooded with warmth, like bright white sunlight.
He nuzzled into her neck, warm at last.
Bio by Caelyn