Skiv
Legacy Name: Skiv

Well, this is certainly unusual...

He knows that the white stuff beneath his paws is called "snow", and that it is very cold. But it doesn't feel cold. Not that it feels warm, but it certainly isn't cold. He prods it with a black foot curiously, blinking in silent confusion as his paw leaves no impression in the drifted snow.

I've never heard of anything like this happening before...

He had awoken in the midst of a howling blizzard to the sound of the screaming winds slicing across the mountain. He had awoken in the darkness of night, alone, with no one in sight. He knew he should feel cold, that the driving gales should be whipping stinging crystals of ice against his large, sensitive ears. He should feel pain and fear and aloneness. He should be terrified of dying.

Unless I already am...

The thought comes to him like a sickening epiphany. Though he does not remember dying, he is quite sure that that is what happened to him. He looks himself over carefully. He is a small, fox-like creature--a Jollin, he remembers from nowhere--with massive ears and a tail twice the size of his little body. His fur is a pale, grayish-blue color, dappled with gray rosettes. It seems to shine with an otherworldly light, and with a quiet jolt of surprise, he realizes that he can almost see a faint outline of the ground through his body. His paws are chubby, his legs are short; he is young, far too young to be dead already.

But who am I...? Who was I...?

He can't recall a name, but he finds that he remembers a lot about a certain human girl. She is young, but not a child, with thick brown hair and dark brown eyes. He remembers her laugh, loud and joyous. He senses that this girl was somehow important to him, perhaps as a caretaker; he can come up with many memories that include her, and they are memories that make him smile.

Maybe if I search enough memories, I can get an idea of who she was and how I can find her...

He sees himself being lifted out of a box and into her loving grasp. He sees her holding him in her arms and rocking him to sleep. He sees her shaking toys in front of him, and sees himself lunging after them with happy yips. He sees her standing with a hand over her face, shaking her head at the destroyed garden before her. He sees her scolding him, then embracing him tightly with a murmur of loving forgiveness when she sees how miserable he is. He sees himself getting into all sorts of trouble, causing all manner of chaos, and causing the girl much aggravation.

But how did I get out here?

If he thinks hard enough, he can remember the young woman's voice crying out to him in fear. He can hear her screaming, "No, don't chew on that--!", and knows that she was trying to warn him of something. The warning comes too late; though it is only a memory, a vicious electric shock surges through his body, setting his fur on end and turning his blood to fire. The young Jollin collapses to the snow, breathless with pain, wide-eyed with fear. He lays there, cringing and twitching.

What happened after that...?

He remembers nothing further. The painful blast of electricity is his final memory.

I'm dead...

But who was the girl?

I have to find her. I have to find her. I have to find her.

He rises to his feet again and begins walking across the snow, his paws leaving no imprint as he passes over. The wind and snow wail around him, but he does not feel their touch; they pass right through him. He presses on, not knowing where he is or where he is going. All he knows is that he must find the girl from his memories, the girl with the warm, hearty laugh.

If I can only find her, she can tell me everything.

He does not know how long he walks for before he sees something blue glowing in the snow up ahead. He investigates the light blooming up from the snow, and after a brief hesitation, he tries to dig down to find it. Oddly enough, this time his paws are able to carve away the snow. The Jollin ghost reaches down into the hole and retrieves a silver lantern. Blue light swirls within the glass prison, and the sight of it puts him strangely at ease. As he rubs his muzzle against its polished flank, he notices something is engraved there. It is a word that sounds familiar to him, a word that seems to settle deep into his heart.

Skiv. Is that...?

"Is my name 'Skiv'?" he asks the howling wind. "Is this lantern mine to take?" He stands there, paws prickling with suspense, waiting for a response.

Can I really expect an answer?

"Skiv! I've found you!" a voice cries out. The Jollin jerks in its direction, and sees an orb of blue light bobbing through the wind towards him. Its wings are delicate, like those of a dragonfly, but they do not seem damaged by the slicing gales that sweep the mountain. "Skiv!" the ball of light calls again. It comes closer, and he sees the shape of a rotund woman that the light had hidden.

"Who are you?" he asks. "Where am I? Who am I? Is this lantern mine?"

"I'm your guardian spirit," the tiny woman replies. "I'm Savina. You're on the Mountain of the Dead, Skiv...And that lantern is the last light of hope for your soul."

'Last light of hope'?

"What do you mean?" Skiv asks.

"When you were alive, you walked the line between mischievous and cruel," Savina tells him sadly. "You did many things that would condemn one to a life of eternal suffering, but you did not do so out of hatred or anger." She sighs. "You are cursed to wander."

If I wander long enough, I might find that girl...

"Take your lantern, Skiv," Savina orders. "Let's leave this place."

Skiv obediently picks up the lantern in his mouth, gripping it by the handle at the top. The blue light inside sheds some illumination on the path ahead. With a glance up at Savina, the young Jollin begins his long journey.

I have to find that girl...

[x"] by MissingNo