Ba-Khet was drowning in problems. The night was cold, and the wind was howling while Ba-Khet wandered in the mountains. The full moon hung above as it slashed its way through knee-deep snow. Amidst a light snowfall, it could see its fingers turning black and blue. The lack of sensation coming from all over its body informed Ba-Khet that it was suffering in the conditions. Despite not knowing exactly why its situation was dire, Ba-Khet knew it needed shelter and warmth.

  In addition to the peril, there were the ominous words from the tumbleweed. Ba-Khet had only the barest structure of an idea of what a Sah was, and that echo was based on an instinct of what the universe was supposed to be like.

  From all the information that Ba-Khet sensed, a Sah was connected to life. However, that didn’t help, as there was a lot of life out in this world. After all, the plains that it previously wandered had been teeming with lifeforms. Were the moving plants Sahs? The walking shrubs and the grass that swayed without influence from the wind were extremely noticeable, as it hadn't known that producers could consciously interact with the world. But what if Sahs were a more special, specific variety that could quickly travel vast distances, or had medicinal use, or protective properties, or even combative properties? Or was it simpler, the term defining the category as a whole? Perhaps Sahs were animals such as apex predators that ruled rural regions or exotic creatures that luxuriously prance through life.

  The point is, Ba-Khet had no idea what a Sah actually was, only that it was connected to life, somehow. The more immediate point is that Ba-Khet was in sub-zero temperatures, in the dead of night, and had stumbled upon an empty mountain trading road. There was a sign posted that had Ugwadule Desert labeled in one direction and Coedwig Forest in the other. Underneath the location marker was another sign that said, “Have a frost-bitingly good time in the Thuapa Mountains.”

  “Bad choices were made,” Ba-Khet muttered as it bent down to dig in the snow just offside this small break in the jagged slope of the mountains. The sound that emanated from it was hoarse and weaker than it was hours ago in the quaint, isolated shack.

  When the hole Ba-Khet was digging was a square with lengths equal to the size of its arm, it buried itself into and under the bluff of snow in front of it. For a first attempt at shelter, under the snow was, ironically, both an idiotic and clever choice. For one, the snow provided cover for Ba-Khet and kept him out of possible dangers in the surrounding area. For another, it would also insulate the area, letting heat from the ground raise temperatures and stave off the effects of frostbite on the body. The problem was that the energy trapped was enough to just barely melt the snow. And when snow melts in freezing conditions, the water reforms into ice. Which is how Ba-Khet became wrapped in its own icy form of saran wrap underneath a new layer of snow, only a few hours after burrowing into the snow bank.

  Stuck in place, Ba-Khet continued to freeze solidly without blood flow or movement to keep the ice melted. Its restored form, already starting to rot again, had muscles stiff as a board, brittle bones, and organs that were solid as stone. The rotting stench, from Ba-Khet, was trapped in the bank and was extremely apparent to its nose. All these factors lead to it deciding that being in a snow bank, in a deserted mountain pass, was simply unfortunate. Though, being unable to move was what made Ba-Khet incredibly annoyed. Precisely why that was annoying was beyond its limited comprehension, and the annoyance quickly turned to boredom as Ba-Khet had nothing to do but wait to thaw.

  As the sun rose, Ba-Khet got interpersonal. While its brain was not capable of complex understandings and rationalization, for some reason, it had a remarkable understanding of its emotional state. The feelings, unleashed from their usual logical restraints, were warring inside Ba-Khet’s immobile self in a fierce battle. Ba-Khet didn’t ever believe it was so in touch with its inner self. It felt sorrows and joys, loathing and fondness, anger and elation all at once. It felt as though it finally recognized the power of a piece of itself that had always been with it, but was underappreciated and undervalued. All through the day, Ba-Khet was relying on that small piece to carry its emotional weight through every moment. Ever since its existence in this strange reality, that fragment was oppressive in its prevalence. Ba-Khet felt happiness as being hugged by this piece. Ba-Khet felt surprise as being slapped by it. Ba-Khet felt pain as being dunked in an acid bath by it. Still, it was only a fraction of a whole and bound to stop carrying it eventually. Ba-Khet felt that he needed to find the rest of the pieces to support himself and find a place in this world. He would name one of them Sah just because the tumbleweed said it, and he didn’t know what it was. It was going to be a special one, capable of wondrous things. The most special, complex, and problematic of all the pieces of himself Ba-Khet would find. After all, who was Ba-Khet without the things that made it up? The grounding, undestroyable, irrepressible, pure existing things that belonged all to him. Ba-Khet was going to understand itself, no doubt about it.

  While Ba-Khet was spiraling into insanity during an internal monologue detailing the hazy edges of a plan, the rest of the world was continuing its normal existence. This was made apparent when a few hours later Ba-Khet felt itself, ice and all, get hoisted up out of the snow and attached to the last of a line of eight-legged mule-like creatures. Sleipnir, it decided to call them based solely on the number of legs.

  These creatures edged their way through the thick snow, loaded high with bags of furs and meat meant for merchants at a further destination. They were displaying a small metal emblem engraved with a bow and arrow on the straps of their gear.

  Based on that symbol, Ba-Khet could infer a few things. Firstly, the mountain pass it got itself stuck by was a connecting road between the desert lands of the west and the lusher forested area in the east. Secondly, the main users were a hunting guild, which appeared to specialize in hunting game and trapping small critters. Thirdly, Ba-Khet got stuck on shipping day across the mountain range.

  Escorting the merchandise was a contingent of humanoids with otter-like fur and features. They appeared to be native to the mountain regions, as, despite being clothed in light-looking long-sleeved shirts and pants, they seemed at ease in the frigid temperatures. Pinned to the shirts were the same small emblems as on the sleipnir. At each of their sides was a short sword, and they had a variety of rocks clipped on their belts.

  That was all Ba-Khet could see as he was dragged at first semi-smoothly, with the ice bumpily gliding over the snow, then lumpily when Ba-Khet thawed enough to accomplish minor motion.

  Around here, the terrain changed to be softer. As the snow gradually disappeared, swaying grasses, wiggling ferns, and purple-leaved trees started becoming more abundant. The smell shifted to be more woody and earthy. The sun was shining with a full mid-day force, and the ice was melting faster. Ba-Khet quickly tumbled through the damp soil of a forest with only minor movement restrictions. Its movements were extremely choppy, and it was bouncing like a ragdoll when the last pieces of ice had finally thawed.

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  More trees passed at the quick pace of the traveling guild merchants. Ba-Khet’s eyes could only generally observe the terrain. It all blended together, the browns, the reds, the purples, all mashing into a rich kaleidoscope of color. Ba-Khet caught glimpses of signs denoting destinations along the route before the onslaught of color overwhelmed its senses again.

  It was only when the sleipnir started slowing down at a small town that Ba-Khet could really gather its senses. The soft whooshing of the wind and a strange call of a bird were the first things it could make out. Looking around, it observed the ecology of the new environment. In this space, trees towered like skyscrapers above the lush undergrowth. The canopy was a mix of light and dark, saturated and unsaturated purples. It cast soft shadows over the landscape and spread a sense reminiscent of a fairytale. The blue sky above was at times vividly apparent and at others faded into the tree leaves. Connected to the purple heights was orange tree bark. In the gaps was a veiny network of a softly glowing blue liquid that must have been sap. Branches from numerous points contrasted the leaves as they disappeared into copious amounts of purple. Overlaying the lower parts of the trunks was moss slowly shifting colors like a chameleon. Even lower, thick roots shot out, snaking between the foliage on the ground. Ba-Khet warily observed that the bark pattern was more scale-like on these parts, and they looked only partly underground. The ground plants themselves were mostly red in color. Ferns were prevalent with fronds curling in the air and around the trees of their own volition . Some appeared to be climbing around low branches, their stringy roots wiggling in the air like tentacles. Hugging the ground, green dominated with little clover leaves sprouting. Grasses were just barely visible underneath the diversity of the forest.

  Bushy-tailed rodents hopped around, taking small purple nubs off of the trees. Pointy-faced creatures scurried around the ferns while mean-looking creatures with head plumes, wings, talons, and smashed-in faces to match hovered up high, scanning. Ba-Khet observed one fern move to cover a rodent from above as a different fern uncovered one that was rummaging around its base. The flying predator swooped in and gobbled that rodent whole before flying off into a nearby tree. Ba-Khet could not see larger animals underneath this purple-covered region.

  The area didn’t appear to spread very far, maybe ten sleipnir out. Past that was a blue-topped area that looked the same with slightly different colors. There was a notable increase in creature life out there. Notably larger creatures. Ba-Khet spotted a gentle, but skittish-looking, hooved, horned creature grazing a distance away.

  Two of the fur creatures came around the sleipnirs to where Ba-Khet was lying.

  “Hey,” it stumbled out in greeting.

  They paused. Then turned around and walked back to the rest of their group who appeared to be negotiating with a bunch of green-skinned, pointy eared humans.

  They walked up to who was obviously the lead negotiator and leaned in to whisper something. The lead negotiator's head snapped towards Ba-Khet. He then turned to the other race and said, “Either dead or alive, dryads, that thing is your problem.”

  “And we’ll be happy to take him with the rest of your products, but you're still not getting a markup for 'heroic deeds.' Same price as usual," responded the lead green negotiator, or as Ba-Khet was realizing, a dryad.

  “Fine,” and as gold traded hands, Ba-Khet was detached from the cargo and led towards the dryads. He was then guided away to a small cabin and told to wait until the elders could figure out what to do with him.

  It was only an hour later when the lead dryad negotiator from before entered the cabin and sat down across from Ba-Khet. He stared. Ba-Khet stared back until finally the dryad leaned backwards in that old man fashion and smiled at it.

  The dryad addressed Ba-Khet, “My name is Ficus, young thing. And you do look like you’ve been through some tough spots.”

  Ba-Khet continued to stare, unsure how to reply to that open-ended statement.

  “It’s not often something new happens around here. Nor do we find creatures who look like you. Forgive my faux pas, but do tell me a little about your species, I’ve never seen anything with purple marks like that.” Ficus kept talking, “It almost looks as if they are scars. And I’ve never met anything as resistant to the cold as you. The Selkitsus, you’ve met them, right? They’re the merchants who just passed by. Anyway, the Selkitsus have great insulation, but they’ve got nothing on living in ice.”

  Ba-Khet was confused. Species? Did he mean human? It hadn’t seen any other humans around, so tentatively Ba-Khet began, “I am a human. Nothing special.”

  “Human. Human,” Ficus tittered, “interesting. Never heard of them, but I don’t hear much these days. With the isolation of this place and my age. Though I am certain you're something special. You know, most creatures can’t stay in those mountains for too long without dying, too cold."

  “Why did those animals, sorry Selkitsus, bring me here anyway?” It cut in, confused about its circumstances.

  “We have a long-standing deal with them,” Ficus responded. “You see, we like to give dead bodies burial rights, helps the soul disperse into the world peacefully, we feel. They don’t like bodies in the mountains because they attract all sorts of dangerous critters. So they bring the bodies to us, and both our goals are achieved. Mutually beneficial, best kind of deal. They didn’t know you were still alive, though, so they tried to ask for a markup for “saving your life.” Hah, as if we’d pay more for that as you’d obviously gotten out of there just fine with or without help.”

  Ba-Khet was even more confused. It knew it looked dead, but it didn’t think it could be mistaken for dead. It was obviously very alive, it could move, it could talk, it did all the living things. And the Selkitsus that helped it were clearly less nice than Ba-Khet originally thought.

  “I am Ba-Khet,” It said, aware that exchanging names was an offer of connection.

  “Great kid. Well, since you're alive, we’re sending you off to the city. You’ll be able to find some sort of life there, and say, what's that smell, those Selkitsus didn’t bring me rotting goods now did they,” Ficus said as he stood up, “Oh, I bet they did, recently they’ve become a most untrusting, backstabbing group. Don’t know what's gotten into them, but they have one great connection to the fates. Head out, I’ll be there in a moment. You’ll need a guide to get out of this place without angering the trees, anyway.”

  And with that, Ficus walked off presumably to check on what he bought, and Ba-Khet was left to face its impending arrival to civilization with this strange dryad while considering where to find pieces of himself. That goal was truly important to Ba-Khet; it felt horrible in its current state.