Snowblind

by CrowMagnon

The First Seeds of Spring (pt. 1/2)

Snowblind
by crowmagnon

The First Seeds of Spring, Pt. 1

As Twilight magically levitated each of the Elements of Harmony to their bearers, the six mares gathered in a ring around Gungnir while the Windigo reconstituted itself.

Though it was not yet fully formed, Gungnir could 'see' the warm shapes of the ponies surrounding it. The six-who-are-one, it hissed. Though it had never seen the Elements for itself before, it had shared the Spear-Maiden's mind. Her thoughts and memories had been laid bare, though many parts of the griffon Queen's mind had been filled with thoughts of warmth that had been too dangerous for the then-unborn Windigo to approach.

It had taken time and patience to turn the Spear-maiden's heart cold, but even then Gungnir had kept its distance from her memories of the Elements and their former bearers. Because of this, it knew that the Spear-Maiden and her closest friends had used them to defeat a monstrous tyrant and pull the world back from the brink of crumbling into chaos and destruction, but had little understanding of what it was facing beyond the knowledge that the ponies were bringing their most potent weapon to bear.

I WILL NOT LET YOU, Gungnir howled, focusing its recuperation entirely on its claws, each one forming into a jagged dagger. It swung its claws toward Lt. Sparkle first, but she and the other five mares calmly closed their eyes.

The instant that they did so, the gems on each of their necklaces exploded with a magical light so bright that Gungnir recoiled back into the center of the circle. As one, each of the mares began to rise up into the air until none of their hooves were touching the ground. Gungnir's senses were filled with a blazing warmth from which there was no escape while streams of prismatic magic extended from each necklace to connect with that of the mare on either side.

Gungnir knew that its time was running short. It lashed out again, this time at the insufferably smiling Fluttershy, only for the rainbow magic to stop it in its tracks. If it could only strike one, then the connection would be broken, but that opportunity was a rapidly closing window. Gungnir sensed that there was an opening, however. It quickly turned its focus toward the one mare who was having the most difficulty connecting with the others.

It was the one called Rarity. Rarity, who had worn a coat of ice and lies. Rarity, who had been on the cusp of giving in to the frigidity in her heart. The unicorn was having trouble, however slight, in opening herself up to the power of the Elements. This gave Gungnir its only chance.

Brandishing its claws, Gungnir lunged for Rarity's throat with the speed of the Winter winds that could flay the life from a warm body in a matter of moments. The rainbow magic was slow in reaching her by comparison. She was vulnerable... until she opened her eyes.

Rarity's eyes flew open, bright white shining from them. Not the cold blankness of icy film which had covered them before, but a blinding light. Gungnir flinched, but was driven to such desperation that it could not allow itself to falter. It could not...

"I see you," the unicorn said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "You're so tiny."

Gungnir shuddered as the words slipped through its armor and struck at something in the very core of its being. Its claws slowed ever so slightly in their deadly arc, giving the rainbow magic a chance to meet with the gem in Rarity's necklace.

The glow in all six gemstones grew even brighter as each one shot out a multi-colored beam. The magic surrounded Gungnir on all sides, wrapping around the Windigo. Gungnir attempted to struggle and lash out, but it was as helpless as an ant caught in a hurricane. All that it could do was howl in terror and rage as it was claimed by a prismatic whirlwind.

Light. Despite its blindness, light flooded Gungnir's senses. Beyond the perception of heat and shapes, the Windigo was suddenly made aware of color and brightness. The unfamiliar sensation assaulted Gungnir as it felt itself tumbling end over end through an overwhelming barrage of images. Before the Windigo's sightless eyes, countless pictures flashed before it as if trying to cram the world into its mind without providing a means to comprehend what it was experiencing.

Gungnir tried to resist the flood of light, but only ended up roaring in an agony that it had not realized it was feeling until it fought back. The light was too bright. Too hot. And yet, despite the way it made Gungnir thrash and howl, it was strange that there was no pain.

The torture is too great for me to comprehend. They are killing me, and I am too overwhelmed to feel the pain, Gungnir deducted as it hurtled through the currents of sensation. Soon, it would vanish like snow in the Summer sun, melted away by a power that it could not resist.

"~I see you.~ You're so tiny," the mocking, sing-song voice said to the little embryo that would one day be Gungnir, the Spear of Winter. It was not yet truly alive or conscious, being no bigger than a grubworm, and similarly shaped.

It had no thoughts of its own, and its senses were so undeveloped that the creature holding it between its fingers appeared as nothing but a shadow. Even with only the barest semblance of sentience, though, it had memories. Not of its own, but of Windigoes which had come before it, shared with the embryo through the great intelligence which connected them all.

It had no thoughts of its own, but it knew fear, and it was sore afraid. Memories of a terrible blue star and waves of pink flame tormented the embryo with visions of countless painful, searing deaths. Lacking consciousness and reason, it had no means of coping with the painless agony of its memories. The great intelligence should have been there to think for it, as it had been since the moment it came into existence.

The intelligence was silent.

Its fellow Windigoes were gone.

There were no thoughts but its own, and it had none. No voice but that of the shadow, which was a distant, alien thing outside of itself.

Terrified and hungry, the embryo instinctively tried to reach out to the shadow's mind, only to recoil away the instant that it felt what was squirming there.

The shadow laughed. "Now, now, don't get too greedy for your own good. You're just a little thing lost and alone in this big, wide world. Oh, but big things have small beginnings, and you will begin something very grand indeed. Come with me, little one, and let me show you to your new home. Get yourself settled in, and I will see to it that you feast like a king."

The embryo had no true concept of its surroundings, nor of the passage of time. It felt a rush of movement, though, as it was carried away on wings of air and darkness to another place. It squirmed impotently in its captor's grip as the climate around it changed into a place that was both colder and warmer than it had been mere moments before.

The source of this new climate was another being. One very much unlike the shadow. More similar to itself, but also its opposite. Once more, terror consumed the embryo as it struggled in vain to crawl away, knowing that if the mind of this new creature were to touch it, it would cease to be, just as the Windigoes in its memories of the blue star.

The shadow held it, though, keeping the embryo captive while ensuring that the mind of burning snow remained unaware of its presence. "Good evening, Gertrude. I hope that I haven't caught you at a bad time."

The mind of burning snow startled at the sound of the shadow's voice, but then extended itself toward the shadow with a fondness that made the embryo wish only to flee. "Oh, it's you, Trick. What brings you here with such urgency that you couldn't be bothered to announce yourself? Or at the very least, knock upon the door?"

"Ill tidings, I fear, but I'm sure that you've seen it yourself. Our Equestrian friends... ever since little Shangwe..."

"Yes... they loved her as a little sister. We all did, and to have her do... that... in the place where we all bound our fates to each other... But what does that have to do with why you are here, now? Please tell me you did not visit simply to re-live old pains."

"Oh, you mean... you haven't noticed it? You don't know? Oh, my dear friend, I have not come to open old wounds, but now I fear that what I tell you will cause new ones. But it must be said... It must, for the good of everything we have fought to rebuild all these long years."

As it spoke, the shadow brought its hand toward the other being's cheek. The embryo silently screamed, wanting only to escape... until the shadow spoke again.

"Gertrude... Celestia and Luna have taken the power of our fallen brother and sister for themselves. They have changed themselves into something... other than how we knew them. I fear that soon, we will be gotten rid of as well, and then the Sun and Moon will no longer revolve around the world, but they will re-shape the world to revolve around them.

The mind of burning snow recoiled away at the suggestion. "What?! Impossible! I know that they would never do such a thing as what you suggest! They are our dearest friends!"

The shadow continued forward. Even without touching its mind, the embryo could feel the dark, twisting thoughts wriggling and undulating under the surface of the shadow's facade. "I swear to you that it is true, Gertrude. They were our friends, but they have become something else. Something has twisted them in body and soul, and soon you will see them as I do."

The shadow touched the mind of burning snow, but as it drew nearer, the embryo sensed something new. A small hole in its mind. A crack opened up by the shadow's words, allowing the cold to seep in.

The embryo had no thoughts of its own, but instinct and the memories of its Windigo brethren told it to crawl inside that gap.

"It can't be," the mind of burning snow protested, but the gap belied its denial. The embryo, hungry and eager to find a place to take root and grow, left the shadow's presence behind and began to burrow deep, deep inside. As it did so, it rummaged through the mind of its host and found a treasure trove of thoughts and memories which proved fertile ground for the Windigo.

The embryo had no thoughts of its own, but as it wormed its way into the coldest recesses of her mind, it reached with Gertrude's, forming a connection akin to what it had lost when the great intelligence had gone silent. Her memories became its own. It saw through her eyes.

The embryo stared at the face of the being that, through its own senses, it had perceived only as a shadow. The golden eyes of a crimson-faced centaur with neatly trimmed facial hair stared back. The embryo began using its first true moments of sapience thinking that the centaur was not simply looking at Gertrude, but the embryo within as well.

"You know me, Gertrude," Trick said with an expression of wry concern, though the embryo could see the darkness undulating behind his eyes, even if Gertrude could not. "I am nothing if not honest."

The embryo had no thoughts of its own. It did, however, have Gertrude's. Taking a hold of her apprehension and uncertainty, it thought, He bears the Element of Honesty. And if what he says is true, and Celestia and Luna now bear the power of Spring, then I would be all but powerless against them. They could come for me, next.

And when they embryo thought this, so did Gertrude herself.

Gungnir reeled through the cacophonous void as a scene of lucidity struck it with every bit as much force as that thawed-out deliverymare had.

A memory. The very first that the Windigo possessed which was truly its own. It had come out of the chaotic maelstrom of light and sound, temporarily forming a coherent scene. But for what purpose?

The Windigo managed to stabilize itself, but then heard the cracking of ice. It looked down at itself and found that the armor it had fashioned from its underlings was breaking apart. As the pieces fell away from its body, they crumbled into a fine, powdery snow which once again took the form of the three Windigoes.

Without a sound, or even a glance back in Gungnir's direction, each of the wintry spirits took flight away from it.

Reaching out with both its mind and talons, Gungnir to catch the fleeing Windigoes. COME BACK! PROTECT ME, Gungnir howled, but it could not reach them as it suddenly became aware of some force holding it back.

Gungnir craned its neck to look, and found that a silvery cord braided from threads of spun ice was projecting from its hind leg, and held taut as it was connected to something far, far beyond Gungnir's ability to perceive. Gungnir pulled and struggled against the cord, but whatever was on the other end refused to budge.

Then, heralded only by a faint tremor in the taut cable, Gungnir suddenly felt itself pulled helplessly and violently toward...

... The throne. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but Gertrude vividly remembered how Lord Snowheart's throne room had always seemed to be such a forbidden, sacred place that she had not even been allowed to step inside, lest she pollute it with her filthy, rag-hidden visage. Now, she was walking along a red carpet and wearing a white silken gown that sparkled with diamonds while representatives from all of the griffon clans looked on.

Her heart pounded as she placed one limb in front of another in what might have been seen as a slow, regal procession. In truth, though, her deliberate pace was a result of needing to force herself to push forward through the collective gazes of her people. To do anything other than devote her total focus toward moving forward would have likely sent her screaming and fleeing. The pressure upon her was building to such a degree that it seemed inevitable that she would do so regardless.

Then she happened to flick her eyes briefly toward the Equestrian delegation, whose naturally colorful visages stood out among the stoic griffon lords and generals. Sitting on a chair to make her seem the tallest of the three sisters was Queen Sapphire, whose pale blue coat and silvery mane were highlighted by the elegant platinum regalia she wore, as well as a fur-lined cloak sparkling with the shining blue stones for which she was named.

As grateful as Gertrude was for the Equestrian monarch's presence, though, it was the sight of Sapphire's two younger sisters sitting on either side of her that gave Gertrude the strength to keep moving forward. As a matter of propriety, Celestia lay down on the stone floor so that she would not be seen as being above her elder sister by the other dignitaries, but if the pink-maned Princess felt any discomfort whatsoever, she did not show it. Instead, she smiled to her dear friend with warmth and pride.

Luna was more reserved, but only out of timidness caused by being in a chamber with so many unfamiliar griffons. Gertrude realized as she passed that if it were not for her own presence demanding the attention of all in attendance, then the shy little winged unicorn would likely be curled up in a ball, trembling and hidden behind her wings.

With a small smile to Luna, Gertrude lifted her own head and wings up higher in the haughty manner that she had seen from griffon nobles in the past. It did nothing to alleviate her own nervousness, but it ensured that all eyes would be upon her, and thus spared her friend as much unwanted attention as she could.

Soon, she would reach the end of the carpet where robed griffon mystic was waiting for her. Soon, she would speak the oaths of royalty. Soon, she would sit upon the throne as Queen, and all the griffons of every clan would either look to her for guidance, or seek to pounce upon the slightest hint of weakness. Soon, the world as she knew it would change forever.

Still, as long as she could take it one step at a time, and use the great gifts that she had been given to be of help to those who relied on her, perhaps it was possible that she could do it after all.

Gungnir tumbled out of another memory, but this one was not its own. It was one of the Spear-Maiden's. The moment when her heart had accepted that she was to rule over all griffon-kind.

The Windigo had always feared that memory during its gestation within her mind. Had the Spear-Maiden considered it a moment of elevation, placing herself above the concerns of others, it could have used that memory to feed and grow.

Gungnir had been right to avoid it, however, as it stabilized itself and saw the damage that had been done. The warmth of that memory had melted away much of its body. An entire wing, and most of its back and legs on the left side of its body were simply gone, and no amount of concentration or shifting of its form could regenerate them.

It was still bound by the cord of spun ice, however, and found two more binding what remained of its body to whatever it was being drawn toward. Gungnir once again followed along the silvery cables with its gaze, but this time it could faintly see a sillhouette of some immense object off in the distance. What it was, Gungnir couldn't say, but the fact that it was being drawn inexorably toward that massive shape left the Windigo...

... Terrified. Even though Gertrude and Luna shielded Celestia with their wings, the oversized unicorn was ill-suited for the blizzard that they trudged through, and neither of the Princesses dared to use their magic while the knights of the Snowheart clan were tracking them.

Every so often, Gertrude would hear the shriek of one of the knights pursuing them. It was how the warriors of the Snowheart clan communicated with one another and kept track of each others' positions when the storms they formed greatly limited even a griffon's vision. It also had the effect of driving their quarry to terror, either flushing out prey when they hunted, or causing enemy soldiers to lose morale.

It might have worked, too, if not for Celestia. Gertrude could hear the shrieks of the knights drawing closer and closer, and her body instinctively wished for nothing more than to take wing and fly away as fast as she possibly could. Even if she and Luna did manage to miraculously escape from their pursuers, however, Celestia would be left abandoned on the ground, where she would quickly freeze to death if the knights did not find her first.

Worse, Gertrude stifled a fearful squawk as she heard another set of baleful wails answering the cries of the knights.

"Please, we have to turn back," she begged, as quietly as she could while still being heard over the noises and the blizzard. "Those are Windigoes! If we keep going toward them, they will devour us!"

Celestia shook her head, which hung low with weariness as she shuffled between her winged companions. "No... no, we press on. The Windigoes shall be our salvation."

Looking to the unicorn Princess in shock, Gertrude whispered, "But your highness, the Windigoes are voracious demons! The mightiest of knights have tried time and again to vanquish them, but none have ever returned! What hope do we have?"

Celestia smiled at her and replied, "Neigh, Gertrude, not demons. Merely animals, base and simplistic in their behavior. They feast on strife, conflict and distrust. So long as we do not threaten them or make ourselves appetizing to their eyes, they shan't molest us."

Could it truly be that simple? Every tale that she had heard of the Windigoes painted them as unstoppable demons with fangs of ice and breath which froze the blood in their prey's veins. Otherworldly monsters so strong and terrible that the mightiest warriors were nothing but food for them. The way that Celestia spoke, it was as if she were speaking of any other creature.

Seeing the fear and doubt on Gertrude's face, Celestia leaned over and nuzzled the warm white feathers of her friend's shoulder. "It will be alright, Gertrude. As long as there is life in my bones, I will not lead you toward harm. You have already given us your home, your food and your company... All I ask for now is your trust."

Gertrude swallowed her fear down as best she could. Celestia seemed so certain and earnest, yet she was asking Gertrude to walk with her into the den of monsters which brought terror to the fearless, and effortlessly destroyed the undefeatable.

But it was Celestia who was asking her. She and Luna were the only beings alive to treat Gertrude as an equal. At first, Gertrude had assumed that it was their own hybrid mutations which made them sympathetic to her, despite their royal status. As she had gotten to know them, however, a realization had taken root in her mind. A thought so simple, yet so foreign to her that it had taken quite a while for her to comprehend it.

They cared about her because they considered her a friend.

And now her friend was asking her to walk with them into the jaws of fear itself.

Gertrude knew that she could still fly away. Even with the knights giving chase, she was close enough to the Windigoes' territory that they would be hesitant to follow if she simply took wing and flew around. If her pony friends were correct, then they could continue on by themselves and find safety.

But it was not just about their own safety, was it? If it were, they would not have needed to ensure that Gertrude came with them. Luna had hinted at it, but they saw something in her that they valued as highly as their friendship. A potential that Gertrude could still not see in herself...

... But she wanted to. When she was with the royal pony sisters, she became so much more than a mere albino mutant. She was not a mistake. She did not pollute them with her presence. When she stood beside them, she became filled with a warmth that no blizzard could extinguish.

For her friends, she would give anything and everything out of gratitude for being allowed to feel that warmth.

"You have my trust, Celestia. All I can give and more," she replied as they pressed on through the howling wind.

Gungnir howled in agony as another of the Spear-Maiden's memories tore through it, causing more of its body to dissolve away. All of its limbs were gone now, as was a large portion of its face. The burning warmth of the memories that it had avoided touching for so long was not what caused it pain, however. It was something that it had been reminded of.

Windigoes were nothing but animals.

Gungnir knew this was wrong. Before the shadow came, there had been thoughts. None of its own, but thoughts just the same. Plans. Knowledge. Purpose. Thousands of voices connected to a greater intelligence, eager to guide and shape the Windigo into what it was meant to be. Despite that, in all the time since it had begun to think, it found no other Windigoes like itself.

Both Gungnir and the Spear-Maiden had touched the minds of the other Windigoes to command them, but those had no voices; only hunger and instinct. It did not seem to be something that their kind had lost, either. The Spear-Maiden's memories made it clear that she and the Sun and Moon had gone almost unnoticed by the Windigoes, who had instead driven off the pursuing knights when they sensed the malice in the warriors' hearts.

Even now, the three that it had brought with it into this torment had long since fled, and no amount of cajoling or commanding could bring them back. Gungnir was alone.

A mutant.

A freak.

It had tried to ignore this fact. By merging its thoughts with the Spear-Maiden's and twisting her perceptions toward self-destruction, it had paved the way for its own birth. So long as it grew within her, however, it had a voice to fill the void left behind when the shadow cut it away from the great intelligence. For a little while, the simple instincts of the other Windigoes had sufficed as a substitute, and its anger toward the ponies had served well as a distraction from the loss it felt when it emerged from its host.

Gungnir was nothing but a weapon, wielded by the shadow to destroy the Spear-Maiden from within. Now that it had fulfilled that purpose, it no longer had a place in the world.

That had to be what these burning memories meant. It did not belong in the world, so the Elements of Harmony were destroying it by subjecting it to the very thing that it had tried to wall itself and the Spear-Maiden away from.

Gungnir looked at the growing number of cables attached to its dwindling body, and saw that it was much closer now to the doom they were dragging it toward. It was frightened, but not surprised to see the true form of its demise.

Connected to the Windigo via the cords of ice, an immense Gertrude floated sleeping in the void, and took up nearly the entirety of Gungnir's perception. Soon it would be pulled in, and that would be the end of it. The Spear-Maiden's warmest memories would cause it to evaporate into nothingness, and the Elements of Harmony...

"... are not a weapon. They never were." Luna's voice quavered slightly, but a smile grew across her face as she looked at her sister and friends, and saw the changes that each of them had undergone. Behind her, the crystalline branches of the Tree of Harmony glittered and shone with the light radiating from the six gemstones which it had bestowed upon them.

Gertrude brought her talons up to her face to inspect them, her beak hanging open in shock. She was... larger, now. Not just in physical size, but in the way that her senses seemed to extend so much farther. There was a strength in her now that she could never have imagined, yet she seemed to have a sense of how to wield it as though she had known it all her life.

Concentrating on the space between her talons, she gathered moisture and chilled the air until small crystals of ice began to form. Then they grew and collected into a ball of snow. And while she was aware of the cold, it held no discomfort for her whatsoever. In her heart, she realized that it never would again.

Beside her, Shangwe's voice excitedly piped up, "It feels like a great rebirth! I can feel all the growing things in the earth!" The zebra filly hopped around playfully, her striped body having turned the same color as the grasses of the Zebrican savannah, her stiff mane now resembling reeds and leaves. She then planted all four hooves onto the ground, which cracked open and caused a green vine to sprout up in a matter of seconds.

That very same vine reached out and plucked the snowball from Gertrude's talons, whipping it toward Mr. Trick as the centaur seemed distracted with inspecting his relatively unchanged body. Instead of striking Mr. Trick, however, the centaur's body dissolved into shadow and effortlessly slipped out of the way, causing the frozen projectile to continue on and smack into the Sun Dog, now a canine behemoth.

The Sun Dog blinked in surprise, then let out a boisterous laugh as the air around his body rippled with a heat haze, melting away the snow. "Nice shot, but it'll take more than a snowball to rattle me now! I feel strong enough to take on a whole flight of dragons!" The canine slammed his fists together, and his paws became wreathed in a magical flame at the moment of impact.

Shaking her head slightly at the antics of the largest and smallest members of their motley band of friends, Gertrude turned to Luna and asked, "So, instead of being used to destroy evil directly, the Elements of Harmony changed us... but into what?"

"What we needed to become, I think," Luna replied. Like Mr. Trick, she and Celestia remained largely unchanged. It was strange for Gertrude to have to look down to Celestia, and yet there was indeed something different about them. An aura of power that seemed to radiate from them both.

Reconstituting himself from the shadows, Mr. Trick rose up behind the royal pony sisters and stroked his beard as he mused, "Well, it seems that we've all found our destiny today."

Simultaneously, Celestia and Luna looked over their shoulders and saw that where their flanks had been bare before, their cutie marks had finally appeared. Celestia's mark was of a shining sun while Luna's was of a crescent moon against a patch of night sky. The two sisters gasped in delight and smiled to each other before Celestia leaned down so that they could affectionately cross necks with one another.

When they separated, Celestia led her sister toward the cavern's entrance. As they did, Luna's horn began to glow with a deep blue aura, and through the cave's mouth, the six could see the moon and stars dipping down over the horizon. Once the sky was a blank canvas, Celestia's horn shone with a bright, golden glow which spread out to the horizon, filling the sky with a warm palette of color before the sun rose and began shining its brilliant rays into the cave.

Backlit by this display, Celestia turned back to the others, her pink mane wafting in the breeze. "My friends... this is the purpose for which we have been brought together. The world has been broken, the laws of nature unraveling day by day, and all the creatures of the world either live in fear, or are enslaved by our enemy. This is the dawning of a new day! Not just for us, but for every creature!"

Luna chimed in, continuing her sister's proclamation. "This is not the end of our quest, but the beginning. Today, we begin our work. Where the world threatens to shatter, we will hold it together, just as the bonds of our friendship hold us together!"

"Where any creature is in chains, I'll free them," the Sun Dog bellowed.

"When their minds are bound by fear and superstition, I will show them the truth," Mr. Trick added with a nod.

"I solemnly swear to save their hearts from despair," Shangwe vowed.

Gertrude placed a talon over her heart. "And I... I will help them through times of want and hardship, no matter what clan or species they may be."

Gungnir came out of the memory, and ceased its struggles. Not that it could fight when it was whole, but now its body was almost completely gone, reduced to its very core. All that was left of it was a small creature little bigger than a grubworm, and similarly shaped. It was wrapped up in the cords of ice, but the last memory had given clarity to its situation.

The Elements of Harmony were not a weapon. They were not destroying Gungnir. Gungnir was destroying itself.

There were no other Windigoes like Gungnir in the entire world. Unlike those feral beasts who merely fed on the coldness in other creatures' hearts, Gungnir was of a breed designed to manipulate and exploit them. The intelligence it possessed was based upon the ability to form connections, both to its prey and to others of its kind.

As there were no others of its kind, everything that it was, outside of its diet and instinct to sow conflict, came from the Spear-Maiden. It had sown anger, and so it was angry. It had fostered isolation, and in turn was alone.

Gungnir had driven the Spear-Maiden to suicidal despair, and now it was suffering from the same malady.

The ropes of spun ice which bound it were forged from the memories that Gungnir had sealed behind walls of doubt and suspicion. Just as the armor the Spear-Maiden had worn to protect herself from the rest of the world was no more, so was the body Gungnir had fashioned for itself, leaving behind only the true face of the parasite laid bare.

It could save itself, Gungnir realized. The ropes were of its own making. A refusal to let go of what it had taken from the Spear-Maiden's mind. It could still sever its connection and be free. The Elements of Harmony would not destroy it any more than they had destroyed the other Windigoes. It could escape and live as they did.

But what would it lose? Without the thoughts and memories it had gained from its connection to the Spear-Maiden, it would have nothing upon which to build its own identity. Gungnir had given itself a name and a shape. It was an entity. A consciousness. If that were taken away, would it still be alive, or would it merely continue to exist, living but forever incomplete as it preyed mindlessly with the rest of its kin?

Perhaps... it would be preferable to follow the memories back to where they belonged. To let itself be carried into that part of the Spear-Maiden's heart where no Windigo could survive.

It was so close, now. The Spear-Maiden's shut eyelid was in front of it like a massive wall the size of a city. Soon, it would be absorbed once again.

Without warning, the Spear-Maiden's eye opened, and Gungnir looked into an ocean of pink, behind which lifetimes of memories were held. The Windigo was surprised to find that, as microscopic as it was in comparison, it could feel the Spear-Maiden's eye focus upon it.

I see you, the Spear-Maiden's voice echoed in an awestruck whisper. It was a prelude to a memory. The one that Gungnir had feared more than any other.

It did not try to escape.

You're so tiny, Gungnir and the Spear-Maiden whispered together.