when the snows melt, they come

Date: 11/7/2017

i've been in this story before. it was a time of Long Ago. we lived north, in the snows & ice. we wore furs & used wood & reeds as our weapons. my friend had carved his wife out of ice, to memorialize her smile, to sculpt her eyes from memory. we were laughing, singing, talking. then the New Men arrived. they fell from the sky, in great balls of fire that streaked down & crashed silently miles from us. to my right was a demon, a great flaming giant, his headdress casting orange light across the snow. he stood up, slowly, & began shuffling toward our group just as slowly. the second fireball touched down on my left, letting loose a handful of smaller men, the demon's lieutenants. their fires went out as soon as they landed, & they were much faster than their master, sprinting toward our group & running between the people, terrorizing & attacking them. i had picked up a spear in my left hand, running backwards to keep my eyes on the New Men, pushing a young one ahead of me with my right arm to keep running, when a small Man appeared in front of me, laughing devilishly at our fear. i lunged at him, but since i was holding my spear in my off hand, he stopped it easily. i looked all around & could see the snow had been replaced with dark grass & evil-looking flowers blooming. my friend's ice sculpture was gone. i felt the despair begin to overwhelm me, then i woke up.