Empyrean Iris Story Collection

Snow Snakes

"Come on, krill."

"No."

"Oh come on."

"No."

Captain Vir and his three brothers stood at the bottom of the snow covered mountainside arms crossed under the light of the snow-blinding sun.

"I am not getting on that." Krill huffed stubbornly. He was sitting encased inside the specimen tube protected from the freezing cold of the snow, but despite his protection, there was no way in the seven rings of Nebulon he was going to get on the steel contraption of impending death.

He wasn't really sure what he was expecting with the brothers insisted he come with them. Driving slowly up an ice covered mansion to a small human settlement populated by hundreds of humans in advanced snow gear.

Of course that had all seemed relatively ok, he hadn't even questioned them when the humans began strapping waxed boards of fiberglass to their feet. Humans hated walking, and if they could avoid doing it in any condition than they would. He had even heard stories of humans strapping wheels to their feet though he had yet to see that.

Strapped to Captain Vir's back, the group of them had slid their way down a shallow hill to where they now stood.

"No."

"Krill, it's safe. Humans have been doing this for hundreds... no thousands of years now."

"Are you kidding me, just look at it." The brothers turned in unison looking up at the "Ski lift." Massive posts of steel rose into the air at equal distance from each other bound together by massive steel cables. Attached to these steel cables by only a single bar of steel, was a chair. Just big enough for four people, the chair swung and dangled over the drop as it carried it's chattering humans up into the fog.

Captain vir reached down and shouldered the specimen tube with one strap, "Oh don't worry, we promise you'll be fine."

The other three nodded, "We promise we won't push Adam off as long as he's holding you."

Kril stared at them aghast, and they laughed sliding their way towards the gate using spike tipped poles to push themselves along when they couldn't move their legs.

Krill hunkered down inside his tube desperately covering his eyes with the colorful scarf the female human had knitted for him. It was quite a sweet gesture, and though it was meant to keep him warm and comfortable, he now used it to cover his eyes.

He felt the humans slide forward, and then the sudden jolt as the chair swept their feet out from under them. He could just imagine the ground disappearing as they were carried into the air upon the rickety contraption.

One of these days he was just going to die of anxiety.

Eventually he was able to open his eyes terrified as the ground slowly passed by far below.

Then the humans began pushing each other.

They stopped when he began to scream.

Luckily, they made it to the top in one piece sliding down the little lift and onto the pinnacle of snow. Krill was finally able to relax, but then another confused question came up.

He looked at the brothers as they adjusted their gloves.

Two of them weren't strapped to two pieces of fiberglass, but had decided to strap both of their feet to one piece of fiberglass, because of that, they was forced to sit down and redo the straps at the top while the other two brothers waited patiently.