Page 140 - 2023 eMag Final Draft

Written by Jack Yow Jun Lam Sr2ScB
Illustration by Soo Cheng Mun Sr3B

Ashen snow carpeted my body as I came to. Asserting my gaze, it was impossible to

not notice the fuming spires reaching out their sooty arms. Retching up from the
horror, my once white skin long tainted with filth and painted in black. I got up,
spreading my billowing-curtain wings after recovering my equipment.

In the encroaching gloom, the giant oil lamps and their even more gigantic owners
don't comply, lighting up the blank canvas soon drenched in ink. A cure will be
needed, or better yet, something that could prevent this recursing madness if life
perdures.

Atop a mound far-flung from the inkwell, a creek unhurriedly passed through, of-
fering salutations, and so I reciprocated in kind. Reborn and rejuvenated, I returned
'home', a dilapidated shell abandoned by giants, which I related to.

The house, too, was reborn in vibrant hues. Sneaking into my own house, a living
giant smeared in bright colours bent over a worktable, my worktable, charcoal in
hand.

Humiliated and defiled, I unravelled my wings and took a leap of faith, propelling
myself and thrusting my tightly clenched fist at the humongous intruder. As for the
fruits of my labour, I veered off course and planted my face on the surface of the

worktable, most likely due to the deterioration of my physical vessel. Disregarding
the pain and regaining my senses, I turned around to meet the eyes of the evil giant.

*

It felt bizarre, like tiny magnetic ants tap dancing inside a glass jukebox, to stare
face-to-face at a being similar yet unalike. The busybody giant's eyes noticeably
widened, presumably in shock, not often does one come across a snow sprite in the
flesh.

Kindred in

Hearth
He a r t h

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