A City Called Winter

                I have a large window in my room that stretches all the way from the ceiling to the floor. It's a foolish notion, just a childish dream, but I really felt like I could see the world from my window. I was the master, the one who looked over the affairs of the civilians of the city of Winter.

                The room is without doors. When I was younger, I used to wonder how I got in there. Did I fly in through the window? If it was possible to come in through the window, then it was possible to come out… and then, I would be free. Later, I learned the truth. They built this tower around me.

                Was that true fear? I was only an infant when I had to face the leering face of suffocation. I wasn't deprived of air; it was a different deprivation. They were trapping me in a box. The tower is the tallest building in Winter, towering all of the business buildings and landmarks. The tower caved in on all sides, growing taller and taller as I grew even smaller, and then, it sealed.

                I was sealed inside the tower.

                But I have my window. It's a sturdy glass that I can't seem to break, but even if I did, it would be a long fall down. It seemed like miles and miles until I would hit the relentless concrete below. If I were to jump, it would be suicide. For now, I don't know if I want to break the window and die.

                I can see everything.

                They don't realize that in the eyes of the Guardian of Winter, they are only ants. They wander around living their lives in a schedule, maintained down to the last second. Let the constant ticking of the clock rule their lives, for I am ruled by the sun and the moon that grace my window with their presence.

                The sky is rather narrow. As tall as the window is, it is not any wider than I am. I have a thin body to begin with, as the food I am sent is not very filling, nor is it appetizing. I wonder why they made windows so narrow. Is it to prevent people from seeing the Guardian? When the civilians of the city I watch so dutifully raise their eyes to meet the top of the Tower of the Guardian, do they realize that a child is trapped in it like a prison?

                I will protect you, foolish ants.

                The city is called Winter. Despite its name, it still warms in Spring and Summer. After all, every place must have a time to grow. A city trapped in eternal winter would be hateful to the world. If it were, it would just be death and ends, a half without the other, until the end of time. No new beginnings would emerge.

                Today, a new set of children will graduate from their academy and go into the city to make working men and women of themselves. Their parents will be proud, their older siblings beaming, and they will return home to feasts made by doting mothers. Their proud fathers will slap them on the back or give them hugs and roses with grins stretching ear to ear. Congratulations will fill the air. Graduation is always festive.

                It is the end of Spring. The time for beginning has ended, and the time for growth will soon begin. After that, it will slowly fade.

                The window doesn’t let me hear, but I can imagine their voices. The beaming children, proud of their own success and glowing with the mirth of those around them, will radiate a joyous aura. I watch one girl braid a rose into her friend's hair. Two boys roll down the field, their crisp white uniforms stained with the emerald of grass. When they fall at the end and meet the feet of their angered mothers, they burst into laughter. The creases of their mother's eyes slowly diminish as they pick them up, laughing with them. There is nothing else in the world except each other in their eyes.

My brown dress is heavy. It reminds me of a burlap sack. I have to drag it around to my wooden stool so I can continue to watch over Winter. My bed in the corner has been getting smaller and smaller, even though I remember it being so large I felt like I was in the sky when I sat on it.

There's a small knock.

I look up, wondering if I should bother to get it or not. I get two meals a day, and to save the servants the trouble of climbing all the flights of stairs to a doorless room, it is delivered in the morning. My nighttime meal is always cold, but I don't mind anymore.

I reach my hand through the small flap and fumble to find my usual meal. It's not there. The flap is only one foot long and one foot wide, so I wonder if the servant put it too far off to the side. My stomach growls. I'm hungry, and it'll be a day before I am fed again.

"Hello?" I call out tentatively. "Is anyone there?"

I don't hear a response. Sighing, I knelt down on the ground. Should I attempt to poke my head through? If I were stuck, there would be no one to help me. I'd be trapped their forever, and if I pulled too hard, my head might roll straight off. It would roll down the several thousand flights of stairs, down the several hundred floors this tower reached, until it hit the very bottom. The civilians of Winter could finally see the face of their hidden Guardian.

"I'm here."

The voice surprised me.

                "Excuse me?"

                "I'm still here."

                This was ridiculous. Nobody ever stayed long enough to talk to me. "Could you give me my food, please?" I was getting impatient, and I was hungry. I had learned not to eat both meals at the same time so I wouldn't be hungry later, but I could eat a horse if offered.

                "Show me your face."

                "What?" I responded, incredulous. From the voice of this servant, he was a young man, no older than I. "Your place is a servant's. You are speaking to the Guardian of Winter. Give me my meals, sir."

                "Nobody likes the Guardian." He hissed. "They say you're a monster, with a hideous face. That's why you're trapped in this tower."

                At that, I reached a hand to my face. Was I a monster? I would think not! I have never seen my reflection, except for a faint on in the window.

                "I wouldn't know, sir." I responded coldly. "Please give me my meal."

                "I want to know." He replied, excitement lacing his voice. "Are you a demon? a monster? a hideous creature?"

                "No. I'm…" I trailed off.

                "You are…" He prompted.

                "I'm hungry." At that, I reached a hand through the flap. I heard the foolish boy recoil in surprise and jump out of the way.

                "Watch it! You almost made me spill your stupid meal!" He yelped. "After climbing all those stairs, too!" He stared at my hand, which was now grasping around in hopes of clutching onto his leg.

                "Hey, you're hand… it's a human hand…"

                "Of course! What did you expect?"

                "I thought… you were a demon."

                "Why would you think that?" I asked with a surprising amount of patience considering how hungry I was.

                "Well, my friends all joke about the Guardian… about her being a hideous creature with eight eyes and green skin…"

                "Eight eyes and green skin!" At that, I laughed. "I haven't seen my reflection, but I can see my body and I most certainly do not have green skin. And if I had eight eyes, my vision certainly would be pretty good."

                On the other side of the wall, I thought I felt the boy shudder. "You're the Guardian of Winter, r-right?" He stammered.

                "I don't see another reason why they lock me up in this tower."

                Ignoring my bitter response, he continued, "You watch over all the citizens, right?"

                I thought of my window that let me rule the world. I thought of how tall and narrow the sky was, and how the world seemed to be on mute. I wasn't blessed to hear early morning traffic or curses or the laughter of schoolchildren. I rarely heard anything except myself. Would talking to myself make me a crazy old bat? I chuckled slightly.

                "That's what I try to do." I told him with a patriotic voice, kind and slightly sarcastic like an uncle.

                "Then I hate you." I paused.

                "What's with this sudden response?" At that, I peeked through the flap in the wall. The boy was slumped on the ground, my food lying beside him, seemingly forgotten. I eyed it hungrily but directed my attention back to the boy. He didn't notice I was looking at him now.

                "You didn't save Mama."

                "Your mother?" I raised an eyebrow.

                "You let her die! You aren't the Guardian at all!" He was shrieking now.

                "Quiet, child." I hissed. I looked at him. He was about my age, maybe a few years younger, with shaggy brown hair and pale skin. His face was reddening now in his rage.

                "The Guardian is supposed to protect Winter!" He sobbed, his shoulders heaving with his passionate cries. "To keep it from being a wasteland like before!"

                "Child, how old are you?" I asked suddenly, surprising myself. I never had a companion before, and I suddenly felt like divulging my secret to this sobbing boy I was looking at through a flap in the wall. Were I in another situation, I might have groaned, but for now, this was all I could do.

                "I- I'm twelve in three days."

                "Then you don't know the legend about the Guardian, do you?"

                "What legend?" He glared holes through the wall, as if hoping they would reach me. "All I know is you're supposed to protect Winter and all you do is sit in this tower. No wonder everyone calls you a monster."

                "I'm not the monster." I said softly. "Look at me. Down here." Reluctantly, the boy looked down. He saw my face.

                Bending down, he seemed a little surprised. "You're not as pretty as May." He decided after a while. "May is a girl in my class." He added as an afterthought.

                "But I'm not a monster, am I?"

                He huffed and turned away. "I'm not as shallow as you think I am! Even if you don't have green skin and eight eyes, you could have a stone-cold heart." He pouted.

                "For someone who claims he's not shallow, you sure are acting bratty." I frowned. "Will you listen to the legend? It's about the Guardian."

                "If it's going to be some fancy story you made up as an excuse for not saving my mother, forget it."

                "How did your mother die?" I asked softly. The boy's pout faded and it turned to a solemn sadness. I have never known companionship or the bitter sting of pure sadness. I only knew loneliness, but I didn't realize that I was. I had the world to watch.

                Apparently, I had failed.

                He sighed deeply, his chest heaving. "It was any ordinary accident, I suppose. When she was walking to work, a horse ran over her because its carriage driver lost control. She died before they could try to save her." He looked at me, glaring. "But you were supposed to save her. Guard her."

                "Boy, there's only one way I can guard this city." Surprisingly, I found myself smiling wryly.

                "What do you mean?" At this, he was slightly interested.

                "Every thirteen years, a monster comes to the city. They require sacrifices. He wants seven boys and seven girls, all at the age of twelve or thirteen. It's up to the Guardian to defend the city and fight the monster off, so we don't have to offer sacrifices. The next sacrifice is next week."

                "What?" At this, he jumped up from his slumped position. "How do you know?"

                "Your mayor will be announcing this. The fourteen children will be randomly selected, and I will be released when the monster comes to the city to demand his sacrifices."

                "How will you fight the monster?"

                I smiled. "I don't know." There was silence.

                They boy left the meal, rushing down the stairs, yelling he was late for class. I watched him go, and I returned to my own thoughts. What would I do?

                That night was one of the many restless nights I had. Insomnia claimed me and I could do nothing but look at the cityscape of Winter. It was a fairly modern city, but one of the loveliest, for sure. Yet, as the city just grew and grew, the tragic secret behind the Tower of the Guardian was forgotten. The truth began to become overridden by rumors and silly tales. Soon, they would forget about me altogether.

                "Tell me what you know about the Guardian." I demanded one day. We sat back to back, with the wall between us.

                "They said that she was a monster, and that was why she was in the tower. With green skin and eight eyes, she watched over everyone, picking out her prey. They called her the Guardian because of how she always watched through that small window. Watching, never resting."

                I laughed in spite of myself. "Do you know the real legend? Do you want to know why I am in this tower?"

                "I guess."

                "Because in our city, our growing city, thirteen years ago next week, I was the only orphan. The orphan is chosen to be the Guardian."

                "Why? Isn't the Guardian supposed to fight?"

                "Oh no, silly boy. It doesn't matter if you can fight or not. In their views, orphans are expendable. Why not take them and make them useful? Send them into the jaws of the monster, send a wild girl without parents instead of those nice children who have love and family."      

                He was silent, as if he were hesitating, or wondering what to say in response.

                "It just happens to be fate that the past seven Guardians have all been in one family." I continued. That caught his attention.

                "How is that? I thought only orphans were the Guardians!"

                "You don't understand. Nobody's ever survived an attack from the monster. Every single Guardian that faced him died. They gave him the name 'Guardian' to rest their guilty consciences. It was supposedly an honor. Now, I don't even have the honor." I said sadly. "Then, several generations ago, one boy withstood the beast. He didn't die. When he lived and still fought the beast off, they awarded him greatly. They let him go free, the start his life as a new man. He married and had a child.

                "Ironically, the child's parents, one of them the past Guardian, died immediately after his birth. It was some kind of curse. There wasn't a new Guardian chosen, since the child's father died only two years after his release. Still, he was an orphan now. The past Guardian's newly orphaned son was chosen as the Guardian.

                "When he was eleven, he had to face the creature. Unlike his father, who was nineteen when he had to face the beast, he was merely a child. However, he was a genius, and using a forbidden spell he learned in secrecy, he warded the beast off. He was rewarded and freed.

                "He also lived like his father, but also like his father, once his child was born, he and his wife died immediately. The next time the monster came, he was only a toddler. Still, it seemed fate did not want to break the line of Guardians from that family. Repeatedly, my family warded off the beast. At one point, they sent an infant and somehow, that baby boy emitted a field and the beast ran away.

                "Then, it came down to me. By then, the citizens were so sure of my family that the guardians were allowed to go free. While my father was still the guardian, he was allowed to have a relative freedom. I was the first girl to be born in the family for seven generations. I was born the exact same moment the monster attacked thirteen years ago. My mother was killed immediately after she gave birth to me, for the beast ate her. My father was unable to ward him off, and he was also eaten by the beast. For the first time in ninety-one years, the Guardian was unable to stop the beast. He ate not only the sacrifices, but also my parents and half of the town.

                "That incident caused extreme hatred towards the Guardian. I was now orphaned, but so were many children. As the offspring of the failed Guardians, the role was bestowed upon me. Worried citizens claimed I was dangerous, in fear that I would eat them like the monster. This tower was built around me. Although it's only been thirteen years, it felt like forever."

                "Next week, when the monster arrives, they'll just throw you out there? And expect you to fight him off?"

                "My ancestors did before." I said weakly.

                "But they were lucky, just like you said! And it sounds to me like you have no luck." He said solemnly. I  couldn't argue with that.

                "I want to protect Winter… but I cannot possibly fight the beast away. There is no way I can make him run."

                "He isn't the one running." He said after a while, surprisingly. "The Guardians are like pawns. You just throw them out there and maybe they'll fight the opponent off. We're trying to get away from fighting the beast head-on."

                "Do you know why?"
                "Because… because Winter has no defense. If we attacked, everyone would surely die."

                "Correct. Winter is so weak, they would rather rely on luck than skill. So far, luck has been on the side of the Guardians, but it was never on my side."

                "You're locked in a tower all day with nothing to do."

                "I have something to do." I said solemnly. "I can watch the citizens through my window."

I paused, hesitating. I took a deep breath.

                "I promise I'll protect your city. I promise I'll protect Winter." I swerved around and faced the door, even though he couldn't see me. "I'll protect everyone, since I wasn't able to protect your mother!"

                There was silence on the other side. Then, I heard weeping. What else could he do? What else could I do?

                We sat on different sides of the wall, weeping.

                Next week became this week at an alarming rate. Before I knew it, the city was silent. The monster was coming tomorrow, at daybreak.

                It felt like all of Winter was drawing in their breaths, and holding them. I looked outside. The sun blazed, scorching everyone despite the chilly aura surrounding the city. We lived in the middle of the Northern Desert, after all.

                This was strange. The sun had already risen. By now, my meal usually came. I put my ear to the wall, listening for footsteps. I heard them coming, but I also heard labored breath and sobs. He usually didn't cry until I started talking to him.

                "May!" He cried, thrusting the canned soup through the flap. I looked through and saw his urgent expression. "They've got May!"

                "What?"

                "They chose the sacrifices! And one of them is May!" He looked ready to fall apart. "The sacrifices are always the first ones eaten!"

                I froze, and sorely wished I had not confided my doubts in this boy. He placed no hope on me, and now, the beautiful girl he admired would be headed straight for the stomach of a monster. He started knocking on the wall frantically.

               "Guardian! You'll save her, right? You'll save May? Please! You have to save-" His pounding fists ceased eventually, and then there was silence.

                Finally, I spoke.

                "I don't know if I can even save myself."

                On the other side, his face fell. A deep hole was burning a hole in his chest. This must be what it felt like staring into the face of defeat. There was nowhere to go, no way to get there. This was how cornered dogs felt before they were slaughtered. Absolute, freeze-on-the-spot piss in your pants fear. There was no option but death, the end.

                Now he knew why some cornered people went ahead and killed themselves. Oh, the fear was eating him alive. His face was pallid as he wiped his sweaty brow.

                I don't know what brought me to do it, but it was then I decided my fate. Maybe I knew what would happen anyway, but I don't really give a damn if it was fate or if it was my choice, because either way, the end will be the same.

                "I'll save her. I'll save the whole city." I spoke quietly. When he didn't respond, I wondered if I should say it again. "I am the Guardian of Winter, after all."

                Sobs erupted again. "You're too much of a crybaby." I said gently, knowing they were sobs of gratitude. Then, I laughed. In a garbled voice, he asked me why I was laughing.

                "If I don't, I might cry." My face warped until I sank to my knees, not as the Guardian of Winter, but a crumpled heap of a young girl, shuddering in fear.

                "Did you have a name before you were known as the Guardian?"

                "Yes."

                "What was it?"

                "Maybe I'll tell you later."

                "Why not now?"

                "It's not the right time."

                "Names are meant to be exchanged. I'll tell you mine. My name is Lethe."

                "Lethe? What a strange name."

                "I don't care. I think it's a fine name, and May thinks so too!"

                "She told you?"

                "Yep! The other boys were laughing at me. It means 'forgetfulness' and they were saying I would forget everything."

                "So May defended you?"

                "No, not really… but when they all left me alone, she came up to me and told me she liked my name. I was crying, but I stopped right when she said it."

                "That's nice."

                "Isn't it? May is really the best. She's so nice and sweet and pretty… everybody loves her."

                "Aren't you jealous?"

                "Jealous? No, I'm really happy that she's so popular! Although, I guess I wish she would stop smiling at everyone."

                "You don't want her to smile?"

                "Only at me. I only want her to smile at me."

                "You're a greedy little boy."

                "Hey! You're only a year older than me!"

                "And yet, you've been through only have of what I have."

                I remember that memory clearly. Why must that memory, of all the memories to pop up in my head that night, be the most vivid? I lay awake again, the insomnia seeping through every bone of my body. Every day, dutifully, Lethe scaled the stairs to bring my meal, and he usually sat and talked for a while.

                After I said that last sentence, I remember what happened. I turned around and looked at him through the flap in the wall. He looked away, as if ashamed. My feeling of sadness and loneliness was never stronger than that moment.

                "Why are you so bitter?" He asked finally, looking at me. "May never frowns or pouts like you do."

                "It appears I'm not May."

                "Everybody should be like May."

                "Was May locked up in a tower since she was born? Was she locked in a room with no doors and no one to speak to for years?"

                There was an evident pause. Because I was looking at him, I could see how he fidgeted.

                "It doesn't make sense! If you were alone, how did you learn to walk and talk?"

                "I can't read." I whispered. "No one taught me."

                "Then how do you know all these things? No one would be there to help you learn to walk."

                "That's why I can only hobble small distances."

                "How did you learn to talk?"

                "When I was younger, I had to have a caretaker to teach me the basics of things, like eating with utensils and speaking. She taught me through the flap."

                "Why are you so bitter?" He asked again. "Were you always this upset?"

                "No."

                "Then why now?"

                I remember rage, calm, and overwhelming desperation. "I never knew anything besides loneliness. Then I learned of companionship. And everything is all wrong now. It has all fallen apart." It has all fallen.

                That was the only day he left without really saying good-bye, or even mumbling an excuse. He just left, like that. After a few strides, he was out of view. I was alone once more.

Daybreak arrived without any hesitation. What astounded me most that morning was that when I reached out the flap for my meal, I found nothing. I heard nothing at all.

"Lethe?" I asked gingerly, as if my voice might frighten him. He was so delicate, like a kitten, really.

Still, he did not respond. I sighed. He was worrying about May, for sure. What about the other young sacrifices?

What would I do today? I was to ward off the beast. It took nearly the entire thirteen years to rebuild the damage the beast caused last time. If I failed, the legend of the Guardian would surely be soiled.

The legend of the Guardian… why didn't I think of it before? Every legend held secrets, and there were secrets in this one! The caretaker I had until I was seven also told me about the Guardian's story. They were devoted guardians of the city of Winter, ensuring the safety to all those around it.

In truth, it was just a story designed to place some honor on an orphan who was nothing else than a scapegoat.

Still, I remembered receiving a book about the legend. It had lasted as long as anyone could remember, and the beast would never die. Creatures like those lived up to several millennia, so we would not be freed from it's clutches for a very long time. Still, there was a way to destroy it. Scrambling, I pulled the thick book out from under my bed. It was covered in dust, but aside from the dust, it was still new. It was as if it had never been used.

                It had never been used. I groaned loudly. I couldn't read! How was I going to learn how to stop the beast if I couldn't even read the secret? Still, maybe the book held pictures… I flipped it open and kept leafing through it, ignoring the pain from the numerous paper-cuts I received until I reached the end.

                There was a picture of a beast, and a girl. It didn't look anything like me, because that would be ridiculous, but a light was emitting from her. It seemed like the light was warding off the beast. The blue light caused him to retreat, until she flew into his mouth. The light exploded in his mouth, and the fiery creature fell, finally.

                The beast's weak point was in his mouth. The monster that terrorized Winter was a fiery demon, flames erupting from his skin that could never be doused out by plain liquid water.

                A strange thought suddenly filled my head. Was he thirsty? To think about it, he lived in the Northern Desert, one of the hottest areas in the world, and there was no water supply. In Winter, we pumped the water from our neighbors, which were thousands of miles away.

                He must have been so hungry, the salty tartness of blood must have been sweet. I knew how it felt to be deprived. The poor monster was hungry, and he was going to eat me

                I turned the page to see what happened after the light exploded from the monster's mouth. It seemed the monster was gone, but the girl lay in a crumpled heap. With a start, I jumped off the floor. That girl in the book was dead.

                "He's coming!" The city cried in alarm. Total chaos had taken over, as it always does in disaster. The children screamed and the mothers cried, the young men steadied themselves in an attempt to be heroic, and the old men closed their eyes in sadness. In their lifetime, they had to see the terrible creature too many times.

                In the horizon, a glowing figure burst out.

                "Is that the sun?" A child, grasping his mother's hand, asked. The mother turned and nearly fell over. The creature stood one-hundred feet high, and as it raised its arms and the flames fell on nearby trees, it seemed as if he could pull the sun out of the sky and devour it. He left a pathway of destruction. In the dry heat, the scarce trees caught fire easily. Soon, the whole skyline was erupting in blaze.

                Hell had arrived.

                How was I supposed to get out of here? There were no doors, nothing, except for that window. If I jumped from the window, how would I even survive to get to the beast? Their Guardian would be found splattered over the concrete below, and all hope would be gone. If only I could fly, like the girl in the book…

                Wait! How did the girl fly? I flipped through the pages again until I found something that looked remotely like levitation. It was filled with strange symbols, and I decided they were words. Well, that was obvious, but there was nothing else I can do.

                The girl in the book was closing her eyes, and it looked like she was imagining wings. I quickly decided to do the same. Scurrying back a few feet, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine a bird. Birds rarely high enough to sit at my windowsill, but I saw them below. I had excellent eyesight, and I remembered the joy of spotting the creatures with their feathers of brilliant crimson, gold, and turquoise. They were like gems, glittering amidst a perfect blue sky.

                There was a thud as my head hit the ceiling. I had levitated.

                Before I could cry for joy, it seamed as if an earthquake had struck my tower. It was collapsing. Something pulled the top off the pointed tower, and I could only look up meekly. I knew who it was, and it did not make his surprise visit any more endearing. His eyes glittered of malice and his lips were smeared with bloodlust.

                I looked past the large face pressing itself against my ceiling. I ignored the eye that was about as big as the opening in the roof. I looked past it all. The sky was behind him, tinged with the colors of daybreak. They were like fire, only paler. It was soothing and calming.

                Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. Suddenly, my sky had grown so large.

                I saw Lethe below, standing behind who I assumed was May. She really was pretty. Lethe, with his mop-head of hair and a nerve-wracking expression, watched as the corners of my mouth turned into a smile.

                Why are you laughing?

                If I don't, I might cry.

                I felt a glowing blue light around me. It was chilly and cold, and surprisingly refreshing. It was like water, but somehow, different. Without thinking of anything else, I hurled myself at the beast's mouth. The cool aura around me entered his mouth, and he let go of the tower he was gripping like a toy.

                Stumbling back, he cried in alarm. His arms waving wildly, he fell back on to the desert, amidst the burning trees as the blue light erupted from him. Slowly, he began to shrink. The air around him cooled rapidly, and the glowing morning was filled with pure white clouds.

When the monster was the size of a human, he turned to me and smiled. I remembered his name then. His name was meant 'the thirst of Summer.'

                Finally, after so many millennia, he could quench his thirst. As the life in him faded, his smile was ill spent. After all, why bother smiling at someone who's already dead?

                The people of Winter looked curiously at the white clouds. Nothing ever obscured them from their view of the beautiful blue heavens. Suddenly, something hit them. Crying in surprise from the cold, they looked up. Beautiful white flower fell from the sky, each petal unique.

                A boy hopped onto the street and held out his tongue. One tiny flower landed on his tongue and it melted. Squirming in delight, he cried to his friends, "It's water! It's really water!"

                No, it was snow.

                The snowflakes drifted down from the heavens, easing the forest fires and the unbearable heat. It cooled the air and the people of Winter stepped outside to examine the wreckage. Nothing was destroyed except for a few houses at the border and the strange tower. They said that there was some sort of Guardian living in the Tower, but that was ridiculous. We were sure lucky this snowstorm came in, they whispered among themselves.

                Bu they knew it never snowed in Winter. It never even rained in their hot area.

                Several days of snowing turned into several weeks, and weeks turned into months. For three months, the heavens would do nothing but snow. The crops died and the flowers wilted, and while the people stared in awe at the snow, which many have never seen before, they wondered.

                Why was Winter such a time of death?

                The snow fell like a blanket over Winter. The tower was never rebuilt, as there was no need. It seemed like this great snow drove the monster away. Maybe it even killed it. There was never a Guardian, never a Tower, never a legend, just some lucky snow. Thank heavens for the snow. It saved our city.

                The Guardian's name was Snow. Forever will she guard the city of Winter.