Frozen Likeness

Every winter, the islands were captured by snow. There were constant snowstorms - days turned to weeks to months. Eventually, on a particular evening, the snow had stopped.

Dirch felt as though winter was finally coming to an end.

He was taking a nice nap before he could feel small flakes falling onto his crest once again. It was back. This time, softer.

He huffed, warm breath billowing out of his large nostrils. He opened up his eyes, slowly waking up from his nap.

The fog that was filling up around him receded slowly. He could see further out now, towards the distant sea, still rumbling with thunder. I'm sure glad I'm not out there. I could not imagine being a flyer in that weather.

Dirch stood up as he scanned his surroundings and shook off the snow that was all over him. Much of it remained, making it look a bit like his scales were shining.

The night was dark and very still. The only noise seemed to be the snow falling all around him.

To the north, he could see the volcanoes of Isla Pera. To the east stretched the endless sea. 

It had been several months since Dirch escaped from Atlantis. It felt weird to go back to his usual routine of looking for artifacts. It was kind of fun to be a knight. I can never go back.

He was now wandering a completely different island to the one that he is used to. It took Dirch a bit to realise that these are not the same trees and not the same grass. He guessed he had taken a wrong turn on his way back this time.

The weather was different here, unpredictable. It felt more extreme. Dirch had never experienced the snow like this before. It was beautiful yet terrifying.

His mind wandered back to the dome the Atlantis dinosaurs had been living in. I wonder what happened to them?

As Dirch waded through the heavy snow, he made his way to a clearing that he knows used to be a very flowery meadow.

Everything was still and bright. The fog was thicker here.

After a few steps, he realised he couldn't see the forestline where he came from. This is as far out as I'm willing to go I think. He turned around and started to dig in and around the path he had made on the way. 

There are still some ferns here… Delicious.

After happily munching for a little while, the fog seemed to clear a little bit around him. He angled his head upwards to look out around him properly now, mouth still full of ferns.

Suddenly, he could see a silhouette. It was small - and upright.

What is that?

It looked like the snow had stood up on two legs and started moving.

I must be dreaming. I need another nap.

Dart didn't waste a second. He kept his eyes on this mysterious spectre and backed away quickly into the closest treeline.

There was a large tree trunk here, it looked like it had been ripped up from the ground and thrown onto the nearest tree. You could duck right under the space between them.

After crouching under the tree for a moment, he laid down. Maybe he could take another nap. I just want this snow to be over already.

Suddenly, a noise piped up. It sounded familiar…!

Chrp?

"Magpie!" Dart looked around as much as he could for the sound until Magpie's head popped up from on top of the tree trunk, looking at him upside down.

"Magpie! I'm so glad to see you. I swear I just saw a ghost."

The dark and scruffy pachycephalosaurus looked at him and tilted their head in confusion. She made a noise that sounded like a trill. Warble!

Before Dart could reply, they disappeared. He crawled back out from his hiding place. He whisper-shouted:

"Magpie?"

Then, a flash of dark feathers as she sped past him and into the fog.

Oh no. What if it isn't a ghost? What if it's an actual predator? I gotta follow.

Making his way through the snow again was annoying. There was so much and it was so heavy, he had to use his large nose horn to get through to where he saw the pachy go.

She didn't go too far - she's too dark not to be seen anyway. Even in the fog you could see the silhouette of her.

When he finally got to her, he realised she was rolling up a big ball of snow.

Her tracks weren't anything like Dart's. She was light enough to stand on the snow without breaking the surface too much. You could see the small imprints on the untouched snow directly next to his 'tunnels'.

Wordlessly, he started to help her roll the snow until it was as large as he. Magpie went off to roll another. How many does she need?

Halfway through rolling the second one, the pachy leaned down, picked it up with her arms and placed it ontop of the first one. Then, she began to use the snow around it to sculpt it.

It was nice to sit down and watch. Seeing how small hands can be so precise.

He focused on a snowflake on one of his feet.

It looks…so intricate. Dart had never thought about the flakes at all, but for a moment, the beauty of its design struck him.

Tap tap tap tap tap…

He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Magpie was dancing, trying to get his attention. She did so while pointing her arms towards the lump of snow next to her.

It looked….like nothing, really. He wasn't sure what she was going for here.

"What is it supposed to be, Magpie?"

"It's supposed to be me, duh."

The presence of another voice made the spirit of his styracosaurus ancestors jump out of his scales and he whipped around.

A white pachy.

Oh.

"You! You're the ghost that I saw!" Dart laughed lightly, thankful it wasn't him going crazy. "I'm so happy you weren't a carnivore or something…Or an actual ghost."

The white pachy wasn't paying attention to him and went straight over to Magpie.

"It looks so good Maggie! You really captured my essense!" He started to nuzzle her neck feathers as she made an embarrassed coo.

Turning towards the styracosaurus, he spoke again. "Hey! I've heard of you. Magpie has told me about you…"

"...My name is actually Ghost, by the way."

Ghost was looking around, still glued to Magpie. "I'm her…Dad, yeah?"

"We were playing in the snow. We both like to make these snowdinos, and I thought I'd make one that's all shiny, for Maggie."

Brr?

"I was making my own snowdino!" He turned and stalked quickly off in another direction, further into the field, beckoning for them to follow. 

That's what he was doing. Another one of these snow sculptures.

Dirch and Magpie pursued behind as they went to look at what Ghost had made.

…

"Stop! It's right here. You'll break it!"

Dart stopped digging his little snow trench to look up. He immediately saw another lump of snow, this time, much much bigger with a lot more shiny things on top of it.

It took a moment to really understand the form, but he realised he was looking at a big theropod shape.

There were ripped pieces of red cloth draped across the spine and the back leg. He could also see it over the eyes. The eyes, holding a very vivid cyan colored gemstone.

The mouth, also lined with the same cyan rocks.

Even more cyan gems lined the side of the 'body', mixed in with bright yellow gemstones instead.

Ghost must have spent a long time building this. It was about three styraco lengths long.

Dart could make out the shape of the face, legs, and tail.

Posed like it was sleeping.

He could see it now.