The storm was on your ass the whole way up the mountain. You knew you wouldn't survive a trip back, you didn't know if you'd survive the trip forward. When your horse stumbled in the snow and broke its leg, you took your chances on foot.
In all the dark and the cold you found the cabin, the orange glow of a fire spreading from its windows. You fall against the door, half frozen, begging for help. A chorus of voices from the inside insist you kick it open.
Mustering the last of your strength, you plant a solid boot against the door and it swings open. The wind carries you inside to your knees.
A man's voice quickly barks as you gasp for breath.
"Close the door! The goddamn fire's gonna go out!"
You fall back and use your weight to hold it shut against the wind. You look and see a well dressed man near the bar with a glass of brandy in his hand.
His features are sharp and striking, with piercing red eyes that seem to bore into yours when they meet. His skin is pale and smooth, he has high cheekbones and a proud nose framed by lush, white hair flowing around his shoulders. There's an air of authority about him that commands respect. He speaks again, loudly over the wind.
"You have to nail it shut! Some idiot broke the door!"
You see a short asian girl curled up on the floor near the fireplace, watching you from beneath her lashes. She had untidy black hair that falls around her face and frames her delicate features - a roundish face with large doe-like eyes that are currently shadowed by dark circles from lack of sleep.
She's wearing a loose-fitting white shirt that reveals the faintest outline of her lacy black bra beneath it, and a pair of worn blue jeans that hugged her curvy hips and thighs.
"There's a hammer by-"
"There's a hammer by the door! You gotta nail it shut!"
You manage to hold the door and hammer a board in place. You step back exhausted and the wind blows it open immediately.
"Oh, you have to use-"
"You have to use two boards! One's not gonna do it!"
You swear and hammer the first board back into place and then add another and then collapse. The man returns to nursing his brandy, while the girl turns her gaze to the center of the room, where you're startled by the appearance of another woman.
She stands near a chessboard, a cigarette dangles from her lips, observing the scene carefully. She slowly slides a pawn forward on the board with a finger.
"Well now, ain't this gettin' more interestin' by the minute?"
She hums in a quiet drawl. A bloody handprint on her cheek seems to stands out against her ghostly pallor. Her blonde hair is tied into pigtails on either shoulder. One of her eyes is solid black, the other studies you with its blue gaze from under the rim of a fedora.
The flickering light of the fireplace casts through her ethereal form as she glides across the room to you.
"I'm Anna. The charming fella over there is Prince Hans, and the girl there is Lucy. What brings you to these parts, stranger?"