A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray  

One

Everything hurt. Everything—and he couldn’t move. With effort, he strained against something on top of him, and finally pushed it off, rolling after it onto his stomach. The movement made the pain in his head spike, like someone had driven a knife into his skull, and his stomach rebelled, bile burning in his throat as he choked on it. 

He couldn’t just—he had to move. There was something—

He couldn’t think. There was something he had to do, but—no, there was someone. Someone he had to find. Something he had to find? He tried to call out a name, but his tongue wouldn’t work, and if he made any noise at all he couldn’t hear past the ringing in his ears. The ringing sounded like words, but he couldn’t understand them. 

Every breath was agony as broken ribs jabbed into lungs. His mouth tasted of blood, but he didn’t know if what he coughed up was blood or just more bile. He couldn’t see—it was so dark. He couldn't think, either, past the stabbing pain in his head and the fear that crowded in behind it. Someone was—he had to—where was—

“Curvo?” Was that his voice? It didn’t sound right. Was— “Carni…where…” Who was he looking for? “Nelyo—” Who was Nelyo?

Something else was weighing him down. Somehow he fumbled straps open in the dark, and winced every time something heavy and metal clattered to the stones—but it made it easier to move. Even to breathe. The wind blowing over him was cold, but—

Wait. Wind? Fresh air? He lifted his head, and saw light, faint but clear, somewhere ahead of him. That was it—that was what he had been looking for. Light. 

Somehow, he got to his feet, and staggered toward the light, leaning heavily on the wall of the—the hallway? Tunnel? Didn’t matter, if he could just— 

It felt like it took years, but at last he stumbled out of the dark into blinding light—sunlight on snow. It hurt, like knives stabbing into his eyes, and he covered his face with an arm, falling to his knees. The snow immediately melted into his clothes, so cold it burned, but he couldn’t get up again. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t think, couldn’t—

Something creaked, like branches in the wind. A voice said something—low and deep—but he couldn’t understand it. He tried to say something but his tongue wouldn’t work. The pain in his head spiked, and he slumped over into a snowdrift as both the light and the pain faded around him into darkness.