Items of the Sleepless Drift

Written by Steven Schutt Illustrated by Matt Meyer

The snowy world Neirave envisions is one of great peril and endless sorrow. She chips away at the beating of her still warm heart while she expands the forests and fields that comprise her realm. Ruled by an icy conception of mankind, the Snow Queen fears nothing and hates nothing. She wishes ill on all things, for so long as the world contains those with hate in their hearts, Neirave believes, no one deserves happiness. To stand by while evil occurs is greater evil. For those who brave her winter, there is solace in certain objects of power, but they growfewer every day. The Goddess of the Snow awaits her throne.

Snow Diamond

Neirave rarely cries, for the ache in her heart dried her eyes long ago. Those tears she sheds now freeze to the strength of adamantine. Snow diamonds, only thirty-five of which exist, are the hardened salt tears of a woman who wishes to damn the world but is at the same time stymied by her emotions. On their own, snow diamonds are worth a king’s ransom, so perfect is their construction. Indeed, those who escape the Sleepless Drift with a genuine snow diamond find they cannot spend the wealth in twenty lifetimes.

When ingested, however, these gems show their true potential. The user immediately gains the ability to control water in his general area, freezing and thawing it at a whim. He may use these abilities as a weapon, freezing blood or completely dehydrating an enemy. As a tool of peace, these powers might refill a well at in a period of drought or save someone from dying of thirst on a long trek.

The one drawback of using a snow diamond is a heavy one. The user immediately forms a bond with Neirave, and once a year must sleep within twenty feet of her grave for a day. Should they fail to do so, all the water in their bodies, not only in their blood, freezes and sublimates, deflating the bones, muscles and tissues into a useless puddle of dust to blow away in the wind. Those who consume a snow diamond realize immediately their connection to the snow mistress and they long always to see her, but do not immediately know the true risks of their power.

Fireheart

All things have an opposite, for without a mirror there is no reflection. For those who oppose Neirave and her eternal winter, a fireheart is like a blade of sharpest steel to the Sleepless Drift. To craft them, one must go deep in the earth where the heat of the planet melts even the coldest stone. These ruby-tipped staves, when brought to bear against those empowered by the cold, act as more than mere magic sticks.

A fireheart morphs into the weapon most favored by its wielder and strengthens the sunlight in the general area, raising the local temperature by at least twenty degrees. When this weapon actually strikes a beast of the cold it phases through them, dealing no physical harm. The damage appears a few seconds later as a red line or blotch forms along the path the blade took or at the point of impact. This injury then implodes and sears the insides of its victims.

Immersion Key

This silver key opens the doors of the mind and soul, liquefies them and sends them out in waves of crystal, freezing water. Of the hundreds of effigies that live in Neirave’s icy hell, none have the power to do more than hate themselves for their own misgivings and faults. However, the growing chill in Neirave’s heart, the blackened emotions of her victims and the power of her winter coalesced into something physical; something with ability to spread the Sleepless Drift like a murderous plague.

The Immersion Key sits nestled in a small knot in a tree near Neirave’s tomb. Though she has yet to feel it herself, its existence will not remain a secret for long. With each of those who brave the Sleepless Drift to try and end it, the chances of a worldwide, endless winter grow larger and larger.

Bloodlet Portal

A young man Neirave once knew and cared for died the same day she did. He died of hemorrhage from the neck, after he nicked himself while shaving. The wound, if examined alongside Neirave’s would appear identical. However this link formed, it remained, and remains, to this day. The blood pooled in the basin the man shaved over dried before his family realized he was gone. Not wishing to see the evidence of his absence every time they began their day, the family burned both the basin and the blood.

Now the fire pit, nestled in the forest far to the south of Neirave’s forest, acts as a portal into her mind. Or, more accurately, into an abstraction her mind created by her conflicting heart and body. The portal only opens on a full lunar eclipse. Once inside Neirave’s “mind”, those who seek answers and hope in her heart must search a strange plane with oceans of molten blood, skies of perpetual ice and air of boiling coldness. The end of each person’s journey inside this strange realm is different, as at no time is Neirave every the same in mindset.

Should someone find the strength to delve into the darkest corners of this strange plane, they will come across a door of unfathomable height, behind which the Snow Queen’s future stands. Not even Neirave knows what lies behind this door, for she has no control over anyone’s fate.

Dresses of a Forgotten Princess

A humble home, frozen in an thick layer of ice on the edge of a forest, holds the last vestiges of a young woman’s life among men. Those she loved and called friend hated her for her powers, so strong was the fear that gripped them. Those emotions still fester in the Neirave Eda’s mind, and the clothes of her previous life now contain many of her memories from before the winter began.

The dress she wore to her sixth birthday party, a small, simple thing inlaid with a few pieces of quartz and amethyst holds the memories of a childhood spent in bliss. Those who hold either the dress or its jewels in their hands dream the dreams of their youth. These people wake feeling younger, and they do in fact gain ten years to their overall lifespan.

The dress Neirave wore to her coming of age ceremony in the middle of summer gives its owners some control over the fires of hope and the fires of flesh. Those who hold the ruby brooch from the dress can call on the sun from those many years ago and burn away the fears of others or fill open minds with the burning passion of those just experiencing the joys of freedom.

Finally, the dress Neirave wore the day before her suicide is one filled with great sadness and longing, and any who touch it fall into a deep slumber filled with nightmares of the strangest kind. They watch as those they care for die long, painless deaths. Mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters say their last words again and again, fading into eternity before the dreamer’s eyes.

This dress begs its owner to squeeze it tight to make the hurt go away, which only prolongs the suffering. The dreams this dress inspires do, however, give insight into Neirave’s current state of mind. Those who sleep for a week with the dress hugged tight can reason with the Snow Queen in some way and possibly ebb her pain and suffering. How much good this will do remains to be seen.

Items of the Sleepless Drift by Nevermet Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.nevermetpress.com/contact.