Looking at the snow-covered landscape before him, the reindeer leader felt a long-lost sense of relaxation.
The permafrost, their destination, is right before them.
The fawn looked blankly at the obviously excited herd of deer beside it. It had just been born, born on the migration route, and did not know what this meant. But it would understand when it passed through this area again the following year.
"Cheers!" The joyful cries of the reindeer echoed all around as they happily ran toward the riverbank.
However, at that moment, the earth suddenly shook violently.
"Young one!"
"The frightened fawn ran to the reindeer leader and hid its small body under the reindeer leader's belly. However, at this moment, the reindeer leader was unaware. It frantically called out to its kin, trying to gather its little family members."
The sudden earthquake had already terrified the reindeer. Their accumulated survival experience allowed most of them to run to open areas. Based on past experience, as long as they waited in open areas, they would not be in any danger.
But this time, the experienced reindeer miscalculated. Huge cracks suddenly appeared, and the ground spread out in countless fissures as if it had been torn apart.
"Young—" The reindeer, unable to dodge in time, was swallowed by the crevice. The panicked reindeer herd scattered in all directions. The reindeer leader was terrified and ran wildly across the rocks, trying to escape this deadly danger.
The impending cataclysmic crisis extinguished all reason, and the will to survive took over. At this moment, the reindeer leader could not think of its parents or its fawns; all it could see were the falling snowflakes, and all it could hear was the howling wind.
The reindeer herd, which had already set foot on familiar land, was torn apart by the earthquake, and the cries of countless reindeer gradually faded into the wind and snow.
Once the terrifying tremors subsided, the reindeer leader found himself standing on unfamiliar land.
The towering peaks, the deep ravines, the freshly raised earthen slopes—everything was so unfamiliar.
The reindeer leader buckled in its legs, and the rapid pace, coupled with the exhaustion from the shock, left it unable to continue.
It lay on the ground, the increasingly thick snowfall unable to conceal its massive body, the deer child gradually turning blue, looking bewildered.
"young……"
Behind them, a few scattered reindeer lay on the ground, moaning. In their panic, they had rushed here with their reindeer leader. Faced with the unfamiliar environment, all the reindeer here were bewildered.
The reindeer leader looked around at its fellow reindeer, mostly other members of the reindeer family, but thankfully, there were a few of its own kind, which calmed its panic considerably.
"Young fawn..." From behind the small hill came a frantic, tender cry of a fawn, and the fawn's panicked figure came into view.
Upon seeing the reindeer, the fawn cried out in delight and then ran quickly towards a doe.
It wasn't it, not that fawn.
The reindeer leader knew the moment he saw the fawn that the young fawn that had been following him for the latter part of the journey had gone missing.
It's not unusual for a fawn to go missing. Not to mention such a sudden disaster, fawns often get lost during normal migrations.
This seemingly ordinary event weighed heavily on the reindeer leader's heart. It felt unwell, its limbs trying to stand up, but its body felt so heavy, as if it didn't belong to it.
After struggling, it finally stood up, but when it looked around, its hooves slammed back to the ground. The reindeer leader stared blankly at the snow falling from the sky, and its heart, like its limbs, quickly turned cold.
It wanted to search, but no longer knew where to look for the lost fawn or how to find its former companion.
On the newly raised earthen slope, soil was turned up under the deer hoof prints. The fresh soil carried the deep smell of clay. Gradually, this smell was diluted by the snowflakes, and the exposed soil turned white, with snow covering all traces.
Snowflakes drifted down silently, and the reindeer lay on the hillside, huddling together for warmth as the temperature dropped.
As the reindeer leader's mind gradually returned to normal under the chilly air of the heavy snow, it looked around at the unfamiliar landscape and the ground fissures that made the reindeer uneasy. Everything seemed to have suddenly become unpredictable.
An unclear direction, an elusive tribe, and the distant, uncharted frozen lands of the past...
Suddenly, a clear question arose in the reindeer leader's dazed mind.
Even if it recognizes the direction, can it still find its familiar place of growth?
As the snow grew thicker, the reindeer had to find shelter; otherwise, relying solely on each other for warmth would result in the overwhelming snowflakes burying them into ice in the dead of night.
"Swish, swish..." The sound of snow falling mingled with the cold wind, and the reindeer leader stood up again, this time standing very steadily.
"Young one—" The call of the reindeer was steady and powerful, carrying a familiar strength that gathered the reindeer together.
At this moment, the hundred reindeer on this small hillside regrouped into a single herd.
The reindeer leader, with the largest antlers and the strongest physique, became the lead deer of this new herd. It stomped its hooves and led the reindeer behind it into a new world.
The reindeer moved forward along the newly reconstituted, unfamiliar mountain range. As the snow piled up, many parts of the ground were no longer recognizable. The snow underfoot gradually increased, and the depth varied with each step, but this did not bother the reindeer.
The crunching sound of their hooves echoed underfoot as the reindeer leader finally spotted the shadows of trees ahead. The reindeer perked up and strode forward.
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