Shimmers Between Worlds

The ice crystals swirl in the freezing air, snow forming before his face. As the wind picks up, the snow shards move faster and faster in a flurry around his head, making him lose track of his surroundings. Not knowing which way is up and which is right, he shuts his eyes. When he opens them, he can see the image forming, clear as it can be through the blizzard happening before this wall of ice - he sees himself from the back, trading goods at an outdoor market - in another world, another life. He sees where he is somewhere else. Another gust of wind and a new flurry of snow, reveals the image of him cozy in a cabin, before a warming fireplace, holding his newborn daughter, his wife sitting beside them - a family he doesn't have here.

The snow may confuse; it may dizzy one's directions and leave one feeling next-to-blind, but it also brings an unmatched clarity. The icy clarity of knowing what could have been is, just not where you stand. A glimpse into the infinite what-could-have-beens can be seen in the snowflakes' rainbow reflections whirling around one's head.

Since he stumbled upon this place of enchantment, he has returned every time there is word of a storm. At the top of the hill, facing the wall of ice he can see far and wide. He won't limit himself anymore to just glimpses - for a glimpse of happiness isn't enough.