....~†$$$@                                          @$$$†~....
..~††$$$@@                                          @@$$$††~..
....†††$##                                          ##$†††....
..~††$@###                                          ###@$††~..
..~††$@###                                          ###@$††~..
......~†@@ IN  THE  ENDLESS   WINTER  DAY,  ON  THE @@†~......
..~††$@### CRYSTAL WHITE  PLAINS... WE TRUDGE ALONG ###@$††~..
......~†@#   THE TRAIN TRACKS... THEMSELVES SLOWLY  #@†~......
......††$# SNOWED OVER, IN  THE  STILL  HOURS SINCE #$††......
..~††$@###          THE LAST SUPPLY TRAIN.          ###@$††~..
......~†$@                                          @$†~......
..~††$@###     BELL-LIKE SOUNDS OF THE BLINDING     ###@$††~..
.....~†@## GROUND. RIFLES ATTACHED  TO  OUR  WRIST, ##@†~.....
..~††$@### SHARING  IN  OUR BLOODSTREAM. MY  HUSKY, ###@$††~..
.....††††@      MY WARM-COFFEE-IN-COLD-SNOW...      @††††.....
......††$#                                          #$††......
..~††$@### THE  FIRST  FIVE  SHOTS  YOU  CAN  SPEND ###@$††~..
......~~†@ INDISCRIMINATELY, THEY HURT BUT  DEAL NO @†~~......
..~††$@### LONG  TIME DAMAGE TO  THE  SHOOTER.  THE ###@$††~..
..~††$@### NEXT FIVE  YOU MUST  SPEND  WISELY, THEY ###@$††~..
..~††$@### WILL TAKE DAYS TO  HEAL. THE FINAL  FIVE ###@$††~..
..~††$@### YOU    MUST    NOT    SPEND   AT    ALL. ###@$††~..
......~††@                                          @††~......
....~†††@# WEEKS EARLIER,  IN THE WEAK AUTUMN DAWN, #@†††~....
..~††$@### IN  THE  BLUE-GRAY  FOG... SOMETHING  IS ###@$††~..
..~††††$$# BURNING  WITH  A  DEEP  CRIMSON   FLAME, #$$††††~..
..~††@####       UNTAMEABLE BY WATER OR WIND.       ####@††~..
.....~~†@#                                          #@†~~.....
..~††$@###                                          ###@$††~..
.....†††@#                                          #@†††.....
.....~†$@@                                          @@$†~.....
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