This story started as an original work posted over at fiction press under the manga section (Google search term 'Tien Snow Angel' BTW for those of you who are interested.) But the stats were so abysmal that I decided to re-edit it and post it here in the hopes I might drum up some interest in the original story.

Ah! Lost Angel

And lo born unto both the rulers of Heaven and Hell was the goddess Urd destined to forever live in the shadows that exist between the light and the darkness.

Lost Angel chapter 1.

Kendal

Ever been skiing? If not it's something I recommend you try at least once. Do it while you're still young before life has a chance to jade you. For me skiing is the perfect encapsulation of life, of mankind and his impact on the world around him.

Let me explain in parable; Wake ye stout hearted gentlemen and behold the mountain covered with fresh fallen snow, white and pristine. If you are one of the fortunate few who can afford the cost of a full day ticket and possessed of the wherewithal to get to the resort before they open you can be one of the first to ride the lift to the summit. (Placed there for your convenience by minimum wage workers toiling under a hot, merciless sun who in their wildest dreams could never afford the cost of your room at the inn.) Once at the top gaze upon the virginal beauty of the untouched snow at your feet, then push off for your first run of the day. When you reach the bottom pause a moment to admire the indelible marks you left in nature's alabaster perfection. Repeat the process until the pristine view that greeted your gaze this morning is but a fading memory. After that then you can retire to the balcony of the high class restaurant on the summit and sip on your favorite umbrella shrouded drink watching as the great unwashed masses with their half day tickets try to eke out a few good runs somewhere in the devastation you left before the sun sets.

I wasn't always this cynical; there was a time when I could just wallow in the joy of a good day on the slopes. But that was in the past, before Murphy decided to take a personal interest in ruining my life. The reason I was up so early this morning wasn't because I wanted to be the first to fuck up the ski runs today. It was because today was my last day in my former Timeshare and I wanted to remember everything about what it was like the day when I fell from on high. You see, today was the day that I was to lose my place as one of the privilege few and join the ranks of the unwashed.

Although I was one of the first to the summit I wasn't in a hurry to get to the bottom. I was waiting, waiting for the fast moving storm with whiteout conditions that I knew was going to hit sometime in the next few hours. You see I didn't come up here to be the first; instead I wanted to be the last. It was my intention to be the last man off the mountain that day, arriving just seconds ahead of the storm front. To the enthrallment of all the beautiful people who held on to what I had lost.

I had it perfectly visualized in my mine. Me braving the elements hurtling down the slope, in white relief, just seconds ahead of the storm nipping at my heels. That was why I sat patiently under the balcony of the restaurant I could no longer afford and studied the sky as the front continued to build up on the backside of the mountain.

Ah yes, what is it that they say? The best laid plans of mice and men… It was the sound of the Ski lift grinding to a halt that drew my attention back down slope. It seems that I had forgotten about the inconvenient fact that the mountains affect the air flow around them. While I was staring behind me, waiting for the storm to arrive the leading edge of the storm had already hit the back side of the mountain and had wrapped around it shrouding the base in an impenetrable wall of white. So instead of the front traveling over the top with me hurtling down the mountain in front of it, the leading edge of the storm was now traveling up the slope isolating me from the safety of the ski lodge below.

"Well so much for plan A," I thought to myself, "I guess I have no choice now but to wait it out at the top of the mountain until the storm passes."

Removing my skis I headed up into the restaurant where I fully intended to put still even more charges on my already maxed out credit card. I was halfway up the stairway when a dull thud like sound of something hitting the snow down slope caught my attention. Looking backwards I saw what appeared to be the impression of a body that had just landed in the snow shy of the base of one of the lift polls next to one of the maintenance sheds.

My first impression was that somebody had been thrown from the lift due to its sudden shut down. This didn't make any sense of course, the ski lift operators would never knowingly shut down the system with people still in transit. I was still pondering the cause when finally my subconscious decided to kick me in the ass. "The reason doesn't matter!" Came that little voice in the back of my mind that never shuts up, "The fact still remains that there is a person down slope in need of assistance."

This presented me with a quandary. This wasn't my problem, I mean it really wasn't. I tried arguing with myself, even though I had been planning something equally foolhardy I at least had sense enough to have an escape plan. This idiot's plan, whatever it was, had obviously just blown up in their face and now they were stranded in the middle of the slope with a blizzard just seconds from burying them in an icy tomb. It was a pretty good argument I told myself, however, basic human decency mandates that although it might be none of your business you just don't leave somebody lying in the snow to freeze to death if there's anything you can do about it.

Pondering the situation just slightly longer than any civilized man should have, I jumped on my skis and raced headlong down the slope arriving at the impression made by the fallen body just seconds ahead of the blizzard. Looking in the hole I thought I saw the outline of a woman, although I couldn't really be sure because just as I arrived the sides of the impression caved in, burying whoever it was under several feet of fresh powder.

Taking my skis off I lay prone on the ground and frantically began trying to dig my way to the body of the injured person I knew was lying at the bottom. Finally my gloved hand made contact with what I thought was bare flesh. Frantically I searched with my hands trying to find a purchase of some nature which would allow me to extricate whoever it was from their would-be grave. As I prodded about I felt a strong grip of another's hand on my arm. Taking my skis and jamming them into the snow on either side of my shoulders I braced myself and pulled the unfortunate to the surface. As I was doing so the wind picked up and the blizzard which I had been trying to avoid finally reached us, stranding us both from the safety of the Lodge below.

The wind howling like a banshee and the blowing snow so dense that I couldn't see my hand in front of my face I threw the unfortunate one on my back and holding her arms together with one hand I did a three point crawl in the direction of where I thought the lift poll and the life saving shelter of the maintenance shed was at.

As it so happened luck was with me, I ran headlong into the wood shed never knowing of its existence until after my head plowed into it. Placing my unconscious burden to one side I stood up and using all my strength rammed my shoulder straight into the wooden door which proved to be remarkably stronger than it looked. Taking off my ski boot I used it as a makeshift hammer to break the hasp off the wooden frame. I then grabbed my unconscious companion and unceremoniously threw her in the shed before slamming the door behind me just as the full force of the storm hit.

There was a small battery powered light in the shed that was capable of generating barely enough illumination to see the walls. In that dim light I could make out the form of the person whose life I had just saved. Obviously female and just as obviously naked she was wearing what appeared to be a cosplay costume consisting of nothing more than a large pair of wings. As I studied her in the meager light I could see that her lips were blue and her complexion had turned ashen. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was moments from freezing to death. Stripping off my ski jacket I placed it around her shoulders and arms zipping it up as best I could. Then I opened the front of my snowsuit and pressing my bare chest against hers tried clasping my arms around her back and prayed that there was enough body heat between us to keep the two of us alive long enough for help to arrive. I fought for as long as I could but slowly and painfully I felt the warmth seeping from my body and the icy grip of deadly sleep inextricably forced my eyes closed.

"I tried," I told myself, "at least I tried."

I don't know how long I was out, it could have been minutes or it could've been hours. The next thing I remember happening was the ski patrol dragging me out of the shed and onto a waiting Sno-Cat, the storm now passed and the naked woman I had rescued nowhere to be found.

When I asked, I was told that I was the only one in the shed. For their part the Ski Patrol put it all down to hyperthermia, but I had been there so I knew better, I hoped that all that had happened was I had rescued some celebrity who didn't want to be caught in a compromising situation. What I feared though was that the woman I saved had been trying to commit suicide and upon recovering had wandered back out into the storm.

"I tried," I told myself again, "for all the good it did, I tried."