In the bustling town of Cherryshrub, great snow came when the inhabitants were sleeping. Cherryshrub was blanketed in deep beds of the frost. The next day, a young boy named Alex Schroder awoke to the small amount of light tickling his face. He eagerly looked outside the window seeing the driveway buried in thick layers. Without much prompt, he scrambled around his closet, tossing clothes across the room in clumped together balls, and he placed on his winter coat, muffins, and hat. He ran out of his room and down the stairs.
"Don't get too cold out there," his mother nagged.
"I'll be fine, Mom!" Alex screamed.
The soft snow crushed underneath his shoes as he trudged his way, making a trail towards the mailbox. He bent down and gathered the crispy snow with his hands. He melded the snow into three large mounds. He shambled himself along until the end result was reaching fruition. With the final touches, Alex marveled at his creation. A large snowman with black coal for eyes, a purple scarf, and broken sticks for strands of hair. He looked intently at the snowman until he could've sworn that he saw the slightest sense of movement. The snowman's arms shifted. Alex rubbed his eyes in disbelief, only to see that the snowman was staring back at him.
"You're alive?" Alex asked? "Yes," he spoke, "this marks the first time in a century this town was blessed with the gift of magic."
Alex was amazed. He ran inside and before long, he had his mother in tow and dragged her out. However, the snowman remained the same, lifeless inanimate object it was when Alex crafted him. His mother complimented her son's handiwork and went back inside. Alex looked at his snowy buddy with disappointment. "Why did you do that?"
"Alex, she wouldn't believe. They will all soon, but you must help me."
From himself, the snowman ripped out a chunk of snow and molded it in his hands. Before long, another snowman was created. Like him, it moved. Alex's eyes widened. The snowman motioned towards the snow. Alex readily came down on the snow, working until the frostbite settled in his fingers. Ten snowmen were now looming over him. The first snowman passed by each one instilling his essence in them. They each blinked with their new eyes and walked down the driveway to other houses. Alex's excitement was compounded.
He grabbed his sleigh and began playing with some of the copies. Merrily playing around, he saw his first creation conversing with one of the copies. But something was odd about it; it had a more fleshy appearance. Approaching it, he sensed that it smelled disgusting. He quietly walked toward the two snowmen deep in their discussion. What he saw stunned him. Deeply lodged in the clone's chest was a puppy. Alex glared further seeing that the puppy was in the process of being absorbed into its body. The dog's eyes beat rapidly in its sockets, its yelps becoming slurred.
"What, what is going on here, Snowman?!"
The first snowman turned around with his ever expressionless black coal eyes. "This is the celebration I have told you about, Alex." He watched the other snowmen copies slip through the front doors of the neighbor's homes. There were resounding shrieks of terror. Families were frantically dashing out of their homes from the snow merging with their skin. Blood vessels froze making their bodies stiffen in place. Dozens of snowmen arose, some having become conjoined from their limbs, torsos and heads.
"We are the Many. We have traveled near and far from other worlds with one purpose: the assimilation of our empire."
The snowmen gathered around Alex. He turned around seeing that his mother was getting removed from the house. Alex tried to run towards her, but he was blocked by them. Much like a cornered animal, Alex threw out punches and kicks towards the "Many." He managed to lay a blow to one of the snowmen, but as he went for a second strike, he was knocked down. The Many grabbed hold of his limbs. Snow fractals were already surging through his bloodstream.
"Stop resisting, Alex," the Many said, "become one with us."