Ibis looks over a snowy town and watches the lights surrounding it. Suddenly, an individual zooms right in front of him before introducing himself, Ibis meets the Explorer, a joyful adventurer who’s looking for fun times with a bit of mischief. Explorer dares Ibis to follow him outside the town, believing there’s something worthwhile to be found. Ibis decides to follow Explorer, as the latter takes him down a snowy hill which quickly leads to a stirring blizzard. At this point, Ibis has lost the Explorer but regardless keeps pushing forward, eventually he makes it past the blizzard but loses his way back to the town, Ibis looks around but nevertheless he remains stuck, with nowhere to go but a vague snowy path.
Ibis ventures across an empty snowy path, until he runs into the Explorer again, who apologizes, swearing he didn’t mean for Ibis to get lost, Ibis forgives Explorer and lets him follow him throughout the path. Whilst the two continue crossing the snow, Explorer suddenly disappears by unknown means, thus Ibis is on his own again. Ibis continues and then gets greeted by the Mentor, a friendly and seemingly wise individual who insists there’s a town he wants Ibis to see which he takes care of and thus takes him straight ahead. Once Ibis follows the Mentor’s guide, he arrives at a lively town with lights and residents and decides he may as well stay for the time being. Ibis shortly finds a big cabin, where he sees a party playing, with everyone having a good time. Ibis watches from a distance until the Mentor shows up again, ready to give everyone an announcement, claiming that in these snowy times, there’s something worth finding for, all while giving out a speech. Ibis didn’t exactly know what he meant, but regardless he eventually steps out. After a while, he gets greeted by Mentor again, who encourages him to head over to the snowy forest, while giving him a compass that will help guide him. Mentor later disappears, but before Ibis leaves the town he gets greeted by “The Talker”, who as the name implies likes to socialize with people, and is more than happy to join Mentor into reaching the forest. Throughout the town, Ibis also learns about The Troublemaker, a sneaky individual infamous for his antics who’s yet to be caught, via fliers and the residents, and hasn’t been seen since. Ibis then heads out to the forest.
Ibis arrives at the frozen forest, along with Talker, however the latter quickly disappears again via unknown means. Ibis eventually makes it to a path where he suddenly stumbles upon a frozen snow bear from the distance and gets to cover. Once the coast is clear, he tries another path, where this time he gets greeted by Explorer again, who eagerly joins his adventure. Ibis finds a sign that reads “danger” but regardless presses forward as he’d prefer this path over the grizzly bear. During said path, he gets ambushed by multiple tricks and traps, like moving boulders and ropes, until eventually falling down a big hole once the snow below him gives way. It’s then when he gets greeted by the Troublemaker above him, who gives him a sarcastic compliment before disappearing anonymously. While Ibis tries to look for a way out, he sees a ladder cast down from above, and gets greeted by Mentor again once he makes his way up. Mentor ensures a lot of residents find themselves in those holes from time to time, yet it’s only a matter of time until he comes in to save them. He then takes Ibis across a scroll through the woods, claiming he wanted Ibis to see the beauty of this once green ferocious greenland. He then insists Ibis to head back to the town for the time being, as he’s already planned out a ceremony there, with all the residents being invited and encouraged.
Ibis heads back to the town, albeit without Talker, where the ceremony is planned to start in just a few days. In the meantime, Ibis meets a couple of residents, like the merchant who’s lost her goods and wonders if he can retrieve them for her, and Buddy, an anxious traveler like him who likes to go on adventures. Ibis agrees to retrieve merchants' goods, which she claims are located in the forest. Ibis heads right on out, and once upon arriving runs into Troublemaker again, who dares him to follow the grizzly bear path. Ibis takes the path and sees the bear, however after close speculation realizes the bear is actually a frozen statue, and after realizing moves past it. He then rushes across an eerie part of the forest where it’s hard to see, Ibis keeps moving until all of a sudden, a blizzard shows up, blinding him, but regardless he pushes forward and eventually makes it to calm, steady ground. During his path, he finds multiple of the Merchants goods, and looks forward to retrieving them for her, until all of a sudden he gets greeted by Trouble again. Trouble congratulates Ibis for making it this far, yet insists he still hasn’t made it through the woods yet, and that there’s more where that came from. Explorer too also shows up, although Trouble shoos him away, berating him that it’s Ibis’s adventure. Ibis decides to head back to the town again, via a shortcut before Trouble and Explorer anonymously disappear again, along with the collectables he found. After returning, he gives them to the merchant who promises Ibis she could give him something great in exchange to help with his troubles, Buddy hasn’t been seen since, to which the Merchant states she’s been going on an adventure too, and maybe she and Ibis will coincidentally bump into each other.
During Ibis’s time at the town, he meets the Sledder, who has a habit of bumping into people accidentally and just so happens to have almost bumped into him. He then meets Mentor again, and tells the latter about the forest and the path he found, to which the Mentor encourages Ibis to go for it, as something could be hidden down there that Ibis could be looking for. Ibis decides to check it out again, and arrives at the forest once more, he reaches where he used to be at one point and meets Troublemaker again, who decides to accompany him and his adventure. Ibis follows the hidden dark path of the forest, which then takes him over to an ice field, Ibis slowly makes his way through, only to inevitably fall into the waters after the ice below him crashes. Luckily, he manages to swim his way to the surface again and carefully navigates to solid grounds. Trouble then tells Ibis that he indeed is human, to which the latter has no idea of. Regardless, Ibis moves forward, across empty grounds, where he sees the mountains from the distance, peaking the sky. Explorer then shows up again, exclaiming he’s been at said mountains before and that he’s dying to reach them again, yet has trouble adjusting with the blizzards as they blow him away. Ibis moves forward, and makes it close by to the mountains, or rather the entrance leading to. He also meets Mentor there, who looks forward to meeting Ibis at the top, thus Ibis accepts his challenge.
Before Ibis heads forward to the mountains, Mentor warns him that it’s a long journey, and that he may not come back for some time. Regardless of the warning, Ibis gets ready to take his first step. He makes it across the icy mountains, along with Troublemaker and Explorer, who occasionally come to chat with him. During his way up, Ibis runs into Buddy, who’s also made her way up here before him yet happened to get stuck during her way up. Buddy follows Ibis, as the latter leads the way forward. Both have trouble navigating their way across the pathways, yet regardless it appears they are moving forward or at least somewhere. Whilst they continue, they run into a small cave, where Ibis runs into some familiar lights until making it out again. Buddy remained anxious during the trip, especially while crossing the narrow paths, but thanks to Ibis built the courage to keep moving, until they made it to what appears to be higher level. Trouble and Explorer make it up there too, Ibis is cold which Trouble likes to point out, along with hinting one last hidden surprise. however, as the four continue, only Ibis is able to make it through a blizzard that pushes the three away, where he finally makes it to the top and sees Mentor waiting for him. Ibis exclaims how despite Trouble’s antics and prior tricks and conditions, he’s finally made it up and reached the finish line, however Mentor has a confession for Ibis, something which the latter totally didn’t expect. HE set up the traps, not Trouble, in order to prove that he is indeed a human as opposed to a translucent entity, which brings him forward to his next realization. All the residents at the town and everyone he’s met are ghosts. Before Ibis could even object however, the weather continuously gets stronger, as his body slowly freezes inch by inch, with Mentor promising he’s in good hands, and that he’ll take the most care of him. Ibis then completely freezes, and goes unconscious. Mentor later takes Ibis over to a warm hut, where the latter slowly unfreezes, and is ready to be the former’s child, almost, Mentor then pulls out a book, while resting at his couch aside a cozy campfire, ready to read him a heartwarming tale for the first human he’s taking care off. The ceremony then begins to start, as everyone gets ready for the show, before going back to their lives.
The End
Ibis decides to head back to the town for the time being, thus leaving the mountains for another time. Once he heads back, he almost gets bumped into Sledder again, regardless he’s found more artifacts that Merchant was missing and gives them back to her. After a short while, the ceremony is finally about to start, with lights and decorations being filled across the town and everyone having a good time. After everything’s over, everyone heads back to living their lives once again, Ibis then meets a girl who believes there’s something different about him, or rather something ordinary only he possesses. Ibis eventually bumps into Sledder again, who turns out to be really chill and easy going and befriends her, in addition the Merchant promises to sell a sled of some kind, including a map that can help with traversal. With that out of the way, Sledder invites Ibis to come with her, and takes him across the snowy hills, away from town and later over to someplace far away and all the more familiar. It was the town which Ibis watches over, the lights are still beaming, albeit not as much as before, but regardless he heads back and rejoices, ready to watch over them just like he always used to. Sledder shortly disappears, but not before promising to come back, if Ibis ever desires.
The End
Ibis decides to stay at the town, as opposed to entering the forest, and gets to know the residents there a little more. After spending his time there, he meets Talker again, who’s made his way back somehow, and encourages Ibis to head over to the forest again. When Ibis asks him what happened, he simply responds that he got lost and returned. Once the two arrive at the woods again, Talker disappears, and he meets Trouble again, Ibis goes looking for Talker, but Trouble insists not to worry about him. Ibis then comes to the conclusion that Talker and Trouble are indeed the same individual, and that Trouble lured him here for a good reason. Before Ibis could figure out what Trouble wants, Merchant suddenly shows up, and persuades Ibis to instead head back to the town again. Trouble points him over to a third path of the woods, believing it could take them to someplace interesting. Ibis takes Trouble’s word for it and follows him. While following Trouble, Ibis asks him what he’s taking him to, to which Trouble responds it’s a “surprise.” Whilst the two walk, they suddenly bump into Buddy again, who’s made it out and returned from the mountains, she believes there’s something worth exploring here, and is willing to follow Ibis to wherever their path may take them. Merchant also unexpectedly decides to join them, thus the group march together throughout the forest to see what’s ahead of them. Trouble later admits he expected there to be a trick or trap set up, but regardless continues along with the group, Buddy also sees Sledder from the distance, speeding across their sight and crashing into a frozen bear. The group then continue out of the forest, far away from the town yet don’t show any signs of slowing down, it’s unknown where they are going to, but regardless the snow pours heavy on them, as per usual.
The End
Ibis has looked over the lights back at his town for an indefinite time, it’s been said that the lights used to be everywhere, until the lands cold roamed around, freezing the whole environment, if Ibis hadn’t returned to his former town, those lights would have eventually gone out, along with potentially the last few others. It’s been rumored that the ghosts were once human like Ibis, until they lost that and became who they are now, due to mysterious occurrences, presumably the cold. At this point only Troublemaker and Mentor have figured out Ibis's humanity, however it's possible Explorer knows it too.
