After Christmas the reindeer return to their headquarters, hidden deep in a crimson-lit realm where snow never melts. In the dimly lit metro, the reindeer stand silently as the train hurtles through endless tunnels. The fluorescent lights flicker, and their forms begin to shift: antlers dissolve into crowns, fur melts away to reveal cloaked figures with eyes that glitter in the dark.

Inside their hidden headquarters, a low hum fills the air as they shed their disguises. One figure steps forward and lifts a black crown, jagged with frost and set with a single glowing red stone. The leader takes their place. The ritual is complete.

By the red river, their warped reflections seem to murmur, “The season is over, but the cycle begins again.” At dawn, they are gone, leaving the world to forget them until next December.