Honeymoon Viking-style

17.

Elsa saw Anna slip off Toothless's back and, drawing her strength from weakness, tried to create a cushion of snow just below her, but judging by the sound of the impact, it was insufficient. Through the ground, she could feel the vibration of her sister's body hitting the ground, kicking up a fine cloud of powdered snow; she could hear the crunch of bones that accompanied him; and, above all, she could feel her heart, breaking into a thousand pieces.

Time seemed to stop for everyone.

Elsa went completely still, rigid, out of breath, unable to assimilate what had just happened. How should she feel? How should she react? What should she do? Her world had just changed forever, and sadly this time an act of true love couldn't fix it. Feeling her vision blur from her tears, she slowly relaxed her muscles and dropped to the ground. Her pain was so great, so unbearable, that she simply disconnected to feel nothing. She closed her eyes and abandoned herself to the darkness.

"Pfew! So close!"

Elsa opened her eyes on sheer instinct, hardly aware of it.

"Oh, poor Anna! Ugh... what a horrible way to die! Lucky that I have been able to escape in time."

Elsa saw a humanoid-shaped shadow tapping her sister's body with her foot as four small lights gently orbited it.

"Anyway... time to move on!"

The darkness within her completely disappeared, replaced by a sudden fury that ran through her entire body. The pain, the frustration, the tiredness... everything disappeared. She got to her feet with the help of Astrid, who had just reached her side, though Elsa hardly noticed her. In her mind, there was only one thing: to wipe that monstrosity from the face of the Earth.

"Come on, let's finish it," Astrid told her, gripping her ax hard.

"No!" Elsa snapped, blocking the Viking with her hand. "Stay out of this."

Her apparently serene tone exuded a hatred so deep that it made Astrid unable to reply. She backed away until she met Hiccup. A glacial cold spread rapidly in the environment and the Vikings could feel their muscles numb, so they moved a little further to avoid freezing.

Elsa, her body thrown forward and her head bowed, stretched her arms back, took a deep breath, and then clawed hard at the air, throwing her arms in front of her in a perfect cross. Thin threads of ice came out of her fingers and joined to form a web that was advancing at full speed. The shadow had no time to react and could only cover itself with its arms.

That web went through it without doing a scratch, since Elsa hadn't used any tears to create them.

"What a scare you have given me, Elsa! For a moment I thought my end had come!"

By the time the shadow realized that those threads had become entangled in the lights of the forest spirits, it was too late. It tried to hastily cut them, but before it even touched them, the powerful bolt of magic Elsa had launched through the threads struck the spirits hard, freeing them from their bonds.

"Please, help me," Elsa asked.

The lights flew quickly to her, settling on her back. Then, slowly, they introduced in the body of the Arendellian. The symbol of the flower of the five spirits appeared on Elsa's forehead, glowing.

"Oh, come now!" The shadow complained.

Elsa opened her eyes and shot herself into the spirit, propelled by a sudden blast of air, as an ice sword materialized in her hands just in time to deliver a powerful thrust. The shadow stopped her with its bare arms without difficulty.

"Wow... I was expecting more, to be honest," it said, somewhat disappointed. "Not too bad, but still..."

Elsa's sword suddenly burst into flames that engulfed the shadow. It was forced to retreat before the circle of fire closed around it.