Frozen 3

Chapter 14

Elsa

A flash of lightning streaked the sky. The storm had just broken out. I was lying in my bed. The sound of thunder seemed far away but was getting closer little by little. The walls of my hut were shaking slightly from the wind and rain. But I was protected. However, I could not sleep. The noise from outside prevented me from doing so. I had been tossing and turning in my bed for several minutes, unable to position myself properly. After one last attempt to fall asleep failed again, I sighed, pushed back my blanket and sat on the edge of my mattress. I stretched before getting up and putting on a long cream-colored coat. I walked out of my room. I didn't know what time it was. It was probably late, judging from the darkness in the hut. There was a cool breeze running through the hallway where I was standing. I shivered. As I reached the dining room, I was startled by another flash of light that suddenly illuminated the room, reflecting the shadows of tree branches on the floor. Yet, something seemed strange to me. These branches were not the rounded ones of the trees in the enchanted forest. No, these were much more complex in shape and more twisted. I walked to the front door, curious. As I opened it, the storm seemed to dissipate almost instantly. The black sky also dissipated, turning from night to day in a few seconds. It was then that I realized where I was. This was not the enchanted forest. I was far from it. I was in Arendelle. But why? I glanced inside my hut. It was the same as the one on the outskirts of the Northuldra camp. It didn't fit. How could it be? I looked at the tree that had given me so much doubt a few moments earlier. As soon as I looked at it, its trunk and branches instantly turned black and it disappeared almost immediately, crumbling in the wind. I took a step back, frightened. This could not be true. At my feet and all along the street in front of me, thorns sprang up from the ground and quickly climbed up the walls of the houses present. They weaved in and out of the cobblestones and soon covered the entire street, preventing anyone from making their way through them. However, there was no one there. I was alone. The entire kingdom of Arendelle seemed empty, devoid of human life. My heart raced. I closed my door, refusing to see more of this terrible sight.I closed my eyes and took my head in my hands. I had to lose my mind and go completely crazy, there was no other explanation. I had to come to my senses as soon as possible and convince myself that everything I was seeing was wrong. However, when I opened the door again a few seconds later, sure that I had been taken by an excess of madness but that I had finally managed to control it, I saw exactly the same scene. The thorns were still there, becoming more and more numerous and impassable. The houses were completely covered and then, like the tree, blackened before disappearing like a pile of ashes in the wind. The trees, the flowers, the stones, everything was disappearing little by little until only these horrible thorns were left as the only vegetation. Everything was dying. My hand tightened on the handle of the door that I had not yet released, so that a significant layer of frost covered it. I watched this spectacle, powerless and completely helpless. I could not do anything, I could only watch what was happening. Suddenly, a voice rang out in the distance. It was a cry of despair. A heartbreaking cry that I recognized immediately. It was Anna's. My sister was there, too. She soon appeared in my field of vision, on the other side of the thorn barrier that separated us. She was screaming in terror. Tears streamed down her cheeks. My heart sank. I immediately left the threshold of my hut, from which I had not dared to leave until now. I ran as far as I could, trying to get closer to Anna by all means. The thorns quickly stopped me in my progress. I immediately used my powers to try to get rid of them. The ones that were frozen seemed to stop growing. But, only a few seconds later, they started to grow again, freeing themselves from the ice I had just created. They seemed invincible. Yet I had to try again, this time through the ground, hoping that they would not survive if the cold attacked them from their roots. This is what I did. I tapped my foot on the cobblestones which had the effect of producing a huge layer of ice that covered them. In vain. The thorns continued to grow more and more. New ones managed to pierce my ice, however thick. Anna noticed me, having almost fallen from the slippery ground.

"Elsa!" she shouted, running as best she could in my direction.

Like me, she was quickly blocked. Less than a meter separated us. Less than a meter only. But less than a meter of unforgiving thorns. I reached out a hand in her direction, cutting it through the many thorns. One of them caught on my skin and tore it for two centimeters. Blood appeared on the back of my hand. I ignored it and still managed to reach my sister's tear-streaked face. I wiped them away with my fingertips and smiled at her, trying to reassure her. She grabbed my hand, pulling it a little tighter. She sniffed loudly. I wasn't mad at her. It was so cute when she did it.

"Hey... It's okay, I'm here," I whispered to her. "I love you Elsa," she said, her eyes reddening. "I love you too..."

Suddenly, thorns sprang up between my sister's feet and trapped them, slowly wrapping themselves around them.

"Anna!" I shouted in panic.

I wanted to take another step in her direction, but I couldn't. The same thing was happening from the other side. The same thing was happening on my side. I was also trapped in those cursed thorns. My youngest daughter's thorns had already reached the top of her legs. She couldn't move. I tried to freeze them again to free us. I couldn't. I was once again powerless in front of what was happening to us. The thorns were climbing faster and faster along our bodies. They were numerous. New ones were appearing as we went along. They were tightening around us, preventing us from breathing normally. Anna was already almost completely covered. Only the top of her chest and her head were still free. I could see that she was getting less and less air. She was getting weaker by the minute. My hands were soon immobilized as well. I could no longer try to counteract these thorns with my powers. It was over. I could feel their thorns digging into my flesh as they advanced. I bit my lower lip, trying to bear the pain. Suddenly I heard a faint whisper, an almost inaudible whisper. I looked up at my sister. Her head was now entangled in the thorns that were still closing in around her. I saw her lips moving. She was trying to tell me something. I concentrated as much as I could and finally understood:

"The spirit of the earth. It's because of him."

She repeated this over and over. Her body was completely covered, so that I could no longer see any part of her skin. The thorns began to turn black. My sister screamed.

"Anna! NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs despite the lack of oxygen.

Like everything else I had seen so far, the tangle of thorns seemed to turn to ash before being blown away. A violent pain tore through my chest. I had just lost my sister. My heart seemed to split in two, so unbearable was it. Thorns covered my face. I could see nothing. There was not the slightest interstice of light. They tightened a little more against me, compressing my chest completely. I could not breathe. I felt my whole body weaken under their infernal pressure. Anna's words came back to me: "The spirit of the earth. It's because of him." I held back one last cry of pain before I suddenly lost all my senses. I couldn't feel anything.

***

I woke up suddenly and sat up in bed. I had never had such a dream. My heart rate was fast. Too fast. I had to calm down. Then I looked around. My room was just as I had left it before I fell asleep. I got up and opened the window to look outside. I immediately recognized the snow-covered birches of the enchanted forest. I sighed with relief, even though I would never normally doubt such evidence. However, I had a bad feeling. Something deep inside me told me that this was not the usual way. I closed the window, dressed and combed my hair properly before heading to the front door. As I put my hand on the door handle, I realized that it was covered with frost. I hesitated for a few seconds and finally opened it to leave my hut, ignoring this detail. I walked with a determined step towards the river - now frozen - where the giants of the earth used to rest. When I reached the river's edge, huge holes in the rock wall along the bank opposite mine confirmed my suspicions. I didn't need any additional information to understand what was going on. The spirit of the earth had disappeared.