Piccolo and The Ice Maiden

7. The Ice Maiden's Castle

Piccolo had fallen asleep three-quarters of the way to the Ice Maiden's castle. The way to the castle wasn't easy, the reindeer had to run over steep hills, and frozen rivers, and the added weight of Piccolo didn't make things better. Nonetheless, after a long, tiring day of nothing but travelling, the reindeer arrived at the Ice Maiden's castle, it was nighttime when they arrived. The reindeer shook Piccolo awake. "You can wake up now, we're here." Piccolo woke up and wiped out the discharge in her eyes. When she looked ahead of her, her eyes were set upon the Ice Maiden's castle. "We're here." Piccolo breathed. The reindeer walked up closer to castle's outer walls, to a small black bush. "I'm afraid I cannot go any farther here." The reindeer told Piccolo, regretfully. "Oh." Piccolo replied, a bit sad. She got off the reindeer and kissed him on his mouth. "I guess I'll see you a bit, if I make it out alive that is." Piccolo said before entering the Ice Maiden's castle's walls. When she entered the walls, Piccolo's sadness faded and was replaced with awe when she looked at the Ice Maiden's castle.

The castle was gigantic, the walls were made of driven snow, there were multiple towers, and the roofs of each tower were made of ice, the moon and the northern lights illuminated the castle, making it shine as beautifully as a gemstone. Piccolo's eyes sparkled from the sight of it, the castle was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Somewhere, inside that castle, Larry was waiting for her to rescue him. It didn't matter if she was barefoot and was wearing only a cloak to keep warm, all that mattered to Piccolo was that she found Larry, and get him and herself out of his strange world and back home.

Unfortunately, the Ice Maiden had planned something else entirely. Before Piccolo could reach the door, thousands of tiny snowflakes swirled around her, and then in front of her. They grew in size and formed into giant polar bears with soldier hats and ice swords. They didn't look friendly, and Piccolo could see that. She knelt to the ground, folded her hands, and under her breath, she said what would have been her last goodbyes to her family, friends, and especially Larry. She also apologised to Larry for not being able to save him from the Ice Maiden.

As she did this, the polar bear guards slowly, scarily approached Piccolo, ice swords in hand. Not just that, but Piccolo's breath formed into angels, all armed with armour, swords, and shields. They flew toward the polar bears and engaged in an intense battle. Seeing her opportunity, Piccolo ran around the scuffle to the door. As Piccolo went through the door, the last thing she heard before the door closing was the sound of the swords.

The inside of the Ice Maiden's castle was just as beautiful as the outside. The doors and windows were carved out by the piercing winds. There were more than a hundred halls in the castle, the largest of which was several miles long, all of which made of frozen snow. The inside of the castle felt empty, vast, cold. In the middle of the castle was a frozen lake, which had cracked into millions of pieces. And in the exact centre of the lake was the Ice Maiden's throne. But the Ice Maiden was not in the castle, she was off in some warmer climates miring the peaks of some mountains with snow.

Piccolo was astonished by the main hall of the castle, she wandered around the room, marvelling at the sheer beauty of it. She was so distracted, she didn't notice that she was about to bump into something. Piccolo snapped out of her trance when she bumped into something cold and hard. She looked at what she had bumped into, and what she saw broke her heart in the same manner as the lake. Sitting on the floor, next to the Ice Maiden's throne, was Larry, but there was something wrong with him. He was frozen! His entire body was covered in light blue ice, and his eyes went in different directions. Piccolo bent down closer to him, Larry wasn't moving. "Larry!" Piccolo called, no response. Piccolo yelled his name, louder, but there still wasn't a response. And it hit her, the one outcome she was dreading, the outcome mentioned by the blue, talking flowers. Larry was dead. Piccolo's eyes sparkled, her lips quivered, a sob was building up in her chest. After all she went through, the trials, the tribulations, everything! All of it was ultimately in vain, Piccolo couldn't save Larry in time.