In a land where power and deception reign supreme, two unlikely heroes find their fates intertwined in a battle against a malevolent force.
Kelvin, a daring thief, gets caught in a perilous mission to steal a prized horse, only to discover that his...
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20th Day of Fedor Year 1203
An Account of my time in the Snow Queen's palace during the Eternal Winter.
I no longer knew the time or the day—only the cold. It had burrowed into my bones, gnawing at my skin until I could barely feel anything but the endless, biting frost. Each breath was a fragile wisp of air, disappearing into the freezing darkness of my cell.
Her footsteps were silent, but I felt her presence long before she appeared. The air grew heavier, colder, as if her magic pressed down on me, constricting my chest until my heart struggled to beat. When the Snow Queen finally stood before me, her figure was as regal as ever, her eyes cold and sharp, cutting through the dim light like shards of ice.
"How did you do it, alchemist?" she asked, her voice smooth, detached. "How did you create the mirror?"
I tried to speak, but the cold had numbed my throat, turning my words into a garbled rasp. My body was barely my own anymore—skin cracked and burning from frostbite, heart hammering painfully in my chest, each beat a reminder of how close I was to breaking.
"I... I won't tell you," I finally managed, my voice little more than a weak whisper. The words stung as they left my lips, defiance still clinging to me in the face of her power. "You think I'd help you escape... so you can destroy another world... like you did this one?"
Her expression remained impassive, but there was a flicker in her eyes—a faint glimmer of curiosity, perhaps even amusement. She knelt beside me, her icy fingers brushing against my cheek, and I flinched at the touch. My heart seized painfully in my chest, as if her magic was squeezing the life from me.
"Such noble resistance," she murmured, her voice deceptively soft, "but utterly pointless."
I managed a small, bitter smile despite the pain. "I thought you said you were the one who summoned me here," I rasped, "that my touching the mirror was chance. But now you're asking how I created it? What happened to all your power, Snow Queen?"
Her gaze darkened instantly, and a cold fury flashed behind her ice-blue eyes. The air around me crackled with tension, and I felt the temperature drop even further, the frost on my skin spread like a disease.
"You dare mock me?" she hissed, standing abruptly, her voice no longer soft but sharp as a blade. "Do not think for a moment you are beyond my reach, alchemist. I allowed you here—pulled you into MY DOMAIN. Your mirror was merely a tool, nothing more."
She waved her hand, and I gasped as an icy spike of pain shot through my chest, my breath freezing in my throat.
"You think you have power? You think your feeble mind could create something beyond my control?" Her voice was low, seething with anger, but beneath it, I caught a hint of something else—uncertainty. "I could crush you now, but I choose not to. Don't mistake my patience for weakness."
