Crystal Snow

The Encounter

When I open my eyes I'm in a cave. The walls glitter with red crystals. Actually the whole cave is red, the walls are not made of stone, instead they are composed of granite, though there is something else wrong with this place, beyond the coloring. In the corner of the cavern a small pool steams. It is then that I realize that I should be warm, but the tips of my fingers are blue. Shocked, I attempt to warm them only to find that the rest of my body is equally cold. Around the corner I hear voices. One of them sounds angry, though it is an anger that I have not heard before. I stand there, stiff, trying to decipher the nature of the tone. I am standing there for a full minute before I realize how close the voices have become. In a moment of fear I dive behind the nearest granite pillar. My footsteps are muffled by the greasy red shag carpeting that covers the floors.
    They are in the room now. I can tell that much, though I can make out no figures behind this smooth granite pole. I feel faint, I reach out my hand to stabilize myself on the pillar. But when my hand comes in contact with the stone I hear a clink, the vibrations from the impact climb up my arm. I know that sound came from my hand, but I am almost reluctant to look down. But against my will my head turns. My eyes do not like what they see. I have to stifle a gasp when I see that my hands have become translucent. Try as I might I cannot get them to move. My first thought is glass, but recent events then crash down on me like an avalanche. It explains my recent cold spells so well. But there is no time to dwell on the reasons behind this. The ice is moving up my arms, immobilizing me further.
    I hear footsteps, one of the people is coming towards me. But it is too late for me to move. The ice has enveloped my legs already, and it is traveling down my feet.
    "So you're the girl everyone's been talking about." The voice is deep, yet shrill, and it crawls down my spine. I want to turn around to see the origin of this terrible noise. But my limbs are stiff, they disobey me. The ice, I feel it traveling through my veins, but the feeling that comes next is far worse. I know that the woman is right behind me, heat is radiating over my frozen flesh like a hating gaze. "Come on now Crystal, turn around." That voice again, I wish so badly that I could cover my ears from the torment.
    Through locked jaws a mere shell of my voice echoes through the chamber. "If you are not blind I assume you can see my current situation." Sarcasm drips from my voice. Then a spark of fear courses through my frozen heart. "How do you know my name!"
"I've been watching you your whole life, I know everything about you." That freaks me out a bit and adrenaline begins to course through me, despite my icy blood. "Also you do know that the problems you currently face are done of your own accord." There is no way that I am paralyzing myself. I am not carrying any magic. Even so the magic that would be needed to do that would have to be so concentrated and so powerful that it would never be available to a civilian. I guess she sees the look in my eyes because she laughs, "Oh, you think that you're actually here" I have just discovered something worse than her voice, her laugh!
A dry chuckle shakes my chest, freeing me from the spell, though my flesh remains clear as ice. But the cold that embraces my body is comforting and the heat radiating off of that woman is painful to say the least. She looks like a queen from my storybooks. Her skin is oddly pale, and accented even more by her cherry red hair, and bright orange lips. "Who are you!" I hiss, it seems that this ice has not loosened it's grip on my vocal chords quite yet.
"Oh you don't know." She pouted, "I thought I was famous over there in the Alliance. Ah well, that's why you're here my little blossom. I need your help to spread my name."
"Why would I do that?" My voice is returning now, but I no longer wish to use it's full power.
"I can give you power, fame, luxuries that you could never get in that silly little 'Alliance' of yours." This woman is a joke, she says she's watched me all my life, but if she truly had, she'd know what my future holds in the Alliance.
"You know little more about me than my name if you think those things can entice me," I scoff.
"Crystals, clearer than glass. I see that you live up to your name, for I can see right through you. True, most would be tempted by my other offerings, but as I said before I have been watching you for your whole life, I know that above anything you would want to be able to stay with your friends. That I can promise you." She purrs. Though I wish wasn't, she is right I feel a little jump in my gut as she offers me a chance to stay with my friends. But I will not just say yes to something that I don't even know.
"What do you even want from me?" I ask, this is the first time that I realize that I do not know the answer.
"I will take it that you are considering then" The room begins to fade into black spots, and I feel myself collapsing to the ground.
"You never ans..." Before I can finish my words I have been thrown back into a land of darkness.