The frozen landscape stretched endlessly before them, an eternal wasteland of ice and snow. Nate and Alice had been gliding effortlessly for a while, the ice hoverboard carrying them through the frozen plains, when sothing caught their attention in the distance.
It was massive—an enormous gate that seed to stretch as far as the eye could see. Its structure was ancient, made entirely of thick, frosted ice that shimred under the pale blue sky. The patterns etched into it looked unnatural, like veins running through a living creature, pulsating ever so faintly. Despite the cold, Nate could feel a strange energy radiating from it, sothing… foreign. Sothing powerful.
As they drew closer, a sudden shift in the air made Alice frown. She turned slightly to Nate, opening her mouth to say sothing, but before she could, the hoverboard beneath their feet disintegrated into flakes of ice.
"What the—?!" Nate barely had ti to react as they plumted downward.
They had been traveling at high altitude, and the ground was far below. If they fell straight down, they'd be in serious trouble.
Thinking fast, Nate tightened his grip around Alice's waist, holding her close as his back ignited in flas. It wasn't much—the fire sputtered and struggled against the overwhelming cold of this world—but it was just enough to slow their descent. The heat clashed against the air, lting snowflakes before they could touch them, and instead of crashing into the icy ground, they landed in a controlled roll.
Nate let out a breath, his heart hamring in his chest. He quickly pulled his hands away from Alice's waist and turned to her.
"What the hell was that for?" he demanded, brushing frost from his jacket. "Why did it just disappear?"
Alice looked down at her hands, then clenched them into fists before shaking her head. "It wasn't ," she said, her voice uneasy. "Sothing's wrong… My powers aren't working anymore."
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Nate stared at her, his brows knitting together. "What do you an?"
Alice let out a breath, her blue eyes scanning the icy terrain. "The closer we got to that gate, the weaker I started feeling. I thought it was just my imagination, but now I can't summon my ice at all."
Nate clenched his jaw. He focused inward, checking his own abilities. His fire was still there, but it felt… different. Like it wasn't burning as freely as before, as if sothing unseen was pressing down on him.
Sothing was suppressing them.
He exhaled sharply, then looked at Alice. "Stay close," he said firmly. "Whatever's causing this, we're walking into it."
She nodded, stepping closer to him as they continued forward.
As they approached the towering gate, Alice turned to him, her voice quieter than before. "How did you even know sothing was out here?"
Nate hesitated before answering. "Because I saw it."
Alice blinked. "Saw what?"
"In my dream." He kept his eyes forward, watching as the massive gate lood over them like a silent guardian. "Back on the island, I had this weird dream… I saw him here. In this world."
Alice frowned. "And that's enough to make you think this place is connected to it?"
Nate exhaled through his nose. "Not just that. Think about it—why did the ice being first show up back then? Why did it attack and the Madison? Why did we end up here? It all started when we stumbled upon this portal. It's not a coincidence."
Alice didn't say anything, but he could tell she was thinking about his words.
As they finally reached the base of the massive gate, Nate noticed sothing odd.
A passage.
At the very bottom of the gate, there was a perfect, human-sized tear—like sothing had forced its way through. The cut was clean, unnatural. It was as if the ice had been sliced with a precision too perfect for any normal weapon.
Nate narrowed his eyes, scanning the height of the opening. Then he murmured, "This height… It only belongs to the ice being."
Alice tensed beside him.
The realization sent a chill down Nate's spine. The ice being had been here. It had co through this gate. But why?
Without another word, he stepped forward, pushing himself through the passage.
The mont he crossed the threshold, his breath caught in his throat.
Before him stood an ancient palace made entirely of snow and ice. It was enormous, stretching high into the sky like a frozen monunt of forgotten gods. The walls were intricately carved, adorned with shimring frost patterns that seed to shift when looked at directly. Massive pillars of pure ice held up the grand structure, their surfaces smooth like glass, reflecting the pale blue light of this world.
Despite the fact that it was built of nothing but ice, the palace wasn't fragile—it was imposing, heavy with an eerie presence. It felt ancient. Powerful. Almost alive.
It was unlike anything Nate had ever seen.
He turned to say sothing to Alice—only to realize she hadn't followed him.
Alice stood just outside the gate, frozen in place. Her eyes were wide, her body rigid. Even though her face was unreadable, Nate could see it—fear.
Sothing was wrong.
Frowning, he stepped back toward her. "Alice?"
She didn't move. Her breathing was shaky, uneven.
Nate reached for her arm. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Alice slowly turned her head toward him. Her blue eyes were filled with sothing he had never seen in her before.
"I don't know," she whispered. "There's sothing inside there… and it's scaring . I can't control it."
Nate tensed. Alice was one of the most fearless people he knew. For her to say sothing like this… whatever was inside that palace wasn't sothing to take lightly.
He turned back to the frozen structure.
He wanted to go. He needed to go. He had to know what was inside.
But Alice—
He clenched his fist. If she couldn't enter, he couldn't just leave her here. He was about to suggest they leave and co back later when Alice suddenly shook her head.
She looked at him, her expression uncertain but determined.
"…We should go in."
Nate narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure?"
Alice exhaled slowly, then nodded.
"Yeah."
She took a deep breath and stepped forward.
As Nate and Alice crossed the threshold, an eerie silence wrapped around them. The air inside the ancient palace was even colder than the world outside, but it wasn't just the temperature—it was sothing else. Sothing unnatural.
Nate felt it imdiately. A presence.
The towering walls of ice reflected their figures like distorted ghosts. Everything inside was massive—the ceiling stretched so high that it vanished into the pale blue haze above. The walls glead like frozen diamonds, their smooth surfaces laced with strange, jagged patterns. The entire palace felt untouched by ti, as if it had existed long before anything else in this world.
They stepped forward, their boots crunching softly against the icy floor.
When they reached the entrance hall, Nate hesitated. He glanced at Alice one last ti, searching her face. She looked tense, her deep blue eyes scanning every corner, as if expecting sothing to leap out at them.
She was still scared.
Nate exhaled, then turned to the massive doors before them. They were old, impossibly thick, and covered in intricate carvings that pulsed faintly. With a firm push, he pressed his hands against them.
The doors groaned loudly as they swung open.
And what they saw inside made both of them freeze.
A cage.
A massive, ancient cage sat in the center of the vast hall, its bars made of the sa shimring ice as the palace. It was broken—the tal-like frost had been sliced cleanly open. The cut was precise, unnatural, just like the tear in the gate.
Nate and Alice stepped closer, their breath visible in the freezing air.
"This…" Alice whispered, staring at the remains of the cage. "This was holding sothing."
Nate's mind raced. There was only one thing that could have been inside. His hands clenched into fists as the realization hit him.
"…The ice being was trapped here," he muttered.
Alice turned to him, her expression unreadable. "But how?"
Nate stared at the sliced-open bars. If the ice being had been locked up, that ant soone had the power to imprison it. But if it had the strength to escape all along, why had it waited until they arrived in this world?
What had changed?
Before he could voice his thoughts, a loud slam echoed behind them.
The massive doors they had just walked through slamd shut.
Alice whirled around. "Nate—"
A deep, ancient voice thundered through the chamber.
"WHO DARES DISTURB MY PALACE?"
The sound hit Nate like a physical force, vibrating through the very walls of the palace. It was not a voice of rage, nor one of anger—it was old, powerful, commanding.
Nate spun around, his eyes scanning the vast, empty space. "Where the hell—?"
There was nothing.
No movent.
No figure.
Just the endless frozen walls, stretching into the void.
Alice's breathing quickened beside him. "That voice…" she whispered, fear creeping into her tone. "That was it. The thing I felt before we entered. It was waiting for us."
Nate's fingers twitched. He didn't like this. Whatever was speaking to them wasn't showing itself—it was watching, testing.
Then, out of the corner of Alice's eye, sothing moved.
A shadow slipped out of the wall.
Alice gasped and grabbed Nate's arm. "There!"
Nate followed her gaze—and his eyes widened.
A man stood before them.
He was old—ancient. His skin was like cracked ice, his body thin and withered as if ti had been draining him for centuries. His hair was long, white as snow, cascading over his frail shoulders. His robes, tattered yet regal, shimred with a frozen glow, as though they were woven from ice itself.
But his eyes…
They were empty.
Pale.
Like frozen voids that had seen far too much.
His lips barely moved as he raised a withered hand.
The air shifted.
Nate barely had ti to react before an invisible force slamd into his chest.
He was lifted into the air.
The cold struck through him like a blade, freezing his breath in his throat. He felt the weightlessness for only a second before he was hurled backward.
SMASH!
He crashed into the frozen wall of the palace with brutal force, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. The ice wrapped around him, pinning him there—his arms stuck against the surface as if frozen chains had locked him in place.
His body tensed as pain shot through his back. He struggled, but it was useless—the ice wasn't just physical, it was sothing stronger.
Alice took a step forward, eyes wide. "Nate!"
The old man finally spoke, his voice cracked and heavy with age.
"Who are you?"
His gaze settled on Nate, and the weight of it sent another wave of cold terror through him.
This man—this being—was not normal.
And Nate had a sickening feeling that they had just stepped into sothing far beyond their control.
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