I began to walk through the snowy garden.
The soft crunch of the snow under my boots was the only sound that broke the absolute silence of the place. Each step I took with care, not only to avoid slipping on the surface hardened by the cold, but to not give away my presence.
In a territory like this, any noise could become a sentence. The snow, although beautiful, did not forgive mistakes.
I advanced slowly, with my hand near the hilt of my sword, feeling the cold seep even through my clothes and armor.
I had no hurry. This was not a place to run without thinking.
I wanted to observe first, measure the terrain, understand what type of enemies could appear. I needed to evaluate their strength, their number, their patterns. Fighting blindly was stupidity, and I did not plan to commit it.
As I advanced, the white landscape extended before my eyes like an infinite canvas. The trees were covered in frost, their branches heavy, bent by the weight of the ice.
Some formations seemed natural sculptures, statues frozen by time, so perfect that they were unsettling. The silence was so deep that it seemed to scream, pressing my ears and my mind.
Everything was beautiful… and dangerously unsettling.
There was something unnatural in that place.
It was not just the cold, nor the snow, nor the silence.
It was the sensation of being watched, that the forest itself was aware of my presence.
Each shadow seemed to move a second later than normal, each reflection of the ice seemed to hide something more.
I continued observing my surroundings when, without warning, at my side rose an enormous ice giant.
I did not hear its arrival. It simply was there.
Its body was a colossal mass of compact ice, translucent, with internal cracks that glowed weakly. Each time it moved, its body creaked like a glacier about to break, emitting dry and deep sounds that resonated in the forest.
Its eyes, if they could be called that, were two bluish lights embedded in its amorphous face.
I barely had time to react.
I jumped backward while unsheathing my sword, feeling how the air became heavier.
The giant raised an enormous arm and let it fall where I had been a second before.
The impact raised a cloud of snow and ice fragments that shot out in all directions.
There was no time to think too much.
With each step I took through the frozen forest, more and more giants appeared.
They emerged from the snow, detached from the trees, emerged from the ground itself as if they had always been there, waiting.
Soon I found myself surrounded by those enormous figures, silent and ruthless.
Even so, I kept calm.
I breathed deeply, adjusted my posture and let the training speak for me.
Using my tactic and my technique with the sword, I began to face them.
I did not attack without sense. I aimed at the cracks, at the points where the ice was more fragile. A clean cut, a precise movement, a step back before the counterattack.
One by one.
I counted them mentally while fighting.
Each giant that fell broke into hundreds of fragments, crashing against the ground with a dry crash.
The combat was long and exhausting. My arms began to burn, my legs to weigh. The cold got into the wounds, making each movement more painful than the previous one.
Time lost sense.
I did not know how much had passed when the last giant finally fell, crumbling in silence.
The forest became immobile again, as if nothing had happened. Only the scattered ice remains on the ground and my agitated breathing remained.
The cold, however, was still there.
It was constant, implacable. It seeped through every space, reminding me that I was still far from any refuge. I continued walking until I spotted a bonfire almost buried under the snow. It seemed abandoned, forgotten by time.
I knelt in front of it and lit it.
The flame took a while to catch, but when it finally did, its orange light broke the white monotony of the place.
The heat allowed me to recover some sensation in my fingers and loosen a little the tense muscles. It was a brief relief, but necessary.
Then, without warning, Leaf appeared.
—Where are you and why is it too cooooold? —she shouted, exaggerating each word—. Why don't you come back already? Elma already woke up.
I sighed, without turning around immediately.
—And then why are you here? —I responded finally—. I told you to take care of her for me, Leaf.
—Ahh, calm down, calm down —she said, crossing her arms—. She is eating. I left her eating. The poor thing was very hungry. I just wanted to see what you were doing… if you didn't want to see me, then I'll go.
Before I could respond, she turned around and left. Her way of leaving made it clear that she was upset.
I knew it immediately. Leaf was not good at hiding her emotions. Surely later she would charge me the bill in one way or another.the best option at that moment was to continue with my journey.
I continued walking until, finally, the castle of Snow White appeared before me.
Its white towers rose against the gray sky, covered in ice and snow, as if they were part of the landscape itself. It was majestic… and terrifying.
I entered without hesitating.
The cold inside was even more intense than outside, as if the castle concentrated winter in its interior.
The air was heavy, difficult to breathe. The people who should be protecting the place were trapped inside enormous ice cubes, frozen in time.
Their expressions were serene, calm, as if they had not felt any pain.
Upon approaching one that was right in front of the door, this one turned its head slightly.
—Welcome to the castle of Snow White.
Its voice was normal. Too normal.
I wanted to respond, but I decided not to. Something in that situation made my skin crawl.
I immediately went up the stairs that were in front of us.
Upon arriving upstairs, I saw a long red carpet that extended to what seemed to be the throne of Rapunzel.
It was empty. At its side there were another two people… also frozen, immobile, like statues.
I began to investigate the floor. On the left side it seemed to be the place where Snow White carried out her work as queen. On the table there was a letter. Upon reading it, it said:
"Invitation to Atlantica."
I kept it immediately in my bag.
I went down again through the stairs and continued exploring the castle.
In each room I found more frozen people.
Some were conversing, others eating, others smiling. All seemed happy, trapped in a perfect, eternal instant.
I arrived at the kitchen. Upon speaking with one of those present, he told me that Snow White was afraid of apples due to a trauma from the past.
He said it as if it were a trivial fact, without any emotion.
I continued walking a little more.
It was then when, upon looking inside a room, I saw a small library.
Among the shelves, something was moving. Upon focusing better the sight, I could distinguish what seemed to be… a white rabbit.
It was small, restless. It moved quickly, as if it knew that I was observing it. I saw it approach a deep crack in the castle wall. Without thinking too much, I followed it.
Upon crossing it, I entered a dark place. The change was abrupt.
The air was different. The ground was covered in red mushrooms that glowed weakly, illuminating the place with a sickly light. In front of me there was a sign that said:
"If you fall, you will die."
That referred to an enormous abyss that extended in front of me. Upon approaching a little more, I could see how the darkness seemed to swallow everything that fell into that place, without returning anything. There was no visible bottom. Only void.
I thought it twice.
My heart was beating hard. Something inside me screamed to back off, to turn around and get out of there. But another voice, deeper, more insistent, asked me to take one more step.
And without saying anything more, I threw myself toward the immense abyss.