The cold hit harder than expected.
Snow swirled around them like ash, and the wind howled through the jagged teeth of the Everspine Mountains. Liora pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders as they trudged upward. The ember within her pulsed faintly, like a candle fighting a storm.
Elestria walked beside her, her silver hair braided and wrapped in fur. "The flame dims here," she said. "It doesn't like the cold."
Ashara was ahead, carving wards into the snow with her staff. "It's not just the cold. There's something buried in this place. Something old."
Kael kept to the rear, his gaze always scanning the ridges. "This is where men disappear. And monsters forget their names."
They made camp at the mouth of a frozen ravine, walls of ice rising like cathedral spires around them. The silence felt deeper here—thicker. When night fell, even the stars seemed afraid to shine.
In the dark, Liora dreamed.
A boy, maybe seventeen, stood atop a cliff of frozen fire. His eyes glowed faintly blue, and his arms were wrapped in frost-covered bandages. The ember in her chest responded, flickering in recognition.
When she awoke, the snow had stopped falling.
Elestria stirred the coals of their campfire. "You saw him."
"You did too?" Liora asked.
She nodded. "He's the last emberborn. The Frostwielder. He doesn't even know he's alive."
They packed and climbed deeper into the mountains. By midday, they reached a plateau where the air shimmered strangely. Runes etched into the stone glowed faintly beneath the snow.
Ashara traced them with her gloved fingers. "Old sigils. A sealing ritual."
Liora stepped forward, letting the ember guide her. The snow parted as if pushed by unseen hands. Beneath it, a staircase spiraled down into blue-lit darkness.
Kael glanced at Ashara. "I'm guessing this is where things get worse."
Ashara sighed. "Always."
They descended.
At the bottom lay a frozen chamber—its heart a crystalline prison. Inside floated the boy from Liora's dream, suspended in ice, arms outstretched as if reaching for something long gone.
Elestria stepped closer. "He's been here for decades. Kept in stasis by the last Flame Council."
"Why?" Liora whispered.
"Because he was too powerful. Too unstable. His ember didn't burn—it froze."
Kael drew his sword. "So what happens if we wake him up?"
"Either he joins us," Ashara said, "or he breaks the world."
Liora stepped forward, placing her palm against the crystal. "Let's hope he remembers who he is."
The ember flared.
The ice cracked.
And the frostworn boy opened his eyes.
The chamber shook as a gust of freezing wind burst outward. Elestria cried out, shielding her face. Ashara braced herself, invoking a shield. Kael stood protectively in front of Liora, but the cold wasn't malevolent—it was confused.
The boy collapsed to his knees, frost trailing from his skin like smoke. His eyes blinked, lost. "Where… am I?"
"You're safe," Liora said gently. "I'm Liora. This is Kael, Ashara, and Elestria. We're… like you."
"I don't remember my name."
Elestria stepped forward, offering a flame from her palm. "Then we'll help you find it."
He hesitated, then reached out. The flame didn't melt the frost—it danced with it.
"Your ember," Liora said, eyes wide, "It's not fire. It's something new."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "Or something old that never got a name."
The boy nodded slowly. "Then call me whatever you want. Until I remember."
Ashara knelt beside him. "You were the youngest member of the Flame Council. You vanished during the purge. Your disappearance… it started everything."
He looked toward the ceiling of ice. "I remember falling asleep. And dreaming of stars swallowed in snow."
Outside, a storm began to rise.
Elestria turned toward the exit. "The Queen will feel this awakening. We need to leave now."
Liora offered her hand. "Come with us."
He took it.
For the first time in decades, the frostworn ember stirred.
And the world shifted.