“So cold.” I was shivering, even though I was bundled up as warm as I could be; it just felt like the wind ran right through my coat. “Come now Adam, don’t give up, we’re almost there, so close I can almost taste it.” Eric was the only one in the group who had energy left. Levai looked at Eric with a slight sense of dismay. “Eric, you have said that over and over for weeks now. How long do you expect us to stay in these god forsaken mountains?” Levai was at his wits end, not that he was the only one. We all left on this expedition with hopes of adventure and glory. What we got was very different. We lost four friends to these mountains and were almost out of food. The cold was horrible and eating us alive. Not much longer till we all just collapse.
“What is that?” Eric suddenly pointed up towards the peak. We all looked and suddenly I felt it; the rush of blood, the heat returning to my body. I knew we were close to what we were looking for. We could see the top of the mountain and at it, two large statues, each facing each other. One was of a stout and burly man with a ragged mane of hair and the sword as tall as he was. The other was a limp looking man in a long overcoat and a similar mane of hair. They were just like I remember from the drawings in my grandpa’s old notebook. The gates were large and ornait with intricate artwork as ancient as the earth itself, maybe even older.
As I stood there gaping I felt Eric run by me, he was sprinting headlong through the blizzard to the large gate. Levai and I followed. “Hold it Eric, slow down a bit,” I yelled out at him. Levai and I, despite the adrenalin, were still extremely tired from the whole day of climbing, while we tried to follow we could not keep up with Eric’s sudden speed. Finally, we reached the gate and stood behind Eric, our mouths agape. We must be the first modern humans, the first to bare witness to such a spectacle. The gates that my grandpa always spoke of dreaming about, that he had searched for his whole life. Here we stood, at the culmination of his life's work.
“Alright, Adam. Do you still have that key on you?” Eric looked right at me; I could see the excitement in his eyes. I reached for the chain on my neck, feeling the metal key remove itself from under my coat. I removed the necklace and walked towards the door. “Hurry up Adam,” Eric yelled at me. I ignored him. I had waited my whole life for this moment. I was not going to let some yelling ruin it. “Hush Eric, I'm going.”
I touched the ancient gate. It was warm despite the blizzard currently raging. I ran my hand along the seam where the two gate doors met and felt it, a small hold. I wiped away the frost that was covering the hole, my breath getting heavier with every passing breath. I looked down at the key and in one motion inserted the key, turning it with a small clank. A loud rumble that could be heard for kilometers roared from within the doors. I stood back and watched as the massive gates slowly opened, a loud creaking noise coming from the massive meter long hinges of the ancient gate.
After several moments, the gates finally finished opening. I took off my backpack and fumbled around in it for a moment. Levai looked at me confused. “What are you looking for Adam?” From within my backpack I pulled an old musty, leather book. The name Aden B. Lord was written on the side. I looked down at my grandpa’s leatherbound notebook. It was this book that allowed us to get this far. I opened it and ruffled through the old pages, making sure no snow got on it. Finally I found what I was looking for. “Look here you two,” I said as I held the book so they could both see.
Inside the pages I flipped to was a set of old hand-drawn maps, levels upon levels of floors were drawn showing halls and great dining rooms. “What are these old drawings, “Eric asked, clearly more interested in exploring the old structure than he was in the drawings. “Don’t be a dolt Eric. Can you not see what these are? These are maps my grandfather, Aden, drew,” I said to Eric. We all knew that he was more of the physical type versus an academic so it came as little surprise that he took almost no interest in such diagrams and drawings. “Ok, so you have some old maps, what of it.” Eric was clearly not impressed.
Levai was incredibly interested in the maps, he being the exact inverse of Eric. “Eric, you fool. These are maps of this dungen, what else did you think they were, random doodles.” I looked at Levai and reminded him, “Levai, we can’t say for sure this is a dungeon.” He looked at me in disbelief. “What do you mean it is not a dungen? Any ancient structure that might have treasure or monsters in it is of course a dungeon.” He was always making dungeon and dragons comparisons to real life. I wanted to remind him monsters did not exist in real life but held my tongue. No point in continuing this pointless discussion, though it did bring back memories of when we all would would gather in my grandpa’s study as children and play tabletop RPGs till late at night, my grandpa at his desk, smoking his pipe as we played, quietly watching us.
Looking back on the situation in front of us, I walked forward, silently leading the group through the gates. “Adam!!!” I jumped as my name was said loudly very suddenly and looked behind me. “What's wrong?” Eric and Levai both looked at me bewildered. “We didn’t say anything,” Eric stated, looking rather confused. “Maybe a combination of excitement, hunger and exhaustion is giving you hallucinations,” Levai said jokingly. “I could have sworn I heard someone call my name,” I muttered quietly to myself. I turned back around and continued onward.
***
As we moved deeper through the long, labyrinthian like halls, I made sure to cross reference our surroundings to my grandpa’s maps. Levai asked in wonder, “I am amazed at the accuracy with which Mr. Aden drew those maps. How did he get ahold of all this information Adam?” I looked back at him. “No idea, he never shared his work with anyone. He would always leave on long trips and return with bunches of old scrolls, books and tablets. I am guessing he got the info from those.” “Enough talk, let's keep moving,” Eric said, obviously getting restless at the slow pace we were moving at.
We continued onward and deeper. Corridors and stairs, long hallways and large dining halls. As we went, I think all of us came to shared conclusion. After hours of marching, we sat down for a break, rationing out the little bits of food we had left. “I don’t think this is just some old set of ruins Adam,” Levai said with his mouth full of food. “I think we all knew that at this point Levai,” Eric said. I nodded in agreement. “This is not a ruin or some timeworn building, this is a palace of immense size and girth. This was a place for royalty and the highest echelon of some ancient society,” I declared. Levai got up and moved to the wall, running his hand along it. “Look at these, they are covered in carvings,” he said. “Thousands of years, if not more, they have been locked up and yet they show not a single day of age, as if they were carved just yesterday.” Eric and I both looked around and agreed. The walls, the floor, the carvings and the furniture all looked brand new, preserved perfectly. I looked around and remarked, “This place was carved directly into the mountain, wasn’t it. How long would this have taken to carve by hand?” It mattered little but I was still curious.
With our break ending, we got up and prepared to continue on. “Adam, where in the palace are we right now,” Levai asked. I looked at the many maps and confirmed our surroundings. “I think we are… yes, here we are,” I said, flipping through some pages and then pointed to one of the maps. “According to the map we are currently at the end of the area called the General Residence. We are not quite in the deepest level of the palace yet. A bit farther and we will reach an area called the Glacial Enclave.” I was not quite sure what the difference was between these two areas was, though the Enclave seemed to be near the heart of the mountain, at least it felt like that. The maps did not show details like that though, they were just a general two dimensional layout.
***
After what must have been another two hours, we finally reached another large set of ornate gates. These ones, unlike the rest of the palace, these looked even older and extremely aged. They were filled with scratches, dents and corrosion. The carvings in the door were impossible to make out. It was obvious that this part was here long before the rest of the palace was carved. Levai began inspecting the doors. “I wager these doors are pure gold, how rich would we be if we took one of these back with us,” he said excitedly. “Yeah right,” I retorted. “Good luck carrying this back with us, do you know how heavy and dense gold is?” Eric had the same look as Levai, looking at the door and imagining how much money just one would be worth. “Don’t be like that you two. These doors are of significant historical value. Also don’t forget that money is not the goal of this expedition,” reminding them of this fact as I approached the door.
With all our might we tried to push the doors open, but no luck. We looked for a keyhole and could not find one. “Adam…” I heard the same voice that yelled at me earlier. I looked at both my friends and both were just pushing on the doors, neither looking at me. Suddenly, a great deal of cold set in and I started shivering. Again I looked at my comrades, both of them were still pushed up against the doors, though this time, frozen. A bone chilling frost filled the room and, as I stood there shivering, a young girl came walking by us, like a passing ghost.
She was young, no more than 12 years old or so. Her hair white like the snow that covered this mountain, her eyes shone a pale blue like dew drops. Her skin luminescent like the waning moon. The pale girl wore a white, one piece dress that one might wear in the summer. She looked at me, skipping by and stopped at the door. Turning to me she said “I have waited so long, so very long. Finally you have returned, finally you have come back to my side. Adam.” She touched the door and it opened wide, flinging both Eric and Levai several feet back. The girl skipped through the doors, into the pale gloom beyond. I was tempted to follow her but instead rushed to Eric and Levai’s sides. I leaned over and checked their pulses. Both of them seemed ok, the wind was knocked out of them but both were still alive. I shook both of them awake and as they struggled to their feet, rushed through the now open door after the girl. Levai and Eric both followed after me; Levai was staggering a bit as he did a strange mixture of a hobble and a jog.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Beyond the gates was far different from what we had seen so far. Most of the complex was smooth stone, similar in texture to marble and was also slightly warmer than the temperature outside. This new section though looked like it was made out of glass or crystal. Though it was cold. “This whole area; Adam, Eric, this is all made out of ice. This is incredible,” Levai exclaimed excitedly. “In all my years of studying architecture, I have never seen a whole structure made out of ice of this scale or scope before.” Eric and I were just as impressed as he was. We continued down the frozen hallway until we reached a set of stairs. The stairs started narrow at the bottom and widened towards the top.
We climbed, and climbed and climbed. After what seemed like an hour, we reached the top of the steps. Here we were greeted by a several large sculptures also made of ice. “One, two, three…” Eric counted them one by one. “There are seven in all, Adam, that fancy notebook of yours say anything about these,” he asked. I flipped through the pages, skimming text as I went. Near the back of the book I found it, seven rough sketches that looked almost identical to the statues. Under each of the drawings were titles, I assumed of the individuals these statues were meant to represent. I read the titles of each of them aloud so both Eric and Levai heard. “Starting from the left, the Warden, the Royal Guard, the Archivist, the Vanguard, the Blacksmith, the Treasurer, and finally the Teacher.” Both Eric and Levai looked at the statues, matching the titles to the statues in their heads.
We moved on passed the statues to another large set of doors that were situated directly behind the statues. I reached out to touch them but before I could the doors opened on their own. As they opened, we were hit by a bright light. Unable to stand it I closed my eyes, covering my face. Taking a moment to reorganize myself, I was able to open my eyes and saw a large, ornate room of pure ice in front of me. Suddenly, the little girl came skipping by me again. She beckoned me forward and I followed. Together, me and the girl approached a large crystalline structure that was in the middle of the room. She looked at me, smiled and grabbed my hand. She pulled it towards the structure, I did not resist. My hand touched the structure and suddenly, what was a smudged surface became clear like a glass of water.
Within the crystal was a large throne. Upon that throne was the pale girl, shrouded in a gown of white, eyes closed, giving the appearance she was asleep. Bound by chains to the throne and encased in ice, an eternal prison where she was to be alone for all eternity. I looked down towards my side where the girl was standing but she was gone. I looked behind me to see Eric’s and Levai’s reactions, yet they were not there. It was just me and the girl in ice, the doors were closed tight and the room was empty save for the throne of ice and the decorations along the walls. I touched the crystal once more; cold pierced through my hand, through my arm and into my head. I could hear her voice. “Adam, finally you have come back. We have waited so long for this day. We can be together once more... at last.”
As I heard this voice in my head I grew frightened, confused as to what the voice meant. This was the first time I had ever seen this girl and the first time in centuries that anyone had come through these halls. There was no way this girl knew who I was and nor did I know who she was. Again the voice spoke to me, “Why so quiet Adam? Why do you not speak to us, why do you fear us? Do you not remember your promise, your vow? Adam, please, let us hear you. Speak to us.” I could feel the pain and cold in my head getting worse the more I resisted and remained silent. Thus, I responded, fear rattling in my voice. “Who are you? How do you know me, what do you want and where are the two who were with me?”
After I asked, there was nothing, only silence. After a long moment I heard the voice again. “Your friends are safe, we merely wish to be alone with you. Worry not, they will be sent down the mountain unharmed and no worse for wear, though they will retain no memories of this place. As for who we are and how we know you, did you not already know, did Aden not tell you anything?” She spoke as if she knew my grandpa. I felt great relief knowing that Eric and Levai would be safe, the girl continued. “Returning to the subject of who we are and how we know you, that is both simple and complex. We are called by the name Eris Velia Windcot, the Frozen Queen, bound by ice.” Well, at least I now had a name. But Frozen Queen, that title was not in my grandpa’s notes.
I racked my brain to see if I could remember any time I had ever heard that title or name but nothing came to mind. “I see you are still confused as to who we are,” the girl said in my head. “Perhaps it might be easier to just say we once ruled over this world as it’s queen but that was long ago. Now as to how we know you that is simple, you once served us long ago.” I grew more and more confused. I heard a sigh from Eris. “Well, you in particular did serve us but your predecessor did, as my warden. He is the one responsible for my current state.” She said this and suddenly I remembered “Warden, that is the same as one of the seven statues in the previous room.” I then asked her, “So I am the descendant of this warden?” Her response, “Yes and no, you are not so much his blood descendant but more the one who inherited his will and duty.” Confused, I decided it was best not to continue on with that topic unless I wanted to hurt my head even more.
She continued on to answer my other questions, “As for how I know you it is of course through your grandfather, Aden B. Lord. He is the one that led you to me.” I then had to ask a question I all but knew the answer to. “So you knew my grandfather?” I asked. “I did not personally know him nor did I ever speak with him as I have been with you. He just happened to find hints to my location through old documents and tablets. It was through his research that my throne was located. In essence, it was chance that brought you here. I hoped that you would come of course but that was all I could do. I have no power outside of this room and I have no influence on the outside world. All I had was the promise that my Warden made to me, that he would return; and now here you are, back at last.” As she said this last bit, I could hear the sorrow in her voice, one that had resinated in these frozen halls for thousands of years. There was such a sad ring to her voice.
***
As we spoke more and more, her tone grew warmer and lively. She now started to ask questions of her own, asking about me, my life, how I came across my grandpa’s research and notes and how I managed to piece together the location of this place. We talked for a long while and after what might have been hours, she grew quiet for a moment, her tone then turned far more serious. “There is still something on your mind is there not Adam? You still want to know why I have waited for you, why I have not lost hope after such a long time, isn't that right?” I had to admit, I still did not know anything about this girl save for very little, I wanted all the information I could get. While I had only just met this girl who had been sealed in ice for so long just a short time ago, I was curious, I wanted to know why she was sealed away, why she sees me as this Warden of old. Why me and not someone else like Eric or Levai.
Before I could prepare to even open my mouth, Eris spoke again. “Worry not Adam, your questions will be answered in time. However, not all will be answered now, you are not yet ready to know everything. Instead, it is time for you to prepare for what is to come. We ask you this, will you take up the mantle of the Warden, and follow under its star?” When she asked this, I froze completely. I was at a loss. I did not know what she meant by “taking up the mantle” or what would end up happening from there. “What does it mean to take on the mantel, and are you asking… or telling?” I asked her, my voice trembling slightly as I asked. I felt as though I almost saw Eris smile for a brief moment. “You do have a choice,” she said. “Take up the mantel and pledge yourself to us, or decline the offer and you will lose all your memories of this place and the palace will once more be closed off until another learns of its location.”
I thought for a few moments, frowning slightly. “What happens to you if I decline,” I asked her, even though I could guess at her reply. Eris remains quiet for another moment… “We will remain here, alone once more. We have waited for many thousands of years already, what is another two or three thousand,” her empty and melancholic tone echoing in my mind. That answer alone made up my mind. After talking with her I knew Eris was still hiding many things, but nothing she said had been a lie. Whatever it was she wanted with me, it was not for some evil intent. I had my answer, I knew what I had to say to her. My answer… “I will take up the mantle.”
I said these words, loud and clear. As I did, the world suddenly filled with frost, like a blizzard on the mountaintop. As the winds and snow raged past me like an howling beast, I realized that it was not growing colder, I was not shivering nor was I feeling the frostbit pain in my arms and head like earlier. I removed my hand from the crystal and stepped back, witnessing it melt away, the chain links that bound her broke into shards. Eris stood up from her throne, only to fall forward. Just before she hit the floor, I caught her. She was cold and pale, the lone queen in the mountain of ice. Her eyes opened and she smiled at me.
Her smile pierced my heart. Eris opened her mouth, attempting to speak but no more than a grunt and some coughing came out. Her many millennium in ice had most likely made her body stiff and her voice horse. Holding the cold, limp girl in my arms, I said quietly “Don’t push yourself, you only just came out of the ice; take is slow.” She looked up and again I heard her voice in my head. “Thank you Adam, thank you for accepting. Now we can go, to a new world, to one where our comrades may exist, where our powers will flourish and our kingdom can be built again once more.”
With these final words, the room around us began to fade, turning into what looked like countless snowflakes. I looked back down at Eris, she too began to fade into snow; I panicked. After several moments, there was nothing left but me. Then I also started fading into snowflakes, pure white filling my vision and the whole world around me vanishing. As I fell deeper into the white, my thoughts became a blur and I could not think straight. My last thoughts were of home, of my brother and mother… of grandpa.