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On the same night, all of them left for the Enchanted Forest. At daybreak, they were up in the cliffs of the fjords, racing away from Arendelle. Everyone was tired and needed some shuteye. Kristoff and Alex took turns controlling Sven. By dusk the following day, they were on a road running adjacent to the North Mountain in the distance. Elsa’s majestic ice palace stood towering on its peak.

“Yup, and there’s Elsa’s palace of ice.” declared Anna, sitting in front of the wagon with Kristoff. Elsa, Alex, and Olaf sat within the wagon in the back. Alex had never got a chance to see Elsa’s palace with his own eyes.

“No way!” he exclaimed. “Did you make that, Elsa?” he looked at her, amazed. She accepted with a gentle nod. “It’s wonderful,” he told her.

“Thank you,” she replied, smiling warmly. Looking at the others, Alex suggested,

“We should all pay it a visit sometime.”

Anna responded immediately, “Trust me, Alex. You don’t want to be climbing that mountain.”

Optimistic, Alex wondered aloud, “How hard could it be? Besides, Elsa climbed it in one night!”

“How hard, you ask?” Kristoff began, alarmed. “I was almost eaten by a wolf!”

“That does not discourage me.” Alex crossed his arms. Looking from Kristoff to Anna, Olaf told Alex, “Yeah, when Marshmallow’s angry, he’ll show you just how rewarding climbing that mountain can be!”

All of them held back peals of laughter, except Alex. His face flushed on hearing all the giggles. “You’re not helping, Olaf!”

The next day, they traversed through lush forestland, passing over a wooden bridge. Olaf had spent quite a lot of time at the library, honing his knowledge of fun facts and titbits.

“Who’s into trivia?” he asked. No one seemed to be keen and ignored him silently. Even so, he did not lose heart and answered himself, “I am! Okay, did you know that water has memory? True fact, it’s disputed by many, but it’s true…” As Olaf’s endless list of fun facts went on, the others found them harder to ignore.

“Did you know we blink four million times a day?” he once told. “Did you know… gorillas burp when they are happy?” he said another time. “Did you know wombats poop squares?” Some facts were fascinating, while the others were, to most of them, fiascos.

“Did you know men are six times more likely to be struck by lightning?” the snowman informed his sole two audiences who were awake: both of them men. “Sorry, you both.” Alex and Kristoff frowned at the comment.

By night on the same day, when most of them were awake, Kristoff became fed up and added one of his own fun facts to the list, “Did you know sleeping quietly on long journeys prevents insanity?”

“Yeah, that’s not true,” laughed Olaf. Kristoff insisted, “It is.”

Elsa supported, “It is definitely true.” “It’s the truth.” Anna accepted too. Olaf thought and said,

“Hmm, that was almost unanimous. Well, it’s your loss. They say, ‘When you stop learning, you start dying’.”

“True. But, ‘A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words’.” Alex quoted with a puckish smile. The snowman was taken by surprise.

“What?! My words are not meaningless!” he bawled in protest.

“No, they aren’t, Olaf,” started Alex. “But we all know, ‘Good things in satiety are always bad’.”

“Mmm…” Olaf replied. “I don’t have an answer to that, but I am sure I’ll give you one when we get home.”

At twilight on the third and last morning of their trip, Olaf snored softly while Alex and Elsa were catching up on sleep—or so it seemed. Anna glanced back, sitting with Kristoff in the front.

“They’re all asleep,” she verified quietly. “So… what do you want to do?” Anna asked with romantic intent.

“Sven, keep us steady, will you?” Kristoff asked his reindeer friend. Sven proceeded at slow-gaited prance, keeping steady.

“Come here,” Kristoff enfolded Anna in a hug. “We’ll always be together, okay?” Anna giggled and snuggled close to her fiancé.

“Always…” she breathed quietly to him.

Alex and Elsa peeked at one another; one eye furtively closed. They knew full well that Olaf was the only one sleeping in that wagon. Alex whispered to Elsa, “They think we’re sleeping!”

Elsa smiled, successfully controlling the laughter imprisoned in her mouth with her hands. “Gosh, look at them!” she exclaimed silently.

“We shouldn’t bother. Let’s just pretend we saw nothing,” suggested Alex.

“Right. Let them have their moment. We should go back to sleep… or at least pretend!”

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Just as they were about to close their eyes, Sven picked up speed. A wheel of the wagon ran over a large boulder on the way. The wagon was safe, but it rocked sharply to one side. Alex was knocked down onto his back, and Elsa landed right on top of him, face down. The two blushed instantly.

“Excuse me!” they quickly pulled away from each other. Seating themselves at two different corners of the wagon, they beamed at one another sweetly, tittering. However, the racket was enough to wake Olaf up. Taking notice that most of them had got up, Anna slid away from Kristoff. Olaf was annoyed about the disruption of his slumber.

“Oww!” he cried, probably after bumping his head. “What are you guys even doing?!” he asked, rearranging his body parts.

“Nothing!” Kristoff and Anna’s response was unanimous, if not filled with nervousness. Kristoff promptly took Sven’s reins. The voice was heard again, calling with distant yet haunting proximity.

“Kristoff, stop. I hear it: I hear the voice.” Elsa told, anxious at the prospect of encountering it. All of them alighted from their ride while Kristoff parked it safely aside. At the end of the road, they got the first glimpse at what looked like the starting point of their adventure into the unexplored and unknown. Elsa had wanted these questions answered all her life, and now she was determined to start. An awe-inspiring sight stood feast for their eyes: colossal, mysterious white clouds towered in the distance. It looked like the walls of a castle before a vast flat plain.

“But where is the forest?” Olaf rightly questioned.

“Within the mist, Olaf,” replied Alex, as Elsa and the snowman gazed at the marvel before them, wonderstruck. The clouds engulfed something phenomenal within. After securing the wagon and relieving Sven, Kristoff and Anna joined them. Elsa was pulled by an unknown desire, a force. She ran down the hill and toward the mist. Curious, the others followed. Nearing the fog, she stopped, and so did everyone behind.

Kristoff walked cautiously to the mist and tried to clear the barrier but was pushed by a mysterious force as if he were a balloon bouncing against a solid ground. Surprised, he dusted the tiny misty particles off. Olaf was just as intrigued as the others, but something struck his mind: he laughed childishly and ran right into the mist, only to get thrown back out. But this did not dishearten the snowman; he repeated the same several times, snickering with glee. Every time, he was sent back with a puff from the cloud.

Alex grew tired of Olaf’s antics. He exclaimed, “Oh, come on now, Olaf! Don’t be ridiculous.” Then, he unsheathed the royal sword and moved closer to the mist. All of them watched in anticipation. Keeping his distance, he thrust the sword into it. Strangely, the fog didn’t send it back—but when Alex tried to pull it out, he realized that it was stuck.

“Come on! Come out now,” he muttered under his breath, struggling to get the blade out. The sword was sucked into the mist and out of his hand. A sense of guilt overran Alex. “His Majesty’s sword!” he cried. Turning to Elsa, he desperately asked, “The royal sword. Elsa, where did it go?”

Elsa now found another excuse to proceed into the mist. Tentatively, she pushed her hand into the fog. Inchmeal yet obediently, the fog cleared her path. Four monoliths were revealed: those of air, fire, water, and earth. “Only one way to find out,” Elsa told Alex.

“Promise me, we do this together, okay?” said Anna, her eyebrows wrinkled by worriment.

“I promise.”

Together, they advanced through the fog. The unwonted silence combined with the restricted visibility only added to the eeriness. The lush pink luminescence that hung in the mist intrigued them all nonetheless.

“Did you know that the Enchanted Forest is a place of transformation?” started Olaf, visibly unaffected by the odds. “I have no idea what that means, but I can’t wait to see what it’s gonna do to each one of us.”

Kristoff gulped while the others wore terrified faces. They kept close, trying not to lose their way. The mist pushed them forward and out of the foggy area without notice: they were moved into a spectacular deciduous forest, shedding autumn leaves. Anna tried to make her way back through the fog but in vain. Elsa shot a burst of her magic at the misty wall. To everyone’s surprise, it came right back in the opposite direction. Tensed yet amused, Anna accepted, “We’re locked in. I did not see that one coming.”

Alex turned around to survey the forest. “Wow!” he exclaimed under his breath, admiring its beauty.

“This forest is beautiful!” Elsa agreed as they began to gradually walk into it. On the other hand, Olaf was not as cautious and ran about in the forest’s alien surroundings. He thoroughly enjoyed everything around himself and, unsurprisingly, lost his way. Sven merrily rubbed his back against a tree.

The rest of them arrived at a cliff that oversaw the fabled, mighty dam across the fjord.

“The dam still stands,” Elsa confirmed. Anna wondered aloud,

“It was in Grand Pabbie’s visions, but why?”

“I don’t know, Anna. But for a thirty-year-old undermaintained dam, it’s in surprisingly good shape.” Alex confessed. Unable to understand what he implied by that, Anna asked, “What do you mean?”

“I know what he means,” Kristoff began. “If that dam broke, it would send a tidal wave so big, it would wash away everything on this fjord.” Alex nodded that he was right.

“Everything? But… Arendelle is on this fjord.” said Elsa, perturbed.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Alex warned. Everyone either stood tensed or very worried. Trying to lighten the mood, Alex said encouragingly, “Well, the best part is at least we’re all together. We will get this done.” Walking up to Sven, he rubbed his chin, “Right, Sven?”

They all smiled lightly as Sven rejoiced a satisfying chin-rub. “Aww! Thanks, Alex. You’re right; nothing’s gonna happen to Arendelle.” Kristoff spoke for Sven. In a flash, a dreadful thought flew past their minds.

“Sven, did you see Olaf?” asked Alex. Sven nodded from side to side and snorted, suggesting he didn’t know.

“Wait, where’s Olaf?” Anna asked, concerned and troubled at the thought of losing him. “This just got a whole lot harder.” accepted Kristoff.

Soon, they all moved through the forest, calling out his name. “Olaf!” they shouted in turns while Sven mooed. No reply was heard.

Away, deeper in the forest, Olaf moved cautiously, uncomfortable with the uncanny stillness. Something rushed about in the space behind him. A prickle of fear ran through his snow. “Umm, Anna? Elsa? Sven? Samantha?” he called out expectantly. Then he cackled to himself, “I don’t even know a Samantha!”

A pile of fallen leaves picked itself up and dumped on Olaf’s head, sending a chill down his spine. This was the first time he was hit with the thought of impending danger since he entered the forest. Getting himself together, he laughed it off, “That’s normal.”

But he knew it wasn’t. A series of bizarre events followed: a rock that was clearly out of his path suddenly shifted to make him trip and fall. ‘Nothing out of the ordinary!’ he thought confidently. ‘A floating ball of fire switching its position in the naked branches? Happens every day!’

Olaf told himself that he had no clue what was happening, but it would all make sense when he’s older and more mature. Finally, he decided to look into the water's surface in a pond, confident that there would be nothing terrifying there. But he couldn’t have been more wrong: a sinister face of the Water Nokk appeared at the embankment and scared the living daylights out of him. Olaf ran for his life as he was chased by erupting geysers, rumbling boulders, and a curious ball of fire. Convinced that he was away from danger, he stopped to comfort himself, “This is fine.”

Shortly after, the wind spirit swirled into a monstrous gray storm and swept him into itself.