Winter was brutal. The snow came down nearly every day, blanketing the forest and freezing the river. Many of Isabelle’s creatures were hibernating underground within her hive, where it was considerably warmer. It turned out the hive produced food which was a big surprise to Isabelle, so the sleeping creatures would wake up once or twice a day to go eat or relieve themselves. They relieved themselves in a special room that had an acidic pool at its base, which melted anything that went into it.

For the past half year, Isabelle had been deceased. With her body burned and turned to ash, she lived exclusively through her creatures. Seeing through them, feeling through them, they were her connection to the world she had passed on from. But they weren’t her. She was distinctly aware each of them had a mind of their own. Their bodies may have been connected to hers, but they were their own creatures. She never felt as if their bodies belonged to her, even though she could fully control them.

But there was something different now. She didn’t know what, it was just a feeling that grew stronger by the second. A feeling that she could return to the world in a new body. One that belonged to her. But… that didn’t make sense. She died. Burned to death. All that was left of her former self was ashes and cracked bones.

So why do I feel this way? she wondered. Do I want to go back? She debated to herself whether or not she actually wanted to go back, all the while that feeling was growing stronger. If she didn’t reach out to it, to the world, then she might not get the chance again.

Yes, I will. I already decided a long time ago. Having decided, Isabelle let the feeling empower her and reached out to—hopefully—return to the world.

Isabelle pushed and clawed with all her might and tore through the barrier surrounding her. She crawled out of her gooey prison and lay on the ground tired. Everything around her was pitch black but she saw perfectly in the darkness. She knew where she was; inside the Hive’s tunnels. While panting, she turned her head to look around and saw scores of her creatures surrounding her.

After recovering, Isabelle stood up. She looked down at the broken cocoon she had just crawled out of and realized this was the same one she had noticed the creature turn into at least a month ago.

Wow. It died so I could live. I didn't even know that could happen, but thank you my friend, Isabelle thought to herself feeling grateful and a little sad.

I'm way too used to gross cocoons and scary monsters, Isabelle thought after realizing she wasn't appropriately grossed out or frightened. She looked at her naked body and came to a conclusion; I’m huge. Isabelle now stood at seven feet which would be enormous to the vast majority of people. Very few people, if any, could match her height and size. But, compared to some of her creatures it wasn’t special. However, only some of them were that tall. Most of them were under two feet and even more of them were still in their eggs. But the creatures Isabelle laid directly were at least seven feet tall and Betty was at least twenty feet tall. Betty’s size in particular would often leave Isabelle in awe and shock, but Isabelle had a lot of fun controlling her.

Isabelle looked around unsure for a moment while trying to find the direction to the surface, but then set off once she realized which way to go.

It feels different in this body, Isabelle thought and lifted her armored dark green hands up to look at them with her pitch black eyes. Physically, it's the same as controlling any one of my creatures. But having my own body again just feels… right. She pinched her skin and it took a surprising amount of force and didn’t hurt at all. Her skin was firm, yet flexible.

What an odd combination, she thought. She probed the armored parts of herself and as she expected, she couldn’t manipulate it like she could her dark green skin. I’m just a bigger version of what I was before. Is that what I would have looked like eventually if I hadn’t died?

As she neared the exit, she heard the blaring sound of a raging blizzard. It was impossible to see more than a few feet in front of you.

—

The Herald of Winter. The ice dragon. Isabelle learned about it as a children's story when she was only a little kid. It was a tale that had been passed down for decades, even centuries. In the tale, on the first day of winter, the ice dragon visits a human and grants them a blessing. It’s commonly said that the blessing is from the three gods.

Isabelle believed it when she was a kid, but after she grew up she thought it was bullshit. She didn't think that anymore.

Winter had finally arrived. A raging blizzard turned the sky white and froze the ground. Isabelle hid with her creatures inside the structure they built. It was hard to make out through the blizzard but she could see a faint outline of a large creature with wings, a dragon. It was far bigger than the wyverns that were on the mountain. Maybe it was a mirage, she didn't know, but she wanted to.

Stolen story; please report.

Leaving the safety of her structure, she ventured out into the blizzard. Her creatures cried out to her, begging her to come back or let them follow her. But she rejected their pleas, staving them off with an extended arm and an open palm to send the message 'stay back'. Whether they wanted to or not, they had to obey, though Isabelle was unaware of this.

She got closer to the creature and it's form became clearer through the blizzard. She saw it. It was the ice dragon, in all its glory.

It looked magnificent and truly deserving of its title Herald of Winter. It had two massive horns made of… ice? Crystal? She didn't know, but it was beautiful. They were not smooth, but rather, jagged and pointed. The rest of it was this way, too, with it's entire body being covered by jagged ice on top of a layer of scales.

The beast bent its neck and looked at Isabelle with complete calmness. She felt its gaze, it was as if the entire world stopped just for this moment. The blizzard faded into the background, insignificant.

Is it… allowing me to touch it? she wondered. Isabelle raised her hand and brought it closer to the ice dragon's snout. She touched it and placed her palm on its cold snout. They stayed that way for what felt like an eternity.

The ice dragon pulled away and flapped its wings and flew into the air, quickly disappearing into the harsh blizzard. It was gone and reality came pouring back in. The blizzard roared and Isabelle ran back to shelter, her creatures welcoming her back with joy.

The Herald of Winter, Isabelle thought with a smile.

—

The storm had abated by the next morning. The morning rays shone down on the world and the snow sparkled as they reflected them. It was nearly blinding. The cold still blared through the large thirty foot opening into the hive. It wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, though. In fact, she hardly felt anything other than a mild chill.

Guessing this is because of my… unique… body, she thought.as she stepped out onto the snow covered ground. She heard the soft crunching of the snow as her giant armored feet stepped out into the winter wonderland. As she got a closer look outside, all she saw around her was snow. Mountains of it. Behind Isabelle, her creatures were testing the snow before following. They had stayed inside all winter so they hadn’t yet experienced a real winter. But they caught on quickly and were soon following her outside.

Isabelle’s creatures followed her as she walked to the treeline. The trees were no longer just trees, but they looked warped and twisted and especially strange in the serene, snow-like state of the winter day. By now the transformed area covered a good chunk of the local area and kept growing daily. It reached ever deeper into the forest.

Is this good? As Isabelle silently pondered to herself her tummy grumbled. She realized she should eat something, particularly since she hadn’t had food yet. Without thinking, she instinctively commanded one of her creatures to get her some of the smoked fish she had used them to store for the winter. It returned some time later with the food, which she ate.

A thought suddenly popped into Isabelle's mind.

I'm vulnerable now. Her heart beat faster and she grew increasingly anxious. She had to sit down in the snow.

I can die. I can literally die. She hung her head downwards as her thoughts continued to spiral into thoughts of painful deaths and how she would suffer before dying. Her face contorted and she squeezed her eyes shut for a few moments while placing her hand across her face. Then she opened her eyes and her face went blank as she realized something.

But not if they can't get me. She looked up at the creatures surrounding her. Most of them were small, the size of a large dog at most. Some of them were enormous. Betty was literally twenty-four feet tall, probably about the same size as the wyverns she’d seen crossing the mountains. All of them had shown themselves to be perfectly loyal to Isabelle, even going as far as to die for her to live. No one would reach her without a lot of suffering. But still…

They aren't enough, Isabelle thought. I need more. People will never accept me unless they’re forced to. Unless they realize they have no choice but to leave me be. If I do that then maybe… maybe I could even go home one day. Isabelle felt a fire growing within her. It was telling her to expand, grow, and protect her home and self. It was a desire that, perhaps, had always been there, even before she was set aflame.

With her newfound confidence, Isabelle resolved to try to lay another giant egg like Betty's the next day after she recovered some more from her rebirth. Betty laid dozens of eggs each day—none of them capable of reproduction themselves—and Isabelle knew a few more creatures like her would make her far, far stronger. Having only one was a crucial weak point that needed to be rectified. She spent the rest of the day focusing on that thought, trying to make it a reality. She had no idea if it would even work or not, but she knew she had to try.

When the next day arrived she felt bloated and was reminded of the feeling she had the first time she laid an egg; she was pregnant. It wasn’t a feeling she wanted to feel again, but there wasn’t a choice. Inside of the dark, dry tunnels, the egg came shortly after and it was a grueling, uncomfortable process. But, the larger body made it easier, and she knew what to expect.

Isabelle examined the hard-shelled egg she laid. It was bigger so that meant she had succeeded in laying an egg like Betty’s, or so she hoped. She decided to try again the next day while keeping in mind what sort of egg she wanted to lay and see if the same thing occurred.

To her surprise, the same thing occurred the next day.

Yes! Another one, she thought to herself after laying another large egg. That was enough evidence for Isabelle to conclude that her conscious thoughts were having an influence on the type of eggs she was laying.

I wonder what else I can do… she thought.