Bright, too bright and too cold. That was the first unimpeded thought that had run through her mind.

The cold-searing burn on her cheek accompanied the bright white blotch that obstructed her recovering vision.

The white gradually faded into a pale silver as she rapidly blinked her eyes. Slowly, her vision returned enough to reveal the bright, white sphere that hung in the blue sky above.

She rose up on her legs as her vision had settled, freezing on the view in front of her.

[https://i.ibb.co/N2kN9sZ/image-10.jpg]

The whistle of a cool winter breeze brushed past her ears as goosebumps danced down her spine. She turned to be greeted by the vast, open sky from where the wind came. Stars dotted the sky like many peering eyes; come to see the same mystic landscape in which she had now found herself. Clouds floated around her, both above and below, moving as slow, giant behemoths.

An ache struck her heart. Yet the discomfort was not unwelcome. It was not the beginning that the ache marked. But rather the last ache of a great pain that fled her body. Escaping somewhere far off in the sky above.

The freezing winds continued to rush around her, flying between her fingers, which she pulled in closer to protect from the cold. Her hand reached the soft embrace of a thick white fur as she did so, prompting her to look down unto herself. There she noticed a thick white coat wrapped around her torso, black leather pants that stuck tightly to her legs and black boots that rooted her firmly onto the slick ice underneath her feet.

Confused by her situation, the girl looked beyond to see that she was stood on the wrong side of an icy cliff. One that tapered off into a cloudy void below, extending well beyond where her sight could reach. Slowly, she backed away from the edge. Scared that she might slip if she were to suddenly turn, she made her way backwards, turning just her head to see the forest behind she was making her way towards. The bed of ice on which she stood must have recently frozen still in the blizzard that now raged around her. This was evident from the frozen river that led towards her from the snowy land behind

In the distance, a low rumbling began to sound out, causing the girl to stop quickly in her tracks. The low rumbling came from behind her, somewhere deep in the forest that she could not quite entirely see.

SHTTKK

The rumble rose into a large tremor as the sound of cracking ice came out from under her. Swiftly, the girl forgot about her previous precautions and pivoted to run straight ahead off the icy plane as fast as she could manage. As she did so, her prior worries came true, the heel of one of her boots digging itself into a crevice in the cracked ice. She was quickly thrown onto her backside, her back colliding directly with the ice below. The ice quickly caved in to form a person-sized hole where she had crashed. Bits of sharp ice pierced into her exposed hands and pricked her face like many cold needles. Around her, the sound of snapping ice filled the air before coming to an eventual stop. Thankfully, she had not yet fallen fully through the ice,

Keeping her body as still as a statue, she cautiously lifted her head to see the ice around her webbed with crevices that threatened to shatter at the slightest disturbance. As the girl lay there in the ice, terrified at her predicament, a low grumble sounded from the forest ahead, causing her to turn and face its direction.

Her eyes widened in shock as her eyes rested on the sight in front of her. There, in the light of the moon stood something she had never before seen. A blue-skinned creature stood in front of her, nearly four meters in length. Appearing almost human, yet not at all, its limbs were nearly twice the size and length of its small torso, its dark blue skin was dotted with grotesque moles and bumps that seemed more akin to tumors than any natural skin condition. It had a face like that of an elephant, it's large nose greedily taking up the entire center of its face while its jaw was more similar to that of a dog, cutting deep into its head. It wore a leather skirt and nothing else, something clearly unpractical for the snowy climate.

It's appearance, however, wasn't even the worst thing about this creature in front of the girl. Upon its head rested the loose and leathery face of a man. One that flitted and whipped in the flurry of the midnight wind. It was barely held down by a brutal metal piercing that grounded it into the head of the gnarled creature. The pale skin did not seem rotted in any way, indicating that it was not in any distant past that this man was killed.

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The sight of the creature left the girl frozen in fear as it curiously sniffed the air around it, stopping for a moment before turning to see the girl. As it did so, it's dog-like mouth widened, exposing a bright pink tongue that looked to be stained with many layers of blood and gore that retained a fresh moisture. Her scent seemingly giving her away, the revolting creature began to curiously approach her. As the creature made its way past the snow-covered soil of the forest and onto the slick ice beyond it, the ice let out a sharp screech.

Upon hearing the warning of the ice below its feet, the creature took a step back, it's eyes still never leaving the girl who lay frozen in front of it. The girl, on the other hand felt her fear deepen at the discovery that this creature, despite its animalistic appearance seem to be capable of understanding the danger of the ice bed below. However, the short-term relief from the fact that the creature could not yet reach her was what rose most prominently in her mind.

Still, she was most definitely stuck in a terrible situation. Around her, was the deadly terrain of the mountains that threatened to kill her in more ways than one. And now, in front of her was a creature who likely wanted the same. Fear began to slowly paralyze her mind as she stared ahead into the eyes of the patiently waiting creature. The feeling began to flee from her legs and the girl shook her head fiercely despite the danger such movement posed to her situation. Winning back her will was more important than avoiding the cracking of the ice around her. As she shook off her destructive thoughts, she scoffed at the thought of letting her own fear kill her before the monster in front of her did. The creature tilted its head in a disgustingly human way as she did so, seemingly in reaction to her incongruent actions.

As it did so, she felt some of the strength return to her extremities. This creature may not be dumb enough to kill itself along with her on the ice, but that sure as hell didn't mean it was smarter than her. She raised her head to observe her surroundings. There had to some way to get out of this situation. Looking to her left, there was nothing but an icy cliff that veered off into the nothingness below. Seeing this, the girl tore her eyes away to look the other way. There was a strange pull that tugged at her gut whenever she stared down at that abyss, a feeling almost unnatural that invaded her senses.

Looking to her right, the girl saw the better half of her right arm pulsing a sickly purple. Though the sight alarmed her, she knew there was no benefit to giving it more than a moment of attention. Looking past her frostbitten extremity, she saw the ice bed stretch a couple dozen feet ahead before it sank down near identical to the situation on her other side. The marked difference, however, was a cliff of soil that held upon it a single rotted oak tree. It's mangled branches and roots contorted in every which direction, including towards the ice bed the girl laid upon.

Seeing the tree branch that stretched out towards her as if a beckoning hand, the girl felt she knew what she had to do. Carefully, she turned over onto her left side, relying on the strength of her not yet battered arm to push herself up to her knees. The creature, in an excited sort of tone, let out a high-pitched click. Unable to stop itself from moving ever so slightly closer to its kneeling prey. The girl, doing her best to remain unbothered by its cry, steadily began to shuffle her legs, sliding her way towards the right side of the ice bed inch by inch. Knowing it was best to spread her weight as evenly as possible as she maneuvered the thin ice, she did not yet dare to stand up on her two feet.

Nearing the thinner sheet of ice, the girl slid her hands over one of the frozen rocks that she had spotted earlier. With her left hand, she enclosed the rock in her palm feeling its cold sear of protest. Proceeding to yank it out of the ice with haphazard precision. She looked over toward the forested land on her left to see the creature had followed her along the edge of its safe zone. It's beastly eyes brimming with curiosity. The sight perturbed her but was nothing short of what she had expected.

"Heh. Would've been nice if you'd just stayed put, though." The girl voiced her baseless hopes into the cold sky above. "Hmm?" The girl's face scrunched into a confused scowl at the sound coming from her own mouth.

"What..." Although she couldn't quite place her finger on it, she felt something off about it. A sort of discomfort and surprise that she didn't quite understand.

"SHHHTKKRLLL." The sharp screech of the predator she had carelessly forgotten rang from a distance far too close for comfort, dragging the girl back to reality. Whipping her head towards the beast's direction, she saw that it had spread itself across the ice much like she had just done herself.

"This thing!" The girl yelled out in exasperation and surprise.

Its arm stretched out towards the girl as it let out its shrill cry grabbing onto right leg. "Shit-" The girl yelled as the creature's grip tightened fiercely onto her calf. A painful groan escaped her throat as the creatures pull sent her plummeting once again to her back. Looking down at the creature, she saw its large body spready unevenly across the ice below while painting its face was a ghastly smile. As if it was proud of its poor imitation of the girl's crawl.

"You!" The girl shouted loudly as she realized the detrimental situation she now found herself in.

"YOU F***ING IDIOT" The girl screamed loudly at the creature as the ice below began to snap and splinter below. The symphony of cracking ice grew exponentially in frequency and volume as the now panicked creature quickly let go of the girl, sloppily lifting its flabby body onto its feet in an attempt to escape its inevitable fate waiting in the abyss below. Of course, it's bumbling actions only served to expedite the snapping ice below. The ground below it immediately opening up to swallow the idiotic troll up whole along with the victim of circumstance who screamed bloody murder all the way down.