Raised my hands to let my mouth use its breath to warm my skin. It had been snowing for days and the heavy steps sank, making it harder to go foward. Little to no wind around, my ears twitched and I stood still. My head turned from one side to the other, letting my eyes wonder through the bare trees and the frozen lake ahead. Nothing alive except for the resistent flora.

I continued on my way while looking back at unusual rate. My foot pressed the thin ice to check its strength before I put my full weight over it. I took few steps at a time, careful to avoid sliding. There was only silence as I stood over the lake.

Roughly halfway through the lake, I completely stopped. Some sort of humming came out muffled from below. My eyes narrowed in an attempt to see what laid on the other side of the ice. My thoughts came to an abrupt end after loud crackings. The ground trembled, making me take a step back.

The thin layer shook and forcefully divided into unstable floating platforms as the rustle intensified. I reacted by ducking down and tried to hold myself. The water was too cold for me to find acceptable to fall.

Water moved and the platform rose, making me fall back and slide, but I managed to stop before falling out. The ice still shook as something came from below and broke the ice. Shards hit me and I covered my head with an arm while the other was used as support.

My eyes widened as five pale blue pillars, each with about twice my height, surrounded me. Made of ice, shining deep green lines appeared around like veins. The humming got intense and too close.

Crash. The pillars curved and closed in to smash me. An aura filled me and I lost my weight, with a feeling of floating for a single second. The world followed the rythm of my movements and slowed down.

Slower and Slower. Everything stopped, the ice and water, the pillars and even me. My vision got blurry and I closed my eyes. Whoosh. The air twisted and a wave of energy disspated, letting time flow again.

I openned my eyes to see the place in which I was before. The ice shattered and pieces were thrown at all directions as the pillars raised even heigher before simply falling back to the lake. Waves of water carried the platforms, nearly reaching the safe ground.

"What in heavens was that..?" Silence filled the space for a few seconds as I just looked to the lake. "Shit!" I jumped to use a tree as cover. Something came out of the ice with impressive speed, sending ice and water my way. Some shards broke after hitting the trunk while others fell beside me.

My eyes peeked from behind the tree to see the giant, round, frozen, pale blue golem with its green energy veins getting brighter. It definetly saw me. The gems placed as its eyes looked right where I was out of all the places around.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It took me a second to turn around and let my legs do their job, run. Stepping over sticks and evading the roots, I managed to avoid stumbling as I heard the water being carried like large waves and the ground quaked.

Trees were torn apart and the humming didn't sound so muffled. He was getting closer. I didn't dare look back for a while, even when the trembling stopped and the sound of a tree being ripped apart began.

My head turned for a second and I stumbled. "Oh.. No way..." I looked up to see the golem holding a tree that got the roots ripped from the groud with brute force. BOOM. The tree collided with others on its way, making some fall and others get broken into two or more large trunks.

The tree fell and made the ground shake as dust and dirt were shoot away. It came bouncing on my way, threatening to turn me into pulp. An aura consumed the surroundings and energy filled my body to make it lose all its weight.

Images became unclear and time slowed down once again. The tree bounced just in front of me before time completely stopped. The bulk was few inches away from my face, prepared to take my life.

Whoosh. My energy dissipated again and Boosh the tree bounced once more and stopped on the ground just behind me. My dark long coat got dirty on the back and I cursed in my mind. Hated to use unclean clothing.

The stone hit the floor, breaking down into pieces that hit my body. The giant was throwing stones since the tree had failed to do its job. I ran away and the golem continued to chase me down. Sometimes my body was even thrown few inches into the air when it treaded.

Behind the forest, a rock formation had a small entrance that led into a dark strait passage. My legs used all the strength they had to throw me inside and I rolled on the hard, rugged, unregular floor. My shoulder and back hit the walls and I groaned.

My eyes openned to see a blur. I jumped, using my arms to delve deeper into the cave. I barely had time to react when I saw the hand of the golem get through the entrance. The formation shook, pieces of rock and dust fell over me. The giant was trying to destroy it, burrying me.

It was strangely resistent as it didn't crumble with such an extreme force. I just remained there, laid on the uncomfortable stones. I needed time to adjust my breath and heart beat as I wasn't being chased anymore. I thanked the gods for a moment of peace as I looked up to see the ceiling with half open eyes. The idea of sleeping didn't sound so absurd, but I had to continue. The legends spoke about "a forest in the far north, with forever frozen lakes; where the giants await; for the time to come; when their duty is begone".

I noticed something strange. The caves were supposed to be dim, but weak lights filled it in shades of green and blue. The walls were covered in ice. Unnatural. It was made on purpose. The ice on the walls had carvings, drawings of curved lines making complex shapes. It reflected the little light that came in and formed a visual effect, a show of colors.

"Impressive..." The frozen stones were stairs leading below. No matter how deep it was, there was still light. "Indeed, unnatural". I kept going foward as it was what I had been looking for.

A hundred steps deeper, stood statues, carved perfectly like lions in frozen stones and, just behind them, tall wood doors with the symbol of an artistic tree inside a circle made of knots. The long forgotten emblem of the druids.

I smiled from ear to ear and stared at the door.

"I've found you"