The frozen tundra stretched endlessly beneath a pale, white sky. Glaciers, massive and unyielding, towered above the barren plains, casting long shadows that twisted and warped in the frigid winds. Snowflakes fell softly, each one a delicate reminder of the unforgiving cold that gripped the world. This place, untouched by the warmth of the sun, had always known the balance of ice, a balance kept by the ancient Ice Dragon.
For eons, the Ice Dragon watched over this land. Its shimmering, indigo scales glistened with frost, and with every breath, it exhaled the deep, timeless cold of the frozen cosmos. It was a guardian of stillness, of preservation, ensuring that life survived even in the harshest conditions.
But deep beneath the snow, something stirred. A presence older than the frost itself, a creature born not of balance, but of hunger. The Wendigo—a twisted force of chaos—awoke. The land trembled, and the first tremor of dread echoed across the icy plains.
From the shadows of the deepest forests, the Wendigo emerged, a grotesque and skeletal figure. Its body, gaunt and emaciated, seemed more dead than alive, frostbitten skin stretched painfully over its bones. Blackened antlers curled from its head like twisted branches, and its eyes—voids of endless hunger—glowed with a malevolent light. With each step it took, the snow beneath it cracked and blackened, as though the very ground recoiled in terror from its presence.
The Wendigo, driven by an insatiable hunger, began its rampage across the frozen wilderness. Its skeletal form, towering and twisted, moved with an unnatural speed, far surpassing the fleeing creatures of the tundra. All creatures fled in vain. A herd of Edmontosaurus, their hulking forms accustomed to harsh winters, stampeded through the snow, but they could not escape the Wendigo's wrath. It descended upon them with claws as long and jagged as icicles, ripping through their thick hides as if they were paper.
The terror in the air was palpable. Troodons, cunning and fierce, darted between the trees, their sharp cries echoing through the forest as they, too, fell victim to the creature’s relentless pursuit. A massive Pachyrhinosaurus, its frill and horns standing against the tundra’s harsh cold, attempted to stand its ground. But even this mighty herbivore, a titan of the frozen tundra, was no match for the Wendigo. With a savage swipe, the beast was reduced to little more than lifeless flesh, blood steaming in the frozen air.
It tore through packs of dire wolves and herds of reindeer with claws long and sharp as icicles, leaving behind only carnage. Its hunger was more than just physical—it was a force of destruction, tearing apart not only bodies but the very essence of life around it. The ancient trees that had stood for millennia, towering over both mammal and dinosaur alike, were shattered in moments. Mighty redwoods snapped like brittle twigs under its fury, their once proud branches now scattered on the snow-covered ground like broken bones.
The forest, once alive with the sounds of creatures from across eons, was now silent, save for the distant howling wind. The Wendigo's presence consumed everything. It left behind not just death, but a void—a barren wasteland where life had once thrived. The creatures of the earth, from the smallest mammal to the largest dinosaur, all shared the same fate in the wake of its unquenchable hunger.
High above, nestled within the glacier that had long been its home, the Ice Dragon felt the shift in the land. The balance it had maintained for so long was unraveling, and it knew the Wendigo had awoken. With a deep, rumbling breath, the Ice Dragon stirred.
The winds howled as the great creature rose from the glacier, its massive wings unfolding like crystalline sails. Frost clung to every part of its body, and with each beat of its wings, the temperature plummeted even further. It soared into the sky, a shimmering blue presence in the midst of the frozen world, and the land below trembled in anticipation.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The Ice Dragon flew swiftly toward the heart of the disturbance. Below, the Wendigo’s destruction spread, its hunger consuming the very essence of life. The Ice Dragon knew this was not a creature of reason or order—it was a force of pure chaos, driven by an eternal hunger that could never be satisfied.
When the two beings finally met on the vast, frozen plains, the ground cracked beneath the weight of their power. The Ice Dragon, a symbol of preservation and balance, hovered in the air, its frost-covered wings sending icy gusts that cut through the blizzard. The Wendigo, hunched and grotesque, glared upward with its hollow, ravenous eyes. The battlefield between them became a swirling storm of ice and snow, as if the very elements themselves recognized the significance of this confrontation.
Without warning, the Wendigo attacked. It lunged forward with unnatural speed, its long claws slashing through the air. The Ice Dragon dodged, unleashing a blast of freezing breath that turned the ground beneath the Wendigo to solid ice. But the creature was not deterred. It howled, a sound so piercing and filled with hunger that the very sky seemed to tremble in response. Its claws cracked the ice as it lunged again, this time faster, its body twisting and contorting like a rabid beast.
The Ice Dragon countered, summoning a wall of towering glaciers from the earth, each one glistening with deadly cold. The Wendigo collided with the frozen barrier, shattering some of the glaciers into shards, but its hunger was relentless. It lashed out, breaking through the ice with its antlers and claws, its movements erratic, driven by the chaos that fueled it.
As the battle raged, the land suffered. The Wendigo’s very presence drained the life from the world, the trees it touched withering and dying, the snow turning to ash. The Ice Dragon, realizing that this was no ordinary battle, soared high into the sky. It knew that it needed something more than the cold to defeat the Wendigo’s endless hunger.
Drawing upon the deepest cold, the Ice Dragon began to summon the frost from the void itself—the cold that existed beyond the stars, a cold so intense that it could freeze not just matter, but the very essence of being. The dragon’s form began to glow with an ethereal light, its scales shimmering like diamonds as it gathered the cosmic frost within itself.
Below, the Wendigo let out a howl of defiance, sensing the shift in power. It lunged toward the sky, its grotesque form twisting as it tried to pull the Ice Dragon back to the earth, but the dragon was beyond its reach. With a final, earth-shattering roar, the Ice Dragon unleashed its power—a blast of pure, cosmic frost that spread across the land, freezing everything in its path.
The Wendigo, caught in the blast, thrashed wildly. Its limbs slowed, its hunger diminishing as the frost spread through its body, freezing it from the inside out. The creature’s movements became sluggish, and for the first time, the eternal hunger that drove it was silenced. Slowly, the Wendigo’s grotesque form turned to ice, its twisted antlers, its gaunt body, its claws—all frozen in place, captured forever in a sculpture of frost and terror.
But as the Wendigo’s frozen form stood motionless, a rift opened beside it. Dark and swirling with energy, the rift seemed to pull at the frozen creature, tugging it toward the void. The Wendigo, still encased in ice, was slowly drawn into the rift, its frozen body consumed by the darkness. The rift closed with a final, thunderous crack, leaving no trace of the Wendigo or the battle that had just taken place.
The Ice Dragon, exhausted but triumphant, descended to the frozen plains below. Its massive wings folded in, and it settled upon the snow. The balance of the frozen world had been restored, and once again, the cold would preserve life.
But as the dragon breathed a final, contented sigh, the world around it began to dissolve. The snow, the mountains, the frozen forests—all of it began to fade. The creatures that had once roamed the tundra disappeared into the void, their forms unraveling like threads of a forgotten tapestry.
And then, the dragon itself began to fade. Its shimmering form flickered and dissolved into the same blackness that had consumed everything else. The world of ice and frost unraveled, leaving behind only a vast, silent void.
In the end, there was nothing. No light, no cold, no wind—only the emptiness where once a battle for the frozen world had taken place.