Kingdom under the Ice

Kingdom under the Ice


Within the Kingdom under the Ice awaits your heart's truest desire.

Ghastly clouds of mist exhumed from the reflective surface of the ice; casting everything in an impenetrable fog that parted before me, creating a narrow crystalline path. I followed its winding route, trying not to stray into the clouds of vapor ice. The mist began to decrescendo as the ice’s elevation increased. Steeper and steeper it became until I could no longer keep traction upon its mirrored surface. Falling to my knees I began to crawl unable to get any footing on the flawless, glassy, perfectly reflective ice. Tougher and tougher it became to navigate the slope, how much harder it was to climb a sparkling path of ice, rather than a jagged mountain.

I finally clambered to the top of the slope, at last feeling something solid beneath my fingers. Holding tightly onto the edge of the pool I pulled myself in, swinging my legs over the smooth end of the basin, landing feet first in the shallow water. The crystal clear water only reached my ankles as I waded through it effortlessly. As I did so the water rippled and churned on its own accord. It began to swirl into eye level pillars as I made my way; they were not denying me, but guiding me to my true destination.

A pedestal of pure ice stood in the center of the rippling water. Great billows of mist rose from it, like the flames from a dragon’s tongue. As I approached the mist flared outward, allowing access. I leaned over the frozen glass and plunged my hand into the giant goblet, pulling liquid moonlight from its endless depth. I slowly tipped my cupped hands into my mouth, the essence of pure magic streaming into my awaiting gut. The pillars around me merged into one, encompassing me and the pedestal as I slowly descended to my true destination, The Kingdom under the Ice.

Stepping off the slowly falling platform I sought the heart of my quest. The room around me filled once again with the chilling mist, huge walls of ice threw my reflection around me. I looked for my next route, as I did so a soft whisper filled my ears. I looked around to find a beautiful raven-haired woman standing beside me. Her eyes filled with intoxicating malice, her gaze entranced me as she began to softly pull upon me. I looked to see the mist taking another path, a part of me told me to follow it, but the rest was hazy and blinded and I gave in, letting her lead me down to Hell.

She fell back into the wall of reflective ice, melting through it like water, her hand still grasping upon my own she pulled me within, I for a moment struggled, but let myself be meld through into the other side of the mirror. We emerged into a frozen room just like to others, except a huge, dark, endless abyss lie in the middle, waiting to send its next victim tumbling to their death. The woman smiled as her hand slowly caressed down my shoulder to the tip of my fingers as she walked to a tiny ice staircase down the side of the abyss. I instinctively followed watching her thin legs slip as she tumbled down into the darkness. I lunged forward catching her slippery hand with my own before she plummeted to her death, her icy skin stinging my own. She gave me a sly smile as I pulled her upward her frail body so light. She gracefully got back upon her feet and continued down the dangerous stairway.

Step after step I took, walking for an eternity when we finally arrived at the bottom. The mist was thicker than before, so much I could see nothing, nothing at all. I tried to keep up with the woman, but her perfectly curved form and her white dress escaped me, leaving me lost forever. The fog around me began to swirl faster and faster, as if it were caught within a hurricane, leaving me within the eye. An indistinguishable black form darted back and forth, it to quick to recognize, but I knew it was big, very big. Larger and larger the eye became until it was ten yards in diameter, a supersonic screech met my ears, disorientating my very consciousness. Moving whip-like a gigantic serpent stuck forward, its blood-stained fangs slashing wildly. I leapt aside narrowly avoiding the attack. Hissing and spitting is writhed, not taking its scarlet eyes off of me.

I backed away, unarmed and helpless I was just an easy meal now. It struck forward once again, ducking down I narrowly avoided the attack, the monster tried to draw back, but its momentum carrying it too fast causing it collided with the wall behind me. The earth around me shook violently, so that huge ice sickles rained from overhead. Moving agilely I was quick enough to evade the projectiles, but as they collided with the ground some of the shattered pieces slashed up my soft flesh. Wincing from the pain I pulled the small shards from my skin. Looking upon the ground I spotted a large lethal looking ice piece, lifting it up I held it before me, waiting for the monster to strike again. And it did, weaving across the ice like a locomotive it leapt forward, pile driving its body into mine. Wrapping swiftly around me, the beast’s coils began to constrict and tighten.

Gasping I desperately slashed at it with my impromptu knife, but it was fruitless, it seemed to not even notice. Desperately I shoved the shard into its back, pushing it so hard that the jagged edges cut into my hands. I felt a shiver run down the spine of the serpent; acting upon it I thrashed out, releasing myself from the beast. It hissed and screamed at me one last time before drawing back into the swirling mist. As it did so the ice beneath me shook and vibrated horribly, the ice fell from the ceiling once again, but not rushing streams of water poured in.

Fleeing as fast as I could I blindly made my way through the haze, until I finally reached the staircase. As I sprinted up the stairs they began to buckle and break, as I took a new step, the one behind me was sent into oblivion. Adrenaline pushing me forward I leapt for the final platform that lead back to the mirror ice, but as my hand grasped upon its ledge I began to slip and tumble earthward. But as I did so a thin hand grasped my own, I looked up to see the woman holding effortlessly onto me. She slowly leaned forward and whispered softly into my ear, “Let go, just let go,” her voice so quite I felt it rather than heard. Her eyes so full of enthralling passion that I complied, slowly lovingly let go, to fall backward into my doom.

A loud knocking came from above me; I looked up to see dozens of people walk onto the frozen lake. I pushed upon the underside of the ice, but it was undisturbed, and so I was trapped, forced to watch my fellow man upon the other side, but they never to see me. I was trapped within the Kingdom under the Ice, forever.