The snow was not falling…
It was closing in.
Lina woke to a silence heavier than sleep itself.
No wind. No birds. Not even the familiar creak of shifting ice.
As if the world had taken a deep breath… and refused to release it.
She rose slowly, her bare feet touching the frozen floor.
The blue mark on her wrist was clearer today, faintly glowing—
like a pulse that could not be seen, only felt.
"This isn't normal…" she whispered.
She pushed open the wooden door of the cabin, and the cold air tore into her lungs.
The village lay buried beneath a fresh layer of ice, thicker than any before.
Even the old footprints… were gone.
Then she saw them.
Three figures stood at the edge of the village, wrapped in dark cloaks, their faces hidden behind dull silver masks.
They did not move.
They simply… watched.
Her heart slammed against her chest as she stepped back.
But before she could retreat, a voice echoed inside her mind:
"It is time."
She clutched her head, breathing hard.
The voice did not feel foreign.
That was the terrifying part—it felt familiar.
One of the strangers stepped forward.
His boot sank into the ice without cracking it.
Slowly, he raised his hand and pointed at her.
"Daughter of Winter," he said in a low voice, like an ancient echo.
"The seal has awakened."
Her blood ran cold.
"What seal?" she asked, even though something deep inside her already knew.
The mark on her wrist flared with sharp blue light.
Cold surged from her body into the ground, and the ice beneath her feet split apart as if obeying her will.
The three figures stepped back at once.
"She is stronger than we anticipated," one of them murmured.
Lina stared at her hands, now coated in shimmering frost—
yet she felt no pain.
Fear was there…
but beneath it, something else was being born.Power.
Ancient.
Hungry.
She lifted her head and met their gazes, her eyes no longer the same.
"If you came for the winter," she said calmly,
"then you're already too late."
❄️ To be continued…