The snow began to fall without warning.
At first, it was gentle—soft white flakes drifting from a sky the color of ash. Children reached out to catch them, laughing as the cold kissed their skin. No one knew that this laughter would be the last warmth they would feel for years.
By nightfall, the wind screamed like a dying beast.
Lina stood at the edge of the village, her breath turning into mist as soon as it left her lips. The ground beneath her boots cracked with ice, spreading faster than fire ever could. Rivers froze in seconds. Flames died in hearths. The world was being swallowed by winter.
"This isn't natural…" her mother whispered, clutching Lina's arm.
They had heard the legends—stories passed down as warnings.
The Eternal Winter.
A curse born from ancient magic, said to awaken when the balance of the world was broken.
The sky darkened further, and from the horizon came a deep, echoing sound, like the heartbeat of the earth itself.
Boom.
Boom.
Lina felt it in her chest.
A mark on her wrist burned beneath her glove. She gasped, pulling the fabric back to reveal a faint, glowing symbol shaped like a snowflake split by a crack of light.
"No…" her mother's face drained of color. "It chose you."
Before Lina could ask what that meant, the wind howled violently, tearing through the village. Houses collapsed under the weight of ice. Screams filled the air—then fell silent, one by one.
Lina ran.
She didn't know where she was going, only that something was calling her north—toward the heart of the storm. Toward the place where winter was born.
Behind her, the world she knew froze solid.
Ahead of her, destiny waited in the snow.
And the Eternal Winter had only just begun.