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Blooming flowers, glistening lakes, tall leafy green trees, and furry creatures. The air, carrying the pure scent of nature followed Freya wherever she went. Such beauty was unique to this landscape and would never truly belong to another forest. On a day like this she would have smiled and laughed, goading her sister into playing in the grass and splashing in the lake instead of planning her next conquest. Ravenna had always been too focused on the future. Never taking pleasure in the present. Never truly living.
But it didn't matter now. Nothing mattered when she saw her baby girl's crib smoldering with him standing beside it. Having the gall to look confused, as if he hadn't just killed their child, betrayed her trust, made her out to be the bumbling fool that Ravenna had told her she was. Back when she still believed in love. A trick played on the foolish and the weak.
Ice gathered in her palm, sharp jagged spikes that tumbled haphazardly in the air. The cold in her heart had taken a physical form. It was in the air she breathed, in the frost that covered her skin, and the power that turned her hair from a light brown to a snow white. Nothing could ever chase the cold away. Not that Freya wanted to. Her power is the only constant in her life now. The only thing she could ever truly depend on.
Frost spread from her feet and entombed the lush green grass around her. The sunlight reflected off of each blade of grass, making them sparkle. However the allure was overshadowed by the knowledge that the sun would melt her creation. Another beautiful thing would be taken from her before she had the chance to savor it. To love it.
Unless it didn't. Her powers only manifested after there was nothing left to save. Giving her the gift she'd always wanted in exchange for her child's life. Ravenna had always said that the women in their family weren't meant for love, only power. Only loneliness. Only pain.
Now though Freya could break that cycle that stole her happy ending. Her powers could be used to preserve this land. To make it hers forever so that nothing and no one could take it from her. Not while she still drew breath.
If Freya could not have a child she would have a kingdom, she would raise an army.
The woman ran, as fast as she ran to save her dead child. Passing tall trees and scurrying wild animals that recognized her as queen even though she wore no crown. The grass crunched underneath her feet, large patches turning to ice at random underneath each step. The air around her turned frigid, defying the oppressive Spring season to make room for all powerful winter. The land is already bowing to her will.
Freya stopped at a pond. A clear surface that reflected her fears, failures, and insecurities. Her lip quivered. She is a force of nature. A god in mortal form. To show weakness would be an insult to everything she is and everything she will be.
Freya dropped to her knees and placed her hands in the pond.
She will save everything.
Without hesitation she plunged her fingers into the warm water, leaching the heat from the body of liquid. But she didn't stop there. The ice spread from the pond to the surrounding plants and covering the trees in layers upon layers of ice and snow. Heat no longer had any meaning as the winter spread beyond the forest, onto roads, and into towns. Destroying any and everything too weak to survive the cold. To fragile to survive in her new kingdom. A world of winter that harbored an eternal blizzard. The frost that once gathered beneath her fingertips had devoured what had once been a been a promising kingdom, full of life.
Now it was cold, just like her.