A Nameless Soul

The boy's eyes opened as a sea of darkness entered his view.

He looked around curiously, searching for…something. Anything besides the inky blackness of wherever he was.

Eventually, a figure faded into view, obscured by a foggy mist.

"What is it you are searching for…boy?"

"A warmth…"

"A warmth strong enough to melt the frozen heart within me."

The figure sighed.

"If that is truly your wish…"

"Then I cannot grant it."

"But I will give you a gift instead."

"Now go off to your destiny, whatever it may be."

The figure vanished, and the dark world around him glowed, turning into a bright white light that quickly dissolved.

When the boy's eyes opened, they were greeted to a world of white. Snowflakes drifted gently to the ground, creating a scene suffused with loneliness.

The boy suddenly felt a chill on his left hand.

As he raised it up to his face, he saw a mark. It shone silver-white against the backdrop of the snowy ground, blending in with the cold, bitter atmosphere.

For some reason, something…two words appeared in the boy's mind when he saw the mark.

"Frost Monarch…"

As if the world had reacted to the two words he had uttered, the wind suddenly picked up, creating a blizzard of blinding, pure white snow.

As quickly as it had started, the blizzard faded away, leaving the boy coated with a layer of shining white.

He sighed.

"I should try to secure a food source as soon as possible…"

"But…how will I find it?"

"I don't know how to hunt…much less cooking or skinning…"

The boy sighed. His body felt numb due to the extreme cold, causing him to shiver.

"Tch...it's too cold. I need to find shelter…"

As he said this, an icy, sharp pain assaulted his mind, causing him to scream out in agony.

As the pain faded, an image flashed through his head. A dark gray castle covered in frost and snow sat on a cliff, overlooking an icy tundra.

When the pain slowly subsided, the boy's eyes had a tint of silver to accompany the ice blue in his eyes. His sharpened gaze looked towards the direction of the castle.

"The first step of the inheritance...looks like I've been chosen."

As he took the first step on his long journey, for the first time, he felt something. A feeling that he had almost forgotten.

Despite his half dead state, he felt…

Curiosity

As the boy continued to walk, his body became more and more numb. A cold layer of frost had begun to cover his body.

He sighed, taking a deep breath.

"Haaa…"

"Looks like I couldn't make it."

As he collapsed, something appeared in his vision before everything turned dark.

When he opened his eyes, a field of ice lay before him.

"..."

As he turned around, a stone throne, covered in ice and snow stood in front of him. The throne seemed to call him towards it, but before he touched it, he awoke.

He blinked as his vision returned. What lay in front of him was an empty hallway.

A term popped into his head.

"Warp field…"

"So that's how I got into the castle…"

"However...why am I fully healed…?"

The hallway shook as clanging reverberated throughout the area.

His eyes turned sharp as an aura of intense danger coated the interior of the castle, causing the symbol on his hand to flash.

A simple spell appeared in his mind, accompanied by a rune.

"Freezing touch…"

The boy's eyes flashed silver-blue as a layer of frost coated his hand.

As the clanging drew closer, he took an unfamiliar battle stance.

"Frost style…"

The source of all the noise appeared at the end of the hallway.

A large skeleton coated in ice slowly emerged into the boy's vision.

It wore a set of metal armor over its brittle, frost covered bones.

A large broadsword let out large, piercing screeches as the skeleton dragged it along the floor.

The skeleton's eye sockets burned with a blue fire as it swiveled its head towards the boy.

He whispered something.

"Winter Breeze."

The skeleton rushed forwards, swinging its sword in a deadly arc. The boy pressed his hand onto his chest as he attempted to duck under the blade's edge.

A coating of ice slowly spread across his body, but he was a second too slow.

The blade scraped his chest as he flew backwards.

The tinkling of ice resounded through the hallway as the boy coughed out blood from the impact.

The skeleton rushed forwards again, stabbing towards the boy with its sword.

The boy quickly rolled to the side.

"Freezing touch."

He grabbed the skeleton's arm with his right hand, causing the brittle bone to be covered in a layer of frost.

The attack, if he could call it that, hardly did anything. Before the freezing got too deadly, he was forced to let go as he dodged a wild swing of the skeleton's large broadsword.

He drew his leg back and took the same stance.

The sword swung down once more.

The boy stepped to the side, and clenched his fist.

"Shatter."

The ice on the skeleton's bones exploded, blowing the arm off of the skeleton. It let out a soundless wail of fury, and swung its sword in another wide arc.

The boy rolled back, avoiding the deadly swing. He dashed to the side of the skeleton, leaving a trail of ice.

His hand gripped the skeleton's ribcage as a layer of ice slowly spread over the coating of ice already covering the skeleton.

A roar of fury escaped from the creature's throat as it sensed the impending doom.

He clenched his fist again.

All the ice on the skeleton's body exploded, scattering shards of ice and bone all over the floor.

The boy leaned back against the wall as another bout of coughing hit him.

A thin layer of blood splattered on the floor as he slumped against the wall.

"Ngh...internal bleeding..."

Before he could say anything more, a cold wind blew past, swirling around him before condensing into a ball of ice.

"Ah...welcome to the Palace of Ice...Inheritor. You...do not seem to be well enough to speak."

The boy looked up at the spirit, his sharp eyes causing him to be taken aback.

"I'm fine."