Who am I?
I… don't know. My name… what's my name?
I can't think. I don't want to think.
The world swirls around me. The smell of roasted food fills the air, mingling with the stench of dirt and sweat. People bustle past, shouting, laughing, bartering.
The cobblestones beneath my bare feet feel cold but I don't care. I'm standing in the middle of a huge place that towers over me. Tall walls climb high into the sky, casting long shadows. The buildings are massive, with wooden beams and tiled roofs, their windows reflecting the warm glow of the sun.
It's beautiful, but I don't feel happy.
I feel lost.
My hands are trembling as I look at them. They are frail, small, and weak. They don't feel like mine. My skin is pale, almost translucent, and my fingers quiver as if they're afraid of the very air. What's wrong with me? Why am I here?
And then, it all comes rushing back.
I can see her face. My mother's face.
Her smile, soft and kind, the way her eyes crinkled when she told me stories before bed. I remember her arms around me, her voice gentle as she whispered,
"Don't be afraid, my darling. I'll always protect you."
But that's not all I remember.
I see her again, standing in front of me, shielding me from the bad people. They had power, their eyes cruel and sharp. She told me to run, but I couldn't move. I was frozen, terrified. And then—
Blood. So much blood.
Her body falling, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
Her voice, calling my name one last time before her eyes went dull.
I screamed.
I didn't know what else to do. I screamed until my throat burned, until the world around me blurred into nothing but pain and loss. The bad people laughed as they left, and I crawled to her, clutching her lifeless body. Her blood soaked my hands, warm and sticky, and I begged her to wake up.
"Mommy… Mommy, please…"
The ocean was cold when it dragged her into it. She didn't move, didn't wake up. The waves pulled her away from me, carrying her into the vast, endless blue. I tried to hold on, but the water was too strong. She slipped from my hands, and I was left alone, floating in the emptiness.
That's the last thing I remember before waking up here.
My heart pounds as the memories crash over me. My chest feels tight, like I can't breathe. Anger bubbles up inside me and I clutch my head, trying to make it stop. I hate this.
I hate everything.
"Why did you leave me?!"
People in the city stop and stare, but I don't care. Tears stream down my face and I fall to my knees on the cold cobblestones. My frail body shakes with rage, and something inside me stirs.
My fingers tingle and the air around me grows heavy. The ground beneath me trembles as if the earth itself can feel my anger. I look down at my hands, and they're glowing—no, burning with a strange, fierce light. My breath catches as the power surges through me.
I clench my fists and the cobblestones crack beneath me. The people around me scream and scatter, but I don't care. Let them run. Let them fear me. I feel the anger pouring out of me, mixing with the unbearable pain of losing her.
"Why did you leave me alone?"
I cry again, my voice echoing through the streets. The light around me flares, and I can feel the power building, ready to explode.
I don't care what happens. I don't care if this whole city burns. I just want her back.
The tears won't stop and I collapse onto the ground, sobbing. My body feels so weak, but the power keeps surging, growing stronger with every heartbeat. I don't know how to stop it and a part of me doesn't want to.
The rage is all I have left.
The anguish wraps around me like a suffocating blanket and I curl into myself, clutching my knees to my chest.
I don't know who I am. I don't know why I'm here.
All I know is that I'm angry.
And I don't care.
Let them all die.
Die die die die die die die...
DIE! ALL OF YOU!
"JUST DISAPPEAR ALREADY!"
°°°°°°
The air went still, like the world itself was holding its breath. Then, the ground trembled. Just a little at first, like a warning.
And then, she screamed.
It wasn't the cry of a little girl anymore. It was something full of pain that had been buried too deep for too long. The sound ripped through the city, cutting through the chatter of the streets and the clang of the markets like a blade. People froze, turning toward the source, but by the time they realized what was happening, it was too late.
The first shockwave exploded out from her, a ripple in the air that hit like a cannonball. Windows shattered, glass spraying like deadly rain onto the crowds below. The cobblestones cracked and split apart as if something massive was clawing its way out from beneath them.
A man standing just a few feet from her dropped first. One second he was there, eyes wide with confusion, and the next, his body convulsed like a puppet with its strings yanked too hard. His skin bubbled, blackened, and peeled away in strips, leaving raw flesh underneath. He didn't even have time to scream before he crumpled to the ground, blood pooling around him.
The wave of energy didn't stop. It tore through the streets like a living thing, fast and wild and angry. People ran, but where could they go? The energy was everywhere, in the air, in their lungs, seeping into their skin like poison.
A mother clutching her baby stumbled, coughing violently as blood dribbled from her nose and mouth. Her legs gave out, and she hit the ground hard, curling around her child like a shield. But it didn't matter. The energy reached the baby too. Its tiny body went limp, its cries silenced in an instant.
Buildings began to crumble under the sheer force of it. Stone walls split apart like paper and wooden beams burst into flames, the fire spreading faster than anyone could react. The air grew thick with smoke and the stench of burning flesh.
The people still standing weren't much better off. Some clawed at their throats, choking as the toxic energy burned its way through their lungs. Others dropped where they stood, their eyes wide with terror as their veins turned black and spider-webbed across their skin. The unlucky ones were caught by collapsing buildings, their screams buried under the rubble.
And at the center of it all was the girl.
She wasn't moving anymore, just standing there, shaking with rage and grief and something darker. Her eyes glowed unnaturally, like two molten suns, and tears streamed down her face, leaving clean streaks in the dirt on her cheeks.
"AAAAAAAAAAH !"
She screamed again, her voice breaking as another wave of power surged outward. The ground buckled and split apart in front of her, swallowing carts, market stalls and anyone too slow to get away.
The city was falling apart around her. Flames licked the skies, smoke rising so thick it blotted out the sun. The once-busy streets were filled with bodies, some twisted and broken, others eerily still, as if they'd simply stopped.
But she didn't notice any of it. All she could see was her mother's face in her mind, the way it had looked the last time she saw her, broken, lifeless, drifting away in the water.
The energy around her grew darker, heavier, pulsing with every heartbeat. The entire city felt it now, the sheer weight of her rage and grief crushing the life out of everything in its path. It was too much, too big for her small, fragile body to contain, but she didn't care.
She screamed again, her voice raw, and the last standing tower of the city exploded into dust, raining debris over the ruins. The screams around her faded, replaced by silence—the kind that only comes when there's nothing left to scream for.
And still, she stood there, shaking and crying, at the center of the devastation she didn't even realize she had caused.
And the entire city was turned into ashes.
And thus, the Frozen Ruins came to existence.