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Chapter 5: The Ring Beneath Ice
Far in the north, where the sun was a pale ghost and snow fell like whispers from the sky, the fortress of Svarheim trembled. Beneath its deepest vault, sealed by rune and oath, the Frost Ring stirred for the first time in a hundred years.
Ice cracked. Steel groaned.
And the ring… called.
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In Chronaris
Kaelen awoke with frost clinging to his fingertips. His breath came out in fog, though the room was warm.
"The Frost Ring," he muttered.
Aeris looked up from sharpening her blade. "You felt it too?"
He nodded. "It's waking."
Eidros appeared in the doorway. "Then your path is clear."
Kaelen stood. "Svarheim."
Eidros's gaze darkened. "The Frozen Keep is no friend of Fate. Their queen, Astrid the Hollow, wears no crown but commands legions. If she gets the ring—"
"She won't," Kaelen said. But the tremble in his voice betrayed doubt.
Eidros stepped closer. "Then take this." He handed Kaelen a slender hourglass on a silver chain. "Break it only if you must stop time itself."
Aeris whistled softly. "That's a gift… or a curse."
"Both," Eidros said. "As all gifts from time are."
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The Journey Begins
They left Chronaris at dawn, riding hard across frozen moors. Snow lashed at their cloaks. Time itself seemed to stretch as they crossed from lands ruled by gears and flame into the domain of winter's silence.
Kaelen could feel the other rings now. Not their voices, but their pressure—like distant drums echoing in the back of his mind. The Ring of Fate pulsed stronger the closer they came to Svarheim.
As they climbed the glacier's edge, a shadow passed over them. Aeris drew her bow instinctively.
A monstrous winged creature circled high above—icy blue scales glinting in the sun.
"Frost wyvern," she whispered.
Kaelen narrowed his eyes. "Or something worse guarding the ring."
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In Svarheim
Deep below the ice, Queen Astrid stood barefoot in the snow. Her skin was pale as marble, her breath visible even in the deathly cold of her chamber.
She looked down at the glowing circle encased in crystal.
"Soon," she whispered, her voice like cracking icicles. "Mine again."
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