(Opening sequence: the fiery cruiser descends through curtains of snow. Aetherion's northern skies shimmer with pale auroras—the world itself seems to hold its breath.)
"Cold is not the absence of warmth—it is warmth that has learned silence." — Proverb of Glaciem.
Scene 1
The cruiser pierced the last wall of stormclouds and glided into calm air. Below stretched Glaciem, the Ice Realm—endless fields of frozen glass, rivers locked in motion, and citadels suspended beneath crystal domes.
Ren pressed his hand to the window. The sight stole his breath. Every shard of ice refracted dawn light into a thousand hues—blue, violet, silver.It was like stepping into another dimension.
Ignis stood behind him, arms crossed, gaze firm. "Welcome to the land where fire dies."
He turned. "You're full of comforting lines, you know that?"
She smirked. "Consider it motivation."
(Camera zoom: the ship passes through a massive archway of ice runes. Blue flames flicker along its edges, scanning for foreign magic.)
SYSTEM CHECK: FOREIGN RESONANCE DETECTED.
AUTHORIZATION: PRINCESS IGNIS—APPROVED.
SECOND SIGNATURE—UNKNOWN. CLASSIFY: ANOMALY.
Ren's orb pulsed once. The air thickened. For a moment, the entire barrier shimmered, resisting him. Then Ignis placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Easy. The system just needs to remember you're with me."
With her touch, the glyphs stabilized. The gate opened, and the cruiser slid through into Glaciem airspace.
Ren exhaled. "Does everything here hate warmth?"
"Pretty much," she said.
(Cutaway—below, citizens in white robes look up, whispering as the red-and-gold vessel crosses their sky.)
Scene 2
They landed in Frostfall, the capital built around a frozen waterfall taller than any tower. The cascade stood still mid-plunge, its surface glowing faintly with the energy that kept it suspended.
Ren stepped onto the platform. The cold bit through his gloves instantly. His breath misted into small clouds.Ignis didn't seem bothered—her aura kept a halo of warmth around her, the snow melting before it touched her cloak.
"Remind me," he muttered, "how do people live here?"
"Quietly," a voice answered from the mist.
A squad of armored soldiers emerged, cloaked in white fur. Their armor reflected the environment—no seams, no sound. The leader stepped forward, visor opening to reveal a woman with pale skin and silver hair braided tight.
"Visitors from Ignara," she said evenly. "Princess Ignis. You stand on the Frostfall Domain, under rule of Her Grace, Glacielle the Ice Empress."
Ignis bowed just enough to be polite. "We seek audience. Matters concern the Heart Protocol."
The captain's eyes flicked toward Ren. "And the anomaly?"
Ignis's tone hardened. "My knight. He speaks under my protection."
The captain hesitated, then inclined her head. "Understood. The Empress anticipated your arrival. Follow me."
(Camera pans—escort formation through icy streets, citizens pausing to stare, whispers echoing: "the Flame Princess... and a mortal?")
Scene 3
(Wide shot: the palace of Glacielle rises from the frozen lake, carved entirely from crystal and snow. Inside, temperature drops further; even light feels slower.)
Ren's breath came in shallow puffs. His orb dimmed slightly, reacting to the elemental suppression field.
Ignis noticed. "Stay close. My flame will keep your core steady."
He nodded. "How do you even stand this place?"
"I don't," she said simply. "I endure it."
At the throne's end sat Princess Glacielle.
She was nothing like Ignis. Her hair was pale blue, long and almost weightless, cascading like frozen silk. Her gown shimmered like fractured starlight. When she looked at them, the room itself seemed to still.
(Camera close-up—her eyes, mirrored like glass, reflect both Ren and Ignis.)
"Ignis of Flame," she said, voice calm as snowfall. "You bring warmth where none is wanted. Why?"
Ignis stepped forward. "Because the world burns and freezes at once. The Heart Protocol has awakened. A Nullborn bonded with my fragment."
Glacielle's gaze shifted to Ren. "So this is the anomaly."
Ren swallowed. "Name's Ren Arclight. And... I didn't mean to break your world."
"Yet you did," she said without emotion. "Your resonance has already altered the climate balance. The northern barriers wavered the moment you crossed them."
Ignis interjected. "Then you already feel it—the chain reaction. You know it's real."
Glacielle rose from her throne, every motion controlled, graceful, detached. "I feel disorder. Nothing more."
Elrion's theory echoed in Ren's mind: each princess embodies an emotion.If Ignis was courage, Glacielle was vulnerability—though she hid it behind ice walls.
He took a step forward. "You can feel it because you're connected. The Protocol's not just code—it's heart. Maybe it's trying to fix itself."
Her expression didn't change. "Or destroy what remains."
(Camera: the air grows colder; faint frost spreads from her feet.)
Scene 4
"Ignis," Glacielle said softly, "you once burned down a fortress for questioning your rule. Do you truly bring me peace—or contagion?"
Ignis's jaw tightened. "If I came to fight, you'd know it already."
"Then prove it. Let the Protocol judge."
Without warning, the floor beneath Ren cracked open. He and Ignis fell into a descending ring of light—straight into an arena made of ice mirrors.
TRIAL OF ALIGNMENT – INITIATED.
OBJECTIVE: MEASURE ELEMENTAL COMPATIBILITY.
Ren groaned, landing in a crouch. "You princesses really like throwing people into fights, huh?"
Ignis smirked. "Consider it our greeting ritual."
Above them, Glacielle appeared like a reflection in the ice, watching. "If your bond is true, your fire will not harm my domain. If it is false, you will both perish."
Ren raised his hands. "Great. No pressure."
The trial began.
(Music intensifies—fire and ice burst across the field. Ignis's flame clashed with crystalline shards raining from the air. Ren moved instinctively beside her, shaping his fire to counter incoming frost lances.)
The first strike froze his shoulder instantly. Pain shot through him; frost crawled down his arm, threatening to extinguish his aura.
Ignis shouted, "Focus! Don't fight the cold—reshape it!"
Ren closed his eyes, breath slow. He imagined not fire against ice, but fire through it—warmth carving pathways without melting everything. The flames around his hand shifted, turning white at the edges.
(Camera slows—the two energies swirl, intertwining rather than destroying each other. Steam rises like a veil.)
Above, Glacielle watched, expression unreadable.
Ren exhaled, steady. "I think I get it. It's not about winning."
Ignis nodded. "It's about balance."
Together they raised their arms. Flame met frost in a controlled spiral. For a moment, the entire chamber glowed violet—a perfect equilibrium.
TRIAL COMPLETE.
COMPATIBILITY – 72%.
The ice fissures sealed themselves. Glacielle descended silently, her steps leaving no mark.
"You learned quickly," she said, almost impressed. "Fire that listens instead of devours. Rare."
Ren caught his breath. "So we pass?"
"Partly. You proved you can survive here. Whether you deserve to stay… remains to be seen."
(Camera pans upward—the ceiling melts into daylight, revealing the northern sky. Snow drifts gently over their heads.)
Scene 5
Later, a maid escorted Ren to a courtyard filled with frozen trees that chimed faintly when wind passed through. Ignis had been summoned elsewhere; he finally had a moment to think.
He touched the frost on one branch. "Beautiful, but fragile."
A quiet voice replied behind him, "That's why we keep it frozen."
He turned. Glacielle stood there, unguarded this time. No crown, no attendants—just a thin shawl and her natural stillness.
Ren bowed awkwardly. "Uh, Your Highness."
She studied him. "You speak without titles. Ignis calls you her knight, but you act like an equal."
He shrugged. "Never learned how to act like anything else."
"Strange," she murmured. "Most men who stand before me tremble."
"I'm freezing," he said dryly. "That's close enough."
(She actually smiles—barely noticeable, but real.)
"Why risk coming here?" she asked. "You could have stayed where you were accepted."
Ren looked out over the frozen trees. "Because if I only stay where it's warm, I'll never learn what warmth is."
That made her pause.
She approached the nearest frozen pond. "Ignis says you awakened the Protocol through emotion. Do you believe love can rewrite systems?"
He hesitated. "I don't know if it's love. But connection? Yeah. The system reacts when hearts align. Maybe that's what we lost."
Glacielle looked down at her reflection. "Perhaps. Or perhaps hearts were never meant to align."
(Soft wind rises; her reflection flickers. She turns away.)
"Tomorrow," she said, "you will meet me in the Inner Sanctum. There, you will see what our fragment guards."
Ren nodded slowly. "Understood."
She walked off, her figure fading into mist. For a heartbeat, he thought he saw her glance back.
(Camera lingers—frost petals drift through the air, melting where they touch his flame aura.)
Scene 6
Night fell. Ren wandered the corridors, the silence pressing in. The palace seemed alive—crystals humming faintly, whispering fragments of memory.
Then he heard it—a voice, faint but clear, carried through the walls.
"Heartbearer... seven hearts... seek the mirror of truth..."
He froze. "Not again…"
His orb flickered—blue light this time. The frost on the walls shaped itself into a circle of runes. Inside, the face of a young woman appeared briefly—silver hair, cold tears in her eyes.
"Glacielle?" he whispered.
The image blinked, glitching between past and present. Then it vanished, leaving only frost and silence.
Ignis's voice rang in his mind-link:
Ren, where are you? The Empress called an emergency assembly.
He looked once more at the wall, unease crawling up his spine. "On my way."
(Camera tilt: the frost circle remains faintly glowing after he leaves, like an eye watching.)
Scene 7
(Grand hall—Glacielle sits at the head table. Ambassadors from Zephyria and Terranova appear via projection. Snowlight flickers across the walls.)
Glacielle's tone was calm but heavy. "The Nullborn Cult has infiltrated Glaciem's border. Two reactors destabilized. They seek the Heart Fragments."
Ignis leaned forward. "So it's confirmed. They know about the Protocol."
Ren stood beside her, silent, observing how frost and flame mirrored each other in every reflection.
Glacielle turned to him. "Arclight. You've faced them once. What do they want?"
He hesitated, then said, "Not to destroy the system—to erase it. They believe the Heartbearer trapped humanity in a cage of data."
Elrion's recorded voice echoed through a comm-crystal on the table: "If they breach another realm, resonance might spread uncontrollably. We must unify the fragments."
Glacielle's eyes narrowed. "Unify? You speak of forbidden merging."
Ignis interjected, "Then tell us another way."
Silence.
Finally Glacielle said, "There may be one. A place older than the realms—the Mirror Core, where the Heart Protocol's origin still sleeps. But finding it will require more than courage."
Her gaze lingered on Ren. "It will require truth."
(Camera pans outward—auroras swirl through the hall's dome, the colors of seven elements flickering faintly.)
Ren felt the pull deep inside—the same call from his dreams.
"I'll find it," he said quietly.
Both princesses looked at him. Fire and ice, opposites, now united by the same impossible promise.
Scene 8
(Soft piano; visuals fade one into another.)
— Ren walking through the Frost Garden, his breath a halo of mist.— Ignis and Glacielle speaking quietly near the frozen throne, their silhouettes outlined by blue and red light.— A distant cliff where dark figures of the Nullborn watch, whispering: "Two fragments aligned. The cycle accelerates."— And above it all, the aurora shifts, revealing for an instant the sigil of a heart split seven ways.
Ren (voiceover):
"The more I understand this world, the less I belong to it.But maybe that's why I was born blank—to carry the colors that everyone else lost."
(Wind fades. Snow falls. Fade to black.)
[Next on I Can Upgrade My Status by Kissing the Seven Princesses of the World — Chapter 7: Frozen Duel]