King moved through the snow like an avalanche that learned how to walk 🗻❄️. Bushes snapped 🌿💥, fallen logs went flying 🪵, and trees that stood too confidently in his path earned a punch 👊🌲.
Behind him, Ember trudged along, tied by a rope around her waist like a very unhappy sled dog 🪢😡.
"Do you HAVE to break everything you see?!" she shouted.
King didn't slow down.
"If it annoys me," he said flatly, "it dies."
A rock stubbed his toe.
He kicked it.
Hard.
The rock vanished into the sky like it had offended a god 🚀🪨.
Ember flinched 😨.
"You're insane."
King didn't argue.
She swallowed, nerves rattling, then asked quietly,
"W-what… what are you planning to do to me?"
King kept walking.
"I'll keep you with me until I deal with your sister."
Ember's face went pale ❄️.
"D-deal…? What deal…?"
King cracked his knuckles 👊💥.
"I'm going to break Valmira's teeth," he said calmly,
"one by one."
Ember nearly tripped over her own feet 😱.
"WHAT?! WHY?!"
"She called me a demon," King replied.
"And she screams too much."
He paused.
"Also, I don't like her face."
"That's HOW YOU DECIDE?!"
King shrugged.
"Life is simple."
Ember tugged at the rope around her waist 🪢.
"And… me? What happens to me?"
King finally looked back.
His stare was blank. Unblinking. Heavy 👁️❄️.
"You?" he said. "You're safe."
She blinked.
"…Safe?"
"You're too small to be annoying for long."
Her eyebrow twitched 😤.
"That's NOT comforting!"
King turned forward again.
"Don't worry. I don't hurt kids unless they bite."
"WHY WOULD I BITE YOU?!"
"You seem the type."
Ember opened her mouth to argue… then closed it.
Because honestly?
She did feel like biting him sometimes 😠.
They kept going.
Snow cracking under boots ❄️💥.
Trees trembling 🌲.
One giant man.
One terrified girl.
Moving together through the wilds like a bad idea that refused to stop.
In the North Village — The Horrifying News 🏔️
A patrol of hunters burst into the village, shouting like madmen 😱🏃♂️.
"We found it! We FOUND IT!!"
Villagers gathered instantly.
The North Hero peeked from behind them, nervous as ever 😰.
Valmira stormed forward dramatically 👑🔥.
"Well?! Speak! What did you find?!"
One hunter dropped to his knees.
"Two ice bears," he said, shaking.
"Dead. In the woods."
The crowd gasped 😱❄️.
Valmira's eyes widened.
"Who killed them?"
The hunter swallowed hard.
"No weapon marks… except a massive axe."
"The ground is torn apart like a battlefield."
He hesitated.
"Their necks…"
He closed his eyes.
"Broken. By hand."
Silence fell like a grave ❄️⚰️.
Everyone knew.
Only one person was strong enough.
Violent enough.
Reckless enough.
The North Hero whispered, voice shaking,
"K… King…"
Valmira staggered back 😨.
"So the monster who took my sister kills ice bears like insects?!"
The priest wiped sweat from his forehead 😓.
"This is dangerous. He has become… something feral."
Valmira stomped her foot, furious and terrified 😡😱.
"I DON'T CARE if he's a demon or a walking mountain!"
"He has my SISTER!"
"Send warriors! Send armies! I WANT HIM CAUGHT!"
The North Hero hesitated, voice small 😰.
"B-but if King defeated ice bears alone… our soldiers might… not…"
Valmira grabbed him by the collar 👊👕.
"YOU ARE THE HERO OF THE NORTH!"
"DO SOMETHING!"
The skinny boy nearly fainted 😵.
"I-I'll try!"
Villagers whispered 🤫.
Some prayed 🙏.
Some cried 😢.
One truth settled deep into their bones:
King was no longer just a disappointment.
He was the terror of the North 🌪️❄️.
And he was walking deeper into the wilderness…
with Valmira's sister in tow.
Frozen Wilds — A Broken Hero ❄️🖤
The snow softened.
The forest grew quieter 🌲.
But King's footsteps still hit the ground like punches thrown at the past 👊❄️.
Ember followed behind him, breath forming small, shaky clouds ☁️😮💨.
She hadn't screamed for a while.
Not because she wasn't scared.
But because she was thinking.
Watching.
Noticing the way his shoulders carried more weight than his muscles ever could.
She walked a little closer.
"King…" she said softly.
"What are you going to do?"
He didn't answer.
He smashed a branch with his axe like the tree owed him money 🪓🌲💥.
Ember swallowed.
"What happens next?"
"Why take me?"
"Why fight bears?"
"Why… destroy everything?"
King stopped.
Not slowly.
Like a beast halting mid-charge 🐺❄️.
He turned his head just enough for her to see half his face.
The angry half.
The hurt half.
The half that only knew how to be sharp.
"Hero," he said quietly.
"You think that word means something?"
Ember stayed silent.
"Heroes are born to defeat evil," King continued.
"But no one tells you what happens after."
His voice cracked like ice under too much weight 🧊💔.
"They tell children to dream."
"To train."
"To bleed."
"To become something the world already decided for them."
Ember took a step back 😨.
King's eyes burned — not with fire, but with betrayal.
"I trained from the moment I could walk," he said.
"Carried stones. Fought beasts. Broke bones."
His fist clenched until the leather creaked 👊.
"Not for glory."
"For them."
"The village…?" Ember whispered.
"Yes."
A bitter smile twisted his lips 😏💔.
"My whole life, they said I would be the Hero of the North."
He laughed once. Short. Painful.
"And then a drop of god's blood chose a skinny boy who can't lift a shield."
Ember felt her chest tighten.
She finally understood.
Something horrible.
Something human.
"So what will you do?" she asked again.
King exhaled, frost rolling from his breath like smoke 🌬️❄️.
"I will kill the evil," he said.
Then he looked up.
Straight into the sky ☁️👁️.
"And then," he whispered,
"I will become the evil."
Ember's eyes widened 😨.
"Why would you do that?!"
"So no child," King growled,
"no warrior, no village ever chases a fake dream again."
He stepped forward, his shadow swallowing her whole 🌑.
"If heroes exist only to suffer," he said,
"then I will end heroes forever."
Ember trembled.
Not from the cold.
From understanding 😨🖤.
"King… that's not justice," she whispered.
"That's revenge."
"It's the only thing left."
"You'll be hunted."
"I already am."
"You'll be hated."
"I already am."
"And my sister?" Ember asked quietly.
"Valmira…?"
King's jaw tightened 😬.
"I won't kill her."
"Just break her teeth."
Ember buried her face in her hands 😭.
"That's NOT helping!"
King shrugged.
"Then she should've stayed home."