Note: This is the final chapter. Epilogue coming soon...
AU: Infinite Winters
Part 9: Frozen
The kingdom of Arendelle met the cold night.
Then a portal opened wide at the middle of the kingdom and the new Snow Queen has returned. However, upon her return, she did not expect to see what has happened to her beloved home. The castle is in ruins and the houses are abandoned. There are no lives left in the kingdom expect one.
The kingdom's queen.
Elsa ventured forth to the ruins of her kingdom but she doesn't seem to mind what happened. All she think about right now is to stop the Man of Death before he destroy more lives. Also, she remembered her sister Anna. She wondered what happened to her. Kristoff must've got her out and went to the valley safely. The young queen tried to think positive. Her sister's safe and she doesn't need to worry about it.
Elsa entered the castle and into her throne room were she found a massive hole on the ceiling. She turned to the left and saw a large boulder. Could it be that it was catapulted? Or the Man of Death threw it? But then the queen stepped on something fragile. She looked down and saw a skeleton lying on the ruined floor. She took a good look around and found a lot of skeletons, some of them were in pieces, scattered around the ruins. "What happened here?" The bones were older like they were there for years.
Suddenly, a voice answered her. "Kill one baby. Change history forever."
The snow queen turned to the side of the room where the throne was placed. There she saw the shadow man creepily leave the dark corner of the throne room. The Man of Death has done it. He destroyed her kingdom. "What did you do?" Elsa waved her hand and launched a quick ice blast on the shadow man pinning him on the wall.
The Man of Death simply slipped through the ice and marched forward to have a normal conversation with the new Snow Queen. "It's amazing how you survived. It's simply amazing."
"What do you mean?" Elsa remained on guard and listened to the shadow man.
"I killed you... when you are still a baby."
"How did you do that?"
"I went back in time." He showed her the orange gemstone with a single dot on it like a dice. She recognized that gem before. It's He's. The man who called himself a Time God who came to warn them about the shadow people. The crazy man was right all along. "Well, now that you are here, alive and well... that means you have become the new core of your own existence. It sounds good news for me because that's what I'm trying to achieve here." His body turned into blazing red, preparing for his attack. "I'm destroying every core in the multiverse! One core dies, the entire counterparts will die as well. That is what I do." And then a blast of force made a loud sonic boom like a giant cannon fired its powerful shot.
Elsa felt the mighty force as the Man of Death charging towards her. The atmosphere quickly increased as the red entity closing in. The snow queen reacted immediately creating a thick wall of ice to block.
The red shadow man manage to pierce through the ice wall. Large blocks of ice and lukewarm water burst out as he got through the other side. Then he was surprised Elsa has gone. He turned around and saw the pale woman used the wall to block his vision.
The young queen froze the floor and popped out long ice spikes below the shadow man.
The Man of Death struck the floor with his fist and the force of his punch caused a powerful explosion destroying the ruined throne room of Arendelle.
Elsa managed to get out through the broken window and dived into the sea. She resurfaced and froze the water so she can stand on. She looked up and see her castle burning. It is totally gone. Her world. Her old life. The Man of Death took everything she had. Everything she loved. Then her anger fueled her and drives her to be a mighty force of nature. "The prophecy is right all along." The atmosphere quickly dropped below zero and the clouds above began to spin starting a snowstorm. Elsa is just above the eye of it. Her pale skin began to freeze, turning her into crystal blue and her eyes turned dark.
The prophecy of the Infinite Winters came true.
Elsa started the storm and poured all of her power to the Man of Darkness still inside the burning castle. She screamed in rage as she blasted the castle with the mighty winter winds. The flames were completely extinguished in a second and the ruins crumbled by the powerful force of the blast. Elsa destroyed her home with the shadow entity in it.
But that doesn't stop there. The Man of Death punched his way out from the frozen ruins and attacked the queen in a flash. Red streak of heat landed a hard blow on the snow queen. She felt the burning punch on her face and the force that pushed her away. Elsa got back on her feet quickly and strike back with several large ice spears and blades. She learned that from her male counterpart Prince Elias. He used that to protect his brother Anton.
The Man of Death simply waved his hand, sending a strong heatwave to melt and evaporate the ice Elsa threw at him. But then he did not anticipate her next move.
Elsa created a small necklace chain with extreme freezing magic embedded on it. She leaped towards his back swiftly like the winter breeze and then wrapped his neck with it. She got that from her counterpart from another world who created a birthday necklace for her sister Anna. The snow queen used it to choke the villain. She learned that from her counterpart the Crystal Maiden the woman that Hans loved in his world.
The dark entity tried to burn the necklace but it's no use. It keeps on freezing. He then tried another way. He pushed his head back, headbutting the queen.
When her enemy struck her nose, she lost hold on the necklace. After that, she received a powerful blow on her gut.
The Man of Darkness hit her again but it was blocked.
She kicked the villain away and took time to recover. Her nose hurts and the pain distracts her.
"Feel the burn!" The Man of Death exclaimed.
The shadow man burst out intensely bright flames around his body. He's no longer a dark entity. He's a fire entity. The red gem that he consumed just gave him more power. Elsa must find a way to take it out. She had an idea in mind but that will bring the second Ice Age and killing people who has never experienced extreme sub zero climates. She doesn't want to do it but her guts telling her to. It is the only way to defeat the entity. "Prepare yourself!" She said as she brought down the snowstorm around the fire entity. She create a strong blizzard, blocking his vision and leaving him immobile. He can barely move as the strong winter winds spin around him. His intense flames died leaving his glowing red body bare.
"Stop it!" He yelled.
But Elsa did not stop. She kept on spin the storm, making it bigger and bigger. The trees froze in a second and their leaves shattered instantly. The storm grew and grew until it covered the entire continent. People from other kingdoms and villages quickly died as they freeze to death. They did not scream. It was silent. Elsa doesn't want it but she has too. The Snow Queen waved her hands, keeping the storm spinning.
The Man of Death is under the eye of the great blizzard. His body began to numb. He cannot move his fingers. They started to freeze. The fire inside of him cannot get out. "What kind of magic is this?" Cracks started to appear on his body. He's breaking apart. He's becoming fragile. The entity cannot speak or move his mouth as they started to freeze as well.
Elsa saw what's happening to him. She threw a large icicle to the shadow man's stomach. It struck the villain and manage to push the red stone out from his body. The Man of Death shattered and broke down into a thousand pieces. And then he was gone. She eased down the storm for the battle is over. Elsa approached the black fragments of the shadow man, checking if he's dead.
Few seconds later, nothing happened. The fragments did not break or move.
It's over.
The Snow Queen reached down to the three stones that the shadow man left behind. Stones of Red, Orange and Purple. Each of them have numbers on them. She saw One, Two and Six. Elsa began to recognize them. Her counterparts have seen and heard of those stones before. They are powerful and pretty ancient. Older than the world. Older than time itself. These six existed for so long.
Now the question is how many have the shadow people gathered.
"Five." Someone read her mind and answered her question.
Quickly, Elsa turned and saw a small slithering shadow struck her face went inside her. It's the Man of Death. He's turning her into his host, a living vessel.
The shadow man smirked. "Good for me." The entity turned into smoke and the three gems she dropped to the flat frozen sea. The black smoke went through the hole of her armor and sipped inside her body. The shadow man has possessed the Snow Queen. "Now we are one."
The young queen panicked. She has no idea the shadow man can possess her while in her prime. "How?"
"We have studied you 'two' for so long and we have found a way to get inside your material bodies." The shadow man chuckled inside Elsa's head.
Elsa can see the silhouette of her enemy in her sight. She tried to blink but his grin was still there. "Get out! Get out!"
The Man of Death laughed. "Now, it is time for my final act!"
"Final act?" Elsa agitated when her body started to move. The shadow man is controlling her. "No! NO! What are you doing?" Her hand waved and created a long ice dagger.
"Finishing my mission."
"No!" Elsa learned something from her mother's memories. "If you are going to kill me while you are inside of me, you will die."
"That's my purpose here. Risking my own existence to finally kill the one who protects the multiverse. Once the Infinite Winters gone, the entire material world will be defenseless against the horde of darkness." The shadow man raised the dagger and aim to her heart. Their heart. The core of their existence. "That is why I was called the Man of Death in the first place."
"NO!" The queen tried to stop him but she cannot control her arms.
But then, "ELSA!" A man called her name from the blinding blizzard.
Elsa looked ahead and saw the man's silhouette. "Hans?"
Unfortunately, it was not him. It's a mysterious man who just came to save her. However, he will be too late to see it. He saw the young queen raised the long dagger preparing to stab herself. "Elsa! NO!" He knows what's going on. He's know what the shadow man can do. He knows what the shadow man will do. He ran as fast as he could, trying to save the protector of the multiverse from the frozen dagger. "Elsa! Hang on! I'm coming!" But what can he do? He's far away and with the powerful blizzard slowing him down, he cannot reach her in time.
Then the shadow man whispered to Elsa. "It looks like I'll survive after all. There's my next host." His eyes looking at the man running towards them. "I'll just slip a little of my essence inside of him and wait for it to grow and I'll be back to take down the 'second one'. Looks like you are the only one who's going to die here." The Man of Death swings down the dagger straight to Elsa's heart.
"NO!" The mysterious stranger witnessed a powerful conclusion. A flash of blue light struck him sending a powerful shock wave across the frozen sea. The waves reached to the Southern Isles.
Elsa doesn't want the shadow man to possess this man. She doesn't want to leave this world just like that. She doesn't want the Infinite Winters to be destroyed. And she wanted to see her sister again if she fixed the damages. She wanted to see her beloved Anna again... one last time. Maybe, one last time to see Hans... Her mother, the first Snow Queen Wynter, gave her this second chance. Elsa doesn't want to waste it and make her mother's death meaningless.
And so, before the Man of Death swings the dagger, Elsa inhaled and then made a gentle blow which cause a strong wind. This wind caused a blue cosmic light and after that a powerful shock wave.
Once the snow and cloud settles, this mystery man went back to his feet and watched as the place was cleared from the snow. Up ahead, he saw the iceberg. Inside of it is the young queen Elsa froze herself with the shadow man inside. Both are completely trapped and are in stasis. "Elsa! Elsa!" The man ran towards the big chunk of ice. He punched it, trying to break the ice open but it was too hard his hands turned red. He strike it again hoping to break it. Later, he did. Just a small crack. However, it repair itself.
"Elsa." He began to understand what she's trying to do. She wanted to seal the shadow man inside of her so he cannot escape and do more damage to the world. A bold move. "But... there has to be another way than this." He watched Elsa frozen inside the ice eyes closed and body in a floating position. She sleeps peacefully inside while the shadow man screamed in defeat.
That's a relief.
The mysterious man wept as the sunlight showered on to the frozen sea, melting its surface. He looked down and saw the the gems about to sink to the depths. He took the two and went to shore. He watches as the sea melted and the frozen queen sunk to the bottom of the sea. "I failed..." He said. "I failed to save you, Elsa. I tried to... I really tried. But I still failed. I did everything to get back here but in the end, I failed."
He looked at those glowing stones in his possession. Red, Orange and Purple. He doesn't need them right now. There is no point on using them. The man decides to keep it safe for the future to use it. For now, he must hide the gems from the shadows that lurks around the world trying to get their hands on them.
Then he started to think about the bright side. Now the Man of Death has been stopped. That means, there will be 'two' shadow men to stop. There is nothing he can do but to thank Elsa for risking her life to save the multiverse... for now.
But he still hopes for her return.
"I promise that I'll find a way to free you from the shadow's clutches. I promise I'll find a way." he said.
As this stranger left, a shining orange light was left at the seashore. It was the third gem.
In another place and another time, Prince Anton pointed his sword at a red witch interrogating her. He showed her the fragments of his dead brother. "Tell me, witch. Which among you have this kind of power? Answer me!"
Two of his knights were behind him, their hands on their swords preparing.
The witch answered, "You dare barged inside my house, little prince. You think you have authority here!"
"Answer my question!" Anton pulled her hair and placed his blade close to her neck. "Answer me! Who has this kind of magic?"
She quickly answered. "No one. The Frostmancers were extinct for a thousand years. Your brother is the only one who has that power. There are no Winter Witches left in this world." The witch let it all out. "That's all I know. I swear to the goddess. That's all I know."
Then Prince Anton lets go of her and commanded his guards to leave the place. "We are done here." Before they leave the witch's house, the prince said farewell to the red witch. "Thank you for your cooperation, witch. Farewell." He shuts the door and left to interrogate another.
The witch spoke her name. "It's Krista. Remember it."
In an alternate world, a poster of Elsa was placed on the street lamp post. On every street, there were posters of her with a huge sign: MISSING. Anna was going around placing posters everywhere in the city. Her eyes were tired for she has never sleep for a week. After going around distributing MISSING posters of her sister, Anna went back to their apartment where the sisters reside.
Anna leave the pile of posters on the coffee table and grabbed a drink fro the fridge and took a sip. Reaching down from her pocket is her sister's aquamarine glove. Anna looked at it as she began wondering where her sister might be right now.
"Where did you go, Elsa?" Anna sat down with her head in her hands.
She started to cry for the summer night is cold and silent.
END
