Chapter 5

A kingdom of isolation

The fjord kingdom of Arendelle wasn't famous for being so gloomy and mysterious in years. As days, weeks, and years pass, the citizens knew that there would never be festivals, celebrations, and parties from their 'kind' rulers since the day the gates and the windows were firmly closed with no explanations. This has set them off edge since there's a troll's prophecy roaming their land. And the princesses, Elsa and Anna, had never seen for no reason, making them somewhat forget their future heirs' appearances and personalities.

Because of this, rumors and theories started and spread around from the entire kingdom into other monarchies. This includes trade partners, such as the Southern Isles and Weselton (Arendelle's closest trade partner). Their ruler got highly disturbed about Arendelle's rulers' decision to shut out the world, for the fjord kingdom would have some financial damage and may become bankrupt.

Some time ago, the King of Weselton sent one of his ambassadors to Arendelle with a letter as an attempt to communicate with them, yet they never replied. Several kingdoms did the same thing–except the southern isles–But ends up with the same result.

As for those who were a part of Arendelle's castle staff, they felt very baffled and hurt when they got fired by the same king, whom they adore. A few of them had seen Elsa's powers, for Elsa accidentally freezes some stuff when she was a toddler. Still, they never spoke of them, for they got threatened by the king when he declares he will banish them if they ever opened up this subject to anyone. The queen did nothing to prevent this from happening, yet she was compassionate enough to give them supplies and currency before leaving.

If only they knew it was their crown princess who causes them to leave, they surely would resent her.

Most of the kingdom had tried to find a plausible explanation behind their king's decision. But it seems like it may have something to do with the infamous troll's prophecy, which is–possibly–the most believable motive for the royals to limit their contact because the forecast was talking about an isolated kingdom and Arendelle was that kingdom.

Some choose to stay and prepare for the massive destruction. Simultaneously, others were too afraid that they eventually immigrated to other countries to live permanently for a better life, "without" magic and prophecies.

And it bothered them no longer.

Children–and even adults–whom they've befriends the second-in-line for the throne, Princess Anna, ever since her birth, were heartbroken when they realized that Anna no longer wants to join them after the gates had closed, for she would cheer them up with her warm company. But some kids - whose ages are between three and six - mistook the situation, thinking that she doesn't want to join them because they're mere peasants. Their families assured them that the princess could be busy with her royal lessons.

Inside the castle, business went on as best as it could under certain circumstances.

The king, of course, still welcomed visitors, negotiated, wrote letters, and made agreements. His wife, the queen, arranged for what entertainments she could provide for those who came to visit. Both worried about their daughters and the kingdom and tried to do their best for all three.

The current castle staff, including Kai and Gerda, noticed some changes in their crown princess's behavior as she grows up. No longer that girl full of sweetness and joy they all know and love, as she transformed into a cold, more troubled, and slightly… pettish teen.

Along with abrupt physical changes, Elsa grows up into an eighteen-year-old beautiful young lady, but full of mystery. Her short bushy platinum-blonde hair (reaches down her neck's nape if loose) pulled in an updo. Her casual dress includes a long-sleeved vest over a blouse and bodice, favoring a blue-black color scheme. She habitually wears her silky white gloves to contain her powers after her accident with Anna; they're her placebo means of control.

Although she's exquisite, her wide, haunted eyes show nothing but coldness; eyes gave anyone (That if there was any chance for them to meet her) more than just her cautious poise, making it clear she expected people to keep their distance. She had a seemingly pleasant, close-lipped smile, and her manners are perfect. However, the public knows not much of her since the records of information about her had stopped generating after the gates were closed, and the rest of the royal family no longer make presences in public.

She frequently complained about her mid-short hair, as its length was such a scandal, and she has no choice but to pull it in a harsh bun—deeming it as a side effect of her powers; feeling deeply ashamed. How would she look like when she became queen? Her people will make a laughingstock out of her.

Her younger sister, Anna, had grown up into a fifteen-year-old lovely teenager girl. She was slightly shorter than her sister, awkwardly coltish, caught on that cusp between adolescence and adulthood. Her ordinary strawberry-blonde hair with a platinum streak on the right side pulled in her typical pigtails. Her low-necklace pinafore dress comprises a wrist-length teal blouse and bodice, favoring a green-black color scheme adorned with rosemaling and heels on her shoes.

Before, she complained of her freckles surrounding her shoulders and across her face and then spent entire afternoons in the garden, encouraging more. There was nothing close-lipped about her smile, and she still had trouble sitting still for more than a few minutes at a time. Her best skill for formal occasions—not that there was any—was her ability to strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone. She was cute, open, and usually happy—maybe still a bit thoughtless, but there was plenty of time yet to grow out of that.

As the opposite of Elsa, Anna's appearance is relatively warm, full of energy, with her turquoise eyes always shining along with her big smile. Since she grows to be a likable person, everyone adores her ever since she was a child, from helping them with their activities to giving them some company if needed. The castle's chef even tells her he wishes that the princesses in the other kingdoms he met were like her. As to his knowledge, most foreign princesses are haughty and power-hungry, marrying a prince or some noble for status, money, and power.

Unlike in Elsa's situation, Anna can still go out of the castle, but only if permitted by her parents; she clearly cannot go outside the gates, too.

Despite their forced separation, sometimes they would secretly talk with each other through the door about anything, with both of them would lie on the floor. However, while Anna has a tendency to blather most times, Elsa prefers to listen and keep things to herself. One day, their father came to pull Anna away from the door, then scolding her for talking with her sister.

Even after his persistent rebuke, Anna still walks into the door — which becomes colder than usual, sometimes — and sends her gifts by slipping them under it on each birthday of her big sister. Since the age of eight, the latter hadn't partied as her father deemed her "too busy" to celebrate. Canceling any party regarding her in process.

However, the citizens were okay with being shut out since they got accustomed to the isolation past these years. Meeting the rulers wasn't really common, even before the gates were closed.

The thing is that King Agnarr's decision disturbed the neighboring kingdoms. A tradition was still going around: their people and subjects should treat the heir's birthday as a coronation party; The heir is just as important and honored as the rulers. However, the tradition is mandatory because it can reduce the heir's nervousness at his/her coronation day and make them accustomed to the future situation. Basically, meeting people and be social.

It's for the best." The parents told Anna, but it bothered her with how they're okay with locking Elsa inside her room most of the time. Years passed as she would question and even demand them to tell her about why they've closed the gates, why Elsa shuts her out, what're they hiding from? Yet, her attempts to solve the mystery were in vain, increasing the redhead's frustration over the whole thing, as her parents continually refuse to tell her. At thirteen, it wasn't late before Anna realizes that her parents ignored her for being busy with the kingdom, but she knew it was because of the questions she had asked many times, leaving her under the servant's care.

When Elsa turned sixteen, her parents proclaimed her officially to the public as the heir (which is unusual. The firstborn must be thirteen in order to become the crown's heir) along with additional duties and a recent official portrait of her on a wall where several portraits of previous monarchs exist. All the past rulers in these portraits have a smile, except her.

In the portrait, she stood stiff and composed, wearing her regular dark blue dress and her blue gloves, always on her hands. In its usual braided bun, her hair and a small smile that no one—not even her family, noticed the bitterness.

Anna awed when she saw the portrait of her separated sister—it wasn't the first time she saw her sister, yet seeing her sister is very rare—but the picture sends her shudders, and she wasn't the only one.

While she strolled around the painting hall, Anna suddenly stopped when she noticed an individual with white hair standing in the doorway. No one around here she knows has white hair, except… and to her surprise:

"Elsa!"

The redhead princess only intends to whisper, but she muttered with herself curses as she cringed from her voice that echoed the hall, and the way Elsa yelped a little before she turned around to meet her eyes, with her unusually calm demeanor. Anna's face softened as both of them stared at each other's eyes, not knowing what to say.

It has been a while since her sister had noticed her; Elsa looked… odd and pale… but still elegant and beautiful; her blue eyes remained to stare at Anna as if she can see through her. There is something inside her apparently cold eyes, yet although her knowledge about reading people is minimal, she could see some longing in it. Perhaps she doesn't hate her?

It wasn't the first time Anna saw her outside her room, as she had seen her few times sneak into the library to steal books and disappeared like a ghost.

But this is the first time Elsa didn't ignore her.

However, since their parents are busy as usual, Anna realizes that she can take this moment as a chance to re-encounter her sister, hoping that Elsa would respond to her.

With that thought and confidence, Anna takes a long breath, ready to face her sister. She almost took a step forward but stopped in place when she noticed her weird sister wasn't around anymore. The young princess swore her sister was right in front of her.

And again, she disappeared like a ghost.

All the hopes to reconnect with her sister fades away, hopeless. She closed her eyes and sighs in distress before she turns to look at her portrait 'friend' and asks:

"Joan, what could have I done to her… to hate me?"

At first, when her father demands her to be in her room, contacting no one until she has better control over herself, Elsa was okay with it. She even preferred to stay in her room, away from the world and specifically her family, for the fear that she might accidentally hurt them… like the way she did to her sister back then.

Whenever she recalls the day she almost killed her sister, she often weeps in her bed and has anxiety dreams during her uncomfortable sleep. She was doing it to punish herself purposely and decides that she deserves the torture.

When her father told her he would figure out a way to avoid the troll's prophecy, Elsa knew that avoiding the warning was impossible. No matter how many times the people and her parents try to stop whoever is, the mentioned ruler should fulfill the prophecy. But If this ruler was her — since she has powers that could destroy and hurt others — maybe she is the one with a frozen heart. Should they stop the prophecy from taking place… She has to be killed… for that.

That's good; she's a danger to everyone. So why keep her alive? Maybe they want to let her live her miserable life.

Although her father dreaded her, she was genuinely grateful for his attempts to help her. Yet, she wishes he avoids her, not only so she won't end up accidentally hurt him, but also because his presence is no longer tolerable as usual, and neither her mother's.

There's no denying the fact that her mother feared her—just like her father—she was sure of it, for she hadn't entered her cold room for a long time. Whenever her mother noticed her, she just ignores her, while all she wanted from her was her soothing voice and comforting words; that everything is going to be okay—things she missed from her mother before.

But now, she wants none of it. After all, they're the same people who said they will fix everything together as a family but are doing the opposite. It was so pathetic, unfortunately.

"Control yourself, Elsa, or your future will be bleak. You know what I mean."

Six years before…

"I'm scared, I-it's getting stronger!"

Inside the frozen room, along with suddenly several inches in height and physical changes, the twelve-year-old princess panicked when she found herself with much less control over her growing icy powers. Ice was crawling behind her up the adorned wall, shaping an ugly snowflake surrounding her… much like her slowly evolving inner demons.

When her father noticed she didn't come for lessons with him, her father looked for her with frustration apparent on his face. Similar to her mother, it shook him to find her balled up in the corner of her room, hysterical and surrounded by a contained blizzard, alike to those blizzards on the North Mountain every January.

It took both her parents time to get her calmed down enough that the howling winds eased, and she finally ceased sobbing. She wouldn't tell them what happened that sets her off.

Her tone was begging them for help; they didn't know how to give.

Still, her father was prepared enough to come first, trying to remind her of his mantra. But she yelled at him not to touch her, which shocked them.

She couldn't look at their faces while trying to hold back tears. After all, what job would she have done if she let her emotions rage like that swirling storm inside of her, only to bring misery upon others and herself?

"What's wrong with me?"

During these challenging times, when her personality got more withdrawn, her father concludes that she develops a frozen heart at seventeen. For this, he finally believes that she's the villain in the prophecy and didn't realize the errors in his attempts to help her dreadfully. However, due to this inconsistent between her parents, they end up having a heated argument, full of intense.

But she didn't care who's defending her or against her.

"Iduna, we assume that this situation might be… permanent. We have to do something."

After their daily 'visit,' Elsa thought she was going to be in peace again. She almost sighed in contentment until a grave voice behind the door hit her ears. It was her father. The crown princess walked carefully towards the locked door with a pouted lips, attempting not to make any sound. She leaned her right ear into the door to listen. Elsa knew that eavesdropping on others is wrong, but she didn't care (She has done it before many times), for her father opened a topic she is sure they were trying to avoid.

"What do you have in your mind?" She heard her mother asked. But she quickly got curious.

"What if we couldn't avoid the prophecy?"

"We can't avoid what we've been told, Agnarr." She could imagine her mother rolling her eyes from her tone as if what she said was a usual thing. Her mother was right, nonetheless.

"I know. But… what about Elsa? We tried to help her as best as we could, yet she still can't control this… this curse!"

Elsa scowled. She knew her magic was a 'curse' but hearing it from her father still hurt her from inside. The troll king said her powers are a gift from nature. But why was she gifted? She thought.

"Agnarr—" It Seems like her mother was trying to soothe this argument, yet she caught a hint of a threat in her tone. Right now, her father interrupts:

"Elsa is dangerous! Ever since that cursed day she was born, I knew she will bring nothing good… but only misery upon us."

A gasp almost came out of Elsa's lips, but she held herself, shocked at what she just heard. She hugged herself, trying to calm herself before the storm burst out of her. Her mother gasped, heartbroken; the air was getting more intense.

But she can't deny him, because what he said was true.

"How dare you… Elsa is our daughter! For heaven's sake, Agnarr!" Her mother's soft voice was now full of rage, which had stunned her; her mother was always calm and collected. But she wasn't surprised that her mother was now defending her; nothing results from her defense, anyway.

She was worried Anna could hear them arguing about her; secrets could reveal.

"I'm sorry," He doesn't sound sorry for her. "but—"

"I don't care about the prophecy! Our family matters more, including her! Why did you let fear controls you?!"

"You should ask her that!"

Elsa now regrets eavesdropping on them. She felt something under her feet as she looked down to see a skim of frost spreading the floor; its sight alone increased her heartbeats. She's no longer able to hear her parents arguing about her, only her shallow breaths and a slight ringing in her ears.

But what her father said next… blows her away from the door.

"She's a monster!"

The king and his queen issued a proclamation; they're going to the docks to travel. They had once been family-friendly to the commoners before Elsa's birth; everyone agreed.

Inside the king and queen's chambers, the royal couple was packing up for the journey; across the south, they said. But they didn't tell anyone and neither Elsa nor Anna about their original plans. The king made an excuse, saying that they got an invitation to a neighboring kingdom's wedding.

It thrilled Anna when her parents told her about them going away; she peppered them with questions: Where was it? Who lived there? Would they bring her something; a dress? Or a hat, a nice summer hat. Could they look if they had some time? Could she go with them?

Yet, they refuse to get her to come with them.

Disappointed but understood, she threw her arms around both of them, hugging them closer, exhilarated by the very idea of going away, wishing them a safe passage, and having some fun. All of them were smiling.

"See you in two weeks!"

On the contrary to Anna, it was delightful for Elsa to know that her parents will go away for some time. Wedding, they said, but she knew they were just making excuses. There wasn't any present ship from this kingdom with a messenger who came to bang on the gates. Who else knew her parents more than herself? Not even her sister, who's just a silly girl, always makes a nuisance of her.

But if they weren't going into this 'wedding,' then where, and what are their intentions?

She could imagine her sister hugging her parents, saying farewell, sharing loving kisses and hugs. Everyone loves her. It made her envious, but she couldn't blame them, could she? Anna is the little sunshine of the family, full of innocent joy.

Unfortunately for her, a servant knocks on the door and states that she's requested by her father to meet them at the castle's entrance before they leave; it was her turn to wish them farewell. She refused at first, but as soon as the servant insists, she relents. Even if she hates her parents (but with constant guilt, additionally), she shouldn't deprive herself of seeing them.

So she goes.

To the servants, it seems like Elsa will miss her parents, but the princess was trembling inside, excited that she would be free from her father's abusive grip. Temporarily, she believes.

"Safe journey."

She smiled briefly, coldly, and gave a curtsey, deeply bowing her head, with no hugs. Her parents reacted with apparent hesitation; her mother gradually nodded with a sad smile while her father just looked at her with a frown before they turned and went out, closing the door behind them. She was holding a deep breath before she slowly releases it as they depart.

Along with Anna, the castle staff, and the entire kingdom, Elsa didn't know that this moment… will be the last time she ever saw them.

A couple of months pass, the king and queen still did not return, which wasn't odd at first. Until a fisher who comes to Arendelle brought some… not-so-nice news. He claims that he saw a royal ship got devoured by gigantic waves. He states that there was a terrible storm that week; no one warns them before.

Elsa was sitting on her own desk with a comprehensive book in her hands. A cup of tea settled on the right side of the desk, so busy being a consummate scholar by searching and studying in the library during her parents' absence (She does this often when her parents and Anna are asleep, being inside the library secretly). The door's opening sound made her turn to look at the entrance to see the stout steward, who was standing in the doorway. He was pale and drained, which confused her. What's wrong?

"Princess Elsa, may I come in?" He asked her politely.

She nodded regardless. The steward stepped in; she noticed he was carrying something in his hands. It was a letter. Her chest tightened. Something terrible must have happened. The way he walks and talks, and how the castle's aura becomes duller than before, proves it.

"What's the matter?" She asked calmly, or at least she tried because there was a tremble in her voice.

The steward furrowed his eyebrows before he says:

"I'm sorry to tell you this… but there was a storm at sea."

He confused Elsa. Why is he so sad about a storm coming to the sea? Except…

"Your parents… no one survived."

It took a while for her to realize the situation and the surroundings. Her parents never arrived at their destination. Her parents were missing for months.

Her parents are-

No, it couldn't be. Elsa can't — won't believe it, but a voice in her mind was telling her otherwise. Did they…

The crown princess instantly stood from her chair and dropped the book down on the floor. Its thud boomed the whole chamber.

"W… what?"

The steward held his trembling hands, revealing the letter clutching in them, offering her to read.

"Here."

Elsa stares at the letter before she takes it from his hand. She opened the letter to see a paper resting inside. She slips the paper out and reads it. Her eyes widened. Her fragile heart skipped a beat, and her face was paler than before.

"No…"

She let the paper slip from her hand.

She slowly shakes her head, lets out a shaky sigh, and closed her eyes before she met the steward's drawn eyes, frowning.

"Leave. Kai."

She didn't intend her tone to be harsh, yet the weight on her shoulders, her struggling to control herself, and now the news of her parent's… It was a lot to take. She wanted him to go, for everyone to go, to leave, and take her responsibilities with them and let her be alone. She really needs to think about this.

Her tone shocked the steward, yet he composed himself and cleared his throat. He understands what she has been through; the news was too much for her to come to terms with.

"I'm very sorry, your highness." Kai said gloomily. She wasn't sure if he meant to bring the news, but she didn't care. He turned to leave the library but stopped in the doorway, darts his eyes to Elsa, and asks:

"Should I tell your sister?"

Elsa, who was massaging her forehead to clear her fuzzy mind, froze in place when he mentioned her little sister.

Anna.

She forgot about her.

Anna should — Needs to know that; her sister has every right to know, and she knew she couldn't tell her by herself.

She took a deep breath and released it slowly, then answered:

"Yes… please tell my sister. Now."

When Elsa heard the door clicked shut, something came to her as she growls and thrust the cup away from her desk into the window. Its content sprayed around the room, and the cup smashes against the window, shattering into tiny shards of glass. The loud crashing sound that echoes the chamber made her cringe. It reflects her own frozen heart.

Her eyes kept staring at the twinkling glass shards, scowling. The bitter crown princess felt something cold, familiar, underneath her gloved hand resting on the deck's rim and snatches her gloved hand away to see a glaze of ice covering where her hand rested. Her anger subdued, replaced by fear.

She placed her arms around herself as her eyes wetted. Ice was creeping on the corners and the windows all around her.

"Conceal. Don't feel."

The mantra, along with the gloves, didn't help, like always. The ice only becomes worse.

Unfortunately, they couldn't find her parents' bodies, but when Elsa refused to speak to anyone, they questioned Anna instead. Did she want stones put up as memorials? She had no idea, but she said yes because it seemed like the answer everyone would agree with. They asked her many questions, and she tried to give the answers they wanted them, too, but suddenly it felt like there were a million things she knew nothing about. They took measurements for mourning clothes, and she stood pliable as a doll. She was supposed to get a new hat, not this.

She felt like she was running a fever. Weak, dazed, unable to focus, she waited for Elsa to show up and take charge, doing what she's supposed to do. It was her job now. Already, 'Queen Elsa' floated from conversations Anna overheard. And she wanted her big sister to come because she was alone and miserable and afraid. She wanted someone to tell her it will be alright.

But Elsa's door was locked, and she responded to no one. On the day of the funeral, Anna dressed alone in her horrifying new black clothes. She walked the halls alone, left the castle grounds via the servants' gate because she didn't want to see anyone. It was her first time outside of the castle walls in ten years, and it wasn't a happy one with a sense of freedom.

It was their parents' funeral. Yet Elsa doesn't even attempt to attend it. What's wrong with her? She fumes. Maybe Elsa hates them, just like how she hates her.

Anna remembered, some time ago when she went to her bed because she couldn't find anything to do, she saw her sister standing outside her room, growing rebellious. She was yelling with such rage to her parents about how tired she was to shut out Anna and being forced to be controlled and hidden by them, which gave her hope Elsa perhaps loves her and made her curious. Their father threatens Elsa and orders the guards to lock her in her room while she was kicking and apologizing, trying to get free from the guards' grips. But later surrenders. Their mother was present too, but it seems like they were afraid of her. But why?

However, the way Elsa yelled chilled her to the bones, particularly when she noticed how intensely dark Elsa's eyes are. Elsa was getting… scary. But after that day, her sister was no longer to be seen again, although she overheard servants were talking about how sneaky Elsa got wherever she goes. She really is a ghost.

Anna stood alone between the stones that had no bodies beneath, holding her cloak closer against the chill wind. She hardly caught a word of the service. It didn't matter. She wasn't sure she would have wanted to hear it, anyway. She trembled, and not entirely with cold.

Several people offered to walk back with her, but she shook her head to all of them. Her parents' employees — Once, she called them friends because friends were what she wanted. Of course, she had befriended commoners and citizens before; she still missed them, but they've grown up and possibly don't care about befriending royals. They have close families, many friends; their world is always open, and they can do whatever they desire. It made her wish she was a commoner sometimes. Elsa was her favorite friend, not just a sister, yet she has locked herself away in inexplicable isolation, and there were very few others to choose from. But Anna was no longer a child, and some castle staff was kind to her, but they were not her friends.

Maybe Kai and Gerda, yet they're more parental figures when her parents are busy running the kingdom. The kingdom that now belongs to her sister, both isolated, fit perfectly.

No friends, now no family. The one person left to her in the world wanted nothing to do with her. She would walk alone because alone was how she would be, regardless of whether or not she wants it.

But she didn't want to be alone, let alone the feeling of loneliness. In a story, now would be a tragedy that would bring her and Elsa back together, closer than they had ever been before. And that was what she wanted: The best friend she remembered so vividly despite all the years lost between them.

She desperately wishes for someone to hold her hand and tells her that everything will be fine. But there's no one to do that for her; her sister won't even be willing to comfort her.

The lonely, redhead princess thought her sister was in her room, as the parlor-maid, Gerda, told her that Elsa was inside the library before she almost knocked on the door. She knew that Elsa was in the library, but she thought Elsa had returned to her cold, isolated room. On her way, Anna found two guards guarded the library; they told her Elsa was inside the library, wishing not to be disturbed. She asked if she could have some moments alone with her sister; they told her she can't enter the library, but they left when they realized Anna only want to talk with her sister. It saddened them to see the sisters become orphaned and are separated by a mere wooden door.

Anna knocked softly on the library's door, waiting for a response. But there wasn't any.

"Elsa?"

No reply.

Still, she continued speaking, even though she knows deep down that her sister would just ignore her.

"Please… Talk to me. I don't know what to do." She was crying at that point. "People were asking about you. You're their queen now. They're worried about us, everyone. I'm… I'm worried too. I'm scared, Elsa." She slid down the door, pulled her knees to her chest, and continues:

"I'm here if you need me, okay?"

No reply.

"Please… let me in. It's just us now. So please… please, Elsa."

She waited, hoping that Elsa would listen to her and give her some comfort words for both of them. Yet, it seems like she was only talking with herself.

The poor princess put her face in her hands and whispered:

"What are we going to do now?"

Inside the library, Elsa was mirroring her sister, huddled against the door, surrounded by the shadowy storm of her emotions.

She wasn't sure if she's supposed to be sad about her parents' demise, even though her father abused her and her mother ignores her for years. She recalled the memories before the accident. When her father encouraged her with her powers; when her mother told her she was a gift; when they were happy as a family; when she and Anna were very close.

It made her sob heavier, knowing that she still loves them despite all of this resentment and of what they think of her.

A monster.

But that's who she really is.

She wishes everything returns like the way it was, but she knew it was dangerous to dream.

The lonely sisters of Arendelle cried together, but the wall stood between them, and neither had ever felt so alone.

Far away, in the middle of dry land, full of dead trees, heavy clouds cover the sky. And suddenly, the lightning flashes in the dusky sky, and a bolt of lightning came from the shadows, shocking the air. It strikes a sinister-looking tree, flaming it, and the tree burns until it crumbled into nothing but ash. The sky continued to rumble, and the light reveals a cave behind the forest.

There are two red eyes inside the cavern, looking at the sky, seemingly wondering. The sky was thundering more substantial. A bolt striking near the cave, and its light expose the creature. It's a troll, but something was menacing about it. The troll begins to talk. It was a male. His voice was grave, full of venom and sarcasm.

"Well, well, well. It looks like my 'death' wish is just about to be granted."

The troll chuckled darkly, and its lightning-blood eyes fade into darkness as if he was about to scheme. Perhaps the troll was joking with himself.

Perhaps not.