The nightmares ended and Elsa found herself surrounded by darkness. The floor bellow her was hard, but not unpleasant. She didn't feel like she was lost at the moment. Rather, she felt as if she was in her room back home, but was aware she wasn't. Wherever she was, she could see a small window above her, pale moon seen in the very corner and hear the crackling of the fireplace.

She coughed once and straightened up, rubbing her neck.

"Oh, thank your God! It was about time for you to wake up."

He was sitting in a chair, smoking his pipe and looking down on her. His coat was grey and the shirt and pants black. Now, Elsa could see and realize the ash-grey color of his hair and mustache, and small red sparkles in his otherwise coal black eyes.

She coughed again. "Who are you?" She remembered him as lord Torrhen Dalonar, but that was obviously not his real name.

He didn't answer, instead blowing a cloud of smoke right in her face. She coughed again, feeling as if she will throw up her throat. "Fascinating. You have very different responses to fire. Sometimes, the cold in your body is able to overcome even the highest temperature. And yet..." she was still coughing. "...a simple smoke bothers you more than an ordinary man or woman would be bothered by it."

"Who." she stopped her cough on force. Her voice was rough now, but she didn't care. "Are you?!" she sparkled frost in her hands. "Answer. Now!"

"Darling," he said, looking down at his pipe. "any frost you throw at me I can melt. At best it will turn into water. At worst, it will turn into vapor. Now I can handle vapor, but you can't. It is a poison for you."

"Fire? You?"

"You still haven't realized?"

He raised his right hand, letting a flame burn above it. It was not just any flame: he was distanced from her at least ten feet, yet she could feel its heat, despite its size. He is like me. But opposite.

"Not impressed?" he said, making himself seem disappointed. "One would have thought you would be happy to find out you are not the only person born with powers of nature. There is more of us!" he shrugged. "Maybe you were too proud and would have loved it for you to remain the only one."

"My home." she mouthed through her teeth. "My people. My family! What happened?! If there is a hair on their head that was burned, I will..."

"Woah! What a fiery temper." he laughed. "Ironic, but very admirable as well."

"Answer me!"

"Cool down, dearling." he waved with his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Your home has seen better days, that is true. I take pride in being the one to bring down the great house of Arendelle, but its citizens are spared. Your people and your family have all survived, with the exception of some unimportant cases, but even those are few."

"Everyone in my kingdom matters to me, you demon!"

"Oh, please!" he laughed. "You didn't even know those people. You are actually angry at me for destroying your home and using those strangers to make yourself feel better."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Ah. On the contrary, I know plenty. At least plenty enough." he took his pipe and burned it in one second. The ash fell from his hand to the floor, disappearing when it hit his feet. "Queen Elsa of Arendelle, daughter of king Agnarr II and his wife, queen Iduna. A young woman born with unique gifts to control ice, frost, snow and bring winter wherever she goes, whenever she wills it...or just feels it." he stood up, walking towards the window. "Hurt her younger sister Anna while they were playing as little children. At the advice of trolls, hidden from the world and her own sister, until she hit the age of her maturity at one and twenty. Then, in a mixture of fear and anger, she froze the kingdom. After many adventures and trials, her sister Anna saved her and thus the queen thawed her kingdom and, without any sensible reason to me, her people just...forgave her for the winter." he shrugged again. "Or maybe they just forgot it." he turned back to her, with a small smug smile. "Am I close enough?"

"Every single person in Arendelle and out of it knows that story." she hissed. "You do not know me!"

"But I will get to." he grinned. "I'll get to know you very well, my dear. We'll find out about each other."

"What do you want?" she still couldn't get up, feeling too weak. She looked at the fireplace, the flame in it giving the same heat he was. Then she looked back at him and he raised an eyebrow, curious.

"So that's the problem? Well, for the sake of solidarity..." he walked to the fireplace, waving above it and the flame was extinguished, leaving them in complete darkness. "There we go."

She felt a bit better, with strength returning to her legs. She slowly got up, leaning onto the wall. He came back to his chair.

"Come on, don't stand." he took another chair. "Instead..."

She waved and the chair flew right before his face, hitting the wall. Elsa frowned at him and gritted her teeth. He, however, looked unfazed, giving the chair only one short look. "Now, that was rude." he said, quasi-insulted, getting back to his chair. "I thought a queen would have some manners."

"Get out of my kingdom!" she made one step towards him. "Get out now and I promise I won't chase you."

He chuckled. "I am not going anywhere."

"Then your name. Now!"

Noticing her anger, he eased his own temper and smiled. "I have had plenty of them. However, the one I have used the longest and have grown quite fond of is Kirun. My mother and father would be insulted that I love that one more than what they gave me, but to be completely honest, I can barely recall my first name, everyone does. But Kirun is what everyone knows me by."

"Good start." she mouthed. "And now - what do you want!"

He pursed his lips and stroke his chin, as if remembering something he forgot. When he stood up, Elsa noticed he even started to whistle slightly, making her want to kill him. But she kept her cool. He approached the window, looking at the moon, almost ignoring her.

"You see, for as long as I can remember," he finally started. "I have looked for an equal. One who could push me. One who could surprise me." he walked to the other side of the room in an elegant way, standing higher than her not only in height, but in a sort of more regal way than her. "Who could maybe even beat me. Being a husbandman of fire and heat made life, in a way, boring. The thrill of flame was always enjoyable, of course. But..." he pursed his lips again. "Everything felt so...boring. So, I became a hunter.

I started with greatest animals and beasts in the world. Bears, wolves, lions and all others. They were all easy targets, however. None of them was ever able to defeat me. One wave or snap of a finger and flick! They are gone.

I looked for warriors, sorcerers and great kings then. They offered great challenges, yes, especially the sorcerers. But none of them was that...sparkle that I needed. Those thrills were always passing, so all I found ended up being a disappointment. The games I played with them were always so much in my favor I realized not even the sorcerers were able to challenge me. Their powers came from forces that were from outside: mine came from myself. So I always had the advantage."

He took a drink of wine. "So I tried to settle down and live a life others live. But...well, it didn't turn out that well for me. I acquired much wealth, much power, both political and mental, and gained much influence around the world, that you are not even aware of. I experienced many types of pleasures, some that you can't imagine. But still it was all...hollow." he uttered the last word genuinely sad.

"But then, a year ago..." he started walking around her in a circle. "I finally met that one. And here she is, standing right in front of me."

Her face twisted in disgust. "If this is supposed to be some kind of twisted proposal, you have lost it already."

He was stunned, backing away. "For your God's sake, my dear! You are far too young for me. Besides, I have lost...passion for such needs. No, no..." he smiled. "There is something far greater I always craved."

"Then what is it?!"

"I told you: an adversary." he said, sitting down. "One to challenge me, whose limits I will know and he, or she, mine. One who will push me to boundaries that I never crossed, and one I will push to do things he, or she, never would. I wanted that and looked for it my entire life. And finally, I found her. Who better to challenge the fire but winter? Whose potential can I bring about more than that of the one I am able to melt and thaw?"

He walked up closer to her, his eyes again burning. His heat was greater at that moment, but Elsa was able to handle it. "So here we are, my dear. You and I will play a game. I like to call it a Circle: you are the ice, and I am the fire gathered around you. So we shall see who will last longer."

"You are a madman." she said. "A lunatic! I don't remember signing up for this game."

He frowned. "Dear, you are the one who made yourself public. You could have chosen to get away from everything, but no - you just had to remain a queen, accepting all challenges to be presented before you. So here I am," he spread out his arms. "as a challenge."

He walked to the table, taking something off of it. "You have lost the first round, sadly. You didn't predict or anticipate everything though, in my personal opinion, everything was in front of your nose. A man named Torrhen Dalonar? I took the man's wealth five years ago after he died. He was dead for five years, but you didn't find that out."

He grinned, noticing her clenched fists. "Oh, don't be so angry. We will have many other rounds. This one was a test to see how good you are at surprises. I guess it wasn't fair, so now we are establishing the game more clearly."

"Game?" ice sparkled in her fist. "Player? You and I?" she allowed spikes to grow from the floor, though only slightly. "I will not play your game! If you don't leave my kingdom right now..."

"You'll do...what?" he raised his eyebrow. "Dear Elsa, think - what can you do at this moment that will stop me? You are not even in your kingdom right now."

At that, she ran to the door, opening it. They were in a cabin hidden behind mountains of snow and ice, with deep forest behind. Elsa tried to see anything familiar, any mount, any star, any rock she might recognize. But, at least in this short time, she couldn't. "How did you bring me here?"

"Ah! Now that I must thank someone else." he took a golden ball from his pocket, with a symbol looking like M written on it. "Technicaly, I stole it from him - he was not a very good sorcerer - but this artifact was rather useful for transportation. However..." he put it back in his pocket. "For the sake of the game, we will cease using it, except when I really need it."

He closed the door with such force, standing up to him. "If you do anything to my family, to Anna, I will make sure you curse the day you were born!"

"A good temper, darling, a good temper." he raised his finger. "But the one you will have to apply in practice. You see, you are not too far from Arendelle - just enough for finding it to be a challenge for you. But, otherwise, if you take care of everything, and everyone, the way it is right, you will have this round. If you return to Arendelle relatively soon, our results are even for now. Of course, some challenges are left there for you, but I was fair enough not to make them fire related at the moment. So, return to Arendelle with all things right and we are even for a while."

He opened the door and walked out. "In the cabin you have some food for the beginning of your journey. Good luck, Elsa - I am happy to see you accomplish something."

He took the ball and a click was heard. She was staring at him, uncertain what to do. "Oh, and by the way, two key pieces of your challenge in this round are in a barn down there at the bottom of the hill. I would advise you to look into it or the round will not go how I planned." small circle of fire formed around him. "Farewell."

"No, you won't..."

Fire rose in a half-sphere around him, flame so hot and smoke so poisonous she started coughing again. The fire shone on the hill as bright as the sun for moments, and then disappeared. And, when Elsa raised her eyes, she saw: Kirun was gone with it.

She tried to catch her breath, going back into the cabin. After the choking stopped, she grabbed her hair and threw a bolt of ice at the wall, crying in anger. She crossed her arms, burrying her face in them.

Anna... she thought. She could cry here, or...

"I have to go back." she told herself. "I have to get to Arendelle at once."

Approaching a box, she tried to open it, but seeing it was to heavy, she froze it and broke the chain. Opening, she could see the box was full of food: bread, apples, berries and potato. Enough to survive for a few days. Besides the box was also a barrel full of water.

"The barn." she went down, trying not to stumble. The barn was small, not enough to keep many animals. Not that there are any in there, probably.

Knock!

She heard it, coming out of the barn. She approached it, leaning against it. She realized it was not a knock, but that someone was hitting the door of the barn.

"Damn it!" she heard someone yell. "Anyone! Open, please! Help!"

She wasn't sure, but...

"Help!"

She froze the chain and broke it, opening the door immediately.

Lord Isaiah of Hathor was inside the barn, with a body beside him.