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My steps must be certain and true, I have to know I'm going the right way. No veering off course, even by mistake.
One wrong move could prove fatal, as I nearly just discovered.
Still more than a little shaken, I force myself back onto my feet and try again.
Much more carefully this time, I forge my way deeper and deeper into the forest, testing my steps first just as the witch had instructed.
At least the witch had been right about me simply knowing the right way to go, though I wish she'd been a little clearer about how I would know.
It isn't long before I come up with a process, sweeping one foot out before me until a deep chill washes over me, racing down my spine and, quite literally, into the very depths of my being. Even then, I'm wary as I slowly shift more and more of my weight forward.
With each step in the right direction, the ground grows harder beneath my feet, and the air around me colder. Clutching the cloak tighter, my fingers nearly frozen in a cage around the precious crystal, I push onward.
The trees begin to thin, their branches growing bare as the path becomes littered with dead leave and branches instead.
The darkness seems to become thicker and heavier as it begins to weigh on me with each step forward. Soon, even the glow from the crystal in my hand is barely visible as I continue to force myself to place one foot in front of the other.
My lungs begin to burn as the air grows frosty within them, and a thin mist creeps in around me, welcoming me to this new part of the forest.
Suddenly, the world around me goes quiet, and I still. Hardly daring to breathe, I wait and listen for some sign of life. For a bird to call out its song, or a twig to snap beneath a rabbit's foot.
But there is no sound.
It's as if the forest has swallowed everything save for my own ragged breathing.
The air is almost too thick to breathe, and appears to be dripping with tiny glistening icicles as I glance about.
I pull the cloak tighter around my shaking shoulders, though there’s little warmth left in it.
My feet drag as I push myself to continue, and soon, even my own breath seems to form hanging icicles in the air as it leaves me. The wetness of my mouth and eyes begin to freeze over, blurring my vision and chapping my lips.
I have to blink repeatedly in an attempt to clear my vision. Three steps more is all it takes before even that won't stop the icicles from blinding me. Unable to blink the frost from my eyes, I close them until all I can see is a sliver of light through my eyelashes.
I can make nothing of the shapes ahead, and I'm forced to rely on nothing but the knowing in my bones, and the feel of the earth beneath my boots instead.
Frost collects on my lashes and across my skin as I press on. My breathing has turned into short gasps of pain.
And yet, I don't give up.
A bitter wind picks up, howling in my ears, screaming at me to turn back before it's too late. I tuck my chin against it, but even that does little to bring me relief.
The cold weighs on me, pressing against my ribs with each inhale of ice. It's begun to feel as if my heart and soul are being squeezed from me. What I'd give for a breath of air that isn’t sharp with ice crystals.
Still, I press on.
Then, I hear a voice. It's as sharp as the ice that clings to me, cutting through the howl of the wind, despite my ears not being able to make sense of it.
I pause, shivering as I pry my eyes open, despite the frost having nearly frozen them shut.
Suddenly, the wind is gone.
Silence presses in as the world seems to be frozen in time. Crystals of ice hang unmoving in the air, shifting only with the exhale of my breath or the turning of my head as I search for the voice in the darkness.
"What brings you here, little one?" the voice comes again, clear and colder than the very air around me. It pierces my heart like an icy dagger, stealing what little air I have left from me.
I've never heard anything like it.
Part of me longs to hear it again, to feel the edge of this beings voice cut across my skin, sharper than a blade, and stronger than steel ... and yet, I know I shouldn't want that.
