The narrow pathway stretched endlessly, the air growing colder with each step. The eerie glow of ancient runes flickered along the walls, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow. Ethan's breath misted in the frigid air, though the cold didn't bother him—it was nothing compared to the icy grip of whatever force had entangled itself with his soul.
Then, without warning, the pathway ended.
A single step forward sent Ethan and Kaldaroth through an invisible threshold, and in an instant, they were no longer in the dim passage.
Instead, they stood high above the Empire of Frosteria.
The icy winds howled past them, carrying a suffocating chill. Below, the vast empire stretched out in an endless expanse of white and blue, its towering crystalline structures glistening under the pale moonlight. The grand Ice Castle, an imposing structure of frozen majesty, loomed at the heart of it all.
But something was wrong.
