Lyra's POV
Silence.
Cold, still, infinite silence.
I sat alone, legs folded on the frost-covered ground, eyes closed as the chill seeped through my clothes and into my bones. The cold didn't scare me. It never had. But today—it felt different. Heavier. Like it was listening.
The pendant rested on the snow in front of me, glowing faintly. A soft blue pulse. Like a heartbeat.
My hands trembled slightly as I took a deep breath and reached inside myself.
"Find her through your domain."
Noah's voice echoed through my mind, calm and resolute. He had said it with such confidence—like he believed in me more than I ever had in myself.
Like I could do something even I didn't understand.
Domain.
A concept I had tried to grasp for years.
I remembered Layla's smirking face during training, her teasing tone.
"You're too stiff, Lyra. Magic is about feeling, not control. Ice isn't just cold—it's memory, clarity, emotion frozen in time. Don't force it. Feel it."
Back then, I had rolled my eyes. I'd thought she was just being annoying.
But now…
Now, those words struck deep.
I closed my eyes tighter.
What is ice, really?
Is it a weapon?
A shield?
A cage?
Or… is it a mirror?
I sank deeper into my mana, my consciousness drifting like a snowflake caught in a current. I could feel the world around me slow. The wind calmed. The glacier exhaled. The snowflakes falling around me no longer danced—they hovered, suspended in stillness.
My Domain.
I could feel the edge of it—a space not of power, but of meaning. A place shaped not by control, but by understanding. My soul resonated with the frost beneath me. For the first time, I didn't try to manipulate it.
I listened.
And then—memories surfaced.
Faint, like cracks in glass.
A little girl running through snow-covered fields, chasing after a silver fox.
Laughter echoing through the mountains.
"Don't go too far!" her voice called—warm and musical.
I turned.
There she was.
My mother.
Tall, proud, with long black hair braided behind her back. Her eyes—deep and dark, like mine. But softer. Wiser. Kinder.
I remembered how her hand would glow with blue light as she cast spells not to attack, but to protect. How she would raise her hands and the snow would swirl around us like a dance.
"Ice isn't always about freezing , Lyra," she had said once, kneeling before me as I struggled with a simple ice spike. "It's about your soul. It's the world your heart creates. Ice… is memory. It preserves what we cannot bear to lose."
I gasped softly.
It was never just about freezing things.
It was about holding on.
Holding on to what mattered most.
My eyes snapped open.
The pendant before me began to glow. Bright. Brighter than before.
It lifted slowly into the air, its blue light intensifying until it painted the glacier walls with its shine. The hum of magic filled the silence like a song returning to life.
And then—
A beam of light shot out from the pendant and pierced my forehead.
I didn't feel pain.
I felt warmth.
A rush of mana exploded within me, and suddenly—I was no longer in the snow.
I stood in a place of crystal stillness.
A dream? A memory? I didn't know.
But in front of me, amidst the blue haze, stood a figure.
Black hair flowed down her back.
Black eyes, deep and gentle .
Her lips parted. And when she spoke, the glacier within me shattered.
"Lyra."
I took a step forward.
The world spun.
Years of pain, longing, confusion—all melted.
"...Mom?"
To be continued…