The sound came again.
Low. Deep. Like stone grinding against stone far beneath the snow.
Inside the palace hall, everyone froze.
Rovan instinctively tightened his grip on his spear while Lysa moved closer to one of the tall crystal windows, peering out into the darkness of the abandoned city.
Aeralyn felt the vibration before she heard the next rumble. The floor beneath her boots trembled slightly, sending thin cracks of frost crawling across the polished crystal tiles.
"That's not normal," Teren whispered.
"No," Caelum replied quietly. "It isn't."
He stepped toward the massive window overlooking the central plaza. Outside, the storm had thickened. Snow spiraled violently through the empty streets, illuminated only by faint moonlight breaking through the clouds.
But the wind wasn't what worried him.
The ground in the plaza was moving.
Aeralyn joined him at the window, pressing her hand lightly against the cold glass. Beneath the snow-covered square, something shifted like a buried heartbeat.
"Those constructs we fought earlier…" she said slowly.
"They were only scouts," Caelum finished.
Rovan approached the window and squinted through the storm.
Then his eyes widened.
The snow in the plaza suddenly erupted.
Chunks of ice burst upward as massive shapes clawed their way out of the frozen ground. One… two… five… then more.
Towering creatures made entirely of ice and ancient magic rose from beneath the city. Their bodies were jagged and uneven, like glaciers given life, and glowing cracks of blue light pulsed through their limbs.
Lysa muttered under her breath. "Well… that explains the evacuation."
One of the creatures turned its faceless head toward the palace.
Then another.
"They can sense him," Aeralyn said softly.
Caelum didn't deny it.
"They were built to."
The nearest construct began moving toward the palace gates, its heavy steps cracking the frozen pavement beneath its weight.
Rovan exhaled sharply. "Alright, Your Highness. What's the plan?"
Caelum turned away from the window, his mind clearly racing.
"We can't fight them all," he said. "Not like this."
"Agreed," Aeralyn replied. "But we also can't let them reach the palace."
"Why not?" Teren asked nervously.
Caelum pointed toward the towering walls of the throne chamber.
"Because beneath this palace lies the royal archive."
Aeralyn tilted her head. "The archive?"
"Yes."
His expression darkened slightly.
"It contains records from before Glacefall was even founded. Histories… treaties… and knowledge about the ancient city buried beneath the Frost March."
Rovan frowned. "Meaning?"
"Meaning if the creatures destroy this palace, we lose our best chance of understanding what we're up against."
Outside, another thunderous crash echoed as one of the constructs slammed into a building across the plaza.
Lysa turned back toward them.
"They're moving faster."
Caelum made a decision.
"Rovan, Lysa, Teren—you hold the gate."
Teren blinked. "Hold the gate against those?"
"You don't need to defeat them," Caelum said. "Just slow them down."
"And you?" Rovan asked.
Caelum looked at Aeralyn.
"We go to the archive."
She nodded immediately.
"Let's hope your historians wrote clearly."
---
The entrance to the royal archive lay beneath the throne platform.
Caelum pressed a hidden mechanism along the edge of the floor, and with a heavy grinding sound, a section of crystal slid aside, revealing a spiral staircase descending into darkness.
Aeralyn conjured a small sphere of warm golden light above her palm.
"Well," she said, "after you."
They descended quickly.
Above them, the distant echoes of battle had already begun. Rovan's voice shouted commands while Lysa's bowstring snapped repeatedly through the storm.
Aeralyn tried not to think about what would happen if the constructs broke through.
The staircase opened into a vast underground chamber.
Rows upon rows of ancient shelves filled the archive, each packed with scrolls, journals, and crystal tablets glowing faintly with preserved magic.
Even the air felt older here.
Aeralyn slowly turned in a circle, awed.
"You've been hiding an entire library under your throne."
Caelum walked directly toward a large stone table at the center of the room.
"This knowledge was never meant for the public."
"Why?"
"Because some truths are dangerous."
He opened a thick crystal-bound book and flipped through the pages quickly.
Aeralyn leaned beside him, reading fragments of the ancient script.
"The Frost Covenant… the Balance War… the Founding of Glacefall…"
She stopped suddenly.
"Wait."
Her finger pointed to an illustration carved into the page.
It showed two figures standing before the ancient frozen city.
One figure wielded cold magic.
The other radiated warmth.
Aeralyn frowned.
"That looks… familiar."
Caelum's expression tightened.
"The first prince of Glacefall," he said quietly, pointing to the figure surrounded by frost.
"And the first Warm-Bearer," Aeralyn finished.
They looked at each other.
"This has happened before," she realized.
"Yes."
"And how did it end?"
Caelum turned another page.
His face went pale.
"That's the problem."
"What?"
"The story ends here."
"What do you mean it ends here?"
Caelum tapped the final page.
"The last record simply says: The balance was broken, and winter nearly consumed the world."
Aeralyn stared at the words.
"Nearly?"
"Yes."
"So what stopped it?"
Before Caelum could answer—
A deafening crash shook the entire archive.
Dust rained from the ceiling as the ground above them trembled violently.
The constructs had reached the palace.
Aeralyn closed the book quickly.
"Well," she said grimly, "we're about to find out how the story continues."
Caelum nodded.
"Let's hope we write a better ending."
Above them, the roar of ice and battle echoed through the halls of Glacefall.
And deep beneath the Frost March, something ancient smiled in the dark.