Glacial
Legacy Name: Glacial

They call it the Frozen Garden. They say it’s a sacred place, untouched by time. From the chilled ground, ice glazed bones burst out like branches, and the flowers that bloom there have long been extinct.

A small grove, far from the reach of humankind - so deep into a glacial desert that no human would dare tread that far - and if one does, the snowstorms swiftly repel you, pushing you back to where you came from.

They say something dwells in there, but no one knows quite what it is - because no blood can flow in the Garden, and no heart can beat.

It is against your best judgment that you begin the journey there - you know you should not, but you can’t see another option, when you look down into your arms, where your lover lies, sickly pale, barely hanging onto the ledge of life.

You know it’s a matter of time until death comes, grasping their ankles, pulling them away from you - your hold is strong, but death’s is stronger.

And so you tread where you shouldn’t. To somewhere neither life nor death can reach, the only place where time can’t touch your beloved.

The wind roars strong, enveloping you, pushing against you - you don’t belong here. Snow rushes past you, there is nothing but blinding white as far as the eye can see - but you keep walking, as long as your love breathes, you keep going.

The cold is pervasive, it crawls under your clothes, under your skin, it coats your bones, pierces through your heart. You can’t see the breath coming out of your lover’s mouth anymore. You can’t really see your own breath either. You push on.

Time escapes you. White is all there is - oblivion, and the vague sense of something, a treasure beyond words, the very meaning of life, that you carry with you, that you refuse to let go of.

Your legs are heavy, the snow is thick. It reaches your waist, your chest, you can’t see anything else. You drag on, forward.

Once you stumble out of the snow barrier, snow piling on your shoulder, covering your hair, you’re not sure what you’re doing anymore. You can’t quite remember your name, but you look down and see - love. A peaceful resting face, ice clinging to lashes, blue tinted lips. You keep walking, and you see it now, on the horizon...

A maw of ice pokes out of the ground, teeth of bone and shards, and the plants, spilling from it. You walk towards it in a daze. You notice the silence suddenly - the roar of the wind is gone, it’s eerily quiet. No movement, no sound. It’s hard to let go of your lover after all this time, but you reluctantly deposit them between the ice claws, atop a bed of blue flowers, turquoise leaves. The colors seem more vivid here than they ever did before. Your heart seems to beat strangely, and you step away from the entrance.

No heart can beat, no blood can flow.

Away from the reach of time, your lover is safe. The journey back will be long, but the wind will blow in your favor now. You send a last glance to the entrance of the grove, you can see the lush plants through the gap, the vines seem to envelop your love slowly.

Further in the shadows, you see something stir, and rise slowly from the stagnant leaves. A silhouette that defies your understanding, towering over everything, comes forward in a slow, heavy approach. Icy hooves drag through long untouched ground, flowers and vines cling to its dark fur, ice drips from the bones that show through its chest. The enormous antlers cast a shadow over the flower bed where your lover lays.

Your heart is torn between terror and wonder as the heavy skull lowers near your lover’s peaceful face, touching it on the forehead. It seems to stare at you, but it can’t really be, for there are no eyes in its head, only deep darkness where they should be.

Intruder, you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have. Something too sacred to explain to others, when you go back. There will be something deep in you that no one else will ever understand, and loneliness washes over you.

You don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve been staring at the pools of shadow in the Guardian’s skull, but you see something stir in the corner of your vision, and you look down.

Your beloved quivers, the thin ice that slowly forms on their skin shatters in fractal patterns. Their eyes open, glazed over, icy blue. Frail fingertips reach towards you. You know you don’t belong there, but that call is not one you can ignore.

Your hand moves on its own accord, and slowly your body follows, tumbling forward, kneeling on the flowerbed, falling into an ice cold embrace, kissing ice coated lips.

Time can’t touch you now, neither of you. The vines slowly crawl over you.

You can’t feel your heartbeat anymore, but you can see the soft smile cracking the ice on your lover’s lips.


Profile template by Lea.
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Story and overlay by me (Emyon)