The wind howled through the frozen wasteland, its sharp, gnawing breath carving through the landscape like an insatiable predator. Snow draped over the cliffs and surroundings inside the Fallen Bridge, giving the illusion of stillness. But this land was never still.
She was running.
Her bare and calloused feet crunched against the icy ground as she darted between the wooden homes that made up their village. The air was thick with the scent of burning wood and fresh meat, and despite the harsh cold, warmth lingered here.
The village of the Krepsunas. But not the monstrous ones. No, they were different.
They had been altered and mutated by the lingering energies of the Fallen Bridge. Unlike the mindless beasts that prowled the wastelands, these Krepsunas had thought, emotion, family. They were not human. They were not dark elves, even though they looked like them. But they were something.
The girl rushed through the snow, her ragged furs fluttering behind her as she weaved between structures made of bone and wood. She was too small for her age, as her brothers often reminded her. Short, skinny, wiry. She had dark tanned skin, wide elf like ears and sharp eyes that gleamed like a dying ember. But she was fast. And that was what mattered.
She skidded to a halt when she saw a group approaching from the distance. Silhouettes, large and hunched over, trudging through the snow.
Raika's face lit up.
They were back. Her father and brothers, returning from the hunt.
The first to step into the firelight of the village was her eldest brother, a towering Krepsuna with deep violet skin and a broad chest wrapped in thick furs. He carried a massive beast over his shoulder, its long, tusked snout dangling lifelessly.
"Oi!" She shouted, waving her hands. "Took you long enough! Thought you'd frozen out there!"
Her brother snorted, tossing the beast to the ground with a loud thud. "Tch. Not all of us get to sit in the village all day, little Raika."
Raika grinned but was quick to dodge when her second-eldest brother tried to ruffle her already-messy white hair.
"Ack—stop that! I'm not a kid anymore!"
"You're the only girl left in the family," he teased, "So yeah, you are."
Before Raika could bark back a response, a deeper chuckle echoed behind them.
Her father had arrived.
He was a massive Krepsuna, scarred and weathered by countless battles, his deep violet skin faded with age. His long white hair was pulled back, revealing piercing silver eyes that softened when they landed on Raika.
"You are still a child," he said, placing a heavy hand on her head. "And you will be, until I say otherwise."
Raika groaned, but she didn't pull away.
Her father let out a hearty chuckle before turning toward the entrance of their home, where a familiar figure stood waiting. Her mother.
Unlike the others, her mother had never been a warrior. She was smaller, lithe and graceful, with silver-streaked violet hair and piercing, intelligent eyes. But despite her delicate frame, she held the authority of a queen.
Her father's lips curled into a rare, genuine smile as he walked toward her. Raika and her brothers groaned in unison.
"Ugh, not this again," one of them muttered.
"Disgusting," the eldest grumbled.
Raika sighed as her father pulled their mother into a slow embrace. The old man had a bad habit of completely ignoring everything around him whenever he saw her. It didn't matter if they had just come back from hunting or if the village was literally on fire.
Right now, for him, there was only her.
"You've returned," her mother murmured.
"Did you doubt me?"
Her mother scoffed, lightly flicking his forehead. "Never."
Raika watched, equal parts amused and horrified, as her father leaned down and...
She turned away just as he kissed her.
"That's it," her second-oldest brother groaned, dramatically clutching his face. "I'm leaving."
Raika cackled, shoving him toward the fire pit where their meal was already being prepared.
The village thrived in the way it always had.
Furs were stripped from the beasts, meat was divided among the families, and the fires burned bright against the cold, cruel night.
It was life. It was home.
At least, it was.
Then, the sky burned.
A pulse of blinding blue radiance split the darkness above.
For a moment, Raika thought it was the auroras that sometimes danced across the sky. But this was different. This was wrong.
She opened her mouth to shout and then, the ice fell.
It came without warning.
Thousands of frozen spears rained from the sky, ripping through the village like a divine execution. Raika barely had time to react before she saw one of the hunters get impaled, his body skewered to the ground.
Another fell, his skull pierced straight through.
The screams started.
"RUN!"
"GET TO COVER!"
But the ice was everywhere. It was unstoppable.
Someone slammed into her.
Raika hit the ground hard, the air knocked from her lungs as warmth spilled over her skin.
She gasped, looking up, and saw her brother.
He had shielded her. His body trembled, his mouth slightly open as he stared down at her.
"You're safe..."
A massive ice shard had impaled him through the back.
Raika felt everything. The moment his weight slumped over her. The warmth of his blood soaking her clothes.
The last, desperate look in his eyes and then, he was gone. Her hands shook violently as she tried to push him off.
"Get up," she whispered.
Her voice was barely a breath.
"Get up..."
She looked around, searching. Where were the others?
Then she saw them.
Her father and mother, side by side.
They held their ground together, like they always had, until the largest spike of ice she had ever seen descended from the heavens.
It struck and the world split apart.
The ground shook violently as the entire center of the village was obliterated.
The shockwave sent Raika flying backward, her body tumbling through the snow until she crashed into a half-broken hut.
She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't hear anything. Only the dull, numbing ring that filled her ears.
She blinked, forcing her vision to focus.
The fires were gone. The homes were gone. The people were gone.
Her family...
Raika's lips parted but no sound came. Raika could not think. She could not breathe. Her entire world was a storm of white and red.
The sky, once filled with the dancing lights of the auroras, was now nothing but an executioner's blade. Shards of ice rained down without mercy, spearing through homes, flesh, and bone. The once-lively village was a graveyard of screams.
The scent of blood burned her nostrils. The wind carried the sound of gurgled last breaths. Raika barely registered her own hands clawing at the snow, forcing her trembling body to move.
Her brother's body lay beside her, the ice spike still impaled through his back. His face was smiling. His wide, vacant eyes stared into nothing.
Raika's breath hitched.
Her fingers dug into the frozen ground as she dragged herself forward, reaching for him.
"Brother…"
Her voice was broken. Hoarse. Desperate.
No response.
Just the distant sound of another villager being impaled.
Her head jerked up just in time to see another Krepsuna skewered through the stomach, his body lifted into the air by the massive icicle before it shattered, tearing him in half.
Raika's stomach lurched, but she forced herself to move.
Her mother. Her father.
They couldn't be dead.
They were strong. They were invincible.
A sharp pain exploded in her wrist. Someone had grabbed her. Raika whipped around.
A boy stood before her, his violet skin smeared with soot and blood. His white hair was wild with panic, his eyes burning with terror.
"Raika!" He shouted her name, his voice cracking.
It was Veyn.
Her childhood friend. The only boy in the village who could ever keep up with her. She struggled, trying to wrench her arm away.
"Let me go!"
But Veyn refused.
"Raika, we have to go!" He gritted his teeth, his fingers tightening around her wrist. "They're dead! We have to run!"
"NO!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "They're not dead! I just have to save them! I—"
A whistle.
A white-hot burning sensation tore through her shoulder.
Raika's breath hitched as she staggered, ice-cold agony piercing her flesh.
She stared down in disbelief at the small ice shard embedded in her arm, then up at the sky, where more were falling.
Another whistle.
Another shard, this time missing her face by inches.
Veyn yanked her forward.
"We have to run, Raika! If we don't, we'll die!"
She tried to resist but another ice spear struck the ground beside them, a massive one. The impact blasted snow and blood into the air, knocking both of them off their feet.
Raika landed hard, her breath punched out of her lungs. Her entire world spun. A disembodied arm lay in the snow beside her.
She gagged.
Another villager was torn apart before her eyes. And still, Veyn did not let go of her hand.
Raika trembled. Her throat clenched and a choked sob tore its way out of her chest.
Then, she made her choice.
She grabbed his hand back and they ran.
The wind screamed around them as their small bodies thundered through the carnage. The snow beneath them was slick with blood.
Half-buried corpses jutted out of the ground like twisted monuments to death. Some of them still moved but Raika did not stop. She couldn't. A massive ice spike came crashing down in front of them. The shockwave sent them sprawling.
Raika slammed into the snow, her shoulder burning. Veyn grabbed her again, yanking her back to her feet.
"Keep running!"
She did.
They sprinted between the ruins of homes and bodies, weaving through the wreckage of their village. Each time they stumbled, each time their feet slipped on the frozen blood, Veyn would grab her. Each time he faltered, Raika would pull him forward.
Another ice spear pierced the ground inches from their feet.
They tripped, rolled and fell.
Veyn coughed, spitting out bloodied snow. Raika felt the world blur around her.
Still, they ran. Still, they fought to live.
The ice storm chased them, carving through the village with a vengeance.
By the time they reached the outskirts half an hour later, their bodies were barely holding together. The cold gnawed at them. Their skin was torn. Their wounds bled freely.
Veyn's legs buckled first.
He crashed into the snow.
Raika gasped, staggering toward him.
"Veyn—"
Her knees gave out as well.
She barely had time to reach for him before her world faded into darkness.
The last thing she saw was the sky.
The blue light had faded.
Only the wind remained.
"Why are we meant do die..."