The Unknown

When leaves have fallen and skies turned into grey, when the night keeps on closing in on the day and a nightingale sings his song of farewell, Jeremy is sweating, while tossing and turning in his bed, fighting against the fictional monsters created in his subconscious dreams.
A group of young warriors and soul guardians were wandering inside enemy borders, searching for traces of the cruel existence of the Ice Queen. With firm steps, five brave friends ventured themselves on the edges of the kingdom, caught by surprise, by an expected fog.
Every step they took, the ice and CO2 bubbles caged inside solid water, cracked and started to sag under the weight of their bodies, regulated by hormones, secreted by the pituitary gland, stimulated by their desires.
Inhaling and exhaling, within feeble heartbeats and uncertain moves, each mate vanished in the air, followed by the blowing of a frosty breeze, spaced by two minutes long.
"Stop playing around, there's no time for --"  Jeremy began to say, spinning around on his feet, supposing to face his mates, but they were all gone.
"Nice move, Ice Queen" he whispers, surrounded by the opaque fog of forgetfulness, when all of a sudden, alongside with a screechy scream, a hole is open in his chest and drowing in his own body fluids, an intense light blinds him.
With a wild gasp, oxygen returns to his lungs, opening his eyes madly, dilating the pupil with the variation of luminosity, filling up his chest with gases of a freezing hell. Quick flashes of short memories overflow his counsciousness:
Jeremy finds himself remembering the old days, when he used to spend time with his family, before becoming a warrior. He remembers the cold night when columns of black smoke rose into the skies, while he was changing the sheets of his bed, keeping an eye on his younger sister, who was listening to his uncle, a storyteller:"When she embraces, your heart turns into stone, she comes at night when you are all alone, and when she whispers, your blood shall run cold, you better hide before she finds you!"
Later that night, when Jeremy was still trying to fall asleep, Jenna mentioned "Whenever she is raging, she takes all life away, Haven't you seen? The ruins of our world." Jeremy was able to distinguish the fear lurking in her eyes, as a tear tried to escape. He kissed her forehead, wrapping his arms around her, swinging sideways slowly.
Finally recovering the control of his body, as scents teased his nose and explosions of sound atrophied his ears, he crawls toward the cliffs, where he has a privileged view on the battlefield. There's three spots on the field, where fire fights against ice while dense clouds of steam condense in midair.
At the bottom of the cliff, the Ice Queen is on her way up, enveloped in a cloud of sharp ice crystals, to bring death to another part of the kingdom.
Jeremy starts crawling backwards, getting up on his feet, despite the intolerant pain that almost made him fall again, he rushes inside a small crack in the virgin mountain, trying to escape from her freezing hell. He still can't believe that the Ice Queen materialized herself from the children nightmares during the smiling cat's festival. Cunning creature, indeed he thinks to himself, Why is everything so quiet, suddenly?
Jeremy peeks through the crack, carefully, not to reveal his position, and the loud hissing produced by the madam's lips, leaves his ear unable to perform its function, making him lean backwards, stretching in pain.
A pale icy hand, with sharp nails, breaks through the crack, and scratches his cheek, leaving two thin lines that started to fill up with his fresh sweet blood.
Once again, Jeremy runs for his life, I mean, one day the ice will melt, right? It can't be winter forever...
As he penetrates deeper into the virgin mountain, Jeremy finds about a place hidden in its heart, a cave made of ice mixed with the power of the Earth. Two different elements that feel in love, a long time ago, when water started falling from the sky and infiltrated inside the sins of the Earth; they both joined together to form a whole greater than either separate. However the scale between them was never stable...
Somehow, his sense of orientation leads to a village, free from the blindness of snow, C'mon just a few meters and you'll be safe, Jeremy prays.
"Not so fast, pretty young boy!" the Ice Queen orders, making him shiver.
Jeremy is exhausted, he can barely walk, due to the lack of blood in his system. She pulls him closer to her, by his injured leg, making him gasp.
Interrupted by several hiccups, Jeremy still states "Give up... You'll never win." pointing out a tree next to them, "You cover the earth with a breathtaking cloak, but the sun awakes and melts it away, the world now opens its eyes and sees, the dawning of a new day."
Her expression of victory, automatically changes into a mixture of delight and pure anger, and soon her instincts take over her control. The delicious scent being emanated of his cheek, the numerous injuries that left bones outside his body and the intriguing grey eyes that seem to glow everytime radiation reflects in his presence; encouraged her to commit a sin.
Already on top of him, not allowing him to set free, she rests her head on his shoulder, snuggling her face against his neck.
Jeremy feels disgusted, A bloodthirsty and without any mercy monster flirting with me, C'mon, give me a break! However he can't help, but notice, that the frosty body of hers against his skin and injuries, provide a quite relaxing state of mind.
Unwittingly he leans his head to her side, and rubs his cheek against her freezing forehead, sending chills along his spine. While all of a sudden she digs her fangs in his luscious neck, making his vocalize a loud groan.
Sliding up his hand along her back, he was willing to make her stop by pulling her head away, but ends up playing with her strings of liquid hair; right when the clink of handcuffs lock her fists.
Jeremy despairingly tries to open his eyes, and brings himself back to reality, for one more day. But the view, that reality offers him is too damn traumatising.
The Ice Queen is tied up on a mast and, surrounding her, there's plenty of branches set on fire. A group of villagers are blocking the way to save her; and one last time Jeremy gets on his feet and kind of crawls towards the open fire.
A pal goes to meet him and helps him to stand up, offering his shoulder to support Jeremy's weight.
"Finally that terrible creature is gone" the pal states, while the Ice Queen screams and shouts.
Jeremy remains incredulous, staring at his mate writhing in agony; She needs me, and the only thing I can do is to surrender... I can't barely stand myself...
And when she finally starts to give in, she rises her head at the sky and confesses "James, we gave birth to a child..." holds her gaze with Jeremy and prophesies her last words "Good luck, my boy"
When he realizes that the Ice Queen is his mom, and shouts her name "Snow White!", she had already turned into crystal ashes...