Cinder

I had only just become an adult, not yet fully matured, and already my training was underway. Deep within the Boreal Wood, surrounded by howling winds and wolves alike, I battled alongside my comrades. In the beginning, I suffered defeat often, saved only by the courage and steadfastness of the masters overseeing my training. Their shadows fell across my body as our enemies descended with the intent of finishing me off. But my elders would not let that fate befall me.

Hours after becoming the strongest of warriors, the temperature dropped. First the snow fell quietly. But as the night wore on, a bitter wind began howling, and with it the snow fall intensified. We were forced to take shelter wherever we could, huddling together in desperate attempts to stay warm. The fire within me saved many that night, but even I felt my strength begin to falter as the temperature continued to plummet.

The next morning, though the sun shone harsh high above, its warmth did not reach us. The Shifting Expanse had been transformed overnight. What was once a scalded, unforgiving land was now a barren wasteland with ice and snow claiming new territory. The calm, clear skies above did not last long. Hours after waking, snow again fell from the sky in such amounts we could not see beyond the ends of our tails.

Without our eyes to guide us home, we were forced to remain in a meager shelter dug into the side of a large embankment. We longed for the warmth of our lair. Though we were in a similar enough cavern, the walls here were crystalline and sapped warmth from our bodies. Why did it seem as though we were in the Icewarden's domain? Though the rumble of thunder was still audible in the distance, it did little to comfort us...


- By FirozTaverbi