Chapter One

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EVERYONE IN ARENDELLE is excited, the people are clamoring by the gates of the castle. It has been thirteen long years since the castle of Arendelle was isolated from the rest of the kingdom when the king and queen had the gates closed.

But today was an exception amongst the years that it was shut to the people for this particular day holds a special event--- Elsa's coronation day. To accommodate it, the gates will finally be opened to them; a gesture that would mark the unraveling of the secrets the royal family of Arendelle is hiding.

Amongst the most delighted ones was the second princess, Anna. Being an 18-year-old princess did not benefit her manifestation to sleep so ladylike. Her auburn hair was a wild mess with her mouth open. She awakened to the knock on her door followed by a servant calling her out to rise.

"I'm sorry to disturb your slumber, Your Highness."

"No, no, no, you didn't. I've been up for hours." She yawned, stretching her arms outwardly.

"The gates will open soon. Time to get ready!"

Anna chuckles. She gazed upon the gown prepared for her at the corner of her room. Her eyes gleam in excitement like that of a diamond sparkling in the sun's rays.

She stepped out of her room all dressed and ready. The elated princess sprints into the corridors of the castle. Her lips were smiling from ear to ear until she came across the door that never opened to her. Slowly she took her pace and stops before Elsa's locked door.

Anna never understood what she did wrong which caused great offense to her sister and shut her out. Her mind unintentionally recalled the events of the past. She could still see her younger self knocking on Elsa's door, asking her out to play and build a snowman during winter.

But for once the door never opened to her face.

"Go away, Anna!"

They were very close as kids, they used to play a lot together and then one day, for some reason not known to her, Elsa suddenly shut her out. She never gave up knocking on her door hoping it will open to her again.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into thirteen years. Not a single chance did she see it open. Anna never saw her sister again. The pain only doubled when their parents died just three years ago. And Elsa couldn't even attend their parents' funeral.

Nevertheless, Anna suppressed her downcast heart and put on a smile on her face.

"Well, this isn't the day to be sad! It's my sister's coronation day and besides, the gates are finally going to open!"

THE WORDS RELEASED by Anna were overheard by Elsa from within her room. Unbeknownst to Anna, Elsa would lean her ear on the door to hear if her sister is approaching. She was always excited to hear Anna's voice. Her sweet innocent and lively voice somehow lifted a thick portion of ice in her heart and makes her feel loved.

"Maybe our sister still loves us." Elsa grinned; a tear gliding down her cheek instantly froze.

She stared at herself in the broken mirror in her room, the same mirror she shattered long ago. Her darkened room only highlighted the glow of the blood-red ice spikes covering mostly the right portion of her face.

They never left her face since that incident. What is she going to do now? She can't go out looking like that.

And more importantly---

"Will Anna still love us like this?"

Elsa heard the clamoring people from outside, prompting her to stand by the window of her room. She hides behind the curtains and slightly peaks, revealing only her left blood-red eye, the sun beaming directly at it.

The gates were flooded with people the sooner it opened to them. Elsa caught Anna running to the crowds, her face bearing the widest of smiles she's ever seen.

"So, that's how you look now." She softly chuckled. "You're so beautiful. I wish I could've witnessed your growing up."

And almost as though that Anna knew she was watching her from behind when she instinctively turned to look at the window to her room. Elsa immediately closes the window before Anna even caught her. She breathes in relief.

"That was close."

She peaked out again after a moment. The crowd all have the same faces--- beaming lips and smiling eyes. It would have been a most wonderful sight if those faces don't hide the horror behind their stretched lips. They nearly looked as though they have forgotten already how people are mysteriously dying in the kingdom. Just on that particular day, they've put aside the horrors lurking every night within Arendelle.

Elsa couldn't remember anymore the number of humans whose warmth she took, but she remembered every victim. She'd always wake up the next day to screams of people upon discovering another frostbitten corpse.

Their parents witnessed her first kill which was one of their servants. The red ice spikes that appeared on her face at that moment were only but a few ones, but as she continues to take lives and steal their warmth, they multiplied.

They were always afraid to punish her too, fearing she might retaliate and kill Anna. The deaths were soon ruled as frostbites though it was nothing like frostbites. The doctors in the kingdom only agreed on that cause when they realized that the appearances of red ice spikes on the person's body are similar to that of someone having frostbite; from their fingertips, toes, earlobes, cheeks, chin, and tip of their nose.

Elsa grinned mischievously as she approaches the portrait of their dead parents. They sought every way to stop her from killing. They sought every help to find her cure. But alas, their last voyage took them both under the bottom of the sea.

A knock on the door nearly startled Elsa.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Your Highness. I'm about to open the door now. Are you ready?"

A painful smile brushed upon her lips. "I've been waiting for this moment."

The chance to finally breathe the air of freedom, just by thinking about it already eases her raging thoughts. The servant turned open the key and unlocks the door. Slowly it opened and reveals the First Princess' dark room, enabling him to grasp what was really inside.

"It's so good to finally see you, Your Highness." The servant greeted, bowing his head in respect.

"Thank you. It's so good to finally breathe in the outside air."

The servant chuckled. "Just try not to kill anyone today, Your Highness."

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Voxciera

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