Sword Art Online: The Crystal Swordsman

The Queen of Ice

As Sinon and I entered the Bifrost room beneath the great World Tree, I placed the aquamarine prism into its slot and turned it to face the cyan door. It's light shone like a beam and caused the doors glow to brighten. Sinon and I approached it and inhaled for a moment of truth. I gripped my fingers between the double doors and slid them apart forcefully, letting in a malicious cyclone of a blizzard. I let Sinon thru as the two of us battled a strong snowy gust across the bridge of Alfheim's light. A bright glow was visible ahead and we hastily made our way over to it. Upon emerging from the doorway, we bared witness to an entire world engulfed in violent ice and snow. I was immediately washed over with the wintry breeze and my teeth began to chatter.

"Hoof, it's cold in this realm." I rubbed my arms quickly and held myself with my black feathered wings

"You're cold?" Sinon turned to me and asked, confused.

"You're not??" My teeth chattered some more as I put my new fur hood on.

"Oh yeah. I guess I'm a frost elemental, aren't I?" Sinon just recalled.

"Lucky you..." I shivered.

"Aww, hun! You look adorable!" She randomly said as she over looked at me.

"What?" I was clueless.

"Your fur hood has wolf ears!" Sinon smiled in front of me.

"It does? Oh, hey it does!" I put one cold hand up and felt them.

I suddenly sparked my flame and engulfed my entire body in purple fire. I deliberately raised the heat ever so slightly to even out the cold with intense warmth.

"Ahhh, much better." I clenched my fists at my sides.

"We should find out how that ice claw made its way to Alfheim. That skull mountain should be a good start." I pointed.

"Skull mountain?" Sinon looked and also saw a massive mountain with a skull made of ice as it's face.

"Well, that looks obvious." She let a faint chuckle as we began to traverse this new frozen world.

We traversed many snowy paths to get to our destination but what was most peculiar to me, were the frozen humanoid figures that stood at every waking turn. Some of them even made us jump as we almost walked right into them.

"I don't like this, K." Sinon was spooked by not only how many there were, but also the sad positions some of them were frozen in.

"You're going to have to forget about them, Sinon. Hel is the realm of the dead. There's no saving these people." I explained as we pressed on.

"I know..." She spoke faintly as we arrived at a frozen bridge made purely of ice.

Before us across the bridge was the same skull mountain with its mouth open as a doorway at the other end.

"This has to be the place." I dissipated my full body flame and stood to bare the cold.

"Huh? Aren't you still freezing?" Sinon asked me.

"No. I just raised my core body temperature. I am a fire elemental, after all." I told her.

"Ah. Lucky us." Sinon smirked and we began to walk across the long ice bridge.

Into the skull mouth we entered and within it was a beautiful icy temple displayed with a mirror-like smoothness. The ice in here seemed to much more elegantly shaped than the brutal blizzard outside. A crystal-like chandelier of pure transparent icicles hung overhead in the very centre of the room. At the other end the temple was a large frozen throne with an ice wolf sculpture sitting obediently next to it. An echoey chuckle bounced around the room as Sinon and I drew our blades, standing defensively side by side.