Frost and Blood

The serpent’s head turned. Its jaws stretched wide, venom dripping, hissing louder than ever. And right there—right in front of it—Luna was still on her knees, clutching what was left of Ricky, screaming, not even seeing the shadow falling over her.

“LUNA—!!” My voice ripped out before I even knew what I was doing.

Something… shifted in me. I don’t know what. A pull in my chest, a fire under my skin, but cold, colder than anything I’d ever felt before. My feet moved before my brain did.

Step.

The world slowed. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, so loud it drowned the serpent’s hiss.

Step.

Ice crawled over my arm, thin, fragile at first, like frost spreading on glass. Then thicker, harder, biting into my skin. My breath turned to white mist with every gasp.

Step.

The cold spread down my legs, climbing up my chest. My body shook, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.

Step.

The frost turned into layers, stacking over one another. My vision blurred but sharpened at the same time—everything burning, everything clear. The serpent’s fangs were almost on her now, dripping death.

Step.

My right hand—only my right—remained bare, the palm uncovered. I don’t know why, but it was like my body itself left it open, like it knew.

And then—I was there.

“LUNA!!”

I dove, hand grabbing hers, yanking her up so fast it nearly tore my shoulder apart. My other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling with everything I had.

The serpent’s jaws slammed shut where she had been. CRASH. The ground cracked from the force, snow exploding upward in a spray.

But we weren’t there.

We stumbled aside, breath ragged, ice cracking across my body as I shielded her.

She gasped, eyes wide, staring at me—at the frost crawling across my skin, at the ice armor that had formed in an instant.

I didn’t even know what I was looking at. My own hands shook, cold stabbing me from inside, but still—I held her.

Alive.

Barely.

I barely even thought. My arms moved, my legs moved, my body moved—and Luna was tossed aside like she weighed nothing. She landed on the snow, slid a few meters, and then rolled to a stop. I blinked, heart slamming in my chest, and then I saw her face. Eyes wide. Soaking. Frozen wide. Shock. Fear. And… some unspoken awe, maybe.

I stared at myself.

What the hell… what am I?

Layers of ice clung to my body, but it wasn’t solid. Not like armor, not like walls, not like the frozen spikes Ricky made. No. It shifted with me, fluid, bending and flowing with every movement. When I moved my arm, the ice curved, stretched, and rippled like water. My chest expanded, and the frost stretched with it, thin filmy layers that glinted in the sunlight, turning into mist for a moment, then back into glacial sheen. My legs—legs that had just tossed Luna aside—were completely encased in this shifting, flowing frost that hummed with cold.

I shook my head. I didn’t understand it. My own body was a weapon now. A living, breathing frost that obeyed me… maybe.

Then I saw the serpent.

Its eyes—black pits, almost alive with venom—locked on Luna, still scrambling to her feet. Its body coiled, muscles tensing, veins visible even through the bluish-dark scales. It hissed, low and furious, venom dripping in thick droplets that sizzled where they touched the snow. The hiss was a sound I felt in my bones, a scream that rattled the air, heavy and deep, and I froze for a fraction of a second.

But it wasn’t for me. No. It was angry that its prey had been stolen. That I had taken what it wanted.

It lunged.

I barely heard Luna screaming behind me. “RUU! GET AWAY—!!”

But my body didn’t care. Didn’t listen. Legs pumping beneath me, ice rippling along every muscle, every step faster than humanly possible. Faster than Ricky, faster than anyone. Faster than I had ever imagined.

I slammed into it. My right hand, the only part not fully iced, struck its skull where Ricky’s spikes had barely dented before. The impact sounded like a thunderclap, metal on stone, ice crunching under it.

A gust of frost shot from my body, swirling around the serpent’s head, coating its face, blinding it with a white haze that burned through the venom’s mist. And then—suddenly—a tear in the ice. Or maybe… something else.

I realized the ice wasn’t ice. Not fully. My right hand, where I had struck, wasn’t solid anymore either. The frost layer vaporized on impact, turning into something… fluid, halfway between water and ice. Slush that moved, that seeped, that filled the gaps between my fingers and the serpent’s scales. It hissed, screamed—a sound like nails on glass, but low and guttural, vibrating through the snow and air, piercing into the earth itself.

I pushed further, and my hand passed through its head. Through scales, through bone, through the living pressure of its skull. It screamed louder now, venom sputtering, shaking its massive body. The sound wasn’t just a hiss anymore—it was a wail, a wail that carried anger, pain, and terror all at once.

The ground shook. The wind screamed. Snow whipped around, ice shards spiraling like knives, but they didn’t touch me. They followed the serpent’s writhing body instead.

And I moved again. Faster. Every step my legs made—ice rippling, shifting, liquid-ice bending—propelled me closer to Luna. She was shaking, crying, clutching her brother’s fallen body like she was trying to keep him alive with her arms alone. She didn’t even notice me coming.

I didn’t think. My hand extended. I grabbed her wrist, yanked her out of the strike zone just as the serpent’s fangs snapped shut where she had been standing a heartbeat ago. The hiss, the venom, the scream—it missed.

The scream didn’t stop. The serpent wailed, thrashing, thrumming through the snow and air like the world itself was breaking. Its body pulsed, eyes wild, and it tried to follow my movement, but every time it lashed, every time it struck, it met… nothing. Ice mist, liquid frost, vapor wrapping around it, forming then dispersing, turning the impact of its own strength against it.

I could feel it in me. The frost… it was alive. It was mine. But I had no idea how, no control. My chest burned from the effort, my legs trembled under the strain, my right hand fizzed with heat as the frost-vapor burned through the serpent like acid wrapped in snow.

And yet it screamed. Screamed like it was dying, screaming like it hated the world, screaming like it had never known pain like this before. Every hiss, every spittle of venom, every twisting coil—it was all for me. Or maybe for Luna. Or maybe for something inside myself I had never known.

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. I just kept moving, kept reaching, kept striking, letting the frost run through me like wildfire, letting it move like water, letting it wrap, cling, destroy. The serpent’s screams—high, low, guttural, almost human—echoed in my ears, a chorus of rage, defeat, and terror all at once.

And Luna… she stared at me. Eyes wet. Mouth open. Frozen, but not in fear anymore. Shock. Awe. Terror. Relief.

I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except moving forward, keeping her alive, striking this thing down, letting every instinct in my veins explode out of me like a storm.

The scream got higher. Louder. Wild. Hitting the cold air. I heard every crack of its bones under my punches, felt every shake of the snow.

Then it fell. Collapsed. Big body hitting the ground. Snow spraying. Ice cracking. Venom pooling. Limbs twitching, claws scraping, tail thrashing. Last hiss. Last scream. And then nothing.

Finally. Silence.

I sank to my knees. Frost sliding off my body. Shaking. Hands covered in ice. Legs trembling. Cold biting, but alive. My eyes on the serpent. Dead. Cold. Broken.