Once upon a time, there lived a loving couple in a beautiful mountain far up North.
These two chose the foot of the mountain two build their house, the man personally gathered the materials for building the house.
The sturdy materials made the exterior like a fortress or a temple, rather than house made of bricks and wood.
However, the inside of the house was beautiful and has a relaxing ambience, a totally contrasting aesthetic from the eerie look on the outside.
The peaceful life of the couple remained for years and even decades until they grow old of age.
The woman who was always cheerful and smiling happily is the first one who felt the deteriorating health.
The man became desperate; he wants to spend an eternal life with his wife.
'No! Not today! We will live happily for as long as the world exists!' The man thought to himself.
On the farthest room of their house, he was keeping all the materials he gathered, various rocks and gems littered on the ground as he searches for something.
Sparkle!
A shining blue stone unfamiliar to him was seen showing rays of light, ever so gently.
As he keeps observing the stone, a small spot leaked light again, there; he dusted the thick layers of mud and clay to reveal the identity of this stone.
After he carved off the tough mud hardened on the surface, it revealed a crystal, rather than just a stone.
He felt a faint pulsating presence from within the crystal, there was something else inside the crystal.
He spent the night cooped up in the storage room to examine the crystal, until he broke the invisible strands of mana sealing the crystal.
He was not an Adventurer; however, he liked researching materials so he was knowledgeable in mana and its fundamentals.
Click!
A crisp sound coming from the undoing of the seal can be heard.
However, the moment the crystal turned into dust, a shard of dark colored ice slowly grew in size.
He was familiar with this shard, as it is recorded in various history books, the Blackfrost!
According to the records, it was long sealed through time because of its power to turn a hot country into a freezing one, causing an endless cold season.
But now, the shard of Blackfrost which was supposed to be sealed is on his hands.
As the Blackfrost shard slowly grew into a size of a ball, he slowly manipulated its mana.
Vuim!
The moment he tried controlling the mana of the Blackfrost, a black beam penetrated his forehead.
His eyes juggled as he tried to regain his consciousness, after a brief moment of extreme dizziness, he recovered.
It seems that he is not powerful enough to make use of the Blackfrost.
From then on, he neglected on taking care of his wife who is now bedridden, he purely focused researching the Blackfrost and mana.
After about 3 days of research, he finally succeeded in absorbing the Blackfrost, however, he discovered that he regained his youth; his declining health was recovered into peak.
He exited the storage room excitedly as he wants to inform his wife.
Thud.
He fell down on his knees as he saw his wife's pale face and cold body; she was not showing any signs of life anymore.
During his research, he ignored his wife's calls to him; now, he is greatly regretting his actions.
Smash smash smash!
He repeatedly smashed down his fist on the floor until his hands reddened with blood.
He will never be able to bring back his wife anymore, until he realized the powers of the Blackfrost.
He briefly recovered his calm as he held his wife's hands and channeled his new mana flow imbued with the Blackfrost.
Break!
Instead of recovering his wife's body, she slowly turned into an ice sculpture.
The man greatly panicked, if his wife melted, she will not have any remains anymore, he still wants to spend his life with her, even if she is dead.
He attempted everything to restore the woman, until the morning he refused to sleep or take a break, but he finally succeeded.
He turned his wife's body into a mana crystal supported by the Blackfrost's mana.
[…]
The man reached the city closes to their house in the foot of the mountain.
There, he searched for a man by the name of Olyssus, a famed smith who was rumored to have been attempting to make a Legendary Weapon.
He soon reached the humble looking shop of Olyssus.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A constant hammering noised up the small shop, the man calmly and patiently waited for Olyssus to finish what he was doing.
After hours of waiting, Olyssus finally spoke: "Who are you? What do you have for me?"
"I am Verglas. I have brought you a powerful magic crystal capable of supporting your forging with endless supply of mana. With this, I believe you should accomplish your dream of making a Legendary Weapon." The man named Verglas introduced his intentions.
"Hmmm, let's see, give it to me." Olyssus caressed his beard as he received the magic crystal.
His eyes widened with shock and astonishment when he saw the magic crystal pulsating with massive power.
"You are right. With this, I will be able to recast the Ruined Blade's shard that I stumbled upon on an expedition on the country of Arnelia." Olyssus briefly shared his experiences in discovering this shard.
No matter how many magic crystals he burned to recast the shard, he still could not succeed, that is why he was searching for a great source of mana, only then he would be able to make his dream Legendary Weapon.
He embedded the magic crystal from Verglas onto the slot in the furnace, pure strands of mana slowly flowed and showered the flames.
Vuoshh!
Splashes of small flames appeared as it boiled and reshaped the blade shard.
He added various materials as catalysts and reinforcing objects to turn the weapon into Legendary grade.
He hammered down the melted materials into a brand new longsword.
When it was attached to a beautiful white handle, small cracks leaked out from the aquamarine blade.
Crack crack! Crackle.
When Olyssus is about to snap in anger, some form of ice leaked out into the handle which slowly mended back the cracks.
"!!!"
Olyssus' eyes widened yet again, he spoke in a slightly trembling voice "This sword is not a Legendary Weapon, but a Magic Weapon capable of mending itself!"
"A Magic Weapon?" Verglas was slightly confused of the terminology.
"Yes, Magic Weapons have a will of their own, you see. Hmm hmm, I may have succeeded in crafting a Magic Weapon in my lifetime, however, this is not my goal, and no one simply wields Magic Weapons!"
"Thank you for your time; here is your crysta-" Olyssus words halted when he discovered that the magic crystal the man gave him is no more.
"It is fine, do not worry. I shall take this weapon for you then, if no one would be able to wield them." Verglas smiled meaningfully as he grabbed the aquamarine sword with ease.
Dazed, Olyssus could only watch the man leave with an accidental Magic Weapon he produced, but realizing the potential backlash to his customers, he dismissed the idea of giving chase.
At most, he wasted a few rare materials, but that is better than indirectly killing customers through the Magic Weapon.
If a Magic Weapon's will moves against the wielder, it could kill them through variety of ways.
[…]
Verglas reached their house on the mountain; he cleaned his storage room and hammered down an unknown big rock to turn it into a platform.
"Rosalia, my beloved, take the will of this sword as your own, with this, we will live together for the rest of time." Verglas shed tears as he stabbed the sword deeply into the platform.
Shuuuk!
The great sharpness of the aquamarine sword slid through the platform like a knife stabbing a piece of bread.
The moment the sword engraved itself into the platform, the entire mountain trembled.
Snow fell from the skies and ice filled the passages inside the mountain.
From then on, various visitors named the mountain as Mount Scarfrost and built a city slightly below it.
Mount Scarfrost always snowed and never changed atmospheric conditions.
It was always freezing cold there, but people liked visiting the Scarfrost city for entertainment from playing in the snow.
The phenomenon was later named as Eternal Ice's Wake.
The only thing people do not know about is the existence of Verglas' temple-like house within the Mount Scarfrost which is the true source of the endless snow in the area.
From then on, Verglas drifted into an eternal sleep after freezing himself besides his wife in a form of a sword.
Hundreds of years passed and Verglas retained his youth, his body never aged due to the double-edged power of the Blackfrost.
In trading of his humanity, he gained tremendous power of wielding the coldness.
However, he still suffered great pain as his mind stayed awake during all this time, he could not feel any form of warmth anymore.
He still lost his wife even if she is now his sword.
Due to the mana surrounding the temple, it was treated as a dungeon after hundreds of years passed when it emerged from a cavern.
Verglas closed his eyes and saw his wife Rosalia running through the grass while she laughed cheerfully.
She ran and ran away from Verglas' view until he tried chasing her.
He ran with all his energy, but he just could not close the distance between him and his wife.
He stretched out his hands, feeling like he is about to catch up to her, but she still remained so far, yet so close.
The giggles of his wife ringed through his ears as she gradually disappeared into the endless horizon in front of him.
Aurghh!
He felt a sharp pain from his chest as he opened his eyes, finding himself staring on the night skies, snow falling on him.
The mana of the Blackfrost slowly draining away from him.
He lost, he may now finally rest without any pain and longing for warmth, however, it is now his turn to leave his wife Rosalia.
He fought to protect her, but he still lost.
Cough cough!
Veil regained her consciousness after landing the final attack on her enemy; she then scanned her surrounding before approaching the lying man.
In reality, she saw all the memories of Verglas and Rosalia on their time together in this world when she wielded the aquamarine sword and stabbed Verglas.
She is now inheriting the will of the fallen couple.
"I am sorry for this. Find your rest, Verglas." Veil informed the man while she briefly laid his head on her lap.
Tears welled up from Verglas' eyes as he felt the warmth of Veil in this freezing cold.
He is now nearing the end of his time, he gathered all his remaining strength to stretch his hand towards Veil and speak "Please take care of Rosalia…"
His hand powerlessly fell down just as when he was about to caress Veil's face; colors drained out of his face as he paled into death.
Veil closed Verglas' eyes with her palm and gently laid his body as she pulled out the sword.
Shuk!
After the sword fully absorbed the Blackfrost within Verglas, his body aged into an old man, his original body.
Veil lifted up the sword with both of her hands and declared: "Rosalia, you are now in my care, let's vanquish the evil together!"
The aquamarine sword now has a hint of black stripe on the middle of its blade, sporting the similar shade of color of the Blackfrost shard.
It pulsates with power as Rosalia's lifeforce resonated with Veil's declaration.
It now glowed with blinding radiance as all of the snow within the surrounding area of Mount Scarfrost dissipated.
Trees grew leaves, dead grass revitalized and now have flowers of various colors, and the freezing cold atmosphere calmed down.
Now, only the peak of the mountain has snow; the rest of the Scarfrost city is now free from the extreme cold.
They will be able to function just like any other city now, celebrating the cold season only for a few period of time.
[…]
Veil felt more emotional because this weapon was made from a lost shard of her original weapon, Umbral Reaver which was also Nightshade's and the blade spirits' final memoire.
Veil took a final glance on the new masterpiece of a weapon: A perfectly symmetrical aquamarine blade with a hint of midnight black on its center, a blue rose wrapping the handguards, and a pulsing crystal on the hilt which constantly replenishes the sword with endless stream of ice mana.
Veil teared up slightly before sheathing her rebirthed weapon, the rank 12 Magic Weapon, Rosalia, the Eternal Winter.