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Snow's Trial
The shadows that consumed Snow were colder than ice, their touch like daggers piercing her fair skin. Unlike the others, she didn't fight or struggle. Instead, she allowed the darkness to take her, her crimson eyes staring blankly ahead as her body was enveloped.
When the world came back into focus, Snow found herself in a desolate tundra.
The ground beneath her was a sea of cracked, frozen earth, stretching infinitely in every direction. The sky above was a swirl of storm clouds, casting a dim, eerie glow over the land. Snowflakes fell, but they burned like fire when they touched her skin, leaving behind faint scorch marks.
The air was heavy, thick with malice, and each breath felt like swallowing shards of glass.
Snow glanced around, her crimson eyes scanning the unfamiliar terrain. There was no one in sight, yet she could feel something watching her—something ancient and malevolent.
The silence was broken by a voice, deep and dripping with condescension.
"Welcome, little flame," the voice said, echoing across the tundra. "Do you know what your punishment is? Do you understand the stakes?"
Snow didn't answer, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the horizon for the source of the voice.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by your silence," the voice continued, amused. "You've always been the stubborn one. But don't worry, I'll break you soon enough."
The ground trembled beneath her feet, and a figure began to emerge from the ice. It was a mirror image of Snow, but twisted and wrong.
Her doppelgänger's crimson eyes glowed brighter, almost as if they were alive with fire. The copy's hair was wild and disheveled, her pale skin cracked like porcelain, with veins of molten red coursing through her body. Most unsettling of all was her smile—a cruel, mocking grin that didn't belong on Snow's face.
"Hello, me," the copy said, her voice a distorted echo of Snow's.
Snow remained stoic, drawing herself up to her full height. "Let's get this over with."
The doppelgänger's grin widened. "Oh, you don't get it, do you? This isn't just about winning or losing. This is about survival. Only one of us will leave this place alive."
Without warning, the doppelgänger raised her hand, and a massive icicle erupted from the ground beneath Snow. She leapt back just in time, the jagged spike narrowly missing her.
The copy moved with terrifying speed, conjuring shards of ice and hurling them toward Snow. Each shard burned with an intense, fiery heat, the air around them shimmering with their intensity.
Snow dodged and weaved, her movements precise and calculated. She reached out with her hand, summoning her own power—a swirling storm of frost and wind that she directed toward her opponent.
The two forces collided, a deafening explosion of ice and fire. Snow was thrown backward, her body skidding across the frozen ground. She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to her feet despite the pain lancing through her body.
---
The battle raged on, the frozen wasteland becoming a battleground of fire and ice. Snow's doppelgänger was relentless, her attacks growing stronger and more precise with each passing moment.
Snow, on the other hand, was beginning to falter. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, her limbs heavy with exhaustion. The burning snowflakes continued to fall, each one leaving behind fresh burns on her skin.
She needed to change her strategy.
Closing her eyes, Snow focused inward, shutting out the howling wind and the mocking laughter of her opponent. She reached deep into herself, past the pain and the exhaustion, to the core of her power.
When she opened her eyes, they glowed with an intense, icy light.
The air around her grew colder, the temperature plummeting to levels that even the doppelgänger couldn't ignore. The flames in the copy's storm flickered and died, snuffed out by the sheer force of Snow's power.
"What are you—" the doppelgänger began, but Snow didn't let her finish.
She raised her hand, and the ground beneath the copy exploded in a massive pillar of ice, trapping her in a prison of frost.
The doppelgänger struggled, her fiery aura flaring as she tried to melt the ice, but Snow wasn't finished. She clenched her fist, and the ice around the copy began to compress, the jagged spikes digging into her skin.
The copy screamed, the sound echoing across the tundra.
---
As the ice prison tightened, Snow took a moment to catch her breath, her body trembling with exhaustion. She could feel her own strength waning, but she couldn't afford to falter now.
The doppelgänger's laughter broke through the silence, low and guttural.
"Do you think this is enough to stop me?" the copy hissed, her fiery veins glowing brighter. "I am you, Snow. I am your fear, your anger, your hatred. You can't kill me because I am already a part of you."
The ice began to crack, thin lines spidering across its surface. Snow's eyes widened as the prison shattered, the shards scattering across the tundra.
The doppelgänger stepped forward, her grin more sinister than ever.
"You'll never defeat me," she said, her voice a venomous whisper. "Not until you accept what you are."
Snow clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. "You're wrong," she said, her voice steady despite the storm raging around her. "You're not me. You're just a shadow."
The doppelgänger lunged, her hands ablaze with fiery energy. Snow met her head-on, their powers colliding in a blinding explosion of light and heat.
For a moment, everything was silent.
When the light faded, Snow was on her knees, her body trembling. The doppelgänger was gone, her form dissipating like smoke in the wind.
The tundra began to dissolve, the frozen ground fading into nothingness.