The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen
PART 1: The Journey
In the deep crevice of the Mountain of Despair, the Snow Queen was lounging around in her freezing palace, lamenting the day the Flame Prince overthrew her rule over the world. “What did I do wrong?” She wondered. Suddenly, she had a stroke of inspiration. “ I only had control over the land! Not the people!” She cackled evilly. “I shall rule the world, FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHA!”
Meanwhile, faraway, in a land the polar opposite of the Mountain of Despair, Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom and her fiancé, Prince Christopher of the Dahlia Kingdom were strolling further down into a forest, talking about their futures. “Wait, what’s that?” Anastasia asked. Christopher squinted into the sky. I think that’s a… flying blue carriage pulled by polar bears? Wait… AHHHHH! It’s the Wicked Snow Queen!” Anastasia gasped. “B-but how is this p-p-possible? It was said that She-Who-Controls-The-Snow retired into the evil Mountain of Despair!”
The Snow Queen was inside the carriage, watching with relish as the pair below cowered with fear.She swooped downwards and seized Christopher by the back of his robes.”Ahh! Let me down, you old hag.The Snow Queen let out a piercing laugh, then plunged her hand into her dress, and thrust an ice-covered dagger into Christopher’s chest. Anastasia ran up to the Snow Queen and screamed, “Let go of him! Let go of him! LET GO OF HIM!!” Christopher, who was lying in the carriage, had his eyes rolled back into his head. “You evil old hag! You evil, foul, demonic spawn, monstrous witch! Let go of him!” The Snow Queen just rolled her eyes and snapped the reins. Her polar bears roared, then ran away, gaining attitude as they went, and finally advanced into the glum sky. “No. No, no, nooo!”Anastasia sank down to her knees, and started sobbing. She stayed like that for a while, then regained control of herself. She stood up, brushing the trickling tears away from her red, puffed up eyes.
She remembered vaguely that the Mountains of Despair was to be found within the Mountains of Eternal Winter, north-west of the Orchid Kingdom. It was a place even the power of the mysterious Flame Prince couldn’t pierce. She started walking north-west, and suddenly broke into a run. When she grew hungry or needed a place to rest, she would stop in a town to exchange labour for food and a roof to sleep under. Finally, after two weeks of sustaining like this, she finally reached her destination: the Mountains of Eternal Winter.
Anastasia looked at the map she had obtained in the last village she had encountered. According to the sketchy map(she had a suspicion it was not too reliable, because of the wobbly art and blotchy writing), she had to trek two major mountains to get to the Mountain Despair. She made sure she had enough supplies, then bravely stepped foot into the mountain range. It was freezing in there, and she felt lucky that she had acquired a thick cloak in one of the villages she had visited.
When it was almost dusk, and she was shivering, she spotted a big but seemingly cozy cottage not far ahead.There was a very pretty woman pruning the flowers and herbs in front of her cottage. She was wearing a headband made of poisonous flowers like nightshade, hemlock and delphinium. She wore a flowery green dress, despite the extreme cold in the mountains. She raised her head and greeted Anastasia heartily. “Hi! May I ask you why you’re in the Mountains of Eternal Winter? Most people don’t come here for a vacation. If they even just set foot in the Mountains of Eternal Winter, it’s to map it.” She snickered. “The last three to come here, well, to make a long story short, they got turned into my headband.” Anastasia blanched. “Uhh, you won’t do that to me, right?” The woman laughed. “Oh, no. They were males. You’re a female, right?” Anastasia nodded feverishly. Anything to get on her good side. “By the way, my name’s Silver.” “Oh, uh, hi, Silver.”
Silver beckoned her inside the cottage. “Come inside. You can have a hot shower, and when you’re done, there’ll be food for you.” Anastasia accepted her offer gratefully. Inside, after her shower, she was treated to a delicious meal of bread, fish, and hot soup. “Why don’t you stay the night? You look deadbeat!” Silver guided Anastasia to a room in the west of the cottage. There was a massive bed with fluffy pillows, a black blanket, and a dark blue comforter. The next day Anastasia bade goodbye to Silver and continued on her journey. She trekked the last remaining mountain in two days, and finally beheld the cruel beauty of the Snow Queen’s evil lair.
PART 2: Sneaking In
Anastasia stared at the towering palace conjured of ice, snow, evil and evil. She had come all this way, but had thought none about how to sneak into the palace. Her hand trembled, and her hands went numb. Anastasia sobbed, but not in fear or sadness; more of hate for the Snow Queen. Suddenly, deep in her soul, something ancient stirred. She felt her strength ebb back into her body until she had more energy than she thought was possible. In her hands, something dark red started to materialize. She recoiled in shock, and tried to throw it away, but it persisted, and remained in her hand. Slowly it fully materialized, and in Anastasia hands was a scepter she had only read about: The Flame Prince’s scepter.
It had a polished mahogany handle, and a blood red ruby placed at the top, engraved with a fire symbol, which was currently glowing vividly. The scepter was turning every single snowflake within 10 meters away into water, until all that remained was a dry patch of dry grass. Even that wasn’t enough for the scepter; the dry grass was slowly turning into fresh green grass, and roses, bluebells, violets, daisies and lavender started popping up everywhere. Anastasia marveled at the power of the scepter, and felt a desire to jump. She complied, and was rewarded with another surprise: she had sprouted beautiful ebony-black wings. She laughed, then flew toward the Snow Queen’s palace.
There were ten ice-golem guards in front of the entrance, flanked by five snowmen. Anastasia just laughed derisively, then swooped down and brushed them with the scepter’s jewel. The moment it kissed their icy cold flesh, the monsters wailed and screeched in pain as they evaporated. Anastasia slowly soared down and tensed her wings, thinking it was the correct thing to do. The wings disappeared, but Anastasia could still feel their presence.
Anastasia slowly sneaked in, staring at the intricately carved statues of the Snow Queen displayed everywhere in the palace. Anastasia curled her lip in disgust. Not only was she evil, she was vain. She reached a room where there was a faint glow of fire, the only place where fire was allowed, because it literally said ‘DO NOT COME IN. FIRE INSIDE.’ Anastasia went in and gasped at what she saw: Christopher in chains, bound in manacles, laying lifeless at the bottom of a cage above a pit of lava.
PART 3: The Chess Match
The Snow Queen rose from her icy throne that was partially obscured by shadows. “Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom?” The Snow Queen’s voice was like soft ice; beautiful, but deadly. The Snow Queen glided towards Anastasia. “I challenge you to a magical chess match. This chess match determines whether your beloved fiancé dies or not.” The Snow Queen rapped the floor three times with her scepter, and a chess board appeared. She paused for a moment, for effect. “We shall play a game of every. My side will be of ice creatures and yours of men and forest spirits. If you capture my king, you win. If you do the same, you win.”
The chess board, Anastasia observed, was split into two sides: one side was of the chilling ice used to construct the palace, the other made of oak and rowan. The Snow Queen’s pawns were snowmen, her rooks snow golems, her knights riding horses that are polar bears in disguise. Her bishops were icy scepters, her king an evil spellcaster, and her queen, well, herself. Anastasia’s pawns were pixies, her rooks fairies, her knights centaurs. Her bishops were dryads, her king a forest spirit, and her queen a powerful elven spellcaster.
The Snow Queen went first moving her knight forward. Anastasia’s move was mirroring her. And so it went, each trying to gain the upper hand while trying to devise a secret plan. The first casualty was when one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems devoured one of Anastasia’s centaurs. Anastasia retaliated by promoting one of her pixies into queendom, thus gaining another queen. She then used that queen to slaughter one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems. Finally, Anastasia captured the Snow Queen’s king with her last remaining pixie. The Snow Queen glared at Anastasia, then grabbed her scepter, and striked the chess board, promptly splitting it in half. Her eyes were blazing with hate and spite, despite his icy outlook. “ You insufferable, miserable, IMPUDENT CHILD. You dare and try to beat me, a queen, at chess. You would have lived longer if you let me be the winner, but noooo. Instead, you had to be all noble, and rescue your betrothed. Well, you forgot one thing: the conditions.” She stalked closer to Anastasia, leering unpleasantly as her. Anastasia grabbed her scepter and swung it towards the Snow Queen’s face with all her strength, imbuing her emotions as well. The Snow Queen clawed her face as her blood trickled out. The strange thing was, her blood wasn’t red: it was white like snow and somehow also black like oil. Anastasia freed Christopher, and had only one last memory of her time at the Snow Queen’s: Christopher kissed Anastasia, and whispered, “I love you.” The End.
The Snow Queen and
Princess Anastasia
PART 1: The Journey
In the deep crevice of the Mountain of Despair, the Snow Queen was lounging around in her freezing palace, lamenting the day the Flame Prince overthrew her rule over the world. “What did I do wrong?” She wondered. Suddenly, she had a stroke of inspiration. “ I only had control over the land! Not the people!” She cackled evilly. “I shall rule the world, FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHA!”
Meanwhile, faraway, in a land the polar opposite of the Mountain of Despair, Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom and her fiancé, Prince Christopher of the Dahlia Kingdom were strolling further down into a forest, talking about their futures. “Wait, what’s that?” Anastasia asked. Christopher squinted into the sky. I think that’s a… flying blue carriage pulled by polar bears? Wait… AHHHHH! It’s the Wicked Snow Queen!” Anastasia gasped. “B-but how is this p-p-possible? It was said that She-Who-Controls-The-Snow retired into the evil Mountain of Despair!”
The Snow Queen was inside the carriage, watching with relish as the pair below cowered with fear.She swooped downwards and seized Christopher by the back of his robes.”Ahh! Let me down, you old hag.The Snow Queen let out a piercing laugh, then plunged her hand into her dress, and thrust an ice-covered dagger into Christopher’s chest. Anastasia ran up to the Snow Queen and screamed, “Let go of him! Let go of him! LET GO OF HIM!!” Christopher, who was lying in the carriage, had his eyes rolled back into his head. “You evil old hag! You evil, foul, demonic spawn, monstrous witch! Let go of him!” The Snow Queen just rolled her eyes and snapped the reins. Her polar bears roared, then ran away, gaining attitude as they went, and finally advanced into the glum sky. “No. No, no, nooo!”Anastasia sank down to her knees, and started sobbing. She stayed like that for a while, then regained control of herself. She stood up, brushing the trickling tears away from her red, puffed up eyes.
She remembered vaguely that the Mountains of Despair was to be found within the Mountains of Eternal Winter, north-west of the Orchid Kingdom. It was a place even the power of the mysterious Flame Prince couldn’t pierce. She started walking north-west, and suddenly broke into a run. When she grew hungry or needed a place to rest, she would stop in a town to exchange labour for food and a roof to sleep under. Finally, after two weeks of sustaining like this, she finally reached her destination: the Mountains of Eternal Winter.
Anastasia looked at the map she had obtained in the last village she had encountered. According to the sketchy map(she had a suspicion it was not too reliable, because of the wobbly art and blotchy writing), she had to trek two major mountains to get to the Mountain Despair. She made sure she had enough supplies, then bravely stepped foot into the mountain range. It was freezing in there, and she felt lucky that she had acquired a thick cloak in one of the villages she had visited.
When it was almost dusk, and she was shivering, she spotted a big but seemingly cozy cottage not far ahead.There was a very pretty woman pruning the flowers and herbs in front of her cottage. She was wearing a headband made of poisonous flowers like nightshade, hemlock and delphinium. She wore a flowery green dress, despite the extreme cold in the mountains. She raised her head and greeted Anastasia heartily. “Hi! May I ask you why you’re in the Mountains of Eternal Winter? Most people don’t come here for a vacation. If they even just set foot in the Mountains of Eternal Winter, it’s to map it.” She snickered. “The last three to come here, well, to make a long story short, they got turned into my headband.” Anastasia blanched. “Uhh, you won’t do that to me, right?” The woman laughed. “Oh, no. They were males. You’re a female, right?” Anastasia nodded feverishly. Anything to get on her good side. “By the way, my name’s Silver.” “Oh, uh, hi, Silver.”
Silver beckoned her inside the cottage. “Come inside. You can have a hot shower, and when you’re done, there’ll be food for you.” Anastasia accepted her offer gratefully. Inside, after her shower, she was treated to a delicious meal of bread, fish, and hot soup. “Why don’t you stay the night? You look deadbeat!” Silver guided Anastasia to a room in the west of the cottage. There was a massive bed with fluffy pillows, a black blanket, and a dark blue comforter. The next day Anastasia bade goodbye to Silver and continued on her journey. She trekked the last remaining mountain in two days, and finally beheld the cruel beauty of the Snow Queen’s evil lair.
PART 2: Sneaking In
Anastasia stared at the towering palace conjured of ice, snow, evil and evil. She had come all this way, but had thought none about how to sneak into the palace. Her hand trembled, and her hands went numb. Anastasia sobbed, but not in fear or sadness; more of hate for the Snow Queen. Suddenly, deep in her soul, something ancient stirred. She felt her strength ebb back into her body until she had more energy than she thought was possible. In her hands, something dark red started to materialize. She recoiled in shock, and tried to throw it away, but it persisted, and remained in her hand. Slowly it fully materialized, and in Anastasia hands was a scepter she had only read about: The Flame Prince’s scepter.
It had a polished mahogany handle, and a blood red ruby placed at the top, engraved with a fire symbol, which was currently glowing vividly. The scepter was turning every single snowflake within 10 meters away into water, until all that remained was a dry patch of dry grass. Even that wasn’t enough for the scepter; the dry grass was slowly turning into fresh green grass, and roses, bluebells, violets, daisies and lavender started popping up everywhere. Anastasia marveled at the power of the scepter, and felt a desire to jump. She complied, and was rewarded with another surprise: she had sprouted beautiful ebony-black wings. She laughed, then flew toward the Snow Queen’s palace.
There were ten ice-golem guards in front of the entrance, flanked by five snowmen. Anastasia just laughed derisively, then swooped down and brushed them with the scepter’s jewel. The moment it kissed their icy cold flesh, the monsters wailed and screeched in pain as they evaporated. Anastasia slowly soared down and tensed her wings, thinking it was the correct thing to do. The wings disappeared, but Anastasia could still feel their presence.
Anastasia slowly sneaked in, staring at the intricately carved statues of the Snow Queen displayed everywhere in the palace. Anastasia curled her lip in disgust. Not only was she evil, she was vain. She reached a room where there was a faint glow of fire, the only place where fire was allowed, because it literally said ‘DO NOT COME IN. FIRE INSIDE.’ Anastasia went in and gasped at what she saw: Christopher in chains, bound in manacles, laying lifeless at the bottom of a cage above a pit of lava.
PART 3: The Chess Match
The Snow Queen rose from her icy throne that was partially obscured by shadows. “Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom?” The Snow Queen’s voice was like soft ice; beautiful, but deadly. The Snow Queen glided towards Anastasia. “I challenge you to a magical chess match. This chess match determines whether your beloved fiancé dies or not.” The Snow Queen rapped the floor three times with her scepter, and a chess board appeared. She paused for a moment, for effect. “We shall play a game of every. My side will be of ice creatures and yours of men and forest spirits. If you capture my king, you win. If you do the same, you win.”
The chess board, Anastasia observed, was split into two sides: one side was of the chilling ice used to construct the palace, the other made of oak and rowan. The Snow Queen’s pawns were snowmen, her rooks snow golems, her knights riding horses that are polar bears in disguise. Her bishops were icy scepters, her king an evil spellcaster, and her queen, well, herself. Anastasia’s pawns were pixies, her rooks fairies, her knights centaurs. Her bishops were dryads, her king a forest spirit, and her queen a powerful elven spellcaster.
The Snow Queen went first moving her knight forward. Anastasia’s move was mirroring her. And so it went, each trying to gain the upper hand while trying to devise a secret plan. The first casualty was when one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems devoured one of Anastasia’s centaurs. Anastasia retaliated by promoting one of her pixies into queendom, thus gaining another queen. She then used that queen to slaughter one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems. Finally, Anastasia captured the Snow Queen’s king with her last remaining pixie. The Snow Queen glared at Anastasia, then grabbed her scepter, and striked the chess board, promptly splitting it in half. Her eyes were blazing with hate and spite, despite his icy outlook. “ You insufferable, miserable, IMPUDENT CHILD. You dare and try to beat me, a queen, at chess. You would have lived longer if you let me be the winner, but noooo. Instead, you had to be all noble, and rescue your betrothed. Well, you forgot one thing: the conditions.” She stalked closer to Anastasia, leering unpleasantly as her. Anastasia grabbed her scepter and swung it towards the Snow Queen’s face with all her strength, imbuing her emotions as well. The Snow Queen clawed her face as her blood trickled out. The strange thing was, her blood wasn’t red: it was white like snow and somehow also black like oil. Anastasia freed Christopher, and had only one last memory of her time at the Snow Queen’s: Christopher kissed Anastasia, and whispered, “I love you.” The End.
PART 1: The Journey
In the deep crevice of the Mountain of Despair, the Snow Queen was lounging around in her freezing palace, lamenting the day the Flame Prince overthrew her rule over the world. “What did I do wrong?” She wondered. Suddenly, she had a stroke of inspiration. “ I only had control over the land! Not the people!” She cackled evilly. “I shall rule the world, FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHA!”
Meanwhile, faraway, in a land the polar opposite of the Mountain of Despair, Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom and her fiancé, Prince Christopher of the Dahlia Kingdom were strolling further down into a forest, talking about their futures. “Wait, what’s that?” Anastasia asked. Christopher squinted into the sky. I think that’s a… flying blue carriage pulled by polar bears? Wait… AHHHHH! It’s the Wicked Snow Queen!” Anastasia gasped. “B-but how is this p-p-possible? It was said that She-Who-Controls-The-Snow retired into the evil Mountain of Despair!”
The Snow Queen was inside the carriage, watching with relish as the pair below cowered with fear.She swooped downwards and seized Christopher by the back of his robes.”Ahh! Let me down, you old hag.The Snow Queen let out a piercing laugh, then plunged her hand into her dress, and thrust an ice-covered dagger into Christopher’s chest. Anastasia ran up to the Snow Queen and screamed, “Let go of him! Let go of him! LET GO OF HIM!!” Christopher, who was lying in the carriage, had his eyes rolled back into his head. “You evil old hag! You evil, foul, demonic spawn, monstrous witch! Let go of him!” The Snow Queen just rolled her eyes and snapped the reins. Her polar bears roared, then ran away, gaining attitude as they went, and finally advanced into the glum sky. “No. No, no, nooo!”Anastasia sank down to her knees, and started sobbing. She stayed like that for a while, then regained control of herself. She stood up, brushing the trickling tears away from her red, puffed up eyes.
She remembered vaguely that the Mountains of Despair was to be found within the Mountains of Eternal Winter, north-west of the Orchid Kingdom. It was a place even the power of the mysterious Flame Prince couldn’t pierce. She started walking north-west, and suddenly broke into a run. When she grew hungry or needed a place to rest, she would stop in a town to exchange labour for food and a roof to sleep under. Finally, after two weeks of sustaining like this, she finally reached her destination: the Mountains of Eternal Winter.
Anastasia looked at the map she had obtained in the last village she had encountered. According to the sketchy map(she had a suspicion it was not too reliable, because of the wobbly art and blotchy writing), she had to trek two major mountains to get to the Mountain Despair. She made sure she had enough supplies, then bravely stepped foot into the mountain range. It was freezing in there, and she felt lucky that she had acquired a thick cloak in one of the villages she had visited.
When it was almost dusk, and she was shivering, she spotted a big but seemingly cozy cottage not far ahead.There was a very pretty woman pruning the flowers and herbs in front of her cottage. She was wearing a headband made of poisonous flowers like nightshade, hemlock and delphinium. She wore a flowery green dress, despite the extreme cold in the mountains. She raised her head and greeted Anastasia heartily. “Hi! May I ask you why you’re in the Mountains of Eternal Winter? Most people don’t come here for a vacation. If they even just set foot in the Mountains of Eternal Winter, it’s to map it.” She snickered. “The last three to come here, well, to make a long story short, they got turned into my headband.” Anastasia blanched. “Uhh, you won’t do that to me, right?” The woman laughed. “Oh, no. They were males. You’re a female, right?” Anastasia nodded feverishly. Anything to get on her good side. “By the way, my name’s Silver.” “Oh, uh, hi, Silver.”
Silver beckoned her inside the cottage. “Come inside. You can have a hot shower, and when you’re done, there’ll be food for you.” Anastasia accepted her offer gratefully. Inside, after her shower, she was treated to a delicious meal of bread, fish, and hot soup. “Why don’t you stay the night? You look deadbeat!” Silver guided Anastasia to a room in the west of the cottage. There was a massive bed with fluffy pillows, a black blanket, and a dark blue comforter. The next day Anastasia bade goodbye to Silver and continued on her journey. She trekked the last remaining mountain in two days, and finally beheld the cruel beauty of the Snow Queen’s evil lair.
PART 2: Sneaking In
Anastasia stared at the towering palace conjured of ice, snow, evil and evil. She had come all this way, but had thought none about how to sneak into the palace. Her hand trembled, and her hands went numb. Anastasia sobbed, but not in fear or sadness; more of hate for the Snow Queen. Suddenly, deep in her soul, something ancient stirred. She felt her strength ebb back into her body until she had more energy than she thought was possible. In her hands, something dark red started to materialize. She recoiled in shock, and tried to throw it away, but it persisted, and remained in her hand. Slowly it fully materialized, and in Anastasia hands was a scepter she had only read about: The Flame Prince’s scepter.
It had a polished mahogany handle, and a blood red ruby placed at the top, engraved with a fire symbol, which was currently glowing vividly. The scepter was turning every single snowflake within 10 meters away into water, until all that remained was a dry patch of dry grass. Even that wasn’t enough for the scepter; the dry grass was slowly turning into fresh green grass, and roses, bluebells, violets, daisies and lavender started popping up everywhere. Anastasia marveled at the power of the scepter, and felt a desire to jump. She complied, and was rewarded with another surprise: she had sprouted beautiful ebony-black wings. She laughed, then flew toward the Snow Queen’s palace.
There were ten ice-golem guards in front of the entrance, flanked by five snowmen. Anastasia just laughed derisively, then swooped down and brushed them with the scepter’s jewel. The moment it kissed their icy cold flesh, the monsters wailed and screeched in pain as they evaporated. Anastasia slowly soared down and tensed her wings, thinking it was the correct thing to do. The wings disappeared, but Anastasia could still feel their presence.
Anastasia slowly sneaked in, staring at the intricately carved statues of the Snow Queen displayed everywhere in the palace. Anastasia curled her lip in disgust. Not only was she evil, she was vain. She reached a room where there was a faint glow of fire, the only place where fire was allowed, because it literally said ‘DO NOT COME IN. FIRE INSIDE.’ Anastasia went in and gasped at what she saw: Christopher in chains, bound in manacles, laying lifeless at the bottom of a cage above a pit of lava.
PART 3: The Chess Match
The Snow Queen rose from her icy throne that was partially obscured by shadows. “Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom?” The Snow Queen’s voice was like soft ice; beautiful, but deadly. The Snow Queen glided towards Anastasia. “I challenge you to a magical chess match. This chess match determines whether your beloved fiancé dies or not.” The Snow Queen rapped the floor three times with her scepter, and a chess board appeared. She paused for a moment, for effect. “We shall play a game of every. My side will be of ice creatures and yours of men and forest spirits. If you capture my king, you win. If you do the same, you win.”
The chess board, Anastasia observed, was split into two sides: one side was of the chilling ice used to construct the palace, the other made of oak and rowan. The Snow Queen’s pawns were snowmen, her rooks snow golems, her knights riding horses that are polar bears in disguise. Her bishops were icy scepters, her king an evil spellcaster, and her queen, well, herself. Anastasia’s pawns were pixies, her rooks fairies, her knights centaurs. Her bishops were dryads, her king a forest spirit, and her queen a powerful elven spellcaster.
The Snow Queen went first moving her knight forward. Anastasia’s move was mirroring her. And so it went, each trying to gain the upper hand while trying to devise a secret plan. The first casualty was when one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems devoured one of Anastasia’s centaurs. Anastasia retaliated by promoting one of her pixies into queendom, thus gaining another queen. She then used that queen to slaughter one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems. Finally, Anastasia captured the Snow Queen’s king with her last remaining pixie. The Snow Queen glared at Anastasia, then grabbed her scepter, and striked the chess board, promptly splitting it in half. Her eyes were blazing with hate and spite, despite his icy outlook. “ You insufferable, miserable, IMPUDENT CHILD. You dare and try to beat me, a queen, at chess. You would have lived longer if you let me be the winner, but noooo. Instead, you had to be all noble, and rescue your betrothed. Well, you forgot one thing: the conditions.” She stalked closer to Anastasia, leering unpleasantly as her. Anastasia grabbed her scepter and swung it towards the Snow Queen’s face with all her strength, imbuing her emotions as well. The Snow Queen clawed her face as her blood trickled out. The strange thing was, her blood wasn’t red: it was white like snow and somehow also black like oil. Anastasia freed Christopher, and had only one last memory of her time at the Snow Queen’s: Christopher kissed Anastasia, and whispered, “I love you.” The End.
The Snow Queen and
Princess Anastasia
PART 1: The Journey
In the deep crevice of the Mountain of Despair, the Snow Queen was lounging around in her freezing palace, lamenting the day the Flame Prince overthrew her rule over the world. “What did I do wrong?” She wondered. Suddenly, she had a stroke of inspiration. “ I only had control over the land! Not the people!” She cackled evilly. “I shall rule the world, FOREVER! AHAHAHAHAHA!”
Meanwhile, faraway, in a land the polar opposite of the Mountain of Despair, Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom and her fiancé, Prince Christopher of the Dahlia Kingdom were strolling further down into a forest, talking about their futures. “Wait, what’s that?” Anastasia asked. Christopher squinted into the sky. I think that’s a… flying blue carriage pulled by polar bears? Wait… AHHHHH! It’s the Wicked Snow Queen!” Anastasia gasped. “B-but how is this p-p-possible? It was said that She-Who-Controls-The-Snow retired into the evil Mountain of Despair!”
The Snow Queen was inside the carriage, watching with relish as the pair below cowered with fear.She swooped downwards and seized Christopher by the back of his robes.”Ahh! Let me down, you old hag.The Snow Queen let out a piercing laugh, then plunged her hand into her dress, and thrust an ice-covered dagger into Christopher’s chest. Anastasia ran up to the Snow Queen and screamed, “Let go of him! Let go of him! LET GO OF HIM!!” Christopher, who was lying in the carriage, had his eyes rolled back into his head. “You evil old hag! You evil, foul, demonic spawn, monstrous witch! Let go of him!” The Snow Queen just rolled her eyes and snapped the reins. Her polar bears roared, then ran away, gaining attitude as they went, and finally advanced into the glum sky. “No. No, no, nooo!”Anastasia sank down to her knees, and started sobbing. She stayed like that for a while, then regained control of herself. She stood up, brushing the trickling tears away from her red, puffed up eyes.
She remembered vaguely that the Mountains of Despair was to be found within the Mountains of Eternal Winter, north-west of the Orchid Kingdom. It was a place even the power of the mysterious Flame Prince couldn’t pierce. She started walking north-west, and suddenly broke into a run. When she grew hungry or needed a place to rest, she would stop in a town to exchange labour for food and a roof to sleep under. Finally, after two weeks of sustaining like this, she finally reached her destination: the Mountains of Eternal Winter.
Anastasia looked at the map she had obtained in the last village she had encountered. According to the sketchy map(she had a suspicion it was not too reliable, because of the wobbly art and blotchy writing), she had to trek two major mountains to get to the Mountain Despair. She made sure she had enough supplies, then bravely stepped foot into the mountain range. It was freezing in there, and she felt lucky that she had acquired a thick cloak in one of the villages she had visited.
When it was almost dusk, and she was shivering, she spotted a big but seemingly cozy cottage not far ahead.There was a very pretty woman pruning the flowers and herbs in front of her cottage. She was wearing a headband made of poisonous flowers like nightshade, hemlock and delphinium. She wore a flowery green dress, despite the extreme cold in the mountains. She raised her head and greeted Anastasia heartily. “Hi! May I ask you why you’re in the Mountains of Eternal Winter? Most people don’t come here for a vacation. If they even just set foot in the Mountains of Eternal Winter, it’s to map it.” She snickered. “The last three to come here, well, to make a long story short, they got turned into my headband.” Anastasia blanched. “Uhh, you won’t do that to me, right?” The woman laughed. “Oh, no. They were males. You’re a female, right?” Anastasia nodded feverishly. Anything to get on her good side. “By the way, my name’s Silver.” “Oh, uh, hi, Silver.”
Silver beckoned her inside the cottage. “Come inside. You can have a hot shower, and when you’re done, there’ll be food for you.” Anastasia accepted her offer gratefully. Inside, after her shower, she was treated to a delicious meal of bread, fish, and hot soup. “Why don’t you stay the night? You look deadbeat!” Silver guided Anastasia to a room in the west of the cottage. There was a massive bed with fluffy pillows, a black blanket, and a dark blue comforter. The next day Anastasia bade goodbye to Silver and continued on her journey. She trekked the last remaining mountain in two days, and finally beheld the cruel beauty of the Snow Queen’s evil lair.
PART 2: Sneaking In
Anastasia stared at the towering palace conjured of ice, snow, evil and evil. She had come all this way, but had thought none about how to sneak into the palace. Her hand trembled, and her hands went numb. Anastasia sobbed, but not in fear or sadness; more of hate for the Snow Queen. Suddenly, deep in her soul, something ancient stirred. She felt her strength ebb back into her body until she had more energy than she thought was possible. In her hands, something dark red started to materialize. She recoiled in shock, and tried to throw it away, but it persisted, and remained in her hand. Slowly it fully materialized, and in Anastasia hands was a scepter she had only read about: The Flame Prince’s scepter.
It had a polished mahogany handle, and a blood red ruby placed at the top, engraved with a fire symbol, which was currently glowing vividly. The scepter was turning every single snowflake within 10 meters away into water, until all that remained was a dry patch of dry grass. Even that wasn’t enough for the scepter; the dry grass was slowly turning into fresh green grass, and roses, bluebells, violets, daisies and lavender started popping up everywhere. Anastasia marveled at the power of the scepter, and felt a desire to jump. She complied, and was rewarded with another surprise: she had sprouted beautiful ebony-black wings. She laughed, then flew toward the Snow Queen’s palace.
There were ten ice-golem guards in front of the entrance, flanked by five snowmen. Anastasia just laughed derisively, then swooped down and brushed them with the scepter’s jewel. The moment it kissed their icy cold flesh, the monsters wailed and screeched in pain as they evaporated. Anastasia slowly soared down and tensed her wings, thinking it was the correct thing to do. The wings disappeared, but Anastasia could still feel their presence.
Anastasia slowly sneaked in, staring at the intricately carved statues of the Snow Queen displayed everywhere in the palace. Anastasia curled her lip in disgust. Not only was she evil, she was vain. She reached a room where there was a faint glow of fire, the only place where fire was allowed, because it literally said ‘DO NOT COME IN. FIRE INSIDE.’ Anastasia went in and gasped at what she saw: Christopher in chains, bound in manacles, laying lifeless at the bottom of a cage above a pit of lava.
PART 3: The Chess Match
The Snow Queen rose from her icy throne that was partially obscured by shadows. “Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Princess Anastasia of the Orchid Kingdom?” The Snow Queen’s voice was like soft ice; beautiful, but deadly. The Snow Queen glided towards Anastasia. “I challenge you to a magical chess match. This chess match determines whether your beloved fiancé dies or not.” The Snow Queen rapped the floor three times with her scepter, and a chess board appeared. She paused for a moment, for effect. “We shall play a game of every. My side will be of ice creatures and yours of men and forest spirits. If you capture my king, you win. If you do the same, you win.”
The chess board, Anastasia observed, was split into two sides: one side was of the chilling ice used to construct the palace, the other made of oak and rowan. The Snow Queen’s pawns were snowmen, her rooks snow golems, her knights riding horses that are polar bears in disguise. Her bishops were icy scepters, her king an evil spellcaster, and her queen, well, herself. Anastasia’s pawns were pixies, her rooks fairies, her knights centaurs. Her bishops were dryads, her king a forest spirit, and her queen a powerful elven spellcaster.
The Snow Queen went first moving her knight forward. Anastasia’s move was mirroring her. And so it went, each trying to gain the upper hand while trying to devise a secret plan. The first casualty was when one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems devoured one of Anastasia’s centaurs. Anastasia retaliated by promoting one of her pixies into queendom, thus gaining another queen. She then used that queen to slaughter one of the Snow Queen’s snow golems. Finally, Anastasia captured the Snow Queen’s king with her last remaining pixie. The Snow Queen glared at Anastasia, then grabbed her scepter, and striked the chess board, promptly splitting it in half. Her eyes were blazing with hate and spite, despite his icy outlook. “ You insufferable, miserable, IMPUDENT CHILD. You dare and try to beat me, a queen, at chess. You would have lived longer if you let me be the winner, but noooo. Instead, you had to be all noble, and rescue your betrothed. Well, you forgot one thing: the conditions.” She stalked closer to Anastasia, leering unpleasantly as her. Anastasia grabbed her scepter and swung it towards the Snow Queen’s face with all her strength, imbuing her emotions as well. The Snow Queen clawed her face as her blood trickled out. The strange thing was, her blood wasn’t red: it was white like snow and somehow also black like oil. Anastasia freed Christopher, and had only one last memory of her time at the Snow Queen’s: Christopher kissed Anastasia, and whispered, “I love you.” The End.