Ice Queen

Flash fiction (very short story)

© 2022, Tanweer Dar

The walls sparkled like diamonds, the fractals flickering in the twilight. It was impossibly cold, and yet the young man barely noticed it.

Awed by his surroundings, he walked slowly, drawn by some unknown, unseen force towards the heart of the structure seemingly hewn from ice. His breath formed clouds in front of his face, which turned slowly left and right, marveling at the walls of frozen water.

The man's eyes fell upon a figure. At first, it was an undefined form. As he drew closer, however, it became apparent that it was a woman.

A cloak which appeared to made from countless shards of ice enrobed the imposing figure. Her skin was a pale blue, her eyes cold yet mesmerising. Upon her head sat a crown fashioned from ice, its workmanship as impossible as it was delicate.

"Welcome," she said, her blue lips curving in a barely discernable smile. Her eyes flashed, blinding the young man as if he had turned his gaze towards the sun itself, and the ice palace echoed with the laughter of its cold-blooded queen.