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Mariam Akorede Student @ Adekunle Ajasin university Akungba
Ibadan, Nigeria
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In History and Culture • 2 min read • May 20, 2025 15:35p.m.
ICE AND FIRE
<p>CHAPTER ONE</p><p>The Birth of Silence and Flame</p><p><br></p><p>The snowstorm howled like a wounded beast over the silent peaks of the Northern Spine. In a secluded stone hall, hidden deep in the cliffs, a woman lay still beneath heavy furs, her breath faint, her strength nearly gone. Her name was Elenya—once a warrior, now a mother. And in her final moments, she clutched two swaddled infants to her chest, their cries piercing the cold air like shards of glass.</p><p><br></p><p>One child’s skin glowed warm, almost fevered, with eyes the color of molten gold. The other was cool to the touch, wrapped in a soft frost, her gaze the pale blue of glaciers. They did not cry for long—only enough to signal their arrival into a world that would never be kind to them.</p><p><br></p><p>Elenya named them in a whisper: Kaelara, the Flame, and Seren, the Frost.</p><p><br></p><p>She died before sunrise.</p><p><br></p><p>The village mourned in reverent silence. The priestesses covered her body in fire lilies and ice blossoms—rare flowers that never bloomed together, until now. The elders of the mountain watched the twins grow with quiet dread, for they knew the old prophecies. Fire and ice born of one flame. A mother’s love torn between balance and destruction.</p><p><br></p><p>And in the distance, something ancient stirred.</p><p><br></p><p>In the blackness between stars, The Hollow Flame, a void-being long sealed away, opened its eyes once more.</p><p><br></p><p>Not yet whole, not yet strong—but hungry.</p><p><br></p><p>It had felt the birth. It had waited for it.</p><p>Now, the time of stillness was over.</p><p>Now, the war of elements would begin.</p>
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