Frosted Scales - When Worlds Collide: A HTTYD X Frozen Tale

You Ordered an Ice Palace?

Elsa opened her eyes to the darkness of a large, unfamiliar room. She lay propped up on a spare cloak, folded to serve as a pillow. Though sitting up was not painful, it was difficult, and as she finally righted herself, her head spun, forcing her to pause and let her vision settle. The room was cold, the air heavy with the scent of ice and snow, and she felt a deep exhaustion in her bones, the kind that seeped into her very soul. She wanted to call it Caster's Fatigue, a term that seemed fitting, though she had no one to confirm it, no other magic-wielders to share her experiences with.

As her vision cleared, she noticed a faint light at the far end of the room, bobbing closer with each passing moment. It was Hiccup, carrying a torch that flickered in the icy gloom, casting long shadows on the frozen walls. When he saw that she was awake, his face lit up with a mixture of relief and something else—curiosity, perhaps.

"I want to show you something," Hiccup said, signaling for her to join him. His voice was low, almost reverent, as if what he was about to reveal held great significance.

Elsa managed to stand, though her legs wobbled beneath her. She accepted Hiccup’s offered arm, using him as a brace to steady herself. "Thank you. What is it?" she asked, her voice soft and tinged with fatigue.

"Something I think you’ll find very interesting," he replied, leading her out of the room.

The adjacent chamber was once opulent, though now it bore the scars of destruction. A long dining table, capable of seating thirty, lay shattered under the weight of a massive chunk of ice, a piece of the outer wall that had crashed through the ceiling. The ceiling itself was missing in places, allowing the cold wind to whistle through the gaps, stirring the remnants of a once-grand feast hall.

Elsa looked around, her gaze following the jagged lines of destruction. "What about it? Besides the wall being in the middle of the room," she asked, puzzled by what he was trying to show her.

"Do you notice the color of the wall section?" Hiccup held the torch closer, illuminating the slab of ice. The blue of the wall was different, a deeper shade than the ice that made up the rest of the room.

"It looks like a piece of the outer wall," she observed, still unsure of where he was going with this.

"Exactly. And that tells us something important," Hiccup said, his tone thoughtful. He pointed to the chunk of ice with the torch, the flame flickering as he moved. "Your recollection might be missing some details. The force your powers unleashed before your ‘sailing adventure’ seems to have cracked the palace’s walls. If the palace had tipped into the sea on its own, this piece would have fallen into that room," he pointed back to the room they had just left, "but that room still has its ceiling intact. My theory is something massive collided with the palace after it was cracked. The force needed to move this piece into this room must have been tremendous." He crossed his arms, a serious look settling on his face. "If I didn’t know better, I’d say a dragon hit your castle. A big one. But there aren’t dragons here, right?"

Elsa shook her head slowly, her mind racing through possibilities. "No, there are not. I know of nothing that could do this." She thought hard, trying to piece together what might have caused such destruction, but found no answers. "I don’t know. I guess I’m open to any interpretation at this point."

Realization struck her then. She had broken the curse, hadn’t she? What was it like outside? Without a word, she turned and walked briskly toward the exit, the thought gnawing at her insides.

"Elsa, wait," Hiccup called after her, but his voice lacked urgency, as if he too sensed the futility in stopping her.

Elsa burst through the front doors of the palace and skidded to a halt; her eyes wide as she took in the sight before her. The countryside and the distant capital were still locked in the same icy grip as before. Wind whipped through the air, carrying snow and ice in fierce gusts that obscured the landscape. The storm was as relentless as ever, showing no signs of abating.