The team didn't have time to rest. With the Emberfang Core secured, they turned their eyes northward—toward the coldest, most treacherous region of the Earth realm: the Glacier of Lost Time. There, the Cryshard of Eternity awaited—an ancient relic trapped within the frozen remnants of a time-warped landscape. None who had ventured into the glacier had ever returned.
The journey was long and perilous. As they crossed frozen bridges suspended over bottomless chasms and climbed jagged cliffs, the temperature dropped to inhuman levels. Even Sarah's wind-based powers struggled to carry her in the ever-thickening air.
Ethan lit the path with fire, keeping them warm as best he could. Lilith, now growing stronger with every trial, found her new healing power useful even against frostbite and fatigue. They reached the mouth of a massive ice cavern—so massive it swallowed the sky. Its walls shimmered with frozen time, echoing glimpses of past travelers, forgotten lives, and frozen battles.
"Everything here feels... suspended," Sarah said, her breath misting in the air.
"Like time itself is frozen," Ethan added.
"This place isn't just cold. It's cursed," Lilith muttered.
The Guardian of Ice: Varyn, the Eternal Watcher
From the depths of the glacier rose Varyn, an ageless sentinel of frost. His body was carved from living ice, and his voice echoed like thunder wrapped in snow.
Varyn's Profile:
Height: 8'3"
Weight: 720 lbs (solid ice)
Age: Unknown (rumored to predate the first wars of the realms)
Power: Temporal freezing, cryo-kinesis, mirror illusions
Role: Keeper of the Cryshard, bound by time to test the worthy
"I am Varyn, Keeper of the Shard," the giant said. "Only those who understand the fragility of time may touch eternity."
With a wave of his hand, the three were separated into individual time pockets—echo chambers of their past.
Lilith's Trial
Lilith found herself reliving the moment of her brother's betrayal. Over and over, the scene replayed, each time slightly different. In some, he hesitated. In others, she begged. But the result was always the same: her fall into Hell.
She screamed. She raged. But the loop only broke when she stopped reacting.
"I accept it," she whispered. "But it won't define me."
The illusion shattered.
Sarah's Trial
Sarah was lost in a memory of her coven—the day they cast her out for being too different. The pain, the shame, it weighed heavily on her soul.
"You were never meant to fit in," her own reflection whispered. "You were meant to lead."
Sarah embraced the truth, and the ice cracked open.
Ethan's Trial
Ethan faced the ghost of his mother, the one he failed to save. The guilt had haunted him for years. But this time, she spoke.
"You lived. Now live for something greater."
He cried. And when the tears froze, he shattered them with a fiery punch.
The three reunited, changed, matured. Varyn stood once more before them.
"You have passed. The Cryshard of Eternity is yours."
Lilith stepped forward and placed her hand upon the shard. It glowed with a spectral light, and as she absorbed its essence, a ripple of energy burst outward. Time around them resumed its natural flow, and the glacier grew still.
But Varyn gave them a warning:
"Time is a circle. What was broken can always return. Tread carefully, Queen of Hell."
They left the Glacier of Lost Time changed—haunted yet stronger.