The cold wind bit at Nikolai’s face as he trudged through the snow-covered path, his skates slung over his shoulder. The towering mountains loomed around him, their jagged peaks cutting into the sky like the edges of a broken crown. He exhaled sharply, watching his breath curl in the frozen air. The solitude of this place was what drew him here. No cameras. No coaches barking at him. No expectations weighing him down. Just the ice, the silence, and himself.

His boots crunched against the frost-hardened earth as he neared the lake—a secret, hidden gem nestled between the mountains. He had trained here for weeks now, escaping the eyes of the world to wrestle with the one thing he couldn't yet conquer. A Quadruple

His fingers were stiff from the cold as he approached the weathered wooden bench by the shore. He dropped his bag, brushing snow off the seat before sitting down to lace his skates. That was when he saw her.

A figure—draped in navy blue, long hair flowing behind her like a ribbon caught in the wind—glided effortlessly across the ice. Her movements were like poetry, fluid and seamless, as if the very air around her bent to her will. Nikolai narrowed his eyes. The way she skated… it wasn’t just skill. It was something else. Something unnatural.

He sat frozen, skates forgotten in his hands, as she launched into a jump—a quadruple.

His heart slammed against his ribs.

Impossible.

His own body had failed him over and over in that very jump. And yet, she landed with breathtaking ease, her blades kissing the ice as though gravity itself had chosen to ignore her. Not a single misstep. No hesitation. No flaws.

Nikolai’s fingers clenched into fists. He had trained his entire life to become the best. And now, in this remote, forgotten place, a stranger had just rewritten everything he thought he knew about skating.

Who was she?