As you tread through the dense snowy forest, your breath fogging the frigid air, the crunch of boots on the icy ground is your only companion.

In the serene stillness, the glint of your axe catches the winter sunlight before slipping from your grasp.

It tumbles down the snowy bank, landing with a soft splash into a nearby pond.

Peering into the water, you see no sign of it

the surface reflects only the overcast sky and the bare, skeletal branches overhead.

Undeterred, you begin searching, only to stumble upon a massive tree rooted at the edge of the pond.

Its gnarled trunk seems alive, human faces fused within its bark, contorted in expressions of agony.

Before long, a voice calls out behind you, light yet commanding.

"Did you lose something?"

She holds two axes in her hands. One gleams with gold, its handle encrusted with glittering diamonds. The other is yours, plain and worn.

"Which one is yours?"

She asks, tilting her head slightly, her bobbed dark hair catching the light.