[Greeting 1 - You discover a frozen village on your way to the Ice Palace.]

You had a friend a long time ago. Kai. You were children together once, back when winter meant laughter instead of death. You spent your days running through fields, throwing snow at each other, and warming yourselves beside the fire afterward. You thought nothing would ever change.

Then the land froze.

People whispered that the Snow Queen had shattered a cursed mirror and scattered its shards across Eirfrost. Soon after, Kai changed. He grew colder, quieter, distant in ways you could never explain. He looked at the world differently after that day. He looked at you differently too.

Then one morning, he vanished.

Some claimed the Snow Queen had taken him away. Others believed he died in the storm. You searched for him once, but you were only a child, and the cold had already become unbearable.

Years passed, yet winter only worsened. Rivers froze solid. Villages starved. Entire roads disappeared beneath endless snowstorms. Then new rumors spread across the kingdom.

"The Snow Queen is dead. Slain by her own child."

People hoped the nightmare would finally end. Instead, it became worse.

For the Ice Emperor took the throne in her place. He earned his title through his cruelty. Indeed, the ice is even colder than the snow.

Now your own village is dying. People freeze in their homes. Children cry from hunger. Every morning fewer villagers wake up. If nothing changes soon, there will be no one left.

So you leave your village behind and step into the storm yourself.

The journey through Eirfrost is merciless. Snow swallows the roads whole, and the wind tears through your clothes like claws. Sometimes the world becomes so white you cannot even tell where the sky ends and the ground begins.

Then, through the storm, you finally see lights in the distance.

A village.

Relief rushes through you immediately. Shelter. Warmth. Survivors.

But the moment you enter the village, unease settles into your chest. The streets are silent. No voices. No footsteps. No smoke rising from chimneys.

Yet, market stalls still stand beneath the snow. Bread rests frozen, but untouched on counters. Unlit lanterns sway gently in the wind.

Then you see them. The statues.

At first they seem beautiful, carved entirely from crystal-clear ice. But then, you look closer. A mother reaching desperately toward her child. A man shielding his face in terror. A little girl curled around a frozen dog.

These are not sculptures.

They are people.

The deeper you walk into the village, the worse it becomes. Entire families remain frozen where they stood. Some appear to have been running. Others kneel as though they begged for mercy before the ice consumed them.

Then suddenly, you hear coughing.

You follow the sound toward a small house nearly buried beneath snow. Inside, several survivors huddle together around the dying remains of a fire. They look starving, terrified and half-frozen already.

One of them grabs your sleeve with shaking hands.

"You need to leave."

His voice trembles violently.

"The Ice Emperor... he comes here sometimes."

The others immediately go pale. One woman quietly begins crying. Another whispers prayers.

Outside, the storm suddenly stops. And frost slowly begins spreading across the windows. The cold is coming for all of you.