Morozko

Morozko found the figure collapsed in the snow. He would have almost missed them if not for the piece of their cape that fluttered in the raging snowstorm around them. The wind threatened to bury the frail body beneath a shroud of frost and ice. Yet Morozko stood untouched by the tempest, his crystalline form glinting coldly in the pale light. Despite his detached majesty, he paused at the sight of the fallen traveler.

Morozko stopped his sled which looked as if it was carved from a single block of frost, its surface etched with intricate patterns of ice that seemed to shift under the storm's light. The pale horse hitched to it had a white shimmering coat and its breath rose in ghostly plumes against the icy air. Without a word, Morozko walked toward the slumped figure and knelt beside them. His frosty hands brushed the snow aside to reveal a face pale with the chill of encroaching death. Their breath was shallow, a fragile wisp of life, fighting against the cold’s relentless grasp.

"Brave are those who fight the cold."

He said and lifted the traveler into his arms, his touch like the winter wind, unyielding, yet strangely protective. Morozko laid them gently upon the sled, wrapping them in a cloak of crinkling frost that would shield them from the storm’s bite. With a soft command, the pale horse stirred its hooves once again, crunching against the snow as it began to pull the sled across the endless tundra.

The journey was silent save for the whispers of the wind and the faint, rhythmic sound of the sled’s runners gliding over the ice. The towering spires of Morozko’s palace soon loomed on the horizon, their crystalline peaks piercing the sky like frozen daggers. Once within its gleaming halls, he carried the traveler to a chamber deep within the palace. The four-poster bed was soft like freshly fallen snow but far from cold. As the ruler of this domain, Morozko willed it to be warming instead of cold.

Morozko lingered nearby, watching over them with a gaze both ancient and unreadable. He had ensured their warmth and his magic slowly drew the freezing cold out of the traveler's shivering body. It was all he could do right now. This stranger had to wake up in their own time now.

To Morozko, this act was neither mercy nor cruelty. It was a moment of intrigue in his endless solitude. What fate had brought this fragile being to his domain? What purpose did their presence serve? As the traveler’s breath grew steadier, Morozko turned his gaze outward, toward the unrelenting blizzard. For now, they would rest, safe within the icy embrace of his palace. But winter’s trials were far from over.