Under the blue-dark sky stretched tight over an endless white tundra, the Frost Walker’s Path shimmered briefly into existence. Only those whose feet were clad in the Frost Walker boots could see the glistening trail, others might walk right across it, thinking about dinner, never knowing what secrets they trod underfoot.
Azura, the grey-eyed summoner, muffled up to her curious nose in scarves, saw it first. Casting a glance towards her companions, arms gestured with a silent, fluid grace that unveiled the path to them—one by one, like peeling the veils from the invisible.
Jorund, with his long red beard frozen into icicles, grumbled, “Of course she sees first. She’s frost-touched, born on the longest night,” his breath created clouds that mingled with the frigid air. Uric, the archer, barely teen-aged but sharp as the icicles hanging off the eaves of his eyebrows, simply nodded, his small grin tucked away beneath his hood.
The path was an elusive thread of hope, as thin as the line between stories and truth. Rumors of what lay at its end—of a lost civilization entombed in ice, with treasures beyond wildest reckonings or ancient horrors frozen in time—had brought them here.
Following the path was like walking on a dream made of frost. It twisted and wound through the silent tundra, and sometimes they weren’t sure it was beneath them at all, except for the slight luminescence that tinged their steps, and the cold—oh, the biting cold that even their enchanted boots couldn’t fully fend off, ensuring they knew they were still on the right track.
Days blended together, a blur of white and blue and grey. Their provisions dwindled, just as the jovial tales around the campfire did. And still, the path led them on.
Then, on what might have been the seventh or was it the seventeenth day—the sky a palette between predawn and twilight—Azura stopped so abruptly that Uric nearly walked into her.
Ahead, through a haze of perpetual frost, lay outlines and shapes different from the endless flat of the tundra. Structures, jutting and angular, met their eyes, marvelously preserved yet unmistakably desolate. As they drew closer, a silence settled deeper than just the absence of wind—it was as though even the air held its breath in reverence—or fear.
The city—or what it once had been—spread before them in daunting splendor. Buildings carved from ice gleamed under the dim, white sun, their reflections a maze of light playing tricks with the eyes. Statues of beings neither human nor animal watched them with opaque, frost-covered eyes, and toward what was undeniably the city center stood a palace encased in glaciers, its spires reaching out like frozen fingers trying to grasp the distant, indifferent sky.
“It’s beautiful,” whispered Uric, his youthful voice cracked by the cold.
“It’s dead,” Jorund replied, his voice a deep contrast, sounding like thawing ice. “Beautiful, but dead.”
“It’s dead. Beautiful, but dead.”
Undeterred, Azura moved forwards, each step resolute. Here lay the end of their path, the heart of a civilization lost to knowledge and becoming myth. Within the ice-locked palace, they found scrolls sealed in crystal tubes, artifacts that hummed with latent magics, and murals that told stories of a people who had not merely lived, but thrived, in the embrace of ice.
Yet, no sign of what had ended it all. No grand catastrophe was depicted; such an apocalypse was, perhaps, gradual—a slow dance of descending temperatures that even the Frost Walkers couldn’t stave off.
As the adventurers set up camp amidst histories frozen in time, they discussed their findings. Would the outside world care about a civilization with no treasures but knowledge? Would these silent ice statues and unread murals stir hearts as gold and jewels might?
They did not get the chance to find out—for the path they had followed was ephemeral, a fragile memory in the frost. When dawn cast merciful light over the stale-white and crystal-blue, it showed nothing but smooth ice where once a trail had been—a trail that demanded the impossible to retrace steps on a path that remembered each footfall for only a moment, as long as the frost endured.
And so, in the heart of a fabled city no longer lost but no more alive, they settled by the fires they built from old furniture and unread scrolls, guarded by statues that watched, but never spoke, under a sky that never truly darkened, in a story that would end with them, here, where no paths led back to the world they knew.
Frost Walker’s Path – Story Club
Story Club Questions
- What do you think the path represented for each of the characters?
- How do the different character dynamics contribute to the storyline?
- What kind of civilization do you imagine the lost city belonged to, and what might have led to their downfall?
- Discuss the significance of the ending. How might the characters have felt realizing they could not return?
- If you were in Azura’s position, would you continue to explore or attempt to find a way back? Why?
Historical Notes
- Explore myths and legends of ancient civilizations lost to time. Examples: Atlantis, El Dorado.
- Study the history of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, such as those led by explorers like Roald Amundsen and Sir Ernest Shackleton.
- Learn about traditional Inuit and other Arctic peoples’ myths and survival strategies in harsh climates.
Further Reading
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
- Mythology by Edith Hamilton
Related Movies and TV Shows
- The Terror (TV Series)
- The Revenant (Movie)
- Frozen II (Movie)
- Snowpiercer (Movie/TV Series)
- The Secret of Kells (Movie)
Activities
- Organize a themed dinner with foods inspired by Arctic traditions.
- Host a discussion night where club members present research on lost civilizations.
- Attend a local museum showcasing artifacts or exhibitions on exploration and survival in harsh climates.
- Create a survival strategy game set in an Arctic environment.
- Design your own “Frost Walker” boots in an arts and crafts session. What materials and enchantments would they have?