The frozen landscape stretched endlessly before them, an eternal wasteland of ice and snow. Nate and Alice had been gliding effortlessly for a while, the ice hoverboard carrying them through the frozen plains, when something caught their attention in the distance.
It was massive—an enormous gate that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. Its structure was ancient, made entirely of thick, frosted ice that shimmered under the pale blue sky. The patterns etched into it looked unnatural, like veins running through a living creature, pulsating ever so faintly. Despite the cold, Nate could feel a strange energy radiating from it, something… foreign. Something powerful.
As they drew closer, a sudden shift in the air made Alice frown. She turned slightly to Nate, opening her mouth to say something, but before she could, the hoverboard beneath their feet disintegrated into flakes of ice.
"What the—?!" Nate barely had time to react as they plummeted downward.