Lugia Winning Entry

The snow was falling in sheets outside. Volcan frowned and lowered himself further into the lava pit. Smoke drifted from his nostrils into the air, where it met cool drafts to steam and sizzle.

It was unseasonably cool in the Inferno Terrain; the area hadn't seen snow since the Great Freeze years past, and that had been when Volcan was but a hatchling. "Curse that Boreal," the great lizard harrumphed, disdainful. "Aside from making poor use of those Kohals, she sends bales of snow to my doorstep. Mine!"

Before he could release his anger on the volcano's wall in a fiery blast, a great rumble echoed through his ears. Turning his head towards the gaping hole that served as an entrance and exit to the volcano, Volcan hissed at the wall of white he spectacled. Snow, hard-packed and glistening, lay stacked in the opening, forming a frozen wall. As he gazed on the scene, Volcan noticed tendrils of blue snaking their way up the red-grey stone about the snow, slowly emblazoning the interior of the volcano with some sort of queer design that swirled about like so many snowflakes.

Magic, was his first thought. Then, Cold. A piercing wind had begun blistering through the volcano, turning even his bubbling lava pool cold. Volcan slithered from it, muttering curses at Boreal and the snow. He crawled to the wall of snow and ice, his breath steaming. Laying a clawed finger on it, he was surprised to find it solid. Definitely magic.

Volcan blew a flame at the snow tentatively. It sucked back an inch... then puffed to its original state: untouched and crystalline. A low growl rumbled in the lizard's throat, and he raked the snow with a long claw. The snow gave way once more, before quickly reforming. Enraged, Volcan sent a fist through the packed ice. He felt cool air on his scales, and knew he had pierced the wall. Good.

Great was his astonishment when the snow began to close around his wrist. He felt the cold seep through scale and flesh to settle in his wristbone, then begin to lance up his arm in slow thrums. Panicked, Volcan tugged his arm back, and heard a loud pop as it tore out of the snow. "BOREAL!" he roared, wincing back as an icicle shaken loose by the uproar struck him squarely on his nose.

***

Queen Boreal smiled at her Kohal attendant. "I knew Volcan would be upset," she purred at it, a bit too cheerily. "Perhaps he'll think of it as an early Mistmas present. I do enjoy giving gifts." The Kohal nodded in silent agreement, not daring to speak out against its ruler. "What's next on my list?" the queen asked. "I think Sango Reef would look quite nice with a fine dusting of snow. Prepare the spell." The Kohal scurried off to do as it was bid, setting the flute of ice water it'd been holding in Boreal's hand as it went.

It looks like I'm winning this time around, Boreal thought, a smile dancing about the corners of her lips. She could almost see Volcan seething in the reflection the cool water cast, and feel the sweet chill of snow in Inferno Terrain. And she dropped the glass to the floor, let it shatter. It's your move, Meriklaus.