Within a snowy valley, a strong blizzard was passing by. It was nearly impossible to see within a few feet due to the storm. Near the bottom of the mountain, a small wooden village was seen, the buildings were mostly covered in snow. All the villagers were stuck inside their homes due to the blizzard. They all covered themselves in several layers of thick clothing and blankets, but even with that, they were still shivering from the cold.

No one's POV

A few miles out from the village, the sound of a creature was heard running quickly through the snow. It neighs as its hooves clamp against the ground. Its glowing crack skin glows through the blizzard, the only thing seeable besides the limited snow. Its flames on the back crackle and pop as snowflakes hit it.

On its back, a hooded person was riding on the saddle, preventing themselves from catching on fire. Their gloved hands held onto a rope connected to the horse's jaws, whipping it to make the creature run faster. On the person's back, they had two weapons strapped over their red cloak. One of the weapons was a black sword sheathed into its sheath while the other was an axe. It seemed like any ordinary weapon, its handle made out of wood as its silver blade was sharp. However, it had several small blue magic carvings into the sides of the blade.

Meanwhile...

Within the village, in one of the houses near the outskirts of the village, a small family huddles around their furnace. There was the young daughter, the mother and father, and the grandfather. The latter looked to be in his late 70s, with the child nearing 10. The child lay on the floor with her head resting on her mother's lap, who was gently caressing her child's hair.  None said a word as they all tried to warm up to the flames, though it hardly worked. Frost was starting to seep through cracks in the wood of the building, forming in the corners of the walls and coated the windows in frost.

The elderly let out a long sigh, causing the rest to glance at him. He looks back at his family and smiles softly. "D-don't worry. T-t-the Mage and his apprentice will be here to save us soon." He lets out a faint chuckle, causing the father to shake his head weakly as the mother scoffs.

"F-father," the mother says with disdain, her teeth rattling due to the cold. "F-forget the Mage! They're n-not coming. They promised w-w-weeks ago and there hasn't been a-anyone since!"

The elderly male shook his head at his daughter. "N-nonsense. I've seen what they can do. If anyone c-can lift this curse, it's them!"

"Stop lingering o-onto the past! The Mages have become s-scarce! None of them would bother coming here to s-slay the-!"

The family was interrupted by the sound of a faint neighing under the howling of the wind. The old man perked up and stood up instantly, gaining the rest's attention again. Before any could speak, the old man rushes out the building and into the blizzard, making the rest gasp and run after him while shouting "father" or "grandpa".

Outside, the old man saw the glowing horse running towards him. He smiles in relief and chuckles. However, he couldn't get far as the cold took over and forced him to fall on his knees and clutch himself tightly to keep warm, though that hardly fixed the issue.

Just as he did, the horse caught up to him and stops in front of him. It neighs as the person riding it got off and approaches the elderly male, kneeling to his height. Upon doing so, the old man looks up at them with a cheerful smile and studied them.

The person wore a red cloak with the hood up, partly hiding their identity. Under the hood, the person wore a dark blue cloth around their face except for the eyes. The skin that was seeable was covered in some kind of black paint or makeup, hiding what they truly looked like. Surrounding the person's cloak was thick black fur. Under the cloak, the person wore dark blue robes and armor. The armor was only a chest piece, a pair of gauntlets, and kneepads. The armor was red and decorated like flames. The chest piece spreads out and over the person's shoulders like flames. They had a pair of thick brown leather gloves and boots. Not only that, but they also had several pouches strapped to their waist and hips. On their neck, they carried a necklace with a red flame orb tied to metal chains.

What stuck out the most to the old man was the person's eyes. Underneath all the hood, they could barely see the person's hollow grey eyes, seemingly lifeless. The person hardly reacted to the old, as if it wasn't there.

Seeing the old man shivering in the blizzard, the person lifts their right hand and writes a magic symbol with their left hand. They do so briefly before the symbol shines and morphs into a small smooth gem. It was black but cracked, glowing red faintly. Once that was done, they gently took the old man's hands and placed the gem in his palms. Quickly, warmth surges through the male's body until the cold no longer affected him. Feeling warm, his body relaxes and slowly stood up, the hooded person doing the same.

"T-thank you, Mage." The old man says, delighted.

The person simply nods in response. "Place the gem in any fire source inside your home." They muttered, their voice rough and deep, sounding male.

The old man nods quickly. "Of course. I knew we could count on a Mage."

"..." The Mage doesn't say anything. That was because he looks past the old male towards the center of the village where a well was. He takes hold of the horse's rope and walks towards the well, bringing his horse with him.

As he did, the old male watches him leave in awe. Eventually, he scurries back to his home where his family watched him from the window. When he got back inside the building, he gave everyone a "told you so" look. After, he goes to the furnace and placed the gem inside it. Once he did, the gem shines before melting. When that happened, ash blew out of the furnace and floats around the room. The ashes stuck onto the wood and glowed a magic glyph. After, the ice within the building began to melt and dissolve while the room's temperature began to rise to normal.

As all of this happened, the family watched in amazement. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Their home was no longer frozen and felt the freezing air dissipate in the matter of seconds. They all slowly took off the extra layers of clothing and blankets as they no longer felt cold, much to their relief.

...

As that happened, the Mage reached the center of the village while staring at the well the whole time. Once he got there, he lets go of the horse's rope and knelt before taking off his gloves and sets them on the ground beside himself.

Under his gloves, his palms were covered in dark blue cloth as his fingers were wrapped in bandages.

The Mage grabs a handful of ice and some dirt before carefully rubbing them between his fingers, studying their texture as they fell onto the ground. He sniffs the remaining materials in his palm, humming quietly to himself.

To normal beings, the snow seemed normal like any other. However, to the Mage, there was a strong, foul smell to it as it had an strong aura radiating from it. This could be caused by only a handful of reasons that someone like him was knowledgeable of.

"..." He stares at the remains in his palm momentarily before dropping them. He uses his right index finger to start writing a small magic circle above the snow. After completing the circle, he stood up while closing his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. He clenches his hands except for his index and middle fingers. He stayed still momentarily as a magic circle similar to the one he wrote on the ground was summoned in front of his hands and front of him. The magic circles glowed bright orange as the male opens his eyes and thrusts his arms open and to his sides. Doing so caused the magic circles to enlarge before flying away. After a certain point, the magic circles fade and disappear.

Once they did, a large magic circle formed on the ground surrounding the entire village. The circle glows a bright orange before a dome was summoned and engulfed the village. When it did, ashes started to fall to the floor from the dome like snow. As the ash touches the ground and buildings, the snow once there began to melt away and dissolve much like the family's. Once all the ice and frost were gone, it stopped raining the ash. The snow outside couldn't get in as once it touched the dome, they would melt away as well.

Within the village, more and more people began to notice the temperature change and the ice melting. One by one, more families began to step out from their homes and saw the dome surrounding the village. The children stare with awe as the adults looked surprised. Eventually, though, everyone turned to the center of the village and saw the Mage, looks of relief growing on their faces.

Speaking of, as the villagers did their thing, the Mage slowly reopens his eyes and stares up into the sky. Behind him, the sound of the villagers muttering between themselves was audible to him. However, he didn't pay attention to them. Instead, something else caught his attention in the air. That was until one of the villagers walked up to him from the side, gaining his attention.

"Thank you, Mage." The village chief says with a grateful smile.

"Don't thank me yet." The Mage says, causing the chief's smile to disappear. "This isn't over."

The chief nods his head before looking towards the sky where the Mage did. "Of course. I understand that the storm won't disappear until that thing does first."

The Mage nods while returning his gaze towards the sky. "Tell your people to stay indoors until I come back and to not walk out of the circle while I'm gone."

"As expected. I must apologize for the inconvenience. I wish this issue would've been solved by one of the neighboring villages or even by the Orcs or Huntsmen, instead of dragging a Mage all the way out here. But unfortunately-."

"There's no point in doing that. Huntsmen and Orcs know they couldn't handle this. They'd only be walking into a suicide mission no matter what they might throw at it. Their magics and potions wouldn't leave a scratch on its skin. Mages would've had to be sent one way or another no matter the circumstances." The Mage states.

"I see..." The chief mutters while looking down to the floor sullenly, sighing.

Just as he did, the duo heard the sound resembling a roar under the muttering of the villagers and the wind howling around the dome within the sky. It sounded very faint, hardly audible. But, they still heard it nonetheless.

"Remember what I said." The Mage says while glancing at the chief. As he did, his horse walks over to him and nudges his shoulder.

The chief nods as he watches the Mage pat and caress his horse's snout. "I know. Good luck."

The Mage nods before he began to walk outside of the dome and into the blizzard. He walks towards a large hill and travels up it on foot. As he did, his horse neighs softly and dissolves into ash. Once that happened, the chief turns around and walks over to the villagers to fulfill the end of his promise.

Sometime later...

After walking up the hill for a few miles, the Mage stood on the top. Because of the blizzard and how far he walked, he could no longer see the village. The only thing indicating how far away he was was the dome's glow.

In front of him, he could barely see a valley of hills that went on for miles. Behind the hills, he saw the silhouette of a massive mountain in the distance. On said mountain was a strange tower. It was hard to make out due to the blizzard. However, he could see that it was as tall as the sky. And at the top, there was a large ominous red light radiating, glowing as if it had a pulse.

"..." Seeing this, the Mage squints his eyes. Just as he was about to take a step forward, he heard the roar again, making him stop. However, it sounded much closer. So close in fact that it seemed to be above him, making him look up.

Just as he did, he saw a massive shadow diving towards him. He rolls out of the way just in time to avoid whatever from crashing into him. Upon impact, snow and dirt flew into the air and towards the Mage, who lifts his hand while releasing fire into the air, melting the snow and dirt that was heading in his direction.

Once that ended, his fire disappears as he slowly stood up as the large silhouette recovered and got up as well. When it did, the Mage made eye contact with two large icy blue glowing eyes as the thing growls. It towers over him and lifts its arms before spreading its massive wings, blowing wind and snow away while revealing itself to be at least three stories tall.

What the creature was turned out to be a large wyvern. Its body was mostly snow white, blending in well with its surroundings. However, the wings seem to have cracks in them that radiated a dark blue. The spikes on its back that lead to its tail and the spikes on the tip were blue with pink tips. The two large horns on its head were the same, though seemed as if they were crystalized rather than actual horns. It had a thin but long snout, its large teeth hung out of its jaws.

"Of course it's a Frost Wyvern..." The Mage groans.

The wyvern snarls at the Mage, who glares back at the creature while grabbing the handle of his blade on his back. As he slowly drew his blade with both hands, he mutters something unintelligible under his breath. The blade itself was pure black with cracks in that glowed orange. After, a magic circle was summoned on the hilt of the weapon before floating upwards on the blade. As it did, the blade's cracks glowed brighter as the blade expands twice its size. When it was done, the magic circle disappears as the male got into a fighting stance.

Seeing this, the wyvern squints its eyes before roaring towards him. It was so loud that it echos across the valley while blowing some of the snow near the Mage, the ends of his clothes being picked up in the wind. When the flying snow hits the ground, they became frozen and so did the ground in a small radius. However, the Mage didn't seem fazed and just glares at the creature while gripping the handle tightly.

Once the wyvern was done roaring, the two were locked in a stare-down for what felt like an eternity, but was actually only for a minute. The only sounds could be heard were the two's breathing and the wind howling. Eventually, the wyvern jumps and flew into the air before diving towards the Mage. The latter took this as an opportunity to run towards the creature while reeling his blade behind him. Once the two got close enough, the Mage swung his blade horizontally while the wyvern roars, causing everything to fade to black.

To be continued...