EXT. PINE FOREST - DAY
A WALL OF WHITE.
Visibility is zero. The world has dissolved into a screaming void of wind and ice pellets.
SAM (16, trembling hands, oversized parka) spins in a circle. He stumbles, boots sinking deep into fresh drifts.
The WIND SHRIEKS, a corrupted audio file tearing through the trees.
Sam claws at his hood. He hyperventilates. His eyes dart frantically, searching for a trail that no longer exists.
Sam!
Sam freezes. He squints into the gale.
ANNE (16, bright red jacket, intense gaze) stands three feet away. She looks miles distant in the haze.
(Screaming)
The markers are gone! The ice is covering them!
Anne ignores the panic. She scans the tree line. She studies the angle of the falling snow.
Barometric pressure dropped. This isn't a squall. It's a full-blown ice storm.
Sam stares at her. The reality hits him physically. He sways.
He plants his feet. He forces his posture straight against the wind.
Then it is as the prophecies foretold!
Anne blinks. She stares at his terrified eyes, then at his defiant posture.
We have crossed a threshold! The familiar world has fallen away!
Anne watches him. She sees the tremor in his jaw. She nods, slowly.
Indeed, Sir Samuel. The path has vanished. Pray, what is our charge in this frost-bound kingdom?
Sam exhales. The panic in his shoulders drops an inch.
Survival. We must establish a fortress. To the north!
Anne checks the wind. She points West, toward a dense cluster of pines.
The enemy's assault is fiercest from the east. Yonder thicket offers superior cover.
Lead on, my lady.
EXT. PINE THICKET - CONTINUOUS
They plunge into the trees. The wind changes from a scream to a mournful moan.
Dark trunks loom out of the white. Branches sag under heavy coats of ice.
A sound like CRACKING GLASS echoes above.
THUMP.
A massive, ice-laden branch crashes into the snow ten feet to their left.
Sam jumps. He cowers.
Ice Giants. They shed their crystalline limbs.
Their aim is careless. We must not tarry.
Sam stumbles. He leans against a rough trunk, gasping. His face is pale.
(Stopping)
Status?
Energy wanes. Require... rations.
Anne swings her pack around. She unzips a pocket with stiff fingers.
She produces a frozen granola bar. She hands it over.
Enchanted waybread. Consume.
Sam fumbles with the wrapper. He tears it open with his teeth. He bites down. A grimace of pain.
He chews the rock-hard oats. He looks past Anne.
A dark hollow sits at the base of a rocky outcropping.
Behold! A cavern! A loot cache!
He lurches toward it.
Anne grabs his arm. Her grip is iron.
Halt!
But it's shelter!
Anne points to the snow directly in front of the cave mouth.
Deep depressions. Five distinct claw marks. Fresh.
Observe the sigil of the beast.
Sam stares at the tracks. He backs away, slowly.
A trap laid by the Ice King.
Precisely. We build our own fortress.
EXT. FALLEN PINE LOG - LATER
A massive fallen trunk creates a windbreak. A deep drift has formed against it.
Sam and Anne are on their knees. They claw at the snow with gloved hands.
Sam heaves a block of packed snow. He packs it onto a growing wall.
We carve our kingdom from the heart of winter!
Anne shapes the entrance. A low, narrow tunnel.
Keep the entrance low. Trap the spirit's warmth.
The sky turns a bruised purple. Twilight.
They dig frantically. Breath plumes in the darkening air.
INT. SNOW CAVE - NIGHT
Absolute blackness. The ROAR of the wind is suddenly muffled, distant.
A faint gray light filters from the tunnel entrance.
Sam and Anne sit hunched, knees touching, backs against the snow wall.
Sam unscrews a thermos. The scent of chocolate rises.
He passes it to Anne. She sips. Passes it back.
Sam drinks. He shivers. Violent tremors rattle his frame.
Stay awake. Tell me the lore.
(Teeth chattering)
The... the Ice King?
The quest. The dragons. All of it.
Sam closes his eyes. He takes a breath.
In the beginning... the world was fire...
EXT. SNOW CAVE - DAWN
Silence. The air is still.
Sam crawls out of the tunnel. He stands, stiff and aching.
Anne follows.
The sun crests the horizon.
The world is glass. Every pine needle, every branch is encased in clear ice.
Sunlight hits the forest. The trees explode into prisms of diamond and topaz light.
Sam stares. His mouth opens.
(Whispering)
Graphics update.
Anne smiles. A tired, real smile.
From the east, a sound cuts the air.
A RHYTHMIC CHOPPING.
Sam looks toward the sound. The rescue.
FADE OUT.