The forest stretched endlessly before Henry, its snow-laden trees casting long shadows in the pale winter light. The crunch of his boots on the frozen ground was the only sound as he made his way deeper into the woods, the quiet solitude gnawing at the edges of his thoughts.
He stopped abruptly, his breath catching as the light glinted off something unnatural ahead. A massive block of ice stood along the riverbank, its smooth surface gleaming faintly in the weak sunlight. Inside, a shadowy figure loomed, distorted and unrecognizable beneath layers of frost.
The forest around him felt suddenly alive, and not in a comforting way. He knew something was off as an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. But little did he know that his gut feeling would turn out completely right. He was on the verge of making a discovery that would turn his life upside down.