The frost has taken the glass.

It creeps in like a slow, white death. My hand trembles as I press it against the pane. The cold bites. It is the only thing that feels real. Outside, the snow falls in thick, silent sheets. It covers the moor. It covers the graves. It covers everything we have built and everything we have lost.

I am old. The years have eaten my strength. My armor rusts in the corner, a skeletal relic of a man I used to be. I am no longer the Knight. I am only a shadow in a stone house. But the shadow remembers. The shadow remembers the weight of the sword. The shadow remembers the taste of blood.

You are not here. You left. You always leave. You go into the light, into the warmth, into the life that I can no longer touch. I do not blame you. How could I? I am a ruin. You are a garden. Gardens do not grow in ruins.

I write this to you. I write it to the air. I write it to the stone. Let the stone hear me. Let the stone keep my voice when my breath fails.

They call it treason. They call it madness. They say I broke the law. They say I betrayed the King. They are right. I did. I broke the law. I betrayed the King. But they do not know the truth. They never do. They see the sword. They do not see the hand. They see the blood. They do not see the face.

I was a soldier. I swore an oath. I held the line. I watched my brothers die in the mud. I felt the earth swallow them. I felt the cold seep into my bones. I did not flinch. I was a machine of war. I was the King’s fist.

Then I met you.

You were not a soldier. You were not a queen. You were a woman. You had kind eyes. You had a voice like rain on a window. You looked at me and you did not see the weapon. You saw the man. You saw the fear. You saw the hunger.

We loved. It was a fire. It was a storm. It consumed me. It consumed you. It burned down the walls of my duty. It burned down the roof of my honor. We were two stars colliding in the dark. We did not care for the ground below. We did not care for the fire. We only cared for the light.

But the light was too bright. It burned the eyes of the King. It burned the hearts of his men. They came for us. They came with their spears and their shields. They came with their orders and their laws.

I stood between them and you. I raised my sword. I did not fight for the King. I fought for you. I fought for the memory of your face. I fought for the warmth of your hand.

I killed three men. I killed four. I lost count. The blood was red. The snow was white. The sky was grey. I was alone. I was so alone.

They took you. They took you away. They locked you in a tower. They said you were guilty. They said you were a witch. They said you had bewitched the Knight. They said you had stolen his soul.

I did not care. I went to the tower. I climbed the walls. I fought the guards. I broke the door. I found you.

You were so small. You were so cold. Your eyes were closed. Your breath was shallow. You looked like a bird that had fallen from the sky. Broken. Silent. Gone.

I held you. I held you in my arms. I felt your heart stop. I felt the life leave you. I felt the light go out.

And then I understood.

I understood that the King was not the enemy. The King was not the monster. The monster was me. The monster was my love. I had let it consume me. I had let it blind me. I had let it kill you. Not directly. But indirectly. I had made you a target. I had made you a sacrifice. I had loved you so much that I destroyed you.

I dropped your body. I dropped your love. I dropped my honor. I dropped my soul.

I ran. I ran into the night. I ran into the storm. I ran until my legs gave out. I ran until my lungs burned. I ran until I was no longer a man. I was a ghost. I was a memory. I was a stain on the snow.

They found me. Of course they found me. They always find you. They take me to the dungeon. They strip me of my armor. They strip me of my name. They call me the Traitor. They call me the Beast.

I sit in the dark. The cold is my only friend. The stone is my only mirror. I look at the wall. I see your face. I see your eyes. I see your smile. It is a lie. It is a ghost. It is a poison.

They come to ask me questions. They ask me why. They ask me who. They ask me where.

I do not answer. I do not need to. The silence is my answer. The silence is my truth.

They think I am strong. They think I am proud. They are wrong. I am weak. I am broken. I am empty. I am a shell.

But I am not defeated.

I am waiting.

I am waiting for the day. I am waiting for the hour. I am waiting for the minute. I am waiting for the second.

I am waiting for justice.

They think justice is punishment. They think justice is execution. They think justice is the head on the block.

I know better. I know the truth.

Justice is not coming to punish me. Justice is coming to free me.

The stone is my anchor. The stone is my memory. The stone is my heart.

I feel the vibration. I feel the tremor. It comes from the earth. It comes from the sky. It comes from the past. It comes from the future.

It is the sound of time. It is the sound of change. It is the sound of the end.

I close my eyes. I feel the cold. I feel the pain. I feel the love.

It is all the same.

It is all the same.

The door opens. Light floods in. Blinding. White. Pure.

Men enter. They wear armor. They carry swords. They look at me with pity. They look at me with fear.

They do not see the monster. They see the man. They see the man who loved. They see the man who failed. They see the man who waited.

One of them steps forward. He is young. He has kind eyes. He has a voice like rain on a window.

He kneels. He takes my hand.

His hand is warm.

I do not pull away. I let him hold me. I let him feel my pulse. I let him feel my life.

He speaks. I do not hear the words. I only hear the tone. It is gentle. It is soft. It is sad.

He is not here to kill me.

He is here to tell me.

The King is dead.

The law has changed.

The witch is cleared.

Your name is cleared.

I feel the shock. I feel the release. I feel the weight lift from my shoulders. I feel the chain break. I feel the cage open.

It is not victory. It is not triumph. It is not joy.

It is relief.

It is peace.

I look at him. I look at the light. I look at the snow outside.

The snow is still falling. It covers the ground. It covers the graves. It covers the past.

It covers the present.

It will cover the future.

I am not a Knight. I am not a Traitor. I am not a Beast.

I am a man.

I am a man who loved.

I am a man who lost.

I am a man who waited.

And now I am a man who is free.

I stand. My legs are weak. My back is bent. My hair is white.

I walk toward the door. I walk toward the light. I walk toward the snow.

I do not look back.

There is nothing to see.

The stone is behind me. The dungeon is behind me. The past is behind me.

The snow is in front of me. The wind is in front of me. The future is in front of me.

I step out.

The cold hits me. It is sharp. It is clean. It is alive.

I breathe.

I breathe in.

I breathe out.

The snow falls on my face. It melts. It runs down my cheeks. Like tears. Like blood. Like life.

I am alone.

But I am not lonely.

I am with the stone. I am with the snow. I am with the memory.

I am with you.

I do not need you. I do not need the world. I do not need the law.

I need only the truth.

The truth is simple.

Love is not a crime. Love is not a sin. Love is not a madness.

Love is a duty. Love is a burden. Love is a gift.

I carry it. I carry it to the end. I carry it into the snow. I carry it into the silence.

I walk. I walk slowly. I walk carefully.

The path is long. The path is hard.

But I am not afraid.

I am not afraid of the cold. I am not afraid of the dark. I am not afraid of the end.

I am afraid of forgetting.

So I remember.

I remember your face. I remember your voice. I remember your touch.

I remember the fire. I remember the storm. I remember the light.

I remember the stone.

I remember the wait.

I remember the freedom.

I am the stone.

I am the snow.

I am the memory.

I am the truth.

The wind picks up. The snow falls faster. The world blurs. The colors fade. The sounds fade.

Only the white remains.

Only the cold remains.

Only the silence remains.

I smile.

It is a small smile. It is a quiet smile. It is a sad smile.

It is a free smile.

I close my eyes.

I let the snow cover me.

I let the cold take me.

I let the silence hold me.

I am gone.

I am here.

I am everywhere.

I am the stone.

I am the snow.

I am the truth.

The end.