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Jade pushed open the door onto a world that was completely frozen. Ice-covered trees glittered in the weak winter sunlight and she was instantly freezing. This was the coldest she’d ever been, and wearing a t-shirt and jeans on a snow-covered mountain was not the best idea. She could see snow leopards and polar bears roaming around and she wondered where on earth the ring was.
Jade was so cold and it was getting dark. All she could do was lie down and fall asleep, hoping she wouldn’t freeze to death. “I’m not ready to die,” she whispered softly, as darkness crowded into her vision and she dropped into a realm of darkness beyond dreams.
When Jade woke, she found herself lying exactly where she’d fallen asleep but there was something dense and heavy lying on top of her. Her immediate thought was that a snow leopard was trying to squash her, but the weight wasn’t moving and it wasn’t breathing. She opened her eyes to see that it was a polar bear fur, draped over her so she wouldn’t freeze, and in the palm of her outstretched hand lay a ring. A beautiful gold, just like the others, with two diamonds set into the top.
Jade sat up, placed the ring into her bag and got up to look for the door. As soon as she dropped the polar bear fur, it disappeared, seeming to melt into the snow. Still shivering violently, Jade searched for the door and found it set in an ice cave not far from where she had fallen asleep. Desperate for some warmth, she stepped through the door to find the final ring.