Image: Facing Borealis: Tarnished on the Frozen Lake

This anime-style fantasy illustration captures a tense, cinematic moment as a lone warrior confronts a colossal frost dragon on a vast frozen lake. The scene is framed in wide, landscape orientation, but the focus remains intimate and immediate thanks to the camera angle: the viewer stands just behind and slightly to the side of the warrior, sharing their perspective as they face the towering beast. The Tarnished is clad in dark, Black Knife–inspired armor, made up of layered leather and cloth that cling to the body yet flutter in tatters along the edges. The hood is pulled low and the upper back and shoulders are prominent, emphasizing the curve of the spine as the warrior leans forward, braced against the howling wind.

Both of the warrior's arms are extended, each hand gripping a katana. The blades cut clean, sharp lines against the swirling chaos of the storm: the left-hand sword is angled slightly outward across the lake, while the right-hand sword is held lower and closer to the side, ready to react. Subtle reflections of icy blue light run along the polished metal, tying them visually to the dragon's breath and eyes. The Black Knife armor's fabric wraps the arms and torso in intricate folds, and tattered strips trail behind, capturing motion and the relentless push of the blizzard. Though the warrior's face is concealed, a faint blue glow leaks from beneath the hood, suggesting steely resolve or a hidden power.

Directly ahead, dominating the mid- and background, looms Borealis the Freezing Fog. The dragon rears up with wings half-spread in a menacing arc that nearly fills the horizon. Its body is constructed of layered, jagged scales that resemble fractured ice and stone, covered in rime and frost. Sharp ridges run along its neck and back, and heavy foreclaws dig into the frozen surface of the lake. The dragon's eyes blaze with an eerie cerulean light, locking onto the warrior with predatory intensity. From its open maw pours a torrent of freezing mist - a glowing stream of pale blue-white frost breath that billows outward, diffusing into a rolling cloud of ice crystals. This glowing fog partially obscures the lake behind it, reinforcing the dragon's identity as both creature and storm.

The environment heightens the sense of danger and isolation. The ground is a cracked, glassy sheet of ice dusted with snow, stretching into the distance where it meets distant, jagged mountains. These rocky peaks loom at the edges of the image, their shapes softened by the thick snowfall. Snowflakes streak diagonally across the frame, showing the ferocity of the wind and adding a sense of depth and motion as they pass between the viewer, the warrior, and the dragon. Scattered around the far edges of the lake, faintly glowing spirit jellyfish hover like small, ghostly lanterns in the storm, their soft blue light echoing the dragon's icy glow and punctuating the cold palette. Altogether, the composition creates a powerful visual narrative: a solitary Tarnished standing defiant against an ancient, overwhelming force, on a battlefield where the very weather seems to be on the dragon's side.

The image is related to: Elden Ring: Borealis the Freezing Fog (Freezing Lake) Boss Fight