I pulled my coat tight against the morning chill. The sun had been up for a couple hours now but it only seemed to be getting colder. I walked alongside my dad through a city that felt empty now that the army had started its march south. With the harvest season for Kala over, most people had very little reason to venture above ground. Only a few straggling pedestrians braved the cold air outside the comfort of their underground fortresses.
One of those few people was Svend. The hulking man never ran out of work to do. Despite being the leader of the nation, he spent most of his time helping his people in person rather than being trapped behind a desk doing paperwork. Poor Cyra probably got stuck with that job.
“Make sure this cart gets to the food storage run by the Lagring family. They will process it from there,” Svend said to a solder that was escorting a horse-drawn wagon laden with supplies. The soldier saluted before hurrying off. Svend sighed and shook his head once the soldier was out of sight, only to straighten up when he saw Dad and me walking down the street.
“Everything ok?” I asked curiously.
Svend rubbed his hand through the stubble growing on his head. “Fair enough. There are logistics problems with such a large army marching south this close to winter. War is a summer profession but I will handle it.”
Dad nodded at Svend’s explanation. “The only thing worse than a campaign during cold and rain is trying to do it hungry. More often than not, it is the supply line getting disrupted that forces an army to retreat, not the enemy.”
“A favorite tactic of General Arthur, I’m sure. I remember reading more than one report of my soldiers forced to retreat because of an early morning raid that stole all their food,” Svend said with a chuckle.
Dad laughed with Svend nervously. “Don’t hold it against me. I was just a rank-and-file soldier following orders, nothing more.”
“Tell that to the men and woman we will be fighting alongside in the coming months. More than a few have recognized you during your jaunts through the city. I have stopped any outburst so far by telling them you are serving Aurielle but do not be surprised if someone challenges you to a duel at some point.”
“I will keep that in mind,” Dad replied with a solemn nod.
Svend slapped his back with a big grin. “You have a domain now. You do not have to worry that much. The enemies we face are unnaturally strong so you may not have adapted yet but I expect you to thrash any common soldier with ease. Just try not to break their will to fight too much. We need the brave ones in this war against the Demons.”
“I will,” Dad said before pausing in thought, “Do Demons have supply lines for us to disrupt? They have to eat, right?”
Svend just shook his head. “Wrong.”
“Demonkin absorb chaotic energy from their surroundings. It is only their natural bloodlust that causes them to hunt and kill. Some might eat because of some leftover animal instinct but they do not actually need it to survive,” I explained, “Technically they do not even need to breathe. It would be impressive if it was not for the corruptive nature of the energy.”
“So, there is no way to starve them then,” Dad mused, “Do they sleep?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes but it is erratic and times differ for each creature. I am not really sure if Demons actually need sleep or just do it because they want to. There have been a lot of studies but I am not really the one to ask.”
As I talked with Svend and Dad about the habits of Demons and Demonkin, I noticed a chill in the air. My breath began to fog and I pulled my coat tighter.
“Is it getting colder?” I asked.
Svend was about to make a joke at my expense but suddenly stopped. His mouth was still open as he stared into the distance. Curious, I turned to look where his gaze was locked. Behind me was nothing more than an empty field that stretched out of the city. In the distance, I could see the crater where we had fought Sebastion. At first, I did not understand what forced Svend to stop, but as I looked across the field I quickly understood.
Like a wave washing across the ground, a layer of frost was spreading over the grass. In a flash, ice as thick as my finger covered the field and was spreading fast. Small animals and insects too slow to run away suffered the same fate as the plant life. Within seconds of being exposed to the frost, they were frozen solid. Stray sheep that had been grazing nearby never even had a chance to understand what was happening before they too were covered in a thick layer of ice.
Svend was the first to recover as his domain spread out over the city. His shout echoed to every corner. “Everyone take emergency shelter!”
My own domain wrapped around my body and I rose up into the air to get a better look at the situation. Ice spreading over such a large area in an instant should take a very powerful talent but I could not sense a source for the sudden strange phenomenon. In just the short few seconds since we noticed it, the ice had already spread to the edge of the city. The few people caught outside had not yet seen the danger but were quick to follow Svend’s orders. They ran for the cover of the nearest underground fortress but the ice was spreading too fast. Not everyone was going to make it to safety in time.
Seeing the danger approaching, I dashed down to the edge of the ice. A surge of green and blue flames exploded out from me. A wall of fire stretched out as far as I could manage. I hoped this would slow the encroaching ice long enough to allow the people to reach shelter but the moment the wave of frost touched my fire, it was as if all the energy and heat were drained away. My fire did not hinder the progress of the ice in any way.
“What is this?” I asked as I carefully prodded the strange phenomenon with my domain. I was careful not to let it touch me until I knew more. A domain was not a perfect defense against all things and I did not want to risk getting frozen.
Unfortunately, my domain was not able to help me understand what was happening. I could not feel any of the energies that would come from an innate talent. It was just extremely cold.
Svend used his domain to pick up the straggling civilians and lift them out of harm’s way. I moved to help him but the area we could cover was limited. I heard a few screams from the far side of the city that were suddenly cut short.
Seeing that the green and blue flame were useless against the encroaching freeze, I created a series of glyphs. With my new increased control over fire, I was able to create a dozen glyphs simultaneously. They floated around me for a fraction of a second before creating a cyclone of golden fire.
The golden flames spun through the frozen area without restraint. The gold fire did not extinguish as my other flames had but the effect was still minimal. Ice melted and the earth was scorched but after my flames passed, the area was frozen over once again as if nothing happened. There was no resistance, it just felt as if I was fighting the weather.
I bit my lip as I flew higher. Such a strange sudden freeze had to have a source. If I could find it, perhaps I could put a stop to what was happening.
I looked down on the city from above the clouds. From up here, I could see the entire stretch of ice fields that had suddenly been created. It was a giant, ever-growing circle, and at the center was a crater. It was the same crater I had created when I detonated the corpse of the dragon.
Despite not being in range of the freeze, I felt my blood turn cold. Was I responsible for this freeze? But if so, why now? It had been days since the dragon self-destructed. If that was the cause of this it should have happened at the time of the explosion. The only reason it would happen now was if…
Before I could finish that thought, a tremor ran through the ground. The zone of ice began to spread faster. In just a few more seconds, the entire city would be frozen over.
A deep rumble shook the air. A sound almost like a roar.
Rocks around the crater began to shift and fall into the hole as the ground began to heave. The crater became inverted as the dirt bulged. The cold became even more extreme and even from my great distance, my domain was not enough to prevent the chill. Frost began to form on my eyelashes and hair despite the golden flames that I surrounded myself with. Down below, I saw Svend dragging my dad as far from the ice as possible.
Suddenly, an explosion shook the heavens. All the clouds around the city were blasted away in a single instant and I was sent tumbling backwards. A shower of rocks and dirt rained down in every direction. From the epicenter of the explosion, a flash of blue scales began to emerge.
No longer muffled by rock, I was nearly deafened by the furious roar. The dust and debris settled, revealing the form of a massive creature. It stood taller than any building in the city. A full-grown stallion would barely be a toothpick to the rows of sharp teeth.
This was a living, breathing dragon!
I could hardly contain my excitement as I saw the creature that most people considered myth and legend. However, beneath that excitement was also fear. The dragon had been resurrected by my golden fire, that much was certain, but I could not sense any connection with the dragon as I did with the others I had resurrected. There were no physical changes to the dragon as there were with Sylvie and Naga.
There was no golden fire leaking from its body as it roared. There was only the endless cold.
Moving slowly so as not to draw the dragon’s attention I started flying towards Svend and Dad. They had retreated to the floating island of Dragon’s Nest and the island itself had retreated outside the ever-growing land of ice.
As I moved, I kept my eyes focused on the dragon. I knew nothing of the creature, nobody did. Without sharing a connection with it, I did not know if the dragon would turn violent now that it was resurrected. If it did, I was not sure I could fight it.
Just the aura of frost released by the dragon’s presence was so cold it felt as if I might freeze solid at any moment. Even the flames that burned away in my body could do little to resist such extreme temperatures. If the Dragon turned its full attention to me, I would probably end up like the sheep from before, frozen before I even knew what was happening.
I watched as the dragon looked around with piercing blue eyes. To my relief, its gaze passed over the city without concern but I felt my heart leap in my chest as the dragon saw the floating island.
A booming, thunderous voice shook the air as the dragon opened its mouth. “Remnant of the parasites upon the realms, you dare show yourself in my presence.”
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Uh oh. The preateritum seem to have made an enemy of the dragons. Thanks for the chapter