The Frozen World

I had dreamed of many things as a child. Going on adventures; saving the lives of human and magical creatures, eventually falling in love and starting a family but I did not come even close to imagining what ended up happening to me. Let me start by giving you a little back story. I am an orphan. I have no Idea who my parents were or what happened to them all I do know is I was found on the doorstep of an elderly woman's house. Her name was Rosemary. She took me in and named me Nicole. I asked her why she gave me that name when I was about four and she told me that she named me after the greek god of victory Nike because she knew I was destined for greatness, I never understood what she meant. Maybe it was just her wishful thinking or maybe she was psychic. I had no idea but she loved me and I loved her. She was amazing for an old woman.

She died when I was seven and I was left on my own. Which wasn’t too bad. She didn’t have any family so whatever money she had left went to me and I moved in with her neighbor. Her name was Leanna and she had a son my age. I was fourteen when I started working as an adventurer or hero as some say. It wasn’t an official job because you couldn’t start working until sixteen but I am stubborn and kept asking people till I got a yes. Me and Hunter; Leanna’s son and my best friend, went to the same adventure school. It taught the basic things but it also taught us how to defend ourselves, to make medicines, and treat wounds. I was horrible at things like math or spelling but excelled at the creative arts as well as combat. My medical skills weren’t the greatest but it was enough to survive.

Fast forward a few years to where my life started getting weird. I’m nineteen years old and in the Area for the annual adventure games where the students are tested in their skills and determined whether they pass or fail for that year. We were in the combat portion of the games and were being tested on teamwork. Hunter was my only true friend but my team was made of him and three other students I knew well enough to respect them and trust in their abilities.

Billy is a fire fairy. Then there are the twins. Cleo and Leo, Pretty cute names for Angel vampire hybrids. I was the only human in the group. Hunter was a Dark Elf not to be mistaken for an Evil elf. Anyone has a fifty fifty chance of being evil but he wasn’t. He could just do things like melt into the shadows and make solid objects of pure darkness.

On our opponents team was a wind fairy, Forest Elf, an Angel and a mermaid. I know what you're thinking. How can a human fight against and with magical creatures? Wouldn't she be at a disadvantage and be a weak link? That may be so in some cases but just because one has magical abilities doesn’t mean they can overpower someone who doesn’t. Our two teams are well matched, each of us equally struggling and getting a work out. There were five minutes left on the timer and everyone was exhausted.

I had run out of arrows for my bow and lost my sword somewhere. I usually carried three daggers hidden in my clothes but I lost those as well. With it currently down to two on two one more person from either side being knocked out would determine who comes out on top if not it comes out as a draw. I made a beeline for the Elf. Dodging the plants and rocks she three at me. If I could just cause her to pass out from lack of oxygen we’d win this. Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned. A large stream of water hit me dead on knocking the breath out of me then I felt pain as I hit the ground and everything went black.

I was able to hear voices but they weren’t any voices I recognized. Then I saw images in my head. I was in a beautiful frozen wonderland. I saw a frozen pond then I heard the voices again followed by screams. The winter wonderland then turned into a bloody nightmare. Fairies wings were being torn off, Elves were being killed as well as many other winter creatures I didn't recognize. Next thing I knew I was pushed in the pond. My body broke through the ice and I was sinking in the freezing cold water.

I gasp as I quickly sit up then I groan as I hold my pounding head.

“Easy” Hunter said in a soothing tone. “You’re ok.”

“Did we win?” I asked

“No, the timer went off as soon as you hit the ground.” He said as he helped me up.

I tried to walk on my own but my body didn’t want to support me anymore. It felt like every part of me was exhausted and in some sort of pain. Hunter prevented me from falling then picked me up and took me to the infirmary. I sat there as the nurse treated me and thought about what I saw and heard when I was knocked out. I had nightmares of people dying before but those were always memories. Things I actually saw and experienced while working as an adventurer. Those dreams were usually followed by me and my group getting revenge for the deaths we see and I don’t mean killing the killers. I have never taken a life but I have knocked people out and let the local government decide their punishment.

The only thing I remember about that dream was its location. Me and Hunter had gotten lost and ended up there once. We built a shelter together and ended up snuggling close to each other to stay warm. That night was the night I realized I had feelings for my best friend but nothing else happened and in the morning we ate. We put everything back the way we found it, then went back to finding our location. Where did the rest of that dream come from?

“Nico. Hey Nicole.” Hunter waved in front of my face, snapping me from my thoughts. I hadn’t even realised we left the infirmary and were now sitting in the dining room. “Hey I’ve been talking to you this whole time. Did you even hear a word I said?” He asked.

“No sorry Hunt.”

“I was talking about what we could have done to improve our results. What's so important it's got you distracted?”

“Do you remember that time we got lost on a mountain we ended up finding a wintery forest with a frozen pond?”

Hunter started to blush or at least I thought he was. I've never seen him blush before. “Yeah I remember why?”

“I think I need to go there again. I’m not sure why it’s hard to explain.”

“Alright I’ll go with you.”

“No, I think it’s going to be dangerous.”

“Which means you’ll need back up. This is an unofficial quest so we’ll need to sneak out.”

“Or we can just walk out. Our tests are done for the day.”

“That is true.” Hunter said it was clear he wasn’t fond of the idea despite the way he looks he’s actually a really good student.

“You don’t have to come.”

“You need backup.”

“I have a water dragon for a pet. I think I’ll be fine.”

“I’m coming with you”

“Fine. If you insist.”

I get up and leave the school with Hunter. We go home to get ready. I cleaned and sharpened my weapons, then I dressed for cold weather. Rose was curled up sleeping on my pillow. Strange name for a water dragon yes but when I found her she was stuck in a Rose bush. That was three years ago. She’s an adult now but she chose to stay small because she likes sleeping on my bed.

“Come on cutiepie” I said as I picked her up. “Time to go I need you to give me a ride” She yawned as I took her out of my room”

“Ready to go?” Hunter asked.

“Yes I am and so is Rosy”

“You two better be careful.” Leanna said as she handed us our travel bags. “I packed everything you could need including food and medical supplies.”

“Thanks Anna.” I said shouldering my bag

“Yeah, thanks mom. I’ll see you soon” Hunter said.

Once we were out of town. Rose grew into her full size so we could climb on. It took six hours to finally get there. When we landed at the large pond I stared at the frozen waters remembering my dream. As the sun set the sky looked like it was bleeding and the snow shimmered with that red light. Maybe that's what I was seeing and the screaming was just the crowd that was watching the fight but what about the creatures I saw.

“You don’t belong here. I have to respectfully ask you to leave.” A new voice said. There was a man and woman standing in the center of the frozen pond.

“She said you need to leave.” The man said.

“Hey we came to help you-” Hunter started to defend me but I put my hand on his arm to make him stop.

I noticed that all around us creatures started to come out of hiding Fairies and Elves, Giants as tall as trees who looked like they were made of ice, Horses that looked to be made from the snow or the cold black water underneath the ice. These weasel looking creatures and even human like creatures other than the two on the lake but you knew just by looking into their eyes they were not human.

“Creatures of the cold,” Hunter mumbled.

“KILL THEM ALL!!!!” a voice came from behind me. I spun around only to be met with a fire blast. I screamed in pain but the scream was cut short when my breath was knocked out of me as I hit the ice and broke through. The feeling of first being burned then shoved on cold water was a level of pain I couldn’t describe. I sank to the bottom and when I did I saw a light coming from my left.

I should have swam back up but instead I swam to the light. It was coming from a cave and inside was this very small crystal surrounding it was what looked to be dragon scales. I grabbed the crystal, as soon as I did I was blinded by white light. When I could finally see again I was no longer in the water. Instead I was standing on the ice. The hole I made when I fell through was gone. Around me people were frozen in mid battle. The creatures immune to the cold were looking at themselves in surprise. Rose stood up shaking the snow off her body and revealing Hunter wounded from battle but otherwise fine. He looked around in shock then his jaw dropped when he saw me.

“What?” I looked down at myself and found my outfit had completely changed. Instead of combat/winter I was in a dress that looked to be made of snow. I was cold. But comfortably so when I should be freezing. “What just happened?”

“You saved us all.” The woman who told me to leave said as she smiled softly at me.

“You are the chosen one” Her friend told me.

That was the end of it. I am still waiting for an explanation but right now I am left sitting in the snow leaning against Rose as I write in my journal.

(If you enjoyed this please check out the rewrite I am currently working on I think it'll still come out as a short story but it will be longer then this, I have no idea how long it'll turn out we'll just have to wait and see. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy anything else I may eventually create)