The Frozen world.

(I entered a short story to the SFS 7: Long Thaw Challenge. I had so much fun with it I decided to rewrite and extend it. So here it is. Chapter #1)

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 now. Sitting in my room wide awake because I was looking forward to today. It was the annual adventure games where the students are tested in their skills and determined whether they pass or fail for that year. There was a knock on my door, I looked up as Hunter walked in. “Oh hey you're awake. How did you sleep?”

“What sleep?” I asked him. I had pulled an all nighter I couldn’t sleep because it was a very important day. It was the last month of school, and the last week of exams which is testing our combat skills. It was my favorite part of school simply because it wasn’t boring.

“You should have slept, you'll need the energy.” Hunter said.

“I have too much energy, that's the reason I couldn’t sleep.”

Hunter sighed in defeat “well come downstairs mom made pancakes”

“Oh pancakes.” I got up and followed him to the dining room.

After breakfast we left together. When we got into school we went straight to the arena. “What do you think the test is about today?” Hunter asked

“Stealth maybe?” I said as we went to our teacher.

“Today we will be testing your team work.” She said then she separated us into teams of five. Hunter was my only true friend but I knew the kids in my class well enough to respect them and trust in their abilities. My team had Hunter, Billy Cleo and Leo.

Billy is a fire fairy. She is your classic gorgeous but deadly type. She loves dressing up all glamorous then watching the shocked faces of men when they realize they are about to be beaten in a fight by a pretty girl. Then there are the twins. Cleo and Leo, Pretty cute names for Angel vampire hybrids, They were your typical rebel type of kids. I was the only human in the group and 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.

“So what’s the game plan?” Leo asked as we gathered together.

“We can’t exactly make a game plan when we aren’t going to know who we are up against until we are in the arena” Hunter said

“Should we at least pick a team leader?” Billy asked.

“I call dibs on being the leader,” Cleo said.

“You can’t just claim to be the leader” Billy sassed.

“I can and I will.”

“Everyone has to agree to it” Leo Said

“I honestly think Nico should be the leader.” Hunter said.

“In what world do you think that is a good Idea?” I asked him

“You take charge out on jobs all the time.” Hunter said.

“No, I just do what I want, there’s a difference.”

Hunter sighs. “Alright let's vote. Who wants Cleo as leader?” He asked. Cleo raised her hand and Leo did the same. “Ok now for Nico?” Hunter raised his hand and Billy did the same. I chose not to vote because I honestly didn’t care. “Great, it's a tie.”

“Do we really need a leader?” I asked

“I don’t think so.” Leo said.

“Yeah it isn’t in the rules” Billy pointed out.

“Then let’s not pick a leader”

“Team 4 it's your turn.”

“That's us” Hunter said

The five of us walked into the arena on the opposite side of the other team doing the same. The announcer introduced each student to the crowd. It also gives us a chance to know just what we are up against. On our opponents team was a wind fairy, Forest Elf, an Angel, a mermaid and Vampire. I know what you're thinking. How can a human fight against and with magical creatures? Wouldn't they 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.

As we fought our two teams were 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.

“How are our teammates?” I asked as 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. “Everyone is fine.” He said 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, but I am not sitting through a three hour lecture about safety from your mom.”

“I’ll talk to mom about it.”

(I submitted chapter 2 and hopefully it will be approved soon. thank you for reading)