Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 2, Ch. 13, Ch. 16]

I knew I'd found Cold, but better than that, I'd found Cold without finding the application aspect of the previous Rune. That meant, in theory, that what remained if the Cold aspect was taken out was a Rune that read `When hit, make Ice` or something similar.

Carefully, I sketched the Rune down, ignoring the tail and dots that made up the `cold` aspect.

When it looked okay on the paper, I applied it to a fork.

The metal held.

"Nice!" I'd thought it would, seeing as how it did the first time and I'd only taken away a feature of the Rune, not its method. With growing excitement, I gently stabbed my arm with the fork, dimpling my skin slightly but not piercing flesh.

Ice spread out over my bicep.

It was… strange. Hard to explain. It was ice, and yet there was no temperature to it whatsoever. By taking out `cold` I'd created `Ice` that didn't fulfil its purpose as ice. I wasn't even sure how it remained in a solid state since it was genuinely room temperature. Or not even that. It was a little warm by the forge and the ice felt the exact same temperature.

"It doesn't have a temperature. Weird." I waved my arm, pleased to see that even though the numbing cold wasn't there, there was still some obstruction. Hot or cold, it was still solid water frozen onto my skin. It cracked when I flexed my muscle and was easily brushed off, but if I'd been caught by surprise, it might have impeded me.

Quickly, I etched the Rune onto Crocea Mors and brought the blade to my arm, ready to cut myself slightly. I spared a brief thought for whether that was safe at all but decided that freezing what little blood came out was probably safer for the fact it wouldn't be cold.

Drawing the sword over my arm, I watched as ice spread and crackled over my arm, reaching halfway towards my elbow before stopping.

I flexed my arm and it all shattered.

Damn it. There wasn't enough. I was about to hit myself harder when I thought better of it. Velvet would have a heart attack if she came out and found me missing an arm, frozen into a chunk of ice. Standing instead, I decided to go and test it on some trees on the outskirts.

[...]

"Ha!"

Crocea Mors struck the tree hard. Not as hard as I could have, but hard enough not to topple the whole thing and instead wedge the blade deep into the trunk. Bark splintered left and right, but it was the trunk itself I paid attention to as ice sprung out from the wound, creeping maybe two or three inches up the side in every direction.

It stopped there.

Pulling and twisting the sword out of the trunk, I leaned closer and tapped my finger against the ice. It came from the point of contact when the sword stopped moving. I wasn't sure why. That meant that if the wound bit deep, the ice would come out that deep, whereas a lighter blow on the side that didn't penetrate would let the ice creep further.

I wasn't sure what to think of that.

On the one side, wounding Raven and freezing her internal organs sounded like a great way to kill her. Or, well, an effective way. It actually sounded like a horrible way to die. But if I could score a wound like this on Raven, I doubted I'd need the Rune at all. No way was I going to cut her in two anytime soon.

[...]

"Exactly. Freeze her armour, her clothing, anything we can get a hold of. The ice is formed depending on impact, not damage. The harder the hit, the more the damage. She's going to see you coming with your scythe and defend herself, but if you can slip in with a knife, you might be able to hit her. It won't even matter where you hit her."

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 2]



A red blur struck Salem from behind. "NO!"

The impact was like a crack of thunder. Ruby's speed was far in excess of anything I'd seen before and I'd failed to notice her wake, let alone stand, draw a weapon and lunge forwards. It was enough to shake Salem and make her drop me.

Ice crackled and spread across her form, originating from her back and clasping up over her shoulders. She didn't look afraid of it by any means, more curious as the ice cracked and formed over her arm, covering the arm that had held me and locking her in place.

"Get up," Ruby hissed, suddenly beside me in a flash of red light. "Come on. Move."

"Ru-?"

"No time! Get up!" Ruby hauled me to my feet and tugged me in the direction of the main doors. "While she's trapped, come on!"

"Trapped? Now I wouldn't go that far…" Ice shattered behind us as Salem walked out of the prison my custom-made Rune had locked her within. It didn't appear to have caused her any damage, though it had bought us a second or two.

[...]

Ruby blurred ahead before I could say a word. She'd always been fast, but this was different. Her entire body became nothing more than an extension of her cloak. It was just a flash of colour to me – and to the Grimm, which didn't respond to her in time, barely even turning its head in our direction before she was on it. The dagger slammed into its chest and ice exploded out from it, covering the thing's head, shoulders and upper arms.

I charged under its left arm as it strained to move, cracking the ice and causing shards to fall on me. It was already moving a little, creaking around to face us as the ice shattered. My Rune bought us a few seconds, but those seconds were enough for us to be past and through another door, into what once might have been an office but had been turned into a sleeping quarters of some kind.

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 13]



Tracing my finger above the guard, I found a clear patch of metal and activated my Engraving Skill. My eyes flashed a pale blue and a Rune came into life on the metal, curling and wrapping in on itself as thin red lines burned away at the surface. Once it was done, the symbol glowed blue faintly, then faded until it was little more than an engraving.

"What does it do?" Elayne asked, taking it back. "I don't feel any different."

"It's `Frost`. One I developed especially against Raven Branwen, and which worked to some effect on Salem, too." Not much, but then Ruby had only been one person. "It won't make you any stronger or cause any more damage, but it'll create a non-damaging wall of ice over anyone or anything you hit. Try it," I said, nodding at a fallen log nearby.

Elayne nodded and climbed to her feet, swinging her blade down. It cut through the rotten wood with ease, but the two bisected parts cracked and spread with thick ice, weakening the wood and causing even the grass around it to become white with frost.

—Forged Destiny [Book 8: Ch. 16]