“Hello.”
The girl looked up and saw a boy standing in front of her. He was a scrawny little kid, with a big nose and wide eyes that stared right into her face. He wore a thick blue coat and heavy pants with thick boots. She could also spot some blonde hair sticking out of his hat.
“Hello.” She said softly.
“Aren’t you cold?” He asked.
“No.” She answered. A cold breeze blew through the park, but she didn’t even flinch, despite wearing a thin indigo blue dress over her small form. “The cold doesn’t bother me.”
“Oh, that’s cool.” He replied, not aware of the pun he just made. “I’m Kai.”
The girl was silent for a moment before deciding it was safe to give her name. “Elsa.”
Kai looked around the park, not seeing any adults close by. “Where are you parents?”
“At home.” Elsa answered. “They live outside the town, but I come and go as I please.”
The way she spoke was strange. She spoke like those pretty ladies that his mother called nobles. Was she one of them? “Do you have anyone to play with?”
“No, it’s just me.” She said. She didn’t sound very happy about it. “I...I don’t know any of the children here.”
Kai didn’t like the sound of that. She looked lonely, and a bit sad. And his mother did say it was rude to ignore a girl. “Why don’t you come sledding with me?”
Elsa blinked up at him. “Excuse me?”
“Come play with me. I don’t know how long you’re supposed to be out here, but I know that it’s not fun spending your free time all by yourself.”
Elsa frowned, a bit nervous at running around with someone she just met. There was a reason she stayed away from the other children, but she didn’t have to tell him that. Still, he was nice, and he meant well. It wouldn’t hurt to play a few games with him for a while.
“Okay...I suppose we can play for a little while.” Elsa said, a bit nervous.
Kai smiled and took her hand to pull her along with him. “Great! We can go sledding! I’m pretty sure there’s a steep hill we can slide down! It’ll be a lot of fun!”
Elsa was a bit nervous about this “sledding” he spoke of, but as she felt the warmth of his hand warming her palm, she allowed herself to be taken along with him.
‘His hand feels so warm...’ She thought. ‘It feels so nice.’
XXXXXX
14 years later
The town of Freezenburg was a quaint little human settlement located within a forest that was just a few miles away from a towering mountain range from ran from the borders of Kaldheim into Aslava. As Kaldheim was located in the far north, where the climate was cold and frigid, and snowfall was as common as heavy rainfall was for Ixalan, Freezenburg was no stranger to snow or cold weather. Even in spring, the temperature only reached high 60s-low 70s. But while the land was cold, the hearts of the people remained warm.
The houses and shops were clustered close together, with few streets wide enough for carriages to pass through. It wasn’t too much of an inconvenience, since the snow and ice made it hard for anything not layered with heating spells to pass through. The people of Freezenburg were a mix between humans and monsters, warm people with a sense of community that kept them strong through many hard times in the town, among them being the religious conflict instigated by Order fanatics two years ago. But the harrowing times of that incident paled in comparison to the snowy assault the town was going through at the moment.
Gerda looked outside the window and stared at the fast-moving snow blowing hard against the glass with a frown. The white horn was no stranger to snowstorms and blizzards, as they were a common occurrence in Freezenburg, but this was just unnatural. Even though she had a thick coat, she couldn’t help but shiver at the violent icy winds that ravaged the town.
“This is ridiculous.” Gerda muttered. Sure it snowed in Freezenburg, but it felt like the weather was only getting worse.
“Gerda, could you stock the firewood, please?” Her mother called out from the lobby.
“Okay, mom!” She called back.
The Holiday Inn was a large hotel and rest station that was run by Gerda and her mother, who were both White Horns, a species of centaur native to cold regions. The lodge was located in a spot within the forest between Freezenburg and the mountains on a known path travelers take. It was a place where weary travelers either heading to and from the mountains could rest and warm up. White horns were known for running lodges and hotels alongside emergency stations for any poor soul stranded in the cold during a storm.
Gerda had taken to the family business of providing aid to the people of Freezenburg as a rescue worker and managing the Inn along with her mother. It was hard work sometimes, and there were situations that required her to make long treks up the mountain, but Gerda knew the area like the back of her hand. Saving humans and monsters was what she was born to do, and she did it well.
The door slammed open and a large, bulky man trudged through the doorway with a thick blanket of snow blowing at his back. He was covered from head to toe in thick clothing, with glowing red runes engraved along his coat and pants. He stumbled in and quickly pushed the door closed, breathing a heavy sigh as he finally found refuge from the violent winds.
“Kai!” Gerda trotted over to him and quickly took his hat and scarf, revealing a strong face with short blonde hair that reached past his ears. “How is it outside?”
“Terrible. The snow reaches up to my knees and my face is numb from getting pelted by the hail outside.” Kai breathed, tapping his clothes twice to deactivate the heat runes. “If it weren’t for the heat runes, I don’t think I would’ve gotten far.”
Kai walked over to the couch near the fireplace and plopped his large body onto the cushions. Even when protected by heat magic, that blizzard outside was still absolute hell to walk through. Gerda walked over to him and handed him some hot cocoa, which he accepted gratefully.
“Most of the town’s covered in snow, and even with the salamanders backing me up, it won’t be possible to do anything else until the blizzard passes over us.” Kai said.
“And there’s no one outside?” Gerda asked.
“No, it’s totally deserted, which is good. No one in their right mind would stay out in a blizzard that strong. Not even a yeti.” He replied. He took a sip of his drink and groaned in pleasure. “That’s good stuff.”
“This is unbelievable. Freezenburg’s always had rough weather during the winter months, but it’s almost spring. The weather should’ve stabilized by now.” Gerda sat down next to Kai and helped him take off his boots. “Mother Nature must be finally out to get us today.”
“Mother Nature has nothing to do with it.” Kai glared into the fire and let his face warm up as a grim expression fell over it. “I saw some women running through the streets outside on by way back. I think they were glacies.”
“Glacies?” Gerda gasped.
Glacies were a species of elemental monsters that were common in the coldest regions of the world, where snow and ice dominated the land as far as the eye can see. They were strong creatures who commanded the power of ice, but not too dangerous if you know how to handle them. It was what their appearance meant that worried her.
Glacies never acted on their own. They were always under the command of an Ice Queen, a high level elemental monster with immense magical power over the domain of snow and ice. Suddenly the snowstorm outside made more sense with the thought of an ice queen being behind it.
“But what’s an ice queen doing this far out in Kaldheim? We’re almost near the border to Aslava.” Gerda questioned.
“That’s a question you’re going to have to ask her yourself.” Kai said and glared outside. “Those glacies are probably looking for a husband for their queen or some-”
There was a loud explosion that came from outside, startling the guests. Kai and Gerda ran to the window and tried to look outside to see what happened.
“What was that?” Kai asked.
“That sounded like an explosion!” Gerda exclaimed.
“Kai!” A tall hellhound clad in leather armor ran past them. “The glacies just destroyed the church down the street! I’m heading out with the girls to stop them!”
“I’m coming too!” Kai ran for the door, snatching up his spear while Gerda called out for him to wait. The hellhounds were already outside, and he stayed close to them as they ran out into the blizzard.
XXXXXX
Kai struggled to stay close to the strong heat of the hellhounds as they melted their way through the thick snow to reach the down. Mary, the veteran rescue worker, shot streams of flame from her hands to create a path to get through easily, and the rest of the team followed her all the way down the hill and into town.
The town was covered in snow, as expected, and with the icy winds blasting his face, Kai had a difficult time seeing, even with the protective goggles on. But eventually, as they made their way through the town square to where the church was, he saw a couple of slender figures gliding upon the wind like snowflakes in a blizzard.
The glacies were attacking the church of Hemera...and only the church. They were slender young women with pale-blue skin clad in tight bodysuits made of woven snow crystals held together by their own power. Their expressions were blank and cold, their eyes crystal blue, and their fury evident as they demolished the church with great ferocity.
The glacies paid no attention to the hellhounds at first, but as they got closer, a rain of icicles was fired at the rescue workers without warning. Mary and Kai jumped back to avoid them as an older looking glacie landing on the ground before them, her feet not even breaking the snow.
“Leave, creatures of fire. Our quarrel is not with you....this time.” She commanded.
“Like hell it is! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Mary growled, flames shooting from her red eyes.
“We are simply following our queen’s commands. All those who worship the baleful glow of Hemera is subject to her wrath. Any effigies and shrines to the light goddess are illegal in her lands and will be destroyed.” The glacie said.
“What? Why? The Order hasn’t don’t anything to the monsters here or to the queen.” Kai asked.
The glacie turned her eyes onto him and kai swore he saw her eyes narrow at him before she replied. “The Order was not always ambivalent to this region’s monsters. I’m sure you’re well aware of that.”
Her words made everyone freeze, for they knew exactly what she was talking about. Kai most of all, as he had lived in Kaldheim all his life.
The lead glacie looked at the jagged tree of ice spikes that had completely blown the church apart and nodded. “Our job is done here now. You, human, if you have concerns with her majesty, then come see her within the valley between the two mountains. This will show you the way.”
The glacie flicked her hand and sent a large snowflake fluttering down into Kai’s gloved hands.
“Though I doubt you will convince our queen to change her mind on delivering righteous justice upon the slaves of that heathen goddess, I do believe she will at least listen to you...and only you. We are done here.”
“Wait!” Kai shouted before the icy winds swirled around the glacies. He and the hellhounds covered their faces from the blast of hail and snow before the winds died down.
When everything was calm again, the glacies were gone...and so was the blizzard.
XXXXXX
Elsa cupped her hands together and blew into them, blowing a puff of snowflakes into Kai’s face. He giggled and clapped his hands, enjoying her magic show.
“Wow! That’s amazing!” He laughed. “Do something else!”
Elsa gave a small smile, which was the most she would ever do even in his presence, and swirled her hands around and spread them out, shooting another jet of ice into that air that exploded in a shower of snow.
“You’re getting better, Elsa.” Kai smiled. “Can you control snow and ice that already exists?”
“No, my mother says I’m not strong enough for that yet.” She said. Elsa studied the wonder and awe in Kai’s expression and couldn’t help but be a bit amused. What she could do was just a step above simple magic tricks and sparkles. Her mother was infinitely more powerful than her.
This little friendship of theirs was a strange thing to Elsa. She had no friends, none that were human at least. The closest that even came to friends were the daughters of her mother’s guards and retainers. She didn’t really think much of Kai when she first met him, seeing him as nothing but a curiosity. However, the past few weeks with him had sparked something within her. A foreign feeling that was in stark contrast of the usual feeling of coldness that she was content with.
She didn’t understand it, but it didn’t feel too bad. It felt...nice. What was this feeling?
“You’re so lucky, Elsa. You get to do magic whenever you want to.” Kai sighed, looking a bit put down. “I wish I had someone to teach me.”
Oh. Elsa almost forgot that she played her powers off as some form of innate magic. He still had no idea of what she was, or who her mother was. Kaldheim was still a land with a neutral stance towards her kind, but that could change in a heartbeat, as she was starting to see during her visits here.
Kai and Elsa took a walk down the narrow streets of Freezenburg, where they saw a large crowd standing in front of the church. They were all listening to a man clad in white priest robes ranting and yelling down at the people about something Elsa couldn’t really understand.
“Who is that man?” Elsa asked, pointing to him.
“That’s Johann. He’s an Order missionary who came here from Dacia. He’s been here for two weeks and people are already getting sick of him shouting in their faces about how bad monsters are.” Kai said. “Here, we’re more concerned about surviving the winter instead of the stuff going on outside thousands of miles from here.”
They watched as the man continued to preach his “divine” message about driving all nonhuman creatures from the land, warning everyone not to fall for the charms of the demonic harlots that seek to corrupt humanity. Some devout followers of the Order were at least giving him their attention, but many walked away without a backwards glance at the man, seeking to get out of the cold and find warmth.
Even Kai lost interest in the man and took Elsa’s cold hand in his to lead her away to the nearest tavern. He may not care about the man, but she did. Something about the way the missionary ranted about his divine mission unsettled Elsa, and she didn’t want to see just how far he was willing to go to see his mission through.
XXXXXX
The morning after, the blizzard was over and the sky was completely devoid of clouds, but the entire town was covered in snow. Clearing it away wasn’t so bad with the hellhounds and salamanders using their fire abilities to melt away the snow on the streets, but the damage done by the glacies was clear for all to see.
“This is a disaster.” Mary grumbled as she watched the men sift through the ruins of the church. The entire building was destroyed by an ice bomb that blossomed into a frozen flower that exploded the church from the inside. “I’ve been around the block a couple of times with ice monsters, but I’ve never seen an ice queen order glacies to openly attack a church like this.”
“They’re just acting on orders. The ice queen is the one we need to worry about.” Kai said, frowning at the damage. “Is there any way we can get inside?”
“Anything inside that wreck was frozen solid when the glacies blew this place up. We’ve got three salamanders working on melting the ice, but they made this shit to last.” Mary said gruffly.
Gerda looked at the ruined church sadly. Freezenburg was just starting to forget about the crimes of the Order missionaries a decade ago, and now this open assault on a house of the light goddess. Thankfully there wasn’t too much uproar over the target of the attack, but the people were still rightfully nervous. She gripped Kai’s hand nervously and he squeezed her hand back to comfort her.
“First attacking us with a blizzard and then personally destroying a church. This wasn’t done at random.” Kai deduced.
“What are we going to do?” Gerda asked. “If they attack other towns in the area like this, it might spark something bigger.”
“What else can we do but go see this ice queen and try to do...something.” Kai replied, looking at the snowflake that glistened beautifully in his hand.
He wondered why the glacie would actually suggest that he speak to the ice queen. They weren’t normally known for giving anyone, man or monster, the time of day in their icy solitude. The only people that they showed anything more than cold indifference to was their husbands and daughters. It also wasn’t in their nature to just give random strangers an invitation to speak to their queen. Something wasn’t right here.
“I heard from some of the guests at the inn that there were similar incidents like this in the neighboring towns. Glacies appearing in localized blizzards and destroying any and all signs of the Order.” Gerda said. “This is a widespread thing. Is the ice queen declaring war on us?”
“That’s impossible.” Mary scoffed, though she sounded a bit unsure. This was a very unusual situation, and the idea of an ice queen initiating hostilities on a region would’ve been ludicrous had she not heard or seen what she saw firsthand.
“Well standing around talking about it won’t change anything.” Kai said and held up the snowflake to the sun. “The glacie said to take my grievances up with the ice queen, and that’s what I intend to do.”
“What?! Kai, that’s too dangerous!” Gerda protested.
“Gerda, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt during these attacks. Once that happens, the problem is only going to get worse.” Kai looked at Mary. “I’ll head up into the mountains and see the ice queen. Maybe I can convince her to stop her attacks or at least find out why she’s doing this in the first place.”
Mary gave him a stern look. “Kid, ice queens aren’t known for showing mercy. If you screw this up, she’ll have no problem freezing you solid.”
“Please, Mary, I’ve got to try. Glacies don’t bother going behind their queen’s backs to invite random people to see them. Something has to be up.” Kai pleaded. “If we let this go on, it’ll only get worse.”
Mary frowned deeply, knowing he was right. But she didn’t like the idea of him gallivanting off into the mountains where a very irate ice queen was living. Still, they didn’t really have any other option than to fight her, which wasn’t smart given that the queen could command everything the ice touches.
“Fine, kid, go on ahead. But be sure to prepare thoroughly.” She said. “I’ll send one of the harpies to Hilda at the outpost to let her know you’re coming.”
“I’m coming along too!” Gerda said, surprising Kai.
“Gerda!”
“No, I’m not letting you run into danger alone!” Gerda stomped her hooves defiantly. “I’m coming and that’s final!”
Kai opened his mouth, but only gave a tired sigh and nodded. Mary laughed and slapped him on the back.
“Just let her go, kid. You ain’t winning this battle.”
A couple of hours later, Kai and Gerda packed their essentials for the long trip up the mountain. They wanted to leave as soon as possible in order to make it at least halfway to their destination while the weather was still good. Though, considering who they were dealing with, the weather could turn against them in the blink of an eye.
“Are you sure you don’t want more people coming with you?” Mary asked the pair at the edge of town.
“Yes, the less people going, the lesser our chances are of being discovered and possibly attacked on the way.” Kai said. “We’ll be fine, Mary. We’re rushing off into war.”
Mary growled and crossed her arms. “That’s what you say.”
Kai and Gerda were decked out in cold-resistant winter gear that was enchanted by the fire mages on the emergency team to keep them warm when the outside temperature reached a certain level. Gerda carried the heavier loads on her back with ease, while Kai had the snowflake and the weapons that Mary had given them.
Gerda hugged Mary tightly, ignoring the hellhound’s high body temperature that made her sweat in her heavy coat. “We’ll be back, Mary. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Mary said, hugging the white horn girl.
The pair said their final goodbyes and walked down the path, disappearing into the snow covered forest as they went off on their unaware of the implications of this course of action.
XXXXXX
Elsa loved her mother. She was the strongest woman she ever knew, a “force of nature” as her father described. Elsa could see why she was called that.
Her mother was like the embodiment of a blizzard-coldhearted, hard, yet she was beautiful. Most of the time, she sat on her throne, ruling over her distant, icy kingdom of human men and their monster wives, who were mostly glacies who served their queen. To all she was a cold woman with great power, but to her husband and daughter, she was-even if only slightly-a caring mother.
Following her return from Freezenburg for the summer, Elsa went to see her mother to ask her an important question.
“What troubles you, daughter?” She asked, before Elsa had even spoken. Somehow, she always knew when Elsa was confused or troubled about something.
“Mother, it’s...it’s about the boy I told you about.” Elsa said. She didn’t notice the minute raise of her mother’s brow at the mention of Kai. “There’s something about him, mother. Whenever I’m around him, I get this feeling in my chest.”
“Oh?” Her mother, clad in an ivory white dress and wearing a crown made of icy blue roses, rest her chin on her delicate hand and looked down at her daughter. “And what is this feeling, Elsa?”
“It’s, similar to how it feels to stand out in the sun for too long. Or being near a fire. It doesn’t hurt, but it feels strange.”
“That’s warmth, Elsa. It’s an alien feeling to our kind. We, who are born and raised amidst the frozen glaciers and mountains, do not feel warmth as humans or other monsters do. Our hearts, our souls, are little more than complicated frozen fractals.”
“What does this mean?” Elsa asked. “Is it dangerous for us to feel this way?”
“No, my child. This is natural.” Her mother answered. “Many women of our kind experience this feeling when they meet their chosen one. It’s an emotion that we rulers of ice seldom feel for anyone other than our families. It is an emotion called...love.”
“Love.” Elsa muttered. “Is that what it feels like when my chest gets warm around him?”
“It’s more complicated than that, but yes, that is one of the signs. Do not worry, child, this warmth will cool and you will feel normal again.”
“But I don’t want to feel normal!” She exclaimed. “I like this feeling! I like being warm!”
“Careful, child,” Her mother said coldly. “Love may feel good to you, but remember that it goes hand in hand with pain. The warmer you feel, the more open to pain you become. Life is full of uncertainties and even for the children of Nyx one’s fate is not certain. Do not let yourself become blinded by the warmth of love or it will leave you vulnerable.”
That was all her mother had to say to her, and though Elsa tried not to think about it, she couldn’t forget the warning. How could love make one vulnerable? It was so warm and comforting, it made her feel things she never felt before and she didn’t want to lose that. If this was what being with Kai was like, then she’ll never give him up!
If only the world shared her feelings on the matter, for just a week later, things in Freezenburg had taken a turn for the worse.
XXXXXX
Kai and Gerda’s journey into the mountains started off well enough. They walked through the dense, snow covered forest and reached the path that led through the mountains. It was a route that was charted by the yeti explorers who lived in the area, but despite how often it was traversed, as the deeper one got into the mountains, the more harrowing the weather became. The higher you got, the thinner the air became, and within a week of their journey, Kai and Gerda were forced to take it slow lest they suffered from the aftereffects of the climate.
This trek through the mountains was only made slightly easier thanks to their training in cold, uneven climates. They were used to how things went in the forest, and it made their trip smoother. Nevertheless, when night fell, they set up camp, and used the enchanted spark stones Mary lent to them to make a proper fire. They were exhausted from the arduous walk up the rocky slope, but neither of them could sleep.
“You should get some sleep.” Kai suggested. “I can keep watch for about an hour or two.”
“I can’t. I keep thinking that those glacies are out there, watching us.” Gerda said, glancing nervously at the dark forest around them. She was rarely afraid of another monster, but she knew that monsters like the glacies and their ice queen mistress were known for being very vicious when it came to protecting their turf.
“I don’t think they’ll attack us. At least, not until we get close to their castle. Don’t ask me why, but something tells me that they don’t know we’re coming.” Kai said, gazing at the snowflake in his hand intently. In the dark of the night, it was actually glowing whenever he pointed it in the direction of their destination, like a little beacon to guide their way. Beautiful and effective, as expected of a glacie creation.
“Kai, are you alright?” Gerda asked concerned. “You’ve been rather quiet since we left Freezenburg.”
Kai put the snowflake down and sighed. “I’m fine, Gerda, it’s just...this whole situation is bringing up some bad memories from my childhood. All this snow and ice, and this snowflake, it’s making me remember a friend I once had as a boy.”
“A friend?”
“Her name was Elsa. She was this noble girl who would live in the town with her father every summer when her mother was away. Funny enough, I think I was her first and only friend since moving into Freezenburg, and we played together whenever we could.” Kai smiled at the memories. “She was also a mage. Elsa had this odd form of ice magic that she used to make the most beautiful ice sculptures and carvings. She’d show off her powers to me and I’d stare at her in awe like magic wasn’t common in our town. She was cold and aloof at times, but the more we got to know each other, she warmed up to me.”
Gerda didn’t like where this was going. She heard enough tragic stories like this to know that it didn’t end well. Sadly, she was right.
“Gerda, remember those terrorist attacks on human/monster settlements 10 years ago?” He asked. Gerda nodded.
“Yes, most of them were caused by Ilias Kruez, right? They’re rogue members of the Order that attack monsters and their sympathizers.” She said.
“Well, Freezenburg was one of the last towns they hit before the Church got involved. When I was a kid, there was this mad priest who would rant and rave about how our souls would be sentenced to damnation for consorting with monsters. No one paid him any mind until he somehow got into contact with those same terrorists that were attacking other towns.” A dark look came over Kai’s face. “When we turned thirteen, members of Ilias Kruez attacked Freezenburg. They set houses on fire, attacked anyone in sight. It was terrible.”
“And...what happened to your friend?” Gerda asked quietly.
“We were in the middle of the attack and we were trying to find our parents. In the chaos she ran off to find her father, while I was saved by one of the hellhound guards who drove the terrorists off and fought them. Elsa...I never saw her again after the attack.”
Kai went quiet after that, still fingering the snowflake glowing in his hand.
“She’s been on my mind a lot lately. I still wonder what she would’ve been like had the attack never happened. We didn’t even find a body.” Kai muttered.
“Well,” Gerda cleared her throat. “Maybe she...survived? You know what Mary says about dead people. If you don’t see a body-”
“Gerda, please. Even if she isn’t dead, however unlikely that is given how thorough those raiders were, I doubt she’d want to come back. At least she won’t come back to this ugly mess.” He said and pocketed the snowflake before picking up his crossbow. “Get some sleep. We’ve got a long walk tomorrow.”
Gerda frowned and slowly stood up, giving Kai a soft good night before crawling into their tent. Kai sat at the fire staring into the flames. He didn’t know why he was thinking about her now, but he was sure that he wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight.
XXXXXX
Elsa’s father was the complete opposite of her mother. Whereas her mother was the personification of a winter storm, cold and frigid, her father was like the sun, warm and bright. He always found reasons to smile, which was mostly found in his wife and daughter. He was the only one who saw his enchanting wife smile, especially in the throes of pleasure, and Elsa was the light of his life.
Elsa didn’t know much about her father’s life before he met her mother. She knew he used to live in a bigger city further out west before moving to the countryside. It was by pure chance that he met her mother while exploring the mountains for some archaeologist team, offering himself up to protector the weaker members of his group. Something clicked for her mother, who found herself drawn to this courageous man. The warmth hat she felt for Kai blossomed within her, and within a year the two were married. Within a couple of months after that, Elsa was born.
Both Elsa and her mother loved her father. He was the light of her life. He was an experienced explorer, who had traveled all across western and central Europa, gained vast knowledge about the various cultures both human and monster. He was the smartest man in the world to her and no one could argue that. He moved to Freezenburg to teach the children there, where another fact about him clashed with his personal life-he was a follower of the Order.
The Order was a point of contention in her family. Elsa was taught by her mother that they were a religion of intolerant warm-bloods who worship a false goddess. Her father said that the Order had long since changed, now they were more tolerant, helping of others, and stayed true to the ideals of the Prophet Andraste. Elsa had seen them argue back and forth on the Order’s ideals, but she largely didn’t care. She’d be careful around them, of course, but she saw that they weren’t entirely bad. Kai’s family was a member of the Order and they were fine people.
Elsa would learn the hard way that the Order had its own dark side that sometimes ran rampant like rabid animals.
“Ah!” Elsa screamed as a house exploded next to her. She hastily summoned an ice shield to block the flames and ran down the street, trying not to run into the panicking people running around her. “Kai! Kai!”
“Elsa!” Kai ran up to her and took her hand. “We need to leave. They’re burning everything to the ground and all this smoke will suffocate us!”
“But my father, I can’t find him!” She looked around but only saw houses on fire and people running around with their families trying to evacuate. All this was the work of one mage who came with the raiders who suddenly attacked the town. “Please, Kai, help me find him!”
Kai wanted to argue that they should get to safety, run to the forest and wait for help to arrive. But seeing the normally calm and reserved girl look so scared and frightened, not just for herself but also for her father, he couldn’t help but give in to her pleas. He nodded and she dragged him through the burning town towards the church where her father visited for afternoon prayer. It was the only place aside from the schoolhouse that she thought he’d be.
She was right, of course, but they also found some other people with the man there.
Elsa recognized her father, a handsome man with a clean shaven beard and short brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She didn’t recognize the other three men, one of them holding a fireball in the palm of his hand, the other clad in dirty Order priest robes. The other was a big, burly man wielding a large axe.
“Father?” Elsa squeaked out, clutching Kai’s hand tightly.
“Elsa? What are you doing here? You need to leave!” Her father yelled.
“That’s right girl, run along.” The priest said, glaring down at her with eyes that spoke of madness. “You wouldn’t want to see your father be branded a traitor to his own species.”
“How dare you talk of treachery when you spit in the face of the Order!” Elsa flinched at the tone her father used. He was rarely angry, and when he was, it was usually about the things he cared about. “You spit in the face of Andraste with your actions!”
“I’m preserving what the Order is truly about! Enforcing the will of Lady Hemera and exterminating these creatures you so willingly consort with! I’m preserving the human race, that is my divine duty. Not preaching the ramblings of a madwoman!” The priest ranted.
“Then you are no true servant of Hemera. Just someone using her name to justify killing innocent people.” Her father growled.
The priest made to retort, but was stopped by the fire mage. “Wait.” The man who wore less clothing than his two companions slowly turned his head and looked at Elsa. “His daughter...she’s one of them.”
The priest’s eyes practically bulged with rage while the taller man next to him narrowed his eyes. “S-She’s...” The priest stammered and glared at her father. “You blasphemer! You mated with those monsters and dared to stand in the house of Light?!”
“The only monsters I see stand before me. Now take your band of flea-ridden mercenaries and leave this place before the hellhounds come and rip you apart!”
“No, it is you who will be leaving. Ron, kill the girl! Make an example out of her!” He ordered, and the fire mage raised a hand at Elsa and Kai.
“No!”
Her father sprinted forward faster than any normal man should be able to at his age. Being her mother’s incubus had changed him to be stronger, faster than the average human. He closed the distance between him and the three terrorists in a heartbeat and brutally slammed his elbow into the priest’s throat, crushing his windpipe. He quickly spun around and punched the fire mage in the face, diverting his fire spell so that it missed the children.
The axe man swung his weapon at him, but her father dodged the attack and kicked him in the chest. The blow only pushed the axe man back, and the man retaliated with another swift strike that buried the axe blade into his side, right between the ribs.
“Father!” Elsa tried to run toward him, but Kai held her back.
“Worry about yourself, you little demon!” The fire mage growled and thrust his arms forward, shooting a large fire blast at the children. Elsa ran forward and summoned all the ice she could must, creating a glistening shield that evaporated as soon as the fire blast hit it, though she was untouched. Elsa, going on adrenaline at this point, weaved her hands and created another large wave of ice that encased the mage’s arms in a frozen prison. “Shit!”
The axe man kicked her father away and glared at the little ice princess. He clenched his axe, which glowed with a green aura, and he threw the magically enhanced weapon at the girl. Elsa, tired from using so much of her powers at once, gasped as the axe flew at her head faster than she could process.
A blur sped through the church and just barely past the flying axe before stopping in front of Elsa. There was a sickening crunch as the blade pierced human flesh and Elsa and Kai stared at the horrific sight in shock.
“Father!”
XXXXXX
Kai and Gerda followed the snowflake’s trail through the mountain pass, where the weather grew steadily worse. It started with a light snowfall, which steadily grew heavier the deeper they got into the mountains. Then the winds began to pick up, and the snow turned to hail. It wasn’t long before they were pushing through gale force winds with biting hail stinging their faces. Gerda forced Kai onto her back as they trudged through the blizzard that pelted them, but it got to the point where even Gerda was having a hard time seeing more than a foot in front of her.
“I can’t see where I’m going!” Gerda shouted over the rushing winds. “Are we going in the right direction?”
“We’re on the right trail, but this blizzard’s getting worse!” Kai shouted back. “I can move or else we’ll get blown away!”
“Just hanging on to me. I’ll get us there!” Gerda said, wrapping Kai’s arms around her waist tightly before pushing her hooves through the thick snow, her heavy coat thankfully keeping her lower body warm, but at this point, with how cold it was getting, even her fur might not save her this time.
‘We’re not going to make it. This has to be the ice queen’s magic!’ Kai thought, pressing his face into Gerda’s back to protect it from the hail. ‘We haven’t even made it the castle yet and we’re already about to fail!’
He felt the snowflake in his pocket started to grow warm against his shirt, which shouldn’t even be possible. Cracking his eyes open, he reached into his coat and pulled out the snowflake, which to his surprise, was actually glowing. Kai had to shut his eyes again when the snowflake’s glow intensified and even Gerda had to stop when the glow engulfed them both and blinded the pair for a moment.
Kai didn’t know how many minutes passed when his sight returned and the stars faded from his vision, but when things cleared up, Kai found himself lying on his back in the snow. He quickly sat up and looked at the snowflake, which had stopped glowing and sitting in the snow next to his hand. And not too far from him was Gerda, kneeling on the snow looking dazed and confused.
“Gerda, are you okay?” Kai stood up and walked over to her.
“What happened?” Gerda asked.
“I think this little trinket just saved us.” Kai said, holding up the snowflake. Gerda looked over his shoulder and gasped. He spun around and even he couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
Kai and Gerda, without even realizing it, were standing just a few feet away from a long, intricately made ice bridge that went across a deep gorge and connected to a massive palace made completely of ice. The castle, unobstructed by the fierce blizzard, glistened in the sun as light shined through its refracted surface. Diamond dust flittering about in the air twinkled like stars and made the once threatening place seem enchanting and beautiful. But they knew better. They had reached the ice castle, but now they had to make it to the ice queen in one piece.
“Gerda, I want you to stay here and rest up.” Kai said.
“I’m not leaving you to go alone in there. That’s suicide!” Gerda said strongly.
“But Gerda...”
“Don’t! We made it this far together, we can see it through to the end.” She said. She knew he was just looking out for her, as carrying both him and their packs was hard enough on her usually plentiful energy reserves, but she didn’t feel right letting him walk into danger alone.
Kai sighed and held out his hand, which she took and allowed him to help her to her feet. “Okay, but if things get hairy, you run as fast as you can. You’re faster than I am in the snow, so you have a better chance of escaping...”
Kai’s voice trailed off into a whimper upon seeing a dozen blue skinned women standing in front of the bridge. A group of glacies, who were probably guarding the castle under the cover of the blizzard, and had just now taken notice of the unannounced intruders. They all wielded spears and shields made of ice, and looked at them with frozen glares that made Kai and Gerda freeze on the spot lest they be impaled on their weapons. The leader of the group, who was taller and more voluptuous than her sisters, stepped forward to address them.
“Come with us, intruders. Our queen would like to speak to you.” She said, motioning towards the bridge. “If you’ll come with us...”
“How did you know we were here?” Kai asked.
The smile the glacie gave him was enough to freeze a glacier ten times over. “Nothing happens in these mountains without our queen knowing of it.”
The palace was even more beautiful on the inside. It was like a mix of natural ice formations and perfectly crafted architecture, all done with some very powerful ice magic. Kai and Gerda marveled at the halls as they were escorted by the glacies to the throne room, but they remained firmly fixed on their mission.
‘Ice queens aren’t known for being warm or caring of other people, humans or monsters. At best I can just hope to negotiate with her. At worst...’ Kai frowned. ‘At worst we’re eight killed on the spot. Hopefully we’re just thrown back out into the snow.’
Kai held Gerda’s hand to keep her calm as they walked through the quiet halls. No one said a thing, mostly because the glacies weren’t interested in conversing with their prisoners or each other. Soon they reached the large doors to the throne room, where the leader pushed them open to gain entry.
“My queen, we’ve apprehended the intruders. Here they are.”
Kai and Gerda were herded into the large throne room, which looked like one large mirror reflecting light off each other. At the center of the room was a tall throne sitting atop a pillar of ice standing two feet tall. Their gaze immediately turned to the person sitting on the throne, still and quiet like a statue.
The ice queen.
XXXXXX
Elsa couldn’t remember what happened after her father was killed right before her eyes. She didn’t remember brutally slaughtering the bandits and the Ilias Kreuz murderers. She didn’t remember her powers exploding outward to create a giant pillar of ice that destroyed the burning church and nearly killed Kai. All she remembered was waking up in the middle of the forest, surrounded by her mother’s glacie servants, her little arms wrapped around her dead father.
Elsa had always seen her mother as the unshakeable force of nature, but when she laid eyes upon her father, the woman cried frozen tears, sobbing openly as she knelt over her dead lover. Elsa hugged her mother tightly, giving her support, for she knew that if her mother showed emotion so openly before her subjects, then she was truly heartbroken.
Her mother froze her father’s body and buried him deep below the castle, in a beautiful chamber where her grandparents, great-grandparents, and great, great-grandparents were buried from generations past. Even after the funeral Elsa still grieved, and what’s more was that she still felt that simmering anger towards those men who attacked Freezenburg. They claimed to preach the word of Hemera for the betterment of humanity, but all they did was murder man and monster alike for not adhering to their views.
The Order was a bunch of hypocrites who couldn’t be satisfied with the way the world was now. Elsa wondered how many monster girls like her were orphaned by their callousness. How many girls like her were forced to watch their mothers cry uncontrollably, or even watched their mothers die in front of them? As Elsa asked herself these questions, her anger escalated from a burning rage to a cool anger that froze her heart. The fact that this happened all too often in the countryside was a crime in it of itself, and she will not stand for it any longer.
If the Order was unable to reign their people in, to keep atrocities like this from happening, then she will do it herself. No more girls like her will suffer anymore, and no more fathers will lose their wives and daughters to these animals.
Elsa never came back to Freezenburg after that night, and her thoughts of Kai were slowly buried underneath thoughts of revenge.
XXXXXX
The ice queen was inhumanly beautiful. Like the glacies, she had pale blue skin and long white hair tied behind her head in a long braid. Her dress was a deep indigo blue and hugged her shapely form, with a deep neckline that showed off her ample cleavage. Her eyes were like crystal clear reflecting pools, and on her head was a white icy crown with sapphires embedded in it. Her expression was cool as she looked upon Kai and Gerda, although her eyes were more focused on Kai.
“So these are the intruders who risked their lives to venture so deep into my territory. Such foolishness is expected from one of those moronic hellhounds, not a simple human and a white horn.” The ice queen’s voice was soft yet strong, as if on the verge of turning menacing if need be. She looked at the glacies and waved them away. “Leave us. This might take a while.”
The glacies bowed and in a flurry of snowflakes, they vanished, leaving Kai and Gerda alone with the ice queen.
The silence that followed was tense. Kai and Gerda didn’t speak in fear of angering the ice queen, but the monster didn’t say anything to start the conversation. She just sat there watching them like an artisan studying his crafts with an intuitive eye. Mustering up her courage, Gerda took a step forward.
“Um, your majesty, my name is Gerda and this is Kai. We came to ask why you are attacking our town...”
“Silence.”
The command made Gerda freeze on the spot. Not literally of course, but it wasn’t too far behind the real thing. Kai swallowed hard as those cold ice blue eyes remained on him and he wondered what she was thinking about. After a few minutes of silence, the ice queen finally spoke to them.
“You don’t remember, do you?”
The question was directed at Kai, who had no idea what she was talking about. “I...excuse me?”
The ice queen smiled, but it was a humorless smile, as if she were expecting something bad to happen. “Of course...it’s been, I say about nine or ten years since I left that town.” She said wistfully. “It’d be too much to ask for to have you remember me.”
“Wait, what are you talking about? I just met you.” Kai said, getting agitated. “We came here to ask you to stop attacking our town. We know you’re sending glacies to attack settlements all over the mountain range.”
“I’m not attacking towns, boy, just the churches. I’m doing the world a favor by eliminating those effigies to that false goddess.” She replied, leaning her chin on her hand.
“Why? The Order hasn’t don’t anything to you. They’ve lived peacefully with monsters in this region for years!” Gerda exclaimed.
“I told you to silence yourself.” The ice queen glared down at Gerda, who shrank from her glare. “I’ve only attacked the churches of that abysmal goddess, and no civilians have been hurt in my raids. If your Order priests and servants are so angry about my attacks, then why are they not here? Why do they not come face me themselves?”
“Because most of them know that you’ll kill them the minute they step foot into your lands.” Kai growled. “And not only did you attack our church, but your blizzards are seriously harming the people of Freezenburg. It’s the middle of spring and we can’t even sell our food without getting snowed in for a week! We came here to respectfully ask that you stop or we’ll resort to use force to drive you from this land to carry out your vendetta elsewhere.”
The ice queen crossed her legs and laced her fingers together as she looked at the young man who dared to speak out against her. She didn’t seem angry, only...disappointed somehow.
“Ten years ago, Freezenburg was attacked by a rogue Order priest who conspired with a group of bandits from Ilias Kreuz. They attacked the townspeople, set fire to their homes, hunted down the monsters like dogs. And in one lone church, under the careless gaze of Hemera, a girl watched her father get cut down trying to protect her. All because she was a monster.”
The temperature had lowered drastically in the room, but for Kai it was more of his heart dropping into his stomach at the realization. He remembered that night, he still had nightmares from it. The screams of his best friend as her father fell to the ground. The explosion of magic that nearly froze him solid afterwards and left him unconscious.
“Elsa?”
XXXXXX
As Elsa reached her teenage years, her mother had passed on with the knowledge that she was strong enough to take care of herself. Without her husband, life seemed colder than the outer reaches of the world, and it got harder the older Elsa got. Once Elsa had become the woman she was meant to be, her mother relinquished her crown and froze herself, resting beside her father down in the tomb.
When Elsa took her mother’s position, she wasted no time in wreaking vengeance upon the Order. Their careless intolerance had caused too much pain to be left alone, and it was time they learned that she wasn’t going to let their crimes go unpunished. Together with her glacies and their husbands, they scoured the land, wiping out any and all Ilias Kreuz cells in Kaldheim. It wasn’t hard to find them, everything the ice touches belonged to her, and thus there was nowhere to hide. Elsa herself had commanded the raids on the Order churches scattered throughout the frozen north, attacking and destroying any sign of worship towards the goddess of light.
Just thinking about it sent Elsa into a cool rage and caused blizzards to suddenly appear across the lands close to the mountains. She thought of the priests who gave into the Ilias Kreuz so easily and killed using the name of their goddess to justify their actions. Well, it wasn’t going to happen in Kaldheim. The mountains from Freezenburg to the borders of Aslava belonged to her, and she will not allow the slaves of the goddess to cause pain anymore.
But as she purged the frozen north of the Order’s religious sites, Elsa would still take the time to look down upon her former form of Freezenburg. Things had started looking up for the little town that was not so little anymore. It had grown a bit over the years, and they rebuilt that damn church. But every once in a while Elsa would send a little snowflake to check up on one of the townspeople. A boy who had grown into a man. Kai.
XXXXXX
“Elsa?” Kai couldn’t believe his eyes. That quiet, refined little girl he had befriended as a child had grown into a woman...a cold, powerful woman. “How...where have you been? Where did you go after that night? I was looking for you!”
“Grieving the death of my father, and then planning the destruction of the bastards who killed him. I know why you’re here, Kai, and no, I’m not going to stop attacking the churches. I’m not going to stop until those people learn that we’re not going to take any more violence from their leftovers who roam the countryside like the animals they are.” Elsa stood up from her throne and glared down at him. “You were there, Kai. You know the damage that they caused. I’ve spent eight years using every bit of my resources and power to hunt down and eliminate any trace of Ilias Kreuz, and my efforts have made Kaldheim a safer place for everybody!”
“But that’s no reason to attack the churches! Not everyone in the Order hates monsters, Elsa. You’re just putting everyone in danger.” Kai protested.
“No more danger than the Order does leaving their rogues to run around torching everything in sight! I’m doing Kaldheim a favor by bringing Hemera’s slaves to justice, so don’t tell me about danger!” Elsa yelled, small ice crystals forming along the surface of her bare skin.
“All we’re asking you to do is stop attacking the people in our town. You’re causing us nothing but trouble and we haven’t done anything to you.” Gerda said, losing her temper, which was a first. “Please, just stop this-”
“DO NOT TELL ME TO STOP!”
Elsa’s face morphed into a snarl as ice crystals grew from her skin like spikes. She shot forward and landed on the floor in front of the pair, waving a hand and encasing Gerda in ice from the shoulders down. Acting quickly, Kai unsheathed his axe (which remained hidden in his pack, thank the gods) and lunged at Elsa, slamming into her and they both crashed to the floor.
“Kai!” Gerda screamed.
Kai and Elsa rolled across the floor struggling to gain dominance over each other. They grappled and pushed at each other, and Kai tried to ignore the stinging cold coming from Elsa’s arms as he pinned her to the floor with his axe. The ice queen snarled and froze the shaft of the axe before snapping in half and kicking Kai in the chest. He crashed to the floor at the foot of the throne and Elsa was on him in a heartbeat, her fingers turned into icy claws and her eyes now a pale blue like a raging blizzard.
“My father was a dedicated member of your so-called Order and he was killed by people worshipping the very same goddess! You don’t know what it’s like to lose a father like that! You don’t know what it’s like to see your mother slowly wither away into a shadow of herself! You don’t know what it’s like to cry yourself to sleep every time you think of how everything is slowly slipping away from you!” Elsa roared, grabbing his coat and slamming him into the floor multiple times. “You don’t know what it’s like to lose someone you love!”
“I do.” Kai grunted.
“No you don’t!” She shouted.
“I do!” He shouted back. “Because that’s what I felt when I lost you!”
Elsa froze, her eyes widening at his declaration. Seeing his chance, Kai jumped up and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss and held her close. Elsa didn’t struggle. She just sat there slowly relishing the kiss as her body warmed up to an almost uncomfortable degree. The ice on her skin melted into water, as did Gerda’s icy prison. After a minute Kai ended the kiss and pulled back to look into Elsa’s eyes, which were now glistening with unshed tears.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that all alone. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed a friend. I know you’re hurting and that you’re carrying a lot of pain right now, but I promise you that you will feel better. But only if you let go of that pain.” Kai said. “Please, Elsa, don’t run yourself into an early grave on a path of vengeance. I’m sure your father wouldn’t want you to waste your life for his sake when he would want you to live yours to the fullest.”
Elsa wanted to yell at him, wanted to say that it wasn’t a waste. She wanted to tell him that she was truly making this land a better place by purging it of the Order’s influence, but she couldn’t bring herself to say the words. She knew he was right; her father was a loving, caring man who would be weeping in his grave if he saw how far Elsa had fallen. He never condoned vengeance or violence in response to violence, even though he knew that some people had no other choice.
“What...what am I supposed to do?” Elsa whispered. “I can’t let this go...I won’t. Those bastards have caused me so much pain and I just want them to suffer for it!”
“I know it’s hard, but you’re not going to go through this alone.” Kai said, hugging her now warm body close. With her heart warming with the love she once felt for him as a child, Elsa found that her powers were dwindling. “I want to help you, but only if you’ll let me. Please, Elsa, I don’t want to lose you just like you lost your own family.”
Elsa stared at him for a long time before the tears that were swimming in her eyes finally broke free and she began to cry. It was a soft, tired cry that still sounded loud in the vast throne room of her palace, and she buried her face in Kai’s jacket as she sobbed.
XXXXXX
When things settled down, lots of things changed. Kai elected to stay with Elsa in her palace while Gerda returned to Freezenburg to tell everyone the semi-good news. Their goodbye was teary, at least on Gerda’s end, but Kai assured her that they will see each other again, but not for a while. Right now, he had a friend to save, and he wasn’t going to stop now that he had her back.
Elsa, in the state she was in now, was in no condition to continue ordering attacks on the Order’s settlements, and Kai wanted it to stay that way. Elsa shouldn’t hold on to such hatred for so long, and Kai would do whatever it took to ensure that she let go of her hatred. Elsa herself barely said anything to him after Gerda left, but whenever he held her hand, she would hold it back, as if wordlessly seeking his support.
It took months before Elsa truly opened up to him again. It started with small conversations that changed into long talks about what they did over the years. Kai slowly began to warm Elsa’s heart and pieces of that girl who would do magic tricks for him as a child began to break free. He knew that she could never be that girl again after all that’s happened, but at the very least he could ensure that she won’t drive herself into her own grave attacking anyone who worshipped Hemera.
Even though the relationship between Freezenburg and Elsa’s ice kingdom were slowly thawing out, stories would be told of the snow queen who tried to bury all of Kaldheim in ice in vengeance of a sin committed against her. The story of the queen with a frozen heart that was only thawed by the warmth of her true love.
Kai wasn’t fond of stories being made of his lover’s arduous life, but at least Elsa wouldn’t be remembered as some cruel ice demon living in the mountains. He could’ve gone without their daughter wanting to hear the story every night before bed, but what can you do? Dealing with an ice queen, even a little ice princess, was like trying to control a blizzard.
