Chapter 13: Frost of the Silver Lake

CHAPTER 13

Pocketing Obby Lan’s whistle, I walked over to the other passengers, hoping to dwindle their anxieties with a soft word and a smile. I felt that such a gesture might be needed after the encounter. The children shivered in fear at first but fell asleep soon afterward. I somewhat envied their ability to spurn negative experiences so quickly and still give in to sleep. There would be no sleep for me tonight, I could feel it.

As soon as the first rays of sun could be seen in the distance, I approached the driver who had just woken up.

“Is the carriage good to go?” I asked the driver.

“Y-yes.” He nodded.

“Let’s get going then, I don’t think the road can be much more dangerous than this place.”

The driver accepted my suggestion and after helping the mother place her sleeping children into the carriage, we continued on our way. The driver was understandably cautious which caused him to move at a slower pace but I didn’t feel in much of a rush so I didn’t mind.

Along the way we watched the sunrise, I saw rays of light piercing the indigo sky, the sparkle of the stars slowly fizzling out heralding the start of a new day. It was too surreal for me, first sunrise in the new world, only one day in this world and I had already been face to face with death at least half a dozen times.

The arrival of the new day humbled me somehow, the sun taking up its throne, the permanence of it all, I felt so small in its wake. I recalled the past day, my arrogance, my pride as I fought creatures that I had previously only dreamt about. I covered my smile with my hand, it was a jest only meant for myself.

Let’s try to be more humble, smarter, let’s not jump into danger too fast as tempting as it may seem, I said to myself.

I turned to look into the carriage, the somber faces of everyone inside stood out but they also held a sort of irreverence, a stark rebuttal of death. They had been in a situation where their life was at risk and they had emerged victorious. I wish to see more of that expression, it inspired me greatly.

In the early morning hours right when I started to doze off, the carriage came to a halt.

“This is your stop sir.” the driver turned to me.

“Is it?” I questioned.

“Indeed, though you still have some way to go. Just follow this path over yonder and you will reach Tobermory village in an hour or two.”

“Great, I will be on my way then.”

I stepped off the carriage and bid farewell to the rest of the passengers. When I offered my payment to the driver he refused it, insisting that I had already paid my due when I put my life on the line for them. I was very accepting of the prospect of having more coins in my pocket so I did not feel the need to protest.

I continued down the narrow path, absorbing the scenery once more with a light morning breeze as my only companion on the road. I had so much to wonder about in this new world, what manners of creatures and races existed here, how large was this world compared to Earth, where was this place exactly, but I somehow felt that learning all at once would spoil the fun, I wanted to let the mystery unravel bit by bit.

Stepping further into the forest I still didn’t see any houses or anything that would indicate the village was close, at some point I felt the air becoming somewhat colder as steam flew from my mouth. I rubbed my hands together to keep myself warm and began to look around. Off to the left I saw a green bush, halfway covered in white frost, it stuck out from the rest of the green scenery like a sore thumb.

I approached the bush and hiding inside it I discovered a young boy, holding his face inside his palms and weeping.

“Hello there,” I said gently so as not to scare him.

My attempt was a failure.

He looked up at me, eyes wide in shock, he immediately retreated further back, holding out his hands defensively.

“Hey, don’t be afraid, I won’t harm you.” I continued. “Are you all right?”

“You are not from my village.” he said through tears.

“No, I am not, I am just a traveler. What are you doing here?”

“Hiding,”

“Yes, I can see that much, who are you hiding from?”

“My sister…”

“Why do you need to hide from her? Did she hurt you?”

“No, but…but I don’t want to hurt her.”

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“Why would you hurt your sister, you love her don’t you?”

“I do but I have this…you wouldn’t get it.” He said turning away from me.

“Try me…” I told him.

“Recently I have started developing this ability.”

He explained as he pinched the tip of a plant between his fingers. His dark hair became almost gray, his eyes went white as a blanket of frost enveloped the plant rapidly. I looked at his power with a dose of shock, regardless of the fact that I had performed a few extraordinary feats myself; I was still in awe at the presence of magic.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” I asked, coming closer and touching the recently frosted flower.

[Ability identified. The object has been affected by the ability “Frost of the Silver Lake”]

“I didn’t learn it, it just happened. I don’t want to hurt anybody…” the boy began to sob again.

“I just met you and I can already tell you are a good kid, you won’t hurt anybody. This power you have can be a beautiful thing that can help others, you just need to know how to control it.” I said to the boy.

He shook his head as the atmosphere grew colder. I noticed that the frost was approaching low levels that could not be ignored.

“No,” he protested, “only children marked by evil can do things like this. This is a curse.”

I wondered if this was a belief preached by people in this area or if the boy was simply coming up with this as a way to torture himself from the guilt he was feeling.

“Look at me, what is your name?” I said.

“Bran,” he muttered.

“Nice to meet you Bran, my name is Oren.” I extended my hand towards him.

He looked at my hand and shook his head again.

“Right,” I huffed and pulled back my hand, “are you from Tobermory village? I am headed that way as well, do you want to go back together?”

Before he could answer, another voice was heard from some distance.

“Bran! Where are you?” A girl’s voice echoed through the woods.

Bran’s eyes widened at the sound. He looked as if he wanted to get up and answer at once but ended up doing neither.

“Is that your sister?” I asked.

Bran nodded.

“Is it alright if we tell her we are here, she must be worried about you?”

Bran didn’t answer but I decided to take that as agreement.

“Over here,” I shouted.

A young girl, slightly older than Bran, emerged behind one of the tall trees. She seemed stressed out and looked as if she was also crying not too long ago. She looked at me with eyes full of fear one might have when looking upon a stranger but then she noticed her brother next to me and slight relief appeared on her face.

She ran over to him and hugged him.

“Oh Bran, I was so worried about you!” she cried.

Bran did not hug his sister back, out of fear of his ability I was sure but nonetheless the happiness was plain in his eyes.

I felt strange looking at this sight, not only because I felt out of place but because the stark humanity of the two siblings created notes of sympathy I struggled to reckon with. I still found myself at odds with the fact that I was in another world, that these siblings were a pair of living creatures that have never and will never exist in the world I grew up in and yet they were real, their stories were real, their problems, as fantastical as they were, had been real.

“Who is this man?” I heard the sister speak to Bran.

“Don’t know…” he said.

“Oh I am just a traveler, actually to be more specific I am an adventurer, I accepted a quest regarding Tobermory village and came to explore the recent emergence of frogs and ravens.” I answered honestly.

At this, the siblings gave each other a brief look that I could not figure out.

“We are from Tobermory,” the sister said, “the quest was probably put in by the village alderman. We can take you to him if you want.”

“That would be wonderful.” I smiled.

“Come on Bran, let’s go. You don’t have to give me your hand if you don’t want to, you can just walk next to me, okay?”

Bran wiped his tears and nodded.

When the sister walked by me her eyes lingered on me for a moment. She had a look on her face residing somewhere between fear and confusion. This time it didn’t seem like it was a simple fear of a stranger, but something more, some deeper question she had about me that seemed to unsettle her.

“Come on,” she said.

We walked through the forest and even though it was the most inopportune time for it, watching the two siblings care for each other reminded me of my own wish for a little sibling, a younger brother or a sister, that I’ve had my whole life. Perhaps if things had gone differently between my parents years ago, I would have gotten my wish.

“Do you like your village?” I asked the sister who told me that her name was Moirah.

“It is awful,” she said, “small and boring and suffocating. I will get out of there as soon as I get the chance.”

“And I will take Bran with me of course,” she added, turning towards her little brother who smiled at her words.

“Where would you like to go?” I asked.

“Nueva Sanctum maybe, a bard came by our village not too long ago and sang a song about the majesty of the city. The city square is filled with large blocks held aloft by magic. You can buy one of the blocks and live there.”

“And the city is surrounded by large armored automatons that will activate and go into battle if the city is ever under a threat.” Bran chimed in from behind.

“See, he wants to go as well.” Moirah laughed at her brother’s words. “Have you ever been there?” she asked me.

“No, but listening to you guys, now I have to pay this city a visit.”

It was true. If there truly was such a city in this world, I would do anything to see it up close. Of course there was a chance that what they were saying was simply the product of a bard’s and a child’s imagination combined, but at this point anything seemed possible to me.

“Do you know anything about all the frogs and the ravens in your village that I was sent to investigate?” I asked.

“It’s all nonsense,” Moirah said almost instantly. “The adults of the village are just doing all of this to make it seem as if they are being useful.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

“We should probably tell him.” Bran said, noticing the hesitation in his sister.

“For the past couple of months many children in our village have started developing magical abilities and until now, almost every one of them has gone missing.” Moirah explained.