The Legend of Winter
By
John Garrison
10 Years Ago:
"Nathan!
Nathan Strife!
The time has finally come!
The passage has finally been breached!
I will go ahead!"
I looked over the side of the boat as a large muscular man in a black jacket with gold trimming and a triangular hat walked across the dark blue stone of the water temple through an arch which lead down deep into the labyrinth we had been working on for the last 10 years, that may seem like a long time, but the treasure we were looking for could give you eternity.
The Dorvan Orb.
A tool made by the sages of the Lost World.
Or rather the world below us.
A long time ago the world wasn't like how it is now.
There were entire continents of dry land, at least two-thirds of the world was dry land.
However something bad happened, something very bad.
The Great Sages of the Lost World unraveled the laws of time and matter and bestowed powers into orbs, those orbs were able to defy certain laws of physics.
Thus the owners of these orbs had god like powers.
They used these orbs and modified themselves and their soldiers.
Those modified were granted elemental powers of chakra which let them control a certain type of element such as fire, water, or wind in my case.
The Great War of 4683 commenced when Rager William of the Rock Orb attacked Sariah Nihun of the wind Orb.
This engagement had lead to many more joining until the whole world was in chaos.
The world was on the verge of destruction from the raw power unleashed.
History is very unclear about what exactly happens next due to the destruction of records when the flooding happened, however there have been some theories as to how the world flooded leaving only lots of islands which were what had once been mountains.
One theory of which I believe, is that the Great Sages decided to stop the war by taking the most powerful of the water orbs, the Cleritan Orb, and combined it with a Multiplication Orb, the combination of orbs would cause both to release all the power stored in them at once breaking in the process, but the sheer volume of water that could be created flooded the world to how it is now.
However this has been doubted due to no records of fusing Orbs together has ever been found, along with the power required to overcome the binds of the orbs to allow for such an event would be astronomical.
The Sages then took all the orbs and using the orbs created labyrinths to keep the orbs from humanity so history would not repeat itself.
After doing these things they then disappeared from the world and were never heard of again.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts, plenty of time to think when we finish this.
I jump the three stories off the boat to the stone ground landing lightly using my wind chakra.
As I walk towards the arch which that man had previously walked through, I draw my dual carbon swords and rest them on my shoulders.
I think to myself that this is going to be a memorable day as I feel a massive tremor and hear the faint noise of a roar.
I smile and pick up my speed, can't let the captain have all the fun.
Chapter 1:
My name is Winter Strife; I am 14 and I live on Crylic Cove, a small island in the Northern Isles.
I may not be very bulky, but I am very strong for my size.
I am wearing my favorite dark blue surf shorts, and an emerald green swim shirt.
I have dark brown hair, with a silver stripe through the left side of my hair which I inherited from my father.
And I have dark green eyes that I inherited from my mother.
Not that I have gotten to know either of my parents, this is just what everyone that knew my parents say.
From what I was told as a child, my parents arrived on the island when I was a baby.
They bought a home where I am currently living.
They never told anyone about why they moved here, just that they were happy to be here.
Then two years later, during a shopping trip to Bralic, my parents, along with others, were attacked by pirates and no one on the boat were seen again.
Luckily Ben Styller, a jolly old guy, decided to take me in as his son and I lived with him until I was 12.
When I turned 12 the mayor of Crylic Cove decided I was old enough to have my parents' house to do whatever I wanted with it, whether I wanted to sell it or live in it.
I decided to move out of Ben's house when I was 13, and I will be forever thankful for all he has done for me.
I still hang out at his house when I have some free time.
He is also my boss; he owns the grocery store Styller Outlet.
My parents' house, well my house now, is two stories tall on the coast.
In the six years I have had it, I have cleared most of the rooms of the stuff that was in them before and replaced the stuff with things I use, like a metal and wood working area, a weightlifting room, and a library to study in.
The library was the only room I never touched, my parents love books and had many of them.
The majority of them were about boats, currents, the ocean, racing boats, and lots of marine biology books.
A couple of the rooms are just used for storage for wood, metal, or other materials or things I plan to make stuff with.
I had saved up the 2 years of my money to buy this white J15 racing boat. I may have tinkered with it on my free time.
Today was a warm windy day with a slight cloud cover.
In my boat I tighten the mainsheet and adjust the tiller slightly to the port to head upwind in a close reach.
The wind is tilting the ship off to the starboard so I put my feet into the hiking straps and I lean back over the port side of the boat.
I enjoy listening to the wind as I fly across the water in my boat.
I am heading to my favorite fishing spot at the base of the drop off on the northern part of the island where the orchards and fields are.
I bet the twins Ron and Katie are still working getting the last of the fruit off the trees before Autumn.
I approach the base of the cliff and it doesn't look like they are over on this side of the orchard.
I turn the tiller to the starboard to put me in Irons.
I lower my sail and I pull out my ol' hook line n' sinker and threaded some bait.
I cast the line and put the pole in a special slot in the side of the boat and I put a little bell on the end to let me know when something bites.
I slid down to the bottom of the boat and waited for the tinkling of the bell signaling a bite.
I tilt my head back and gaze up at the blue sky, I trace some of the clouds as they float by.
I sigh happily and close my eyes and soon fall asleep.
"Wake up sleepy head. I thought I might find you here."
Lynn is the most beautiful girl in the Northern Isles, but she doesn't believe it, and she doesn't like compliments, she says they aren't true.
She is 13 with long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes.
She has fair white skin and a cute little nose, she was wearing a navy blue one piece swimsuit.
"Am I getting that predictable?" I asked.
Lynn replied, "Well when you aren't hanging with me when I should be working, you are out sailing in your new boat you keep bragging about.
So I swam out to say hello when I got off work."
With a smile I say, "I noticed you swam, your wet and you're getting me wet too."
I pulled on the tiller bringing the boat out of Irons into a Close Reach tilting the boat sharply making Lynn fall off my boat back into the water.
I swing the boat around and stall it in Irons and she surfaces and starts laughing and splashing me.
So naturally I splash back.
A couple minutes later we are sitting in the boat smiling, laughing and soaked, well she was already soaked from swimming but now I am too. "You two done splashing in the water?
Katie and I could use some help getting the last of the fruit off the trees." Yelled Ron from the top of the ridge.
"Sorry we would love too, but we are busy today hanging!"
"Wait, but come help!"
Yelled Ron as I turn the tiller head down wind towards the dock.
"So, what have you been up to?
I have learned a couple cool new skills with my water chakra.
How's your training with your wind chakra coming?" Lynn asked.
(Chakra:
Chakra is a form of energy found is some people. It activates at age 16. Chakra courses through their veins and mainly is stored in their stomach. Chakra can be used by focusing it in a certain area of your body such as mouth, hands, and feet and then activating it. The chakra nature of the person defines the type of action the chakra will take when used, such as fire, water, metal, wind etc. It can be used from fighting to crafting to sensory type actions. When using your muscles, a bit of chakra is used to increase strength more than normal. Some natures increase strength, speed, or senses more.)
"Great" I replied. "Watch this."
I focused some of my chakra into my mouth and I blasted Lynn with a jet of air to dry her off, though it was only kind of helpful because she was leaning back over the edge of the boat, and it pushed her off the boat back into the water with a loud splash.
"Haha sorry!"
I performed a figure eight with the boat and drifted next to Lynn.
She swam over to the side of the boat and said, "Thanks, that was sooo helpful.
Now give me a hand getting back in the boat."
I got up and grabbed Lynn's hand and she ducked under water and pushed off against the side of my boat yanking me off the boat into the water with a splash.
I swim up to the surface and when I rub the water out of my eyes and I start treading water, Lynn swims up next to me and said with a smile, "Now we're even."
Lynn and I were hiking off on the same side of the boat to keep it from tipping as we sailed the deep blue ocean from my fishing spot back around the curve past Listol beach over to the Quartermaster dock.
The dock is a super light gray plastic alternated with metal grating with air bags underneath each section to keep it floating.
It has a giant area for the big shipping containers and smaller docks for smaller boats like my own.
As we neared the large assortment of docks and boats we lowered the sails and wrapped them up.
I pulled out a large paddle and I used the to move us forward as we moved to the docks and then as we moved around while inside the docks.
I paddled while Lynn steered us using the rudder.
We worked our way through the passages until we got to my slot.
There were two large straps under water under my slot, when we drifted into the slot and we hopped out of the boat, I went over to the lever at the front of the slot and started cranking it.
The straps were attached to a pulley which the crank pulled up.
After a couple minutes I had the boat suspended above the water and secured with ropes.
I wiped my hands together and looked at Lynn.
"Well that's taken care of."
"Yep, now lets head up to town, but first."
Lynn grabbed some shorts and a shirt she had in a cubby right next to my slot where I kept my stuff when I sailed.
She quickly put them over her swimsuit, and looked up at me.
"Okay, now I'm ready."
The path from the docks to town is concrete and about 10 feet wide for the big shipments that come in every once in awhile, that supply us with everything we can't supply ourselves.
On the sides of the path are rows of trees that provide shade in the summer when the leaves are in fully such as now.
At the base of the trees are colorful wild flowers and dark green grass.
We walked up and took a right at the school and then a left at the coffee shop and we sat down together on the chair I made with Derek the carpenter.
It was made of oak and it was well done if I may say so.
The town on Crylic Cove was a decent size.
In town there is a central circle with a water fountain and the paths around it are all cobblestoned.
There are a couple cherry trees around the town that all the songbirds love.
The blacksmith shop The Anvil is to my right with the crafting area in the back covered in a heavy canvas so you can barely hear the pounding of metal.
To its left was the ice cream store called Flash Frozen and The Herbalist was just beyond it.
The coffee shop called Mama's Cafe and the laundry area Soap Bubbles are behind me, and the carpentry shop called Fine works was directly to my left and the grocery shop Styller Outlet I worked at was left of the carpenter's shop.
If you take a left at the laundry and walk down the cobblestone path is the Billowing Sails restaurant where Lynn works as a waiter.
Sitting here I can hear the water running from the fountain with a couple song birds singing in the cherry trees around the fountain.
I can also slightly hear the pounding of metal in the blacksmith area where Brom our friend works.
"How about we get some ice cream at Flash Frozen, then we go and hang out at Cliffpoint?"
"Great idea," I answered with a smile.
We got up and headed over to the ice cream store.
The outside was painted dark blue and the inside was a light blue.
The bar with all the ice-cream was behind a curved glass covering to the right of the entrance with some purple chairs positioned around a cool blue stone table to the left.
Malisa was the owner of Flash Frozen and she was an older lady with gray hair and dark blue eyes.
She would wear blue or green dresses always.
She had ice natured chakra so to make her ice cream she would mix the ingredients in a metal bowl and would run her hand along the side with chakra freezing it instantly, thus the name of the store, Flash Frozen.
As we walked through the glass door into the store Malisa looked up from the bowl of blackberry ice cream she had just frozen and she smiled at us and said, "Well if it isn't Winter and Lynn.
What can I do for you two?"
Lynn and I walk up to the glass bar and take a look at all the different types of ice cream Malisa had made.
Malisa loved to craft new and interesting types of ice cream from all sorts of things, from coffee to liquorish to cotton candy and even fish (not one of her more popular flavors).
Today she had some regular stuff like chocolate, vanilla, blackberry, apple, and her specialty bubbly lemon lime.
She would carbonate the lemon lime ice cream ingredients when a liquid, and when flash frozen it would keep the fizziness.
"I would like to get the bubbly lemon lime ice cream please" I say.
"Make that two please." Lynn said.
Malisa grabbed two ice cream cones and scooped some of the ice cream into them, and then she handed them to us.
"Here you go, that will be 8 vics." Malisa said.
I put the small blue glass orbs on the counter. "Thank you." We call out as we turn around and leave.
We start our way up the path to Cliffpoint' from the side of town.
The path we were walking through was paved and the sides were covered with grass, trees, and some bushes covered in berries.
I could hear the tweeting of songbirds off in the distance, and I could see some seagulls flying overhead.
It was about 4 o'clock I am guessing by the way the sun is in the sky.
We had finished eating our ice cream and the cones so I plucked some berries off the bushes and I would throw them in the air and tried to catch them with my mouth.
"Show off" Lynn said as I through four up into the air and caught them all. "You know it, so how was your day working as a waiter?"
I asked Lynn. "Great, today was really busy and really easy.
No kids were throwing their food at me or anyone else or object, no one got an allergic reaction, and I didn't get yelled at for talking with you instead of working.
How was your day working with that comedian Ben, new work motives, outfit, etc.?"
"Not today but that just means he is scheming." I reply.
"You're so suspicious, I am sure he is giving you a break after what happened last time." Lynn said.
"Do you have to bring that up?
I was hoping you had forgot about that." I say.
"How could I forget something like that, when you…..." I had put my hand over her mouth and I was looking around checking if anybody had overheard.
"How about we don't bring that up… So what do you think the others are doing right now?"
I asked as I took my hand off her mouth.
"Well, Ron and Katie are done working so they are probably fishing at docks or looking for us or hanging with Brom.
Brom is probably hanging with them or doing over time at the blacksmith shop." Lynn said smartly.
"Do you have everyone's schedule memorized?
Because that is strange." "No, you just don't pay much attention to anything unless it's me, your boat, or sleeping." Lynn said.
"How do you know me so well?" I asked.
At this time, we had walked up the steep path up to Cliffpoint, we walked out of the path and it opened up to a grassy field dotted with fruit trees and a drop off that looked out across the ocean right where the sun sets makes a great place to relax.
Near the cliff was a big tree and Lynn and I walked over and I sat down and leaned against the tree looking out across the ocean and Lynn sat next to me.
"Yawn… it's really nice here, I think I'm going to take a nap." Lynn said as she stretched a bit then relaxed against the tree and closed her eyes.
"But it's only 4:30"
"Shhhh, nap time"
"Haha okay, night"
I relax a bit and think back to sailing earlier, I look up at the clear blue sky and watch the clouds float by, I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep…
"Wake up!" Katie yelled.
I woke up and reflexively brought my head straight up and bashed my head against the trunk of the tree.
Lynn just looked up at Katie and said "yes?"
Ron and Brom walked up and stood beside Katie who folded her arms and looked at us smiling.
Katie is 5 foot 8 inches with white sun bleached hair.
She seems to always be in a good mood, smiling and laughing a lot.
She has the light bronze colored skin that you get only from many hours in the sun.
Even though she works picking fruit and working in the orchards she always has had a thin build.
Ron has the same bronze skin from working with his sister, but he has ginger colored hair.
Ron unlike his sister, he had bulked up from working, he is also an inch taller, many an argument has come up and that inch was played like a trump card.
Brom is 5 foot 11 inches and is bigger and more muscularly built, he also has dark brown hair he keeps pretty short so it doesn't get burned in the metal working shop.
Katie has nature chakra so she is able to make plants grow and control them.
Ron has fire chakra so he can control fire.
Brom has earth chakra chakra, so he is insanely strong and can sculpt the ground by touching it.
Sadly though we have basically no training for our chakra because there are no teachers here.
The only training we have is what we figure out or what someone can tell us, so not much.
Ron said, "We had a feeling you two would be up here snoozing so we came to say 'hi'."
"Thanks so much, I just needed to hit my head on a tree."
"Your welcome" Katie said giggling.
Lynn and I stood up and I asked them, "So you found us and woke us up now what do you want to do?"
"I know, how about we head over and get ice cream at Flash Frozen." Katie said.
"We already did that."
Lynn replied. "We can head down to the Billowing Sails and get dinner, I am getting a bit hungry"
"We second that!" Ron and Brom proclaimed.
Lynn looked at Katie and said, "boys, they are always hungry, right?"
"Hahaha I know enough from this boy here," Lynn motioned at me after we had stood up.
"Great," I said as I rolled my eyes.
"Well let's get going guys." Katie said as she turned and started walking away and waving her arms forward summoning us.
We get to town and we are all laughing because Ron and Brom had decided to see who would be able to eat the most watermelon and were describing all of the advantages that they had that would let them win, such as Brom saying, "I'm bigger so my stomach is bigger, meaning I can eat more." Ron countered with, "Eating is not a physical competition, but a mental one. I must only believe I will beat you to be able to win."
"Yeah right, you can't even eat a half watermelon by yourself, I watched you try and fail last summer."
That didn't count! I had eaten just before hand, and anyway that was last year and I will win this year!"
"Keep telling yourself that, it might come true if both Winter and I don't compete." Said Brom.
I think you get the point, it was hilarious.
The Billowing Sails is an older restaurant with dim orange-red lights and soft brown leather seats.
A bar on the left hand was where you would order then you would take your seat at any of the couch-tables to the right.
We get into line and we order our food then we all sat together in the couch-table in the far left corner of the room.
Lynn and I sit next to each other and Brom sits in between Katie and Ron. After eating we say our goodbyes and I walk Lynn to her house before heading to my house.
The next morning I walk into the store to start setting it up.
I open the blinds, I cleaned the floor, I stack fruit, I place the wares in correct places, and I flip the CLOSED sign to OPEN.
At that moment Ben rushes through the door with a multicolored bundle of clothes in his arms and a giant grin on his face.
I sigh and say, "new work uniform?"
"You got it" Ben said with a wink.
Let's get customers here and make them laugh, but not like last time so you can relax.
Ben is an older gentleman with a sense of humor as big as his round belly (Probably because he keeps eating the food he should be selling).
He has short red hair and big laugh lines with dimples.
"Try it on" he said. "Fine, let's get this over with."
I replied with a half-smile. It was ridiculous, it was like a clown's costume with lots of different colors spread around at random.
All I am missing is the face paint and a big red nose.
"This will definitely make the customers laugh."
Ben says in between burst of laughter.
About at this moment Lynn walks in.
Starts giggling and covers her mouth, when she finally stops giggling like a little girl.
(Some time later if I may add.) She said, "What in the world are you wearing?! You look so silly!"
"Thanks, you look nice too, so what can I get for you?" I asked. "Tess my boss wants some supplies for her restaurant the Billowing Sails, here is the list."
Lynn hands me the list.
I read the list, pretty common stuff like eggs, flour, sugar, apples, oranges, etc. "We don't have any apples, go ask Ron and Katie for some." I said. "Thanks, bye," she calls out as she walks out the door smiling.
The rest of the hours of work was the same.
People came in, laughed, bought stuff, and left.
"We are shutting down now, do I have to keep wearing this ridiculous outfit tomorrow?" I ask.
"No, today was plenty worth the 4 bucks I spent on that outfit, I will give you a bonus this week for doing this." Ben said.
"Thanks," I say as we walk out and I lock the door.
The others are off work I think, they are probably at the Billowing Sail waiting for me.
The path from the store to the restaurant is straight down the center of town and a right and the blacksmith were Brom works, and then a left at the school.
I walk to the Billowing Sails and Lynn, Ron, Katie, and Brom were is sitting in a table off to the right in a corner.
"We were starting to think you might never show up, too many people laugh at you because of you costume?"
Lynn said with a smile. "What costume?" Ron asked.
"Ben was messing around again and gave me this multicolored puffy outfit." I said. I sat down at the table and looked at the menu. Ron summoned a fireball in his right hand and left hand and said, "watch this new trick I discovered." He proceeded to make a deer in his left hand then a wolf in his right hand. He then started having the wolf chase the deer all around the table and in the air.
"Wow!" Brom said, "when did you learn to control two different bodies of fire at the same time?"
"Well" Ron said, "I was messing with two action figures yesterday and I thought, why not try this with fire? And it worked!
As long as I think of it as one connected image I can do it well, but I still can't just make multiple random shapes and manipulate them."
"It's a start at least" I said.
The waiter came by with our food and we all got to work eating, with a bit of competition between Brom and Ron on how many glasses of frozen lemonade they could drink, which Brom won with ease and left Ron yelling cheater.
After we finish eating and we said goodbye for the night, Lynn and I start walking to her house through the wooded area left of town by the beach.
As we are walking past the beach on the trail, we saw a massive galley ship by the shore.
It was the size of a massive cargo ships. We stopped to look at it.
"Lynn, look at that galley boat, it looks like trouble."
"Do think they could be pirates?"
"I don't know, but look at all those cannons and that ramming bow.
This is definitely a combat ship."
We get to her house and the door is smashed to splinters. "My house!"
"We need to head to town and warn everyone. How did a pirate ship that size get past the Marines?" I said.
"We can worry about that later," Lynn said. Pirates were common in the Northern Isles, but never has there been more than a little skirmish here that our navy handled.
We turn around and just as we start running I hear I tiny hiss sound and a little metal dart hits Lynn in the neck and she immediately collapses unconscious.
I reflexively burn my wind chakra, my wind chakra when burned releases energy into my brain and muscles, speeding me up and letting my brain process the information.
In my chakra enhanced state I observe a dart in the air coming at me from the direction of the hedge and woods.
I side step the dart and in the same motion bring my right hand back and try to draw chakra into my hand, however I can't always even transfer chakra when I'm nervous. Sadly this turned out to be one of those times.
When chakra is being converted to its elemental form for whatever reason.
A couple things must happen, first the chakra must be transferred to the surface of your skin.
Second, you add your Will to it. Your Will decides what it does, what shape it takes and other attributes.
After your Will is put into it, the chakra comes through your skin, and like a program follows your Will.
This happens so fast you can hardly tell it even happened.
I stare at my hand and try to transfer the chakra to my hand but nothing is happening, then before I can do anything else I feel a sharp sting in my back and then all I see is blackness…..