Frozen Heart
It wasn't the cold that led him to collapse into the icy cold snow, nor was it the encroaching blizzard with its icy cold winds whipping ice crystals into his face. No, it was that crushing feeling of loss, of hopelessness that had overwhelmed him as Julia's magic faded and the realization of what had occurred struck him like a blacksmith's hammer upon his anvil. As his two children sniffled and shivered in the cold, still somewhat unaware of the grisly fate that had befallen their mother, Ardan shook inside his armor.

"Damn it! Damn it all!" he cursed, cursing not only the Stormguard who had destroyed the part of his life that represented peace, but his own powerlessness, his own cowardice to turn and run. As his fists slammed the icy ground, tears streamed down his face, an icy reminder to his sorrows and loss.

"Daddy? What's happening?" Celeste peeked out from behind his greaves.

"Is mommy all right? Where is she?" Celeste's voice grew increasingly quivery as she continued to ply Ardan for information about her mother.

"Shh Celeste, Mommy's just fine, she's just stayed behind to take care of some things." Ardan mustered the courage to face his young daughter. He couldn't very well tell her her mother had just met her end.

"Daddy, its cold." Celeste, satisfied with the answer, now began to whimper.

"Shh Celeste, come here, come to Daddy and your brother." Ardan wrapped Celeste and Vox back into his arms as he walked to a somewhat sheltered overhang. He hugged them tight, knowing that these two were his sole reason for living now, the only stars left in his blackened, dark sky.

Then came the blast.

Just like the blast that had ended up with his wife slain, Ardan once again felt the tremors through his armor as it locked up. But this time it was different. There was a blinding flash as the ground pulsated and was torn asunder in a burst of light. Ardan was launched into the air, unable to move or utter a sound. He landed a ways from the overhang, in a snowdrift, armor buzzing and with the only the soft patter of snowflakes falling around him. As his ears stopped ringing, he was greeted with two piercing screams, screams that were all too familiar to him.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Ardan roared as his eyes cleared and focused upon the shattered ground, blackened and smoking from the blast. These newly healed eyes were greeted with a sight of horrific proportions.

Vox and Celeste, thrown from the arms of their father in the blast, laid prone under the overhang, covered in soot and weakly attempting to move. As Vox screamed in pain as he clutched the broken and blackened stump of his left arm, his sister weakly tried to slide herself forward, reaching out a hand to grab her brother and bring him close. As she did, her eyes met with her father, broken, smoking and sparking some distance away.

"Daddy….help me….it hurts" she cried weakly, extending her other arm towards her father in a hope of relief, of solace from this world that had suddenly been upended upon her and torn apart in a flash of light.

"Celeste, honey, don't move, don't make it-" Ardan roared in pain as a cold sliver of metal entered his back, sliding between his ribs.

"You think you got away, you foolish man?" Catherine growled as her injured form came into focus.

"No, there is no escape from us, for we will find you wherever you go." Catherine twisted the blade, causing Ardan to roar louder as pain shot through his body, shaking him to his very core.

"And now, I will make you pay" Catherine whispered into Ardan's ear as he struggled in the snow, staining it red with his lifeblood.

"There is nothing more you can do to hurt me" Ardan spat through his teeth, as drops of blood flew from his mouth and landed on Catherine's cheek.

"Oh, yes, there is certainly not anything I can do to hurt you physically."Catherine smiled darkly, "But it is a strange thing, a parent's love for their children."

Ardan's blood ran cold as he realized what Catherine meant, as she looked upon the bodies of his two children, the limp form of Vox, unconscious from the pain, and the weakly resisting Celeste, burnt and bruised from the blast.

"N-No, p-please, don't do this, DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE!" Ardan cried out in anguish as he futilely struggled to break free, to protect his two children, the only remainders of what had been. But that struggle was in vain, as he roared in agony as the steel between his ribs twisted and turned, burning white hot as a branding iron.

Catherine signaled to the archer to do the deed, as she smiled down upon her conquered enemy, now helplessly lying in the snow, tears streaming down his cheeks, unable to prevent the inevitable.

As the archer took position over the limp forms of the children, Celeste once again met her father's eyes. She reached out a small hand toward him as her eyes filled with tears at the sight of her father, helpless to prevent anything that was to occur.

"Daddy….please…" she whispered as the bowstring was drawn taut, ready to be loosed on Catherine's command.

"Do it." Catherine waved her hand, looking back down at her prey, wanting to relish the sight of the last vestiges of hope vanish from his face, and his very mind break from the occurrence.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ardan roared, as loud as he could as his very vocal cords tore from his cries.

A flash of light, a sound of wind, a twang of string.

As Ardan beheld the sight before him, as the last parts of his life were seized and dragged away from him, kicking and screaming, something snapped, something deep inside, as his eyes lost their luster, and his struggles faded.

"And now, you may die." Catherine whispered into his ear as she plunged the blade deep, lodging just underneath his heart. She withdrew the cold steel, wet with his blood and cleaned it in the snow next to the two pierced forms, no longer moving, no longer making a sound.

As Catherine and the archer withdrew, Ardan made not a sound, nor did he move in the slightest. His eyes and his form remained locked onto what had just occurred, as his very being crumbled into the void, overwhelmed by loss and the sheer sorrow that rolled over him, drowning his soul in a whirlpool of black despair.

"C-Celeste? Are you there?" Ardan asked the hopeless question, knowing the answer.

"H-Hey…a-answer your father. Celeste? Celeste?!" The form remained silent, unmoving, cold like the night.

Ardan could bear no more, it had been too much of a burden for him. As his armor shut down, his vision blurred, and his heartbeat slowed, he could only look upon those two pierced forms, sending a silent prayer up to the stars that the gods would watch over his wife and children.

"I'm sorry Julia….I'm sorry I failed you, failed us, failed our children….but I'll be with you and the children soon, and then….maybe…maybe we can make things right."

As snow covered his dying form, he could only look upon the cooling bodies of his children, wishing things hadn't been this way, wishing that he could have saved them and his wife to live another day. He again cursed the Stormguard for taking all of what had been dear to him, but as his vision finally faded to black, he thanked them, thanked them for not sparing his life to live in this dark, cold world, knowing…deep inside….

It was better this way.

Fin