The troll king made slow work of it as he trudged his way through the deep snow before stopping at the edge of the cliff. Below him the full moon lit the mining village, tucked in the foothills of the Ironspike Mountains, in a spectral glow. . He snorted in disgust.
"The Averosan are a foolish tribe," he spat, more to himself than for the benefit of his attendants. "Grosh, come here!"
A single troll broke from the band of soldiers standing in formation behind him.
"Yes, Trundle?" To call the king by his given name was reserved to only two class of trolls: fools and those few who commanded the king's respect.
"Are you sure there will be only minimal resistance?" He shifted his mace, Boneshiver, as he eyed his lieutenant.
"Yes, Sire." A smile crossed the lieutenant's face. "The Averosan expect no attack from this direction. They have left the mine unguarded."
"Good...began the assault."
Xavien's eyes had just shut when the first boulder crashed into the village. There had been a sudden rush of sound as the rock neared its target and then, after impact, a moment of complete silence, as if the village itself had taken an intake of breath. Then it let out a scream of pure terror. More boulders fell and the few inhabitants of the village rushed from their homes, trying to gather in their loved ones and find a place of safety. Xavien cursed under his breath. He knew what was happening without seeing the attackers. News of the Ice Witch's forces creeping over the land, conquering everywhere they went, had spread among the two tribes. The Averosan had tried to negotiate with the witch, but when their diplomats turned up dead, Queen Ashe and King Tryndamere had turned to the White Claw to silence her charade. So far, it had been to no avail.
The village had sent out urgent requests for protection. They were the largest mining operation the Averosan had and thus a prime target for the Frostguard. Averosan had promised troops, but they would not arrive for another month. Xavien jumped from his bed, and threw a leather jerkin over his night shirt. He pulled on his trousers and fur lined boots, and when all was laced tight, he threw open the door to the nightmare. The winter night was now illuminated by the orange glow of burning homes and punctuated by the screams of death. He rushed from his quarters and slipped through the panicked crowd, speeding down the central street until he reached his destination. A boulder had collapsed one side of his friend's home and the front door was wedged tight. The boy was a miner, well-muscled after long hours of swinging his pick and carrying loads of ore, and now fear gave him added strength. He lowered a shoulder and smashed through the door.
"Zachary! Ariana!"
Xavien prayed that they were not pinned under the rubble. After a short but frantic search, he found the sister and brother huddled in a corner, sputtering from the dust and smoke.
Ariana eyes widened from relief and new hope.
"Xavien!" She jumped into his arms and hugged him tight. "Zach is injured. He can't stand."
He made a quick survey of his friend's injury, but it seemed to be only a sprain, no broken bones. "He'll be fine. But Ariana, we need to get out of here and hide in the mine until they've gone."
"Who? Is it the Ice Witch that Zachary has been talking about?"
"Yes, her trolls are attacking the village. We need to go now. Help your brother up. I'll carry him."
By now the trolls had reached the streets and the screams of the villagers had intensified. They slid from one building to the next, avoiding the main street where the trolls were distracted by their bloody work. In five minutes time they had reached the outskirts of the village and the entrance to the mine.
Xavien led them deep into the maze of tunnels, not stopping until they had reached the newest spur that they had begun cutting just two weeks previously. He set Zachary down as gently as possible and slumped by his side, exhausted. For a long while no one spoke until Ariana leaned into him.
"Thanks for coming for us."
She smiled and reached to place her lips on his. Xavien felt his face flush, but he took her hand as she sat beside him. The three of them sat in silence for what seemed like hours, and as the time went on their hope grew that they had escaped the worst. But then something that was not the cold sent shivers down their spines. An echo rang through the silent mine. A voice. It wasn't human.
"Lieutenant Grosh!" A second voice greeted the first and then the first voice spoke again.
"Set everything your unit has and on my signal, blow it."
"Aye, for the king!"
Xavien's stomach lurched as he realized what was about to happen. Ariana looked to him with new fear in her eyes and Zachary sat up from where had been laying like a dead man. Then everything shook with an ear splitting explosion that raced down the tunnels. Chunks of stone began to rain down. And then Xavien remembered that they were sitting in the newest part of the mine and that the final reinforcements to the walls had not yet been placed. He felt Ariana's arms tighten around his waist as, with a loud crack the ceiling above them split. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact of a thousand tons of rock. Something thudded next to him, but that was all. The echoes of the explosion died to silence and Ariana's grip loosened. He opened his eyes. As the dust settled he looked to himself and saw that he was uninjured. . But beside him . . . . Araina was buried and all that was visible was her arms that just seconds ago clung to him. They were already turning cold.
"No, no, no, no..."
The walls of the mine shuddered again and Xavien knew he had to move. He crawled forward through the rubble, every moment expecting to find his way blocked, but somehow a space always opened sufficient for him to slither through. He reached a point where he could scramble to his feet, and in that moment he heard a rumbling deeper than any he had heard before. He bolted down the tunnel, and as he ran, the walls and ceiling around him broke apart. He zig-zagged right and left in a desperate attempt to avoid the falling debris, but a huge block of stone smashed to the ground in front of him. He was knocked backwards, and then he fell and fell and fell. He hit the ground hard, and in the moment before he blacked out he had just enough time to wonder why the cave was illuminated by white light and covered with snow.
Xavien woke up numb and aching in every bone of his body, but he could still move his limbs. He knew not how long he had been out. He pushed off of the ground, moaning in pain, and looked around the cave he had fallen into. He had to squint and shield his eyes from a piercing white light that shone from the cave's center. He stumbled forward only to be blown back by a gust of wind. Wind? He looked about his surrounding once again and gasped. Beyond the light and to one side, the cave opened in a wide archway and overlooked a narrow gorge of the mountain. The wind blew in drifts of snow.
Xavien turned back to explore the source of the cave's light. Again he raised an arm to shield his eyes from the intense glare, but now, at the center of the light, he was able to make out a jagged thrust of stone. As he moved closer, the wind grew stronger and he had to lean forward to make any headway. He began to hear whispers of a language he could not understand. Straining with all his might against the wind, he reached out to grasp the stone. The light disappeared instantly, sinking back into an unseen crevice. The wind died and the Xavien held his breath. A second later a giant gust of wind knocked Xavien against the cave wall. He slumped into a sitting position and looked on in amazement, not believing what he saw. A huge dragon appeared in front of him, unlike anything he had ever heard of in a story or seen in a book. The creature had no wings and no legs. Its huge head, like that of a giant lizard sat atop the body of a long, monstrously thick snake. It uncoiled and rose high above him.
"My, my, you are nothing more than a boy now, aren't you?" The dragon voice slithered and hissed, but, Xavien's pounding heart quieted. The voice did not sound evil to him, but rather wise and powerful. "You have wakened me. To what purpose? Did the Ice Witch send you to destroy me?"
The cold in the cave had intensified and Xavien began to shiver. Before he could respond, the dragon spoke again.
"No, I see that she did not send you. You have found me by accident, am I correct? A foolish mistake, my boy, foolish indeed. Your mind is simple to read. Let me see. A miner, born twenty-two cycles ago. Ah, your village was attacked!, Hmm, now that's interesting. Attacked by the forces of the Ice Witch. So you are not an enemy, not as of yet, at least. You have just lost someone you loved. No two someones a boy and a girl, although the girl you cared for more deeply than the other. Are you confused? Why, your history its written on your face. But even I cannot read everything. Tell me your name, boy."
Xavien wanted to answer the beast as quickly as possible, but when he opened his mouth nothing came out. The cold was beyond endurance and his teeth were chattering so furiously he could not utter a word.
"Oh my, foolish me. I always forget that mortals are susceptible to the cold. By the looks of it, you won't last long. Boy, do you wish to live, maybe even get back at the one who attacked your village?"
Xavien looked at the dragon. Even in his near frozen condition he knew that the creature was scheming and would expect something from him. Nevertheless, he did not want to die and he had no time to question it further. He simply nodded.
The dragon's lips turned upward in a smile before it opened its jaws to let out a blast of warm wind. The dragon's breath went straight through Xavien's skin and into his body and he blacked out again.
Xavien woke up in the strange cave some time later, but now he no longer felt the cold. He ran a hand through his short, dirty blonde hair and shook the snow from it. The dragon had not left the cave by lay curled up in a corner. He stood up with a new vigor coursing through his veins. Perhaps he could slip past the beast and . . . .
"Awake at last. As I expected, you survived." The dragon raised its head off its coils and looked Xavien in the eye.
"Expected to survive? Does that mean I could have died?"
"Most men would have, but you are different." And then, mostly to itself, the dragon added: I have no doubt that those fools at the Institute of War would love to get their hands on you."
"Me? Why?"
The dragon uncoiled and its head rose to the ceiling. I am Ào Kuǎng, son of Ào Guǎng, Dragon King of the East Sea, I am the Dragon King of the North Wind."
Xavien could not explain it, but he felt strangely emboldened. "What, you want me to bow before you, O mighty one?"
For a brief moment the dragon stared at the boy in silence and then burst into laughter. "If you had done that, I might've killed you. No, I have never cared for the deference of humans. And I had hoped you would not be afraid of me, but stand up to me. You have passed my first test, my apprentice."
Xavien raised an eyebrow. "Apprentice?"
"Yes, we will get to that, but first, as I have told you my name, now I would like to know yours .
"Xavien. And that is all. I have no family name, for I was found an orphan."
"My condolences, Xavien. Now tell me how do you feel."
"Well, I'm not sure how to describe it. Different, that's for sure. I no longer feel the bite of the cold wind, for example."
"Do you know why?" The dragon had uncoiled to its full length and now rose to floating high above the boy, near the cave's ceiling. Xavien looked on in awe but without any fear.
"You breathed something new into me. Life, of some kind."
"To be specific, I have imbued in you the power of the north wind. The stone in which I was imprisoned, the stone from which you released me, could only have been opened by one capable of holding my power. That was the curse placed on me by the Ice Witch, damned to an eternity of confinement near a small, weak mining village. However, it seems I was wrong and I am fortunate that she placed me on the doorstep of a very capable student."
"Are telling me that I can control the wind, that I have a power like those champions at the Institute of War?"
"Indeed. Now...what do you plan on doing with it?"
Xavien slumped back against the wall, his mind racing. The dragon smiled, pleased with what he was about to hear.
"Honestly, I cant think of anything. I have never seen myself as a hero, as one to go out and defend the innocent. I could try to defeat the Ice Witch, maybe, but do I have sufficient power for that? I do not believe I have it in me to be either that brave or that heroic. Maybe I'm not cut out to hold this power"
The dragon burst out in laughter again.
"Spoken like a true hero of old."
Xavien joined in the laughter. "I guess you're right. Humility at its finest, eh? Or something like that. But still, even if I can be a hero, I may not have the strength to protect the innocent of the Freljord against the wrath of the Ice Witch."
"Second test passed, and now you're on your way to the third, which will answer your last concern."
Xavien looked at the dragon. "You will train me, train this power within me?"
The dragon smiled once again. "You are not as foolish as you look. Shall we begin?
Xavien returned the smile. "Thought you'd never ask."
"Now, thrust your arm forward and let it release!" The dragon boomed. Xavien's arm shot forward and the air rippled as a gust of wind shot forward over the outcrop of cave and dissipated in the air after it had traveled a while.
"Good, now you are innately strong with your upper body, you where a miner, no? However, the wind's strength can be controlled with your legs as well. Remember what I have taught you over this last week, control the wind within you and let it rush to your legs, now sweep your leg across the air and let the wind release at the end."
Xavien did as told, the air rippled as he swung his leg through the air, the wind formed into what looked like a crescent blade, it shot forward, but seemed to wobble after a few feet and disappeared.
"We will continue the practice tomorrow, rest for now." The dragon said returning to his corner of the cave and coiled up.
"Ào Kuǎng?" Xavien asked, the dragon opened one eye in response. "I haven't eaten anything in a week, but I'm not famished, why?"
"I am an immortal being, when I granted my powers to you, I also granted you some of my immortality. While you won't live forever, you age slower, you are not harmed by climate, thats is why you do not feel the cold as strong as before and do not require food or sleep. However, sleep still recovers your strength the fastest , and it is a time when you do not ask me questions." The dragons eye closed and Xavien smiled as he plopped down in the soft snow, he placed his hands behind his head, snow was much more comfortable without having to worry about frostbite. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Olaf and his ursine companion looked over the remains of the mining town. He sighed and adjusted one of the axes on his back.
"How late where we Volibear?" The berserker asked.
"My pack says around a month, maybe a week more." The massive bear said. "That troll ambush set us back by a couple weeks."
"We still would've been late, this Averosan loss, for once, is not in the favor of the White Claw. After a while our ore supplies will start becoming short." Olaf sighed, the ursine look back over the village.
"Let us look for survivors, send your squad to the village, me and my pack will check the mine."
Olaf nodded, when the two of them heard something speak behind them.
"Don't waste your time, they are all dead or gone." Said a boy, he was dressed in a leather fur lined coat and legs. He had a metal breastplate, gauntlets, shin guards and boots on.
The wind tousled his dirty blonde hair and he stared at them with dark grey eyes.
"I am the only survivor of the attack, Xavien."
