A Thousand Years: A Frozen Tale
Chapter 2
"No, stay away! I don't want to hurt you!"
John hated the ocean. The taste of salt, the slimy sea plants, the sand that got into everything, he just didn't like it. He liked it even less when he was several thousand miles beneath the surface. Sure, his magic allowed him to hold off the immense pressure, provide oxygen for himself, and see through the briny depths, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. His hunt for Kathool had taken him to the heart of the beast's realm, into the darkest depths of the ocean, where madness reigns. Here Kathool would be at its most powerful, but John didn't have time to wait for the beast to reveal itself. He needed to defeat Kathool before time ran out for everyone.
Suddenly the water around him was in violent motion, and he conjured an orb of light to reveal the threat. All around him were dozens of creatures, appearing to be some horrendous mutated combination of man, squid, crab, and coral. Kathool's twisted servants, those who had fallen to its mania and become monsters of madness. Where these things were, their master could not be far. Kathool knew these minions could not stop John, but that wasn't what it wanted. It wanted to delay him, to keep him from stopping it. Kathool would play mind games for eternity, but he didn't have time for Kathool's games.
The deep erupted into steam as fire poured out from John in waves, the water miles around superheated by the infernal assault. The Kathool Adepts screamed in torment, boiled within seconds of the attack. Countless other sea life was killed as well, but John was not in the right mindset to care. Kathool would die, even if John had to boil the oceans of a dozen worlds.
Such rage, Adventurer. A twisted, mocking voice sounded within his mind. And you call me mad.
"Face me, coward!" John shouted back, blazing with rage. "You have had your fun, twisting the minds of the weak willed. Are you afraid of a real challenge, ancient one?!"
A challenge? Kathool laughed. You are barely more than a plaything! A massive tentacle streaked through the water towards John, knocking him off his feet. The waters rushed in around him, and he had to swiftly conjure another force field before the deep-sea pressure crushed him.
"For something so old, you sure don't know much," John countered, blades of light cutting through the waves and slashing apart the beast's tentacles. "I am John the Adventure. I have traveled across time and to thousands of worlds, and I have battled evils greater than you. You say that I am little more than a plaything? I say that you are little more than an annoyance." The deep boiled once more as John bombarded Kathool with heat, the beast's flesh cooking. Kathool screeched, but John was prepared this time, and the sound did not phase him. He blasted the creature again and again, chunks of cooked meat flying off.
Enough! Kathool cried, the mental shout filled with pain. Enough!
"No. It will not be enough until the worlds are safe from your madness." John conjured a spear of lightning and leaped, flying through the water and plunged the electrified spear through the beast's flesh. Kathool cried out, the cry sounding through the deep. It lashed out with its remaining tentacles, one of the tentacles tearing open a rift. The rift began to create suction, the water being pulled out the rift, quickly creating a powerful vortex. John resisted its pull, focusing on keeping from being sucked out. Seeing its chance, Kathool blasted John into the vortex, knocking him off his feet and sending him spinning through the rift.
...
Elsa kept a brave face as her parents left the room, but as soon as the door closed she ran to her bed and burst into tears, hiding her face in her gloved hands. Her room was almost completely covered in ice, the leftovers of her failed attempt at controlling her powers. Her mom and dad meant the best, but it wasn't working. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't control it.
She sobbed for several moments, letting out all the pain, guilt and fear. The room iced over even more, but eventually her sobs slowed and her breathing steadied. She didn't really feel any better, but in the past while she had cried so much that it didn't feel like she had any tears left to cry. Then her thoughts drifted over to object hidden beneath her bed. Wiping away the tears on her cheeks, she crawled under her bed and pulled out a single white rose, covered in a thin layer of frost. She held it gently, thinking back to that strange and wonderful encounter nearly four years previous. The day a man fell out of her fireplace, just to tell her that she didn't need to be afraid. To tell her that she wasn't alone.
She went over to her windowsill, beneath which sat her desk, covered in neat stacks of paper and books. She loved to read, especially stories about magical adventures and legendary heroes, stories about people like John. But more than that, this desk was where she wrote her letters to John. She knew that John probably never got the letters, but whenever she had a particularly bad day, she would go to her desk at the windowsill and write to him, then let the letter go out the window and pray that the wind would carry it to her hero and bring him back.
This was definitely a particularly bad night. Elsa snatched a slip of paper and grabbed her quill, staring at the blank page for a moment before letting the tip touch the paper, and she began to write.
Dear friend,
It happened again. I don't know how to control it. I've tried to not be scared like you told me, but I don't know how. My parents do their best to try to help, but they don't understand. They don't know what it is like. Please come back. I need your help. I can't control it without your help. It gets worse every day. There is just too much fear, too much power. I know that you can help, but it has been so long since you were here. I don't even know if you are still there. If you are still out there, if you still care, please, come back.
Sincerely, Elsa
Elsa folded up the slip of paper and pulled open her window, sending the letter out into the open air. The paper flew, carried by the wind far out of sight, to places she knew not. All she could do was pray that somehow, some way, the letter would reach her friend.
...
John fell out of the rift with a torrent of water, falling hard to the floor. The rift closed behind him, stopping the flow and leaving John sprawled across the ground, infuriated. The creature had slipped out of his grasp once again, and this time right as he was about to slay the mad beast. Kathool was nearly defeated, but if given time it would recuperate, and all of his work would be for nothing. He had to find a way to return as soon as possible and end it.
He looked around himself to see that he was standing on a sea-side cliff, waves crashing against the rocks beneath him. To one side was more ocean, the watery expanse stretching as far as the eye can see. To the other side was a large cove, a fjord, around which was built a bustling town. He couldn't see many details from his position, but the harbor appeared to be very busy, with ships both leaving and coming, and lights were on throughout the city. In the center of the fjord, connected to the mainland by a bridge, was an island, on which was situated a majestic palace. It looked familiar, but he couldn't place it.
Just then the wind picked up, and a piece of paper flew into his face. He scrambled blindly for a moment before he pulled the paper off his face and looked at it. Strangely enough, it was a letter. As he read it, his eyes widened in surprise. This letter was to him! He glanced back at the palace and realized why it was familiar. It looked different from this angle than it did from above when he was falling out of the sky, but it was definitely the same place. He couldn't believe it. The rift had taken him here yet again. Why? The rifts never seemed to have any rhyme or reason before. Why take him here again, right as this letter was flying on the wind?
It had only been a few days since he had left Elsa, but based on what he had read in the letter, it had been a lot longer for her. The tears in the universe were messing with the flow of time, and he had no way of knowing how long it had been. The poor girl. She was so lost, so desperate. She needed his help. He needed to find a way back to finish off Kathool, but right at that moment, there was a little girl that needed his help. He would have plenty of time to worry about Kathool soon enough.
Gathering his energies, John propelled himself forward, launching himself through the air towards the island palace.
...
Elsa pulled her window shut and slid to the ground, suddenly exhausted. Why did she even bother to write the letters? She always begged him to come back, and he never came. She had written so many letters, begged him to come back, prayed that he would come back, and nothing ever happened. In the end she was always alone, with no one that understood. No one that could help her.
She took the frosted rose and looked at it, remembering the day John came. She was so scared, and he was so confident, so kind. He just took the fear away. Without him, the fear was too powerful. She was so scared. John had told her that her powers were beautiful and that she wasn't a monster, but she hadn't seen any of that since he left. She had come close to hurting her parents a few times already. The gloves her dad gave her helped, but they were not enough to stop it entirely.
A knock came on her door, and her thoughts immediately went to Anna. Her little sister was the worst part. Anna didn't remember what had happened, so she didn't understand why Elsa had to stay away from her. So often Anna came to her door, asking for them to play together. Even now, after years of silence, Anna still tried, and every time she knocked on that door it broke Elsa's heart. She wanted so much to open the door, to play with her sister and have fun again, but she couldn't.
"Go away!" she cried.
Then the door opened, the lock doing nothing. In the door stood John, tall and proud, a sad smile on his face. "Hello Little Princess." He held up a slip of paper, crumpled by the wind. "I got your letter."
...
"John!"
The Adventurer was taken aback as the little girl ran up and hugged him, wrapping his legs with a tight embrace. It took him a moment, but once he got over the surprise he laughed, smiling down at the little girl and disentangling himself from her grasp. "It's good to see you too Elsa. Tell me, how long has it been?" She was still little, but time had definitely passed since he was last there. She was taller, older. But it couldn't have been that long, could it?
"Four years," she answered, a hint of anger flitting across her face, only to be replaced with desperation. "Why did you wait so long?"
Four years? John thought to himself. She had to be somewhere around twelve now. He could hardly believe it. Twelve years old. How could he have missed four years? No wonder she had been beginning to question if he would ever come back.
"I am so sorry that I was gone for so long," he told her. "I couldn't come back any sooner, or I would have. I promise you that, alright?"
"Alright."
"Come, let's sit down." John walked over to her bed and sat on it, and she jumped up and sat beside him. "So, tell me, what has been going on since I came here?"
"I tried to do what you told me to and let go of the fear. But every time my powers slip out, I almost hurt someone. My parents have tried to help, but I don't want to hurt them either." Elsa's eyes began to well up with tears as she spoke. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but I can't control it. It just spills out. Whenever I get angry, or scared, or anything, ice goes everywhere. My dad gave me these gloves," she held up her gloved hands, "and they hold it in, but anytime I take them off I can't control it. I can't even be around my sister Anna because I know that I'll hurt her like I did before."
"It's alright," he whispered reassuringly. "I understand how you feel."
She looked up at him, wiping at her wet eyes. "You do?"
"Of course. When I first got my powers, I felt the same way. I was scared that I would accidentally hurt someone, or that I would reveal my powers to someone and that they would fear me and hate me. I wanted to hold it all in and never use it. But you can't do that. You can't learn to control your power by hiding it and holding it inside. You can't conceal it, and you need to feel it. Your power is part of you. Hiding your powers and your fear and not letting it show isn't the way to go about it. You need to let yourself let go. Your powers are a gift. Remember the rose I gave you?"
"I have it!" she exclaimed, perking up.
John was taken aback. "Really?"
Elsa jumped off the bed and wiggled beneath it, coming back out holding the icy flower in her fingertips. "I kept it so that I wouldn't forget about you," she told him. "So that I could know that it wasn't just a dream. That you were real."
"That is amazing, Little Princess," John stated, touched by the small gesture as he examined the still-perfect bloom. "You see this rose? It isn't just evidence that me coming was real. It is also evidence that your powers can be used for good, that they can do beautiful things. Control comes with practice, and with realizing that your power is part of who you are. You can't just hold it in. You need to use it."
"But what if I hurt someone?"
John thought for a moment what to say. He wasn't going to tell her to ignore any possible danger and not care about the lives of those around her, but she also needed to understand that if she never got over her fear of her powers than she would never control them. "You can't hurt me," he said finally. "Why don't we try now? I can help you work through it."
"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.
"Undoubtedly."
...
Elsa slowly took off her gloves, her hands shaking slightly. It's alright, she told herself. John is here. He can help. You can't hurt him. She set her gloves to the side and the two of them stepped out onto the floor, standing at the center of her room.
"Just think about something you want to make," he told her. He held out his palm and a ball of golden light blossomed above it. A second later the orb shifted, changing into a tiny, sinuous dragon which then flew around his arm and above his head before coming to rest across his shoulders, the tiny golden creature staring at her intently. "Now you try."
Elsa held her own palm out, concentrating. A large, icy snowflake appeared in the air above her hand, spinning around lazily. The light from John's dragon reflected off the snowflake in a brilliant display, transforming the simple ice into something wonderful.
"That is beautiful, Elsa," John told her encouragingly. "Now think of an image you want to create. What do you want to happen?"
She thought about that for a moment. What did she want to make? She could try to make a dragon like John did, but she wasn't sure what she wanted to make. She didn't particularly care about what the ice formed into. All she really wanted was for John to stay with her. Around him, she didn't have to be afraid. But once he left, the fear was always too strong. She just wanted John to stay with her and never leave.
The snowflake suddenly shifted, exploding into a flurry of smaller snowflakes before coming back together, shaping and forming into the image of two people. When the snow settled, standing on her palm were two tiny and incredibly detailed ice figurines. One was John, standing tall and proud in his billowing cloak and gleaming armor, his handsome face smiling down at the other figurine, his hand on the other figurine's shoulder, the other figurine being a little Elsa, beaming happily, not a hint of fear or sadness in her face. In the world of the tiny figurine Elsa, everything was perfect. Elsa's eyes widened as she realized what she had accidentally created, and she quickly looked at John to see what he thought of it.
...
John stared at the tiny ice statues for a moment, not knowing what to say. Elsa was only twelve years old, but she had lived a hard life, struggling with her powers and forced to separate herself from everyone and everything. And now, this innocent little girl had attached herself to him. She depended on him and the help he could give. He wanted to help her, he really did, but didn't know how. He didn't have enough time! Her icy creation struck his very center, and the emotion behind it brought tears to his eyes.
"It's beautiful," he told her, his voice full of emotion. "Elsa," he kneeled down and held her shoulders lightly, his golden orbs staring into her sapphire eyes. "I know that you want me to stay here with you, but I won't always be able to be here. I want to help you, I really do, but I can't always be here. But, no matter were I am, don't you ever think that I've left you alone, because I will always be with you, in here," he pointed at her chest. "I can help you learn to control your powers, but I won't always be there to help you. You will have to learn how to control it without me there."
"But what if I can't?" she asked, her voice fearful.
"You can," he assured her. "You just need to believe in yourself and let go of your fear. Once you let it go, then you will be free. Alright?"
"Alright," she agreed hesitantly. "I'll try."
"Then let's keep working." He stood back up, the dragon vanishing from his shoulders as he shook himself off and wiped his eyes. "Let's try creating something bigger. How about-"
A rift suddenly tore open on the other side of the room, a tear in the fabric of the universe right in Elsa's bedroom. No no no! John exclaimed inwardly. Not again! Not now! He stared at the rift, cursing his foul luck. He barely even began teaching Elsa! She needed more than just a few words. She needed more help. He needed more time. But he couldn't leave Kathool to its own devices either. If he truly wanted to help Elsa, he would have to finish it.
"What's going on?" Elsa asked, clinging to his leg in terror.
"It's okay," he told her. "Everything is going to be alright. I have to go now, but don't worry. I'll be back."
"No, don't go!"
"I have to," he told her, "but I promise you, I will come back. I don't know when I will be back, but I promise you that I will be back for you. And next time, I promise to stay longer and help you."
"Promise?" she asked, her eyes sad but hopeful.
"Promise. I'll be back for you, Little Princess." With that he stood up and conjured a flaming sword, taking off across the room and charging through the portal.
...
The portal closed behind John, leaving Elsa alone once more. Elsa grabbed the frozen rose and held it carefully. She went into her bed, falling asleep to thoughts of John. He was gone, and she was once again without his comforting presence, but this time she had a promise. He was coming back. He promised her that he was coming back. He would keep his promise, wouldn't he?
Author's Note: Feedback is always appreciated!
