Disclaimer: Frozen is the property of Disney. I only own my Oc's and any ideas I contribute to the fandom.
The journey to Arbia was a long one. The boat had taken nearly two days to reach the port and then they had met with a caravan to ride camels to the kingdom. Thankfully, the journey had been peaceful.
"Are we there yet?" Olaf whined
Well, mostly peaceful.
Olaf had splayed himself out in exasperation on the camel's back, the double sized flurry over his ead working overtime to keep him cold.
They'd been traveling through the sand for nearly an hour and a half, and after about the first half hour the snowman had started complaining like a child, constantly asking when they would arrive.
Elsa exhaled testily, doing her best to remember Olaf was family, they'd been on the road for a while and it would be rather petty to fling his head over a dune. She gave a wave of her hand, creating a sphere of cold that protected her from the desert sun. "No Olaf. Like I've told you before, we'll get to the city when we get there."
"But we've been on the road for sooooo long! I just want to get there!"
"That makes one of us." Elsa mumbled. The closer they got to the city, the more nervous she became. As much as she didn't want to think about it, Kristoff's words were ringing in her ears. She had no idea of what this fire monster might be or what sort of power it possessed. For all she knew, it could be powerful enough to melt her like a snowflake on a hot brick and then go on terrorizing these people.
But then she remembered her promise to Anna. She'd sworn to her sister that she'd come back to her. And she wasn't about to let Anna lose another person she cared about. She had to suceed.
While still lost in thought, she realized her camel had stopped behind the man leading them, who had come to a halt at the edge of a hill of sand. She looked ahead of him and her stomach swooped with both anticipation and nervousness. Below them was a large circular cluster of hundreds of buildings centered around a cliff of rock that a palace was built into.
They had arrived.
They continued downward until arriving at the edge of the city. The minute they got there, Olaf leaped off his camel and excitedly yelled. "We're here!" Before running off into the city.
"Olaf, wait!" Elsa got off her camel and was about to run after him, until she remembered the caravan who'd brought them. She turned to the head rider and quickly said. "Thank you for your help. We can handle ourselves from here." Before running off after Olaf.
She sprinted down a street filled with thick brown stone houses, looking around for any sign of him. While running she glimpsed children playing small games, merchants selling wears, and woman walking around with scarves wrapped around their heads.
She looked around, trying to find any sign of Olaf until she heard a loud scream coming from a bit far to the left. She turned that way and raced to the area. As she got closer, she noticed an strong smell, it was a bit like the smell of a fireplace that had been burning for hours on end. When she got to the spot, she was aghast at what she saw.
The area was almost completely deserted. There were multiple destroyed or overturned carts filled with goods all around and the ground was covered in scorch marks. Lying flat on the ground were two unconcious men wearing short shirts with armored sleeves and baggy cloth pants. Next to them were a pair melted swords. Towering over them was a lanky figure covered from head to toe in cloth with eyes that seemed to leak flames and its arms engulfed in fire.
The fire monster.
One man in similar uniform to the other two was left standing. He withdrew his own blade and charged at the figure, swinging his weapon wildly. But the figure sidestepped each of his swipes and when he thrust too hard forward and fell forward, the beast gave him a flame fueled punch as he fell that proppeled him straight into a glassware cart and knocked him out cold
Elsa gasped and quickly hid behind the corner of a building. She peeked out and saw the fire creature walk over to a nearby cart filled with fruit. The figured grabbed a worn cloth sack near the cart, extinguished the flames around its hands, and began filling the bag with fruit.
Elsa's heart raced. She knew she had to do something, but seeing the creature up close quickly made her doubt her ability to handle the situation. She'd only had her powers under control for a few months and had never had to fight another being with magic. What could she do to stop it?
Her eyes then glanced at the men knocked out on the ground and her fist clenched in anger. This creature was hurting people. She had to do something.
Seeing that the monsters back was still to her, she swirled her hands together and a sphere of ice began to form in mid-air. Elsa kept her eyes on the creature as she finished the ice ball-.
"Hey Elsa, what'cha doing?"
When Olaf appeared out of nowhere, causing her to lose her concentration and the ice ball to fall to the ground and shattered into pieces.
She immediately looked over her shoulder and saw to her horror that the monster had stopped bagging fruit and it turned its head to the side, no doubt having heard the noise.
Elsa immediately panicked. Holding a finger to her mouth, she hastily whispered. "Olaf, Olaf shhh."
"What's going on? Are we playing hide and seek? Can I be it?" Olaf asked excitedly.
Elsa racked her brain on what to do to keep Olaf quiet. She turned and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the creature slowly coming towards them, having relit its arms.
Unfortunately, Olaf also saw it and he immediately ran towards the creature, outstretching his twig arm up to the being once immediately in front of it.
"Hi, im Olaf and I like warm hugs!"
To Elsa's utter amazement, the creature seemed to be stunned by Olaf. It recoiled from him and for a moment the fires around its body vanished.
Elsa's own eyes widened at what she saw.
Its eyes were human.
In the small gap in the cloth around the creatures face, she could clearly see a pair of human eyes filled with a mix of confusion and fear. The irises seemed to be an amber color that glowed in the desert sun.
After a moment the beast seemed to lose some of its fear. It bent all the way down to Olaf's height and reached out one of its arms towards him. Elsa saw that the area around its arms were completely devoid of any cloth and the cloth around its shoulders was torn, black, and charred. Its arms were also human looking with lightly tan colored skin. Elsa wondered whether or not she should act, but something held her back. The creature didn't seem to mean any harm.
It balled up the fingers on its hand until only its pointer finger was left and then gently poked Olaf in the belly.
Olaf giggled. "Stop! That tickles!"
The being tilted its head curiously. It slowly splayed out its hand and then pressed its entire hand into Olaf's stomach, leaving a small handprint in his gut. It flexed its snow smeared fingers, seeming to marvel at the sight.
Olaf laughed harder and tried to cover his belly with his hands. "Knock it off!"
Elsa slowly crept forward to get a better look but accidently stumbled, causing her to let a small gasp.
The being immediatly rose back to its full height, turned to look down at her and their eyes locked. They both focused on each other, neither moving an inch.
"Stop demon!"
They both looked to the left and saw a large group of men all wearing the same uniforms as the men from before, all bearing various weapons from schimitars, to spears, to maces, and charging towards them.
The fire being immediately reignited their eyes, and arms, then ran back to the cart and retrieved their bag of fruit. Once it had that, it sprinted off and after a few feet, kicked its foot against the ground, creating a huge blast of fire that propelled it high into the air.
Elsa was so engrossed with watching the being go, she failed to notice the crowd of men catch up to her.
"After it!" Barked the man at the front of the group. As the others followed after the fire being, he turned to Elsa. "And just who are you?"
"I'm Elsa of-" She then looked at him and yelped at the sight of the mans face. It looked as if the right side of his face had melted, a large mass of melted flesh and scars surrounding one milky white eye.
"Who are you?!" The man repeated.
Elsa shook off her shock and tried to look as regally as possible. "I am queen Elsa of Arendelle. I was invited by king Faraj to come and meet about your fire monster problem."
The man scoffed. "The king would never do something liked that."
"Well he sent me a letter." Elsa withdrew the letter from the king and showed it to the man.
He scowled and snatched the letter from her hands. He seemed to grow even more angry as his eyes scanned the page. Once he'd finished he huffed, shoved the letter into his pocket. "Fine. I shall take you to meet the king."
At that moment, Olaf waddled over to the two of them. "Hey Elsa, did you see that? That nice guy tickled me."
The man pulled out the scimitar hanging from the side and pointed it straight at Olaf. "What is that?"
Elsa immediately moved inbetween Olaf and the point of the blade. "Don't hurt him! He's my snowman."
Olaf peeked out from behind Elsa's leg and gasped at the mans face. "Woah what happened to your face? It looks like you were made of ice and stayed out in the sun too long."
It was moments like this that made Elsa seriously wonder why she had given Olaf a mouth.
But the man simply chuckled mirthlessly, then gestured to his face. "This is what I recieved from my last encounter with the demon. I am Urooj, head captain of the guards for this kingdom. Come along your majesty, little ice man. Let us go and meet with the king."
Urooj lead Elsa and Olaf to the palace. They walked through the halls until they arrived in the throne room and saw a young man sitting on the throne in the middle of the room. He had beige skin, orange robes, and his hands bore multiple rings, and his wrists were adorned with large ring like bronze bracelets. His face bore a pensive expression.
The young man looked up once they entered the room. "What is it Urooj?"
Urooj bowed to the young man. "King Faraj. These people-." He gestured to Elsa and Olaf. "-Say you invited them here."
Elsa stepped forward and gave a quick curtsey to the king. "Your majesty. I'm queen Elsa of Arendelle."
Faraj grew excited when she said that. He practically leapt off his thrown as he got up to greet them. He grabbed Elsa's hand and shook it vigorously in between both of his. "Queen Elsa! It is so good to finally meet you!" He looked slightly over and noticed Olaf behind her. "What is this?"
"I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" Olaf said, clearly unfazed at having been referred to as a " this".
The king paused for a moment, then asked. "Can I have a hug?"
"Sure!" The king bent down and pulled the snowman into a hug.
Urooj gaped at the king. "Sire, you really asked this woman to come here?"
"Of course." Said Faraj as he released Olaf. "You're men and weapons have been ineffective in stopping the creature, so I thought it might be useful to try and bring in some outside help."
"Your heighnesss, I need to be informed of such decisions!" Urooj shouted. "My job is to keep Arbia safe. Letting in outsiders invites unnecessary risk!
"Are you questioning my judgement Urooj?" Faraj asked coldly.
Urooj faltered for a moment before responding. "I just thought that you would've seen the need to be mire secure. As your father did."
That comment seemed to hit Faraj hard. His shoulders slumped and he trained his eyes to the floor. "Well...I am not my father. I am doing what I feel is best for our kingdom."
"Let us hope you are right."
The room fell silent after that. Hoping to cut the tension Elsa asked. "So, what can you tell me about the attacks?"
Faraj raised his head and regained a bit of composure . "Um, Only what i've heard from the guards and read in reports. The attacks have been going on for 8 years. The creature has been around since my father was king. It attacks our guards while they protect the town and it terrorizes the people. Many of them fear to leave their homes."
Urooj scoffed. "Trust me my king, it's much worse than you've heard. Dozens of my men have returned covered in burns, and shaking in fear. I've seen unnimaginable destruction created by this monster. And of course there is my own experience. Believe me, this demon is cruel and inhuman."
Elsa felt she had to speak up. "Not to discount you or your men, but I don't think this thing is a monster. From what I saw it looked like a person."
Faraj looked to her with concern. "You saw the creature?"
"Yes. It didn't attack me or Olaf. And when I looked at it, I saw its eyes. It had human eyes."
"It didn't seem that bad when it tickled my tummy" Olaf pointed a finger to the hand print on his stomach.
King Faraj bent down and closely examined the handprint. After a few seconds he stood back up and looked pointedly at Urooj. "Did you know about this?"
"I did not find it relevant your majesty." Urooj replied calmly.
"Not relevant?" You and your men told that you were hunting a creature. Some sort of demon, not a person."
"Human eyes do not mean a human heart." Urooj responded. "The actions of this creature have no humanity to be spoken of, so that is how I saw it. Believe me your highness, the most vile and despicable of beings are the ones that hide behind human faces." He sneered over at Elsa. "I fail to sse how this little woman can be of any help to us."
Elsa glared back at Urooj. Captain of the kings guard or no, he was starting to get on her nerves. "Why don't I show you?" She gestured for everyone to step back and Faraj, Urooj, and Olaf retreated slightly away from her.
Elsa cracked her knuckles and then spun around, sweeping her right hand around as she did. As she spun a massive wall of ice erupted from the ground and began spinning around with her until it formed a large dome of ice. Once that was done, she stopped spinning, then held out both hands on either sides of her body, clenched her fists and the dome erupted into a cloud of millions of miniscule twinkling ice crystals. She then let out a strong breath and a cold wind blew away the tiny shards of ice, making the air sparkle with blue light.
Faraj and Olaf clapped with joy while Urooj's jaw dropped at the display of the queens magic.
"Bravo! Bravo Queen Elsa." Said the king as he came back over to her. He then looked at Urooj. "See how she can be of help now?"
Urooj managed to stop gaping at the queen and returned his expression to one of anger and doubt. He said. "Well let us hope your little magic sparkles will be enough to fight this demon." And then left the throne room.
Elsa glared at where he'd stood. "He seems friendly."
"He is not the warmest person." Faraj admitted. "But he's a good man. He has protected our country for years and my father trusted him more than anyone else."
"If I might ask, what happened to your father?"
Faraj choked up the answer. "H-he died. About a year ago."
Elsa felt for the king, still remembering her own parents demise. "I'm so sorry."
Olaf also seemed to feel bad for the king and held out his arms to him. "That's so sad! Okay, that's it. Come on in buddy, get another hug in."
The king sniffled and once again engulfed the little snow man in his arms.
Elsa suddenly realized just how young the king really was. Judging from how he looked, he was even younger than Anna. No more than about 16 or 17.
The King let go of Olaf and turned away from the both of them as he tried to discreetly wipe off tears on the back of his sleeve.
Once he'd finished he looked back at them, clearly trying to keep a brave face. "It's okay. He was a good man, and a great king. I hope to be just like him."
Elsa gave an understanding smile. "We all try to be like our fathers."
"Yes. Yes we do." Faraj said wistfully. He seemed to realize what he'd just said and coughed awkwardly into his hand. "But enough about that. You two must be hungry. Come we will feast in honor of your arrival.
After a delicious feast with the king, Elsa and Olaf were led by a servant to the room they'd be staying in for the duration of their visit.
The room they were given was a large room with two beds covered in silky dark orange covers. Two wo large marble columns flanked the center of the room and a set of glass doors at the end lead out onto a balcony.
As soon as the door was opened Olaf went straight for the beds and leapt onto the closest one. He laughed giddly as the bed bounced him into the air and he began to pull poses as he fell and rose.
Elsa absentmidendly thanked the servant and then went straight towards the terrace. She pushed open the doors and went out to the balcony.
From her viewpoint she could see all of the city spread out below her, dozens of little lamp lights acting as signs of life and people. Beyond that lied desert where sand dunes. dotted the ground like small hills and the wind swept up sand, creating momentary swirls of red in midair. By now the sky was dark and filled with immeasurable twinkling stars that almost cast a glow upon everything below them. Yet despite the view, Elsa's mind still wandered. All she could think about was the fire creature.
From what she'd heard, the monster had left nothing but destruction in its wake. it had torn through the castles guards like tissue paper and caused untold amounts of chaos. She'd seen firsthand how brutal it could be.
But her mind still turned back to the few seconds where its flames were gone and it had exposed itself. It hadn't seemed dangerous. Curious and cautious, sure, but not the creature she'd heard tell of. When she'd looked at it, she saw an intrigued being, not some monster.
Another thing that irked her was the captains complete disregard at the creature not being what he thought it was. While it was somewhat understandable considering the injuries he had, the way he'd spat the word "demon" brought back some unfortunate memories.
"Monster!"
Elsa shuddered, still fully able to remember the fear and outrage in the Duke's voice. She'd once been seen as some sort of monster, there were frankly still days were she saw herself that way, but there was more to her than that.
Was it possible there was more to this fire creature as well?
Having apparently finished his bouncing, Olaf came up to her side and draped himself on the balconys railing. He noticed how distracted she was. "Hey, what'cha thinking about?"
"Nothing, just thinking about today." Her eyes fell back to the city. As her gaze slowly swept over the city, she noticed a small glare in the right corner of her eye. She turned that way and after a few seconds saw a bright light appear and then dissapear in an instant. She squinted slightly, focusing on the area and once again, tere was that quick flicker of light.
Elsa's eyes popped back open in realization.
The light was bright. Like fire!
"Olaf, we need to go."
Here's chapter 3. Sorry for the long wait, but it's finally here. We get to see a bit of the kingdom of Arbia and see what their troubles are.
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