Chapter Three:

Sheer Cold

"So now that we know where we are, got a plan of any sort?" I asked anxiously.

"Well, we know that there are dangerous fiends out there just waiting for us somewhere in this frozen wasteland, so I propose we keep it unnoticed with minimal chat whilst we travel to the nearest teleportation device in this country." Francis implied.

"If I know Ethenera, this place barely holds a civilisation seeing as it was frozen by a chaotic sorceress who named the continent itself after her!" Christie added.

We took a moment to think, and then Beatrix came out with a crazy plan of her own.

"Then there's only one thing to do, find her and slay her." Beatrix said out of deep interest of getting out of here. "Once she's done with, she's bound to release us from this icy wasteland."

"Even though I think your idea is wild and reckless, it seems to be our first and last resort of action" I said in agreement.

"I guess it's settled then, we'll risk our own lives… to save our own lives? That doesn't sound quite right but nevertheless I'm in." Francis agreed.

We packed our supplies and headed out to the Frosty Grotto outside the main snow piles. The only town on the continent was in that frozen valley. That's where we aim to find the right attire for slaying the witch who enslaved the continent.

As we walked down the path, we looked at the many sights around us. It seems like a prison was to the far West and I swear I heard a voice screaming for help. Or was it just me?

Inside the town, the people seemed to have been quiet… a little too quiet for our liking. I asked a nearby stall about the town.

"It's been a horrible nightmare in Ethenera seeing as that witch never seems to let us go from her spell. We're doomed to roam the continent with no way to escape. You see, if you were to walk into the fog near the continent's border, you'd just magically return to the other end of the continent. There is no escape." The man explained with sheer terror.

"I see, well… I guess the plan Beatrix thought of is our only salvation." agreed Francis.

As we kept exploring the town area, the items sold seemed to have been stored for hundreds of years. I swear that I haven't seen a blade so rusty and useless in my whole life. Then I knew this place was of no use, if we tried to buy supplies from it.

In the main square, we saw a young girl playing her music for the crowd. She played a melody so beautiful that I suddenly became warm inside, completely ignoring the cold.

"I dedicate this song for my lost brothers in Ethenera prison, may our prayers be with them." She said faithfully.

So that screaming I heard earlier was true, there are prisoners held captive there. As she walked off, I noticed that her shoes were rather odd. They held a red and black striped pattern with a strange symbol of a star on them. They didn't seem like they came from this world.

"Hey, that was some beautiful music you played… you said that your brothers have been imprisoned?" I asked.

"Yes sadly however only my younger brother is imprisoned whilst my older sibling was forced to work there as a guard under enforcement by Ethenera. I haven't seen them for the past few months." She explained.

"I've been apprenticed by Ethenera in the past for the Curative Magicks, but that was long ago before she took control of the continent." She explained again.

I immediately thought she could be a great asset in our team, so I asked her to join us in liberating Ethenera prison and freeing her brothers. She gladly accepted, but before heading off, she taught the basic curative spells to Christie and me.

"The first step to curative magic, is to feel only positive thoughts, otherwise your spell may become more harm than aid. Here's the most basic of spells; the Purify spell. This relieves a person of a curse or poison taint in their mind, body or soul. It can become handy in the worst situations. The other spells however, take more time so I'll teach them to you later. OH! I forgot… my name is Elyssa and very nice to meet you all!" she finally mentioned.

"Nice to meet you also, you can be a great help in our journey to finally free the people of Ethenera." The team gladly said with joy.

We ventured out to the prison with hopes that we can free her brothers. The gate seemed to be heavily guarded with archers and steel gates.

"This seemed to have been harder than originally thought." I quoted to myself.

Our plan was basic enough; just use our abilities to break down the first gate. It seemed to have been easier than thought. The archers didn't seem to notice us oddly.

"That was odd, they didn't even fire at us…" she said. "Hmm, allow me to check up there."

"Careful now, don't get into any sort of trouble." Francis included.

She reported back saying that the archers were nothing more but statues probably used to scare off anyone daring enough to raid the prison.

Getting inside was a little too easy so we put our expectations down. We saw no guards inside, with no prisoners.

"What could be going on? What's happened here?" I asked Elyssa.

"I have no clue about the status of this prison, but somewhere in these rooms lay my brothers Jeremiah and Jeffrey." Elyssa mentioned.

We searched all through the main rooms until we found an odd underground trap-door. We decided to head inside, out of curiosity. The underground was a frozen cavern with icicles and lit torches, possibly meaning someone was here just recently. We followed the trail of lit torches until it lead us to a throne room of some sort.

There was a large furry creature fighting two boys in the corner and they seemed extremely injured.

"Those are my brothers!" exclaimed Elyssa. "We have to help them!"

"Stay back! This thing killed the rest of the prisoners and guards! You can't stand a chance!" Jeffrey mentioned with care for her sister.

"And you think you can handle this on a two-man team! Are you crazy!" she yelled out.

Jeremiah leapt into the air and got slammed onto an icy wall. Elyssa quickly got into action and teleported to his location. She fed him with an odd potion and then a prayer rather than a spell.

Her brother was immediately healed from his wounds, and eager to keep fighting.

"Let go of me! We need to get rid of this thing!" he demanded vigorously.

"There's no way I'm letting you get hurt and the same goes for Jeffrey!" she pleaded.

Beatrix, Francis, Christie and I decided to pitch in and help Jeffrey but Christie seemed to have kept quiet for a while.

"Hey what's wrong with you? Help us and fight!" asked Francis.

"Wait… something tells me something worse is coming… a sense a dark presence in these caverns." She mentioned in a whispering tone.

The throne situated at the end of the room formed a portal in which a pale woman with crystals attached to her came out. It was the ice queen… Ethenera.

She froze the furry giant and threw it into the portal, ridding of it immediately.

"Pitiful humans, come for a visit have you now?" She implied with a strange warped voice.

"…That's not the Ethenera I once knew, she's now been cursed with evil." said Elyssa as she fainted.