4: The Frost Mage

Teri Kol I

She had Ignited some months ago, yet even with the power to traverse the Multiverse she felt as though she were still on the run from her instructor. Teri Kol found herself on the plane of Cristalis, which was currently in the midst of an ice age. She rather enjoyed the cold of the land, as that was her specialty, and it would make her pursuers have a difficult time of hunting for her. She didn't know what was here that her teacher, Karra Ran, didn't want her to find, but she wasn't leaving until she found it.

The plane's ice age was something fierce it seemed. All around her were the frozen corpses of animals and people who couldn't find shelter before the cold had gotten to them. Teri, to her credit, wore the bare minimum of clothes at all times. She loved the cold on her torso, so her sleeveless vest was cut short to bare her abdomen. Her arms were dark skinned and unadorned, her breaches ended halfway down her shins, and while she preferred to go barefoot, she settled for a pair of black leather boots; rocks tend to slice into one's soles. Not a single shiver rocked her body. This was her Summer.

Using her frost based magic, she traversed the snowscape effortlessly, lighting stepping on top of the four foot thick snow hills as though they were solid ground. She paused at the peak of a hill and her eyes went wide in amazement. There, only a couple of miles away, was a massive structure made of stone and ice. It had clearly been neglected for some centuries, and was likely abandoned at the beginning of the ice age. She smiled. "Home sweet home," she mumbled under her breath."

The wind picked up, and she could hear the faint sound of whisperings being carried by the breeze. She turned and could see a pair of shadows in the distance, obscured by a snowy haze. Trackers, she thought to herself. Steeling herself, she picked up the pace and headed towards to ruin.

Silence had never been louder. Every footstep echoed off of the frozen walls, her reflection stared back at her from the ice on the walls, and iron sconces were all covered in thick ice when they should have been lit and ablaze. She loved it here already. I don't know what I'm looking for, but I'll be comfortable here for quite a while. I won't be leaving anytime soon, she thought to herself. She started to delve deeper into the structure, but remembered the Trackers that were behind her.

She spat and cursed under her breath. If there were Trackers, that meant that Karra knew where she was, and that she'd be interrupted for as long as she stayed here. Damn you, Karra. Leave me be.

Pausing only for a moment, she removed her leather boots and let her dark skinned feet touch the frozen floor unprotected. The feeling of the cold on her toes was enjoyable enough to her by itself, but now she could move silently without her boots causing an echo. She ran up a flight of stone stares, hid her boots behind a set of chairs and tables, and returned to the entry hall to find the perfect perch. She climbed into a window frame, hiding behind a curtain that was partially torn from age, and there she waited.

She didn't wait long.

The Trackers entered in mere minutes. There were two of them, though Teri couldn't ascertain any of their traits due to their thick attire. "Look at this!" the one of the left, a woman, shouted. "It hasn't been touched in hundreds of years!"

"We're sure to find something here," the one on the right, a man, said in response.

"I don't see how you can be so optimistic, Phel. Every ruin we've checked so far has been a dead end."

The man, Phel, chuckled. "I have to be optimistic, Kili. It's how I get through my day."

Maybe they aren't Trackers, Teri thought. She smiled. That means Karra doesn't know where I am! She held back a fit of laughter and listened to the pair of explorers even longer.

"If it's here, then maybe we can undo this damned ice age," Phel said.

The woman, Kili, sighed. "The Staff of Lunn can't be real, Phel. How can one artifact cause an entire ice age? It just isn't possible."

That's what's here! Teri chimed mentally. A staff that can create this world of ice! Her smile widened. She'd have complete power over worlds with such a relic.

"We don't know that for sure," Phel replied. "It could be real. This ice age has lasted for over two thousand years. Surely the stories of the warmth of the sun are true."

"Those are just fairy tales. A world without snow? That can't have possibly existed either."

"Why are you so pessimistic?"

"Why are you so optimistic?"

"Why don't you both shut up," Teri shouted from the window, taking the pair of them by surprise. Flinging the curtain aside, she leapt down from the high window and pointed her hands at the two explorers. Bolts of ice shot from her fingertips, catching them both by surprise. Before they could dodge, the ice hit them and covered them head to toe in solid ice. Teri landed gently on her feet and slowly strode towards them. She looked them both up and down and smiled; they were in a frozen sleep.

She turned away and explored for an hour before she found a large study that she claimed as her personal room. There she took the two frozen explorers. After another hour of setting up a bedroll and getting a fire started for her dinner, she approached the pair and stopped in from of Kili. With a wave of her hand, the ice around the woman's face melted and she gasped as she woke up. "What!?"

"Hush," Teri said darkly. "Tell me about this Staff of Lunn."

"Who are you?" Kili asked.

"I said, tell me about the Staff of Lunn."

"Why do you want to know?"

"You're not in a position to be knowing why I do anything, Kili. Tell me about the Staff." Kili looked around with her eyes, as her head wasn't able to move in the ice. Teri sighed. She raised her right hand and created a large, razor sharp ice spike. "Tell me, or I kill him." She pointed the spike at Phel, melting the ice above his heart in the process. "I don't make empty threats, Kili."

Kili's eyes went wide as she processed the information. Teri nodded once and made to stab Phel. "Wait!" Kili shouted. "Don't hurt him! Please! I'll tell you everything I know."

Teri smiled. "Go on then. Tell me."