Chapter #? 3
Angel of Fire
Arianna walked out onto the edge of the pier, looking out across the water at the battle. The few ships Arendelle had mustered were getting obliterated, with wood splintering everywhere from cannon fire. The Weselton fleet was circling them like wolves, firing all their cannons at the Arendellians. Well, at least they've stopped firing on the castle. She moved out onto the water, automatically supported by jets of fire from her feet. Smiling, she lit fireballs in both her hands, and started to direct her power.
Anna said not to kill anyone. Okay, that's fine, I can work with that, thought Arianna, and directed her fireballs to multiply. One split into two, then two to four, and so on until a massive group of them were hovering in front of her. They spun around, aligning in perfectly arrayed circles, and she could hear the amazement of the crowd on the mainland. Smiling over her shoulder, she waved at them, then turned back to face the ocean.
Focusing intently, she began to relay 'instructions' to her fireballs. Firstly, there are to be no casualties. Do whatever is possible to prevent anyone from dying. She sighed, trying to figure out how the hell to do that. Suddenly, a voice in her head appeared and uttered a single word: Cannons. Arianna merely assumed it was her own internal voice, and went flying with the idea. Yes, cannons! Ships can't fire at each other without weapons! And cannons are made of metal. Metal, which I can control if it's heated high enough! Returning to the real world, she pushed her thoughts to the fireballs in front of her. Alright, I want you all to target the cannons. Melt them down. But what of the metal? Another idea dawned on her. Time to show the world what I can do. After today, we'll have the strength to defeat any enemy. She sent one final command to her fireballs. Once the metal has been melted, direct it to land in front of me. Have it pool into a sphere, cooled by the water itself. The fireballs seemed to bob up and down in agreement, then began to lift into the sky.
Now, this entire time, everyone on the shoreline had watched Anna's twin hovering out beyond the dock's edge, fireballs circling in front of her, doing nothing. Some had begun to lose hope that she would do anything, muttering words like "pacifist" and "just like the Queen" under their breaths. How shocked they were when the fireballs ascended skyward, flowing out into a grid of bright points in the sky. Their words changed to "amazing" and "incredible". But what was to come would change their ideas of Arianna to something much, much bigger.
-LB-
The Duke of Weselton paced back and forth across his flagship's deck, observing the assault on Arendelle from a distance. He'd directed half the fleet to stay behind, protecting himself and General Kaiser. Well, mostly to protect himself. The reason he'd tell anyone, however, was he did it according to Kaiser's recommendation, in case their first wave was defeated by that witch queen. On recalling that monster, he spat on the deck. He only wished he could spit in her inhuman face. Soon enough though, Arendelle would be conquered, their queen on her knees before him, and he would accomplish what that blasted Southern Isles prince had failed to do. He'd rid this world of magic once and for all.
Coming out of his own little world, the Duke asked the General for a progress report.
"The fleet has almost finished cleaning up the defending ships, sir. We can resume firing on the castle momentarily," he replied with a grim look.
"Good, good. Notify me once we have breached their outer walls. Then send in the ground troops."
The General sighed with slight annoyance. He knew all this, and didn't need some pencil-pusher of a man telling him how to do his job. Regardless, he bowed to his ruler, right arm clasped across his chest, fist closed, as was the custom in Weselton. The Duke nodded, then went below decks. Turning around, he began barking orders to his men.
"As soon as the Arendelle defenses are destroyed, target the long range cannons on the castle wall," he told the cannon officer. Turning to the crow's nest as the officer went to deliver his orders, he related another command. "Scouting! Monitor the shoreline for any special events!"
The reply came, originally loud but drowned out by the din of battle. The General cried out, "Repeat, soldier! What did you say?"
The soldier in question shook his head, pointed to the metal pipe running down the mast, then indicated the metal cup at his end. The General understood, and moved to put his ear to the cup at his level.
"Sir, there's an event occurring at the docks," the soldier said without delay.
"Elaborate."
Holding a pair of binoculars up to his eyes, he tried to do so. "There seems to be a young woman with dark red hair standing on the docks. What I can only describe as balls of flame are... somehow floating in front of her."
This news slammed into the General like a cannon blast. "Arendelle is only supposed to have an ice sorcerer."
The soldier shrugged. "Don't know what to say, except look for yourself."
Grunting, the General left the metal cup and nearly sprinted to a large telescope which was mounted to the deck. Closing one eye, he put the other to the viewfinder, then slowly planned over the shoreline until he came to rest on the dock. What he saw made him stumble back, then check a second, third and fourth time. The Duke must see this. An unknown factor has entered the battlefield.
The General rapidly moved away from the device, calling for his First Officer. She barged on deck from below, standing at attention immediately.
"Sir, yes sir!"
The General's face momentarily displayed annoyance. "I told you to call me Kaiser, Lt. Mara."
"Sorry sir. I mean Kaiser. I am not used to informality," she replied still straight as a rod.
"No kidding. Go get the weasel. There is something he must see."
"Yes sir," the lieutenant responded. She then ran below decks.
A minute passed before the Duke appeared. "Why did you drag me up here?" he griped. Then his face lit up. "Have we breached the castle already?"
Sighing, the General replied with a worried tone. "No sir, we have not. A matter has arisen that may complicate things."
The Duke crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. "Well? Out with it!"
"It is better that you see for yourself," replied the General, moving over to the telescope. The Duke followed, then looked through it.
"What am I looking for?"
"Look at the docks."
"I don't see how Arendelle could have possibly gotten more ships this fast..." muttered the Duke, before the telescope landed on the girl. He leapt back from the viewfinder on shock, wiping his face in disbelief. He cautiously returned to the viewfinder, looking at the girl again. Then he swore.
"That bitch lied to me," he said, fuming.
"Sir?" The General asked.
"That girl is princess Anna. Sister of the ice witch."
"Wait, what? Your Intel says she was normal!"
"That's because she was! Or is the best liar on the planet!" screamed the Duke. "Nothing gets past me. Nobody lies to me," said the angry Duke, growling with furrowed brow and narrowed eyes.
The General smiled. "Seems this girl did."
The Duke did not look happy. "She is a threat. Take her out."
"Yes sir. Cannoneers! Aim the long range cannons at the docks! Fire as many salvos as you can!"
"Aye aye, General!" Several men said. With that, the cannons began to turn.
The "long range cannons" were actually a single experiential prototype, mounted on the flagship as the first warship of its kind. Three cannons, easily five times the length of normal broadside cannons, were mounted on a metallic platform. This platform had a wide metal dowel through the center, which was bolted to the deck. On top of the deck was another sheet of metal, and between the platform and this sheet, several dozen cannonballs sat. The metal sheet and platform were slightly curved on the edges to prevent the balls from rolling away. The General had never seen such an impressive feat of engineering; the boys back in Weselton had called the system "ball bearings", whatever that meant. Supposedly they got the idea from a machine called a "bicycle". He grunted, watching the slow turning rate of the cannons. It took six men pushing poles on a turnstile connected by rope to rotate it, and eight times the gunpowder to fire the damn thing. But it paid off by being able to fire much larger salvos at ridiculous range; the ship could pound a castle from easily two kilometres away, as they had done to Arendelle castle earlier to announce Weselton's presence.
"Sir, permission to fire?" a soldier asked of him, jolting the General out of his admiration of the guns.
"Yes, fire when ready."
"Aye. Level out, men! Steady... Steady... Alright, fire!"
Three men lit the fuses on the cannons sequentially, and then everyone backed away. If you valued your hearing, you were not close to this thing when it went off. The Duke had learned that the hard way.
Several seconds later, the first cannon went off with a deep, resounding boom. The flagship swayed slightly from the recoil, then the second one went off. Then the third. Once everyone had recovered their wits, the Duke rushed over to the telescope to see their work's results. He waited a couple of seconds for the flight time from this range, then looked again. What he saw made him turn pale as a ghost.
"General," The Duke said, severely shaken, "Look at the docks and make sure what I just saw is real."
Puzzled, the General raised his eyebrows, but did as he was bade. Strutting over to the telescope, he bent down and looked. Then he went white as a ghost too.
"Holy shit," he remarked.
-LB-
Arianna stared out onto the water trying to locate who had fired on her. Her right hand was held up, three huge cannonballs hovering in the air in front of her. Though their velocity through the air was halted they still contained massive amounts of heat energy. Physics took the only outlet it could when dealing with Magic, causing the heat to transfer to the air around the cannibals via rapid vibration. She bade one to come nearer, and it did, until it stopped just within arms reach. She placed her left hand on the hot metal surface and addressed it like a person.
Now where did you come from, big guy? she asked the lifeless ball, not really expecting a response. Cannonballs could not talk, but her magic heard her. The metal ball lit up, instantly became darker and covered in glowing swirls, then flowed down into a flat map of the ocean. On it, all the ships currently visible to her formed and she counted them off. Far out in the bay more ships formed, including a much larger one with a weird turret on it sporting three long barrels. An orange line flashed into existence stretching from her position just off the dock to the turret on the larger ship.
Ah ha. There they are. The duke must have only sent in half the fleet. No matter. Time to send a response.
Pausing only briefly, Arianna held up her other hand and focused. Bright lights manifested in the air around her palm, rapidly condensing into a glowing orb. The orb pulsated once, twice, three times, and then a giant beam of plasma erupted forwards. It was so bright that it caused Arianna to cast a second shadow. Not a heartbeat later, a thunderclap was heard.
-LB-
"INCOMING!" yelled the General, diving away from the long range cannon. Just in time, for the beam of solid plasma raced through where he was previously standing. It vaporized the cannons, the railing in front of and behind them, and a good portion of the deck.
-LB-
Response received, Arianna thought with a smile. She pointed the same hand like a loaded gun, and mocked pulling the trigger. "Boom," she said, grinning ear to ear.
In sequence, the fireballs in the sky grew much larger, and then began pulsing with light, their brightness increasing with each pulse. When they had become miniature stars, nearly too bright to look at, they released their energy, sending white-hot beams of fire down to one ship per fireball. Each ship had a lot of cannons, and the stars could only fire at so many at once; but when they'd finished melting one cannon, they just fired on another. Every beam was accompanied by a bright flash of light and a clap of thunder. Rapidly the booming sounds of ships fighting ceased, their weapons having melted from their hands. On and on the stars went, firing with no discretion; they targeted Arendelle ships as well as Weselton. Oops, thought Arianna, slightly embarrassed. Oh well, now nobody can kill anyone else. Not like the Arendelle captains necessarily have better judgement than Weselton's.
After the stars had finished, they erupted into large explosions, covering the sky in orange yellow flame. It could even be called pretty, had they not previously been capable of death and destruction. The flames expanded even further, before reaching a maximum and collapsing in on themselves. Once they nearly disappeared, each star emitted a bright flash of light and evaporated.
That was shock. Time for awe, thought Arianna, smiling at her successful intervention. Ah, here comes the result. Rising up from every ship in the fleet was a black fluid, inlaid with pulsating orange lines and swirls. Her swirls. Come to me, metal of my enemies.
She told the map to flow into a small band around her wrist, then turned to the pulsating mass of metal in the water. Arianna commanded it to rise, and so it did. To onlookers on the dock and those watching through telescopes, a huge ball of metal seemed to float into the air in front of her. She willed the map into existence once again, then pushed her idea for the metal into it; a scale model formed near immediately. She asked the metal if this would work, and part of it formed into a checkmark. Nodding, she dismissed the model; it flowed back into a band around her wrist. Now the fun begins, she thought with a maniacal smile.
Pushing her plans into the giant metal ball, she poured power into it as well. It would need a lot to form into what she wanted. The ball glowed with untold energy, then flowed out over the fjord until it was a flat square easily three times the size of a ship. The metal gradually became covered in glowing lines. Once it was completely covered, something began to rise out of the metal, flowing into existence like liquid. Slowly a dome shape formed, and as it rose it became more detailed. More lines and swirls covered the object's surface, but they only slightly glowed, nothing like the metal which it had risen from. On the top of the dome, six holes began to drop into the object, equally spaced along a ridge that had just formed from the top center down to one side. The object rose even higher, beginning to taper down to a shape not unlike the underside of a ship. Then a section of the ridge on its "back" flowed up into a pylon upon the top of which formed a rectangular section. The front facing part of that rectangle began to shimmer and thin out, becoming transparent. Finally, with the metal square about to run out, the very bottom of the object formed. It looked nearly identical to the hull of a ship, except for the four sections which stuck out from the underside holding large round rings. The ship, for it was now obvious what it was, elongated to become twice the length it had been. Then the front of the dome, previously curved, flattened out, with six turrets flowing into being. The two at the back crafted four smaller, thinner barrels, attached to an orb which sat in dimples on the ship's surface. The four in front grew giant, extremely long barrels, attached instead to squashed ovals of metal. Seemingly complete, the ship dropped into the sea with a boom, causing a not very small wave to emanate outward.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" cried Arianna, jumping up and down in the air for joy. "Perfect! Even better than I imagined."
-LB-
Out on the Weselton flagship, hundreds of people were at the railings, having witnessed the creation of the ship. One lieutenant in particular was in awe.
"General!" she cried, "That thing's easily twice the size of this flagship! There's no way we can fight it!"
The General grunted. "You're right, lieutenant." He turned to face the duke. "Sir, I recommend we retreat."
A scowl seemed permanently plastered on the small man's face. "No. We cannot back down. We may not be able to fight that, but we're not here to do so. We're here for the witch. Ignore the ship and assault the castle! Send everything we have! I want her head!"
"That's not a good idea, sir," pressured the General.
The weasel looked him strait in the eyes. "Are you questioning my orders, General?"
Not many men could make the General feel uneasy, but the Duke was one of them. He gulped, hoping not visibly, and replied "No, sir. We will focus on the castle."
Glaring at him, the Duke smiled. "Good."
-LB-
Back on land, Arianna sprinted to the shoreline. Nearly the entire town stood there with their mouths catching flies, having just seen her create a giant metal ship out of nothing, including the Admiral of the Arendelle navy. Arianna walked up to her, a giant smile on her face and a very satisfied look in her eyes. The Admiral just looked back and forth between her and the ship, eyes wide and mouth agape.
The girl chuckled. "So, Admiral, think you can command her?"
"Command her? I've never even heard of a ship this large! I wouldn't know where to begin, much less on a metal ship!"
Arianna crossed her arms. "I designed her to be self explanatory."
The Admiral raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
Sighing, the girl summoned one of the other large cannonballs to her from where they had remained floating. "Here, I'll show you what I mean." Concentrating harder than she ever had before, she willed it to take on a human appearance. Which the metal, after turning darker and gaining glowing swirls, proceeded to do. It reformed until an extremely detailed metal model of a young woman stood on the pavement.
The Admiral's eyes were wide again. "Wha.. How did you... The hell?"
Arianna had mischief in her eyes. "Just wait. It gets better."
Well, here goes nothing for my first attempt at creating sentient life! Arianna internally joked, closing her eyes. She tried to imagine that the ship was alive, could think, could make decisions. Could feel. Basically, a human mind to possess the metal of the ship. Suddenly she felt a response, pushing back against her direct control of the ship.
Ah, hello there, she addressed the new being, welcome to the world.
Who am I? It asked.
That's for you to decide. I am your creator, though you may not feel comfortable calling me that.
What am I? It asked.
Well, that's a little hard to explain. I created a warship designed to defend our home, which is currently under attack, but the Admiral is afraid to command the ship. I felt maybe making the ship a sentient being would help. Also, Elsa has made three different beings already. I... wanted to bring someone into the world myself finally.
I am war? The tone was sad.
No. I created you to defend. My approach to defense is 'have the bigger gun'. However, tying you down to just being a warship would be cruel. I've prepared a body for you; you only need take control of it for it to be yours.
Body... human? Came a hopeful response.
Sadly, no. The body is indistinguishable from a human body in shape, detail, design... But it's made of metal. That's what I can control. I'm sorry I couldn't make you a real body.
Is okay. Best you do is all ask. Where go?
I'm opening the connection now. You should feel a pull towards it; follow the current.
Thank you... Mom. came the last reply, before the being focused on its instructions.
Opening her eyes. Arianna mouthed the word. Mom. Despite how shocked she was, it felt strangely gratifying. She felt her face break into a smile.
She was greeted by a confused Admiral, waving a hand in front of her face. "Yes, Admiral?"
"Where do you go when you check out like that?" asked the Admiral with a worried look.
Arianna sighed, running outstretched fingers through her hair. "It's difficult to explain. And long," she smiled, "Tell you later."
Chuckling, she relented. "Alright, some other time." Gesturing to the body, she asked "Who's this?"
Had to give that lady credit, she was smart. "Who? Not 'what'?" said Arianna, eyebrow raising.
The Admiral shrugged. "The Queen has a talking, hugging snowman. I'm used to it."
Arianna nodded, suitably impressed. "She should be awake any moment now."
Before any response could be sent, one of the arms of the metal maiden jerked a bit. Both Arianna and the Admiral stopped talking, watching her intently. Slowly, very slowly, the new being opened her eyes, and her body assumed a much more natural position. Orange lines stood in for what would have been pupils and irises, but the sentience beheld in them was undeniable. She looked around at the world, taking in all the sights she could see. Her eyes eventually landed on the two women in front of her.
"Hello," she spoke, in a beautiful, human voice, startling the Admiral.
Arianna smirked and crossed her arms. "I thought you were used to this?" she teased.
"Not that used to it," she replied, gazing at the metal maiden in awe.
The new being seemed to have a great deal of understanding, for she reached out and put a hand on the Admiral's shoulder. "You will know me in time," she affirmed, before removing her hand and abruptly wrapping Arianna in a hug. "Mom!" she said, ecstatic.
"She's just like Princess Anna," the Admiral pointed out with a smile.
"No. She's just like me," Arianna corrected, smiling and rubbing her creation's back.
They eventually withdrew from the hug. The metal maiden sighed with content, staring Arianna in the eyes. "What do you wish me to do, Mom?" she asked.
Arianna smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Defend our home."
She nodded, stepping back. "I will," she declared with a nod, closing her eyes. Several seconds passed, the Admiral looking confused between her and Arianna.
"What exactly is she going to do?" The admiral asked.
Arianna smirked, crossing her arms. "I have no idea. Let's watch."
The new being's eyes snapped open, revealing flares of orange light in their place. She let out a war cry, shouting at the sky. The scream echoed around the entirety of Arendelle, inspiring some and terrifying others, especially the attacking fleet. She kneeled on the ground, back facing upward, and two jets of flame erupted out of her, extending several times the size of her body.
"Woah," the Admiral gasped.
The new being looked up, smirking. "I'm not done," she said, in a deep voice.
The jets of flame expanded outwards, taking the shape of wings, and she shot into the sky. Hovering above Arendelle was a new kind of being, a new defender; the Angel of Fire.
"Okay, I'm impressed," the Admiral admitted.
"She's beautiful," Arianna said, looking upon her… daughter.
"Thanks Mom," she responded. She turned, aligning with the direction the enemy fleet was, and flapped her wings; her body shot off at incredible rate, disappearing into the sky. Her wings, though, were visible, even as she approached the fleet.
"And fast. Are you sure she needs a warship? That body looked deadly enough," the Admiral commented.
Arianna just pointed at said warship, which had moved away from the docks at a fast clip, headed to position itself between the Castle and the sea.
"Ah. Perhaps I should give you my job," the Admiral joked.
Arianna shook her head. "Nah. Too much paperwork."
The Admiral laughed at that. "Too true, too true."
-LB-
"What is that?" The Duke screamed, pointing at the wings of fire coming towards them.
"I have no idea, sir!" The Lieutenant replied, mouth open in wonder.
His answer was provided seconds later, when the black object attached to the wings impacted the deck, splintering the wood. The wings disintegrated, flames dissipating into smoke tendrils.
"Is that a woman?" General Kaiser asked.
Said woman got up from her knees, glaring at him. "You could say that," she smirked. When the smoke cleared, everyone was witness to what she truly was; a maiden of black metal.
"M… monster!" The Duke cried out, hiding behind his personal guard.
The woman sighed, crossing her arms. She looked over at the General. "You in charge?"
He gulped, but placed his fist over his heart and bowed. "General Kaiser."
"General, not Admiral?" she asked in surprise.
He shrugged, unwilling to speak badly about the Duke with this many witnesses.
"Whatever," the maiden said. She held up a hand besides her head, looking uncaring as a fireball erupted from nothing. "You have intruded upon sovereign Arendelle territory, and have flat out attacked us. Your choices from this moment on should be obvious, but in case they are not," she stated, glaring at the Duke, "You can surrender and be treated as prisoners of war, or I will burn your entire fleet to ashes, sparing none. Which do you choose?"
The General gulped again, his face full of fear. He glanced at his Lieutenant, receiving a nod, then to his 'superior', the Duke.
"Don't you dare surrender to this monster!" he demanded.
The maiden smiled. "General, is a politician your superior? How… embarrassing…"
The General stared at him for several more seconds, then shook his head. He turned back to the maiden and kneeled, ignoring the sputtered threats of the Duke.
"On behalf of the fleet, I surrender to you. I only ask that my men be treated fairly, regardless of my own fate," he said, sadness in his tone.
The maiden smiled, kindly this time, and approached him. She bent down to him, extinguishing the fire in her hand, and gently grabbed his sides. He was surprised, and jumped a little, but relaxed when he realized she was merely pulling him up. She brushed off his shoulders, nodding her head. "You need not bow to me, General. Nobody has died today, and I see no reason to change that," she said.
"You coward!" The Duke spat, "I shall have your head for this!"
The maiden's gaze turned on him, and she growled. "Although exceptions could easily be made."
The weasel-like man shuddered under her gaze, trying to put his guards between them.
"Lieutenant, escort the Duke to the brig," the General ordered.
The young woman snapped to attention, uttering "Yes sir!" She moved over to the Duke, to be met with the crossbows of his personal guard.
The maiden sighed, and held out a hand. The metal of the bows began to sizzle, then bubble, and finally melted into liquid, turning too hot to be held. The guards yelped, dropping the bows, which met the deck with a loud splash.
"You test my patience, weasel," she snarled.
The Duke glared at the several crew members snickering at his less than worthy nickname before turning his gaze on her. "You will not get away with this," he spat.
She raised an eyebrow, still managing to come across as menacing. "Get away with what? Living?"
"You are not alive," came the venomous reply.
Both eyebrows raised now. "Why not? Because I'm not human?"
"You are a construct. A golem. You are not real," the Duke responded while being lead away by the Lieutenant.
She frowned, a kernel of doubt placed in her mind. Am I real?
"Do not let his words taint your mind," Kaiser told her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She turned to look at him, tilting her head. "But he is correct. I was created. I am a golem."
He shrugged. "You seem real enough to me. You spared the lives of my soldiers, spared mine, even though you are within the rights to do neither. Even if you are not real, your compassion exceeds that of those who are. That is enough for me."