Chapter Twenty Eight
The Purge of Fear
TALYA
Her body was tired, muscles aching and headache beginning to mount. Every cell in her body screamed for her to stop but she pushed further. Harder. Ice shot out of her hands with a ferocity she'd never experienced before, slamming once again into Elsa.
With an outstretched hand, the Snow Queen absorbed the full impact of Talya's sorcery. Her face did not flinch, and she walked towards Talya against the current of her ice.
"Push yourself. Test your limits. You have no idea how powerful you really are until you try." Elsa's voice rang out crisply above the roar of the torrential ice. "Harder!"
Clenching her jaw, Talya narrowed her eyes and pushed harder.
"Remember your stance. Always plant your feet." Elsa reminded her. "You never want to sacrifice your sure footing for a winning stroke. Your sorcery can't compensate for your balance."
Widening her stance, Talya dug her feet into the ground. With her arms still outstretched, Talya reached down deep into the recesses of her mind, drawing from the well of sorcery that was now so much clearer to her and more available than it had ever been in her life. That spark she had always found so hard to grasp was now easier to access, as if a mental barrier in her mind had been unlocked, which gave her far better control over her powers.
With all the strength she had, Talya unleashed another tide of ice, adding to the one that was currently bombarding Elsa. The Snow Queen was still containing the entirety of her attack with just one hand, absorbing and deflecting all the ice without breaking a sweat.
"That's more like it." Elsa continued to inch closer to Talya, who began to backpedal. "Don't retreat. That's the first sign that tells your enemy that you're letting up. You cannot show them that your tank is running empty."
"Well who said anything about empty?" Grunting, Talya leaned forward into the attack. The force of her ice was just enough to stop Elsa in her tracks, but only for a brief moment.
"Stand your ground, but know your enemy. Watch for their body language that'll reveal their next move. Combat sorcery is like a game of chess. You have to learn to read your opponent." Elsa instructed, continuing to approach within striking distance of Talya, even as the ice continued to rage on. "What does my body language tell you?"
Talya watched as Elsa brought her other hand up, and quickly, Talya stopped her own attack, rolling to the left as Elsa unleashed her own tirade of ice. Raising her arms in a crossed formation, she blocked Elsa's volley of ice, feeling herself being pushed back across the ground.
"Good. Now form a dagger and toss it at me."
"I…I can't! Your ice is too strong!" Talya exclaimed with great effort. "I can't split my focus to attack and defend at the same time."
"Yes you can. Focus. Master your senses." Elsa commanded, her attack on Talya unwavering. "Remember, your focus determines your reality. Remember what I told you about creating objects. Concentrate."
Talya could feel that Elsa wasn't even using a fraction of her true sorcery, and that the attack was only meant as a tool to keep her mind distracted. All part of the training. With whatever little strength she had left, Talya summoned the sorcery within her which now responded as quickly as an obedient dog. It readied itself for her command, and Talya tried her hardest to focus on keeping Elsa's attack at bay while forming a dagger of ice in her palm.
Reaching out with her mind, she felt the water particles in the air and mentally began to manipulate them, drawing them to her ensorcelled palm. Consolidated, the water particles began to condense, but Talya willed herself to freeze them. They formed an erratic shape which passed as a sharp object - nowhere as well carved as a blade, but it would have to do. Gritting her teeth, she used her sorcery to harden a layer of ice over her creation to reinforce it, and let it drop into her palm.
Exhausted, Talya threw herself out of the orbit of Elsa's attack, and with all her might, she hurled the ice dagger straight towards her mentor. Elsa lifted another hand, stopping the dagger in mid air and simultaneously ceasing her own attack.
"Good." Elsa sounded pleased, and with a light twitch of two fingers, the dagger crumbled into ice and mist. "You're becoming more familiar with your magic. In just one day, you've already learnt so much. I haven't seen a student pick it up this quickly in a long time."
"That's…that's great I suppose." Talya dropped to a knee, exhausted by the physical and mental exertion. Using her sorcery on such an intense level was like going for a killer workout. It drained her considerably, leaving her with little energy left to talk or think clearly.
"Hydrate yourself." Elsa formed a glass in one hand and with the other, manipulated the water particles in their surrounding vicinity into tiny droplets of ice that melted in the glass upon impact. She passed it to Talya. "Here."
"How…how did you do all that?" Talya asked breathlessly, drinking greedily from the glass.
"In time, you'll pick up all these tricks. That's why I tell you to keep pushing your limits." Elsa regarded her with a satisfied nod. "But you learn fast. Much faster than I did when I was your age. You will make a powerful Elemental Sorceress yet."
Talya finished all the water and set down the glass of ice on the ground. "Your powers…how did you manage to control them so easily?"
"It wasn't always that way. You need practice. Focus. Soon, you'll be able to form perfect shapes and weapons in your hand. Even carve a shield of ice to protect you, and more. But first, you still have much to learn." Elsa destroyed the glass of ice with the twitch of her wrist, and motioned for Talya to stand.
"Okay." Talya exhaled sharply, rolling her shoulders as she stood to her feet. "So what's next? More sparring?"
"No. I've taught you enough about combat to get you through a fight with a common sorcerer. For now that should be enough. I want to turn your focus inward."
"Inward?" Talya couldn't help but feel a little exasperated by how enigmatic and cryptic her mentor could be.
"You've learnt to suppress your fears and to let your positive emotions dominate. You've learnt to harness your powers by subjugating your fears. Now, I will teach you to face them."
"Face my fears?"
"Yes." Elsa took Talya into a separate room of the training temple, which was a small, round cave lit by candles and looked like an ancient tomb from an archaeology movie - or maybe she'd just been watching too many of those. The cave was dark and warm, and there were shelves of different liquids and mixtures labelled with all sorts of fascinating names.
"What's this?" Talya asked as Elsa gestured for her to sit down on the ground.
"Meditation chamber." Elsa responded, picking a vial of greenish liquid from one of the shelves, and pouring it into a beaker fashioned out of ice on the spot. She handed it to Talya who took it hesitantly. "Drink."
"What?"
"It'll help you to see what you need to see." Elsa said cryptically.
"And what's that?"
"Your fears."
Talya sniffed the contents of the beaker and blanched. "I don't know if this is such a good idea."
"If you want to reach your true potential as an Elemental Sorceress, you need to face your fears and purge them. Otherwise, they will always hold you back." Elsa knelt before Talya. "Drink it."
"Okay, okay." Talya looked at the vial. It didn't look pleasant at all, but then again, what magic potion did? Closing her eyes and scrunching up her nose, she lifted the vial to her lips and tipped it. The moment the liquid touched her tongue, a sweet and slightly sour taste overwhelmed her senses, and she swallowed hard. Chancing open her eye, she found that Elsa was no longer in front of her.
"What-where did-" her own voice echoed deep in her ears. Confused, Talya stood up and surveyed her surroundings. She was no longer in the meditation chamber, and neither was she in Elsa's ice sanctuary. In fact, she wasn't even on Ahtohallan anymore.
"I don't believe this." Talya murmured, glancing around her. She was back in her old bedroom that she'd used as a child, and she watched as a younger version of herself was berated by her father - the same dreadful scene from her recurring nightmares that plagued her throughout her life.
"Tell me what you see." Elsa's voice sounded so far away, but it was distinctly there.
"My old bedroom in Arendelle palace," Talya reported, her own voice still echoing unpleasantly. "My father scolding me for letting my powers show in public."
"And this…this is what you're afraid of?"
"No." Talya watched grimly as her younger self burst into tears, and a flurry of snow descended upon the room, forcing her father to backpedal in a panic. "I'm afraid that the ones who I care about see me as a monster."
"There will always be people who believe us to be monsters." Elsa said. "The League and I were branded as monsters and exiled as witches."
"I read about it. The Continental Anti-Sorcerers Treaty." Talya continued to watch as her father fled the room, leaving her younger self to sort out her sorcery alone through her tears. "What happened?"
"We had to convince humanity through our actions that we weren't evil just because we were different. And that is something you have to do for yourself. Though you will always face those who think of you as a monster, it's what you perceive of yourself that defines everything."
Talya couldn't help but smile as she observed her mother running into the room and embracing her younger self, and watched as the sorcery faded. "I understand."
"What other fears do you possess? Face them here and now."
Closing her eyes again, Talya dug deep into her psyche for things she had long since buried beneath the surface. Scrabbling beyond the layers of events and memories, she plunged herself into the darkest parts of her mind. When she peeled open her eyes, she was in the middle of the castle's audience chambers. This time, there was no younger self or her parents. Instead, she was in the middle of the forest clearing which belonged to the Northuldra settlement. The soldiers were closing in on her position, while Val and Peggy were similarly engaged in battle alongside the Northuldra on the other side of the forest clearing.
"What do you see?"
"I see…myself in battle. Alongside my friends." Talya watched as an identical copy of herself launched herself forward with hands outstretched, freezing everything in her orbit. The soldiers were frozen to the ground, encased in ice. But in that effort, she had not only frozen the enemies. She had encapsulated Val and Peggy in ice too, along with the rest of the Northuldra.
"And what happens?"
"I…I end up hurting the ones I care about by accident. Killing the very people I'm trying to protect." Talya's eyes watered as she watched her other self scrabble to free Val and Peggy, only for the ice surrounding them to crack and explode, killing her brother and friend in the process. There was nothing left of them in the end, leaving Talya alone in the cold wreckage, surrounded by falling snow.
"You fear that your powers will hurt your loved ones."
"Yes." Talya wiped away her tears.
"Don't shy away. Face your fears."
"How?"
"Only you can know that."
Talya finished drying her eyes and was once again supernaturally transported to yet another scene. She was now standing in the middle of the long red carpet in the castle's enormous ballroom. General Bjorn stood at the end of the room on the elevated platform at the top of the flight of stairs, gloating and mocking her. All around her were cages suspended over bottomless pits. And in those cages were Val, Peggy, Prime Minister Johan, Aslak, Orm and so many others that she cared for.
"No." Talya said through gritted teeth, planting her feet. "I will not allow you to kill the people I love."
"And how will you stop me?" Bjorn threw his head back and laughed in the dramatic megalomaniac fashion of a bad soap opera villain. "You can't even stop yourself from hurting your friends! It's impossible!"
"No, it's necessary." Talya shot a volley of ice which threw the general off his feet. Instantly the bottom of the cages sprung open and everyone she cared about began to plunge towards the bottomless pits, screaming and flailing. Throwing her hands in both directions, she willed the sorcery to work the way Elsa had taught her.
Bridges and slides of ice began to form below her friends, descending and winding away from all the pits. Her friends slid down her ice creations to safety and began to cheer for her once they were out of harm's way. Talya couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief and a smile crossed her face.
"What did you do?" Elsa's voice rang out.
"I harnessed my fear." Talya responded as she was surrounded by her grateful friends while others escorted a subdued Bjorn away. "Turning my fear into a strength. To use my sorcery to help my loved ones and not hurt them."
"Then you've conquered your fears," Elsa sounded satisfied. "How do you feel?"
"Peaceful." Talya smiled and closed her eyes. The sounds of everything else began to fade away, until all she could hear was her own breathing. Slowly, she opened her eyes again to find herself back in the dimly lit meditation chamber, where Elsa was still kneeling in front of her.
Her mentor stood up, looking pleased. "You've confronted your fears and purged them. Now, you're unhindered in your mind, and that's where the real power lies."
"I feel so…peaceful." Talya admitted, getting to her feet with Elsa's help. "Like a weight has just been lifted off my shoulders."
"Remember that peace. And do not let your fears dominate you in battle." Elsa instructed her, guiding her out of the meditation chamber and back into the training hall. "Always take your fears and turn them into something worth fighting for. In your case, to fight for those you care about."
"I will," Talya said gratefully. "Thank you for showing me the way."
"You still have much to learn, young lady," Elsa let slip a small smile. "Don't start thinking you're good to go just yet."
"Right." Talya felt a vibration in her pocket and pulled out her phone, frowning. She'd set her phone to silent so that she could fully concentrate on her training. But yet her phone was buzzing, which only happened if there was an emergency. Gazing at her phone, she frowned. It was a video call from Val.
"What's wrong?" Elsa asked.
"It's Val." Talya answered the call and Bjorn showed up on her screen, much to her dismay.
"Not who you were expecting, I wager." Bjorn said stolidly.
"Bjorn. What are you doing with my brother's phone?"
"Prince Valloken is fine, if that's what you're asking." Bjorn assured her. "However," he turned the phone so that it showed Val and Peggy on their knees, with rifles being pointed at them by enemy soldiers. "That might not be the case much longer."
"You leave them alone!" Talya snapped.
"I'm assuming you knew nothing about my ultimatum. I'm afraid your brother neglected to inform you."
"Inform me what?"
"That if you and your brother don't surrender yourselves to me in forty eight hours, I will slaughter Arendellian soldiers to sate my bloodlust. Unfortunately, I made your brother that ultimatum yesterday morning. Which leaves you with only…" Bjorn checked his tactical watch. "Fifteen hours to surrender yourself into my custody. Now I'm aware that you've been hiding your identity as a sorceress and that you've undergone training with the legendary Snow Queen. But that is of little concern to me."
"We'll see how you feel about that after I kick your ass and send you and your army floating back to the Southern Isles."
"Then come face me." Bjorn gestured at Val and Peggy. "Or as much as I would hate to do so, I will be forced to punish them."
"Don't you dare."
Bjorn looked amused. "Are you threatening me? Don't forget who's in control here."
Talya watched Val struggle to his feet in defiance. "Talya, don't listen to him!"
"Quiet." Bjorn spun round and a fist connected with Val's jaw with such ferocity that Talya flinched. Her brother's eyes rolled back and he slumped as Peggy struggled against the enemy soldiers to go to Val's side. The general towered over both of them, seemingly having forgotten about Talya.
"I said leave them out of this!" Talya snapped.
"Then you know what you have to do." Bjorn said, turning the phone's focus back to himself and obscuring Val and Peggy from Talya's sight. "You have less than fifteen hours."
The call was ended and Talya was left staring at the blank screen of her phone. She felt panic rising and quelled it quickly.
"They're in trouble." Elsa said.
"Yeah. I have to go." Setting her jaw, Talya began marching towards the exit before hesitating, and then turning round to face Elsa. "Am I ready?"
Elsa studied her for a moment then shook her head regretfully. "No. Nowhere near ready to stop a Blood Mage. You're powerful and you know the basics, but…"
"I'm not ready." Talya finished quietly, resigning herself to her fate. She knew that she had no choice. Ready or not, she had to face Bjorn, otherwise Val and Peggy were dead. That was a sacrifice she was going to have to make.
"That's why I'm coming with you."
"What?" Talya's eyes grew wide. "But…but you said-"
"I know what I said." Elsa said sharply. "Don't make me reconsider it."
"But why?"
"You've reminded me how important family is. I've spent enough time living as a recluse, shutting myself away from the rest of the world. I can't stand by anymore, watching this Blood Mage kill what's left of my family and terrorising my home. My people." Elsa drew herself up, steeling her slightly wrinkled features. "I've spent enough decades making this mistake. It's time for the Snow Queen to return one last time."
Nodding in gratitude, Talya felt her hopes rising again. With Elsa by her side, she stood a far better chance of saving her people, defeating Bjorn and driving the Southern Isles out once and for all. "Then what are we waiting for?"
Elsa nodded. "I'll summon the Nokk."
Author's Commentary:
I hope you liked this chapter! It was very heavily inspired by the way the Jedi are trained in Star Wars. It was also a refreshing perspective I've never written before, which is of Elsa as a seasoned, master sorceress who has control over every aspect of her magic, and she's now teaching it to our young protagonist. Our story is slowly creeping to the pre-climax, so stay stoked and if you haven't checked out my other stories set in the same universe in Anna and Elsa's prime, you're missing out!