~Chapter 25~
Elsa
There was a terrible weight that hit my chest not long after the Nokk took off. Something was squeezing me from the inside and it hurt. My lungs? My ribs? I wasn't sure what. All I felt was pain. My air in this small chamber was diminishing by the minute. All I could do was conserve my energy and try to keep calm so I wouldn't breathe too heavily. I eventually lost track of time and I found myself unsure of how long I had been here. Hours? Minutes? I wasn't entirely sure. I don't know if this feeling was a side effect of being trapped in here or I was passing out or something. The Nokk wouldn't let me down though as I passed out again, even if the Nokk found him and brought Marcus here, it might already be too late. I could almost swear I heard my voice being yelled as if it were so far away and I tried to remain awake. This whole time I stood in the room though not pacing or anything to quicken my heartbeat. Though moments later, I hit the floor passing out in the darkness again.
The next thing I knew, the pain in my chest was gone and I was looking up at the moonlight and the brightness from all the surrounding fires still going on. Marcus had me in his lap perched across his legs.
"Elsa?" He spoke softly moving a piece of my blonde hair from my eyes.
I tried to sit up, but he helped me as I felt still very woozy.
"What happened?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me."
"The Nokk found you...that's a relief."
"You're telling me. Look, I wish you could rest awhile, but we have to get back to Arendelle."
"Y-Yes of course. Anna needs to know we're okay."
I called for the Nokk who came forth from the waters of the waterfall. Marcus rode us back to Arendelle with all haste and my heart broke as I saw the aftermath from the fires. Some were still burning while the majority were just little embers on trees, but the destruction was immense. With every mile we traversed back to Arendelle, I saw no speck of green, organic plant life anywhere. I fell quiet as I gazed out across the landscape as far as my eyes could see, there were no words to express. As the fifth spirit, it's my job to maintain balance and peace between all living things. Kuva destroyed that balance in a matter of hours and something in my gut told me that he wasn't done yet.
"Did you find Yelana, Elisa, and the rest of the Northuldrans?" I asked suddenly.
"I made sure they were safe and that's when the Nokk came to find me."
"It was reckless wandering into that room, I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Elsa. Anyone would have probably done the same in search of answers. You weren't reckless, but definitely lucky."
"I just hope Anna, Kristoff, and the others are okay."
"We'll know soon enough, but I'm confident that they're fine. Anna can handle herself."
I knew he was right, but I still felt worried.
Marcus tried to distract me with getting a plan in his head as we galloped along. He always had the 'must be prepared' attitude. Even though he hadn't been my loyal guard in quite some time, I don't think those skills just disappear when so ingrained within someone. We rounded a rocky bend coming from the east toward Arendelle and my stomach lurched as I looked on toward my home. The grassy knolls surrounding Arendelle were black like tar. Wildflowers that grew all around the area-gone. Remains of trees were half broken and charred. Though as we got closer, we began to see remains-human remains. I saw a burned flag beside one of the bodies and it was hard to make out, but I knew this was no Arendelle flag. It was a Southern Isles insignia. What was at first a battlefield became a huge graveyard thanks to Kuva and his malice. If Magnus did officially make a move against Arendelle, that made us enemies yet again, but even so, I wouldn't wish a fate like this on anyone. It was brutal.
I looked to the port and saw smoke rising from what probably used to be the Southern Isles armada. I couldn't think about that now. The Nokk brought us forward quickly. The palace still stood from what I could see, but lacking much structural integrity. As we approached the front gates, what was left of them, the destruction to the palace was worse than I thought. The courtyard was in shambles and stone and rock covered the entire area. Walls had been shredded and it was a mess as far as I could see. Marcus and I quickly hopped off the Nokk's back and went to assess the rest of the damage and find someone...anyone. We raced through the dilapidated front gates and I screamed my sister's name. Marcus called for Kristoff and Olaf and still no answers were heard. My heart was racing inside my chest as Marcus grabbed my hand in his as we entered into the heart of the palace through a large gash in the wall. There was rubble and debris everywhere. We maneuvered around the various slabs of concrete in our way and I continued calling for my sister and finally a voice answered though it wasn't Anna.
"Elsa?" A muffled voice replied, it was Kristoff.
"Yes, Marcus and I are here, keep talking so we can find you." I replied.
We weren't far off and began digging through a pile of rubble. Marcus and I worked together yanking the large rocks out of our way trying to free our family. After yanking against five or six big rocks, we uncovered Kristoff, Olaf, Hans, and Sven all trapped.
"Elsa!" Olaf cheered excitedly.
He hopped out from the rubble and hugged my leg. Marcus extended a hand to Kristoff and Hans. They were all covered in dust and dirt with a few scrapes here and there, but all things considered, it could have been worse. Though there was one face absent from the group.
"Where is Anna? Did she get out?" I asked Kristoff.
"We were all trying to, but the walls caved in so quickly." Kristoff replied, "A rock giant shielded her from the brunt of debris and I could hear her talk for a little while, but then she fell quiet."
"Where?" I asked.
Kristoff pointed to an even taller pile of rubble just a few feet away and in a panic. I ran toward the pile and began yanking against the cement slabs. Everyone began helping especially Sven having a leg up with his antlers. It took us about a half hour to even be able to see her. We pulled back the rocks wide enough so that someone could crawl through and get her. Kristoff wanted to, but it was going to be me. I pulled myself down into the pile of rubble going head first and used blocks of ice to leverage my way through. It was tricky, but I managed.
"Anna?" I called, "Anna, open your eyes!"
I pulled myself down beside her and she was in a dangerous spot. Between the blood coming out of her head and her leg pinned in an unnatural way, I wasn't sure how bad it was until she would wake. I checked her pulse and it was racing fast. Marcus and Kristoff were gazing down the hole watching me curiously.
"She okay?" Kristoff asked.
"Could be worse." I called up to them.
From down here, I had to start digging her out. I had to use my ice as leverage. Little by little, I began to push the pile of rocks and debris off of my sister, but it was a grueling process. I don't know how long I was shuffling my ice magic around, but I felt a lot better once I got everything off her. The final rock was the one pinning her foot in place, it must have been a major release for Anna because right after, she woke up groaning in pain. Clearly dazed and disoriented, she looked up at me with wide eyes.
"E-Elsa?" She muttered reaching out her arm extending it toward me.
"I'm right here, Anna." I said grabbing her hand.
"Are you okay?"
"I should be asking you that." I said wiping the blood off her face.
"I'm okay. I'm sure it looks worse than it is." She nodded.
My sister, forever the optimist.
"How's the foot?" I asked, "Think you can walk on it?"
"I'll try, but I might need some help."
Anna put her arm around my shoulder and I helped her get on her feet. We managed with some minor wobbling, but she definitely couldn't put weight on it.
"I'm sure Grand Pabbie could fix this with a snap of his fingers." Anna said.
"I don't even know where to find him with everything happening outside."
"Well, then I guess I get to deal." Anna shrugged.
I made a thin slab of ice for my sister to lay on and told the boys to find some rope. This was the fastest solution. Their faces disappeared from the opening above us, but then reappeared after a few minutes. Marcus slid one end of the rope down to us.
"When I tell you, you are going to pull the rope. Got it?"
They nodded their understanding and I secured Anna on the slab of ice wrapping the rope around her so the guys could pull her up and out. I gave them the go ahead and Anna slid up easily joining the guys. I followed making a small circle of ice below my feet and pushed a slab of ice underneath to push me out too joining the others.
"Nice save." Marcus said, grabbing my hand.
"We're all safe." Kristoff added.
"Too bad we're not all snow people because this isn't the worst day out there for me." Olaf said.
"Fire isn't a bad day?" Marcus questioned him.
"Oh I thought we were talking about the falling debris." Olaf laughed.
Anna hopped on Sven's back so she could get off her bad foot and we all knew we had to make some sort of plan.
"Is everyone safe?" I asked Anna.
"We got them out before the worst of it happened." She answered, "An earth giant saved me, but then something happened to it. Like it lost its face and just became a pile of rocks."
"What?" I muttered.
"Is that even possible?" Marcus asked, "Unless my uncle had a hand in that like everything else around here. I have to stop him."
I squeezed my husband's hand.
"I'm the fifth spirit and this is on me." I said determinedly.
"But not alone, not anymore." Marcus replied.
"And not without us." Anna added, as Kristoff sat on Sven's back behind her.
"Anna, no," I snapped, "We have powers to defend against James, you guys don't."
"Well this is a deja vu moment, isn't it?" Anna joked, "But hey if we look in this book, we might find something."
"What book?" Hans chimed in.
Anna looked around and hobbled over the hole of debris we pulled her from. I followed her and there was a book sitting on the ground back down there. It was no trouble and shot a slab of ice underneath the book and caught it in midair.
"Nice shot," Anna clapped, "Here let me see it."
I glanced at the cover and couldn't even make out the title.
"Uh, why is this book important for our current situation?"
"Yeah, you ran back to the library to get it as we were trying to follow everyone to the catacombs." Kristoff added, "It wasn't your best idea."
"Kristoff!" Anna said, raising an accusatory brow.
"Well, it wasn't." He said, putting up his hands.
"Okay, you two." Marcus interrupted before I got the chance, "Anna, what's so special about this book?"
"It was the only one of its kind in the library." She answered.
"And why is that such a big deal?" Hans chimed in.
Anna hesitated a reply, I could read her expression plain as day. She was embarrassed.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I saw this woman in a dream I had just before that creature started wrecking everything."
"What woman?" I pressed.
"I'm not sure, but she said something that stuck with me."
"Maybe it was a relative you've seen a picture of and your subconscious dreamt it up?" Marcus shrugged.
"She was of high status just based on how she was dressed." Anna continued.
"Maybe from dad's side of the family? After all, mom was Northuldran…" I added.
"I'm afraid you lost me." Marcus said.
"What did she say that was so important?" I asked.
"She said, 'Only when the bridge of both worlds come together can the tyrant be stopped.' Not to mention she said that answered were to be found where knowledge was stored."
"Okay, so the library." I said.
"This strange book was one unique book that was found."
"That was all me," Olaf piped up, "You're welcome." He giggled.
"I don't like the sound of this." Marcus added.
"Well, let's investigate this book." I urged.
We all huddled closer together and began rifling through the pages. This book was definitely quite aged and some pages were torn with horribly faded and yellowed pages. None of us could make it out.
"Wait," I said, "The bridge of both worlds?" I said glancing at my sister, "Anna, it's us."
"Huh?" She said, raising a confused brow.
"You're the non magical end for the kingdom and I'm the fifth spirit for the magical end. It fits."
"But we don't know how to take that creature down."
"And my ice magic didn't seem to phase him." I added.
"Let's keep looking." Marcus urged.
We all scanned through the book feeling completely unsure about what we were trying to look for. Anna was so confident that this book held the answers to something, but it seemed like a false lead to me. Hans went to climb through the rubble to return to the library to see if he could find anything else and Kristoff volunteered to go with him. He didn't trust him yet and that was understandable. No one else but me had really seen the changes within Hans. As Kristoff and Hans went climbing through the debris, Anna snapped me back to attention.
"Hello, earth to Elsa."
"Yeah," I muttered, "Sorry."
"Do you recognize this script? It's not Northuldran, right?"
Anna showed me the page while Marcus looked over my shoulder. Out of everything else in this random book, I could read this. The text looked different than what was on the other pages and its message wasn't entirely clear.
"The worlds of ice and fire hold the key to stopping the disasters brought on by the Tyrant. Obsidian is the key when wielded by one with no power can bring the tyranny of the evil one down."
There was a rough sketched image on the next page that was quite enlightening. On the page was a beast that didn't look like Kuva, but what did I know, maybe he can take different forms. Though one common thing easily distinguishable was its enormous size. The creature was flying in the image and below it was a sketch of a person with some kind of weapon in their hand preparing to throw. The weapon was no sword, crossbow, or any type of weapon I had seen. I didn't even know how to get our hands on something like that.
"Elsa, you see something, don't you?" Marcus asked, quickly.
I didn't get a chance to answer before a terrible roar sent a chill down my spine. Hans, Kristoff, and Olaf rejoined us as well all gathered outside the palace walls, which was easy since most of the walls were destroyed already. The creature has headed up toward the peak of the north mountain probably preparing to perch up there for the view. I don't know what James was planning, but after trying to decipher that book, I knew I was the one who had to try.
"Anna, you're-"
"I'm going." She snapped, grabbing my hand.
"Well of course you are, silly." I smirked, "I was merely going to ask you to lead the way."
Marcus grabbed my arm yanking me toward him.
"Elsa, we're not separating, that's hardly a good idea."
"Did I say 'we' we were?" I said raising a brow.
"It was implied." Marcus said, with an obvious eye roll.
I walked toward Hans looking serious.
"I need a favor."
"Just ask." He nodded.
"Go find Rapunzel and regroup with the rest of the ARendelle people. Make sure they're safe. It's dangerous where we're going and Rapunzel needs to know what's going on."
"But my past sins," Hans muttered, "Nobody won't want to hear a word that comes from my mouth."
I paused, I knew he was right, but this was a situation of trust.
"Just speak to Rapunzel directly and if Grand Pabbie needs to, he can cast a truth charm to prove your validity."
"It's a long shot, but I'll do it. There's no time to argue." Hans nodded.
Olaf looked between us and started marching toward the mountain passage, but I stopped him.
"What's wrong, Elsa?" Olaf asked.
"There's going to be lots of heat where we're going." I said.
"Yeah, Marcus is going." Olaf laughed.
Anna knelt down beside me.
"Olaf, we want you safe. You can't come with us this time. Sorry."
"What?" He muttered, completely dumbfounded.
"We know you want to help and the best way of doing that is to join Hans and make sure our people are safe. Can you do that?" I asked.
Olaf agreed and hugged us quickly and whispered quietly to us.
"I'll keep an eye on Hans, don't worry."
As he marched over to Hans, Anna approached Kristoff.
"You should go with him too."
"What? Anna…" Kristoff protested.
She gently brought her hand to his cheek as Kristoff looked so dejected.
"You told me a while ago that you were here for me and asked what I needed. Well, I need you to stay safe. Elsa clearly found clues within those pages, so that's what we're working toward, but I want someone with the people. I need you to stay safe, Kristoff."
He frowned. It's a rare sight to see Kristoff so upset. His eyes downcast and his face devoid of a smile or sarcastic remark.
"You're seriously going to force me to stay behind?" he asked.
"If she won't, I will." I answered by raising my hands letting them glow, "I know to erect a fifty foot ice wall and I can go taller."
"Not necessary." Kristoff replied, "I'll cooperate, but I hate this." He said glancing back at Anna. He pulled her in for a tight hug and as she pulled back, he kissed her. It lingered a bit almost as if to say goodbye. I understood Anna's reasons and would respect her wishes, but Kristoff could have accompanied us. The four of us moved forward toward the mountain pass that would lead us up to the north mountain. I looked over at my sister who tried to be strong, but I could tell she was upset as she glanced back at Kristoff as we widened the gap between us and him.