All right viewers, I'm gonna move on with the story. In this chapter, Daniel will begin to learn how to really tap into those magical abilities of his, and just for a little spoiler he'll have the help of the two who have the most faith in him. Know who I mean? Well, if not, you're about to find out soon enough. Let's go.
A week had gone by since King Adgar's mother had come to stay. Since she'd come, everything was calm. There were no attacks from goblins or other monsters, but the King and Arendelle's captain of the guards had been training all the volunteered men to help fight. They taught them everything the guards knew.
Though there were no attacks, Daniel was still very much concerned about it all. He still wondered about the champion of darkness and the goblins being embodiments of darkness.
He was in his room in the castle, putting some heavy thought into all the incidents that have happened in the past. He was standing outside on the balcony of his room and was fiddling with a little ball of fire in his left palm.
He turned that ball of fire into multiple different forms, like an eagle, a castle, a whale and Elsa.
He kept that ball of fire in the form of Elsa and just stared directly at it, focusing his full attention on it.
Just then, the doors of his room opened, and as quick as he could, he turned that fire back to a ball, then closed up his palm, extinguishing it.
He turned around to see Elsa and King Adgar.
"Hi," Elsa said to him.
"Hey," Daniel replied.
"You all right?" the king asked.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You seem troublesome lately. It's these attacks that have occurred in the past, isn't it, son?"
"I guess there's no hiding it. Yes, it's all these attacks. I'm just so concerned as to if it may be true. Could the champion of darkness really be restoring himself after over 800 years? If he does return, then what'll happen. What if the rumors are wrong? What if there is no descendant of the champion of light?"
"I thought you said it was known that there is," Elsa wondered.
"I don't know what to believe anymore. All these events happening is putting so much strain on me and I can't focus on anything anymore." Daniel slumped down on his bed.
Elsa walked over and sat down next to him. "I don't think I've ever asked you this before. But I need to know, do you have trouble controlling your powers or any of your magic."
"Not exactly. But I know there's still much to unlock deep down. I know I'm not even close to figuring out to what they can really do. Deep down, I know they're stronger, but I can't seem to figure out what needs to be done. No matter how hard I've tried, I can't seem to figure it out."
"Maybe you just need a little push is all," King Adgar suggested. "Maybe Elsa and I can help you."
"Do you have any answers in the library or something?" Daniel asked.
"Not exactly. What I meant was, what if we helped you train. Maybe doing training with our help can help you figure them out. What do you say?"
"I guess we could try," Daniel decided to go along with it.
The king looked to his daughter. "Elsa. Do you think your ice palace would make a good place to train?"
"I think that'll work just fine."
"Well, then what are we waiting for?" asked King Adgar. "Let's go."
"Okay. Where are we headed?" Daniel asked following Elsa and King Adgar.
"North Mountain. My palace is up there," Elsa replied.
The trio walked through the halls of the castle, making their way outside to the stables.
Even from inside they could hear men yelling in their training with the guards outside.
They all walked down the long, swirling staircase, and at the bottom of the stairs, they ran into Queen Idun, Anna and Kristoff.
"Where are you going?" Idun asked.
"We think we know how to help him. He needs to be trained to learn how to use his powers properly. We're gonna take him out to Elsa's palace on the North Mountain to train him." Adgar answered.
"When will you be back?" Idun asked again.
"We'll probably be up there for a few days. So before we head out, we'll need food and winter clothes."
So then they'd all left the room they were at and started to pack some things.
King Adgar had packed a load of hot foods and a few winter supplied that Kristoff lent him, like the pick ax and the rope he'd gotten from Oaken's trading post, along with the clothes for him and Daniel as well.
They'd packed it all in a big backpack, which Daniel volunteered to carry, seeing as how with food, pots, pans and supplies packed into it, made it really heavy, but for Daniel, light as a feather.
Outside the castle, the trio had gone out to the stables, to gather their horses.
King Adgar and Elsa got their personal horses, which were the ones they'd rode out to the destroyed village.
"Come here, son. We got plenty of horses. Take you pick," King Adgar gestured to the stable which had at least 2 dozen horses.
"That won't be necessary," Daniel replied.
"Well, you can't go up the mountain on foot, the palace is miles from here," said Elsa.
"Who said I was planning to go on foot?"
"Now I'm confused," said King Adgar.
"Come here," Daniel walked out of the stables, and Elsa and King Adgar followed him.
He stood in a clear spot and started to scale it with his hands.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asked.
"Looking for a clear enough spot."
"For what?" she asked again.
"This'll do," Daniel looked back to Elsa and the king with a smile on his face. "Watch this." He turned back and then whistled loudly.
Then, all of a sudden, light gray mists slowly began to shroud the air, and then the sound of a horse whinnying was heard.
"Where'd that come from?" King Adgar asked.
"Look," Daniel pointed straight to the mists, which were getting thicker by the minute.
"I don't see anything," King Adgar spoke out.
"Look closer," Daniel said again still pointing to the mists.
Both King Adgar and Elsa looked to the mists, and then from out of thin air, a horse's shadow appeared in the thick, gray mist, and it was walking closer.
The whinnying sound came again and the shadow horse walked closer, as if it were coming right out of the mist.
The mist started to fade into thin air, and as it did, the horse started to slowly turn lifelike.
Once the mist was gone, the same horse from Daniel's vision stood there. It had light gray fur, and a black spot on its back.
"That was amazing," Elsa said in awe.
Daniel walked up to the horse and it sniffed him right in the face.
"Steady girl. Easy," Daniel said to the horse. And he turned back to Elsa and the king. "What do you think?"
"She's wonderful," said King Adgar while he and Elsa walked up to the gray horse.
"I call her Blaze."
"How did you do that? You whistled and she came right out of that mist," Elsa wondered.
"Even I'm not sure, but like how the book did, she came with a note. In fact I think I still have it with me." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded and crinkled piece of paper, which he gave to the king.
King Adgar unfolded it and read it. "'For Daniel Simmons. This horse has an ability to come and go. It's neither alive nor dead, and to call for it, just believe and concentrate, then whistle.' Another note without a name?"
"I think whoever sent me Blaze here, is the same person that gave me that book. But what I'm still wondering is who is that person?"
"I'm sure you'll find your answer one day. Anyhow, are you ready to head out?" King Adgar asked Daniel.
Yep. Let's go," Daniel replied while mounting his gray horse.
Both Elsa and her father mounted their horses as well.
"Elsa, you know the way up there. Lead us," King Adgar said to his daughter.
"Yes, Father." Elsa replied and snapped the reins on her snow white horse, which started to run off.
Daniel and King Adgar did the same and their horses also ran off, following Elsa.
The trio rode up to the mountains and through the wilderness. They'd seen very few animals on the way there, and the ones they did see, were either deer or birds.
They'd gone through the wilderness for at least 3 hours, with their horses taking it slow every 20 minutes or so. For a little bit longer of going, they'd decided to stop for a minute, which they did near a ledge.
From that ledge, they could see the whole kingdom in the distance. The ledge was the same place Anna and Kristoff had stopped when Elsa froze summer.
"Would you look at this view?" said King Adgar who was staring down to the kingdom and the sunset on the horizon. "You can see the whole kingdom of Arendelle from here."
Elsa and Daniel had walked up next to him and also took a good look at it.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Elsa asked both Daniel and King Adgar.
"It is beautiful," King Adgar replied.
"It is," Daniel also answered. "So how much farther is the North Mountain."
"Try looking behind," King Adgar said turning around.
Both he and Elsa did the same thing and looked straight up to see the mountain.
"Probably another hour," King Adgar spoke up.
The trio went and mounted their horses, and made them start walking again.
After going for almost another hour, things started to get cold, and they could see snow all over on the grounds just up ahead.
"I think now would be a good time to get our winter clothes on," King Adgar said stopping his horse.
Elsa and Daniel also stopped and Daniel brought over the backpack for King Adgar.
King Adgar went through all their supplies, until he pulled out two snowsuits; one had a navy blue jacket with black snow pants, and the other had a black jacket and snow pants that were a dark gray, so it almost looked black.
"This is my old one," King Adgar gave Daniel the blue and gray snowsuit. "If my old suit fit you, I don't see any reason why the snow clothes won't."
Daniel first put on the jacket and buttoned it up, then he took the snow pants and threw them over what he was already wearing, and King Adgar had done the same.
"A perfect fit," Daniel said, straightening his snow suit. "I'm also gonna put this on for good measure." He then pulled his black robe from the backpack. "This robe was given to me by a couple of citizens I'd saved from goblins in the past. They wanted me to stay the night with them cause it was a cold one, but I wouldn't have it. But the man who'd lived there insisted I take his old robe. He said it'd kept him warm and dry in the past, which did the same for me."
"So, then the whole time you were out there, helping people, you never asked for anything in return?" Elsa clarified.
"Not once. Knowing those people were safe and knowing I did the right thing, was reward enough for me."
Then the trio started to come upon a part of the forest, where the trees were all covered in ice crystals, dangling like chandeliers. And in the center of the forest, was a small, frozen waterfall.
"Did you do all this?" Daniel asked and stopped his horse to admire the beauty of the ice.
"Yup. Do you like it?" Elsa responded also stopping her horse.
"I love it. You have a gift. You really do."
"Thank you," Elsa accepted his compliment.
"This is wonderful, sweetheart. I never knew what you could be capable of," King Adgar said also staring at the ice crystals.
"When I'd run away from Arendelle, I was thinking the exact same thing. And I actually got to see what my powers could do when I made that palace. I did so much, that it felt good to be free. When I hurt Anna all those years ago, I felt nothing but fear, and I never felt so trapped. It was like I'd become a prisoner of my own magic. Since I was locked in my room, there wasn't a day that went by that I felt guilty for what I'd done to my sister. I spent every day and night, just wishing I could take that night back."
"Okay, I'm really confused," Daniel spoke up. "What are you talking about."
"Let's keep going," said King Adgar. "We'll explain it all on the way."
And the trio moved on with their horses, and Elsa and King Adgar both began explaining what happened, starting with the incident in the ballroom.
The trio had gone for another 15 minutes, and finally Elsa and King Adgar finished explaining.
"So you froze your own sister in the head, and the trolls wiped her memory to get the ice out?" Daniel was catching up.
"You got it," King Adgar replied.
"And to protect her, you locked Elsa here in her room, which you spent 13 years in, just trying to learn to get control of your powers?"
"There you go," Elsa answered.
"Well, now it all makes sense."
"I'd never felt so alone in my life. Especially after my parents died. All I wanted was to be with Anna, but I was too scared to open that door, because I couldn't bear to see her get hurt because of me again. And when I ran away, I thought it was the right thing to do. I thought I was finally free from my fears, but I was wrong. Because that fear was strong enough to set off an eternal winter."
And then it'd come in sight; Elsa's giant icy blue palace standing tall, looming over them all.
"I've seen a lot of interesting things while I've been here, but this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Daniel said in awe.
Elsa and King Adgar walked towards the stairs, which were broken in the middle, and at the bottom, had a big snow pile sitting next to them.
Daniel who didn't even notice, quickly walked up with them.
Then, all of a sudden, that snow pile next to the stairs, turned into a big snow monster.
It took its whole body form and stood over them then looked to Daniel and pointed at him.
"It's okay, Marshmallow. He's a friend."
"Marshmallow?" Daniel asked confusedly.
"Yeah. Olaf was the one who gave him that name, and I don't know why but I thought it was a good name for him," Elsa said giggling.
"What's that on his head," Daniel said noticing something small and shiny on top of its head.
Elsa and King Adgar also looked up.
"Is that my tiara you're wearing?" Elsa asked smiling at the snow monster.
Marshmallow brought out his icy claws to grab the tiara off his head, then held it out for Elsa.
"No, it's okay. You can keep it."
And Marshmallow put it back on his head.
"If you see anything come, just keep them out and yell for me. Okay?" Elsa clarified.
The snow monster nodded its head and then turned back into a snow pile.
"Shall we?" Elsa asked her father and Daniel.
And the trio began to walk up the ice steps.
"Hold on. I've been meaning to fix these," Elsa stopped and then shot a flurry from her hands, which turned to ice and fixed the broken parts of the stairs.
After she fixed it, they all went up the stairs and up to the doors of the place. Elsa pushed the doors open and walked in, while King Adgar and Daniel followed close behind.
Inside the palace, there were the stairs, multiple doorways around the place and a frozen fountain in the middle of both the sets of icy stairs.
"It's even better looking on the inside," Daniel said as he admired the place.
"I was amazed at it myself when I built it," Elsa said walking around, admiring it herself.
"So down to business. How are we gonna do this?" Daniel asked.
"Elsa and I were talking about it the other day, and we decided that we'll do certain things like giving you fighting targets, test your speed and skills by having you run and climb certain areas around here," King Adgar replied.
"For example," Elsa stepped up and then waved her hands in front of her, making a flurry of snow. With that flurry they created three small blizzards, which flurried right in front of Daniel, materializing ice statues of goblins. "Imagine these as real goblins. Use your powers to blast them to shards like they were real ones."
"Suit up!" King Adgar exclaimed.
Daniel threw his robe aside, then made a wall of fire surround him, and materialized his suit of armor from the flames.
Elsa and King Adgar stepped off to the side to give Daniel room.
Daniel walked to the targets and readied himself.
"Here's how we'll do this: Elsa and I will stand off to the side, giving you commands on what to do," said King Adgar.
"Sounds good to me."
"All right. On those targets. Winds of iron," King Adgar commanded.
Daniel put his hands in front of them, crossed them over his chest, then spun fast as lightning.
"Look deep within yourself, Daniel. Feel the power. Let it out," King Adgar said to Daniel who was still spinning.
As he was spinning, Daniel looked deep within his own mind and when he stopped spinning, he shot that electric blue blast from his hands at the targets, and just before it hit one it split into three, smashing all three of the ice goblins to shards.
"Whoa. How did I do that?"
"Good question. How did you do that?" Elsa asked.
"I just looked deep within my mind and searched for an answer to these powers, and just before I shot that blast, I was concentrating as hard as I could, then fired three blasts."
"Well I think you've found your answer. When using these powers, you just have to trust in yourself and feel the power of your magic," King Adgar stepped up. "This is only the beginning. We have much more to go through."
"Then let's do it. What's next?" Daniel asked.
The trio went up to the top floor, out onto the balcony, which Elsa had also just fixed.
Daniel was hanging from the floor of the balcony, his legs crossed on one of the icy rails to prevent falling off, and he was doing sit ups in mid-air.
"Good. Upper body strength is very important. What do you think?" Elsa asked, who was looking over him with her father.
"No challenge at all. 125, 126, 127," Daniel was counting as he was doing sit ups. "128, 129, 130!" He grabbed the top rail and pulled himself back over. "How'd I do?"
King Adgar pulled out a gold pocket watch on a chain. "Two minutes, exactly. Not bad."
The trio then went back downstairs, and stood at the bottom of the steps, and King Adgar had Daniel put both him and Elsa on Daniel's shoulders.
Once they were both sitting on his shoulders Daniel readied himself.
"Now let's see how well you can balance yourself with speed. If you can keep Elsa and I safely on your shoulders, the whole time you run up to the top floor then back down here, you'll pass this one. You ready?"
"Yep."
"Go!"
Daniel then took off running up the left flight of stairs, balancing Elsa and King Adgar safely. He made his way up to the top and stopped to take a breather.
"Good. We both stayed in place like you were standing still," Elsa complimented. "Now back down. Go."
And Daniel ran off down the stairs, onto the next one, and this time he went down the right flight of stairs, keeping Elsa and Kind Adgar perfectly balanced.
"Good. Very good," King Adgar said while Daniel put them down. "You're a fast learner. That's enough for today. We'll continue the rest tomorrow."
"All right, good. Because I was starting to get exhausted."
King Adgar and Elsa looked to the setting sun, over the mountains.
"It's getting late," said King Adgar. "Let me run out and collect some fire wood, and I'll cook us something to eat." And he left Elsa and Daniel alone.
"I don't get something," Daniel said confused. "Why is it cold and snowy up here, but it's spring everywhere else?"
"I used my magic to make it so that it will always be snowing up here. It's to keep this place from melting," Elsa gestured to her palace. "Come on. Let's go see if my father needs help."
Later that night, when it was completely dark, and King Adgar had collected a bunch of fire wood; They'd dug a fire pit right outside the castle, and with the food they'd brought, King Adgar made it into a thick, brown stew, with carrots, potatoes and onions.
"Whatever you're cooking, it smells really good," Daniel complimented and sighed heavily at that smell.
"It's my mother's recipe of meat and veggie stew," King Adgar replied stirring the broth. "This may sound gross, but you have to wait until it's thick as blood till it's done."
"And when is that?" Elsa asked.
"It should be just about there."
He stopped stirring, then pulled the spoon to his mouth and took a taste. "Mm. Perfect. Now I just need to get this fire out."
"I can handle that," Daniel stepped up. "Stand back."
Elsa and her father moved aside and then Daniel held his right hand out. Then the next thing they knew, the fire burning the wood had flew up through the air and into the palm of Daniel's hand. He'd collected it all, and then clamped his hand shut, which extinguished the fire.
"How'd you do that?" Elsa asked.
"You'd be amazed at what these powers over fire can do. Watch this." And then Daniel picked up the pot of stew with his bare hands.
"Doesn't that burn?" asked King Adgar.
"Not at all. If anything, it feels great."
"Oh, I get it," Elsa spoke up. "Just as my powers of ice make me immune to the cold, your powers make you immune to heat."
"You got it. I practically live for heat."
"Come on. Let's take that inside, before it gets cold," said King Adgar.
Daniel walked up the stairs into the ice palace, and once they were in, Elsa led them to the dining room.
The dining room was very similar to the one in the castle of Arendelle. It had a long table with multiple chairs, and a chandelier hung above the room.
Daniel set the pot on the floor, knowing Elsa's icy floors would be cold enough to take the heat. King Adgar brought the backpack in with them, and he pulled out three wooden bowls, spoons and a ladle, which he used to serve the meat and veggie stew.
Once they all had their food served Elsa and King Adgar took their spots.
King Adgar sat on one of the ends of the table, and Elsa sat on his left.
Daniel had set his bowl down, but then went over to the backpack, and from it, he pulled out a dark green bottle.
"Anybody?" He offered.
"You brought a bottle of your wine?" said King Adgar.
Daniel gave him a look that said, "Why not?"
Elsa waved her hands on the table, creating another flurry, and this time, she created three wine glasses.
Daniel walked over to the glasses and he poured the wine till all the glasses were half full. After which, each of them took their drinks.
Daniel then took his spot next to Elsa.
Elsa raised her glass to her rose red lips and took a sip of Daniel's grape and cherry wine. "Delicious. Are you sure you made this?"
"Yep. My dad's recipe. When I was 13 , he let me see how it was made. He also let me taste it on the same night. It was nothing like I ever tasted before. I memorized how it's done, and when I was out there in the wilderness, I'd decided to give it a try, and see how much good I was at making it on my own. Believe it or not, I got it right the first try."
"Well, it really is delicious," Elsa complimented. "So sweet and a strong fruity taste."
"That's exactly what I said," King Adgar spoke out.
They all continued eating and didn't talk anymore while they were.
After they finished eating, King Adgar took the bowls and spoons, wiped down the remains of the stew with a rag and packed them up.
Then they all went to the top floor of the palace, and over the balcony, they looked into the skies full of stars and the full moon.
"I love nights like this," said Elsa. "All the stars in the skies are so beautiful. Ever since I learned to control my powers, Anna and I did this every night."
"When there were nights like this when I was out in the wild, I would find the softest spot I could and lay out under the stars. No better place to sleep in my mind," Daniel explained.
"I guess we're all enjoying this. Elsa, do you remember how every other night, when I made sure no one else was awake, I'd sneak you out of your room, and we'd sit out in front of the castle, to watch the stars?" King Adgar asked his daughter.
"How could I forget. I always felt like we were doing something wrong, and was afraid we'd get caught. But I didn't think about that much, because I was enjoying myself."
"To tell you the truth I felt the same thing. I was worried your mother would catch us. And you know how sore she gets when rules are broken."
Saying that made both Elsa and King Adgar laugh a little.
"Well, I'm tired and I'm gonna turn in," Daniel said walking away from the balcony.
"Come with me. I'll show you your room," Elsa walked next to him.
The two went back down to the main room of the place, then over to another small staircase on the left of the door. That staircase led down to a long hallway, full of doors. Elsa took him to one of the doors and opened it; in there was a king sized bed, made of an icy blue material, like Elsa's dress.
"When I built this place, I added a lot rooms for good measure. This one's your room. Mine will be right next to you if you need anything I hope you'll be comfy here."
"I think this will do perfectly."
"All right. Good night," Elsa said walking out of the small room.
"Good night," Daniel replied.
He walked over and sat on the bed which was soft as snow. Then he threw off his black boots, showing his dirty, dark gray socks. After which, he laid back and covered himself with the icy blue blankets, which were surprisingly warm for being made of snow.
All right, I'm gonna stop there, and in the next chapter, they'll do some more training with Daniel, but I don't know what else I'll add next, so I'll have to brainstorm. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this one. I know I liked it, with Daniel learning how to unlock his full strength. Please read, review and enjoy.