A/N: Hey guys, Anon here. Billy's currently recovering from a slight fever after a few weeks at our cousin's place so I'll be writing alone again with Bunny running background stuff like proofreading and edits.
Disclaimer: All movies/fandoms featured belong to their respective owners. Please support the official releases
His eyes opened slowly.
Only to shoot wide open in shock, as he felt it all at once.
The water in his body as he wheezed and coughed out all the excess fluid from his system.
He panted, coughing occasionally.
He then felt the wind, as it breezed by him. He shivered slightly by the coldness of his wet clothes and the cool breeze.
The Boy with the Staff- speaking of his staff, he touched the ground around him before he looked around frantically and saw his crook lying on the black sand (?) and scrambled to pick it up.
When he did, he felt drier as his clothes began to stiffen from the frozen water before it thawed. The Boy chuckled at the neat little trick he learned in his time back in Burgess.
Speaking of Burgess. He thought, as he stood and looked around.
"Well, this sure looks… welcoming." The Boy thought out loud with uncertainty, as he took in his surroundings. It was more or less a dark shoreline, with the sea reflecting its darkness.
Might as well call it the Dark Sea. He chuckled at the joke he made before suddenly recalling the events that happened prior to his arrival.
Voice told me to go east. I got thrown away into the woods by something. My arm got bitten by a wolf… thing? Anyways, two figures then appeared, who happened to… see me…!
"Oh no… they could see me!?" The Boy yelled out, his voice echoing throughout the beach.
But before he could ramble on the implications, he stopped and instantly remembered the words of the larger figure who held him down.
"He said I was hard to track down, so it means they were expecting me?" The Boy put a hand to his chin as he continued. "But wait, he also said all those things about not being seen or noticed so…"
He then looked at his hand, his magic seeping through as his palm sparkled with tiny snowflakes and frost.
"Could that mean that.. that they're like me?" The Boy shook his head, closing his hand into a fist.
Can't be, while I'm sure they share some sort of magic or witchcraft they have with me, with how they have treated me so far, I have reason to doubt their intentions, whatever they may be. Yet as he pondered more on his mysterious pursuers, he could not help but entertain a question that came to mind.
"Could there be more people like me, then?" It was there that the Wind gave the Boy a small push, as if pointing him towards the steep bluffs and what lies beyond.
"Up there?" He asked, as the wind pushed him forward.
"Alright, onward and upward." The Boy sighed as he indeed flew onwards and upwards.
The Boy flew past dead trees and soil ridden ground, a feeling of uneasiness set in as he looked around and encountered even more dead trees.
If this is where I'm getting my answers, I might have a hard time finding them here. He thought to himself.
After some time, he eventually saw some trees, living and with varying colors signaling the start of Fall. And as he flew further, he was finally surrounded by a forest of lush green and Autumn red.
I guess this is a nice change of pace. The Boy shrugged as he landed on the leaf filled ground.
"I should probably walk for a bit." He told himself.
With all that flying, it could easily give me away to those strangers. The Wind then suddenly picked up some leaves and spun around him, whistling as if in agreement.
"Well then, guess you really were my first friend." The Boy chuckled briefly as the Wind gently nudged him forward several times.
"Okay! Okay." He raised his hands placatingly before muttering. "You're acting really strange compared to last time, you know?"
In response, the Wind shoved him into a pile of leaves.
"Alright, I don't know how you've heard that." The Boy said with a frown as his head stuck out, before laughing as the wind tickled his ears with a pair of leaves.
He looked around the forest as he walked, hearing nothing but the wind breezing by and the sounds of crickets chirping.
"This way?" The Boy asked the Wind as he went one way, but was pushed the other way. "Woah! Right then, thanks."
He twirled his staff boredly, whistling an idle tune as he walked where the Wind urged him to go.
It was then that the ground rumbled for a moment, surprising the Boy.
"What was that?" He asked, holding his staff defensively. The ground shook again, as if something big was walking.
It didn't take long until he spotted it, a silhouette of something gigantic. The Boy squinted and could make out that its skin was made of… rock?
The giant creature then turned its head towards his direction, and the Boy with the Staff bolted into a nearby rock, hiding behind it before it could spot it.
The Boy felt the rumbling grew in intensity, a tell-tale sign that it was getting closer.
Please don't see me, please don't see me. He repeated the chant in his head, closing his eyes tightly as he could hear the giant's growling. He stole a peek to his side and immediately closed it shut as soon as he saw a glimpse of it.
The Boy's eyes didn't deceive him before when he saw that the giant was literally made of rock and had moss on its shoulders and back, its face somewhat resembles that of a human's.
When he felt the rumbling getting fainter and fainter, he opened his eyes and peeked out of the rock he could see the giant slowly walking away.
The Boy breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned on the rock.
"I thought I was a goner." Muttered the Boy under his breath, when he heard squeaking just behind him, which made him stiffen and groan silently.
"Me and my big mouth." He chided himself with a strained voice as he slowly and twitchingly turned around.
And was face to face with a tiny, blue, cute, lizard thing? A Salamander, the Boy could recall it being called.
Regardless, the tiny creature continued to stare at him with a big smile… while licking its eyeball?
"Uh… Hi?" He greeted the salamander.
In response, the salamander squeaked and its back sparked briefly.
And as expected, the Boy reeled back shouting in surprise before slapping his mouth shut.
"Why…." He muffled out through his hand, sending a tired glare at the innocent looking salamander as it scurried away, just in time as the rock giant spotted him and by the look on its face, the Boy deduced that it was not happy.
"Well, time to run." The Boy with the Staff gulped before scrambling to get up and run for the hills.
The giant growled in response as it began hurling a boulder towards him.
"Oh come on!" He yelled out upon seeing the boulder. He was almost relieved when the boulder missed him and landed just behind him, but then it suddenly began rolling towards him.
This is not my day. The Boy thought to himself, he considered flying but that would create even more problems than simply running, plus he'd already gone this far and he was somewhat sure that this was the place where he would get his answers.
"Alright, you wanna play rough?" He then skidded to a halt before hoisting his staff over his shoulder with both hands in a stance that he knew from a game he remembered from some place called "England". Something about a bug.
"Let's play rough." He finished, glaring at the boulder coming towards him.
Gathering what winter magic he could, he reeled back and focused everything on his staff, which slowly built up more ice. But just when the boulder was mere inches from him, he let out a roar as he swung the staff with all his might against the boulder.
As they impacted, the staff shot forth a wild burst of frost and snow, spreading from the staff to and across the boulder like a plague, encasing it in ice before the frozen boulder started to crack, surprising the giant.
But the Boy did not let up, pushing even more with all his strength before the cracks grew and the boulder itself eventually broke into chunks of ice and frozen rock.
Stumbling just a bit at the swing, the Boy with the Staff regained balance before using the momentum to twirl his staff and slam it down on the ground for show, as bursts of icy energy flew out wildly and froze the ground around the boy and a few surrounding trees.
Just then, the wind picked up and blew against the Boy, his poncho flapping as he glared up at the rock giant, daring it to try another move.
But despite that surprising show of power, the rock giant remained undeterred and instead, its scowl deepened and roared at him.
The Boy's glare faded as he felt the wind leave him and gulped.
Oh dear…
His screams could be heard for miles… assuming they can be heard, as he flew over and across the forest… just not by the Wind.
RUSTLE!
"Oof!"
His descent began with crashing into a few leaves… make that several, with splintering twigs and bruising branches…
THUD! SNAP!
"Agh! Ow…"
…Followed by several, painful bumps into some thicker branches.
CRASH!
Finally ending with him skidding into the ground like a pebble to a pond before rolling into a stop.
"Ugh…" The Boy with the Staff groaned, feeling pain in several places as he stared at the heavens above.
"…Worth it." He chuckled weakly before groaning in pain again. It hurts to laugh at one's own pain… even if said pain happens to be literal.
Slowly and painfully, the Boy pushed himself up, groaning as he did.
As he stood and leaned on his staff, he might reconsider flying.
"Wind?" He called, the familiar whistle of his friend could be heard as he felt his body get carried.
After some time stabilizing himself, he spotted a tree just ahead, tall enough for him to get a good lay of the land.
As he landed on a branch, he got a good view of the forest ahead as the moon fully shone its light with barely any clouds obscuring. He took a little rest as he stretched and groaned at the previous injuries from his run-in with the rock giant, he then looked at his forearm where the wolf-like creature had bit him.
Strangely enough, he saw no evidence of bite marks other than a scar and a tear in his shirt. Had his powers somehow healed him? He wasn't sure.
Nonetheless, the Boy spotted a faint glow in the distance, he squinted and could see light.
A camp, maybe even a settlement. The Boy guessed. With destination in mind, he was about to fly there, hopefully he'll have his answers, when he spotted something else that wasn't too far from him.
Or rather, someone.
A figure in stark white which stood out from the dark trees, walking down towards somewhere. Perhaps merely strolling about?
He wanted to simply pass by whoever was strolling about, but the Boy with the Staff frowned worryingly and flew down to get a closer look.
He didn't want to take his chances, after all.
When he hid behind some shrubbery, near enough to get a better look, he was taken aback. Not in fear, but in curious wonder and awe.
The figure was of a girl- no, a woman. With long and flowing blonde hair that looked so close to white, it was like a waterfall of milk, and eyes of piercing blue. Much like him.
The Boy squinted to see that she had light freckles on her rosy cheeks, which stood out of her pale skin, much like him but he looked paler (and the fact he was- well, dead).
The woman wore a beautiful and mystical dress, white as snow.
"Wow…" The Boy muttered, his eyes sparkling before a leaf to the mouth brought him from his stupor.
"Hey!" He hissed, spitting the leaf away as the Wind whistled and blew towards the woman.
He heard her chuckling as he saw her… talking to the Wind? Does the Wind know her somehow?
Regardless, they seemed to be… conversing(?) well, if the excited whistles were anything to go by.
The Boy hummed in contemplation as he looked at the blonde woman again. She didn't seem to be looking for any particular "Winter Sprite" (He still is against that name after some decades) and didn't look threatening or scary-looking compared to those cloaked figures, far from it.
In fact, he found the woman to be very pretty. He had seen some beautiful women pass by (or in most cases, through) him back in Burgess, but this woman before him seemed… otherworldly.
The Boy shook his head. Now was not the time, it's not like she could see him.
Right?
The Wind blew against his back and the Boy sighed as he saw the woman walk away.
No harm in trying.
Calling upon the Wind again, he followed the blonde closely, all the while his (maybe frozen) mind thought of ways to make her see him.
Suddenly, he felt the wind leaving him and he dropped unceremoniously into the ground.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" The Boy called out, as the Wind helped him stand up and left him shortly after.
"What do you want me to do?" The Wind nudged him towards the woman. "Go right up to her? Like that would work."
The Wind then nudged his arm, specifically at his Staff. The Boy looked at the crook with furrowed eyebrows.
"...What? I don't understa- Woah!" He was then shoved by the Wind, forcing him to use his Staff to regain his balance, unknowingly releasing a small amount of frost on the ground.
"What's gotten into you?!" The Boy glared at the leaves blown by the Wind when they suddenly flew down to the ground.
He followed them and saw the intricate ice patterns on the slightly frozen ground and then looked at his shepherd's crook with both hands.
"Oh…" He muttered with an understanding look as the Wind blew against his ear.
"Okay! I get it." He swatted away the howling Wind as he was lifted up with a yelp.
As he floated towards the woman, the Boy with the Staff remembered that there was a small lake, not too dissimilar to his own pond, with a small waterfall off to the side. Slowly but surely, an idea formed in the Boy's head and he felt the need to smile in excitement and small parts of mischief.
Time for an early snow day…
A/N: Alright, here's a new chapter, and as said at the beginning, Billy's recovering from a fever, not sure if it's the old 'Rona but good thing it wasn't anything too dangerous. For now he's resting and that leaves me writing solo for the next couple of days.
Anyways, how's the chapter? Be sure to Read and Review, Favorite and Follow, Stay Cool and Anonymous and stay tuned for the next chapter. Peace!