Waddup readers! Next chapter is down below. If you enjoyed, a follow is much appreciated. I work hard to balance this, school, sports, and my personal life, but I love you guys and the community we have going on here. We got some exciting new things happening in here, so buckle up!
Fun fact about Restaugan wildlife: If it's big, it will try to kill you. If it's small, then it's definitely going to try to kill you. Basically everything in that hellhole of a kingdom is deadly. From the plagues of poisonous locusts to the scorpions that are bigger than carriages, it's fair to assume that Restauga is the absolute last place that anyone would ever want settle in. But even though the wildlife is scary, what's even more horrifying is the creatures that we've trained to work for us. When training in the army, I thought it was great, having these beasts at my beck and call. But once I had fled from my home, I was terrified of them. And Jeral knows that. So, naturally, he brings the biggest, nastiest beastie that he could get his royal hands on.
I burst out of the kingdom doors, wearing my desert clothes, wielding my black staff. Rushing out of the courtyard, I found Jeral, mounted on top of a gray dragon, clad in white armor that matched the rider's. On the ground, there was a posse of at least a hundred men- all on top of horses. Although hundreds of feet in the air, I could still make out Jeral's cocky grin.
"What do you want, Jeral?" I shouted up to him.
"I know that you know, brother." He called back. "Come with us quietly and we won't hurt this lovely kingdom and your cute little girlfriend in there." I saw him unsheath his giant sword from it's scabbard. The moonlight glinted off of the polished blade.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, and you're not hurting these people either."
As soon as I said that, I launched my myself into the air, fire expanding in a line on the ground, protecting the palace from the ground troops. I was hurtling towards Jeral at speeds even he couldn't comprehend, and whacked him with my staff before he could raise his sword in defense. His free hand shot to his head, where I had just created a massive bump. His other arm was occupied by swinging his sword at me, who was now standing on the dragon's neck, in front of him.
"Dammit Jeram that hurt!"
"It wasn't supposed to feel good," I said, dodging and blocking his blows. He was definitely a skilled warrior, just not as good as me. He got up from the saddle, trying to balance like I was. He lunged, sword leading him. I knocked it aside easily, glancing down at the mounted forces, trying to get past my wall of fire. It seemed to be keeping them at bay for the time being. I could see that my ease in gaining the upper hand was starting to anger my little brother, as his attacks were becoming sloppier and more frequent.
"You… little… insect," He exclaimed in between the swings of his sword. "You… can't… win… against… this… many…"
He made a particularly large arc of his sword, which was his biggest mistake. In the time it took for his sword to make it's way to me, I summoned a giant fireball, bigger than my chest, and threw it at him. I could see it blasting him down the spine of the beast that we were on, eventually making it to the the tail, and then free falling, down towards the ground.
It would've been easy to let him die. And I wanted to. But, right as he started to flail in the free air around him, I remembered my mother. And what she would have wanted me to do. Unfortunately, I did it. Shooting off of my spot on the dragon, I swooped down and caught my sibling by the underarms, setting him down not-so-gently on the ground below.
"Oof" he said, a small plume of smoke rising from his hair that I must have caught on fire. He patted it out violently, feeling it's burn. I flew back, past the flame wall, looking back to my brother and his feeble attack party. The men's horses were fleeing in fright of the heat, getting bucked off to the ground. My brother himself was incapacitated for the moment, trying to regain his dignity. I thought he'd be distraught from this failed effort, but he was still smiling that devilish grin as he always did when a plan went his way. I was confused. He then grabbed a blowing horn from around his neck. "Do you know what this is, Jeram?" "
Um, a signaling horn?" I shouted back, puzzled. This part of the plan I really had no clue about.
"This horn is a training tool that we use with that dragon." He pointed up to the beast in the sky. "If I blow this, he'll shoot a fireball so powerful, that it'll wipe Arendelle off of the map."
My eyes widened. That was a good plan indeed. Separating him from the sky titan that loomed above hadn't mattered at all. The scheme all along was for me to choose between my freedom, or the safety of Elsa. And he knew what I would choose. I was defeated.
As he was pressing the horn to his lips, I extinguished the fires, and sank to my knees. Soldiers rushed to me, and bound thick, iron chains around my wrists. I looked down at the singed grass in front of me, reflecting on my decision.
"I knew that you'd see it my way," The demonic voice of my brother said. "But, just to see you suffer," He blew the horn. It's loud, oppressive sound rang through the air like a battle cry. I looked up to the the dragon, whose eyes had widened. It's head was rearing back for an attack, and I could see the ignitable gas that was pouring out of it's giant mouth. Quickly, I jumped up, swinging my bound hands underneath my legs, putting them in front of me. In one fluid movement, I melted the chains in my hands, and, with the molten metal still clasped in my grip, I pressed it on the faces of the alarmed soldiers flanking me. They screamed in agony, falling to their knees.
I could see the dragon trying to ignite the gas that was billowing out. I knew that I had to stop this creature, no matter what. I was about to summon the greatest fireball I had ever made, but then a strange feeling washed over me. The sky had turned black with a coming storm, sparks flickering all throughout them. I closed my eyes and pointed up to the dragon, index and middle fingers extended towards it. I used the same willpower as I did to shoot flames, but this time it was different when launching. Instead of fire, concentrated, intense heat arced from my fingertips. I opened my eyes, seeing a bolt of lightning escaping from them.
It hit the scaly beast dead-on, right in the throat. I had deflected it's blow by knocking his mouth upward, making him shoot the flames harmlessly into the sky. I could see the flicker of static coursing through it's skin. It tumbled from the heavens down to earth, shaking the ground as it landed behind Jeral. My brother looked at me in disgust and horror.
"What kind of creature are you?!" He said, more nervous from before, but I could tell he wasn't going to give up.
"The one that will be your doom-" I said as I involuntarily crumpled to the ground. Summoning that bolt must have taken every ounce of energy that I had left. I heard my Jeral laugh in delight of this convenience. Through my hazy vision, I could see that the tattoos on my arm were glowing a bluish white, still crackling with electricity. I looked past my arm, my vision fading. As the guards started hauling me onto their steeds, I saw a figure in a blue dress rushing out of the castle. She was running to me, but couldn't keep up with these battle horses. I tried to extend my arm to reach out to her. Once the soldier saw I was doing this, he hit my head with the butt of his sword, knocking me out entirely.
When I came to, the squadron was in a grassy plain, enjoying some dinner around their campfire. It was probably past midnight, the stars were all out and the air was cool, but not freezing, which was a welcome relief from Arendelle. Still, I wished I was there instead of here. I was sitting down, bound to an old, sturdy tree stump. Ha. I thought. Stupid soldiers, I break out of these kind of chains every day. Instinctively, I started heating up my hands, but something was amiss. I could only manage a few sparks, which had barely ever happened. I couldn't get a flame, much less melt these irons. I thought back to my coma, remembering that the last time I used lighting, I was out for over a week. That's why my powers were so exhausted. Desperately, I shook my arms, trying to break free using my strength. Jeral heard the clattering I was making, and he walked over from his buddies to meet me.
"Oh hi brother! Good for you to finally join us!" He said, hitting me with his closed fist. I could feel blood trickle from out of the corner of my mouth. I coughed, but never lost eye contact. I could hear the men laughing at me. Many of them had been my friends back in Restauga. All of them, including Jeral, were drunk. "We're taking you back home, brother!" Jeral said mockingly. "Won't that be nice? Just like old times! Of course, I'll be in my room, in the lap of luxury, while you'll be rotting in a jail cell, awaiting your execution!"
"Why not kill me now?" I asked in a raspy voice. "Oh Jeram, that would be too simple." He snickered. " We want to kill you in front of everyone that you used to love, because you took from me the one who I loved."
"You know I didn't mean to kill mom."
Rage filled his face as he picked up my staff and cracked it upon my face. I started to see dots dance before my eyes. "Shut up! She wouldn't have died if it wasn't for your weakness!" He hit me once more, and I saw the familiar blackness, ready to envelop me. My eyes rolled back into my head as I was knocked out.
I awoke to the biting sand in my face. The sunlight was blinding, the heat scorching, and the wind was insufferable. Yep, I was home all right. I was laying on a horse, still bound, behind a riding soldier. He felt me shift in position, and looked back. "Oh good, you're up. Now my horse doesn't have to carry such a heavy load."
I was about to ask why his horse didn't have to carry so much, but then he threw me face-first into the sand. I heard a chorus of laughter of the men riding around us. A heavy chain connected my handcuffs to the saddle of his horse. I started walking, the chain getting yanked by the stallion I was attached to. The wind howled around my ears, and the sand hitting me stung my eyes and lungs. I slipped my scarf over my face to protect it. I looked around at our surrounding. We were in the Northern Dunes, returning from the cold mountain ranges of Arendelle. I stumbled along, noticing cliffs to the south, the ones which the palace rested on. I heard Jeral from the front. "Come on boys," He said, pointing to the cliff faces. "We're almost home."
I stumbled along for miles, hungry and dying of dehydration. The throbbing in my head from the numerous times I was hit hadn't ceased in all the hours that I had been asleep. The baking sun kept bearing down on us, with no relief. The sky was completely blue, I couldn't see a cloud in it. I tried summoning fire to run away, but no such luck. I was still drained. Even if I could escape from these men, I would die from thirst long before I could get back to Arendelle. The best thing that I could do is rest and refuel in prison, and break out before they can kill me. Biding my time was the only option I had.
I could see Jeral, he had my staff and shortsword both strapped to the saddle of his horse. He had his helmet down, keeping the heat and blowing sand away from him. It must be nice to be the favorite child. But I never cared for that sort of thing. I care even less now.
We traveled for hours, and truth be told I'm surprised I even made it to the walls of the town without collapsing. As the gates swung open, I took off my scarf. The wind is nonexistent with the walls blocking it. That may have been a mistake. As I was getting dragged along the marketplace, people started to recognize my face. Their once neutral expressions turned to those of hate and disgust.
"Traitor!" One of them called.
"Unholy one!" called another. Dozens more of these insults kept coming my way as we passed through. I saw one man pick up a rock about the size of a fist and throw it at me. I dodged it, but that did little good. The other peasants followed the example of their fellow citizen, stoning me on the spot. Rocks were hurled towards me, mainly my head. Most of them didn't hit me, but a few did, battering my already bruised body. One connected with my jaw, and a trail of blood sprouted from the contact point. I endured this torture for the entire way to the prison. I was unhooked from the saddle, and led in by my brother. He took me to a small, private cell with a strange pair of handcuffs attached to the floor. He attached them to my wrists. They went from my wrists all the way to my fingertips, completely enclosing my hands.
"Confused, Jeram?" He said in a content tone. "I bet you've never seen bindings like these before. That's because these aren't like any that you've had before. I've learned from all of our past experiences that no matter what I put you in, you always seem to get out. But these are different. You can't melt these handcuffs. They're magic-resistant, just like those clothes you're wearing. Good luck getting out." He tightened them, getting them so tight against my wrists that they were cutting into my skin. He then turned and left, cackling as the door shut in my face.
I sat down, pondering what to do next. This was unexpected. I tried to study the cell, but my mind was going a million miles a minute. I tried so hard to find a way out, but my thoughts always traced back to one person: Elsa.