Chapter 14: The Winds that Roar
It was like a shining black monument amidst the endless wastes of snow.
Windar could be seen in the distance, a fortress bigger than the stories always made it out to be. Its walls stood roughly over eight meters in height, with a watchtower on each of its two corners. The other two corners were nowhere to be seen, along with the fortress's rear wall. All of the protection it needed from behind was a gargantuan mountain, so tall that its peaks hid behind the moving clouds in the night sky. It was the only mountain for miles. Beyond the icy peaks that separate the Ice Kingdom from the rest of Ooo, the Unknown Lands were nothing but snow in every direction.
The only reason Blayze and Weimar could even see anything was because of the colorful auroras that waved across the heavens, shining down upon the endless white surface. Behind its walls, Windar's castle was something straight out of a fairy tale. Spires that rivaled the tallest of structures in the Candy Kingdom, a black surface darker than any of the charcoal found in Fire Kingdom, and a feeling of dread that it brought upon anyone who laid eyes on it worse than anyone would get in the Nightosphere.
With how strong the winds were with nothing to hold back their might, Blayze wondered how anyone was able to even find this place to begin with, let alone siege it.
"Behold!" Weimar exclaimed beside the elemental, raising his staff into the air. "The ancient castle of Windar!"
Blayze looked at Weimar awkwardly. "Uh…you're facing the wrong way," he pointed out.
"Oh." The blind wizard turned his head towards the correct direction and raised his staff once more. "Behold! The ancient castle of Windar! A ruin of dark magic and unspeakable terrors. And the place where Finn and his friends currently reside."
After taking in the sight for a few moments longer, Blayze turned to Weimar. "How are we gonna get in? Despite its age, it still seems mostly intact. Plus, even though I can't exactly see anyone, I highly doubt it's not being guarded."
"Of that you are correct, my boy. The Witch has no shortage of servants at her disposal. We will need to be a lot more discreet. Every problem has a solution, even if at first, all options might seem near impossible." He placed a finger against his chin in thought. "Think, how would she be able to carry Finn and his friends all the way here from Wizard City without being caught? She is powerful, but her influence is not as strong when away from Windar. My granddaughter mentioned something about being carried through a tunnel network. So maybe…the answer lies beneath right beneath our feet."
"Okay, where exactly?" Blayze asked.
Weimar opened his mouth to speak, but instead remained still with no words to actually say. "I cannot say. I might be able to find a hollow point in the earth, but it might take some time. You don't mind waiting in the cold for a bit longer, do you?"
"I wouldn't if it wasn't annoying. The snowflakes that keep hitting my face melt into water."
"It'll only take a few minutes as I send out a few waves. Besides, as long as we keep our distance from Windar, we're in no real danger. Now, if you wanna be the future Flame King, begin acting like it."
Blayze only scoffed and waved for him to proceed. Closing his eyes, Weimar grabbed his staff with both hands and held it in front of his face, chanting in some language that the fire elemental could not comprehend. Afterwards, the small orb at the top of the staff began to glow with a bright green aurora, which then expanded and began surrounding the wizard himself, like a whirlwind. When he reopened his eyes, they were the same shade of green, and his chanting grew even louder.
With the final words uttered, the auroras surrounding the wizard exploded outwards, nearly causing Blayze to fall to the ground from loss of balance. The green light flew for what seemed like miles, dissipating after reaching a certain distance. Weimar's eyes then returned to their normal shade of white, and the orb of his staff no longer glowed.
"Anything?" Blayze asked, approaching him.
Weimar hummed a bit before responding. "I felt something, but it is still too weak to pinpoint its exact location. I will send out another wave."
Just as he began to raise his staff once more, the ground around the two of them began to shake. The disturbance was barely noticeable at first, but it eventually began to grow as the seconds went by. Blayze thought it was an earthquake, but was proven wrong when the snow around them began to rise from the ground, in the shape of three massive dunes.
Two glowing blue orbs appeared on the surface of each one, and right below them a thin horizontal line began to form. After reaching a certain height, they began taking shape. It was only after they exhibited arms and legs that Blayze realized they were snow giants.
Giants was the right word. They towered over the elemental and the wizard by a good five meters. Their eyes were fixed on the duo as the three surrounded them from all sides, looking down on them with the blue orbs that acted as their eyes. Weimar kept his staff at the ready, so Blayze did the same with his bow.
"Who disturbs our sleep?" one of the giants spoke, in a voice that boomed despite the loud howling of the winds.
Neither Blayze nor Weimar spoke back to the giant. The three towering beings looked to each other, and then back down.
"Do you speak our tongue?" another giant asked.
"We do," replied Blayze, tightening his grip on the bow.
"The answer our initial question," said the third giant. "Who are you, and what business have you in our lands?"
Right before Blayze could respond, Weimar placed a hand against his chest.
"We do not mean to intrude upon your business," said the wizard. "We simply seek entrance into the fortress of Windar. Is there a chance that you could lend us your aid? We would be very grateful, but of course, you are free to decline."
The three giants exchanged glances with each other once more.
"And why do you seek entrance into the home of our mistress?" asked the first giant.
Blayze felt himself go stiff, but Weimar continued.
"Mistress? The Witch of Tears now has snow giants under her employ?"
"You will ask questions when you have answered our own, wizard," said the third giant. "Why do you seek entrance into Windar?" The giant stomped his foot on the ground before Weimar could continue. "We wanna hear it from the flame elemental. He hasn't spoken much."
Blayze's gaze shifted nervously between the giants, but still gathered the nerves to clear his throat and face them directly. "We're looking for some friends of ours that were taken into the Witch's custody. We were hoping to bring them back."
Suddenly, all three giants began to laugh. It was a sound so loud that Blayze had to cover his ears. "Do you really believe you can go into the home of the Witch and come out alive?" asked the first giant. "Besides, if they really have been taken under our mistress' custody, they're already dead. You're just wasting your time."
"Wasting it!" exclaimed the second giant for emphasis.
Weimar was about to speak, but Blayze continued before he could get a word in. "No! They're still alive in there, and if you're just gonna stand around wasting our time, we'll get into Windar on our own."
As Blayze turned and began to walk away, one of the giants placed his foot right in front of the elementals path, prompting him to look up the scolding look of the towering and snowy behemoth.
"That's not gonna happen, moving candle. No one gets to the Witch without passing through us first."
"So you do serve her," said Weimar.
"It's more of a…mutual understanding between us," explained the giant. "She allows us to leave in peace out here in our frost paradise, provided that we squash trespassers like you and keep them from disturbing her."
"And right now, you're disturbing us," said one of the other giants as it made the motion to crack his knuckles, despite having none, "which is even worse."
Weimar must have sensed that Blayze was about to let loose and arrow, because he raised his staff in front of the elemental before he could do so. "I imagine there's no way to convince you to let us through peacefully?"
"No," the three replied at once. "Turn back."
Despite the answer, Weimar had a small smiled form on his face. "Ah well, isn't that just a shame. Still, it has been a while since I fought a snow giant. Wouldn't wanna get rusty now, would we?"
The giants laughed, taking the old wizard's threat for a joke. Surprisingly enough, even to Blayze, he was being a lot more serious than they thought he was.
After smashing the tip of his staff against the ground and causing the entire earth to shake, Weimar dashed forward at an alarming rate towards one of the now unbalanced foes. Despite its attempts to smash its leg against the ground to crush the wizard, his impossibly quick agility kept it from succeeding in the endeavor. Blayze could only stare in awe as he climbed up the giant's leg until reaching the top of its head, all under the span of a few seconds. The longer Blayze stared, the more he realized Weimar was not climbing, but teleporting, quickly impaling his staff on top of the giant's dome before he was thrown off completely.
As Blayze and the other two giants stared in confusion, the eyes of their counterpart began to glow a bright orange color, along with the orb on top of Weimar's staff.
There was little time to react. After Weimar had completed the process, the giant beneath him was now a puppet to his wizard powers. He made the beast swing its arm towards its comrades, successfully catching them both on guard as it made contact with both of their heads. Blayze had to jump out of the way before he was crushed under the weight of the two falling behemoths. It was the perfect chance for him to shoot a flaming arrow right into the eyes of both. Unfortunately, he was only able to strike one on each head, and missed with the other two arrows as they struck their bodies instead, doing nothing but raising a bit of steam into the air from the mixture of snow and fire. But it was only a minor setback, as Weimar was still able to hit them both yet again. But knowing what to expect, the hit was not as effective as the last.
Blayze felt like an ant among the colossal battle taking place before him. Even if he was made of fire, one of them accidentally stepping or falling on him would extinguish his flames for good. He rolled and jumped to avoid their stomping legs, all while getting a few arrows into their ankles when the opportunity showed itself. It proved useful when the leg of one of the giants gave away after enough hits, making it fall to the ground once more. And with another arrow, both of its eyes were now gone.
"Gah! I can't see!" it wailed as it held onto its wounds. Despite the lack of eyes, the expression of pure rage could still be seen clearly. "I'm gonna-"
Whatever threat it was about to make, it was stopped when Weimar stomped its head in with the giant he was controlling. Blayze winced as several small piles of snow landed on him, but he brushed them off quickly before they could become full puddles of water under his body's heat. He turned his gaze back to Weimar, whose giant had been grabbed from behind and was struggling to break free from its grasp.
"You broke my eye; you killed my brother!" it roared at the wizard. "I'm gonna smash you both like bugs!"
"A little help would be very much appreciated, boy!" Weimar shouted at Blayze from above.
The elemental quickly obliged. Aiming his bow and taking a deep breath through his nose, he let loose another arrow straight towards the giant's remaining eye. Its brief moment of weakness at having lost its last bit of sight, Weimar shook loose from its grip and used his elbow to knock it back.
With no way of seeing what was to come, the remaining giant was taken care of quickly when Weimar swung his arm with full force, knocking its head off of its entire body. Its limbs all went limp, but its torso disintegrated into what seemed like millions of snow particles, immediately blow away by the strong winds. Once there was no more need for it, Weimar disintegrated the giant he was controlling as well, using his powers to teleport himself in front of Blayze before he fell along with it.
The blind wizard wiped some snow from his shoulder. "Such a pity. To think we could have avoided getting drastic."
"You were the one who attacked first," Blayze reminded him. He sighed while putting away his bow. "But at least there were only three of them. Do you know where-"
Before he could finish his thought, the ground began to shake once more, but the tremor was a lot stronger than what they had originally felt. In the distance, between them and Windar, more dunes of snow were forming all across the immense field. There too many to count; dozens, maybe hundreds of them all protruding from the ground at once. Without hesitation, Blayze and Weimar both readied their weapons once more.
'So much for just three.'
The glowing blue eyes of each new giant could be seen from afar like lanterns. With their combined numbers, it was as if a wall was separating the dark fortress from the rest of the world, only that wall was now making their way towards them, and it did not look happy in the slightest. And some way or another, Blayze knew that he and Weimar would have to get past them. The old wizard must have known what he was thinking, however, because the elemental felt a hand rest on his shoulder.
"Don't fret," he reassured. "I will send out another wave to see if I can find the tunnel. In the meantime, you hold whatever is thrown our way back."
Blayze's eyes widened in disbelief of the wizard's words. "What?! How am I supposed to hold back all those giants by myself? I may be made of fire, but what I can do is limited in a place as cold as this."
As was the norm, Weimar only responded with action rather than words. The orb of his staff glowed orange once again and he held out his hand. Blayze complied and gripped the wizard's, and the aurora coming from the staff began to pass on to his arm. It was barely noticeable due to his fiery skin, but it was there; he could feel its presence.
Once the process was finished, Weimar pointed to the direction of the advancing giants. "Touch one of them with that hand. Afterwards, the rest will practically take care of itself."
Blayze looked to his hand in worry. "Are you sure about this?"
"We don't have many options. Listen to your elder and go!"
Even with worry still in his mind, Blayze followed Weimar's command. The wizard may have been a bit cryptic at times, more so than anyone would like, but he had not given the elemental a reason to doubt him so far. Taking a deep breath, he began to walk towards the giants as Weimar began his own work.
'Finn, I swear, you better have some good answers after we break you out of there. And I'm not talking about telling only me…'
Several giants were farther ahead than others in their march. Blayze turned to the one closest to him. The shorter the distance between the two, the more his walk began to change into a jog, and then a sprint, until eventually he was met with the giant's foot about to come down on top of him.
After barely missing being stomped to the ground, Blayze dashed forward and placed his hand on the surface of the giant's leg. He expected to feel pain from having his fiery skin touch a snowy surface, but instead it only felt numb. The giant seemed confused as well as it witnessed the elemental's actions from above, but both of their expressions soon changed to utter shock when a stream of orange tendrils began to spread across the limb. Eventually, Blayze felt himself being sucked into it, and try as he might to pull his hand back out, he and the giant could only watch as the rest of his body got completely engulfed into the snow, but even as he closed his eyes to prepare for the inevitable, he continued to feel no pain whatsoever.
Upon opening his eyes again, Blayze still felt as normal as ever, only something was different. He felt further away from the ground than before and standing in the snow was no longer a nuisance on his fiery skin, but that was because his skin was not made of fire at all anymore. Instead, as he looked down with eyes that were not his own, he found nothing but the body of the giant he had placed his hand on just a moment before, only now it was covered with the same orange tendrils from before. And it was then that he realized, he was in complete control of the body's movements.
Aware of his new ability, Blayze turned to face the rest of the horde heading his way. It was no secret to them that their comrade was now under the elemental's control, so they were not hesitant to begin charging at him with fists raised.
"Okay, let's do this," Blayze said, but it was the booming voice of the giant under his control.
He managed to block the first attack coming at him with his arms. The opposing giant was unable to pull his limb back in time before Blayze grabbed it, twisted it, and ripped it right off its socket. Afterwards, he used the very same arm and swung it right at its head, knocking it off the rest of its body and eliminating the opponent for good.
Despite feeling good about the successful counterattack, there were still plenty more attackers heading in his direction, encircling him from all sides. They were luckily not paying any attention to Weimar as he worked to cast his spell.
Two giants charged from both sides, but Blayze quickly raised his arms to push them back. Unfortunately, it only served for them to be able to grab both limbs and pull on them with enough force that would have ripped them off were it not for the tendrils enforcing them. But it was still enough to give the other giants the opening they needed to attack.
Right before the first fist connected with his abdomen, Blayze used his enhanced strength to shift his body far to the right. This caused the attacking giant to accidentally hit its comrade holding on to him, freeing his right arm. He made quick work of the one holding his left arm by punching it in the cranium, dazing it just long enough for him to grab its own arm with both of his, twisting it, and then using whatever power he could muster to throw the entire behemoth towards several of the others approaching. It was effective, but there was very little time to gaze upon his work as a strange wave of green energy pulsed across the entire battlefield.
"Blayze," Weimar spoke. His voice could be heard inside the elemental's head. "There is definitely a tunnel somewhere around here, but I need more time to find its exact location. Otherwise we'd have to make a thorough search while under attack."
"Just hurry, old man!" Blayze responded.
"No need to yell, boy. Be patient. And don't call me old, I'm only eighty years of age."
Before Blayze could reply, he felt a pair of hands grab him from behind. There was no time to break out of the grasp before he began getting pummeled by other giants from all sides. If it was not for his enhance limbs, his entire body would have been nothing but another pile of snow by this point. Luckily, that was not the case just yet, but it would be if it continued.
Over the shoulder of the giant punching him from the front, he could see at least two of them making their way towards Weimar. The wizard was too busy casting the spell for the third time to notice the impending danger. And no matter how hard Blayze tried to communicate with him through their mental link, there was no breaking through the barrier surrounding him. If there was to ever be a chance of succeeding, the elemental needed to reach him, and fast. With that in mind and little choice left, he closed his eyes and focused his attention as much as possible. After only a few seconds, he felt himself beginning to leave the body that he currently inhabited. To his own surprise, it worked; now he stood at the foot of the no longer controlled giant, who was still being pummeled by its own brethren who had not noticed the change. The distraction worked to give him the edge necessary to make his way out of the large crowd of giants and fly towards the ones on their way to Weimar.
With a quick burst of energy, his flames allowed him to boost himself forward with enough speed to catch one of the giants in its track. Before the behemoth could properly react, Blayze had already taken control of it, just like he had done before.
It was easy to make quick work of the other giant. A simple swing of a fist towards the head was enough to send the thing flying farther than the eye could see, and the rest of the body took only seconds to deteriorate completely at the loss of its main source of life. Now Weimar was free to continue his work. And fortunately, it would not take long.
As another wave of energy covered the snowy wastes, drawing the attention of the distant giants in the process, Weimar spoke to Blayze in his mind once again.
"Aha! I know where we must go!"
"Good!" Blayze said while grabbing the wizard in his giant hand. He felt the information needed being passed onto his mind through the mental link. Now he knew exactly where to go.
To the naked eye, their destination was nothing more than another patch of snow. But as Blayze used his strength to stomp his foot into the ground, it revealed the opening they were looking for in order to reach Windar.
There was little time to act. As the dozens of remaining giants were nearly within reach, Blayze set Weimar down onto the ground as he began to leave the giant's body. Once back on his normal body, he followed the old wizard into the opening he had crated on the ground, which led into a tunnel when making it past the rubble left behind from the cave-in. And with a bit more of his magic, Weimar was able to seal the entrance formed just as the giants were within arm's reach of their location, leaving them with nothing but darkness except for the light from his staff, Blayze's orange glow, and the echoing of thundering footsteps coming from the surface above them.
With some time to gather their thoughts, the two of them began to catch their breath.
"We made it," Weimar said.
"Yeah," the elemental replied. "Not bad for a blind guy. But we better move before they break through again and fill the whole place with snow."
"Indeed. Let us move on. Our friends are depending on us. And we will not-"
As Weimar began to walk in the wrong direction, Blayze grabbed him by the shoulders and quickly spun him around.
"And we will not fail them," the wizard concluded.
With the sound of giant footsteps booming over their heads, Blayze followed Weimar as the two began their trek through the dark tunnel, hoping nothing bad awaited them on the other side.
Note: Well, Islands was certainly an emotional roller coaster. I think I enjoyed it a lot more than Stakes in every aspect. What about you guys?
-FourElemental: I'll try my best, but humor isn't really my strong suit.
-Fiery Crusader: I guess we shall find out.
-TimeManipulator99: Thanks! I will definitely try my hardest.
Next Chapter: Gift of Sight