Bowen's Quest
It had been hours or maybe even days since the trial started. It was difficult to tell time here, especially on his mind focused on sustaining the fire magic that kept him from being turned into a popsicle.
"I am disappointed, Bowen." He turned at the familiar voice.
"Master…" He murmured, seeing the Snow Prince.
"I thought you would have figured it by now, Bowen." The warrior shook his head. "Magic flows in your bloodline."
He lowered his head, unable to meet his eyes.
"It appears as if the universe has decided to give you an incentive, child." He continued. "The Gates of Underworld have been cracked and the forces of darkness have escaped."
"What!" He yelled in shock.
"Your aunt is recruiting the next generation of Mystic Force to fight back." His mentor continued, oblivious to his outburst.
"I need to help her!" He shouted, running at him, only for his mentor to disintegrate into a shower of snowflakes that flew past him and reformed behind him.
"I am afraid I can't do that Bowen." He sighed. "You are stuck here till you qualify the trials."
Bowen stuttered at him.
"Seriously, you can't be thinking that the Trial is more important than this!" He bellowed in exasperation, his eyes turning red and fiery embers erupting from the corner of his eyes. "Dismiss me from the Trials. I do not need the rank of a Knight to help."
"I disagree." Snow Prince said simply.
"What! You cannot do this!" He bellowed.
"I am."
"I have my magic. I can fight. I do not need a fancy title to fight evil." He protested.
"Maybe not, but I assure you this trial has a purpose." The knight told him as a golden spell circle appeared underneath him. "Remember magic flows in your bloodline."
With that, he was gone, leaving Bowen alone in the icy tundra.
The tremors rocked Krista off her bike. The young woman cursed on rolling down the road, while her bike toppled near her. Her head hurt from the hit but thankfully her helmet took the brunt of the fall.
Of all the times for there to be an earthquake, it had to be now.
Her mother would have said that it was an omen and maybe it was a message from the heavens to not go into the city that was rumored to be the home of the unexplained on this side of the country.
Her father would have looked on the bright side, told her to be grateful that it happened in an empty road where the fall did not cause her to get hurt nor did it inflict too much damage on her bike and to not pay heed to urban legends.
She shook her head, grounding herself back in the reality.
They were not here right now. She was.
She felt the stinging sensation of her bruises, as she forced herself to a sitting position. The tremors had stopped.
Krista crawled over to her bike and while she needed to look at it closely once she reached the city, it seemed to be fine.
She waited for a few minutes to see if there was any aftershock before she got up and pulled her bike up, ready to resume her journey.
Elsewhere, a group of four friends took cover under the tables of the record shop they worked in, to protect themselves from the earthquake, not knowing that their fates had changed forever.
Niella grimaced, snapping her fingers and the glamour washed over her. She extended her hand, conjuring a handheld mirror and looked at her reflection- that of an elderly woman with wrinkled face and white hair, wearing human clothes – a wooly cardigan over a purple dress with floral patterns. She looked vulnerable and helpless; her very form meant to induce pity.
She was not fond of deceit but the Xenotome foretold that the warriors destined to destroy the forces of Underworld would be from the human world and she could not just entrust power to random people. The best test of character was always seeing who are brave enough to help those who need it the most.
She flicked her other arm and the mirror vanished, replaced by her scepter, which promptly turned into a cane.
Part of her felt grateful that Bowen was still preoccupied in the Snow Prince's dimension for the Knight Trials, unaware that the evil responsible for the deaths of his parents was free. Knowing how impulsive he could be, Niella had no doubt that he would rush headfast into danger without thinking of the consequences.
By the time he returned, she would have hopefully assembled a new Mystic Force, negating the need for him to be on the frontlines, not that it would matter… He would still try to fight, but she still had enough influence in the Court of Realms to make sure he was assigned to be part of some dimension far away from the upcoming war.
She shook her head, vanishing in a swirl of silver smoke and reappearing in the outskirts of the city. With the help of her tarot cards, she had divined this location was probably where she would encounter the Chosen Ones.
"Help! Help! Oh please, won't anyone help me?" She shouted in desperation, leaning on her cane as she walked in front of a shop. The pedestrians stopped and surrounded her.
"Please!" She pleaded, seeing a small crowd gather around her.
"It is my son. We were walking just up the road when some creature grabbed him. I fear the worst."
"Where did it take him?" A woman asked kindly.
"The forest." She said somberly and the effect was immediate. The crowd, including the woman dispersed immediately, leaving only a few stragglers.
"Please… Won't anyone help me?" She saw many shake their heads and moving away.
Was there no one courageous and kind enough to rise to the challenge? If these humans cannot help their own, are they truly ready to bear the responsibility of saving all worlds? Maybe she was wrong… Maybe, this time, the Xenotome was wrong.
"I will." She turned around to see a young woman with short brown hair behind her. She was kneeling against a vehicle that was laid near a giant oak tree. She felt oddly familiar. Her eyes were dark green, much like her own mother and sister. The woman wiped her dirty oil-stained hands with an old green rag before standing up.
She slowly walked towards her and held her hands.
"Thank you, young lady." Niella said gratefully. She noticed that the crowd was shocked at the young lady.
"Hey." A young man came towards them. He flashed a confident grin at the girl. "I am Xander and you are probably new here, so you don't know the facts. If you go in the forest, you are probably never coming back."
"I have heard of them." Krista shook her head. "I think they are rumors rather than facts though and besides, this lady needs help and no one else in this city seems to care."
"I will go with you!" A girl with a pixie cropped hairstyle like herself said, shooting the other guy a defiant look. "Not everyone in this city is a coward."
Niella almost smiled when another youngster came forward- a boy with short ginger eyes and a childlike innocence in his eyes.
"I will go too." He said eagerly. "I have always wanted to go on a dangerous quest."
He paused, turning to look at the girl.
"This is a dangerous quest, right?" He asked.
"Perilous." The girl deadpanned, not knowing how right she was.
"Sweet!" He grinned like a child who had just been gifted a new toy.
Niella smiled, her divination was right. She had three champions and her eyes drifted to where the boy who had warned the first girl about the forest stood alongside another girl with long hair and a frown marring her face. Something told her that they would be the last two of the group. She halted, expecting them to be the next to join but they did not.
"Well, let's go." The first girl said, putting on her leather jacket.
Niella sighed. The two had not made a single movement to join the others. Maybe they were not the ones she was looking for and she might come upon the last two champions on the way back to the forest.
"Yes, time is of the essence." She said, turning around and leading the way to the forest.
Vida momentarily faltered on seeing the "Danger! Keep Out!" sign on the broken fence in front of the forest.
Maybe it hadn't been a good idea. She had grown up hearing how those who went to the forest never came back and even if they did, they weren't the same, their minds lost to madness.
Her uncle had ventured into the forest when he was in early twenties. He came back months later, his eyes haunted and the first thing he did was take a job in Stone Canyon. He never came back to the city, not even for holidays.
She knew Chip had a strange fascination of the paranormal but even he had never dared going into the forest till now…
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
The old lady stopped to look at them worried.
"Are you sure you are willing to enter?" She asked. "The woods are a very dangerous place."
"You ask a lot of questions for someone whose brother is in danger." She said, eying the woman. Something about her felt wrong… She couldn't pinpoint it but it just felt wrong.
Maybe she and Chip should go back to Rock Porium instead of following her, but she couldn't ignore someone's plea for help. This woman's son might be in danger and if there was the slightest chance she could help, she should.
"Everyone is in danger." The lady said somberly.
Vida narrowed her eyes.
"Everyone is in danger!" Chip repeated excitedly, his eyes going wide with anticipation.
Before she could say something, a loud blaring of a car horn interrupted them.
She turned around and fumed on seeing her jeep trudging towards them.
"Xander, I told you if you ever take my car again, I would rearrange your limbs!" She snarled, angrily walking over to it as Xander parked it and he jumped out of it with Madison, which surprised her.
Madison was a suck up for the rules and though, Xander was a scaredy cat, he was occasionally a rebel, so him coming over to this place somewhat made sense, but her sister tagging along…
"You are going into the woods and never returning." Xander shrugged, patting the hood of the jeep. "Figured you should see it one last time."
"He has got a point." Chip added, only to make a zipline with his hands over his lips when Vida turned her glare at him.
The other girl, who admittedly had a cool fashion sense, sighed.
"I still can't believe you guys believe this urban legend." She rolled her eyes.
Vida shook her head, instead focusing on her sister.
"You are my sister, where you go, I will go." Madison said nervously.
Vida smiled, hugging her.
"Well, there's a guy in these woods somewhere we need to save, so can we hurry it up please?" The new girl said agitatedly and Vida found herself agreeing.
As they were crossing the fence, Vida saw the old woman smile mysteriously.
"So, there are five…" Vida heard her murmuring, which was weird but not weird enough to raise a question.
Bowen shivered.
None of this made sense. The Darkness was free. Niella was in danger and yet, the Snow Prince would not let him escape this cursed training dimension to help her. He knew his powers and had faith in his abilities as a warrior. He didn't need Snow Prince's stamp of approval or the title of a knight to fight against injustice.
Snow Prince was being stupid and irrational…
Wait, despite what it seemed, Bowen knew it wasn't true. While the Snow Prince's methods were often unconventional, they were not without merit. If anything, he was sure that the older knight wanted to teach him something important, something which he was missing.
His fire magic that was maintaining his body temperature was nearly depleted and very soon, he would be dead from frost bite. Surely, that was not his mentor's intention.
So, what was Snow Prince trying to accomplish?
What exactly was he failing to notice?
Why was he, a fire elemental, even expected to win, let alone survive in the Icy North? It was the same as sticking a water or ice elemental inside a volcano or a lightning elemental in an ocean.
One of the first lessons drilled into their heads in the Mystic Academy was to avoid coming into conflict with elemental magic that directly opposed their own, if they treasured their lives.
Why would the Snow Prince test him here in all places? The purpose of the quest was to test his skills as a mage and warrior, not kill him. First, he thought it was symbolic, the Icy North being his mentor's home dimension and the objective would be something he could accomplish if he lasted long enough, but it was obviously not a test of endurance.
Why here, then?
"Think, Bowen, think!" He murmured angrily.
He rattled his brain for a solution. Why here?
He looked around. Swirling winds of snow and pillars of ice all around him.
From his childhood, he had taken after his father, following in his footsteps as both a fire elemental and a knight, but his mother had been a powerful sorceress, not only the mighty Gatekeeper but also the White Mystic of the Frost.
That was the furthest his association with ice went.
He remembered the Snow Prince's words.
Magic flowed in his bloodline.
He thought the knight was referring to his parents being guardians, but maybe that was a clue.
His eyes widened.
His mother was a frost elemental and there was the slightest chance that he might be too.
He had never even considered trying to channel the frost magic, which no fire mystic in their right minds would, but it was the only thing that made sense.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
It was quite a gamble, trying to channel a different element, but at the same time, it was his best chance to complete this quest and help his aunt.
Bowen gulped, turning off his fire magic.
The cold increased a hundred times and he felt his sensation go completely numb. He refrained from channeling his fire magic again, though he desperately wanted to and it took a conscious effort to extinguish the magic that attempted to reignite on impulse. Fire was second nature to him.
He bent down and touched the ice with his palms.
"Here goes nothing…" He bit his lips as he tried to absorb the ice, as he would the flames. Pain flared through his arms and his eyes burst open.
He saw blue veins creep up his hands, which turned pale as a thin layer of ice appeared on it.
He screamed, as he felt his body freeze, his mind slowing down and most of all, his fire magic completely flickering out.
The pain continued for what seemed to be an eternity.
Maybe he had been wrong.
Maybe there was another solution and he had doomed himself to certain death with his rash thinking.
Then he felt it.
He felt her.
A gentle touch on his hands.
He opened his eyes and he saw a beautiful woman in white robes, her auburn hair arranged in intricate braids and her eyes glowing like rare emeralds.
"Mother?" He asked, recognizing her from the pictures his aunt had shown her.
She did not say anything and simply smiled.
She cupped his cheeks with her hands and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she let go of him.
"No! Wait!" He yelled, trying to get up but he was unable to. His entire body was covered in ice, that bound him to the icy terrain below.
"Please!" He yelled as her body disintegrated into a shower of snowflakes.
"NO!" He yelled, running up to where she was moments before. "Don't leave me again!"
He sniffed, collapsing on the ground and that was when it hit him. He had moved.
He looked down. He was no longer bound to the snow and his arms were back to normal yet he no longer felt cold despite the lack of fire magic to warm him, but he did feel something else in its place… a different magic that felt innately his.
"I knew you could do it." The Snow Prince said, appearing behind him.
"I have ice magic?" Bowen asked.
"You do." His mentor agreed appraisingly.
"Why didn't you tell me that?"
"You needed to learn it on your own. You needed to believe harnessing it was the only option you have. The most powerful magic is often that which is buried deep within and only unlocked when we are truly desperate for power." He answered, extending his hand. "Now, you are ready to face your destiny."
Bowen nodded, a grim look of cold determination settling on his face.
Hope you liked this chapter and please review. :)