The second interactive story by Al Kristopher
Prologue: Ice Djinn
As far as any eye could see, there was snow. It was a world of white, a land where there was nothing but chilling purity for miles around. The ground was thick with snow and freezing ice, and the air was a curtain of falling crystals. Even the sky above, eternally mourning tears of ice, was a milky color. It was a land of beauty and lethal cruelty, the land furthest north on the world, the land of absolute north polarity. The wind at the north was calm, or as calm as it ever got, and the snow was only falling gently, gently down into the land, where it continually piled up forever, making the cold even colder and the pure white even more pure.
But with a single movement, a great puddle of red tainted the land, and the stink of blood filled the air that only reeked of snow a moment ago. A dead creature, its head completely severed, fell to the ground suddenly, the color of its blood staining the snowy land. The one who had decapitated the creature landed on the opposite side of the ground, letting out small puffs of ghostly air as he breathed. With only two snow-monsters left in the area, he had no cause to stop fighting yet.
The man turned around, facing the two remaining beasts in the same stoic manner that he faced everything in life. They wanted to kill him, shred him apart, and splatter his blood all over the place--perhaps in vengeance for the loss of their kin, perhaps in hunger; he knew not. He did not care, not even if their threat had been genuine; he merely waited for them to charge. His long, broad sword was out again in a flash, and a second, smaller puddle of blood stained the ground as he slashed at the beast’s face.
It lurched back with a howl, screaming into the snowy air and to any deity who would listen. Its only remaining kin, unadulterated by the attacker, glanced between the injured creature and the stoic attacker, judging which course of action was best to take. There was no denying that its kin would be dead soon--the blow was not particularly lethal, but the loss of blood would soon cause the creature its own doom. Hastily, regrettably, the snow-creature charged its attacker, intent on killing or being killed.
The man kept silent, and leaped back as its jaws shut down on him. He then jumped back, hurtling his sword in an arc, and split the skull of the beast upon impact, killing him instantly. Without wasting time, he ran towards the only remaining creature, and put it out of its misery by shoving his long blade into its body. Quickly, the man pulled his sword out again, finding it clean from blood as always--as always, regrettably--and shoved it back into its sheath, creating a metallic song as he did.
“Very impressive!” shouted another man, not too far away from the battle scene. “Very impressive indeed. You are worth every unit I paid for your services and then some. Now, if there isn’t anything left to obscure us from our goal, let’s proceed, shall we?” The man with the sword quietly nodded his head, and joined the small entourage that he had left ten minutes ago.
There were five men there in total, counting the chief and the man with a sword. Two were closely affiliated with the chief and stood by him at all times; the other one was simply known as an Informer, one who gave his knowledge and skills away to those he favored--or else those desperate enough to pay his price. The man he was now serving was not desperate at all, but gained favor in the Informer’s eye because of his bright ambition and his astounding goal. If any man deserved to have his wishes granted, he figured, it would have been him. Besides, it would be interesting to really see “her” in person.
Walking very close to each other, with bundles of clothes over their bodies to guard them from the cold, the group of five wandered far away from the scene of carnage and towards the absolute north polarity of the world, where they found a large crystal imbedded in the snow, hidden from the view and knowledge of everyone save for a tiny minority who knew of its existence. The Informer sang out with glee as he plowed through the snow and approached the ice, and with a careful rub, he wiped off some of the snow that had caught on the crystal.
Trapped deep within the ice was a woman of incomparable power and beauty, one whom civilizations had sought for and crumbled because of. The Informer laughed out loud as he saw her peaceful, sleeping face, and wiped away more of the snow to get a better view.
“Well, it looks like the legends were true after all,” said the chief. The Informer chuckled.
“Of course they were. Was there ever a doubt in your mind? I’ve spent my life researching everything there is in this world, and I consider this, out of everything I have ever done, my best accomplishment to date. Ahh…” He let out a ghostly sigh, and sprawled himself on the ice, perhaps wishing to embrace the woman frozen inside. “You may have your wish, my friend, but all my desires were granted on this day.”
“That’s a bit of a relief,” said the chief with a smile. “The legends don’t exactly say whether or not she’ll grant more than one wish. Ah, I think we should release her, don’t you?”
“Indeed, yes,” agreed the Informer. He turned away from the woman (reluctantly), and gave the man with a sword a single look. He understood, and quietly lumbered towards the ice. He let out a fierce growl that shook the very ground beneath them, and with a single massive swing, the thick ice had been severely chipped away in half. He slashed again, downward, cleaving off large chunks of the ice as if his sword were made out of the hottest flames and not steel. Finally, with a final ram of his sword’s butt, the man shattered the ice that kept the woman prisoner, releasing her after twelve-thousand years of cold slumber.
So, naturally, she fell to the floor in a slump. The Informer caught her.
“There there, my precious,” he sang gently, combing through her frosty black hair. “You are freed now, my dear--freed once again to know what it feels like to be alive. I wonder, though, if this sleeping beauty will truly awaken after a kiss from the prince…?” He pondered over his question with amusement, smiling and humming mostly to himself. The chief drew in a cold breath, shivered, and studied the woman of secret legends, the one known only as Aisuna.
There was a definite, piercing beauty about her, albeit one with a bit of horror behind it. She was tall, definitely built well, with skin as white as the ground below and the sky above. Her hair was utterly black, like tar, but had streaks of blue running through it; her eyes were an eerie color, the top half being vague and empty but the lower half being cobalt blue. Her eyebrows, if they were indeed eyebrows, were shaped like black crescent moons, and if one looked closely, the peaceful look she once had was now one of murderous rage.
“Dear me, she’s something else!” exclaimed the chief breathlessly. The Informer agreed completely.
“Yes… though I’m disappointed to say that she may wake on her own…” Not long after the wise man murmured out his regret did the woman’s eyes truly flutter to life. She rose to her feet, distanced herself away from the man who had caught her, and slowly regained her equilibrium. She spoke in a strange, windy voice, in a language that few people even remembered, let alone understood.
“Gavinn-shei Kallla, melldoo’ah… Meldah’ah gahava, yetrudo ahh-ha’a…”
“Dear me, what is that she’s saying?” asked the chief. Strangely enough, the Informer shrugged.
“I couldn’t speak it without removing my uvula first, so there’s little chance of me interpreting it. The language is Lazarusian, ‘Infernal Voice of Lazarus’. If I were to make a guess, I’d say that she was asking where she was and who we were, or else what our wish would be. Is that right, mon petite peche?”
“Rhecktdo haamaa… Ah… ah… iet… nu…”
“She doesn’t understand us and we don’t understand her,” murmured the chief. The woman blinked her blue-white eyes several times, cleared her throat, and spoke in a clearer voice.
“Who… freed me?”
“Ah, so she can speak our language!” exclaimed the Informer softly. He chuckled, adjusted his glasses, and pointed to the chief (though truth be told, the man with the sword had freed her). “It is that man, over there. He wanted to free you, Lady Aisuna.”
“Him?” The snowy-skinned woman carefully walked over to the chief, examining him carefully. He tried to gaze back at her, but was forced to avert his eyes. He did not have the strength to even look at her for long…
“Very well, then,” she said after a long thought. “In return for your deeds, I shall grant you your single greatest desire, and shall accompany you until this goal is completed. That is… my purpose in life.”
“You are most generous, Lady Aisuna,” said the chief with a bow. He smiled with relief, his long quest and his painstaking search finally over after so many years. His request was a simple one, however, but worth the journey. “My name is Ezra, good Aisuna, and I simply ask of you to peacefully eliminate all my competition. I am a man of business, milady, and have been fighting to gain a position of power for all my life. However, I have… fierce competition standing in my way. I do not wish to besmirch my name by destroying them--my fondest wish is to simply transfer their riches, powers, and influences over unto my company, and send their leaders into ruin. Do you think you can do this?”
“Yes, it is a simple task for me,” she replied with a nod. “But be warned, Man, this wish shall come true! There is no way to reverse what will happen, and I cannot guarantee your happiness should things go as you want them to.”
“That’s okay, I’m prepared for any consequences.” Aisuna bore her eyes into Ezra’s own, searching around aimlessly until he looked away again. The Informer, however, never stopped looking at her; the swordsman kept his silence and his distance.
“As you wish. As a small token of my gratitude, I will also transport you away from this land, unless you do not desire it. I shall follow you as well, and grant your wish to the best of my abilities.”
“My dear lady,” said Ezra with a smile as he took her hand, “I could ask for no more.”
Closing comments: Thanks go out to Evil Eric for creating Aisuna. I have a vague plan for most everybody else’s characters as well, but I’m not adding anything until I get a few more characters. Keep sending them in, please!
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