The Frigid Prince: Chapter 6

"Enaguille... is that you?" Methais asked fearfully.

The frigid prince doubled a look around him then asked, "Who the fuck else would I be?"

The group relaxed, if only a little, and Methais said, "You uh..."

"Man you look mad ugly right now," Yadriel said.

Igor elbowed him in the gut. "What Yadriel means, I think, is that your um… appearance is so different since last we saw you. Which wasn't that long ago so what the hell happened to you?"

Enaguille looked down at his arm, seeing the drastic change of color to his skin, and just shrugged. "It seems the excessive use of my magic has changed my appearance even more so what?"

"It's not just your looks your voice has altered greatly too," Curtis said.

Enaguille just shook his head and said, "You know what, I'm moving on now, you can either join me or turn back." He then turned from them and walked away without a further word.

"Bro what about the demons?" Yadriel called out to him.

"I handled them," Enaguille shouted back without turning.

The friends looked at each other, wondering if they heard the same thing. They did, and Yadriel went after Enaguille, "Guy's I got to see this. In fact, I'll see you there." He then vanished into thin air again.

Methais sighed as the other two looked at him wondering what to do now, and he said, "Alright, Let's at least check this out."

Following Enaguille, they came to a canyon in that floor, where Yadriel stood by the edge staring at it unbelieving. At the bottom of the canyon, they saw a hoard of the skeletal demons frozen over in a sea of glaciers floating on a rock bed. The frozen demons sparkled brilliantly in the pseudo sun as they were all at a loss for words.

While they all stared into the canyon, Enaguille formed a bridge to the other side of the canyon; where a long trail climbed the side of the wall at the end of the floor. "I think the stairs leading up are just on the other side of this canyon over there," Enaguille said pointing over to the trail. "I formed a bridge of ice to get us across but if you're not coming with me further just say so now. That way I can collapse the bridge soon as I'm on the other side."

The others talked quietly amongst themselves while Enaguille waited at the foot of the ice bridge. "I really want to see this thing through to the end now," Igor said.

"I don't know," Curtis said, "I mean looking down there and then seeing how much he's changed; how insanely powerful he's become. I'm a little frightened of him."

"Yea man me too, he's mad freaky now," Yadriel said. "But this is rather exciting, and I wanna see what else this freaky tower has to offer. I mean this is the journey of a lifetime guys, who knows if an adventure this epic will ever come in our lives again."

Methais gathered his thoughts before speaking them. "Well, it's evident now that the higher we climb, the more dangerous this place becomes. And though a large part of me is with you Curtis, the rest of me is with Igor and Yadriel. This is a once in a lifetime journey, and I do want to see how far we can take this."

He turned to look at Curtis now. "But this decision must be unanimous, either we climb higher together or go home together."

Yadriel and Igor looked to Curtis now, their faces practically begging him to say 'climb'. He looked at his feet then turned his head to look over at Enaguille, who was waiting patiently for them at the foot of his bridge. He glanced down to the canyon and the frozen demons and sighed.

"Alright," he said reluctantly. "I guess if we're all going to be fools and keep climbing then you're going to need me to save your sorry asses." He looked back to the ice bridge, "But we are not taking that bridge across."

The others looked over to the ice bridge now and grimaced. "Agreed," They all said at once.

"Enaguille we're uh... We're just going to teleport to the other side okay?" Methais shouted to Enaguille.

Enaguille nodded and began briskly walking down his bridge. As he came close to the end of it, he stomped his feet for a few steps, and the bridge started collapsing behind him. Making the final steps the ice bridge was nothing more than a small platform, and as he stepped on the other side of the canyon on the trail, his bridge was completely collapsed.

Methais was the only one waiting for him on the other side. "You were right," he said, "About the stairs to the next floor being over here that is."

Enaguille looked around the trail then asked, "Where are the others?"

"Those morons got tired of waiting for you, so they continued ahead to the next floor."

"Then we better hurry," Enaguille said ascending the trail.

The spiraling stairs led them up into a swampy floor with patches of land scattered throughout it. "Good to have you join us at last," Yadriel said impatiently.

"Some of us have to walk to go to places," Enaguille remarked.

"The waters here are a couple feet deep at best," Igor said. "But it's gross and rather stinky."

Enaguille walked forward from the stairs as a path of frost stretched out in front of him and reached the swamp. The murky waters froze over in seconds, and they could see a thin dingy mist rise from around the swamp covering the place as the waters froze all over that floor.

"This will make our way through this floor much faster," Enaguille said stepping onto the ice and making his way towards the patch of land. The others followed, and he plucked a dark fruit from the tree and said, "But I'd like to eat and rest first before moving forward."

"We were thinking the same thing," Methais said, sounding relieved.

Enaguille devoured his fruit and was passed out a moment later. Yadriel fell asleep not long after him as well.

"Wow they must have been exhausted themselves," Curtis said looking at the two passed out.

"Well Yadriel kept jumping around all over the place and was attacked by that demon," Methais said. "And Enaguille," he scoffed, "I don't even know anymore."

"Think he's okay?" Igor asked looking at them concerned.

"Yadriel? He's had worse; just tired is all. Watch when he wakes up he's going to be jumping around all over the place again."

"I meant Enaguille."

"Enaguille is better off than any of us," Curtis retorted.

"Alright you guys get some rest too, I'll keep the first watch," Methais said.

After countless hours Enaguille awoke at last, the others were waiting around for him. "Our Ice Lord awakens at last," Igor said teasing him.

Enaguille said nothing and looked at him briefly before walking ahead further into the swamp. The friends looked at each other and followed after him. Methais approached him from a certain distance, the cold wave emitting from Enaguille was too chilling to stand or walk right next to him.

"Are you okay man, you don't even want to eat?" Methais asked, worried about his condition.

Though still moving in his almost trance-like state Enaguille responded, "I can feel something pulling me forward, something almost calling me..." He said nothing more and continued.

Methais pulled back to keep pace with the others, and he just shook his head at their expecting looks; wondering what was going on. Cautiously they followed Enaguille from a fair distance, Curtis glancing behind him to check their backs every so often.

They found their way to the next set of stairs in no time and climbed.

Coming from higher up the stairs was a glowing red and orange light. They glanced at each other, wondering what it was. The only way to know was to keep climbing.

Nearing the top, they couldn't smell the smoke but they could hear the sounds of fire sizzling and crackling. And the light turned into a crimson red at the top of the stairs. Looking on the next floor, they saw a forest set completely ablaze. All the towering trees had flames dancing on them and a dingy grey smoke filled the floor.

"Who are those people?" Enaguille asked staring out into the blazing forest.

The others strained their eyes to look into the forest to see what he was seeing, but they could not. "I don't see anyone?" Methais asked doubtfully.

"Those people in the red cloaks, I can hear them chanting. I think they set this forest on fire..."

Enaguille then walked into the burning forest without a care. The flames and grey smoke repulsed from him as he went in; even the ember glazed ground had diminished from his footsteps. Looking at him from a distance was like seeing a clear tunnel in an ember-like fog.

"Okay guys we should turn back now, I think we have come far enough," Curtis said disquieted

"Yea uh, I think you're right," Methais said.

"What about Enaguille we can't just leave him?" Igor asked anxiously

They glanced back at Enaguille as he continued walking deeper into the burning forest. He showed no sign that he would be turning back.

"He'll be fine," Methais said sounding a little dubious of himself. "We clearly can't pursue this any further, we have more than enough intel to make a fortune on selling at the tower base. So let's leave here while we still can.

Igor scoffed then turned away from them to chase after Enaguille. "Igor stop!" They shouted. He kept running ahead though.

"Bloody fool!" Methais cursed as he chased after him.

Curtis and Yadriel exchanged a pained look of reluctance and followed after them.

Catching up to Enaguille Igor said, "Enaguille we can't keep following after you like this." He ended up having to shout just to be heard over the blazing trees.

Enaguille turned around and saw all his friends and the fear on their faces for the dangerous situation they were in. He turned back ahead and lunged forward with one leg, thrusting out his hands at the same time. A pulse of icy wind pushed forth from him as it cleared out a wide chilled path ahead of them.

He turned back to his friends and said, "We're getting closer to the end I can feel it. There aren't that many floors left between us and the top." He hesitated briefly before finishing, "I'm going on ahead."

Enaguille turned around and started jogging down the frigid path ahead of him. Igor chased after him, and the others stared at each other. Yadriel shrugged and said, "We came this far, bro..."

Methais nodded, and they followed Enaguille and Igor down the path.

* * *

The frigid path led all the way to the next stairs that they hatefully rushed to when it was in their sights. Climbing just the first few steps they stopped and cheered; happy to be out of that blazing forest. Enaguille, however, kept climbing, but at a much slower pace.

Coming to the top of the stairs, they saw the next floor was dimly lit with some sort of dark abyss further ahead; and over it was a narrow set of curving and zigzagging rock paths. So caught up in the floor ahead of them they barely saw as the people in the red cloaks suddenly appeared all around them. Their appearance wasn't like Yadiel’s' teleportation, rather like they were there all along but previously invisible to them.

They gave no forewarning as they raised their burning hands and shot forth a torrent of flames at Enaguille. He crossed his arms over his face and focused on creating a barrier of frost around him. The flames were intense but his barrier held strong and when he felt the heat disappear he dropped his ice ward.

Glancing around at the red-cloaked magisters surrounding them, Enaguille grabbed his lance strapped on his back and said, "You guys should move ahead, I'll handle these freaks."

When they didn't respond right away, he turned around to look at them, and his face was stricken with horror and despair. Despite his enemies surrounding him Enaguille fell to his knees struggling to breath and being consumed with grief. He fought the tears and reached his hand out to touch the jagged glacier that had entombed his friends.

The cruel ironic laughter of the cloaked magisters reminded Enaguille of his current situation. He got to his feet and turned to face one side of them and took a slow step forward. As they put out their hands to unleash more flames he slammed his fists into the ground, shouting in rage, as a wave of jagged ice spiked rose from the ground and raced towards them. Even their flames couldn't stop them as the spikes spread out to their entire row, skewering them and splashing scarlet blood all around.

Enaguille then turned to the other magisters who were still channeling their flames at him. Their fire was intense, but his icy magic had grown exponentially and protected him from the flames. He hurled his lance into the hood of one of them, whom fell back dead, and continued his slow walk to them: savoring the moment.

Their inevitable doom was the only thing that kept him from breaking down at that time. And as he came into reach, he grabbed their heads, one by one, through the dark veil of their hood. As soon as his hand touched them they exploded into countless tiny frozen pieces of meat.

When they saw they weren't stopping him, the few left started backing away, still channeling their fire at him. He picked up his pace to catch them and slaughtered two of the three remaining before the last one had made it to the edge of the abyss. He stopped walking, then held out his hand as thin jagged shards of ice shot forth, skewering the magister from head to foot pushing it over the edge of the abyss.

He turned away now and pulled his lance from the magister's corpse; his rage subsiding and being replaced with a bitter heart aching sorrow. He couldn't even turn his head to look at them now; not after what he had done.

And no matter how much he wanted to shout at the magisters now or blame them for all this, he knew what happened to his friends was his fault. He knew that he alone did this, and so he ran ahead despite the dangers of moving fast on those narrow paths. He just needed to get away from there quickly as he was able; he couldn't stand to face what he had done. Making it to the other side, he climbed the stairs to the next floor and fell to his knees in a fit of tears.

When he calmed down he encased himself in a shell of ice, to sleep peacefully; restoring his energy and mending his broken heart.

After his body had recovered, he awoke, shattering his ice shell and stretching. He didn't feel as sad anymore but wouldn't mind going back to sleep. Still he moved forward stopping at the edge of the rushing river. Without a second thought, he held out his ice lance and channeled his magic through it, freezing the rushing waters in a matter of seconds.

With the river now a frozen bridge, sparkling beautifully alongside the small jagged crystals around it, Enaguille stepped on it and crossed over to the other side. On the far end he could see a massive sea creature with numerous tentacles; a few appeared to be cut off, lying face down in a pool of strange purple liquid.

Suspiciously he shot forth some jagged ice spikes into the giant creature when it didn't react he knew it was dead. He turned his sights back ahead now towards the stairs with golden light pouring down them. Walking forward cautiously toward the stairs, still expecting some sort of trap, he felt a strange yet familiar presence staring at him from afar. He ignored the feeling and continued ahead.

Reaching the edge of the stairs he felt a sudden sense of danger behind him and dived away from the steps. Coming out of the dive with his knee's bent low, and his hand gripping his lance firmly, Enaguille saw a brooding humanoid demon. It was a full black figure with dark grey, shadowy smoke emitting from it; almost like it was on fire. It wielded a massive double sided dark axe that it swung at Enaguille effortlessly.

He dodged the first swing but wasn't fast enough to avoid or block the next one which hit him straight on the head. It slammed him down face first into the ground so hard his sight flashed white for a moment. He got up slowly, on his hands and knees, the world spinning around him when he took another blow to the head from the side.

This time, the blow sent him spiraling aside, and he rolled onto his back. He turned to this and forced himself actually to stand on his feet. Facing the shadowy demon, he spits out the sapphire blood from his mouth, from where he just bit his tongue and stared it down.

He was still disoriented and the demon, somehow sensing this, suddenly tossed its great axe at him like it was a normal hand axe. He managed to pull his lance in front of him and summon his icy defenses before the axe chopped his head off. When the two weapons clashed, the axe exploded into countless tiny shards, many of which sliced up Enaguille all over his face.

Wiping the blood and axe shards from his face he snarled and half lunged forward extending his arm and hurling his lance forth with all his might. The lance pierced through the shadowy demons chest, and the veil was dropped. As the shadowy smoke of illusion lifted a broad man with a shaved head, yellow eyes, and brown skin was revealed.

Enaguille's heart stopped as Abaron fell to his knees, his life soon gone.

The frigid prince rushed over to his father and cradled him in his arms, crying painfully and saying in disbelief, "No no no no no. Father, you can't leave me now, you can't die like this!"

Abaron' squinted his eyes at him and struggled to speak, "Enaguille?"

"Yes father it's me, it's me. I didn't know I-I..." Enaguille choked on his last words unable to speak anymore from the lump growing in his throat.

Abaron grinned and spoke slowly said, "You’re truly a warrior now, I'm...." He stopped abruptly after that, his eyes turned hollow and empty.

Enaguille held him tighter and closed his father’s eyes. And before he knew it, all around him the tower quaked and rumbled. Large cracks ruptured all around splitting the ceiling, walls and floor apart. But Enaguille didn't care, he just held tight to his father mourning his death. He was the true demon...

* * *

After the tower had collapsed Enaguille carried his father's corpse back to Aladorn on foot. The journey was long, but his cold ice preserved his father's corpse and prevented it from decomposing just yet. He took Abarons body to the forest Ardul, where his father killed his first animal on the hunt and where Enaguille and all his brothers too killed their first animal on the hunt.

Abaron was many things, all of them great, but what he loved above all, almost as much as his children, was the hunt. So Enaguille thought it fitting to bury him there, in that forest. He marked the grave with a makeshift gravestone made of sparkling ice; it was the only talent he had but for here it worked.

Of course, when he arrived at the castle, he would tell his brothers about the location of their father's burial. They had the right to move him if they wanted, maybe even give him a proper gravestone. But when he returned to Galleic Hall he found something very unexpected just outside the front gates.

Standing before the front gates was an elder woman with dark feathered wings and hands like raven claws, and her eyes were black sleights. Only when he was much closer did he recognize the elder woman. "Leana?" He asked her unbelieving.

She bowed her head before him and said, "Welcome home, Zerek."

"I know that name... but why?"

She crooked a wicked smile and said, "It was the name you went by the first time around; before the gods smote you. But they can never truly kill you, my Frigid King."