The Elvaehen warrior Farryn felt a chill in the air before she heard the faint crackling sound. Instinctively, she propelled herself sideways to avoid the razor-edged spear of ice that flew past her. It barely missed, but still sliced through her armour and clothes with ease, cutting into her arm and leaving an icy burn in its wake.
Farryn spun around with her bow ready to let fly. Yet only her friend Dusty stood there, acting as if nothing had happened. She stared at him quizzically as she tried to fathom what had just transpired, her body was tensed like a spring. Seconds later, Dusty raised his hand and another frosty spear materialized and sped toward her. Again she avoided it, feeling the frigid breeze on her cheeks as it whipped past.
“Ah curses, Farryn!” He said with a sinister smile “I was hoping to get the drop on you.”
“Dusty!” She cried. “You… you work for the Wizard of Winter?”
“Well, I don’t work for the Wizard per se,” Dusty replied, “It’s more akin to… self-employment.”
As he finished speaking, Dusty’s appearance changed before Farryn’s eyes. He now stood tall, and all traces of Dusty’s slight limp and hunched stance disappeared. The explorer’s scars vanished from his face, leaving a sharp, handsome visage and his messy, greying hair changed until it was cleanly groomed and cobalt black. His battered and worn armour seemingly vanished and was replaced by a fine white suit with a flowing red cloak.
“You are the Wizard of Winter himself!” Farryn hissed. “And Dusty-“
“Dusty was merely my disguise. The friendly explorer never did exist.”
Farryn was shaking with fury as he spoke. “You will pay for this betrayal!”
“Oh? Is it truly a betrayal if I was never with you in the first place? Ah… perhaps. It probably does feel that way.”
Farryn released her arrow in response, only to have the Wizard wave it away with some sort of magic.
“I must thank you, Farryn! I could not have passed that barrier without your help,” said the Wizard.
Farryn had taken cover behind a low stone table, attempting to silently move about the lab while she searched for openings to attack. His words confused her, was he not the one who placed the barrier?
“Someone else who knows the significance of this peak sought to keep me away from my tower.” The Wizard responded to her unasked question. “Perhaps the Creator or the Realm Tree itself! You do seem to carry its favour.”
“Ha! And your stubbornness couldn’t keep you away!” The Wizard continued to taunt her.
“I’ve waited so many years for this moment,” his voice almost became wistful. “I am truly grateful to you, child.”
“Your friends were injured and killed!” Farryn yelled at him, tears had begun streaming down her face.
It was all she could do to avoid his attacks, while the Wizard mercilessly hurled deadly magic at her, Farryn was shocked and hesitant to fight her old friend. Dusty had been like a father to her.
Yet there he was, not a hint of mercy or empathy in his cold, cruel gaze.
“The explorer’s life is fraught with peril. Anything can happen on these dangerous quests!”
“They trusted you! WE trusted you!” Farryn screamed.
“Yes, I needed you and your family’s absolute trust. Don’t chastise yourself harshly,” the Wizard said. “I spent many years and resources building the Dusty persona.”
“What is your scheme, sorcerer?” Farryn demanded.
Her last question of the man, as she fought back the despair that threatened to overtake her.
“Oh Farryn, you don’t need to worry your pretty little head about such grand things!”
Another spear of ice whistled past her as she dove to the side.
“Your part in this tale has come to a close. It is time for you to bow out gracefully!”
With that, Farryn knew she was in the battle of her life. The most powerful enemy she knew of faced her and she would have to fight like never before and put aside any hint of mercy toward her old friend if she wanted to survive, let alone defeat him and retrieve what he stole.
***
Farryn scrambled, trying to catch her breath, hiding herself behind a half-destroyed stone pillar. Fortunately, the Wizard’s mountain lab was filled with enough places for her to quickly dart from one spot to another and avoid getting hit by the Wizard’s deadly spells.
“You wretch! You’ve ruined everything!” The Wizard of Winter rasped at her.
Farryn took the chance to move to a different spot. As she moved, she could see that the Wizard had stopped slinging frosty projectiles at her. Several of her heartwood arrows had found their mark in his body and he was about to fall. Sure enough, the Wizard collapsed gasping on the stone floor. Farryn stopped and stood back, an arrow ready to fly as the Wizard’s body slowly stopped moving.
She strained her keen ears and listened as the Wizard’s final breath escaped his lungs. The man whom she thought to be her dearest friend and mentor lay lifeless on the cold stone floor, killed by her own hand. Dusty’s, rather, the Wizard of Winter’s betrayal stung her heart like nothing before and her legs went weak as the rush of the battle began to subside.
“So many dead… Dusty… why?” Farryn cried softly.
She stiffened and whirled around as an unnatural, ghastly presence abruptly overwhelmed her senses. An impossible sight greeted her and Farryn gasped in surprise as a spectral form of the Wizard stood before her. It carried the appearance of the very same Wizard who lay dead on the floor a short distance away.
“Imposs-!“
Her cry of surprise was cut off as the apparition quickly closed in and thrust a ghostly hand into her chest. She could only gasp as she felt the spectre’s icy fingers gripping her heart. It drew its face near to hers and Farryn could feel the bitter cold emanating from it.
“May you never feel the embrace of warmth again!” The phantom sneered. “May you never take a single step off this desolate, frozen peak as long as you live! And may you stay locked in eternal battle with the monsters that dwell here!”
Once it uttered these words that would be forever burned into Farryn’s soul, the Wizard of Winter’s spirit released its grip on her heart and promptly dissipated with a maniacal laugh that echoed through the lab even after it was gone. She stumbled back and fell to the floor frantically looking around to see if the spectre truly had vanished.
“What was that? An illusion?”
Farryn slowly raised herself to her feet, her body aching from the journey up the mountain and the sudden, dangerous battle she had just gone through. She slowly and cautiously approached the Wizard of Winter’s body. After moments of searching, she found what she was looking for in a pouch attached to the Wizard’s belt.
She took the Realm Tree seed in her hands and stood up.
“So, Dusty had it with him this entire time,” she said.
With her mission fulfilled, Farryn turned and made for the exit of the tower. She wondered how she would evade the frost wolves on her descent from the mountain. Perhaps she should rest and try to recover her stamina first. Although, Farryn knew that the longer she stayed, the more dangerous it would become. She decided to make do with some of the restoration and vitality magic at her disposal and hoped that would be enough to escape. Farryn did not want to spend another moment on this cursed mountain!
Finally, she had made it out of the tower, the Wizard’s laboratory. She turned and looked back at it for a moment before staring the journey down the treacherous slope.
Farryn had only take a few steps when she stopped. Something was wrong. Very wrong. She placed her hand on her chest as an unnatural, piercing cold suddenly radiated from her heart. She sharply sucked air between her clenched teeth. With each quickening heartbeat, the cold spread agonizingly through her veins. Farryn fell to her knees clutching her chest and screaming in pain as her heartbeats pushed the insidious chill throughout her entire body.
Eventually, Farryn pulled herself to her feet after what felt like a lifetime. Shakily, she inspected herself for injuries. To her horror, her skin had become a sickly pale blue. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that her black hair had turned to pure white. The cruel words of the phantom came back to her, reverberating through her mind. It was no illusion after all. In death, the Wizard of Winter had managed to strike her with a final, cruel blow.
Farryn took the Realm Tree seed into her hands only to watch it turn to dust and blow away in the wind. The bitter chill she now felt would become her constant companion and the mountain she stood upon had, in an instant, become her eternal, solitary winter prison.
