Ch8: Spirited away

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Arc 1: The Long Winter

Ch8: Spirited Away

Long ago, the great troll lord created a magical mirror that alters the look of whatever it reflects. The magical mirror fails to reflect the positive and lovely features of people and things. It then exaggerates their negative and unattractive qualities.

The great leader travels the world with his apprentices, delighted in sowing mischief and destruction. They smiled as they carried the mirror higher into the sky, and the mirror fell from their hands, breaking into a million dust shard bits strewn over the planet.

The mirror splinters are scarcely bigger than sand blown by the wind, and they have entered many people's hearts and minds. Corrupting the people who were once capable of seeing beauty and goodness in the world.

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The Shaftlands, also known as the Pyroxene Land, are said to be vast. Because it was a large country, the shaft lands had a variety of biomes and cultures. Cold weather is common in northern Shaftlands towns and villages.

And Ledusberg occurred to be at the country's far northwestern corner. It was also the closest settlement, located amid the snowy highlands. The coldest town in the northern area of Shaftlands.

And it was colder than ever because of the town's eight-year-long winter curse.

The ice forest that surrounded Ledusberg separated it from its neighboring settlements. Sleds drawn by reindeer and tamed arctic wolves, which are characteristics of villages in shaft lands located in northern regions, were the most commonly known mode of transit to another town.

Katerina wondered how Mister Hans and Miss Lily's conversation went when she returned to Ledusberg town.

Katerina wishes she hadn't been so optimistic about the outcome. Mister Hans had shouted a lot of unpleasant and offensive comments with his venomous mouth, according to Ashray.

Mr. Hans' venomous tongue made it impossible to meet her expectations.

With Mister Hans and Miss Lily's conversation, Ashray informed her about Mister Hans' allegation about the curse of their village.

Can they believe what he says?

"A powerful mage has cursed our town."

Mister Hans hasn't displayed much of his mage powers thus yet, other than the unusual accomplishment of recuperating from his injuries so quickly and conjuring a quill with a mage stone.

Even though Katerina and Ashray had welcomed the dwarf wizard into their house for the past few days, Katerina opted to be cautious.

When she first arrived in Sefa town three days ago, she went to the Sefa public library and used the computer there to search for things and gather information relating to Mister Hans.

Her searches yielded no results.

It's fine if she can't locate Mister Hans using a Magicam account. Older adults are less likely to have social media profiles on the internet.

However, no news on Hans Christian Andersen can be found online or on social media, according to the findings of her research.

When she couldn't uncover anything about Mr. Hans, she realized she had made a mistake. But she couldn't stand by and watch an injured person die in the snow.

Mister Hans hasn't done anything harmful to them so yet, other than his continual criticism with his venomous mouth.

She hopes that her kindness in saving Mister Hans did not result in her, Ashray, and the village of Ledusberg suffering as a result of her saving the wrong kind of person.

Katerina chance to spot Mister Hans reading a book again the next day, on her daily courier delivery duty, before she left Ashray's house.

Mister Hans has done nothing but read the books on Ashray's shelf since his arrival.

When she opened the door, she heard Ashray lecture Mr. Hands about leaving some of his books on the floor. When Katerina heard Ashray acting energetic and boisterous, she couldn't help but smile.

'Fortunately, he appears to be in good health today, with no colds or fevers. '

Katerina yelled as she returned her gaze.

"Ashray, I'm taking off!"

As Ashray scooped up the books on the floor after seeing Katerina go, he called back.

"Take good care, Kay!"

"I will!"

"Promise?"

"Promise!"

She heard Mr. Hans' words before completely closing the door and stepping outside.

"Don't make casual promises."

The rest of Mr. Han's talk was lost on Katerina. Riding on the sled with her loyal reindeer buddy Bae, she lists the orders of the townspeople on her notes as usual when she arrives at their front doors.

When she had entered all of the orders of the townspeople on her notes, she regained control of Bae's reins and led them out of Ledusberg town and into the cold winter wilderness.

Katerina also sees that the weather today is rougher than what the people of Ledusberg are used to.

The amount of snowfall in the town of Ledusberg has recently increased.

'The curse is worsening. Is this the Snow Queen?"

Katerina made Bae stop in her tracks because she remembered what Ashray had told her about someone producing the constant snowfall in their village.

Apart from that, Katerina came to a halt when she heard the sound of galloping and neighing horses and gazed in the direction where the sound was loudest.

There!

In the distance, a shadowy white silhouette. It's growing closer all the time.

Katerina's eyes widened as she finally got a good look at the silhouette.

In the thick, chilly woodland, the sound of her scream and Bae's terror galloping resounded.

Katerina did not return to Ledusberg that day, nor did she in the days that followed.

Andersen sighed as he spent his time happily within the limits of Ashray Whitley's home.

"As was to be expected..."

It would still roughly resemble his story.

Kay was taken by the Snow Queen.

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