The Isles of Ice Book One: The Corrupted Kingdom

Quiet Night with a Chill in the Air

The forest was dead quiet. There wasn't a creature awake willing to make noise. It was as if the entire area had understood that this night was one of silence.

The only noise at all wasn't from any natives to the woods. Instead, it was an adult girl weaving between trees with a bag slung around her shoulder and a wooden staff in her head.

Her outfit only made her stand out more. A floral print nightgown and two boots, one of which was untied and the other not properly pulled on, concerned the girl that before long she would be detected and captured.

The young adult didn't know exactly what it was she was running from. Alarm bells had overwhelmed her groggy mind and made it impossible to discern what people were shouting.

She had only been given enough time to pack her bare necessities and hurriedly throw on her boots before the threat reached the dorm room where she had been sleeping soundly moments ago.

The girl had opted to run out the window and flee into the woods instead of using her power. Based on the position of the moon and her exhaustion it must've been some time past 2 in the morning which meant her magic wouldn't be fully replenished.

The research academy she had called her home for the last 8 years had never been a place where she felt unsafe. Its security was supposedly top-notch and for a highly desirable person such as herself, that was reassuring.

Now she didn't even want to waste mental energy imagining what had invaded the academy and caused such a radical evacuation. She just wanted to get to the nearest port and back to her home.

There was a sudden exploding sound and the woman turned around to see a ball of fire erupting from where her academy once stood.

A hand went over her mouth as the heat from the explosion blew through the forest. She shook the tears welling up in her eyes away and turned to run again.

"Can't even be bothered to grieve?" A voice from the woods made her stop in her tracks and look around. The voice was distinctly inhuman and sounded scratchy and almost sounded like it was gargling something.

The girl prepared to call out when a creature floated into view. It was built like a human but everything about it was off. The creature was partially translucent and seemed to be made up of some sort of black mist.

A cloak covered most of its body but the bony hand that rested on the golden staff it held looked to be pulsating. "I suppose I can't blame you, Roseanne of Kingsmier, you're likely used to jumping from place to place."

The forest was so quiet that Rose was sure her heartbeat could be heard as it amped up its speed. "What are you?" She kept her voice steady as she asked.

Rose's peripheral vision picked up more figures moving around her. She looked around and counted six of them. "We are simply here to bring you home to Kingston. We need your assistance for something, I'm sure you'll understand."

How do they know all this about me? What are they? The young adult girl wondered. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and prepared to fight. "Back away. I'm a mage and that academy you just blew up taught me pretty well."

The shadow nudged her forward with its neck and Rose wasted no time casting a spell. She held her staff back like a bat and as a fireball formed at its tip she swung it.

One second, the fireball was traveling toward its target but the next it was deflected without the opponent making a single movement. The fireball crashed into the trees and they began to catch fire.

The shadow shook its head and sighed. "Fire? Come on child. We both know what your real power is." It suddenly lunged its staff out at her and shot dark magic at the girl.

Rose was knocked off her feet and tumbled across the dirty ground. Her knees were scraped up and her nightgown became stained with dirt and mud.

Rose looked up just in time to see her enemy floating at her with its staff prepared to strike. Even in her exhaustion, the Mage's combat training started to kick in and she rolled under the strike.

Rose hurried to her feet and faced the shadow again. She pointed her staff at the ground where it stood and summoned a column of flames at its feet.

Just before the flames could engulf it, the shadow dodged to the side. She cast the spell again and the same thing happened.

The other shadows began to laugh while the flames in the forest continued to thread thanks to her spells. The heat was starting to become difficult to bear on top of everything else and she couldn't even manage to hit her foe.

Rose looked around for an escape option but soon understand she would only have one option. Rose faced the shadow once again as her plan began to formulate and she wiped some sweat from her brow.

She pointed her staff as if she was going to cast another flame pillar but this time, nothing happened. The girl gasped and the shadows started to laugh again.

The shadow with the gold staff began to grin. "That's all you've got? You don't even have enough magic to give me a fight? Pathetic." It slung its staff over its shoulder to prepare an attack.

Rose sprung into action and unleashed a lightning-quick spell. The golden energy from the spell struck the shadow in the chest and it hissed as the light magic burned away at its life energy.

The other shadows were about to jump into action but Rose quickly cast her teleportation spell and vanished with a beacon of light.