Entwined | 𝘠𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘤

Breaking the Ice

"So Elle and your daughter have no connection, even though they're only a year apart?" Yami asked Mr. and Mrs. Clarise, who constantly glanced over his shoulder at Charlotte and her squad mates, Sol and Tess.

These people really can't hide their thoughts, can they? As welcoming as the villagers were, they fawned over Charlotte more than Yami ever did, and that was saying a great deal— to him, at least. You'd think they never saw a woman before, though their village was full of them.

Sure, Charlotte wore more expensive clothing, but that's what she grew up in. She didn't bother with makeup or impractical accessories. Most of the young women here, and some of the young men as well, adorned jeweled bracelets and draped themselves with brightly colored, well-tailored clothes. He wondered at how they adopted such a culture when their houses and living conditions were so simple.

Life in the forsaken realm was often plain. Many people looked down on an average life, but Yami admired it and the people that took life day by day. In fact, when Julius was briefing them, Yami even looked forward to getting out of the capital.

Spending more time with Charlotte meant more time in the grand city of liars and cheats who paraded around as self-important nobles. He knew good souls could be found anywhere, Charlotte was a shining example of that, but with commerce came money, and those were prime bait for evil intentions.

"No no, not at all. Ms. Damant doesn't even go to school anymore. Her magic is... well their family has been in this village for ages and so they don't really need education. You see, they belong in the mountain, are almost a part of it." Mrs. Clarise explained.

He wasn't getting any good information out of her.

"Capitan Charlotte's squad, are they in need of new members?" Mr. Clarise asked, stroking his shaven chin.

"All squads recruit at the same time, in the same manner," Yami replied dryly.

"I'm sure our daughter is out there, fighting at this very moment, and she'll come back—"

"Oh our sweet Albina!" Mrs. Clarise burst out in a wail of tears.

Just as Yami was praying for some sort of lead, any distraction really, a loud rumble resounded from one side of the village. Conversations were cut short and an eerie silence fell over the town as if the people were listening for divine intervention.

The rumble came again, louder and deeper. The ground beneath his feet began to vibrate.

"Avalanche!" someone called, and the ground shook more as a stampede of villagers ran the opposite direction.

Yami looked toward the source of the sound, but saw no movement from higher up the mountain. The trees, however, were quivering like a bundle of toothpicks.

"Luck, Magna!" he called, the three of them forming a triangle and catching their brooms to investigate. "Charmy and Grey, you two keep the villagers safe!"

Not bothering to look back, he flew head-first into the trembling trees, but before he got past the first trunk a human-size chunk of ice flew at his face. Dodging was tricky, and he would have been impaled by a tree limb if not for his ability to sense ki.

Two more ice chunks flew at Luck and Magna. Lightning-fast reflexes saved Luck, while Magna dissolved the ice in a blaze of fire, sending shards flying in the process. Fighting in the forest would not be to their advantage, but the only other option was to bring the battle to the village. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Charlotte catching up with Sol and another lieutenant.

There were three residential houses on the border of the forest, but the main buildings were further in. Some sacrifices would have to be made.

"Char, block off the rest of the village, we have to make a stand here!" he called to her. With a sharp nod she shouted instructions to her squad mates. Sol erected a massive earth wall sectioning the six of them off from the rest of the municipality and Tess jumped on top, using her wind magic to create an updraft.

Confident that nothing would get past, certainly not if he had anything to do with it, Yami jumped off his broom to the ground. The rumbling grew louder, almost overbearing as the scene unraveled. Instead of boulders of snow tumbling from the sky, akin to the presumed avalanche, they rose up from below. The entire earth shook and heaved, and monsters ascended from the snowy landscape.