Veil of Shadow and Rain ✓ [TSC #1]

Chapter 37 - Ice and Water

'It was you who sent the Shadow Angels to me, wasn't it?' Wren said angrily, feeling a pulse throbbing in her neck.

'Who else would it be?' Nicaea drawled.

'So they work for you?' Wren said, careful not to break eye contact. 'You own them?'

Nicaea's eyes glinted with a malevolent spark that haunted Wren. 'Darling, you're catching on. Now you see, I don't just own them. They dance to my tune, to my delicious power. Now you see, circumstances don't define us, Wren. Our choices do.'

She lifted the Soulstone chin-length. 'Now, I believe Wren, you were looking for this?'

Anger burned through Wren like a deep course of flame. She looked so mutinous that she couldn't speak, she stood rooted to the ground, not being able to move.

'Hand it over,' she said through clenched teeth.

An eyebrow went up. 'Princess, it's not as easy as you think it is.'

She raised her left arm, high in the air and Wren could see ice crackle from her arm to her forearm to her palm; before she knew it, blades of ice blasted around the room, almost sharpening Wren's leg if she hadn't ducked. The witch's dozen energy raced across the floor. The dirty, dull ground crackled and frosted over, transforming into a treacherous sheet of ice.

Wren slid away from the ice, summoning a surge of water to curse at Nicaea, but Nicaea frosted it into ice with an effortless flick of her wrist, leaving it hanging in the air. Wren swallowed, breathing hard.

'You are way too predictable,' the Dark Witch said, a malevolent grin spreading on her face. 'One more blade wouldn't hurt, would it, Wren?'

She retaliated with a fierce burst of ice just as Wren conjured a swirling vortex of water. The two forces collided in a spectacular clash - the room echoed, a chaotic dance of water and ice that left the air charged with tension.

'Wren, watch out!' screamed Jake from the corner.

The Ice Queen had sent another powerful blaze of ice blades, hurling them towards Wren - Wren flicked her hand, sending a wave of water bringing the blade of ice upward, hitting the ceiling

Icicles hung like deadly stalactites from the ceiling, glistening with an eerie beauty. As Nicaea continued to weave her wintry magic, the room transformed into a glittering, frozen labyrinth, a testament to the chilling might she wielded.

'You can't escape your destiny, Wren,' she hissed.

'Who said it was mine?' shouted Wren, sending another surge of water towards Nicaea. Swiftly, Nicaea sent it hurling back to her and Wren made it evaporate into thin air.

Nicaea's eyes flashed with something other than just rage. She brought one hand up, and as she did so, a giant serpent cracked from the icy sheet of the floor, hissing and sputtering, covered in ice, with a life of its own. Nicaea flicked her hand down, and on command, the sinuous, icy serpent slithered towards Wren, its crystalline scales shimmering in the light.

Slightly deterred but refusing to back down, Wren summoned the essence of water to her mind - a majestic dragon formed out of nowhere, its form fluid and powerful. With a roar made of cascading power, it soared towards the serpent, fangs baring.

As the clash between Wren's dragon and ice serpent reached its crescendo, Wren could feel her dragon slipping away, hardly any more force nor power. Nicaea was cackling manically; she sent another blade of ice with a force so potent it slipped right through Wren's leg.

Wren felt a jolt of pain like she had been stabbed through the palm with the knife back in the High Court. Blood was starting to spill onto the slippery ice ground.