Ice Age

two

"Ugh...oh, my head..."

Tecna awoke shivering, with a throbbing pain reverberating in her skull. She tried to get to her feet, but fell back over immediately. Her strength was totally gone, all of it having been used to seal the portal.

Instead of trying to stand, she dragged herself over to a giant boulder a few feet away, and sat upright against it as she examined her surroundings.

"There's got to be some way I could get some warmth around here." She mused as she shivered. "I doubt I could build a fire, there won't be any wood down here that isn't frozen solid. My best shot is to somehow use my powers, but by the time I'm strong enough to do that, I could already have frozen to death." She sat for a moment in silent thought, trying to think of some way to find warmth.

After some time had passed, she managed to build up enough strength to struggle to her feet and de-transform. Her normal clothes replaced her brand new Enchantix outfit.

"This is a little bit warmer, but it still won't be enough." She said to herself. She'd found that speaking her thoughts aloud had reduced the eerie silence of the place, but she kept her voice at a whisper in case someone, or something, heard her and decided they were hungry.

She got to work. She wandered around trying to find bits of material to use to make something that could help her, but her progress was interrupted after only a few minutes and not much success.

A giant, white snake was curled up and sleeping only a couple of feet from where she stood. She stopped and froze, watching as the serpent snorted steam from its nose and opened its eyes to see her.

It hissed at her, uncoiling itself until it towered at least four feet above her head. It reared its head back and shot a ball of ice towards her. She only just managed to dodge it by jumping to one side and slipping across the slippery surface of the ice.

The snake turned towards her again and shot another ball of ice. She had just enough time to conjure a weak shield, but it had flickered out by the time the snake had launched its next attack.

She managed to roll out of the way, but the impact of the attack shattered the ice where she'd been laying, spraying her with shards of ice.

"I can't keep this up much longer." She said, more to try and clear her head than reassure herself. The vocalized words made her thoughts seem more focused somehow.

She rolled out of the way again as the snake attacked again. It hissed, much louder this time, like Tecna's continuous dodging was beginning to annoy it.

She got to her feet and ran to crouch behind a huge boulder. The snake took its time approaching her. Like it knew she had nowhere to go.

"If I can't fight it..." She mused. "Then I'll just have to outsmart it!"

She stood up to her full height, waving her arms over her head to get the snake's full attention. "Over here! Come on, come and freeze me!"

She turned and started running, trying desperately to think of something she could use to stop the serpent. Just when she felt like she could run no more after also dodging multiple ice attacks, she spotted a huge boulder sitting precariously on the edge of a small ravine, just large enough for the snake to fit in and the opening just small for the boulder to seal it off.

She stopped directly at the edge of the ravine and waited the few seconds it took for the snake to reach her. She tried to muster the power she needed to go through with her plan. She didn't need much, but she still felt nearly totally drained.

The snake reached her and hissed. It sounded beyond angry now, but Tecna was confident in her plan.

For the most part.

She took a deep breath and called, "Tecna Enchantix!"

She had to work as quickly as possible. She lifted off the ground and flew down a few feet into the ravine, tricking the serpent into following her.

Once the snake had passed her, she slowed to a stop and directed her attention upwards, to the ledge keeping the boulder in place. "Electric Storm!" With one enormous burst of strength, she summoned one beam of green energy, and blasted the ledge right out from under the rock, which then began tumbling down toward the ravine.

Tecna flew back up to the top as fast as she could, just barely making it out in time for the boulder to slam down on the entrance to the ravine, effectively cutting off the snake. But Tecna was much too exhausted to celebrate. She collapsed, even more tired than when she'd arrived. She felt her powers waning as she de-transformed.

She couldn't bring herself to get up. She could barely keep her eyes open, but she couldn't pass out; if she passed out, there was no telling what could happen to her. But being awake but unable to move wasn't much better. She tried to at least sit up, but she was too drained; her arms tremored if she even tried to roll over.

Unfortunately, her bad luck got even worse as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the spot where she'd collapsed. She could tell the newcomer was male, and she wished she was strong enough to get away, because this was the Omega Dimension, and that meant this was a criminal who'd been locked away for a serious crime.

"Well well well...what do we have here...?" She heard a man say above her in a hoarse voice. "A pretty little girl...no...you're a fairy! Why, today is just my lucky day, I guess!"

Tecna heard his boots scrape against the ice as he bent down to roll her over onto her back. The convict was grungey looking, with scraggly dark hair pulled away from his face but not doing much for his long, curly, disgusting beard. He wore a parka over stained jeans and a cotton shirt, and goggles covered his eyes.

"Leave...me...be..." She spat, but she knew it was pointless.

The convict barked out a laugh. "And what are you gonna do to stop me, little fairy? Sprinkle me with fairy dust? You're too weak to even fly."

He reached down and picked her up with ease, slinging her over his shoulder and turning in the direction of he'd come from. Tecna pounded against his back with her fists, but it was fruitless. She decided not to waste her energy on it; if she could regain her strength in time, she could break away from him.

All she would have to do was wait.