Chapter 23 Snow, Snow Everywhere! Part 5

PoV change~

Before Álfurs eyes stretched out a vast plain. Gigantic icicles adorned the ceiling and the ground was covered by grass and flowers made out of ice. The mana was so dense that it became visible, all kinds of colors in the form of small particles formed a mist flowing like rives through the air; the ice reflecting it, transforming the place into a play of colors.

“I never saw mana so clearly like this, even in the forest it is not as dense.” He thought to himself in awe.

As a child he heard many tales about the spirit world, how ethereal it was and that the laws of this world did not apply there. A sacred place that every elf dreamed to lay their eyes upon at least once in their long lives. An almost impossible dream since spirits would rarely permit others to set foot into their domain.

The only person he knows that got this permission was his mother who would tell him what she experienced in form of bedtime stories and the spirit that invited her was the same spirit he was now traveling with.

He looked at the black cat sitting next to him, who stared at something.

“Why was Nox so concerned? Its not that they thought I wouldn’t be able to withstand this awe-inspiring place…? Or was it because they know how sacred this place is for an elf?” As he let his thoughts wander so did his eyes into the direction the spirit was staring at.

He was so occupied admiring this otherworldly realm that he failed to notice something even more jaw dropping.

In the distance he could see a giant tree, like the rest out of ice. Around it the mana formed shapes that slowly flowed, circling the tree.

“These shapes… they look like spirits!” he exclaimed bewildered uncertain what he was looking at, but an uneasy feeling arose within him.

As soon as he finished his sentence the black cat next to him stood up and quietly began to wander at the direction of the giant tree, signaling Álfur with a glance back to follow them.

“There it is again… ever since the snow began Nox would have from time to time this untypical serious air around them.” He thought as he followed the spirit.

As they wandered through the grass, he noticed that these plants weren’t ice sculptures but actual living plants, “How is this even possible?” he stared at the grass that moved like any normal ordinary grass would.

He couldn’t withstand his curiosity and touched one blade of grass, “Its cold and is hard like you would expect of ice, but if it’s hard how can it move like it isn’t?” in confusion he recalled what his mother told him, “You can’t grasp the laws the spirit realm is following…” he uttered, letting go of the grass that began to move fluidly again.

They got closer and closer to the tree, “It’s even bigger than the tree. Is that a wall? A giant mountain perhaps?” he thought baffled. Behind the tree he could see what looked like a giant mountain formation, but because of the dense mana his sight was obstructed.

After a while they arrived at the ice tree, its bluish translucent trunk and leaf’s reflected the mana and as he mesmerized walked closer laid his hand on one of the big roots. He could feel that it was alive like the rest of the surreal ice plants, he felt and could see the mana flowing through the roots, up the trunk, into the branches and leaf’s.

He looked back at Nox who was watching the mana dancing around the tree, an uneasy feeling overcame him again.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He could feel that something wasn’t right, so he inspected the mana closer. Now he was absolutely sure that it meant to represent spirits, some mana was shaped like fairy’s and reminded him of Fay, others looked similar to spirits that dwelled in the forest. While he recognized several of the figures from book illustrations, others remained unknown to him.

But contrary to the plants they were simply a culmination of mana, non were truly alive, “like sculptures to memorialize the ones they are shaped after…” he uttered in a daze.

“They all are shaped after spirits that died a long time ago…” Nox shocking words rung through his ears accompanied by a shiver.

“But can spirits even die, that’s my first time hearing about this…” he looked back at the cat in utter shock.

For elves spirits are entities that are nature itself, so no elf would ever believe that a spirit, no nature itself could possibly die. But Álfur didn’t doubt the spirit, now their behavior and his uneasy feelings made sense…

“If anyone back home would find out about this…”

“They would probably fall into panic or think it’s a lie.” The cat added.

“B-But how is this possible? Does mother know about this?” he asked still with a shocked expression.

“Hmm, your mother does know, but I never showed her this place. You are the first elf to set foot in here. So, do you regret coming here? Do you truly want to know more? You can still turn around and pretend to have never seen anything.”

He gulped and looked earnestly at the cat, “No, if there is truly a way for a spirit to die, I have to know, I don’t want to stay ignorant after all I will lead my people one day so I have to know every eventuality.”

Conflicting feelings ran through his mind, but ultimately, he didn’t want to shy away from the truth.

“Fine, then… WAKE UP FROSTI! YOU HAVE A GUEST!” the spirit screamed loudly and the giant ice cave began to shake. For a moment, irritated Álfur thought it to be an earthquake, but as he observed what he believed to be a mountain, started to move and got even bigger, he quickly realized that it was a spirit moving.

The giant’s eyelids slowly opened; his blue eyes observed the two guests that from his perspective were the size of ants. Slowly his massive blue tinted body sat down, the cave rumbling in response “Nox,” his voice echoed through the cave “I see you brought an elf with you this time.”

“A-An ice giant!” the elf surprised lowered his head in humility, “It’s an honor meeting you.”

“I see, after all this time elves still revere us.” The old giant stroked his long white beard.

Álfur was overwhelmed by the spirits imposing demeanor, this was his first time feeling such pressure coming from a spirit. All the others that he met until now including Nox were rather easygoing sometimes even childish, what let to him sometimes questioning why they were so deeply revered by his fellow elves in the first place, but all that got washed away in an instant.

“Hey!” Nox jumped on one of the giant’s hands that rested on the ground and kicked against it, what let Álfur freeze in shock. “You scare him, relax a little!” they said in an annoyed tone.

“…” Álfur couldn’t utter a word as he observed the bizarre scene.

“I hope you did not wake me simply for your own entertainment.” The giant said with a deep imposing voice.

Nox looked at him with big round eyes completely unintimidated, “I’m not that insensitive, I’m here because my friend here wants to know why it snows every 25 years.” They looked back at the elf, whom a slight fear overcame.

“He won’t get angry at me, right…?” he thought as the giant coldly stared at him.

The cat kicked with their little paws at the giant again, “Stop scaring him, what if he gets a heart attack!”

“You worry over the most nonsensical things; you haven’t changed one bit.” The giants voice grew a bit soft and his eyes relaxed.

He stroked his beard again, “Fine, I don’t mind telling this young elf about the tragedy that took place over 1000 years ago.”

Álfur gulped and had a serious expression on his face as he felt the weight of those words. The cat jumped down the giant’s hand and wandered to him, the ice behind him changed shape slowly forming a… “couch…?” he said confused.

The couch out of ice had little cats, elves, and other spirits carved into it. “I’m not even surprised anymore…” Álfur thought upon seeing the design.

“This will take a while so sit down.” Nox said while hopping on it and curling up.

“They really know how to break the tension…” he sat down next to the cat.

The giant observed all this quietly.

Then he slowly began to speak, “Have you ever wondered why spirits don’t show themselves to most people, especially humans and rather live in the spirit realm?”

“Isn’t it because a lot of humans what to take advantage of the powers of spirits?” the elf answered diligently.

“That’s generally right, but it was not always like this…” the giant watched sorrowfully at the spirit shaped mana, carefree and peacefully hovering around the tree that was smaller than him.