Chapter 24 Snow, Snow Everywhere! Part 6

Back to our little cat~

My ears twitched as Frosti began to tell the elf the history that was forgotten by most but the spirits.

“A long time ago, spirits showed themselves openly and frequented the middle realm, living together with the other races, but that changed dramatically when the humans arrived.” He looked furious, and the elf ran a chill down his spine from the intense hatred that the old giant displayed.

“You heard that right, “When the humans arrived…” I was pretty shocked when I heard about it the first time, but humans aren’t native to the middle realm… Well, but in this world it’s common knowledge…” I thought to myself adjusting my posture, now lying on my left side.

“For a while, all went well, and the humans were welcomed with open arms, but after time passed and they witnessed the power of the spirits, they grew greedy.” He paused for a moment.

I looked at the elf who was listening earnestly to Frosti, “No matter the world, humans tend to destroy everything… even in fiction! As a former human I can confirm!” I kept that thought to myself of course.

“They wanted the power for themselves, and in secret, they created a magical artifact that could suck out the power of a spirit and store it for humans to use.” The giant’s eyes flickered in fury as he recalled the tragic events.

The elf shocked asked, “W-What happened to the spirits who got their power stolen?”

The giant paused and gazed at the tree, “They died; all that remains of them is this memorial depicting those fallen spirits…”

He continued, “After all, we spirits are energy itself, and if you take that energy away, we can’t maintain our form and vanish…”

“The humans knew!” The cave rumbled, “But they still dared to do this to my kind, simply to satisfy their thirst for power!” His angry voice echoed through the cave, reaching every corner.

The elf was at a loss for words, and his face showed a mix of emotions.

“With the help of the other races, we destroyed the artifact and slaughtered the humans responsible.” His voice vibrated with intense anger and sorrow. “If it had been up to me, I would have slaughtered all of these rotten creatures. You simply cannot trust the inhabitants of the lower realms."

“I heard this story before, the first time I met Frosti, but it’s still shocking.” I let my ears hang. “Most of all, I don’t know how to react to his intense hatred… I wasn’t there; I didn’t witness what he witnessed… So, I will never fully understand his fury and sorrow…”

I shook my head, not wanting to think about it anymore, and instead watched the elf’s reaction, who was quietly sitting on the ice couch.

“I understand that this is a memorial for all the spirits that lost their lives, but pardon my question: what has this all to do with the snow? And why exists an entrance to such an important place in the middle realm?” The elf asked carefully, not wanting to anger the giant.

“I connected this place with the location where the humans once murdered my kin.” Frosti looked at him and continued, “It would open every 25 years, every year standing for one of the fallen spirits.” He clenched his giant hand into a fist. “The snow it brings is a reminder; even if every human forgets, I will never!” His emotion-filled voice echoed again.

“And if one of these despicable humans should come near, they will be enthralled by the snow, letting them slowly die in the cold!” His old eyes flickered. “If it weren’t for Minerva intervening, I would have frozen all of these disdainful humans solid!”

The elf stared horrified at Forsti, gathering all his courage to speak up, “But after all this time, no human lives in this region anymore; instead, Beastkin settled down near here and are suffering from the snow!”

I shot up and looked at him, “I never expected he would talk back to Frosti!” I nervously glanced at the giant, hoping nothing bad would come out of this…

Frosti stroked his beard silently staring at the daring elf and after a moment of silence began to speak, “Young elf, what is it you want to say? If Beastkin lives near this place, they won’t be affected; all that can enter are but those who are spirits themselves, have an affinity to them, or humans destined to die in the cold.”

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“They might not be affected by the magic and lured in, but they are affected by the snow nonetheless, besides…” He stopped for a moment as I put my paw against his leg, looking at him with an expression along the lines of, “This is a bad idea! Really, really bad!” but he ignored my worries and continued, “I don’t want to dare imagine what you went through, but this is hundreds of years ago, and as you said yourself, every human involved is dead, so why continue to kill innoc-“

I stopped the elf springing him onto his face, “Álfur, don’t say anything anymore! Frosti is super sensitive and can’t be reasoned with when it comes to that!” I whispered while awkwardly clamping on his head.

*Rumble*

The cave trembled as if to respond to the giant’s dissatisfied expression, “Nox, you led quite the impudent elf here!” His deep voice, trembling with calm anger, made me nervous…

“Umm…” I was at a loss for words; I never expected the elf to have such a backbone…

I hurriedly climbed up the elf’s head sitting on top now, my mind tried to come up with something that would appease the giant… “Fuck… I’m terrible in these kinds of situations! Need my help bashing in some monster heads? No problem! Lazing around and doing nothing? I’m a master in that! Mediating between a reckless elf and an angry giant? I’ll see myself out; good luck!”

“You both should calm down. Frosti I’m sure he just wants to have a constructive conversation with you; there is no ill will.” I acted calmly, hiding my nervousness.

I would rather avoid having to fight him… I honestly don’t know who of us would win, and a fight between spirits is pretty much pointless anyway. We can’t kill each other the only; thing we can do is weaken one another until one of us has to go back to the spirit realm to regenerate, and as we are already here, it would practically amount to an endless fight… not to mention the ethical question of fighting in a memorial…

As I was thinking the elf spoke up, “As Nox says, I have no intention of angering you, nor do I dare to deny your choice of revenge.” He kneeled down with one knee and lowered his head as I jumped back on the couch, watching him amazed. “All that I ask for is to be so gracious as to limit the range of the snow, that it does not affect the village of the Beastkin any longer.” He slowly lifted his head, looking at Frosti, “I believe that nothing speaks against it; after all, they have nothing to do with humans.”

The ice giant stared at him in silence, slowly stroking his beard. His anger seemed to have calmed down a bit.

“Young elf,” He began to speak after a while, “You are a daring one; if you were not Nox acquaintance, I would have frozen you solid by now.” He paused and then continued, “But I have to admit your proposal holds merit; as I am asleep most of the time, I did not pay attention that the Beastkin settled down near here.” He stroked his beard again.

Then he looked at me, “Nox, should I fulfill this youngling’s wish and reduce the range of the snow or freeze them to death for trespassing?”

“!” The elf looked shocked back at me, not having considered this possibility.

“Jeez, why involve me in this… Well, I guess I can’t complain after all, I agreed to bring him here…”

I closed my eyes and tilting my head thinking, “Hmm, they did trespass and built a village near a memorial without permission,” The elf looked shocked at my words, but I did not care and continued. “But you have to consider that they did not know that, as no one had an affinity for spirits, the snow kept them from approaching this place, so there was no way for them to figure it out.”

“Hmm, why should I care for their reasons? This does not change the fact of trespassing.” Frosti replied.

I hopped down the couch, wandering towards him, “You old geezer! Don’t wiggle yourself out of responsibility!” I kicked at his giant hand with my paw. “Did you set up a fricking sign saying: “Please do not enter; this is private property!”?”

From the corner of my eyes, I could see the elf’s dumbfounded face.

“No? You did not! So quit complaining and just reduce the snows radius!” I said pissed, not patient enough to continue this farce.

Frosti looked at me calmly and then laughed out loud. Both the elf and me ran down a shiver from this unexpected response.

“You really haven’t changed, as impatient as ever!” His laugh slowly died down, and he regained his imposing demeanor. “Very well, I will grant your wish.”

The elf looked happy but in confusion over our outrageous dialog, as he could not quite comprehend what just happened. I can’t blame him though; spirits are fickle and hard to reason with, even if they aren’t angry.

***

“Hey, why are you so down? You got what you wanted, right?” I sat on his shoulder as we walked through the long hallway on our way back.

*silence*

“You did good, but you should remember that spirits often aren’t acting based on logic and can change their mood and opinion in a matter of seconds.” I said to him, patting his head.

Then he broke his silence. “Wasn’t that way too risky, cursing at him?”

“You are one to talk! But I knew that he wouldn’t do anything to me after all; he has a soft spot for his fellow spirits, but I was quite worried about you… though I would never have let him turn you into an ice cube!” I said proudly.

The elf fell silent again.

*smack*

My paw landed in his face, and I raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “I’m not a mind reader; if you have something to say, say it!”

The elf had complex emotions flashing over his face. “It’s just… I need time to think about all this…”

“…”

“By the way,” he changed the topic. “You called me by my name for the first time, didn’t you?”

Surprise showed on my face. “…I never did that! You must have misheard!”

*smack*

My paw landed in his face yet again, and he chuckled. I made an annoyed face again, “Somehow that reminds me of someone…”