CHAPTER 5: FIRE AND ICE

I try to avoid staring at the daunting list of Experiments I have planned. Noticing my candle’s quivering flame, I quickly chant a flame spell causing the wooden hut to momentarily brightens before dimming again. “I wish this place was warmer” I mutter while fixing a blanket across some loose boards.

Walking over to my experiment shelf, I feel a sudden sense of nostalgia as I stare at the decomposing vegetables sealed inside a glass box. My eyes followed the pipe exiting the box and entering a glass jar of water. This reminds me of when I was a kid at school. Of course, back in those days we were just testing how long fast food took to go mouldy. Now I’m producing methane.

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I remembered how I easily I was convinced, that food not going mouldy was a bad thing. Come to think about it, what did that experiment prove? That non-treated food has fungi spores, and that it will rot faster? How does that confirm the health message at the end; ‘fast food is bad for you’.

To prove that, one would first need to prove a correlation between general poorer health by a large group of subjects known to have a high consumption of fast food vs. a control group. Well, a similar study linking poor health to the methods used to treat the fast food might work too. Even then arguments could have made. Still, none of this is presented to the poor primary school children; who are apparently learning science.

Listening to the floor boards creek, I turned my attention to my newest apparatus. A glass cylinder with a hollow interior sat on the bench beside me. The cylinder had a small tube at the top that allowed for an air mage to extract all the air from the cylinder and create a vacuum chamber. A cap would then be placed on the cylinder with the pressure difference ensuring it stays shut.

I originally planned to create a pump, but when I asked dad he laughed at me and said he would hire someone skilled in air magic. Wasn’t I supposed to be doing all this in secret? It’s not like the air mage won’t find a three-year-old girl conducting experiments weird. Mind you, now that were leaving in a few months maybe he doesn’t care.  

I hear the wind start to howl outside by wooden shack, I mean lab. I guess I should head back for the night, mum’s probably going to scold me again for being late. The only reason she even let’s be out is because dad convinced her.

Snuffing out the candle with water magic the hut goes dark. “O Nir” a strong ball of fire appears above my palm; lighting the room once more. I’m glad I investigated chanting. I still haven’t figured out it secrets But, I found that if you think precisely what you want to happen; the chant can be limited to simply the god's name.  

This discovery led me to some interesting hypothesis about what chanting actually is, but I don’t know anything for sure. What I do find fascinating though, is that rather than thinking of the fire being caused by an exothermic reaction; If I simply thought of the air gaining kinetic energy, and waves in the electromagnetic field. The result was a stronger flame and a shorter chant.

Feeling an icy chill as I opened the door. I look down at the ground illuminated by my flame and notice it’s covered in snow. I increase the strength of my flame as I take my first steps into the cold night. The trees creak under the force of the wind, and icy hail pouts my face. Despite what one may think, I enjoy this sort of weather; living in a domed city on mars for almost a century does that to you.

Though… this wind is pretty strong. I suddenly feel myself being lifted intro the air before crashing into the icy ground; the snow melting as my flame touches its surface. Ugh… This body’s to small, I should probably just wait for someone inside to come get me.

Walking back inside, I relight the candle and extinguish my flame. Heh, this reminds we of that time I got stuck during that Martian dust storm; although that was simply terrifying. To come to think of it, that was my last outing outside Olympus before we found those ruins. 

Leaning against the creaking wall, I listened to the flickering flame against the howling wind. I wonder when mum will come, she’s probably already beside herself.  I start to drift just before I hear a knock on the door. Mum?

“Come in!” I shout while standing up, But the door doesn’t open. Once again, I hear another knock. That’s not mum, she would have opened it by now. “Who’s there!?” I said nervously as I tried to peek through the wall. I couldn’t make out anything in the darkness. I got no reply.

“O Nir” I muttered. The hottest flame I could produce coiled around both my fist. “Whoever’s there identify yourself, NOW!” I shouted with my high-pitched voice.

The door knocked again, but three times. What the hell is this? Are they trying to scare me? … it’s working.

“Jason! Can you hear me? Jason!” shouted a woman’s voice from behind the door. The voice sent shivers through my body, that… that… that was Natricia; my wife! No, that’s impossible! How could she even know I was here? “What did you say to me the first time we visited Jupiter!?” no reply again.

The door knocked again. “Jason! Can you hear me? Please, I need you!” I waited in silence as the door knocked again and again. “Jason! Please open the door. I want to see you!” That is not Natricia, I am certain of it.

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I clench my flaming fist. “Go away! I don’t care who you are, JUST GO AWAY!” I scream at the top of my lungs. The door stays silent. I wait for an eternity before finally collapsing onto the floor beneath me. I feel my ability to maintain my flames vanish and I close my eyes.

“JASON. OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!!!!” my eyes burst open again as I hear the voice again. But this time it’s deep; almost monstrous. “WE WILL WIN JASON, THERE IS NO STOPING US! LET’S END THIS GAME! OPEN THE DOOR!!!” The entire hut shook as the monstrous voice echoed through my ears.

I tried to speak but only a faint whisper came out “please, please, please, please just go away. go away, go away, go away” I kept repeating that as I cradled my head into my knees, tears dripping from my eyes. The voice didn’t stop and the banging got more and more ferocious. 

I felt so small, and the voice so big. I cried as the flames on my candle finally flickered from existence, plunging everything into darkness. But the banging only got louder.

Suddenly the door flung open and something swiftly rushed towards me. I didn’t know what it was but I fired everything I had at it.

Ice shards formed around my head, propelling themselves at unimaginable speeds towards the dark figure; only to disappeared the moment they touched. I screamed as I felt a pair of hand grab me “NO, LET ME GO. LET ME GO!!!! I DON’T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!!” But I didn’t die, instead I felt the figure pull me close. “LUCY! Calm down! Calm down”

My heart was still pounding, but I stopped screaming. A ball of fire then appeared in front of me, giving light once more. Tears kept dripping from my eyes but I knew I was safe.

“it’s ok, mum’s here” mum held me in her arms as I watched the ball of fire dance around the room. “m-mum, w-ere did the voice go?” I suddenly felt mum hold me tighter. “Voice?  I only heard you crying” I suddenly felt relieved, but at the same time more freighted. How could that be?

“We should go home. let’s get you some food ok?” said mum as she picked me up while wrapping me in her thick coat. I looked at mum’s blue eyes, and she gave me a small smile.

Once we exited the hut, I noticed the wind had stopped, and that the world had become silent under a blanket of snow. Looking up at the now clear sky, I couldn’t help but feel comforted when I saw the colours of the bright galactic ring.

…

‘We will win Jason, there is no stopping us. Let’s end this game’ I kept pondering over that line while laying on my bed. I was too worked up last night to really listen to what the voice was saying, but after reviewing my memory files I noticed that line. “But who am I stopping?” I mutter while rolling onto my feet.

Making my way towards my wardrobe, I notice that I can see my breath. Smiling about something so trivial back on earth, I felt a sense of nostalgia. It was the first time it snowed here, but after putting last night’s memories away, I felt warm. There was no snow in Olympus after all.

Grabbing a thick white coat, I start head downstairs. Thankfully I’ve gotten over entering the hallway, but the similarities of last night’s events did make be double check every corner. “Lucy, what are you doing?” asks dad while wearing his pyjamas with a sleepy expression. “oh… um, nothing” Realising how silly I’m being, I quickly walked towards the kitchen.

“Good morning” said mum as I climb onto a chair at the table. “it’s beautiful, isn’t it?” remarks mum as she peers at the snowy landscape outside the window. I just give a small nod before nibbling at the bread in front of me. “mum, last night… I” mum turned around and cut me off. “Last night you were just scared of being alone during the storm”

“No, I… I need to know if you heard anything. I know you said you didn’t but, are you sure. Like, absolutely sure you didn’t hear any banging, or a really scary voice outside the hut?” mum just stared at me for a moment before shaking her head.  “I’m sorry Lucy, but I didn’t hear or see anything. All I could hear was you crying” Am, I… going crazy?

Dad now walks into the room no longer wearing pyjamas. “Where’s Evan honey?” Mum points out the window. “He went to play with some friends in the snow. Do you want to join him?” What? Oh. maybe. I guess playing in the snow could be fun, then again, I do want to get those experiments started.  

I turn towards dad who’s now fully immersed in eating his breakfast. “Dad, it’s too snowy to get an air mage, today right?” dad just gave a quick nod before he continued eating. Well, I guess since my methane production is too small right now, I don’t really have anything else to do.

“you should go, you’ll at least enjoy the ice market today” said dad after having finished his breakfast. “Ice market?”

“This town has a tradition, that when it snows lots of water mages create buildings of ice. Everyone then brings their old goods to sell and sets up a stall” Oh, interesting. I don’t have anything to sell but… I would like to see what other water mages can do.

…

In front of me is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Snowy streets are enclosed by magnificent buildings of ice spanning at least fifty metres in height. The buildings are sculpted with patterns and immaculate details covering every section. On the ground, I can see the whole town entering and leaving the buildings with bags full of items. They made all this in a few hours!?

“Shall we go inside that one?” ask mum as she points towards a rather large building covered in sculptures of powerful mages using magic. “What’s in there?” I ask as we walk towards the entrance. “Nothing in particular, just the same as everywhere else” answers dad as he drags our own goods in a sack.

As I look around I can’t help but notice everyone has balls of fire that circle around them, I guess that everyone really does know basic fire magic. just as I was about to do the same, mum grabbed my hand. “you’re not supposed to know magic remember?” oh right. Wait when did she learn I could do magic? Shit! Last night I fired Ice at her. Although by the way she’s acting I guess she knew ages ago. I notice dad looks surprised at her comment, then he begins to shy away when a smile appears on her face. “Anyway, let’s go inside”

The inside was packed with people their old goods, each seller with their own ice stall and wooden table. I couldn’t help but notice many of the stalls were run by children as their parents talked and traded with others. “I’ll go find a space while you two look around” says dad as he wonders off with a large sack dragging behind him.

“Let’s go get some clothes for Evan, he keeps outgrowing everything I give him.” Says mum as she leads us towards a stand lots of clothes sitting in a pile. “Good morning, take anything it’s free” said the old woman managing the stall. “Oh, that’s very generous of you Ms Gralin” says mum as she begins searching through the pile of clothes. But none of that is important, what is important is that right in front of my eyes I see small flat bioplastic box with a screen on it. “Simbrain”. I immediately grab it and turn on the screen. My heart starts racing, is it Natricia? Please be Natricia! I finally find the information tab, only to feel my heart sink.

[Dominic Partizco]