❆ ❆ ❆ Chapter Twenty Two ❆ ❆ ❆

The Golden One

[Snow]

Snow was back on her usual routine, she was scaling the owl nest to start her day. As She leapt and climbed, one of the rocks broke underneath her grasp. Her heart dropped before she re-grabbed onto the face of the spire, dangling momentarily before recovering her footing. “Woah, close one.” Snow quickly scrambled up the rest of the spire and reached the top.

Snow drew Icebreaker upon reaching the top and directed it at a stranger who was also up here.

“Who are you?” Snow didn't like the feeling this guy gave her, he wasn't a black knight, but he gave off the same oppressive feeling like her mother.

The nameless man turned her way. He was wearing a gold robe that draped over his face, hiding all of his facial features.

“You made it this time.” He said.

“This spire is easy to climb. Now tell me, who are you!?”

The man turned back towards the landscape.

“I’d figure that I take a more direct approach to see my vision done. There is a town hidden ten kilometers to the north, where the river system begins. Go there, and find the answers you seek.”

“The only answer I seek is knowing who you are!” Snow demanded.

“I am the one trying to resolve the sins of this world, caused by the one who gave you that curse running through your veins.” The man flickered gold before disappearing.

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After Snow finished her route, she picked up Mina from wolf gorge. She rode Mina north, following the interweaving rivers that were shaped like spirals. It is hard to believe that there are any other living people in this world. Snow needed to find out though. Also, she just wanted to sate her own sanity and see another person in this world. She has been trapped in this world for two months and the only other person she's interacted with was Aela. Aela wasn’t the social type either.

The base of the northern mountains had small lakes, forming from the crashing waterfalls.

Snow hopped off Mina and took a look at one of the lakes, at her reflection. It felt like a lifetime ago from when she cared about the image it returned, or was forced to care. In her previous life, activating her frostblood was made priority, her performance for nobility was made priority, her contributions to the crown that was built upon war was made priority. None of that mattered here, Aela only cared for her completing her tasks. Nothing else mattered. Even though Snow found solace in that, confliction grew in her heart. Her indifference to her mother, never having a father, living in the shadow of her sisters, the awful tasks of orchestrating masks of facade in the name of public relations, even after all that, Snow found a tear forming in her eye.

“Why am I crying? Why would I want to go back home? There's nothing for me there.” She wiped away the tear, “Nothing...” She sniffled.

A wet tongue lapped the side of her face. Mina began licking her. Snow looked at the direwolf. Even across species, there was a sense of understanding between them. Suffering and sadness is something nobody should be alone for and Mina made her presence clear and close. Snow hugged her friend tightly.

“Thank you, Mina.”

During their warm embrace Snow noticed one of the waterfalls behind them glittering.

“Come on girl.” They went around the lake to the base of the sparkling waterfall. Upon close inspection of its loud curtain of water, Snow did not see her reflection, which was strange. She reached out and touched it, when she did, gold lines appeared on her hand. The entire waterfall flashed gold before completely disappearing, revealing a huge crevasse in the mountain.

When Snow entered the crevasse she heard Mina bark behind her. Mina kept bumping into a gold barrier wall. It appeared Mina couldn't cross it.

“It's okay girl, stay here. I'll be right back.”

Lines of angelic statues framed the mountain walls as Snow traversed through the crevasse. Snow continued on until she reached the inside.

“That man was right.” A huge town was inside, in an open space, surrounded by mountains. The town appeared angelic in design. There were marble buildings, strange architecture, and waterways that wrapped around the outskirts gave off the indication of advanced architectural technology.

Snow explored the town, but she couldn't shake this strange overlooming sense of dread. The town was completely empty and void of any life. Why was a place this alien and beautiful abandoned? Snow kept investigating the town until she reached its center. There was a ginormous metal fountain, whose elegance surpassed her very imagination. Above the fountain was a floating brass sphere. Surrounded by hundreds of gold floating runes. It was truly a magical wonder. When she got closer to the strange object she began to feel heavier. Then, a strange force began pulling her in.

“What.. is going on?”

Snow passed out.

Screaming and fire woke her up. Snow found herself in a different place, the buildings around her were the same but the foreground of the town went all the way up into the mountains, this small town was the center of a kingdom. A hellish one. It was the middle of the night and screams of agony echoed out from the fountain in front of her. The metal fountain emitted fire and a naked woman hovered above it as if some barbaric witch-cleansing ritual had been taking place. The woman had ginormous angelic wings that stretched up into the air and wrapped around the brass floating sphere. The sphere was glowing red hot and huge stakes kept the wings pinned to it, causing her to hang over the fire.

“Come closer, child.”

Snow didn't even know what to respond with.

“Wh-what is this!?” Snow stepped closer and could see within the fountain. She put both hands over her mouth. It was the vision she had, inside the fountain was a dark pit filled with bodies of people trying to climb over each other to get out. They all raised their hands at her presence.

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“You are the ray of light, that gives them hope.” The woman on the pyre said.

Snow looked up at the woman. She was an angel. Her nude body had no imperfections contrary to her wings that would have been gloriously magnificent if they were not partially melted by the tar that leaked from the impaled stakes. The most noticeable trait, even above the giant wings, were her astronomically beautiful glowing blue eyes.

“You… You…”

“I am the one, you know as, Goddess Regalia.”

The image of the Lotus Family, the giver of their powerful frostblood, the instrument of their peace, Goddess Regalia herself.

“Goddess Regalia! What is all this suffering?!” Snow glanced down into the fountain and back at her.

The Goddess just gave a warm smile.

“Our people are being used as fuel. Snow, you must save us. The things you call seals. You must destroy them to release these poor souls to the afterlife. I am doing the best I can to ease their suffering but it is not enough.”

“But, what about the winter catastrophe?”

“The price of our suffering is too high. As you can see, this wretched existence is hell beyond belief. What you are looking at is a furnace. A furnace whose purpose has been lost long ago. Snow, you can enter and exit the angelic domain because of the blood that runs through your veins. I am not speaking of my gift either. You have something even greater, you have my actual body and soul. You are the spawn of my spawn.”

“Goddess..Regalia.. Is my?”

“Yes… Questions you may have, but time you do not. The furnace is hungry and it is trying to pull you in as we speak. Ask quickly, before I send you back.”

Snow had an innumerable amount of questions. Suddenly thrown into an audience with the Goddess in this hell only served to create an infinite amount of questions. Questions? What wasn't a question? Where to even begin?

“Is there a way to save both souls here and protect my world?”

“No. A choice must be made. Fate can not be defied, freezing time is not a suitable solution. We only delayed the expiration of our immortality with suffering and pain. You must destroy the seals.”

Snow wasn't prepared for something like this. The seals she had been keeping up, was at the cost of this? This is what fueled them?

“Ask, quickly.” Goddess Regalia responded to her silence.

Snow looked back up at the hanging Goddess, her impaled wings on the deathly sphere.

“Why-why can’t I use your power, Goddess!? If we are truly related then why!”

“The thing you know as frostblood activation is a form of angelic magic. The cost is a piece of one’s soul. Humans can only regenerate a small portion of their souls, that is the ‘limit’ you have seen in the ones you call ‘sisters’. You Snow, are unable to use it because your soul is too strong, it refuses to be divided. Not even the sharpest blade can divide an ocean. Your mother’s soul is unfathomably strong, as well as my own spawn. Unfortunately, I don't have a suitable answer for you. I hope you find solace in knowing your perceived weakness is due to a strength. You have taken advantage of its passive usage, I can see some of your memories.”

Snow looked at her hands, the gold lines were appearing again.

“My father, who is he?”

“A very powerful Angel. But, we are out of time. These are your people too Snow. You must save them.”

Snow's body flashed gold and she disappeared.

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Snow woke up covered in a light layer of snow. The grand magical sphere of death floated silently above the fountain. To think there was suffering of this magnitude here, right under her nose. Goddess Regalia? Asking her to break the seals? The frostblood being related to the soul? Her, half angel? This was too much for her. Maybe Aela could make sense of it all. Then again, Aela was absolutely adamant about maintaining the seals. She had no idea how Aela would react to this news. It was time to head back.

Snow left the town the same way she came, through the mountain crevasse. The waterfall illusion reappeared after her exit. Mina was nowhere to be found. She gave a sharp whistle and Mina came running back after a minute. Mina rushed her, licking her frantically and whimpering.

“What's up girl? What's the matter?” Mina was acting strange, “Ok let's go. Down!” Snow commanded, Mina lowered herself and Snow mounted her. They took off back to the shack.

They got to the shack, Aela was standing on the pathway right before their home.

“Snow where the hell have you been?! It's been two days!” Aela's shout of anger was underlined by deep worry.

“Two days? What are you talking about? I was only gone for like two hours.” Snow dismounted Mina and began to approach. “Aela, I need to ask you a question.”

“Question? No! You tell me what the hell happened?!”

“What exactly are we sealing with those seals you are protecting?”

“You’ve seen the flash freezing weather during the night, you want your whole world filled with that and black knights hunting your kin down?”

“If they were destroyed, theoretically, what would really happen?”

Aela cut her off with a draw of her butcher blade. Snow noticed Icebreaker began growing in its sheath.

“I knew you smelled of black knight, so tell me, when and where did you kill her?!” Aela rushed Snow, knocking her to the ground pressing the thick blade across her neck. Mina began barking at the altercation.

“Aela what has gotten into you! Get off of me!” Snow yelled.

“Where the hell did you run off to then? Answer!” Aela put pressure onto the blade.

“I went-to the owl’s nest. I saw-a man there in golden robes. He told me to go to this angelic town!”

“A man in golden robes and a town I never heard of before. Yeah, you are real suspicious right now. What is this man's name? And where is this fictional town?”

“Ten kilometers north-of the nest in-the mountain where the interweaving rivers start! There’s a secret passage through a waterfall. I saw Goddess Regalia, bound to some object, and people melting in a pit. Aela, those seals are-”

“Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me, imposter! You are not very convincing! Say your last words because you die here!” Icebreaker was reacting violently on her hip, which told Snow Aela was not kidding. Aela really was about to kill her.

“I didn’t survive-months of your training-just to die by your hands, stop messing around Aela!” Snow cried out.

Mina’s barks turned into a loud growl. The canine revealed her large fangs and was about to pounce any moment. Aela glanced at Mina and then back to her. Aela’s glaring eyes that were ready to kill, now had a shred of doubt. Snow could feel a shallow horizontal cut across her neck as the butcher blade was taken off. Mina’s growl ended as a result.

“That is the first time Mina has ever growled at me.” Aela finally accepted that it was really her.

“Seriously, what the hell Aela! Why would you think I am not me?!” Snow sat up while cusping her neck.

“You reek of black knight essence. Wherever you went, never go there again.”

“Aela, I saw the Goddess-“

“I don’t care about what you saw, it's obviously an illusion by the black knights since you are absolutely lathered in their essence, whatever you claim you saw is not real.”

Aela began to walk away.

“It was! Aela, she explained that-”

Aela stopped just short of the house, still giving her back,“If those seals are broken then the world as you know it will be doomed. They must be maintained, we just saw black knights trying to destroy one and then you suddenly get fever visions, it’s a trap, a lie, don’t believe it. The seals must be maintained, do you want everyone on Lucredia to die?!”

“What about those souls suffering here!”

“Stop talking.” Aela finally turned her way again, but Aela’s casted a gaze of spite onto Snow, shattering any comfort Snow thought they had together. “I did not spend ten years of my life to have my work unraveled by Dea’s kid. On top of the fact that I had to stop, train, and care for her like I'm some gods-damn grandmother. Based on what you're saying, it seems I am the only one that gives a damn. I don't care about some goddess, and I don't care about the fact that your mother has yet to send me any support! I will not falter and I will die before a single one of those seals are broken. So recommend to abolish a seal again and it will be your head fed to the black knights.”