He couldn’t feel his fingers and he had a killer headache. He had just woken up in a frozen cave in the Hragath Mountains. He was here for his research on ancient ice magic; he had been traversing the mountains, searching for the ice golems that supposedly lived on these mountains. He quickly rekindled the fire which he had left burning before going to sleep. Even through his thick gown, the cold was enough to freeze the blood running through his veins. If he wasn’t careful he could die up on these godforsaken mountains.

He took some of the tea and food from his backpack and heated them up on the fire. He slowly drank the hot tea, making the heat sink in, pushing the cold out of his body. After he finished his meal, he quickly packed up, killed the fire and started traversing the mountains once again.

His fears were quickly proving themselves to be true. He hadn’t found a single clue yet, and he had looked at every inch of the mountains. Today was going to be his last day before he needed to return to his country. He was annoyed but he didn’t give up, the sun was almost going down when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Although it was not enough to be sure, he could feel the glimpse of an ancient and powerful magic on the mountain. He applauded the Golems’ ability at hiding themselves from such a powerful magician as himself. He was considered the most powerful magician, a “sage” even, and he would never have found the Golems had he not been searching for them with all his effort. It seemed that the rumors were true and this trip was going to be worth his efforts after all.

He knew he needed to be cautious against such ancient creatures, but he also needed to gain their trust if he was going to learn from them. He didn’t hide his presence to show that he posed no threat and reached the opening to the village of ice golems as swiftly as he could. As he entered through the barrier he almost fell over by the sudden intensity of magic around him. When he finally got used to the magical pressure and opened his eyes, there were 50m tall gigantic ice-gates in front of him. As his eyes adjusted to the unnatural light that came from the ceiling of the cave, he could see two 15m tall statues made of ice on either side of the gate. As he got closer, he understood that these two horrifying structures were actually the ice-golems guarding the village.

He cautiously walked closer to one of the ice golems and yelled in the ancient language “May I be granted an audience with the High-Chief?”. The golem seemed to be shocked at his fluency in speaking the ancient language and leaned forward to see who was calling for such a high honor. The smug look on his face faded as he made out whom the trespasser was. The sage was a well-known face for everyone in Recron, even those who hadn’t seen him before. The huge ice-creature quickly bowed down in front of the little man and called out to his comrades.

As the sage entered the village with his new escort –the commander of village guard- he saw how mesmerizing the interior of the village was. There were icicles that resembled crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the ice-cave. The buildings were covered with beautiful and majestic carvings, even the roads were made of a beautiful crystal-like ice. The unbelievable size of the village made it even more fascinating.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

He took his time walking to the Chief’s house which had no distinguishing figure except the carving of the High-Chief’s symbol on its door. The guard opened the door and made a quick gesture to invite the sage inside, “The High-Chief will see you now”. The High-Chief was a terrifying presence to say the least, he was at least 20m tall and had frozen spikes coming out from all around his body; his face showed signs of the many wars he participated in, yet he showed no signs of old age. He spoke with a powerful, terrorizing voice; “For what purpose does the great sage grant us his presence?” he showed no signs of trying to hide his sarcasm.

The sage answered with a straight face “Val, please”, he continued “I’ve been searching for your village for months, I commend your abilities, and I came to ask your help in the matters of ancient magic”. The Chief seemed uneasy for a second before getting angry. “This is a blasphemy, where do you get the authority to ask us of such a favor?” yelled the Chief with a stern look on his face. The sage showed no signs of fear; he looked rather annoyed at the Chief’s attempt to make him run away.

The sage returned the Chief’s gaze, “Who are you?” asked the sage, not hiding the annoyance in his voice. Everyone in the room was left speechless by the sage’s reaction. The sage continued, “Obviously, you’re not the real High-Chief, and I don’t think he would give his place to such an arrogant kid.” The pretender stood up and started walking towards the sage, the room shaking with his every step. As the pretender reached the sage; a loud laugh came from the back of the room as an ordinary looking golem came out of the crowd. The real Chief put his hand on the pretender’s shoulder and replied, “He’s my Warchief, and that arrogance is the reason he is not in my place.” He continued, “We’re honored by your presence; Val; you shall have the knowledge you seek, in due time.” The sage bowed his head with respect, my Chief.

The next few weeks went fast as the sage spent most of his time in the library; reading, studying books as ancient as the Recron itself. He learned the theory from the books and saw the magic in practice from the ice-golems. Not a second was wasted during the rest of his time in the mountains; as he mastered the practice of ancient ice-magic, he studied the history of ice-golems. How they first gained control over ice, how and why they came to the Hragath Mountains, and why they were hiding themselves from others. They had always been at war with the human country of Cervin; they had been hunted for their cores; and eventually, their village in the Ragania Valley was destroyed and they had to flee to the mountains.

After months of nonstop training, the sage was finally ready to leave. At the day of his departure, the golems gathered at the gate. The sage turned to face the Chief, “It was an honor to learn from you, I am in your debt. If you ever need my help, feel free to call me and I will do what I can.” The Chief replied, “You have no reason to feel in debt, thanks to you, our magic has been saved from disappearing. Good luck on your search, Val, the Sage of Valhalla.”