CHAPTER 279: SEARCH
Erica noticed a small vial in her room.
An envoy had just left on behalf of the imperial authorities who had left her the elixir.
However, this elixir was very different from those given to other students. It was all because she intervened when that old man kidnapped a woman and with Aurora went to help her, during the international tournament.
That day she was told that the Emperor would reward her, and this was the ‘extra’ form of reward.
An elixir very different from the others.
Inside that little vial was a silvery liquid and as if that wasn’t enough, one could also see little snowflakes moving around inside.
If they told her that the liquid was some kind of poison, then most likely she would believe it... That sticky feeling that was noticeable and that liquid moving slowly didn’t help the visual issue.
Although the snowflakes gave a nice feeling.
The person who handed him this elixir didn’t tell him what it was, but commented that he would know when he drank it.
There weren’t too many instructions, she just needed to drink it when she was in a calm place.
Erica did not deny her curiosity and closing her room, erecting a barrier so as not to be disturbed, she sat in a meditative position.
Then, opening the lid, she drank it immediately.
“...”
The liquid fell down her throat, managing to make her shiver due to the refreshing sensation that spread through her body and when she swallowed it completely, she enjoyed it.
“Tastes like ice cream...” She muttered with a frown as she saw the empty bottle.
She was about to stretch to wait and see if it took effect, when her body shivered as she felt the cold and slowly her vision blurred.
She hadn’t fainted, but her vision had changed as if she were somewhere else.
“Have you ever wondered what ice magic can do?”
That voice rang in her ears as if someone was actually standing next to her and instead of becoming flustered, Erica calmed down.
Her vision stabilized and her surroundings began to look more realistic. In the distance, white clouds stretched out with icy whirlwinds and she was standing on top of a huge frozen mountain.
It was a mountain of ice and snow, everything around her was snow white.
“Ice magic is curious, don’t you think? Its possibilities are quite vast.”
The voice sounded again and Erica turned around... No, the body she was in turned towards the voice noticing an old man.
It was an old man wearing a long robe that gave the feeling that he was some kind of ancient mage.
What was it that ice magic could do?
Such a question came to her mind as if it was someone else she was thinking of.
Freezing water to a temperature level, freezing air, or the human body... The typical answer popped into her mind.
“No, something beyond the obvious. Something deeper. What else can magic do?” the old man asked as if he knew what she was thinking and with a smile he opened his arms.
The surroundings began to change blurring.
“It can freeze life.”
Such words were spoken by the old man and their surroundings changed to that of an army whose soldiers were fleeing because of a huge ice wave coming from afar.
Furious and relentless, the ice wave froze everything in its path, turning the soldiers into ice statues.
It only needed to be touched by that powerful, forbidden spell for everything to freeze completely without leaving anything alive.
Not even plants or insects.
The former soldiers were left as completely cold ice dolls or statues.
“You can also go deeper and also imitate life.”
Her vision started to change again, the place was a huge mountain created of pure ice, which started to break and fall.
It wasn’t because of a tremor, it was because of the dozens of golem, dolls and all kinds of ice statues that started to come out of the mountain.
Dozens, they became hundreds, and the hundreds became thousands... Ice soldiers of all kinds, some stronger than others.
Such a brilliant spell gave the feeling of having given ‘life’ to the ice so that they took shape in all kinds of soldiers.
The old man made an army of ice with a forbidden spell... That was what Erica was watching.
“What is it that you wish to freeze?” The old man asked with a cold look and giving a smile, he specified. “I will teach you to freeze everything.”
That look so ambitious and powerful let it be seen that the individual who was in front of Erica, was an extremely powerful individual.
Perhaps a calamity, but no matter how much Erica wished to accept his teachings, her body moved around.
Her gaze passed over the ice in which she saw herself reflected.
She was in the body... No, in the memories of someone else.
The one who appeared reflected was a blonde-haired, light blue-eyed girl with features that could only be described as exceptional.
Even though she was in her twelfth or thirteenth year, her gaze was calm as if what she had just seen was nothing before her eyes.
“I’m not interested enough to become your apprentice.” The young girl declared and looking at the old man, she added. “But I will accept your teaching.”
Simple and respectful words, but dull and overbearing.
“I understand Your Highness Rodwen,” The old man replied and giving a serious look, he commented. “Perhaps you can find someone capable of becoming your mentor among the ‘players’. They come from a curious world and in the Falion Empire, you will find someone who earned the title of ‘Sage’”
Erica was slightly stunned at such a revelation, but the body she was in gave the old man a glance.
“His name is Karzhal.”
For just a moment Erica was curious, as was the person who controlled the body and was listening.
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Before she could delve too deeply, however, her mind was filled with knowledge and she instantly realized how she had got it.
—Rodwen Falion’s teachings for future ice mages.
The knowledge she was lacking and was trying to learn, was right now being imprinted in her mind... As different images flashed through her eyes.
All her thoughts were put aside, and she focused on the elixir, which was delivering her a teaching that was certainly not of this world.
******
Cithrel walked through the streets of one of the largest cities in the United States. Tall buildings, crowded streets and filled with people, from visitors to locals.
“Curious, don’t you think?” Cithrel asked her companion and bodyguard, Venali.
At the moment they were walking quietly while occasionally receiving stares from a few earthlings.
Some looks were fascinated surely because they were elves, other looks were lustful and even some looks were intrigued.
All kinds of looks, but she just kept on walking gracefully, used to being the center of attention.
“What?” Venali asked curiously not understanding her question.
“Simple. This city was one of the hardest hit during the American Civil War, yet here it is business as usual,” Cithrel commented and observing the surroundings calmly, she remembered what she had read and pointed out. “The destruction caused by gamblers and terrorists was terrifying.”
Historians described it that way and if one watched videos from that time, the truth was that they weren’t too confused.
The American Civil War was waged by players and lunatics, but unlike the European Civil War it wasn’t methodical or highly prepared, it was just an amalgamation of different thrusts.
Supremacists, extremists, nationalists, lunatics and players all wanted different goals.
The most important was not to be controlled by the government when it was the skill users who were the ones with power.
At that time ‘awakenings’ were becoming more common and the knowledge of Terra nova was clearly being applied.
While it was the early years of the ‘Great Cataclysm’ it was remarkable how humans began to change once they began to gain power.
“Some of the old buildings in this iconic city and even ordinary homes were brought down with bombs dropped by space magic. There were army clashes with subversive ability users down the street and many were killed,” narrated Cithrel with some historical curiosity.
Earthlings had passed through Terra nova and had knowledge about magic, which allowed them to develop magic in a more advanced way and use it more easily.
Space magic turned out to be the most used at that time by terrorists, who would send their magic bombs into different buildings only to run away and blow them up.
Because it was not a methodical thing, the war was chaotic, and they were skill users who passed through the streets, demonstrating their power to the world, unleashing their madness and their nature that was enhanced during Terra nova.
Leaving a world like Terra nova, where they could do as they wished and then coming to earth, gaining power and being limited by government and rules, would certainly upset anyone.
Such an event made many unable to stand life under the rules and once they lost their fear of normal weapons, the situation spiraled out of control.
Those who suffered the greatest consequences were the normal inhabitants, who could only hide in their homes, hoping that a spell would not fall on their house.
The consequences of such an event led the former power to weaken and prioritize its internal affairs by ‘cleansing’ all those who could bring down their nation.
However, many years have passed since that event and today the city had risen again.
Its new buildings were designed to avoid external dangers, protect against monsters and attacks, and even security had been adapted to magic.
Space restrictions, flight restrictions and even in some areas, psionic or magical energy restrictions.
Among the dead, there were casualties by important authorities and among them the target he was looking for right now.
“According to documents declassified by the ‘Unknown’. Frederick Crawford had two daughters. At the time, his oldest daughter had a rare disease that doctors said was untreatable and incurable at the time and doctors said she was going to die young. She didn’t,” Cithrel narrated and stopping at a new building, she noted. “This is where they lived with his wife. After his oldest daughter died, his wife and younger daughter were killed in an explosion that completely destroyed the building.”
The building was a new one, and it was clear that all traces of the old building had completely disappeared to the point where it seemed impossible to trace its former owners.
Cithrel kept walking, feeling a gaze that was following her for quite some time.
—The person who is following us is not an expert, they are just normal people. Do you want me to stop him? —Venali asked by mental magic.
No one would notice they were talking because they both continued walking calmly down the sidewalk.
—It is not necessary. It must only be someone hired to follow us in a superficial way. Maybe to find out how much we know so far. —Cithrel replied nonchalantly.
Without giving it any more importance, Cithrel continued walking down the street, advancing through the different buildings until she reached a place that looked like a large private hospital.
“The bodies of his wife and youngest daughter were not found and were erased... To the point that it gave the feeling that they had disappeared.” Cithrel recounted to her companion.
Her mind was sorting through all the information and only spoke to organize her thoughts and hypotheses, along with the best way to move to find her target.
Looking at the gigantic hospital, she perceived no trace of time and it was obvious to her that the hospital was still in operation and maintenance was recurrent. A hospital for rich and important people had to have such care, and she smiled.
“This is where his eldest daughter was before she died. It was her usual residence due to her illness. However, there is something curious,” Cithrel commented, observing the hospital and seeing Venali giving her an intrigued look, she explained. “According to the report, the illness the eldest daughter was suffering from was a magical disease that before the ‘Great Cataclysm’ was considered ‘unknown’ and ‘incurable’.”
Diseases that might once have been ‘unknown’ nowadays had names and treatments.
It was normal when one thought that from time to time, the dimensional barrier weakened and sometimes affected people.
Adding that some people had ‘innate abilities’, it was possible that they also had illnesses related to the body and even to the soul that without magic were impossible to treat and decipher.
This was the case.
“The survival rate for that disease was too low. And the doctors said she would die quite young, but in fact it was the opposite. She survived more than nine years and died after ‘Terra nova’ shut down and the ‘Great Cataclysm’ began. Don’t you find that curious?” Cithrel hesitated with a smile.
The disease was detected around the first year of Terra nova, and the doctors revealed that that young girl would die within months and even weeks, but it didn’t happen.
She lived for more than nine years and died after the ‘Great Cataclysm’.
“It was a disease that was only treated with magic, but she lived on... As if someone treated her,” Venali muttered, understanding the main point.
Before the ‘Great Cataclysm’ and before magical energy entered this world and the ‘awakenings’ began, a magical illness was treated.
Such a situation would seem surprising and unimportant, were it not for the fact that the father of that young woman was actually Frederick Crawford, Secretary of Defense of the United States.
An important and powerful man with great authority.
“You are saying...” Venali whispered as her eyes widened at the realization.
“Yes. How did that young woman with that supposedly incurable disease survive by technological means? Simple. Someone treated her with magic,” Cithrel replied and giving a big smile, asked. “What would you do for your daughter?”
What would a normal individual do for a loved one?
“In my case, helping a man to erase all his personal information and make him disappear from the world would be the least.” Cithrel said with an amused smile.
At that time, the country he was in had great authority and power.
Making a man disappear completely was simple enough.
Perhaps her hypothesis was too improbable, after all it was known that magical energy could not be used before the ‘Great Cataclysm’.
The major reason was the low density that made it impossible for an earthling to ‘awaken’ or even use it for his spells.
However, this world had its strange and ‘supernatural’ issues.
That names of entities from another world came to this one, that some stories of legend appeared and even that there were myths of all kinds, let it be seen that perhaps there was some reality in that matter.
“Everyone says that before the ‘Great Cataclysm’ it was impossible to use magic... And that was normal due to the low density of magical energy, but the situation changes when it came to ‘that’ man,” Cithrel said and giving a serious look, she pointed. “A summoner capable of summoning calamities. It’s normal for one to think that he can break the dimensional barrier to allow him to use magical energy.”
The possibility became more apparent as one thought about that individual.
If this was indeed a man who could fight gods and assassinate them, thinking about using magical energy on this side was not so impossible... And more so if it was true that he made a deal with a Primordial existence.
Her aunt, whose talent for magic was extremely high, would only choose someone worthy to be her master.
That man known as the ‘Enemy of Humanity’ was the one who became his aunt’s master.
“Are you going in?” Venali asked curiously.
Now she was outside the hospital where Frederick Crawford’s daughter resided when she was ill.
That young woman had lived until after the ‘Great Cataclysm’ until the very moment that man had disappeared, at which point she had ended up passing away.
If someone had ever treated the disease and kept her alive during the time of Terra nova, it meant she had come to this place on a regular basis to treat the disease.
And that meant that this was the first clue to finding that man and, with it, the whereabouts of her aunt.
“Of course, we need to find out as much as possible. As to whether I stir up a hornet’s nest? Well, I’m just getting started and they certainly have a great deal of experience,” Cithrel replied, trying to keep her smile.
A wealth of experience and knowledge that was far ahead of her own at the moment.
So, if anyone wished to approach her to ask her about what she knew, she would welcome them with open arms.
After all, she too had questions and had the means to get the answer.