Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Chapter 6: And The Icy Winds Fall

“Gah, it’s so damn cold… brrr…” I hugged myself with my jacket, shivering while I raised my rifle, aiming up into the sky.

“Fire!”

Flying stone discs were thrown like a Frisbee into the sky by a nearby robot. Many of them were immediately shot down, but when it came time for me to take aim and fire, I, of course, missed by a figurative mile.

“Ugh, of course I miss…” I sigh to myself before reloading along with the rest. It’s been nearly a week since we’ve set sail, and not much has really happened since.

Well, nothing too major, although there have been some strange sightings the further up north we went.

“Is it just me, or is there just nobody left out here anymore?” John asked out as he got back with some lemonade. While he tried to get some beer, it probably wasn’t a good idea to mix that with guns.

He set it on the table as Derek and Topher immediately downed it in one gulp, burping quite loudly to Charlie’s disgust and Mollie’s laughter.

“Well, it’s as cold as the Abyss out here, and every so often we get told-“

“Turn back now, while you still can. Heed our warnings now before it is too late.” A giant eel that swam right beside the ship called out to us, its voice filled with both worry and confusion.

“We have heeded your warnings. And as we have told others before us, we do not need it. We have studied what lies beyond us and shall be prepared for anything that it could possibly bring.”

Professor Rook waved the eel off, causing it to perform what I could have only assumed was a sneer. “Then, like those that came before you, you shall die in the understanding that no preparation could have ever ensured your survival in your destination.”

The eel soon disappeared as the professor simply rolled his eyes and walked away, grabbing himself one of the group’s lemonades as he grumbled quietly.

“That. We kept being told that.” I said with a sigh, scoffing at the sight.

Henry got himself one of the lemonades and while drinking it, asked. “So, humor me, what exactly makes Galfania different from the other nations? I’ve visited them before, but it’s the first time I’ve seen even this many red flags pop up.”

I raised my hand as if we were in a classroom. “The real answer is we don’t know at all. It’s just always been like that. Only Balthalem had any proper contact with them, but that’s literally ancient history. The best guess, though, is that the monsters are tougher, and it's Ark guards the area against people like us.”

Mollie grabbed herself a lemonade as well, raising an eyebrow as she drank and spoke at the same time. “Huh? What’s an Ark?”

She turned first to Charlie, who was about to speak, but quickly doused her silence with lemonade. “… I actually do not know… huh.”

Charlie then looked at John, who tried to look away from their gaze. “It’s the uh, place where uh all the Magick is weird and different and stuff and it makes changes in reality. All nations have it and so on.”

He nodded along with everyone, looking somewhat both confused and unimpressed. “What? I don’t deal with overseas stuff a lot, I only travelled a few times outside of Phorash but other than that…”

John walked to the railings, looking out to the sea. “I can tell you that it makes you feel all weird inside and outside. It’s kinda like the weather, some places just unbearably hot, and some are like here, cold as the Abyss… actually Peter you’d know more right?”

I was currently staring at the empty tray as everyone got their drinks before me. I was a little miffed at the fact that mine was stolen. ”Can you say that again?”

“He’s asking if you know what an Ark was.” Topher chimed in as he sat down on one of the lawn chairs.

“Yeah, you know it right ya big nerd.” Derek sat beside him, and I grinned a little.

“Well, John is kinda right. The Ark is the climate of the place. Think of it as Magickal geography.”

I walked forward, taking out my notebook as I showed the map of the world I had doodled down. “Each nation and even sometimes their countries have different ways of how Magick works, like take us for example.”

I pointed towards our Nation of Phorash. “Names are intertwined with us; they become one with us. We learn and understand them on an intimate level throughout time and space, manifesting them in spells.”

Then, my finger moved northeastward toward Balthalem. “Over here, Names are laws. Fundamental forces of reality that are harnessed and used to impose rules and effects on nature.”

To hammer the point home, I moved my finger south of Phroash to a collection of countries that span around the world. “And here in Canial, Names are the states of reality from existence to nonexistence.”

I stood back up and looked around to find the others actually looking more interested than I thought they would be. “Uh-eh, well, basically, depending on what Magick could be in Galfania, it might be something that we aren’t exactly able to harness or use properly. Maybe it’s something that could actively harm us too.”

Mollie leaned in a bit, nearly spilling her drink on my journal if I didn’t pull it back in time.

“So what happens to our Magick if we go into one? Since the rules are suddenly somehow different.”

“Well, usually they just stop working unless you know how to make it work in that specific Ark.”

Henry narrowed his eyes. “So does that mean all our Magick will just… stop working?”

Everyone looked at each other with growing worry. Well, all except John.

“Nah, Epithet is smart. We made our Magick be able to adapt to other Ark’s, although since this one is unknown, not sure what it would do. What do you think Peter?”

At this point, my throat was sore from explaining, and I needed a drink badly. “Wait, let me just get something to drink first. Where’d you get the lemonade? The bar, right?”

John gave a little nod. “Yup, just ask the tender.”

And with that, I waved my hand to the rest of the gang and walked into the ship, sighing in relief as I also wanted an excuse to get away from the cold.

I stretched my arms out, walking inside the ship as I made my way downstairs towards the bar, finding a familiar face tending it all by herself, sighing as she wiped away the surface:

"Oh... Hi Jane."