Magic?

Hellen takes me around. She begins talking about its history and how it was built on a small island.

"Wait," I said. "This isn't a lake?"

"Nope," she says pointing out to the ocean. "Out there it is just frozen. You can see the line where the ice stops and leads to the ocean. This island isn't even anchored to the ground at all."

"Hold up," I said. "So what you're saying is that the only thing keeping this island in place is…"

"Yep, the ice," she says. "The ice has never melted so we don't have to worry about floating away."

I stare out at the ocean, "Do you know what's passed the ocean?"

Hellen shakes her head, "We don't know. Anyways, let's continue the tour." She led me to the middle of town where a large tree was, "It's fortunate enough you arrived at one of our biggest festivals. Every year everyone goes to this tree to celebrate and let the children come and decorate it."

"What, What's the festival about?"

Hellen closes her eyes, "To celebrate being alive for another year." I look at her confused. "That's what the adults celebrate. The children exchange gifts. The true meaning is the hope of the unification of the four heroes to help the chosen one."

"The unification of the four heroes?" I said.

"You don't know of the tale? Of four heroes destined to aid the chosen one in defeating the Dark Lord?"

"There was nothing like that in the prophecy," I said.

"So that part wasn't spread?!" Hellen says concerned. "That dam artifact!"

"Artifact?"

All of a sudden I heard someone scream. I look up to see a child fall backward off of his ladder on the tree. Without any hesitation, I extend my hand and create an ice ramp allowing the boy to slide down slowly. I watch as the ice almost covers my hand. Everyone stares at me in shock, even the children stop what they are doing.

"How did she do that," says a little girl accidentally.

Hellen grabs my arm, "You can use magic!"

I stare at Hellen, "Ya? Why is that surprising?"

Hellen stares into my eyes intensely, "No one here can use magic."

I looked up shocked, people were staring at me in shock now slowly surrounding both Hellen and me.

Hellen and I were able to manage to run back to the Chief's house.

"What do you mean no one can use magic!" I said quickly.

Hellen looks at me, "Sit down." We both take a seat, "Let me start back to the prophecy. There's more to the legend than you know. When the legendary wand fell from the sky, a piece of the scripture broke off and landed somewhere else. That piece landed in my village. It was about 1 hero from each country destined to help the chosen one in defeating the dark lord. At first, we were confused, but then we heard the news of the legendary wand and the main sculpture. We immediately knew what we had to do. To deliver the missing piece." She takes a deep breath, "My husband volunteered since he could teleport. Just as he was about to leave, the Dark Lord appeared. He was after the legendary wand but followed the wrong trail." She stops. She says in a whisper, "It was chaos. We couldn't fight back. He was too strong. It was like a human stomping on ants."

I flinch as she describes it.

She continues, "He rounded up the survivors and demanded what landed here. No one said anything. Odin was nowhere to be seen so I assumed he managed to escape with the scripture. He then grabbed me and my father saying if no one said anything he would kill us." She begins to tear up, "My Dad spit in his face…" She begins to shake as her voice quivers, "I watched as the life was sucked from my Dad as shriveled up to a husk." I place my hand over hers. She stops shaking, "Just as he was about to do the same to me, Odin teleported in front of me with open arms. He hands him the scripture saying, 'Don't hurt anyone else.' He instead laughed as he began to take everyone's magic away at once. I could feel my life wither away. Just as we're about to die, my husband used his magic to teleport everyone away."

Hellen takes a deep breath, "We found ourselves here in the frozen forest. Odin teleported us somewhere completely random. At first, we were relieved to escape alive. Then the forest's monsters started attacking. We tried to fight back with our magic but realized in horror that none of us could. Just as we were all about to die, the dogs from the forest appeared and fended off the monsters saving us. We took them in as part of our family here on this island, away from the monsters."

"Has anybody tried to find a way back?" I said.

"Many have tried. All of them failed. The deeper one gets into the forest, the more dangerous it gets."

"The legendary wand fell from the sky before I was even born. How old were you and Odin at the time?"

"We were both fourteen at the time."

"Wait… How did your husband Odin have magic at the age of fourteen?"

She blinks trying to think, "Odin manifested his magic at the age of twelve for some odd reason. He began training his magic right away since he knew he was going to be chief one day."

"The Chief must have been really strong to teleport everyone from his village," I thought.

"Wait…" I said. "What about the children born here in the village? Once they're fifteen years old they should have developed their magic! Unless…" I stare down in realization, "No way."

All of a sudden she clenches her hands into fists, "That's what we thought too. Once the generation grew up and manifested their magic we thought we could escape from here. Instead, when they all turned fifteen… Nothing happened."

"So that's why everyone here was confused about how I was able to use magic… The children have never seen magic in the first place."

Hellen nods, "Our magic passed down to our children. Enough to live, not enough to use magic."

I think about Odin Jr, "Everyone here is like Foster."

Hellen coughs into her fist, "So tell me. How did you survive out in the woods by yourself?"

Before I could answer, the front door slammed open shaking the entire house and revealing the chief. He glared straight at me.

"That's what I'm wondering too," he says in his deep voice.