12 Chapter 11

Alice

Skay stared at me intensely for several long minutes, to the point that he began to make me feel uncomfortable to be watching me in that brazen way. I began to question seriously if that cocky young man had any manners. But despite this, I could not help feeling that his eyes had an effect on me. It was not the same as when the rest of the people looked at me, because I knew that as much as he could hate to admit it, his reaction to seeing me almost naked in the room just a while ago, had been surprising.

Nobody had ever looked at me that way... as if he desired me.

But Skay did not put his eyes on me that way this time, but I could see a hint of hatred and repulsion in them.

After a while, I decided to break the ice, because if I was at that moment with a boy who looked like a torch in the dark, it was for a very important reason and there was nothing I wanted to know more than my true origins. I wanted to discover who I really was, where I had come from and how I had ended up living in a world other than my own.

"Well?... Are you going to explain to me that story so long that it needs to be explained right in this dark place, cold and full of mold?" I asked while trying to discover as much as possible of the site in which we were.

Skay looked away at that moment and said in a serious and authoritative tone: "Follow me"

I rolled my eyes, because I hated the way that guy always seemed to speak, as if he knew everything and everyone else, or maybe just me (still to be discovered), were inferior to him.

Then, he began to walk forward and I had to resign myself for my own interest, to follow without difficulty the conceited human torch that walked with superiority, illuminating the numerous secret passages.

I do not remember exactly how long we were walking, but my memory indicates that we walked for so long that my feet ended up hurting me. Although it was not very strange that I was tired of walking, because I had never had a remarkable physical condition, quite the contrary. I was short and, therefore, my legs were short. In addition, I had never practiced any sport, since I had always dedicated myself solely to going to high school and returning home. And for me it was too big an effort to survive that and to get into sports.

Finally, we arrived at our destination and I could not help but be visibly surprised and confused. It was a small room that would go unnoticed by anyone, since its entrance was hidden between two walls, but it was not a simple room like any other. There was something in the air that left me feeling strange that I could not decipher.

I moved my head to see the room carefully. Numerous portraits stretched across the walls of the very long room and at the end of it all there was a small bookcase with some books.

I was so absorbed in my surroundings that I forgot why we had gone there, so when Skay started talking, it was like going back to the harsh reality of the moment.

"Our world, called Origin, was born more than two hundred million years ago. The gods created it to their good taste. First they raised mountains, they opened the continents dividing them in two and the oceans appeared between them. However, despite having built a beautiful world, they felt that something was missing, rather someone, to take care of it in his absence. For that reason, the first warm being was born. It was created from the warmth of the feelings of one of the most important Gods, the God of Aludra, the star that allows us to survive even after so many centuries. She gave us life at the time and continues to give it to us today." started to explain Skay and it seemed to me like a beautiful story, but at that moment I did not think it was real at all. I had always been very realistic and did not believe in magic, fantasy, nor in Gods. I only believed in what my eyes saw.

" But what does all this have to do with me? I'm not like you..." I shouted when I realized that the story he had explained to me did not match with my reality.

"The warm ones lived for a couple of centuries in peace and tranquility, giving warmth and life to the animals and plants that had been born some time after their creation. But all this changed, a common day, like any other, the peace that had conquered our world, broke completely."

" What happened?" I asked surprisingly interested in the direction the story was taking.

"A young woman was attracted to something that nobody had ever wanted: Blood." said Skay carvingly and with eyes shining with rage. I could see that he felt overwhelmed and that he did believe faithfully in the story.

"And so?" I asked anxiously to know more.

"The girl, whose name was Sophie, attracted by the desire for blood, murdered in cold blood three kids. The green fields were dyed crimson and it was only when the last drop of blood from the last child fell that Sophie's heart, which had been very warm, became cold as the purest ice." continued Skay with a fiery gaze to the infinite, as if what he had just said provoked him a certain repulsion and hatred.

Although I did not think that the story, which seemed more like a legend, was true, I could not help but feel interested especially in that moment. How could a heart be cooled? From the biological point of view it was impossible that killing someone could make an organ as important as the heart become as cold as ice.

From the look on my face, I did not need to ask Skay to keep talking. He could know perfectly that I was interested.

"Sophie was the only one to blame for the cold ones being born. When she saw that her heart had cooled and that her skin and hair had turned white... she felt left out and alone, so she decided to ask the same Gods who had created us, a being equal to her. All the Gods denied her request automatically because of the terrible crime she had committed, but nevertheless, there was one, the God of love, who took pity on the girl and granted her her most precious desire with the promise that she would never hurt anyone again.

Skay was silent for a few seconds when he finished speaking and then he clenched a fist and hit the stone walls of the room with such fierceness and strength that it scared me and made me take a step back without realizing it. Pieces of rock fell to the ground as if they were simple ashes. The boy's face reflected anger and I knew that if he had looked at me at that moment, I would have felt nothing but hate.

"And that's how the... cold ones were born?" I asked trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle.

Skay nodded, looking at the ground.

"They are horrible beings who do not feel, kill without remorse and freeze the forests. Since its inception, we live in an endless war." explained the boy, this time looking at me.

My heart began to beat fast. Did he mean that I was part of that deadly species? Nor could it be said that I did not feel, instead, I felt more than I would ever want to acknowledge. I did not want to hurt anyone.

I was about to start hyperventilating when I remembered the special treatment the King, Skay's father, had given me when I had woken up. That was not normal... all the warm ones I had had the chance to see feared in a certain way or had a hatred for the cold beings, that is why they had reacted in a strange way when they saw me. I was the image of their natural enemy.

"Am I a cold?" I then asked the young man and he remained looking at me carefully, looking for an answer. I knew then that even he was not sure of that answer.

"I do not know what you are." he answered solemnly.

I did not miss the word "what" as if he was dealing with something and not with a person.

"Then you have not helped me answer my existential question." I answered pissed off for him making me illusions "And you have also made me come to this remote place... why exactly? Do you intend to kill me or something like that because I have pale skin?" Inevitably, I frowned and raised my voice more than usual by asking those questions.

"I'm not going to kill you unless you give me a reason." sentenced Skay watching me seriously.

I blinked several times, unable to believe what my ears were hearing. The same boy who had touched me for the first time in a long time and who had deigned to speak to me, threatened to kill me if I did not behave as I should.

What if I decided not to show my feelings to the world? I used to do it always.

"Why did you bring me here if it's not to do anything to me?" I asked very serious and with his threat still persistent in the environment.

Skay turned then to the numerous paintings that stretched along the walls, filling the room completely.

"These are the pictures of each king and queen who has ruled the territory of the warm from the beginning of time." he said as he moved forward, going through the pictures. "The first were elected rulers because they had a certain very powerful qualities that the ordinary warm do not have, they were kind of divine."

I followed him as I watched the portraits. They were all beautiful, with slightly tanned skin and coppery hair, much like Skay's.

Finally, we come to the end of the paintings and we look at the last one. It was a very pretty woman, with completely red hair, gathered in a sophisticated bun.

"This is Queen Opal. She is considered the most powerful warm queen of all the generations of kings." I heard the boy saying by my side, but I was not able to speak and a chill traveled along my body.

I could not help but notice Opal's upturned nose or the shape of his big eyes. I could hardly believe it, it could not be possible. However, Skay, as if reading my thoughts, pronounced: "You, Alice, as hard as it can be to believe it, are the legitimate daughter of Opal. True queen of the warm people."

My breathing started to accelerate when I heard his confession and I felt the world was on me.

I, Alice the cold, was a queen?