The Aftermath

Guards rushed to the scene as the human visitors seemed to have caused trouble. The Glacials in charge of watching the humans were detaining them. One of them dug their feet in the snow as if they were going to pounce on the knights, but they refrained from doing so as the knights had drawn their swords. The messenger sat on his bottom behind the knights, reaching out his arms to the two of them. "Put your swords down, please!" His lips quivered at every syllable and his breath bore fruit to thick clouds of air that seeped out of his mouth. He sat in the freezing cold, hoping it'll kill him before the Glacials do. "We are defending ourselves, sir," one of them told him.

All the Glacial soldiers in the surrounding area began summoning weapons from ice, thus causing the air in the vicinity to reach an even colder temperature. About six Glacials in total surrounded the two knights in their glistening gray armor.

"Put down your swords!" demanded the messenger this time. The knights kept their swords up, pointing the front of the blade at the nearest enemy. They didn't talk back at all, they just stood still and watched their enemy, something that they've been taught their whole lives.

It was at a standstill, each side waited for the other to make a move so that they could exploit it. The messenger even went as far as trying to pull the sword out of their hands, but his fragile and flabby arms were no match for the battle hardened grip of these hardy warriors.

"Why keep your swords up when you know you can't win this battle?" The messenger questioned the knights, trying everything in his power to avert a battle with the Glacials, for they would surely die.

He then jumped in front of the two knights and blocked their view of any nearby Glacials. "I won't let you attack any of them." At that very moment, all the Glacials aimed their icicles and shot them at the messenger's back.

"Stop! Stop it!" A small Glacial boy jumped in front of the messenger, when they just fired their ice. The sharp knife-like icicle projectiles came hurtling towards the boy, unable to stop. The Glacial soldiers stood in horror as they're about to witness a death of a small child, a Glacial just like them.

Almost instantaneously, a wall of ice emerged from the ground and shielded both the kid and the messenger from the icicles. Icicle after another smacked into the wall of ice, letting out a melody of loud cracking noises and thumping noises that rang throughout the place and even in the barracks.

Nion stood at the front door of the barracks with Alexen behind him. He casually strolled up to the young boy behind the ice and knelt down before him. "Are you okay, little hero?" The kid nodded then got up, as he was so shocked to see the ice wall farm that he dropped to his knees. "Yeah, thanks mister."

Nion turned to see the knights, still with their swords drawn, and the messenger whose cheeks were rosy red from the extremely cold air sliding back and forth on his terrified face. He then looked opposite of them to see the group of Glacials. Some were relieved, catching breathes of comfort, while some were as stiff as the wall, fearing punishment from their higher ups.

Nion raised the paper the general just sign and waved it towards all the guards and humans. "We have a non-aggression pact with the humans now, do you people want to break it in not even a minute of it being formed?"

Everybody lowered their weapons and faced each other awkwardly. "How did this fight even start?" Nion walked back and forth, skeptical of the humans and the loyalty of his own men.

The messenger lifted his hand and began walking towards Nion, past the knights and past all the little piles of snow that's gotten kicked back by the Glacial soldiers. "We were just waiting for a response from your leader outside like one of the guards said to do, and a bunch of Glacial residents started throwing stones at us! My knights raised their swords to protect themselves from the stones, but as soon as they were raised the residents called for Glacial soldiers."

The charming Glacial captain nodded his head and rested his index finger on his chin. "I see." He then went up to shake the human's hand, and began to apologize on behalf of his species. "I'm sorry this happened to you today. I will not allow any sort of behavior from any one of my troops again." Nion then handed the messenger the contract to give to the king of Humania. "This is the contract for our non-aggression pact. It details both our needs that will come of this agreement, and the rules each of us may follow."

"Thanks! Uh…" "Name's Nion." The messenger contracted a small smirk as he began walking out of the city with both of his troops. After watching the trio set off and disappear into the horizon, Nion immediately became furious. He stomped on the floor and screamed "Attention!" and every soldier there immediately turned still. It was like a forest, as every soldier present was as stiff as a tree in the forest on a windless day. "Regardless of the visitor's origin, I want you to treat them with the utmost respect, got it!" Nion continued. "Yes sir Captain Nion!" Echoed the men standing before Nion. They spoke so synchronized that it created a tiny shake in earth, just by the mere sound of it.

Of course Alexen wasn't apart of it though. He wasn't hiding behind Nion the whole time, he eventually moved away and just watched from afar. Alexen was absolutely mesmerized at the sight of one of the knight's swords. Alexen was a Glacial, so he never really seen swords much or ever practiced with one, as it goes against the Glacial tradition of only using the power they were blessed with.

He admired the human culture, despite humans being enemies of Glacia since he was born. He loved how they can create awesome tools and weapons to use creatively, like bows, swords, and spears. He even loved the stories they make like the one about his own people, about a Glacial named Jack Frost.

The story of Jack Frost, according to the humans, was about a man of Glacial descent being the son of the goddess Glacia who came down to have countless adventures with the humans, he bonded with them, fought alongside them, and even helped them out and showed great kindness to the humans and Humania. He eventually became the catalyst of the tight bond between the humans and Glacials in the early days.

Alexen tingled at the feeling of remembering such a tale, although it is just a fictional story that parents would tell their kids before bedtime. Eventually Nion sat beside him.

"Alexen, I think it's time to see how your brother is doing." "Yeah." Alexen got up to his feet and began marching down the slippery road. "Let's go."

Him and Nion began trotting alongside the roads to the torn up yet prosperous capital city. Here and there they would see torn up houses, knocked down trees, and sometimes even arrows scattered all over, the aftermath of relentless arrow volleys. Eventually they reached a small little shack with a blue medical cross on it. Nion took over and opened the white door slowly, peeking his head out first then entering. There was the doctor, sitting beside Temo, who was unconscious and with a bandage over his right eye.

"So what's the deal, Damion?" Nion said, slapping coins in front of the fatigued doctor.

"Well… You see…"

"Spit it out Damion!"

"Your boy here is incapable of seeing out of his right eye again, it was damaged beyond repair. His cheek bone was also severely chipped and cracked, so he'll be unconscious for a while longer."

Alexen looked over at his brother laying in bed, covered in layers of sheets, then looked up to the tall doctor. "So, he'll live right?" Damion looked down at the small puppy eyed Glacial, and kneeled down to him. "Yup! He'll live. Don't worry, no one ever dies on my watch." He patted the boy on the head softly as he ran his fingers through his silky hair, which made Alexen more relaxed, as it was something his mother would do to him.

"Nuh… Nion…" murmured Temo's lips, barely holding on to consciousness. Nion dashed to the boy and came to his knees on the side of the bed. "Yes. I'm here Temo, I'm here." Temo turned turned his towards Nion, his eyes barely opened to the point where you could hardly see pupils. His body was limp too, and he seemed to breathe heavily. "Brother… He…Okay?" Alexen jumped right next to Nion, but couldn't bear to look at him. Temo caught a glimpse of his dear little brother, smiled, then passed out quietly. "What! How could he have been conscious?!" shrieked the doctor. "Well, he must heal fast then, I guess."

Alexen turned his eyes away from his brother and began to cry loudly. "It's… It's all my fault!" He sunk his face into the bed and continued to resonate a muffled cry. "I didn't kill that guy. It's all my fault he's like this!"

"No it's not." Nion spread out his large arms wide and softly wrapped them around the young lad. "It's not your fault, it's mine for not getting there in time." Nion closes his eyes briefly, then opened them with a sense of sorrow all over his face. "You know, Alexen. When I was your age, Glacia was at war with Mystia, and I had to fight in this war, regardless of my young age. I killed many Mystials, injured many, ruined many lives of families, and that left me with deep regret. Deep sorrow. I thought 'Maybe if I'd shown mercy to my opponents, there'd be less broken families out there.'

I don't want you to go through what I did. Feeling regret for killing an enemy, feeling the pain of their families." He gradually let loose of the boy as he spoke to him softly and truthfully. "Trust me, there's a lot of pain that comes with killing a man."

Soon afterwards, the two Glacials left to Nion's house. They both walked out the door, Alexen wiped off the tears with his tunic, and began following him again as usual.

"You haven't been to my house before, right?" "Nope." The boy kicked up snow in the air playfully as they spoke. "It figures. Your dad never wanted to bring you to my house anyways." "Really? Why?" Nion got stumped, not really knowing why his father wouldn't let him come. "I don't know, but your mom wanted you to go just as much as me." Alexen jumped out of curiosity. Nion's house was like a mysterious piece of treasure to him now. "I wonder what his house it like!" Alexen whispered to himself.

"Want to know the best part?" Nion said, lowering his face in front of Alexen's soft and innocent face. "What?!" His dark blue eyes glittered and sparkled beautifully in excitement like the ice they produced. "You're living with me from now on!" Nion's voice became higher as he spoke to the child, trying to get him riled up and excited.

The pair walked downtown, hearing many people complain and such. The noise of construction had become very prominent in the city, as the citizens are repairing the damages from the recent battle. Store owners shouted out the doors to get customers in, street performers still did their thing, restaurants still produced delicious treats that filled the air with delectably sweet and savory aroma. Regardless of the blood battle, life still goes on. Not one store has shut down out of fear of another attack, for everyone was confident and believed in their leader's decisions.

Nion and Alexen passed by many store buildings covered in snow before Nion turned the corner onto a little dirt road that led to his house. It was a small looking house with a big and bare apple tree looking down on it. Alexen seemed to catch notice of that. "Why is there an apple tree here?" "Haha! I know right! The previous owner of this house thought it would be a good idea to have an apple tree here, but didn't think that trees go bare in cold weather, and it's always cold here."

Nion's house was pretty charming on the outside. It was made from mostly wood and cobblestone, had a little wooden porch out front, and had a window to the far right of the right side of the front door, and he used animal fur as the curtains.

"Alright, welcome to my humble abode." Nion turned the silver knob, it made a click sound, and he walked in, Alexen following behind. Inside was a pretty sizable living room with a bear rug in the middle and a small round table to the side. The kitchen was fairly big though, although it didn't stick out as much. Then Nion brought Alexen to another room, his bedroom.

"Wow!" Alexen stood in awe. There were shelves and shelves of books he had, and a comfy looking queen size bed with red sheets.

"You haven't seen it all yet." Nion walked the boy towards the end of the living room and lifted the metal handle that was on the ground. He tugged it and pulled it firmly, and a little door in the floor lifted up. "Like the basement entrance?" Alexen look at him like he was insane. "No way! This is the coolest!" The two went down there, only to see how huge it was. The walls were made from wood, while the flooring was now stone. Nion has little dummies made from hay scattered all over place. A majority of the dummies had multiple holes in them. The confident Glacial captain basked in his glory as his nephew admire nearly everything it has.

Nion picked up one of the dummies and held it to his cold cheeks. "I practice aiming with these guys." Immediately afterwards, something clicked in his mind, persuading him to call Alexen over. "How about we do some combat practice?"

Alexen wasn't very thrilled with this idea, as all he wanted to do was rest for now, but his mouth told a different story. Even though he absolutely rejected the idea of practicing with Nion, his lips said "Sure!"

"Wonderful! First I want to see what you can do with your icelation (the official name of their ice powers) ability." Alexen created a sharp icicle. Nion looked at it dreadfully. "Although it is sharp, it's very fragile. Can you make any other objects besides icicles." "No, I never figured it out." "Okay then I'll teach you." Nion grabbed both of Alexen's small and soft hands and had the tips of each finger touch the tips of the fingers on the other hand. "Okay, make sure your fingers are touching the corresponding fingers on the other hand, and bend them a bit so that it resembles a ball. It's almost like you're holding a big ball with two hands. Now produce ice with your hands in this position." And Alexen did just that. He concentrated and managed to make a pretty sizable ball of hard ice, although it did drain him more than creating an icicle. But he was extremely excited to be able to make something other than a plain old icicle. "I wonder if brother could do this?" he asked himself.

"Your parents told me to take care of you guys, and part of doing that is teaching you how to protect yourself. So how about we do some hand to hand combat?" Alexen instantly froze, much like his ball. But, it was the wish his parents wanted Nion to fulfill, and he couldn't disagree with that. "I guess I can," he said. "Go easy on me." In a blink of an eye, Nion dashed across the stone floor to Alexen and was nearly about to strike him in the gut with incredible force, but stopped his punch just in time.

"You were supposed to react!" "It was too fast! Give me one more try." Nion sighed, then went back to his corner to try again.

"I'm coming!" he yelled as he charged at Alexen. But he saw him coming. When Nion went for the stomach again, the young Glacial shielded his stomach with the hard ice ball. Nion struck it hard, and nearly went through half of it before the ball stopped the punch. But he wasn't letting up.

Nion used his other hand and went for another punch but to the face it seemed. His fist soared like lightning as it cut through the cold air, hitting Alexen before he could react. Nion did slow down his punch significantly last minute to avoid hurting his nephew too much.

"Good match huh?" Nion extended his hand to the young boy. "Oh yeah definitely," he said sarcastically. The place where Nion struck him was noticeable red, and Alexen began feeling it and patting it for a while, trying to numb the pain.

"You got quite a lot to work on, but you'll be a fine soldier one day." "You think so?" Alexen looked at him, flattered and excited. "Hopefully I fight tons of people with swords!"

"Hey hey, don't push it. Don't want you dying in one of those swordfights."