Icy Welcome

In the center of the room was an arch that was the exact same size as the one in the museum. That's where the similarities ended though because this portal didn't have fourteen symbols on it like the one in the museum. This arch only had one symbol that looked like a snowflake, located at the very top of the arch. Had I been transported from the arch in the museum to this arch? If so, where? It was early fall back home, we definitely didn't have any snow on the ground yet and I couldn't think of a single building that would look like this on the inside.

I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my ice-cold hair. The rush of adrenaline I had felt earlier was starting to wear off and the reality of what was happening was beginning to sink in. I had no idea where I was or in all honesty how I had gotten here. Science class never mentioned the possibilities of glowing blue portals opening up and taking your classmates. In the back of my head floated a possible answer but the logical part of my brain firmly rejected it.

This couldn't be magic, could it?

Magic was stuff you read about in books and got told about in bedtime stories, it wasn't real. I had read dozens of fantasy books, always wondering what it would be like if magic was real. Those thoughts had always just been for fun, I knew magic could never exist. Yet, here I was. It freaked me out a little but what other answer could there be to what had just happened?

I let loose another sigh, I shouldn't jump to conclusions before I had even taken a look around. I made a quick walk around the room, finding only several chunks of broken ceiling and piles of snow. It was a little odd this room had nothing inside of it except for the arch, it was such a large and grand room. Nearly two hundred people could easily fit in here, it could maybe even hold two hundred and fifty if they squeezed in.

*Crack*

I froze in place as the sound pierced through the air. What was making that noise? I turned around and looked in the direction of where the sound had come from. A massive pair of double doors that looked like they were ancient seemed to be where the sound had come from. I squinted and looked at them closely. Was there something moving across them?

*Crack*

My jaw fell open in terror as I realized that there was ice moving across the pair of doors, covering them and crackling as it froze them solid. How was it possible for ice to move as if it had a life of its own? The cracking sound I was hearing was the door splitting and breaking under the intense cold, I could see the bolts and bars of metal that held them together beginning to crack. The ice finally coated the entire door but it didn't stop there, it jumped from the door to the walls around it as well as the floor. It rapidly spread at a dangerous pace and soon covered nearly half the room. I scrambled backward to get away from the ice. I didn't want to find out what would happen to me if that ice reached me.

*Boom*

An explosion of snow and ice flooded into the room as the two doors finally gave way to whatever was on the other side I hurriedly looked around the room for an escape, no way did I want to meet whoever or whatever had just made those doors blow off their hinges. My eyes found only one other way out of the room, a small door hidden away in the corner of the room. I quickly sprinted across the room and ripped the door open.

"Stop," said a deep voice from behind me. It sounded different than any other voice I had heard before, it had such a high-pitched ring to it but not in a friendly way. I slowly turned around, terrified of what was waiting for me but even more afraid of what would happen if I didn't comply with the command.

What greeted my eyes was an utter abomination, something that seem absolutely impossible. A figure that resembled a man stood roughly twenty feet away from me. His skin looked to be made of ice and his eyes radiated a powerful blue glow that made me feel like I was under a microscope. The man wore flowing white robes which were like the ones that priests wore. They looked very raggedy and were torn in several places. He also had long white hair that went down past his shoulders and a tall angular face that made him even more intimidating. The longer I looked at him the more my body screamed at me to run away.

"How did you get into the Temple of Ice," questioned the ice priest. I struggled to form words, my throat was drier than a desert. What was this guy going to do to me if I answered honestly? Should I lie and say something outlandish in the hopes he might let me go?

"I have no idea how I got in here, I've never even heard of the Temple of Ice," I mumbled honestly. Even if I had wanted to lie, my brain was too paralyzed with fear to think straight. A petrifying crackle riddled the air as the ice priest suddenly drew a sword from his waist. I must have been too shocked by his face and appearance to notice the sword that had been hanging from his waist. Surprisingly, I recognized what kind of sword it was due to my fondness for history. It looked to be a crusader broadsword, with a pitch-black handle and crossguard. The blade itself was an icy teal color, unlike any metal I had seen.

"Regardless if you are telling the truth, it is time for you to perish," growled the priest.

Perish?

Before I knew it, I was sprinting away from the door I had just slammed in the ice priest's face. My body had simply reacted of its own free will, leaping into action as soon as the priest had said perish.

I heard a slam from behind me that had been much louder than when I had thrown the door shut. Something whizzed over my head and crashed into a wall a couple of feet away from me. It was the door I had just used, the priest had blown it clean off its hinges somehow. I didn't dare pause to look back, I didn't want to see that horrifying face or how close he was to me. This was life or death, that priest didn't feel human at all. That sword he was carrying wasn't normal either, I had a bad feeling that if it touched me I'd get a lot worse than just a cut.

I continued my sprint down the dark and windowless passageway with the constant screech of metal dragging on stone. The priest must be dragging the sword along the floor, was he trying to scare me to death? Another problem was beginning to become direr in front of me, the passage was coming to a dead end.

"Your running out of room mortal," yelled the priest behind me. Mortal? Why would he call me that of all things? That implied that he wasn't mortal himself which was ridiculous. I couldn't let this freak catch me, I would have to just take my chances with one of the closed doors lining the passage. I grabbed the door nearest to my right with both hands and threw my weight against it in case it was frozen shut.

The door immediately gave under the force of me throwing myself onto it and came free of its hinges. My eyes snapped shut and I tensed up in preparation for hitting the hard ground. Except, there was no ground on the other side of the door, just a massive dropoff. A yelp of terror escaped my throat as I plummeted through the air with the door. Thankfully a soft pile of snow cushioned my fall and saved me from any serious injury. I shook myself off and got to my feet.

The room I had landed in was in pieces, it looked like there had been a staircase leading up to the door I had just fallen from. I turned to look at the rest of the room but tripped over something in the process. I looked down but my blood ran cold when I saw what I had tripped over. Beneath me was a pile of skeletons, each holding weapons and wearing tattered clothes. I scrambled away from them only to trip and fall into another pile of bones. The entire room was littered with skeletons, all of them still dressed and most of them holding weapons in their bony hands. What had happened here, had that priest killed all of these people?

"There you are trespasser," said an all too familiar voice. The priest stood on the other side of the room, grinning ear to ear and still dragging his sword along the ground. I hadn't heard the screeching because the blade was dragging on snow, this room had no roof to it. Gusts of wind blew snow in as well as frigid air. I hurriedly looked around the room for an exit but the only I only found a large doorway on the opposite side of the room. From my current position, I would have to run past the priest in order to escape through that door. I was cornered, the doorway I had come through was my only other option and there was no way for me to reach it.

If I couldn't run then my options were pretty slim. I could attempt to fight this guy and most likely lose since I'd never been in a fight in my life. Maybe I could trick him somehow? I didn't have much on me except for my phone or my wallet, neither of which would stop the alien-looking priest from cutting me down. That left whatever I could find in this room to use as a weapon or a distraction. I scrambled to my knees and began ripping through the pile of skeletons beneath me, trying hard not to panic but failing miserably. A horrible laugh came from behind me but I didn't dare stop digging, this was my only chance to make it out of here alive.

"What exactly are you looking for? As much as I have enjoyed watching you pitifully run away in terror and desperately search for something to save you, I think it is time for you to meet your end," the priest cackled from behind me. I could hear the metal of the sword sing as it was lifted into the air behind me. This was it, I wasn't going to make it.

My hand abruptly hit something comfortingly smooth, a stark contrast to the jagged bones with their scratchy feel. The sensation of touching whatever it was made me feel warm and comforted like the sun was shining down on me. Something in the back of my mind knew this was what I was looking for, this mystery item would save me. I took both of my hands and pulled at it from beneath the pile of bones as hard as I could. It came free after slight resistance, causing me to tumble down the pile of bones.

*Clang*

The teal-bladed sword smashed into the spot I had been mere moments ago, breaking the stone floor to pieces. Yet, when the priest raised the blade back up, there wasn't any damage to it in the slightest. A chill went down my spine, if that blade made contact with any part of my body it would do some serious damage.

I quickly turned my attention to whatever it was I had pulled from the pile of skeletons only to be struck with awe. Resting in my hands were two knives with beautiful sheathes that were white with silver designs on them. The design on the one sheathe was of a tree with huge limbs and expansive roots. The other sheathe was decorated with the image of the shining sun, with beams of light radiating off of it. Something about these knives told me they were special, just looking at them made me feel stronger.

My trance was brought crashing down as I heard the sound of the teal sword dragging over the pile of bones. The blue priest was striding toward me with a sinister look, I didn't have much time until he would be upon me. I grabbed the handles of both knives and yanked them out of their sheaths. As soon as I had pulled them from the sheathes a sudden wave of comfort and calmness passed over me. The knives felt warm in my hands and I felt courage explode throughout every part of my body.

The handles were made of smooth black wood while the blades were fashioned from pearly white metal. The knives were about one and a half feet in length and were quite thin. The blades were literally glowing with white light as if they were a lightbulb, coating everything they touched with a comforting heat.

The blue priest froze in place, halting his advance. His expression had changed from one of sadistic eagerness to apprehensive fear. I had to admit I liked the change of heart he was having but why were these knives so scary to him? Maybe they could do some serious damage, they definitely weren't ordinary weapons.

"The Knives of Sudryal the Slayer," hissed the blue priest. The icy-skinned priest looked at the blades with concern but also hatred, he obviously had seen them before. Had he fought this Sudryal? I couldn't think about that right now, even if I was inexperienced with fighting I needed to beat this monster. A boost of confidence flowed through me from holding such powerful blades and I charged forward.

The priest was caught off guard by my sudden advance and stumbled backward in an attempt to get away from the light shining from the knives. My body felt much lighter than usual and I closed the gap between us in only two strides. Before I knew it, I was slashing and hacking at the blue priest in a random pattern with no rhyme or reason. How was I moving like this, why wasn't I frozen with fear?

The priest deflected all of my slashes with his sword, moving faster than what I believed was humanly possible. He was moving the massive sword as if it was light as a feather, expertly repelling my unorganized attacks. We continued our standoff of blocking or attacking each other, both of us unable to land a single attack on the other. My arms screamed in exhaustion in pain from never having moved so fast or so powerfully. Each time our blades met my arms cried out in agony from the recoil of blocking such powerful slashes.

Despite the pain, my arms continued to move as if they were separate entities. The blue priest finally backed off, leaping dozens of feet backward through the air. He landed gracefully on the other side of the room which put a good amount of distance between us. My arms stopped moving and a wave of exhaustion passed over me. My knees gave out and I crumbled to the ground, dropping the knives in the process.

With the knives released from my grasp, any strength I had left vanished. It took all I had in me to stay conscious, a deep feeling of panic and fear forcing me to keep fighting. I hadn't landed a single blow on the priest, nor had I managed to escape this awful room. Stuck, I was still stuck in the same damn place I had been in a few minutes ago, except now I had no strength left to move.

"That's what happens when an untrained mage such as yourself tries to use such a high-grade weapon. Your arms probably feel like they are about to fall off right? I imagine you've almost torn your muscles to shreds by making them move like that," laughed the blue-skinned priest. Mage? Why was he talking like we were in a fairytale? Whatever, I could mull over it once I got out of this mess. I forced my head to look up and was met with a disheartening sight. The wicked look as well as his confidence had returned to his expression, he knew I had nothing left to give in this fight. Still, I gritted my teeth at his words and started to crawl toward the discarded knives.

"I didn't come here to die at the hands of some freak like you," I growled as I forced my hands to close around the handles of the knives. The feeling of warmness returned and helped me manage the pain of getting back to my feet. My hands were shaking terribly and my grip on the knives was loose at best but I didn't dare think of dropping them. I had no idea how they gave me such strength and comfort but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that I needed to survive, to find Reyna and Arthur, as well as the others.

"Such arrogance to think that you can beat me in your pathetic state. I was having a fun time chasing you around and playing with you but now your just annoying me," hissed the priest. He had been paying with me this whole time? If so, he was implying he could freely kill me whenever he wanted, which sent chills down my spine.

The priest raised his left hand in my direction, three jagged spears of ice materializing in the air in front of him. How had he done that? The ice spears didn't fall to the ground either, they remained unmoving in the air in front of the priest.

"Triple Ice Spear Shot," shouted the priest. The spears shot through the air as if they had been fired from a gun, racing straight for me. I slashed the first spear with the knife in my right hand, causing it to shatter into pieces. I raised the knife in my left hand, barely managing to deflect the second spear. The third spear pierced my left shoulder, the impact throwing me off my feet and onto the floor. A scream escaped my throat as overwhelming pain descended upon my shoulder. I could feel my warm blood dribbling down my chest and arm, as well as the coldness of the ice that was buried in my shoulder.

"This is where you die," chuckled the priest. He had closed the distance between us in seconds and now stood right in front of me. His ominous sword was raised above his head, ready to end my life. The hopelessness barely registered over the immense pain I was suffering from, it was over.

"I don't think so Zelgius, that boy will be coming with me."