Chapter 1.5: Removal

The world was so cold. Small white wisps could be seen coming from the mouths of the many pedestrians leisurely walking about the small mountain town. They didn't seem to have a care in the world as they went about their day. The town square had a constant flow of people moving from building to building. A small park was placed in the exact center, allowing parents to let their children play while they shopped and ran errands.

Snow began to fall on the town, causing the small wisps to turn into larger white clouds of condensed breath. The pedestrians began to quicken their paces, hoping to finish their errands and make it home before the storm truly hit. Their bodies began to shiver, the temperature lowering further than before. Only one person was unphased by the shift in weather.

The woman was slumped over in the corner between two buildings, seemingly out of the way of the public. Her blue eyes were lifeless as her shoulder length light brown hair began to fill with white. Her body did not react to the cold, no breath could be seen coming from her lips. If they weren't paying attention, any onlooker would have thought she was dead. The only proof that was indeed alive was the slow rise and fall of her chest.

Not a single person moved to check on the woman, only gazing in her direction with looks of disdain and malice. Everyone kept a healthy distance, never even coming within arm's length of her. While to those uninformed, this looked like a form of ostracization, these people did indeed have a reason for their poor treatment of the woman. They were terrified of what might happen if they got too close to her.

They were scared of the woman for one reason and one reason alone. She was a Cursed. The Cursed were those individuals who were born with mythical abilities that could not be explained by magic. The ability to access the powers were passed down through the generations. They were deviants from humanity, not fully inhuman, but certainly different. Almost as if they were the next evolution in the species.

It was once said that these beings were the saviors of humanity, giving their all to help in the progression of civilization. Back then, they were a much more prevalent people, at least one appearing in every group's proto city. These cities would eventually grow into powerful strongholds thanks to the intervention of these powerful individuals, leading to them being known as Saviors.

They remained this way for centuries, always helping when necessary. They never assumed any leadership positions or used their power for evil. They simply wanted to live side-by-side with all those around them. The only times they were placed above the common people was in times of crisis where the destructive side of their powers were needed. Some of these crises sprang into wars where the Saviors were forced to protect the cities they helped build up. Sadly, these shows of power only accelerated the downfall of the Saviors.

Seeing just how powerful their 'Saviors' were, some groups began to fear their power. This included some of those that they used to protect. These individuals believed that no one should be able to wield powers that were so God-like. This was before the magical revolution and the mass understanding that magic could be used to replicate these abilities. If magic had been better understood, the Saviors would still be known by their original name.

The fearful groups led massive armies of people and mystical beasts to put an end to the Saviors. The Saviors, unwilling to fight those that they wished to protect, were forced into hiding. This caused a massive gathering of these people to occur, where they decided it'd be best to stay hidden from the common people, at least for the time being.

Time passed, and the Saviors became a legend, only told as a fairy tale to deter children from seeking out the power of the gods. Eventually, the last humans to remember the true Saviors died off. At the same time, the last original Savior that survived the war, was laid in the ground, leading to a new generation of leaders for their people. They had barely been alive when the war ended.

These leaders decided on a plan to reenter society. They would hide their powers, no matter what, and become normal citizens. The long isolation from human society had taken its toll on them, and they would do anything to return. So, they placed their abilities behind lock and key and set out towards many of the surrounding cities to reinstate themselves as normal people.

Their reintegration went as well as they could have hoped. They were able to easily sneak their way back into many of the current human societies. With their abilities hidden, many of the Saviors were indistinguishable from the average human. The only parts of them that were not easily hidden were their physical manifestations of power.

The physical manifestations were different for every single person. Some were given immunities and resistances while others had their bodies morph in strange ways. Luckily, many of the extraordinary features could be explained away as deformities, and the extra abilities could simply be an outcome of special training. Surprising to every single Savior, they fought no adversity while reentering society.

However, as time went on, the powers they hid became foreign to younger generations. Some didn't even know they were different, only having small quirks that set them apart. Only a small few continued the tradition of celebrating their powers, not hiding their past from their descendants. These would be the lucky ones when catastrophe struck.

It turns out that hiding their powers had been the wrong choice. The current youngest generation knew nothing of their powers, and yet they had grown increasingly strong. Their abilities were, in fact, so strong that they couldn't be controlled. The powers went rampant and caused untold disasters all across the world for eight years straight. Because of this, the Saviors were once again shunned and given the new name 'Cursed.'

The slumped over woman was no different during the outburst. Having come from the youngest generation of Cursed, she had known nothing of her abilities. The most she knew was that she never felt cold, and even this was explained away by her parents, saying that they originally came from a colder region of the world. The woman sometimes cursed her parents for not telling her the truth but thinking of her parents only ever brought her pain.

When she was a young girl, she had lived in a small hunting village. It was a relatively peaceful place compared to the rest of the world, only using their killing expertise on wild and mythical creatures. They were seen as the greatest in the business when it came to dealing with such creatures. The surrounding towns never thought that the settlement would be taken out.

When death tolls were taken at each location of an outburst, the number found for the hunting village astonished the surveyors. Each other hotspot had a death count at least in the high thousands, not including the wounded and scarred. Only one other place exemplified such a skewed death toll, and that was simply because there were no bodies left to count.

However, the hunting village was exactly the opposite. It totaled a death count of zero. Not a single denizen had been killed nor injured. Not a single drop of blood littered the streets and not a single scream of terror could be heard.

The town suffered a much worse fate in comparison. Every inch of it was covered in a thin layer of clear ice. Not a single thing was spared. When the first person was found, frozen in place, running from something, it was immediately apparent they still lived. Their eyes moved behind their icy prisons, pleading for freedom. Sadly, there was no hope for them.

Everything was tried to melt the ice, but not even the hottest flames they could muster were effective. With no way to free those encapsulated in ice, the surveyors were forced to leave them be, no matter how much it hurt them to do so. However, they were too focused on the frozen forms to hear the quiet sobs coming from one of the many icy buildings.

This young girl was the only one to escape the fate of her village. Her blue eyes had reddened from sadness and her brown hair was a ragged mess. She was huddled in a corner, crying at the state of her town. At the moment, she didn't understand why she was the only one spared. It would take a few more years before she discovered that she was Cursed.

From that day onwards, the girl was forced to roam from town to town. At first, people felt sad for her, not knowing what she was. All they saw was a homeless girl, with no place to go. Many tried to help her at that time, but all those that did met a terrible fate. When they made contact with her, they began to freeze, just like the citizens of her village. Every time the girl saw this, she would run away screaming, fearing she had ruined another town just like hers.

The rumors of a freezing curse began to spread like wildfire, and eventually the girl was determined to be the culprit. She was run out of every town she entered, not even given a chance anymore. This ostracization only caused her more grief, and for her curse to become more uncontrollable.

Now she brought winter to every town she entered, causing ice and snow to fall from the skies at regular intervals. This became her calling card, foreshadowing her arrival in a new town. She only wished she could find some place she couldn't freeze.

The people of the mountain town she currently resided in blamed her for many of their hardships, the most common being the weather. They had experienced heavy snow before but found it much easier to blame it on the woman than to figure out why it happened. Their blame was only partially correct, as they did not understand climates and weather systems.

The pedestrians continued to pass her by as if she did not exist, yet a small group standing in the middle of the plaza park continued to look her way with disdain. No one noticed this, not even the woman who their gazes were focused on.

Suddenly, a small object began to fly through the air. It went unnoticed by the adults walking through the plaza due to its size and the way in which it was thrown. It was lobbed above the crowds so as not to hit any of them, and so that it would perfectly hit its target. A small thud was heard as the rock landed directly on the slumped woman's head.

More rocks of varying sizes were launched in her direction from the park, all hitting her in some place. Most hit her extremities, but the larger ones always landed on her head, causing blood to begin to seep onto her face. The children didn't take notice of this and continued their stoning.

The parents in the crowd screamed in horror at the sight. They hurriedly rushed towards their children to end the violence, but not for the woman receiving it. They were terrified of what she might do to their children. Having heard the rumors of what she had done to her hometown, they were hoping to save their children from the woman's wrath.

As the last stone was thrown, the parents finally reached the children. The stone had been aimed directly at the woman's face, but it never reached its mark. The woman had placed her hand in its path and caught it. The rock froze solid in her hand as she stood up and began walking towards the children.

The parents hugged their children tight, hoping to save them from whatever fate they were about to face. The woman continued walking at her slow pace, filling every pedestrian around her with dread at what was about to happen. This gave the parents a long agonizing look at the woman they feared.

To their surprise, she stood barely taller than their children, causing them to finally understand that she was merely a teenager. Her arms and legs were battered and bruised by the stoning, as well as from living the way she had. Her brown hair was matted and tangled, and her blue eyes seemed soulless. To the parents, though, the most terrifying part of her was her face, which was bloody from the rocks hitting her head, only because they saw no malice in her whatsoever. All they saw was a young girl who needed help.

When the Cursed stopped right in front of them, they all winced in anticipation, but their judgement never came. All they heard was a small thud. They opened their eyes to see that she had simply dropped the ice covered stone at their feet. She then said in a small, raspy voice, "I believe you dropped this." She then turned and walked away towards the town's gate, leaving all those in the place in shock.

The news of her departure spread fast through the town causing everyone who heard it to rejoice. She had only been present in the town for a few months, but to its residents it had felt like years. They were glad to finally be free of the fear, of the paranoia. They felt as though they were finally free.

A celebration was held that afternoon, the incoming winter storm long forgotten. Nearly half of the town participated, causing all work to come to a complete stop, all efforts being put into the celebration. While many partied that night, only about half of them continued to celebrate into the night. Those that did this never found their way back home that night.

They were found cold and lifeless the next morning. Their skin had turned black, almost as if they had been burned to a crisp, but no signs of fire were actually present. The bodies they found were simply just cold. In this day and age, things like frostbite were not known of, so the only solution they found to this was that Cursed woman.

They believed she had given them a parting shot for the stoning she had to endure. This only caused the people of the mountain town to fear the Cursed even more than they already did. Because of this event, the woman was given the moniker of The Ice Witch.

The Ice Witch began to wander, never staying in one place too long. She had heard about what happened to the mountain town and believed she was the cause. She truly wished not to bring people such a terrible fate. So, she only passed through towns now, sleeping on the rough roads that had been laid out for travel.

She had decided she could no longer live among society. Her powers were far too unforgiving, and she had no way to control them. The secret to control was not passed down the generations, as they never thought something like this could have happened. And so, she continued her trek into the wilderness, marching off into the unknown.

Her journey had led her to an abandoned log cabin in the middle of the woods. Finally finding a place to rest, she decided to make this place her new home. It was a few days walk from the nearest settlement, so she believed she would cause minimal strife for them.

The longer she stayed in that cabin, the colder the forest became. Eventually, the entire forest became locked in an eternal winter, irreparably changing the landscape forever. And yet the cabin remained the same. It became her self-imposed prison, only ever leaving to stock up on supplies only when necessary. She thought this was better than causing direct harm to the people who lived in the nearby town.

The Ice Witch became a legend to those towns that surrounded the forest. The legends stated that a woman brought winter with her wherever she went and that if she ever ventured to your town, there was no hope for you. They began to fear her, like all the rest, but one town didn't. The town that she visited at monthly intervals did not fear her or her legend, and no other town understood why.