An Ode to a Cold Land

Wintra was just like its name. Eternal winter all year round. Not even one petal of cherry blossom have fallen on that land. It was icier than the coldest snow your hands have ever touched (other than the unlucky peeps in the Southern Hemisphere...do you even know what snow is?).

Adonis Thahorne was the person you wouldn't expect to be from Wintra, if you know him well that is. He was warm, he liked cuddling cats and sleeping into the day on weekends. He preferred coffee over tea and didn't like eating alone, but he had to. But he didn't struggle to keep his stone hard image of a typical Wintral noble.

He didn't realize what he was doing when he grabbed the guard who was taking away the girl who had fainted at the sight of him. He felt his life slipping away like the ice in front of his house when the ridges of the gun started to make a mark on his forehead.

He had come this far to save a girl and while doing that put another one in danger? "Woah, Adonis," he said to himself, "Now you're the knight in shining armor for all the damsels around the world. In distress or eustress."

He punched the Guard Leader in the face with his elbow and swung his leg high to push down his head which fell to the floor in a low thud. Catching him move, Brooklyn broke from her unguarded self and pulled up her walls. She clapped twice and sent three guards flying across the room.

A shelf shook under impact and almost toppled.

"Get her out of here!" Adonis screamed while he pocketed the abandoned gun of the now unconscious leader. Three more guards came from above through the trap door. "Shit, they have reinforcements," Brooklyn warned the Wintral boy.

"Use your sparkly thingy which you just did right now!" Adonis suggested and pulled a guard by the collar and banged his head against the wall. He let out a low whine and flopped down. Adonis smirked, "Zyka guards are so weak. They are so going to get crushed in today's battle."

Brooklyn laid the girl on the floor and defended her continuously with little blasts that kept the weaponless guards distracted. They hadn't expected this much of a fight from what they had thought was a normal Zyka citizen.

But Brooklyn heard what Adonis said, "Today's battle? What do you mean? Isn't it next week?"

Han sadly smiled and shook his head. A loud bang sounded through the serene library as he shot a guard in the leg and Brooklyn flinched. She swore she would never use a gun in her life.

The place went eerily quiet. "Is that it?" Brooklyn whispered, looking around, "We took down everyone?"

They heard a slight shuffling below the trap door and Brooklyn saw the red of the Guard's uniform moving. "Hey-"

But before she could knock the last remaining guard down, he slipped through the door and into the open and ran away.

The girl coughed and Brooklyn rushed over to her. She opened her eyes slowly, "What happened?"

"You fainted," Adonis answered for her, tapping his hands off dust.

The girl's eyes left Brooklyn's and looked around the room and landed on the Wintral boy. She smiled at him and she felt like fainting again at his ephemeral beauty. Now his hair was all ruffled and it didn't look silver, just platinum blonde but even then, the girl's hands were traced with goosebumps and she couldn't feel her stomach anymore.

He didn't smile back, just stared. He looked over at Brooklyn, "Do you know where the stone is? If you don't know then I have to get going, guess I can't take refuge here anymore."

Brooklyn turned back at him, "While you were here, didn't you read through the books?"

He shook his head and shrugged, "Why should I?" His excitement from being found out and fighting since a long time of isolation was gone and was replaced by a thin blanket of coldness, that's how Wintrals were supposed to be. Cold, just like their land.

"If you did, you would have found the Stone by now," Brooklyn advised and helped the girl stand. She looked at Adonis "Are you talking about the Dragon Stone?"

Adonis shifted his gaze to the slightly shorter girl and nodded, "Yeah. I have to bring it back to Wintra to get my girl back."

The Dragon Stone bearer's heart dropped. A girl? This Wintral boy already had a girl? "Oh," was all she could say and looked at Brooklyn, "Let's go back home Brooklyn."

Brooklyn looked at her confused and nodded, returning to Adonis, "Yeah..." she narrowed her eyes, "Let's go." She said. The only reason she wasn't turning the Wintral boy in as a potential threat to Zyka was because he had helped them get out of the mess and...it didn't seem ethical to give him over to the government who had just attacked her and her friend.

Adonis watched them go and sighed when they were out of sight. He stared at the countless number of shelves, "Why had she let me off the hook that easily? Me? A Wintral? Should I have asked?" he thought, then backtracked, "No way, I'm just lucky this time," he realized and looked down and around at the dozens of Guards laying around him.

A lonely Wintral boy standing in the middle of a dozen Zykarian bodies strewn on the floor. His eyes went wide, "Shit! Someone'll think I did all this!" he realized and searched hastily for something...ah yes!

His pale slender hands unbuttoned the red and black coat of the Guard and slipped it on, golden buttons shining down from his long neck to white pants. He slipped on the tall hat and made sure his hair was tucked neatly under it, made sure he had the gun in his pocket and left the Library once and for all. Staying in there to read everything might be too risky.

He'll have to come back another time...or find the girl who had fainted. He was sure she knew something about the Stone. Her naive face gave away too much.

By the time he stepped out, the two girls were gone.

The afternoon break had sent the people to spread themselves everywhere. There was so much chatter from the people who had stepped out of work to grab a bite and chat. Adonis blended in well in his Guard uniform. Even better, some people avoided him.

But one thing, they all did in common when they heard the noises. They turned their heads skyward and ran for their lives.

......

As Brooklyn and the girl walked back to the house, Brooklyn started thinking. Why had the guards come for the girl? Had they found out that she was from Mars and thought her as a threat?

In any case, she had to protect her...but today she realized after the events in the library that she couldn't do it alone. She thought about Isaiah again for the second time that day. Will he trust her enough to protect the Dragon Stone? Will he even believe Brooklyn? After-

Brooklyn's line of thought broke. "Wait..." she told herself, halting. The nameless girl turned around and looked at her with concern. "Oh no," Brooklyn exclaimed, "Can you get back home alone? I have something to do....use your powers if someone attacks you."

Brooklyn didn't even wait for confirmation. She just turned around and started running, pushing the people aside. The Wintra Battle was today! And Isaiah was probably in the military site now, where they might attack. How could she have waited this long to tell him?

Her legs dipped into the sand of the military practice grounds as she slowed down, panting. Isaiah caught sight of her and narrowed his eyes, a hand covering his face from the sun.

"Brooklyn?" he asked from the distance. They were about 30- 40 feet apart and Brooklyn couldn't run anymore, she was already exhausted from using magic. She stood and screamed, "Isaiah! The Wintrals are coming today!"

A few guards in close proximity turned her way alarmingly, but then shook their heads and laughed when they saw that it was just a kid.

"What?" Isaiah repeated and started running towards her slowly. Brooklyn took in a long breath. "The Wintrals are com-" she heard a whizzing noise and her head shot up.

A black fiery thing was coming straight towards her. Isaiah turned his jog into a hurried bolt, "Brooklyn! Move away!"

Brooklyn tried to enable her force field but it sputtered out to nothing. She turned around and saw hundreds more of the bombs coming from all directions, all about to fall on the innocent Zykarians...

Kayden turned his head back instantly when he heard the blasts from the back compounds of the palace where the Military base was. The common cafeteria was there too. And Sam...

Kayden turned back from the Quarters and started running. "What the hell is happening?" he thought and rolled to a stop when he reached there.

His hands went limp as he saw the destruction in front of his eyes.

Five minutes ago, everything was fine -- not everything, Kayden was still raging with anger from many places-- and now...fire and screams and.... are those?...Kayden gasped.

Corpses?

More bombs were incoming and he retreated back into the building. He looked at the sky. Thousands of silver airships dawned upon them.

He spotted two familiar faces amidst the mess. There, next to the gate of the Military practice grounds, lay the magic girl Brooklyn in her best friend's trembling arms. Kayden could only see them from afar. But he noticed the way Isaiah held her close and screamed to the sky...a loud painful sound.

Brooklyn was gone.

He searched among the cafeteria. The sounds of Isaiah's broken cry went mute in Kayden's ears...and all he could see was another body on the ground among many others. The body's hands were spread by his side.

And out of one hand, rolled out two crumpled sandwich wrappers, covered in blood.