The Creencia Forest

Alexen kicked up the snow ecstatically down the Eiraco streets. He couldn't wait to see the world as he travels on his journey, for he had never been to any other nation besides his home nation, although he still wasn't very pleased about having to go to Beastia.

But at the same time, Alexen was afraid. In the back of his mind was the thought of all the monsters and foreign soldiers that were lurking around in each nation, and worried about how powerful they were. The only monster he ever really knew about was the Kordok, which was a wolf-like creature with a mane made out of spikes like the ones on porcupines. They lurke around the Beastial plains and are said to viciously eat sheep, not even leaving bones behind. Alexen read about them in a book once and was terrified. But this wasn't the reason why he didn't want to go there. He didn't want to go to Beastia because, again, he still blames the death of his parents on them.

Alexen now ended up in the Eiraco shopping center where the bulk of merchants sell their goods. An enormous crowd of people filled the streets while merchants yelled and screamed out their products, hoping people would hear and buy it. Alexen was intrigued, he thought it would be cool for some merchants to sell foreign goods, but that wasn't the case. Everyone there were of Glacial descent, not a single foreigner in sight.

It was a typical sight, since out of all the nations, Glacia had the least amount of tourists, a little less than five percent of the Glacial population were foreigners. He figured foreigners couldn't take the cold weather that goes on all day every day.

Alexen continued to stroll around and check out the various goodies that each vendor and merchant possessed. The stone street clanked and thudded as mobs of people trampled over it. Alexen looked at this clothing merchant and his products and found a coat claimed to have "healing magic" properties imbedded in it, but Alexen doubted it, so he slipped it onto his back and swung his arms back and forth, testing it's elasticity. Two glacial boys, around six or seven, were running around Alexen, firing tiny icicle at each other's back as they laughed hysterically. One of the kids was running away when he suddenly bumped into Alexen, and the boy chasing him accidentally misses his friend and hits Alexen instead.

Alexen turned around, rubbing his back which was where the ice struck him, and gave the boys a stormy gaze. The boys were petrified and attempted to flee, but were stuck in place, since Alexen froze their feet to the ground. He walked to them, made a handful of small icicles, and stuffed them down their backs and watched as they shivered and desperately tried to get the ice out of their shirts. Alexen watched delightfully and even brought himself to chuckle.

Alexen walked down the street on his way out of the city until he noticed an abnormal merchant close by. The merchant sold weird stuff, one of the weirdest being weapons.

"Looking to buy anything?" the merchant hollered.

The young Glacial peered down at the table and was shocked at the stuff he was selling. Swords, shields, and hammers were scattered all over the table and sparkled so bright it blinded him.

"Why do you have swords and all of these weapons?" Alexen asked. "Glacials can't ever use any of this stuff."

"I know that, but who said about using them? As long as you don't practice with them or use them, you're good. Kids always buy them and hang them up in their rooms as decorations or something."

Alexen's hands quivered and he almost yelped with glee. He was never told anything like that, and was beginning to wonder if Nion hid something like this from him. He did know that he was obsessed with swords.

Alexen wanted to buy it so bad, but mustered the willpower to deny it and move on.

"Wait, what's this?" Alexen picked up a necklace with a carved ruby jewel resembling a kordok which was coiled up next to the swords.

"Oh! You have good eyes!" The merchant took it from Alexen's hands and held it to his face. His jolly voice rang throughout the shopping center while he gracefully and passionately talked about the product. "This right here is a kordok necklace. It protects you from kordoks if you happen to travel through the Beastial wilderness."

"Doubt it."

"Trust me! It really works! It works like repellent and keeps those beasts away from you."

Alexen was intrigued by this. He never ever wanted to fight a kordok, and he coincidentally has to go to Beastia first, so that it was fate that he saw that necklace, so he bought it on the spot and wrapped it around his neck.

"I don't feel anything different."

"Well, we're in Glacia, of course it won't work. Only in Beastia my friend."

Alexen really didn't know if the necklace was legitimate or not, but he kept it nonetheless since he thought it still looks cool. He turned away from the merchant and was on his way down the snowy slope until he was near the end of the city. Many of the people, the citizens roaming the streets, the restaurant employees resting out front of the restaurant, and the soldiers patrolling the area, all felt shivers down their spines as Alexen stepped foot outside of Eiraco.

And Alexen had noticed something as well. The news had spread by now that war was nigh, yet not one person was afraid or weary, things persisted as usual, as if nothing were to happen. Sure some may have boarded up their homes or shops, but life continued as normal in Eiraco, for they believe that their nation, their soldiers, their hero, would protect them.

He continued to march down the dirt road, his face glued to the map that was given to him. The quickest route to get to Beastia is through the town of Willow, which was quite a way ahead. Now he was walking in the midst of nature, no buildings, nobody around, it was just Alexen and the still white trees. Critters and birds playfully danced around the Glacial lad and didn't even mind him getting too close. The tranquility of this forest was outstanding.

Alexen fixed his gaze from side to side, one tree to another, and saw the beauty of Mother Nature. It reminded him of his early childhood. He remembered this painting that his mother had kept in her room, which strikingly resembles a magically peaceful forest, much like this one. The painting showed the wintered forest with cute and courageous critters that inhabited it, and a big stone dead center of it. Alexen vaguely remembered it, but he would see his mother painting more on the painting every chance she got, adding more depth to it, and so he assumed she painted that picture.

Alexen was stunned. He thought of it as an impossible task to be able to capture the essence of this forest just right. He went on daydreaming, reminiscing, thinking as he sauntered through, until he came across something ever so surprising. It was the stone depicted in the painting his mother had made.

It was oh so beautiful and sparkled when even the lowest of light hit it. Alexen stopped for a second, then slowly trod across the snow and freezing grass. He stepped up to the stone and stroked it softly, somehow feeling more relieved knowing that his mother had once traveled down this path.

But Alexen had no time to relax or reminisce, and he knew that. He took a glance at the whole area, and at that stone, one last time before he left, when his eyes suddenly caught the attention of a piece of paper folded up and stuck under the stone, sticking out just barely enough that the normal eyesight can detect it. Alexen pulled out the piece of paper then unfolded it. The handwriting was in clean fluid, and elegant cursive, truly a feat of calligraphic excellence.

It read, "To my dear sons. If you are reading this, I plead for your forgiveness, for I knew this day shall come. The life I lived, as a soldier, there's no telling when I should fall in battle, so I want to say my final words to you, my sons, in the event that I were to die suddenly. I'm sorry for not being the best mother out there, I know I've neglected you guys, left you with my brother Nion countless times while I ran off to a mission. I'm sorry, I truly am. As I'm writing this now, in this forest of magical feelings, I think of you two in everything, every little branch, every little leaf. Now as I return to Eiraco to defend against the human invasion of our nation, I just pray you both make it through the battle safely. I leave you two in the safe hands of a good friend of mine. Sincerely, your mother."

Right under the note seemed to be a compass, or rather a navigator as it pointed to a specific location rather than west, north, south, or east. And so he followed the navigator into the forest. At first, Alexen thought it must've been broken since it was guiding him deeper into the forest, away from the pathway he was meant to follow, but thought otherwise when he heard the neighing of horses faintly in the distance. Alexen navigated through the increasingly dense forest, sometimes getting smacked on the head by low branches as he trotted along the way made for him by the navigator.

Eventually, he came into a sprint only to skid to a stop abruptly at an old yet well kept wooden cabin in the middle of the forest, with two horses waiting outside. Alexen's brain began to hurt and he dropped to his butt as he rested his mind and his body. Why would the navigator bring him to such a place? That's what Alexen was yearning to find out.

He continued to sit on his butt and catch his breath, panting and panting while he stared at the cabin and at the horses left behind. Snowflakes began to float down ever so gracefully, and soon the whole building and the trees were coated in a layer of cold icy snow. Looking at the snow fall, it prompted Alexen to look down and follow the cute little flakes as they sat comfortably onto the grass, but that led him to notice a collection on foot prints in the snow that all led to the cabin. Had to be about three or four people.

"Aahh! Stop it!!" a voice shrieked from the inside of the cabin. Alexen sprung to his feet and rushed over to the door, aggressively shaking and turning the handle only to see that it was locked. In a hurry to rush in and save the person, Alexen backed up away from the door, faced his shoulder towards the door, then rammed his body into it's hard wooden surface, breaking it open. Chips of wood soared all over the cabin as the door flung against the wall and completely fall apart. One of the hinges broke off, leaving it to hang helplessly. The little cabin seemed cozy and relaxing, and there was a brick fireplace in the corner that watched over the blazing fire that resided within it, but the room seemed to get increasingly colder.

Two Glacial men stood over another man, kicking and stomping on his stomach. They both turned to watch Alexen rush into the room after breaking open the door.

"Hey! Stop that!" Alexen barked at them. They stopped hitting the poor man and walked up to Alexen as if they were challenging him.

"Whatcha going to do about it?" One of the men stood face to face with Alexen and looked right into his eyes fearlessly. His voice as dark, rough, and raspy as the bark of the trees outside. His eyes glowed with the fire of violence and anger.

Without even getting the chance to respond, the other Glacial flanked Alexen and threw a hard punch at him using all his weight. The punch sunk deep into his cheeks and the power blasted his head backwards. Alexen fell back, stunned for a second while the men menacing approached him slowly with all the confidence in the world.

"You're a cocky lad, just because you're a glacial doesn't mean you can take on two adults, let alone Glacial adults."

The young Glacial held his cheek as the numbing pain seared through his face and reddened the skin. The Glacial men approached Alexen quicker now, and Alexen now was preparing to defend himself when suddenly the two men dropped to the ground hard that they struggled to get back to their feet. The man that was once on the ground being stepped all over, now dashed to the men and swept his feet across their own feet, causing them to lose balance. But soon enough, they both returned to their feet, but instead of continuing the fight, they ran out the door and out into the dense and colorful forest.

"Thanks for the help." Alexen reached out one hand to shake his hand while the other was tending to the powerful punch he had received.

The man reached his hand to him, but as soon as their hands touched, and fluffy white tail stuck out through the man's pants and swung from side to side energetically. Alexen saw his tail wag back and forth, and it fueled his hatred to the absolute max!

"You...you're a Beastial?!" Alexen furiously questioned him.

"Yup! I sure am!" The Beastial broke into a small grin, laughing happily as his tail wagged with joy behind him.

Alexen steamed like a tea kettle and tears began to seep out of his cold eyes. He released the Beastial's hand and slammed him to the ground, only to pin him tightly to where he could not move a single muscle.

"Why!" Alexen cried. "Why did your people let my parents die!? Why didn't you save my mother?!" Alexen's eyes twitched violently and he cried and cried, the tears pouring onto the Beastial's shirt.

The Beastial remained silent. He looked conflicted, full of regret, and shame of all things.

The silence he gave Alexen made him even more heated and the room suddenly became colder and the fire at the fireplace was mysteriously put out.

He aimed his arm at the beastial just until a sharp piece of ice stuck out of his palm...and he shot it right at him.