Creatures of the Ice

First IceCreatures of the Mist © All Rights Reserved ##### First Ice ##### -------------------------------- Celsius degrees, lower than minus. How cold can you be? It is still in the midst of revelation, the moment of truth, when suddenly a gulp of dark forces, thicker and colder than anything, appears in the middle of the square maze. Mercilessly freezing ─ that is how cold it feels. By how the aura caresses my skin even from farther away, I know whoever that is coming from the opening portal is no ordinary creature. True enough, two sets of dangerous-looking claws tear the mouth of the slashed portal in so much force that it is rather scary to look at. The sizable claws rip the thin portal line open wide enough for the creature to move through it, but all I can see is darkness. So much darkness that I never seen before. I can’t allow my eyes to look away, though, because I know that it is important to stay alert, not wanting to miss even a second on the sight in front of me. The hands are digging their ways into this realm in a wild elegance, as if in a hurry. They hold the portal to stay open since it will close if they don’t. One of the foot steps out from the dark, and soon the other foot comes out as well. When both of the feet already stood balance on Earth’s gravitation, the body slides its way easily through the portal’s mouth. First, the dark legs. Then the waist, bust, shoulders, and eventually, the head. Once he’s able to stand perfectly straight, he lets go of his hold from the tips of the portal, and it suddenly disappears so fast that I can barely see it. Like a television being switched off, the portal disappears immediately as he lets go of his hold. Half of the strong aura disappears as well, but not completely. The creature that is standing in front of my parents still holds so much more inside. Now standing firmly, yet he crooks his head down in an angle so specific that I cannot even see the painting of his face. All I know is that he likes to dress in black from head to toe like I do, and the fact that his skin is so pale, it is inhumanly blue. And it is glowing! I think it is the effect of the moonlight. His black hair looks like it is a knitwork from a collection of frozen ink. I cannot see his eyes, nose, or even lips, but for some unknown reason, I feel the urge to know about it, while at the same time I can breathe in the scent of danger coming from him. It's a dangerous attraction. He looks up at the stars above us, enjoying how they seem to twinkle in an amused smile, I just get the feeling from without actually seeing it. The first drop of white falls from the night sky. Instead of a shooting star, it comes down lightly as a snow. More drops of snow fall down from the sky, and soon it is snowing enough to cover the ground entirely. It almost struck me that his arrival brings the winter snow of Christmas, but I know better. He then tilted his head an inch towards my parents, as if he just sees them. Something flickers inside their body, as soon as they turn away from him. The horror that painted their faces are nothing like I can ever cause to anyone. It all happens so fast. They try to run, but not fast enough. Dark forces block their escape path, stumbling on their feet and making them fall on the snow-covered ground. The last thing they saw is my surprised look from outside the maze through the cranny before both are being pulled back to the dangerous creature. When I blink, I can only spot the empty space where my parents previously are. The dark forces devour them silently, so quick that I don't even have time to do anything. "What have you done?" The words barely come as a whisper. The black blood inside me just rushes down from my face at this point. “Taking what is mine,” he simply answers with that smooth tenor voice of his while the corners of his eyes are taking in my appearances. I’m still wearing that same red dress from before, but for some reasons it feels heavier than ever. Could it be because of my cold sweat that is producing nonstop from my back? I feel really damp. “Where exactly?” I can’t believe how calm I sound right now. I can feel his smile again, this time at me, as if knowing that I can already guess the answer. “Hell.” “What did they do?” “Oh, just asking for a favor, like usual.” It is probably not about making me a Queen so that my parents can be free from the obligation of being the next Noirmelns’ head of clans, since based from the sound of their conversation I think they can take care of that matter perfectly by their own hands. Besides, if they made a deal with him just for setting me trapped in their places, shouldn’t their freedom dish out from their gaps from the moment they made it? So that cannot be the deal. I want to know what deal that they have made, but it is not like The Devil himself will reveal what is inside of it. The deal can only be heard among those who created it. So I know when to give up. But.... I do not think I can let go of this. They are my parents by all means. At least I know that they used to be nice to me. Even after their.... Perhaps I can do something in return, for the price of creating my existence? I will not lose anything if I help them, and I know that I have to work hard on doing so. I can make things even between us too. So what’s the risk...? “If I may know, what can I do to repay their debts?” The Devil shifts his head at my direction, looking at me in close detail for the first time. I feel nervous waiting for the answer to come out. Will he give me the information? Or will he just go back to where he came from through the same way he came here? My heart can’t beat any more rapid than this living moment. “What do you have in mind?” Good, that means there’s a possibility that he wants to make a deal with me. “Me, for both of my parents,” I reply before I can stop myself. It’s no wonder that he is chuckling at me. “Are you thinking of something more? Because I don’t know what else to be trade fo─” “Well, that’s actually close to what I have in mind, Queen Arsene. I’m thinking for something like your service.” “What do you want me to do? I can do a lot of things, as far as I can do it with my own limi─” “A thousand demons.” What? A thousand demons? I wish that I might have heard it wrong, but I cannot even fool myself with how sensitive my ears are to noises, especially the voice of those who I am talking to. His pale blue hand reaches into the pocket inside his dark blazer to pull something out of it. At first, I cannot see anything. But then I realize that the thing that he takes out is in the same color as his clothes ─ black ─ and that is why I cannot see it properly. Once my eyes adjust themselves, I notice that it is actually a skull. A small-scale one that it only covers an eighth of his bluish palm. “I want you to bring me a thousand heads of demons that trespass from the Demon World into this dimension. They won’t come all at once, but one by one, a number that I believe you can handle. There won’t be any limit to complete this deal, but if you would like to accept it in exchange of your parents, then you must accept this skull,” he says. What is that skull? A proof of our deal? The mark of my acceptance? “What is it for?” “I will tell you as soon as you accept my gift,” he simply states. Though, I know better than to do directly what he wants. And a ‘gift’ is overrated. How can it be my gift if it will just put a curse on me? And a thousand demons are a lot for one curse. I decide that it doesn’t worth the risk. I have a clan to get back to. The Noirmelns family might be able to take care of the individual needs, but I bet no one can run perfectly fine if I leave it for quite a while. Chaos will surely happen if I leave my place for way too long than necessary. And this sacrifice for my parents is just cannot get as necessary as the shakes of the clan. After all, it is them who wanted to get away from the family. Meanwhile, since I am the head of clan right now, I can’t just abandon it for a personal matter. I have responsibilities that I have to fulfill. But then again, I am not always needed in the Noirmelns Castle. The treaty has been made between our clan and the Blancorts’ ─ the biggest, most dangerous threat we had. So I don’t need to worry whether they will attack again or not, because those who break the rule as stated by the treaty will lose their lives along the way of acting up. And I do believe that Link and Artro can protect the family from any other minor danger just fine if I had accepted the deal. They just have to stay together to face the problems. So...maybe this will not be such a bad decision.... Without knowing it, the small skull is already on my right palm, which I do not even have any idea how it just approaches to accept it. ...Perhaps it fell on my palm coincidentally? “No, I gave the skull to you because I know that you already made up your mind, Queen Arsene,” The Devil’s answer surprises me. Do I really care that much about my parents? I might have killed many, and caused the innocent to die unwantedly, but perhaps this just mean that my heart isn’t that cold at all. After accepting the deal, I know that I have no other choice but to do the deed. “So, what is this?” I ask again. “That skull is a device.” I take a closer look to it, noticing how unusual the skull is, except from how small the size it actually is from the standard ones. “It can transform you into a demon at any will, even when you’re not touching it.” As if on cue, the holes of where the eyes should be are glowing with dim blue. I am almost aghast by it, and almost drop it. But both of my palms stop it from landing on the ground. I do not know how fragile or indestructible it is, but I am not taking the risk of finding out when the damage has been done. “And when you’re done, just go back to this world and touch something ─ anything ─ that belongs to the Earth. You will change back instantly.” I don’t get it. “Why must I transform myself?” For the second time of the night, I ask a question that is not necessary to be asked. Nonetheless, The Devil speaks out the reason for me. “Look at me in the eyes. What do you see? Fear? Dreadfulness? Death? Darkness is surrounding me, even from my core. But my Darkness is not the same darkness as yours, because mine is much more ravishing, brutal, cruel and many more things your mortal life can’t predict. And that is why we demons hate wizards. Since demons don’t like the existence of witches and warlocks, I don’t think making you going in and out from Hell will make them feel very pleased. Besides, with this way, you can also avoid unnecessary things along the way.” I do not even bother to lift my head from the skull when he starts to dish out from midair, turning into fog of dark forces that I never want to touch. His explanation is already clear enough for me to know what I’ll be facing next. And I don’t think Lulu will be very proud of me after this. He is near. But for him to not even being able to interrupt me and The Devil means that he must have been blocked.