Creatures of the Ice

Seventeenth Ice

Seventeenth IceCreatures of the Mist

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##### Seventeenth Ice #####

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I am blind without my light.

I feel cold without your touch.

This love that I hate so much,

The sweetness shocks me.

“Oh yeah? At least we are not coward enough to poison our opponents before trying to kill them,” Link retaliates to Carvel’s frank mockery.

This seems to cause Carvel to become furious, because the next thing I know the crowd has gone wild and starts shouting. “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”

When I, Valline, Banri, Crease and Shrade get there, Artro and Link are already in their square off position, ready to attack Carvel any minute now. But before anything bad happens, I interrupt them. The crowd notices my presence and parts to make a way for me immediately. The three wizards who are about to tackle each other down also follow the gaze of the crowd to me.

“Because this is my birthday party, I expect everything one to get along well. But if a fight is what you are looking for, then settle it with a much honorable way,” I say, gesturing my perfectly done diamond fingers to the fighting arena, where the duel competition is held.

Carvel snorts. “Fine by me.”

“Let’s settle this once and for all, then,” Link says.

“Remember, Link. No killing,” I remind him.

“No offence, My Queen, but I am not obeying the regulations because I want the prize,” he replies, not taking his eyes of Carvel as they both walk into one of the unoccupied arenas.

“Oh, really? Then I guess a €900000 huge ruby is not good enough,” I casually answered back.

All eyes seem to snap at the direction of where the trophy is being shown off in the middle of the four arenas available, even Carvel.

So I guess my bragging works.

“Fine. I won’t kill the Blancort,” Link hisses through gritted teeth. I’m sure he needs the money for something.

“And no permanent injuries, either,” I add.

He does not respond and only walk straight into the magical barrier, which as casted a spell to infinite space around the purple plants’ garden boundary. The spell confine is a transparent three-dimensional oval shield, but still viewable like a very clear window glass.

It takes no time until the match begins. Neither Link nor Carvel even bothers to register when the management officers ask them. Instead, the two through the most vicious looks that make the officers back away immediately.

The two take the opposite positions across the arena, each waiting for the unsaid countdown with their stances ready for the fight. By the count of the silent three, everything explodes.

The crowd, which already gathers around the circle of the arena outside, goes wild and excited by the duel. The two fighters put through everything they have in super speed, burning and no mercy.

The energy balls that they created are in medium size, each as big as a basketball. Black and white collides with each other, igniting sparks of fireworks with the kind that will burn mortal skin. Both of them tries their best to throw more energy balls, as if they already know what the other is thinking and trying to compete on deciding who is the best. But five minutes later and their own energy already started to drain. That does not stop them from keep fighting, though. Link sprints towards Carvel bluntly, taking his opponent by a slight surprise that Carvel stops shooting. A black sword appears from thin air in Link’s arms, gathered from his surroundings. He takes Carvel by surprise by slashing the sword to his opponent’s direction with a loud swing. But just in time, a clash is made when Carvel make his own sword as well from the white of light. This leads to them trying to push their own sword to their opponents’ direction, attempting to hurt the other.

Valline has been beside me for the whole time, watching them as well. My friends are not very far, either.

“This is gonna be a tough one,” Shrade comments, knowing well of how fights go on. After all, he is a fighting junky as well.

After agreeing by heart, I slowly give one small nod.

“Let’s place bets on who is gonna win,” Crease suggests loudly out of the blue.

The crowd hears her and agree on doing that. Suddenly everyone debates on who is gonna win according to their opinion. They scream the duelers’ names, as if competing on who shouts the name of their favorite the loudest. Soon, the bet is place and everyone in the back garden is supporting whoever they put their bets on.

Though everyone is, the family members of the Blancorts that are invited are not joining in. Instead, they group around at the side of the crowd, separating themselves from the others. Apparently they do not think that placing bet is considered very proper.

Without hesitating, I walk to approach them. “You’re not even going to place a bet on a member of your family?” I ask.

They stay in silence for a moment, looking surprised to find me talking to them.

“We will think about it, thank you,” the oldest man with grey hair replies with a polite tone, a thick, tidy mustache hiding his upper lip. He has his hair combed up to the back and wears a white with grey thin lines suit.

“Really? Are you afraid of losing your money, Mr. Swardh?” He chokes a little when he hears his name being called through my lips. Yes, I know you. The small shine from my narrowing eyes and a smile from my lips say it all.

Clearing his throat, his quickly replies, “O-of course not.”

“Then why the hesitation?” I press.

The old man looks at the rest of the group, asking for their opinions through their family connection, which is considered as useless since Valline already let me connected to the rest of his clan as I did for him.

This is such a wise decision? Swardh asks the others.

Don’t obey her. She’s just trying to push. A woman as old as him in a complicated, large gown hisses collectedly. I remember her as Marlyn, the one who had a dispute with the late Garret, who I killed as an exchange of Minnie’s life he took.

Be careful. She might be planning something. A younger woman warns. She looks a lot like Marlyn, with her ginger hair and white eyes, much because she is her daughter.

The beautiful ones are always the dangerous ones. A man around my age comments. I gaze upon him for a flash of a moment, noticing his dark chocolate hair and white sparkling eyes. Must be one of Garret’s sons.

All you are seeing is her appearance, Lylle, Jullie points out.

Well, you cannot just blame a man to be interested in such a gorgeous woman like her. Moreover, do you see the size of her breas─

Shut up! Valline suddenly interrupts their conversation. I forbid you to talk about Arsene like that again. Ever.

Our apologies, My Lord. All of them say at once even though it is Lylle that Valline restricted.

I turn my attention back to the arena, and I find Carvel and Link wrestling on the ground, both bloody and dirty. This has turned into a rough physical fight, I see.

“Well then, I will leave the decision to you. You are welcome to place bets, just so that you know. This is my birthday after all, so no one will object the Blancorts for participating in having fun,” I smile one last time at them before joining back with Valline.

When I come back, Valline slips his fingers and hook them to mine, gives me a slight smile. “Sorry for the shouting. I know that you were listening. But I don’t like it when men talk about you like that,” he says honestly about his jealousy.

“Doesn’t matter. I will feel the same as well if girls try to take your interest more than you have on me,” I reply.

“Then I cannot wait to make our marriage public.” He closes his eyes and just rest on my shoulder for a moment, looking like an angel like how he usually does when he is asleep.

The crowd suddenly cheers, louder than ever. We snap out head back to the arena, only to find Link tackling Carvel on the group, his black sword merely inches from the Blancort’s chest while the white sword is gone. Both of them are even dirtier with mud and bloodier than ever. The winner has been decided, though. Howls come from everywhere, some sounds happy because they win the bet while the others sounds disappointed about their lost.

“I win, you lose. So I guess you are just majorly a sucker at men fighting, huh?” Link brags proudly before walking away.

Carvel glares at him murderously before storming out angrily out of the arena, his fellow companions following him. There is a second thought coming from him that wants to just attack Link from behind. But he knows that there are a lot of wizards in here, and that Link probably not gonna let him injure him.

“What do you say you go one on one with me after this, huh, Artro?” Link asks while cleaning the blood from his lips. His black blood allows him to heal quickly, so even after that heavy panting after managing to tackle Carvel to the ground, he can still go for a round two right away. The rest that is still staining him is just the mud.

I tell someone to bring a towel for him, which he accepts gratefully and starts scrubbing most of the mud stains from his body.

“No problem. As long as you promise that you won’t run crying when I beat you,” Artro replies, walking into the arena.

Well, now that’s a problem.

Why? Valline asks through our family connection, surprising me.

Then I realize that I just accidentally send my thoughts to Valline. Good thing I did not do it to the rest of Noirmelns. Or even the Blancorts. The connections between the family members are still not activated, luckily. Or else there would have been a huge feud for non-stop from morning to the next morning.

It’s kind of an old story. Whenever they fought, things always became such a mess that even this pretty garden might not be so pretty soon.

Really? That bad?

Yeah. Maybe I should step in right away.

No. Wait. Let’s see how things go first. After all, you said that they used to fight before, right? That does not mean that they are still the same.

Oh, yes they can. They might have been working together this far, but that is just under my order.

Why are you so worried about them, anyway? Valline begins to sound curious.

I told you; it’s an old story. They used to be the opposite of each other.

They opposite of each other?

Yes.

Thus, I begin to tell him about what happened, back when I, Link and Artro were still children and simply good friends.

My life as a child is mostly limited to the castle’s boundaries. That is why even when I was five, I still have no friends. That was when my cousins, Link and Artro, came. It was so easy to talk to them, because they felt the same thing as well. We spent most of our time at this backyard garden, and even at the deep forest that limit us from the outside world. Being children was the most vulnerable time of wizards’ lives. That was why our parents made sure that we were not going anywhere dangerous alone. Whenever we were about to leave the castle, they have to be there to accompany and protect us.

The three of us got along really well, until one day came a question for me from both of them.

‘What is the type of boy that you like, Arsene?’ They asked me.

And since I never really thought about it, I told them to give me some time to figure it out myself. That once I did, I would write the answer down and sent it to their door rooms.

I did my hardest thinking before I fell asleep, you see, I tell Valline.

And then the next day, just after I sent them the letters, they suddenly appeared in front of me wearing clothes and acting like they switched with one another. The Link who is studious and calm, suddenly turns into a bad ass boy who wears wild clothes and does as he likes without thinking of everyone’s concern. On the other hand, Artro, who was a problematic child that causes trouble for everyone, sudden open the books and dresses really tidy. He also suddenly has this polite and proper manner that Link used to have.

That made me wonder whether they just traded minds or something. When I asked about this to them, they both said that they just needed a change and a fresh start.