Creatures of the Ice

Sixth Ice

Sixth IceCreatures of the Mist

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##### Sixth Ice #####

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Crying is no use

Craving for the evil

You can deny who you are

But you can never escape what you are.

Confiding my breath in heavy, short chokes, I crawl out from Hell through the same portal from the thunderous night sky. Taking off my right glove, the blue shell shatters when it collapses on the carpet of the living room. I take off the boots that has been covering my feet and leave them bare to feel the material underneath, making the hard skin pulverizes into a mortal’s softness. Removing my other glove, my right hand finds its way towards the couch and I start climbing on top. By the time I sit myself down, the small, black skull has closed the portal automatically.

“Are you there, Magistress?” Avin’s voice vibrates as he bounces from his room.

For a moment, I stay silent. My figure already gave out the answer to his question. So instead, I look forward blindly. My mind is too tired and weak to handle a lot of things right now. I do not know how it just came, but I could feel it.

The demonic sensation.... It was groping me....

Flashes of the memory start to make me sick. Cringing my hand to my mouth, I try my best at suppressing the need to just give in.

Never in my life have I ever felt this sick. Not even when I was committing murders for the sake of justice by the Court. That doesn’t mean that I have to start now.

“Magistress? Magistress?” Avin calls my name and reaches to the side of my feet. “Will you be alright? But you look like you’re in so much pain and sweating a lot. Do you need me to bring you anything?”

The black skull is hanging inside the pocket of my jacket, the edges are few inches away from brushing the floor. Its eyes are glowing dim blue, starting to fade away again. I switch my gaze underneath.

“I’m fine. Just need a bit of rest. My blood is starting to fix myself, I think─ No, I can feel it.” I close my eyes to reduce the stress.

“Can I accompany you, then?” Avin sounds a bit scared.

I look at him. “I’m not going to die that easily.”

“But, Magistress! I feel like I can remember something like this happening before. I’m not sure how or even when, but in the past, I think someone was dying, too. Like you are now. His breath was short and restless, his heartbeat was low, and his body was covered in his own sweat as well. I don’t think this is good, Magistress!” He almost cries, I think. But fish do not cry. Yet again, he is no ordinary fish.

“Really?” I ask weakly. “What are you, anyway? I never saw anything, not even one creature like you in The Book of Creatures, Lilythene. Can you tell me who you are? Or will you let me search for the forgotten past you have, hidden inside the core of your brain?”

“You can help me remember, then?” He bounces in excitement, turning away from the gloom. But the sadness gets back in his tone soon. It cannot seem to stay away. “But you’re in your weak state right now, Magistress. I can’t bother you to do such an unimportant matter like this!” he persists.

“That’s okay. It’s not my body that is currently weak, anyway. My mind is just simply tired. But that won’t kill me. Come up here on my thighs so that I can get a better hold of you.”

Avin does as he was told, jumping up on the couch and then onto my lap. I open my arms to him and put each of my palms over his head, and then drift away my consciousness as I close my eyes.

It is like looking for a book inside a library in Avin’s. I am not familiar with the place, so I don't even know which page I shall turn. Something always catches my eyes from the rows of book covers, though. Especially when one is bleeding from its shelf. My hand picks it out and I open the book, making me savor the contents.

Blood might mean life. But life is not always a good sign.

The same thing goes for Avin’s forgotten past. Which is why it was forgotten. Because the thought of remembering it is just too much.

Yet I have no other choice but to let him relive the same nightmare all over again.

“I’m sorry,” I say when I blink my eyes open, the same time when the darkness leaves Avin’s eyes.

Tears cannot help but to pour from his eyes. “That’s alright, Magistress. You were just trying to help me.” He sniffs. “It was not like I knew that my late master was dead. But I am just so sad....” More tears come out even though he knows how unmanly he is acting up right now.

Feeling the need to calm him, I rub my pale fingers to erase his tears.

“Your late master was a good man. He sacrificed himself to save a large number of humans despite the fact that humans hate him. It was ironic, an irony that was inescapable. But you must be proud of what he did to save them. One life for thousands. Don’t you think your master does not deserve you crying like this? In fact, I think you should be celebrating his generosity,” I say to him.

“But─ but....” Avin sniffles.

“Hush. There is no use in crying. Why don’t you make your late master proud by giving the biggest smile you have?” I ask him, just like how his late master asked him to do before he died.

Too bad that Avin was so shocked that he was not able to do that right on time.

It seems to be hard for Avin in his current state, but he manages to flash his teeth at me anyway, which looked really sharp and razory.

“Now, about being happy for your Magistress?” I ask.

“Y-you mean, you want to be my new master?”

“That depends. Do you want to be my subordinate?”

“O-of course, Magistress! Thank you so much for taking me in,” he replies in great excitement.

He even jumps up and down to prove how happy he is. Good for him.

“How about a stroll in the sky next? What do you say, Avin?”

“Magistress, you mean you will ride on me?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not. Right this way, Magistress.”

Avin jumps off my lap and down to the floor. He bounces towards the window and pushes it open with his fish body. Tapping the concrete, he approaches the limit of the trails and just jumps off from the building.

I am not worried this time, though, because I know that he is not actually a fish. It is just a smaller form he uses so that it will not consume too much space for his real body. And from what I have gathered from his collection of memories, Avin is actually a water dragon, a creature that can be categorized as completely rare.

He is starting to rise in the air. His golden scales are reflecting the small amount of light from the dawn. His face is not that cute anymore, but shows a maturity that matches his age. He slides his back at me so that I can get on him and I accept. All I remember after that is just feeling the breeze, brushing and pushing through me, before falling asleep on Avinator’s back.

“Peace... finally....”

The sky is as mortiferous as it usually is once I get myself back at Hell. Abel is already waiting for me as usual. But if I knew that he was only here to bring bad news, I should not come here in the first place.

“The Devil is preoccupied today. It has been happening since you were away the last time, so we won’t be doing any hunt soon,” he regretfully announces it.

After all the trouble I’ve been through just to come here? I intentionally sigh loudly, making the cold escape my lips as an entity of large constellation of mist. Abel shivers slightly, but does not say anything after that. We go to a wrought-up silence for a while before I stop the irritating mood.

“So, it’s our first break. What do you want to do?”

Abel raises his eyebrow. “You’re not mad?” I look at him simply. “I thought you were going to throw a fit, since you always want to get the missions over with as soon as possible.”

“At the bright side, at least I get the chance to know you better,” I suggest.

His dark lips curve into a kind smile. “Well, what do you want to know about me anyway?”

“I don’t know almost everything, so you tell me.”

Abel takes a sit at one of the rocks from the ruins behind us, eyes look far to the dark skies. “I was always a commander for The Devil’s army, leading my demons to the battlefield ─ all in fierce bravery. The demons that were in my battalion got along with me well, so we fought in a coordination of great cooperation for each war that had broken out. The journeys in the battles were not always so good. There were times when we fought with each other, being betrayed, sometimes even struggling with others’ existence. But in the end, we were always able to get back on our tracks as one army.

“I had never imagined my journey outside from the battalion. To me, working together with demons that I got familiar with was better than any other job. We had through so much together, ever since the Great War and the Fall.” What he is talking about is not about the tales that humans wrote on their bibles, but the real Fall, while we creatures are stuck on the world with life. As for the Great War, it indicates the rift that had happened near the beginning of time. “So it was rather surprising when we were ordered to take a break from the army and were appointed to different assignments. The Devil said that it was just for the time being, and that we would soon be called back to unite as a battalion again someday. Too bad the day never came since then.” I can detect the sadness and yearning in his tone, Abel’s eyes still looking at the distant skies above us.

“I was appointed to various different tasks for the past thirty decades after that, until one day He ordered me to become your partner. He said that you were someone I never knew before, and that you came from far away and was then coming to fulfill your duties to Him. He didn’t say anything much about you afterwards, not even your name. But by the time you came, I knew that it was you.” Able smiles at me, shifting his kind gaze to me.

“It was true what He said about you ─ you were someone that I truly hadn’t met before. All the demons that had ever lived in this continent, I knew them all because I had been working various errands for The Devil, which was involving each of the demons here. You were collected, independent, and honest. You upheld justice by your frozen hands, and your frozen heart doused the heat in mine.” He gets up from the rock he is sitting and walks to me. “Your eyes, they had the vigorous look that I had ever seen from a demon before, either male or female. It was like you were always fighting for a war I would never knew, always ready for everything that came unexpectedly towards you.” He puts his palm on the side of my face, his eyes looking down on me with pouring fiery orangeness.

“That’s probably because I might be am,” I say.

“What are you fighting for, Frost? Maybe I can help yo─”

“It’s not something you have to intervene, Abel,” I say quickly. “It is a burden I must carry alone, and I will indemnify it by myself.”

“But,” Abel looks like he really wants do me a favor, “if you need anything at all.... Please just tell me instead of giving me your cold silence. We are friends, right? Tell me what you need, and I can help you.”

“Even if that means making you meet your end?” He pauses in a shock. “Your time is still yet to come time. Cherish it greatly.”

“Frost─” He sounds like he is in pain, for not helping me with my problem. But I cut him off.

“No. This is my encumbrance, a burden I must carry. You don’t need to feel guilty for not being able to ease the load I’m carrying as a friend. I would be much happier if you don’t know anything about it just as you are now,” I say, looking at him in the eyes sharply, deeply.

Those fiery eyes of his are burning with real fire inside, looking into my demon blue eyes with concern. He gazes down upon my eyes, before his eyes eventually travel down to my lips. I know what he is about to do next. So when he starts to lean down, I back myself off and away from his palm or lips.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter with regret.

Abel shakes with his head guiltily. “No, no. I’m the one who should have apologized,” he says.

“It’s just that, I already have something I love.” The words just slip from my lips, and those poisons of longing spreads inside of me instantly. It was weak, though, since I am still a demon. If I were Arsene, I would have been yearning for him right now, clinging on my own chest with so much pain and restriction.

Valline.