Creatures of the Ice

Twelfth Ice

Twelfth IceCreatures of the Mist

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##### Twelfth Ice #####

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Balance cannot be outpaced

Because blood will have its revenge.

'I am going on a mission,' I send to Valline through our communication link.

Ever since our marriage, we can communicate with each other because we are a family right now. And family can have connections.

'Where to?' He asks with a mixture of a little bit of curiosity and excitement.

'A school of wizard,' I reply.

'For how long?'

'I'm not sure yet. But surely won't be too long.'

'I miss you,' he says though we only have not met for a few hours.

'Would you like to come with me, then? We can have quite a lot of time together there,' I offer with a wider smile playing on my lips physically.

He replies, 'Yes,' so I explain to him the rest of the details he needs to know, from about the giant and down to my plan to disguise ourselves.

'What kind of part will we be playing? What kind of parts that we will be playing later?'

'Boyfriend and girlfriend, of course,' I sing.

'I'll meet you at your border, then,' he replies rather excitedly. That means outside the forest that surrounds the Noirmelns Castle.

Too far.

'You may wait there, or you may come to my room right away. The forest near it is always free from watchful eyes,' I tell him, before cutting the communication.

Once I enter my room, I change my clothes to the Hitch Academy's uniform that Artro and Link already prepared for me. The skirt is rather short once I wear it, but that means I just have to be more cautious while moving in action next time.

"What do you think?" I ask Valline without turning, only admiring my reflection at the tall mirror next to my changing curtain, while in fact actually looking at his surprised and blushing face.

I also asked them to prepare for a set of male uniform, though I did not say to them why I need it, or them asking for a reason.

"Yours is over there," I tell him, pointing at the clothes lying on my bed. "You can change behind the curtain so that we can go right away.” I intentionally lean in just to see his cute reaction when his blush goes deeper when he sees me.

He is having a hard time on taking the uniform, since his eyes do not seem to want to look away. But he manages to get a grip of the clothes and run to the other side of the curtain immediately.

“You never wore a skirt before,” he comments while changing.

“I used to when I was a child. I am a girl, after all,” I reply with a smile, though he will not be able to see it from this side. “Are you ready?”

Valline steps out from the changing curtain, and when my eyes meet his figure, I can tell that the uniform suits him well. The dark color covers most of his skin. The collar is high around his neck, while a red tie circles around it. The buttons and lists are red, while lines divide the pants vertically.

He looks really handsome. I tell him that, and of course, he blushes some more.

We arrive at Sixsmith School of Wizard only a little late from the morning, leaving us to roam the school's ground rather freely during its lunch break. According to Artro and Link, the giant is being kept in a hole excavated deep enough for him to fit in there. They made the boundaries around him, taller by three times his size and skewed to the inside part of the hole, which prevents him mostly from escaping even more.

Chaining his right arm with mine, Valline and I waltz through one of the corridors so casually, looking like a couple in love. Though technically, we are one.

"Notice anything suspicious yet?" He asks.

"Well, the students that we have pass are either clearly not aware of the prisoning, or that they might be just too good actors that I cannot see their flaw of. Other than that, their reaction upon seeing beautiful wizards are normal to their standard way of thinking around their ages," I answer.

We pass a group of three girls, whom I noticed take a look at us longer than necessary. Their looks are mixtures of so many emotions, but only one that I really concerned about.

Do they have suspicion on us?

With that thought in mind, I wrap both of my arms around Valline's, making sure that I make a tight hold in front of my chest.

Valline learns quickly to not blush so much like before, but I think it is because he is trying to act like he is my boyfriend, rather than my husband. I can still see little hint of red, but I just smile so carelessly like there is completely no danger in any dimensions that have ever existed. I even tried to make the smile longer, so that those who let their eyes fall upon us can see just how cheerful my character really is.

‘Turn left,’ I instruct him through our communication connection as I am the one with the map inside my memory.

We are at an intersection. Once we make our turn, we find ourselves getting deeper and deeper into a darker and lonelier lane. Only small torch lights are guiding our way once in a while as we see less and less students passing this channel. The walls are made of bricks, without cement to cover the outer layer of paint to color it something other than orange. And the lane is almost like a giant pipe, big enough for us to walk through and still have space for five more wizards to walk beside us.

The lane ends with so many stairs to climb, before a watch tower is later discovered.

That is when we can see the giant.

Well, not that clearly, though. There is a spell intentionally put to cover the hole they have made, so that no ordinary wizards, which in this case are the students, can see what is behind the layer of invisibility.

But the one who cast the spell was not experienced or even strong enough to fool us two.

Through, even if we can see the held-captive giant right now, there are still standing guards that we have to take care. All ten of them. And I do not think they are less younger than us, considering their body structure and height, which make them look like professional wrestlers.

They all look like replicas, with their blue and white uniforms.

‘I have a plan. You can fight the guards while I free the giant,’ I send to him.

Valline gives a slight nod from my side, me sensing certainty. It does not take him even a couple of seconds before he jumps from the wall that fences around the watch tower’s top and lands in front of the guards for them to spot.

They all act in reflex, focusing their attention on Valline. One of them try a direct frontal attack on him, who gains a flash of light ray from Valline. The guard has obviously knocked down in an instant. His fall warns the others of how strong and difficult Valline is to be taken down fast. Especially if they go one by one.

I wait until most of them leave their posts and are too busy to scan their surroundings before I join in the field as well. Though some do stand in my way, who I do not regrettably knock down with my forceful single punch through my solidified shadows.

The spell that covers the mouth of the hole is actually preventing anyone from entering the same dimension as where the giant is, so despite its transparency, I will not be able to get inside unless I do something to the spell.

And that is when a bigger fist of shadows come in place.

It takes a swing back, and then breaks the air to hit the transparent cover, crumbling it to pieces like porcelain plate.

By the time I have destroyed the cover, it is already way too late for the guards to stop me from my doing, much because they have to face Valline first.

I jump in without holding back, landing on the giant’s left shoulder perfectly on place and take a sit on it as if it is the most normal thing to do to someone I technically never met before.

"Who are you?" Tubal asks me while nodding his head to his left, his voice is very heavy and smells like the deep forest.

Actually, there are two trees growing from the back of his neck, which certainly play a big part of his scent. He is wearing his traditional tribe’s clothes, which consist of thick clothes made out of thousands of woods and leaves, combined for so many to be able to cover him well. Tubal’s skin is also a shade of a dark violet.

"Oh, we are just some lovers who pretended to be lovers. We are here to save you, by the way," I simply answer as I lean both of my palms to my sides and lean back a little.

"Lover pretended to what?" He sounds obviously lost.

I sigh. "Never mind. Let's just get moving," I tell him.

I craft my shadows into forming ladders high enough for the giant to climb himself out. Though his weight kind of makes me hard to concentrate on keeping the form of my shadows still through all the time he takes. But we finally manage to get out. The giant without a sweat, and me sweating all over like never before.

And I hate this sensation.

Above, Valline stands alone around the piles of the guards’ bodies, all sleeping tiredly on the ground.

Taking out all of them seem to have tired Valline himself. I notice that as I see his heavy breathing. With that cue, I jump down from Tubal’s shoulder and land on the ground, quickly getting to Valline’s side to make sure that he is perfectly fine.

“Do you know your way back?” I ask Tubal after that.

“I think so,” he says. But I can see a little chunk of uncertainty in his everything.

“Don’t worry. We’ll guide you. There is a shortcut that you can use to get back to your village, and a safer one as well,” I tell him.

“Thank you for helping me,” he tilts his head a little, making the heavy necklace that circles his head jingles by his movement, each bead being painted red and white natural ink.

“No problem. But if we may know, what is it exactly that you do around here to get captured?”

“Well you see, my daughter’s birthday is coming, and she really likes this certain plants that I heard only grows around here. So I decided to take off and sneak around to get it, thinking that the forest was unguarded,” he looks rather embarrassed explaining this. “I didn’t know that it was forbidden to cross here. And before I knew it, I am already being imprisoned here without given the chance to explain myself. The wizards here do not take reasons for any case.” He scratches the back of his head.

“You should be careful when traveling to places you are not really familiar with, then. And take companies with you out as well. Though you are a giant, it is not always a guarantee that you will be safe,” I advise.

“I will. Thanks again,” he says before we start walking to the direction I know.