Through the ice and the universe

This story is not about me, even though I'm the one telling it. It's about my best friend Erika, or Rika as I called her. The first time I met her, she crashed into me while gliding down a hill on her skateboard way to fast. She broked my wrist and weirdly, that is how our friendship began. We were in our early high school days when that crazy accident brought us together. My parents had gone mad and yelled at Rika every time they saw her throughout that year, even long after my wrist had heald. Because my hands were the most precious thing to my parents, since I was a piano genius. And... well... lets just say they had big plans for my future. But despite that, Rika never cried when they yelled at her. She always stood up proudly against them. And somehow, slowly, my parents started to warm up to her. I don't know how she did it, but I guess that's the thing about her. She's a people magnet. That's her magic. Rika had always been beautiful. Light brown hair. Big blue eyes. She had an contagious smile and laugh. And let me tell you! She was not like normal girls her age. She was a tomboy who had a hobby of throwing herself into completely crazy activities such as skydiving, mountain climbing and much more. Well, she said it was her way of practiceing to become a stunt woman. And one day, not to my suprise, she came running through the snow, jumping up and down like a child, giggling and shouted; "I did it! I got the part! I got my very first stunt role!" "What?!" I gasped. "Congratulations!" We both danced and hugged each other under the snowflakes that fell slowly over us. My dog Atlas, my beautiful brown siberian husky, barked happily at us with his wagging tail. "Thank youuu Atlas!" Rika sang and patted him next to his ear. He immediately licked her hand, causing us both to burst out laughing because of his cuteness. Then we continued our walk down towards the lake, talking about our dreams of the future... "I can't believe we're already twenty years old!" Rika exclaimed. "Time goes by so fast!" "Well YOU are! I'm still nineteen for two more months." I teased her. "I think I see... oh my god! You've got some white hair growing!" I gasped theatrically and jumped to dig through her hair, for the white strands that weren't there. "Very funny Nova!" She laughed out load and pushed me aside playfully. We had reached the snow-covered beach by then and my dog Atlas had somehow found a ball, which he of course wanted Rika to throw. Sometimes I wondered if he loved her more then me, his owner. But I just shaked my head, because it was okey, it was Rika after all. I loved her the most as well. The sun was slowly going down behind the tree tops on the other side of the frozen lake. The snowflakes had been falling for hours, but silently, they died out. Even the wind had gone still. It truly was the calm before the storm. We were the only ones at the lake. It was like as if no gods wanted witnesses to what was bound to happend. But at that moment we did not interpret that night at all like that. For us it was simply just an ordinary winter evening. And a happy one at that, with Rika's exciting news. "So... when is the big day then?" I asked Rika with a smile. "When will you film your BIG scen?" "Oh, that will take a while. Buuut we will start practicing already on Monday!" She sang and did another victory dance in a circle. At the same time Atlas returned with his ball and waved his tail happily at Rika. "Okeydoki, Atlas. But this is the last time okeeey. Its getting dark you know." So... she took the ball from him. And she threw it, but... it bounced in the wrong direction and to our horror, it rolled out onto the ice-covered lake. It all happend so fast. We both yelled after him; "Atlas NO!" "Come back!" But my dog ​​didn't listen. He only saw the ball. That red freaking ball! "Nova wait!" Rika shouted and grabbed my arm when I was about to run after him out on the lake. We both knew the ice might not be thick enough yet. The winter had only just begun. "B...but!" I cried and faced her, pleading. "What if..!" And to my horror, what I feared the most happened. A loud cracking sound echoed across the valley and over the lake. I quickly snapped around my head towards Atlas again, who now had that stupid ball in his mouth. He had heard that breaking sound as well. Felt the vibration of the shattering ice under his paws. He looked scared. He looked at me and then... and then the ice broke beneath him! I screamed out in panic as I saw him fall down into that black icy water. I didn't think twice, I just ran towards him. I threw myself onto the ice and that open hole, trying to grab my stupid dog who I loved so much. I could hear that Rika called my name, and suddenly she was by my side trying to help me. We both managed to grab one of Atlas paws, and he cried like I never had heard a dog cry before, which broke my heart. "Hurry!" I blurted out between my tears, but as we started to pull him up, another breaking sound screamed beneath us... and before we knew it, we too was swallowed by the water. I couldn't see anything. Nor could I think of anything else but the icy water that bit my skin all around my body. That pain was truly unbearable. I could somehow hear a lot of bubbles though, and I think what must have been Rika's voice, which sounded nothing like her usual voice. A low scream. She was drowning. And so was I... and of course Atlas was as well somewhere in that dark water... The last thing I remembered, was this strange feeling... a feeling of calm and relaxation that spread throughout my body. I forgot about all my pain. All my worries... I forgot about everything... and I let myself sink even deeper into the darkness. When Rika started to awoke, the first thing her consciousness noticed was an extreme warmth embracing her body. Which was... very strange considering she was just about to drown in a dark icy lake. Which had been freezing cold! So this feeling... this warmth, was much welcomed, Rika thought. But what was she forgetting? Then to Rika's suprise, a deep rough voice called out to her. "Wake up! Wake up little one! Oh goddess please, please wake up!" As Rika heard the man's pleading voice calling for her, she suddenly remembered everything and opend up her eyes with a jolting gasped. She was met by a man's face, but she couldn't really take in his appearance right then, due to her panic. All she could really see was flashing images of what had just happend to her. To Atlas. And to me... "Oh...! Oh, no!" She cried out desperately. Immediately Rika tried looking for me. Her eyes landed on the water next to her, which she assumed was the water from the icy lake she had just been drowning in. Where I and Atlas would still be floating unconsciously in...dying underneath the surface... So even though her whole body was still very week. She used all the strength she had left trying to crawl out from her rescuer's warm arms. Because all she wanted right now, all she needed, was to find me. Her best friend... In her mind, if she could get back into the water, she would find me, and everything would be okey... But when the man holding her realized what she was doing, his arms gripped around her tightly. "No, no little one, you can't go back there!" He gasped as her desperation sank into the man's heart. When Rika finally comprehended that the man was preventing her from trying to reach the water, she went completely insane. "M...MO..ve!" Her hoarse voice was so week that it was mostly a whisper. She kept trying to hit and push the man away, but to no avail. He was too strong. And she was way too weak. Still, Rika was persistent and kept trying. "I need...to...find her!" She cried. "Who?" The man asked sofly. "Who do you need to find, my love?" "My...friend!" Rika continued to cry. Still trying to reach the water with her shaking hands. "Nova... where is Nova? She is... drowning..." And with those last words, Rika fainted in the man's arms from exhaustion. Cleanching his jaw, the man looked towards the water and then back to Rika's pale face. Deep in his own thoughts, he gently cupped her cheek with his left hand and gave out a shaking sigh. In the next moment, running footsteps approached. A big number of men and women ran forward out between the trees around them, but the man was not alarmed because he knew who they were. They were all his warriors. Beck, one of his closest men and friend, knelt down beside him as soon as he reached them. "Your royal highness! How could you just throw yourself in the river like that?! You scared the crap out of me!" Beck yelled and was about to continue, but lost his voice at once as his eye caught Rika lying in the prince's arms. He immediately realized what had been behind the prince's drastic behavior. "Aaah, I see. So she was the reason. Is she unharmed? Should I call for the healer?" The prince nodded. "Call the healer to my room at once. Also, Jasper..." The prince said as he turned to one of his other men, his Beta, and his closest man in command. "Yes, your royal highness?" Jasper responded and met his prince's determined gaze. "Have your men inspect the area. There is a chance another person is here... somewhere in need of our assistance." "Yes, your royal highness." Jasper replied and stood up from his kneeling position to bow to his prince. He then turned at once and eight men followed after him back into the woods. One of the few women there, the only one with glowing eyes in the dark, soon stood up after having met the prince's gaze and obtained his permission to approach. She knelt down next to Beck and the prince to look at Rika very curiously. When she glanced back up to her prince, she smiled as she noticed his tender facial expression that he had when he looked down at Rika. "Your royal highness, is she, who I think she is?" The woman asked hopefully. The prince met her gaze and gaved her a faint smile. "Yes Boa, she is... undoubtedly, the one I've been waiting for." Everyone gasped of wonder by the prince's statement. His claim of the woman in his arms. He looked down again at Rika and touched her cheek once more. "She is...my fated mate."