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That Which Is Trapped Within The Ice



This is Tanek. Everything about him is soon to be revealed.

Faster. He had to run faster. The hounds--the hell hounds--they were gaining. He could hear them howling in the dark. Were the guards that desperate? To have such things released? Beasts that seek out only magic creatures and hunt them down? Nox ran faster, breath whooshing in and out of his lungs as his legs pumped, branches whipping past him. Faster. He had to go faster. If he tried to escape the hounds by climbing a tree he'd be suck, and they'd catch him. But if he couldn't run fast enough--

The howling grew louder behind him, he could practically see the red, glowing eyes in the dark shadows of the night-wrapped forest. Fasterfasterfaster--!!! And then his legs were slipping under him, scrambling on a surface that was not grass or dirt, falling flat on his face.

The howling abruptly stopped, and Nox's head rung with the impact it had had with the ice. Wait ... ice ...? Slowly, carefully, the young mage sat up, body beginning to shiver. It was summer but ... here he was, sitting on a lake of ice. The teacher had always said strange, dangerous things lived in the wood. Winter in the middle of summer wasn't enough to really shock Nox, but the fact that the hell hounds refused to step onto the ice did. They were strong fierce creatures, and only fear things stronger than themselves.

But now the question become of what was to happen to him. He could not leave the lake without the hounds surly catching him, but he could not remain. A search party would be sent after the hounds at sunrise if they did not return by dawn, and the hounds never left prey uncaught. Never. Nox shivered, uncomfortable with the cold, and blew into his hands, a small flame forming there in a sphere to warm him. What to do ... what to do ...

Nox would've jumped out of his skin at the voice whispering to his ears, seemingly from the wind, but ... not. He could feel something now. Hear a heart beat that was calm and strong, unlike his own pounding organ that seemed frantic inside his own chest after the run he'd had. What was it? Did it really matter? Deals ... deals with demons were never good things but this was ... what was it? A chance he had to take. The hounds were still there, snarling at the forests on the edge of the ice. No time to think this through.

Waving his hands outward, the fire spread from his fingers. It was almost a living thing, thawing the ice into water.The ice was so thick; unnaturally so. But it wasn't long before he could see what he was trying to thaw out, and concentrated his efforts on that one area, leaving him a wet iceberg to stand on. His vision began to swim a bit at the effort he put forth. He'd never had such trouble with ice before. But this was unnatural ... stronger than normal ice. But his was not a normal fire, either. Curling and circling, the fire twisted and coil like a snake, steam rising and ice melting away beneath it. The alien heartbeat grew louder and louder within the mage's ears until, on his knees, the last layer finally gave way, and he was left panting and shaking around the hole in the icy lake he'd made, looking down at the dark water below.

He was beautiful, the mage could not help but think, even while miserably wet with lake water himself. The fire had dispersed, but so had the ice, heaving him sputtering, wadding closer to a bank in the middle of the lake, shivering. Nox did not know what to think of the creature, staying as he was told. If this being was a threat to the hell hounds, he stood no chance against it. The silence felt as cold as the ice had when the growls were silenced with yelps that cut off in pain and banishment from this plain of existence. Nox swallowed, wondering what, in his folly, he could have possibly unleashed.

The male watched with a slight fear as the man from the ice returned, as sweet as honey and voice soft as silk. Nox stared at the hand for a moment, but only one uncertain moment before carefully taking it. What choice did he have? He wouldn't be able to escape on his own. The master mages and those who supervised them had things worse than hell hounds to send after escapes, though they've never had to be used before.

"I ... I am Nox." He answered, still shivering and damp. If it was one thing fire mages disliked, it was the cold and wet. "And I need help getting as far away from here as possible, as fast as possible ... if you can?" He was a young mage. He could not even tell what he was talking to at the moment, or if it could really help him without devouring his soul.

Warm ... so warm ... Warmth and heat of any kind were bliss to a fire mage, and Nox almost fell asleep at the sweet, sweet sensation of his skin and clothing drying. He blinked at the words though, remembering himself. "Yes, very much so." The mage still couldn't quite put his finger on what Tanek was, exactly, but at the moment anything was better than being forced to go back to the academy. He followed his new guide, getting his second wind, when suddenly told to duck.

Crouch down he did, only to gulp at the sick sounds of flesh hitting the ground. He shook his head in a 'No,' they weren't his friends, and continued following the creature into the dark shadowy forest. It was nearing the hour after midnight, so they had a good amount of time to use the darkness to their advantage, and it was unlikely there would be too many more followers tonight. Nox wondered if they'd even realized they'd lost the hell hounds yet. After dawn though ... then they would send out everything they had. No magic user was permitted to live outside of the academy; the danger was to great, they said. The danger of--

The mage's thoughts were turned back to the night when he nearly tripped over a tree root. He stumbled but continued doggedly on. He couldn't stop. He couldn't. They were still far to close to the academy. They had to at least make it past the boundaries of the forest, otherwise he would be easy to find. Getting to human civilization where his aura would be hidden by the auras of other living people, or at least to a place the master mages would not think to search and magically scurry for traces of him.

But travel was going harder for Nox already. He wasn't the fittest young man, and he'd lived his life stuck in a mage-built tower. Not much exercise there besides going up and down all of the stairs. Plus he was tired after melting such stubborn ice, getting chased by hell hounds, and getting wet; never mind that he was dry now and had had a chance to get a breather. Nox was still panting again in no time. "Can we ... rest," the mage requested, leaning on the rough bark of a tree to keep his aching body up, "... for a moment?"

At first, Nox tried to protest, seeing as this was not a safe place. Not this close to where he'd escaped, even if he had run quite a long way and they were deep in a pretty confusing bit of the forest. And he was tired ... very tired. The mage hurt and ached in places he hadn't even known he had, but a mad dash for freedom and prolonged life-or-death chase could do that to people. Letting himself be pulled up, Nox was surprised with how quickly Tanek made a comfortable place to hide for the night.

He wasn't sure what the other meant by 'hide,' until he realized that Tanek had somehow suppressed both of their auras, something he didn't know was possible. But, then again, why would those at the academy want to teach any of its students how to properly hide themselves? Even with all of the reassurances, the mage laid there, awake, shivering when he heard the rustling.

Nox couldn't tell whether the dead thumps were reassuring or even more disturbing. "Tanek ..." the fire mage asked, not moving from where he was, "... what are you? Why were you trapped in the ice?"

Groggily awaking, Nox attempted to remember were he was. It wasn't his bed. The voice talking to him wasn't from and of the other young mages that shared his sleeping quarters in the students' floor. Where ... ? And then he remembered last night in the stunningly fast way human minds could. Escaping ... running ... desperate ... Oh Lord the hell hounds ... so cold; ice ... melting ... meeting Tanek ... going farther ... a safe place and questions, and then ... so close together, they were, but his mind had numbed and fallen into a warm darkness after that.

Sitting up, the fire mage rubbed his eyes, feeling oddly refreshed. Climbing out of the tree behind the other, Nox sighed at the earth beneath is feet as he stood for a moment and got his bearings from the sun. The sun? Oh c**p. The sun. "We need to keep going west." Nox gulped, turning and walking quickly in that direction. What would they send ofter him now? The hell hounds were usually adequate enough for any rebellious and uncollared student mage. The master mages got collars to keep them obedient and to keep them from becoming troublesome. The Holy Knights controlled the collars and kept the students inside the boundary of the academy.

But ... now ... I'm free from all that. For now anyway. Nox had to think. Golems. They'll probably send Golems next. Souless constructs of earth and rock. "How well can you handle Golems?" the mage asked his companion nervously. They were tough creatures, Golems. Rocky and tough, it took a lot to destroy them, and the magic that created them for their task, whatever it may be, was tightly woven.