Monster Girl World Ch. 15

Chapter 15-A Frozen Heart

“Hello.”

The girl looked up and saw a boy standing in front of her. He was a scrawny little kid, with a big nose and wide eyes that stared right into her face. He wore a thick blue coat and heavy pants with thick boots. She could also spot some blonde hair sticking out of his hat.

“Hello.” She said softly.

“Aren’t you cold?” He asked.

“No.” She answered. A cold breeze blew through the park, but she didn’t even flinch, despite wearing a thin indigo blue dress over her small form. “The cold doesn’t bother me.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” He replied, not aware of the pun he just made. “I’m Kai.”

The girl was silent for a moment before deciding it was safe to give her name. “Elsa.”

Kai looked around the park, not seeing any adults close by. “Where are you parents?”

“At home.” Elsa answered. “They live outside the town, but I come and go as I please.”

The way she spoke was strange. She spoke like those pretty ladies that his mother called nobles. Was she one of them? “Do you have anyone to play with?”

“No, it’s just me.” She said. She didn’t sound very happy about it. “I...I don’t know any of the children here.”

Kai didn’t like the sound of that. She looked lonely, and a bit sad. And his mother did say it was rude to ignore a girl. “Why don’t you come sledding with me?”

Elsa blinked up at him. “Excuse me?”

“Come play with me. I don’t know how long you’re supposed to be out here, but I know that it’s not fun spending your free time all by yourself.”

Elsa frowned, a bit nervous at running around with someone she just met. There was a reason she stayed away from the other children, but she didn’t have to tell him that. Still, he was nice, and he meant well. It wouldn’t hurt to play a few games with him for a while.

“Okay...I suppose we can play for a little while.” Elsa said, a bit nervous.

Kai smiled and took her hand to pull her along with him. “Great! We can go sledding! I’m pretty sure there’s a steep hill we can slide down! It’ll be a lot of fun!”

Elsa was a bit nervous about this “sledding” he spoke of, but as she felt the warmth of his hand warming her palm, she allowed herself to be taken along with him.

‘His hand feels so warm...’ She thought. ‘It feels so nice.’

XXXXXX

14 years later

The town of Freezenburg was a quaint little human settlement located within a forest that was just a few miles away from a towering mountain range from ran from the borders of Kaldheim into Aslava. As Kaldheim was located in the far north, where the climate was cold and frigid, and snowfall was as common as heavy rainfall was for Ixalan, Freezenburg was no stranger to snow or cold weather. Even in spring, the temperature only reached high 60s-low 70s. But while the land was cold, the hearts of the people remained warm.

The houses and shops were clustered close together, with few streets wide enough for carriages to pass through. It wasn’t too much of an inconvenience, since the snow and ice made it hard for anything not layered with heating spells to pass through. The people of Freezenburg were a mix between humans and monsters, warm people with a sense of community that kept them strong through many hard times in the town, among them being the religious conflict instigated by Order fanatics two years ago. But the harrowing times of that incident paled in comparison to the snowy assault the town was going through at the moment.

Gerda looked outside the window and stared at the fast-moving snow blowing hard against the glass with a frown. The white horn was no stranger to snowstorms and blizzards, as they were a common occurrence in Freezenburg, but this was just unnatural. Even though she had a thick coat, she couldn’t help but shiver at the violent icy winds that ravaged the town.

“This is ridiculous.” Gerda muttered. Sure it snowed in Freezenburg, but it felt like the weather was only getting worse.

“Gerda, could you stock the firewood, please?” Her mother called out from the lobby.

“Okay, mom!” She called back.

The Holiday Inn was a large hotel and rest station that was run by Gerda and her mother, who were both White Horns, a species of centaur native to cold regions. The lodge was located in a spot within the forest between Freezenburg and the mountains on a known path travelers take. It was a place where weary travelers either heading to and from the mountains could rest and warm up. White horns were known for running lodges and hotels alongside emergency stations for any poor soul stranded in the cold during a storm.

Gerda had taken to the family business of providing aid to the people of Freezenburg as a rescue worker and managing the Inn along with her mother. It was hard work sometimes, and there were situations that required her to make long treks up the mountain, but Gerda knew the area like the back of her hand. Saving humans and monsters was what she was born to do, and she did it well.

The door slammed open and a large, bulky man trudged through the doorway with a thick blanket of snow blowing at his back. He was covered from head to toe in thick clothing, with glowing red runes engraved along his coat and pants. He stumbled in and quickly pushed the door closed, breathing a heavy sigh as he finally found refuge from the violent winds.

“Kai!” Gerda trotted over to him and quickly took his hat and scarf, revealing a strong face with short blonde hair that reached past his ears. “How is it outside?”

“Terrible. The snow reaches up to my knees and my face is numb from getting pelted by the hail outside.” Kai breathed, tapping his clothes twice to deactivate the heat runes. “If it weren’t for the heat runes, I don’t think I would’ve gotten far.”

Kai walked over to the couch near the fireplace and plopped his large body onto the cushions. Even when protected by heat magic, that blizzard outside was still absolute hell to walk through. Gerda walked over to him and handed him some hot cocoa, which he accepted gratefully.

“Most of the town’s covered in snow, and even with the salamanders backing me up, it won’t be possible to do anything else until the blizzard passes over us.” Kai said.

“And there’s no one outside?” Gerda asked.

“No, it’s totally deserted, which is good. No one in their right mind would stay out in a blizzard that strong. Not even a yeti.” He replied. He took a sip of his drink and groaned in pleasure. “That’s good stuff.”

“This is unbelievable. Freezenburg’s always had rough weather during the winter months, but it’s almost spring. The weather should’ve stabilized by now.” Gerda sat down next to Kai and helped him take off his boots. “Mother Nature must be finally out to get us today.”

“Mother Nature has nothing to do with it.” Kai glared into the fire and let his face warm up as a grim expression fell over it. “I saw some women running through the streets outside on by way back. I think they were glacies.”

“Glacies?” Gerda gasped.

Glacies were a species of elemental monsters that were common in the coldest regions of the world, where snow and ice dominated the land as far as the eye can see. They were strong creatures who commanded the power of ice, but not too dangerous if you know how to handle them. It was what their appearance meant that worried her.

Glacies never acted on their own. They were always under the command of an Ice Queen, a high level elemental monster with immense magical power over the domain of snow and ice. Suddenly the snowstorm outside made more sense with the thought of an ice queen being behind it.

“But what’s an ice queen doing this far out in Kaldheim? We’re almost near the border to Aslava.” Gerda questioned.

“That’s a question you’re going to have to ask her yourself.” Kai said and glared outside. “Those glacies are probably looking for a husband for their queen or some-”

There was a loud explosion that came from outside, startling the guests. Kai and Gerda ran to the window and tried to look outside to see what happened.

“What was that?” Kai asked.

“That sounded like an explosion!” Gerda exclaimed.

“Kai!” A tall hellhound clad in leather armor ran past them. “The glacies just destroyed the church down the street! I’m heading out with the girls to stop them!”

“I’m coming too!” Kai ran for the door, snatching up his spear while Gerda called out for him to wait. The hellhounds were already outside, and he stayed close to them as they ran out into the blizzard.

XXXXXX

Kai struggled to stay close to the strong heat of the hellhounds as they melted their way through the thick snow to reach the down. Mary, the veteran rescue worker, shot streams of flame from her hands to create a path to get through easily, and the rest of the team followed her all the way down the hill and into town.

The town was covered in snow, as expected, and with the icy winds blasting his face, Kai had a difficult time seeing, even with the protective goggles on. But eventually, as they made their way through the town square to where the church was, he saw a couple of slender figures gliding upon the wind like snowflakes in a blizzard.

The glacies were attacking the church of Hemera...and only the church. They were slender young women with pale-blue skin clad in tight bodysuits made of woven snow crystals held together by their own power. Their expressions were blank and cold, their eyes crystal blue, and their fury evident as they demolished the church with great ferocity.

The glacies paid no attention to the hellhounds at first, but as they got closer, a rain of icicles was fired at the rescue workers without warning. Mary and Kai jumped back to avoid them as an older looking glacie landing on the ground before them, her feet not even breaking the snow.

“Leave, creatures of fire. Our quarrel is not with you....this time.” She commanded.

“Like hell it is! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Mary growled, flames shooting from her red eyes.

“We are simply following our queen’s commands. All those who worship the baleful glow of Hemera is subject to her wrath. Any effigies and shrines to the light goddess are illegal in her lands and will be destroyed.” The glacie said.

“What? Why? The Order hasn’t don’t anything to the monsters here or to the queen.” Kai asked.

The glacie turned her eyes onto him and kai swore he saw her eyes narrow at him before she replied. “The Order was not always ambivalent to this region’s monsters. I’m sure you’re well aware of that.”

Her words made everyone freeze, for they knew exactly what she was talking about. Kai most of all, as he had lived in Kaldheim all his life.

The lead glacie looked at the jagged tree of ice spikes that had completely blown the church apart and nodded. “Our job is done here now. You, human, if you have concerns with her majesty, then come see her within the valley between the two mountains. This will show you the way.”

The glacie flicked her hand and sent a large snowflake fluttering down into Kai’s gloved hands.

“Though I doubt you will convince our queen to change her mind on delivering righteous justice upon the slaves of that heathen goddess, I do believe she will at least listen to you...and only you. We are done here.”

“Wait!” Kai shouted before the icy winds swirled around the glacies. He and the hellhounds covered their faces from the blast of hail and snow before the winds died down.

When everything was calm again, the glacies were gone...and so was the blizzard.

XXXXXX

Elsa cupped her hands together and blew into them, blowing a puff of snowflakes into Kai’s face. He giggled and clapped his hands, enjoying her magic show.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” He laughed. “Do something else!”

Elsa gave a small smile, which was the most she would ever do even in his presence, and swirled her hands around and spread them out, shooting another jet of ice into that air that exploded in a shower of snow.

“You’re getting better, Elsa.” Kai smiled. “Can you control snow and ice that already exists?”

“No, my mother says I’m not strong enough for that yet.” She said. Elsa studied the wonder and awe in Kai’s expression and couldn’t help but be a bit amused. What she could do was just a step above simple magic tricks and sparkles. Her mother was infinitely more powerful than her.

This little friendship of theirs was a strange thing to Elsa. She had no friends, none that were human at least. The closest that even came to friends were the daughters of her mother’s guards and retainers. She didn’t really think much of Kai when she first met him, seeing him as nothing but a curiosity. However, the past few weeks with him had sparked something within her. A foreign feeling that was in stark contrast of the usual feeling of coldness that she was content with.

She didn’t understand it, but it didn’t feel too bad. It felt...nice. What was this feeling?

“You’re so lucky, Elsa. You get to do magic whenever you want to.” Kai sighed, looking a bit put down. “I wish I had someone to teach me.”

Oh. Elsa almost forgot that she played her powers off as some form of innate magic. He still had no idea of what she was, or who her mother was. Kaldheim was still a land with a neutral stance towards her kind, but that could change in a heartbeat, as she was starting to see during her visits here.

Kai and Elsa took a walk down the narrow streets of Freezenburg, where they saw a large crowd standing in front of the church. They were all listening to a man clad in white priest robes ranting and yelling down at the people about something Elsa couldn’t really understand.

“Who is that man?” Elsa asked, pointing to him.

“That’s Johann. He’s an Order missionary who came here from Dacia. He’s been here for two weeks and people are already getting sick of him shouting in their faces about how bad monsters are.” Kai said. “Here, we’re more concerned about surviving the winter instead of the stuff going on outside thousands of miles from here.”

They watched as the man continued to preach his “divine” message about driving all nonhuman creatures from the land, warning everyone not to fall for the charms of the demonic harlots that seek to corrupt humanity. Some devout followers of the Order were at least giving him their attention, but many walked away without a backwards glance at the man, seeking to get out of the cold and find warmth.

Even Kai lost interest in the man and took Elsa’s cold hand in his to lead her away to the nearest tavern. He may not care about the man, but she did. Something about the way the missionary ranted about his divine mission unsettled Elsa, and she didn’t want to see just how far he was willing to go to see his mission through.

XXXXXX

The morning after, the blizzard was over and the sky was completely devoid of clouds, but the entire town was covered in snow. Clearing it away wasn’t so bad with the hellhounds and salamanders using their fire abilities to melt away the snow on the streets, but the damage done by the glacies was clear for all to see.

“This is a disaster.” Mary grumbled as she watched the men sift through the ruins of the church. The entire building was destroyed by an ice bomb that blossomed into a frozen flower that exploded the church from the inside. “I’ve been around the block a couple of times with ice monsters, but I’ve never seen an ice queen order glacies to openly attack a church like this.”

“They’re just acting on orders. The ice queen is the one we need to worry about.” Kai said, frowning at the damage. “Is there any way we can get inside?”

“Anything inside that wreck was frozen solid when the glacies blew this place up. We’ve got three salamanders working on melting the ice, but they made this shit to last.” Mary said gruffly.

Gerda looked at the ruined church sadly. Freezenburg was just starting to forget about the crimes of the Order missionaries a decade ago, and now this open assault on a house of the light goddess. Thankfully there wasn’t too much uproar over the target of the attack, but the people were still rightfully nervous. She gripped Kai’s hand nervously and he squeezed her hand back to comfort her.

“First attacking us with a blizzard and then personally destroying a church. This wasn’t done at random.” Kai deduced.

“What are we going to do?” Gerda asked. “If they attack other towns in the area like this, it might spark something bigger.”

“What else can we do but go see this ice queen and try to do...something.” Kai replied, looking at the snowflake that glistened beautifully in his hand.

He wondered why the glacie would actually suggest that he speak to the ice queen. They weren’t normally known for giving anyone, man or monster, the time of day in their icy solitude. The only people that they showed anything more than cold indifference to was their husbands and daughters. It also wasn’t in their nature to just give random strangers an invitation to speak to their queen. Something wasn’t right here.

“I heard from some of the guests at the inn that there were similar incidents like this in the neighboring towns. Glacies appearing in localized blizzards and destroying any and all signs of the Order.” Gerda said. “This is a widespread thing. Is the ice queen declaring war on us?”

“That’s impossible.” Mary scoffed, though she sounded a bit unsure. This was a very unusual situation, and the idea of an ice queen initiating hostilities on a region would’ve been ludicrous had she not heard or seen what she saw firsthand.

“Well standing around talking about it won’t change anything.” Kai said and held up the snowflake to the sun. “The glacie said to take my grievances up with the ice queen, and that’s what I intend to do.”

“What?! Kai, that’s too dangerous!” Gerda protested.

“Gerda, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt during these attacks. Once that happens, the problem is only going to get worse.” Kai looked at Mary. “I’ll head up into the mountains and see the ice queen. Maybe I can convince her to stop her attacks or at least find out why she’s doing this in the first place.”

Mary gave him a stern look. “Kid, ice queens aren’t known for showing mercy. If you screw this up, she’ll have no problem freezing you solid.”

“Please, Mary, I’ve got to try. Glacies don’t bother going behind their queen’s backs to invite random people to see them. Something has to be up.” Kai pleaded. “If we let this go on, it’ll only get worse.”

Mary frowned deeply, knowing he was right. But she didn’t like the idea of him gallivanting off into the mountains where a very irate ice queen was living. Still, they didn’t really have any other option than to fight her, which wasn’t smart given that the queen could command everything the ice touches.

“Fine, kid, go on ahead. But be sure to prepare thoroughly.” She said. “I’ll send one of the harpies to Hilda at the outpost to let her know you’re coming.”

“I’m coming along too!” Gerda said, surprising Kai.

“Gerda!”

“No, I’m not letting you run into danger alone!” Gerda stomped her hooves defiantly. “I’m coming and that’s final!”

Kai opened his mouth, but only gave a tired sigh and nodded. Mary laughed and slapped him on the back.

“Just let her go, kid. You ain’t winning this battle.”