The Conduits: Frostwalker

Frost walker: Part one

Chapter 1

Kaladin lay on his back on the single bed, looking at his phone. The sky-blue duvet underneath him had comfortably moulded around the dent the weight of his body creased into the mattress. The pale light of the early morning peaked into the room from the window adjacent to the wooden bed. The room was furnished with a bedside cupboard with an alarm clock, whose red light that read 5:43 AM with a soft glow.

The soft light from his phone illuminated the tear that creeped from his golden-brown eyes as he stared reminiscing at a photo of him with a beautiful girl by his side. Her long blonde hair flowed in the light breeze; her sky-blue eyes alive with a spark visible in his own eyes. The longer he stared at her pure, innocent smile, the more his heart sank. His mind taunted him with a guilt that seemed to press in from all sides, suffocating him.

"It's my fault..." Kaladin thought to himself.

With a sniff, wiping his nose across his arm, he placed his phone down on his chest. He breathed out, trying to relieve some of pressure that had built up in his chest. With a swift
movement he sat up on the edge of the bed. The clock now glowed 5:47 AM.

Might as well get dressed he thought to himself. Kaladan reached underneath the bed and pulled out his white and blue backpack. While leaning over he paused, catching the glint of silver around his neck. With his left hand he reached into his t-shirt and pulled out a steel chain with a silver ring hanging in the middle.

The ring with etched with strange rune marks on its innermost part, with a symbol resembling the face of a fox encompassed by a circle with four claw like points extending to the body of the ring.

Kaladin removed the ring and held it between his thumb and index finger. He had worn it around his neck for almost a year now, unable to bring himself to wear it on his finger. Perhaps in part because he felt he didn't deserve to, as if he would defile h er memory by wearing it. Perhaps in part it would mean accepting she was gone... knowing it would
never be worn on her soft, delicate hands ever again.

The last thing she ever did was give this ring to him, she wanted him to have it. Kaladin sighed. This was as close as he would ever get to her. He stood up and slid the ring on the fourth finger of his right hand and immediately the silver shine was covered in a metallic black. The space surrounding the fox emblem within the circle glowed a bright sunset orange.

The Orange light seemed to leap out from the ring and took form, hovering a few inches away from Kaladin's confused face. The light took the shape of a small creature, it had four limbs with paw like appendages. Its face was black with a short snout, large fiery eyes with a jiggered fiery pattern of orange starting from between its eyes flair down its body into a tail that flickered like fire. It had two pointy ears with the same fiery orange colour on the tips. Its body was largely black save for the sunset orange highlights on its back, sides and lower limbs. Kaladin stood frozen, unsure of what to think as the creature hovered before him, it's back facing him.

It swept its gaze around the room, until its fiery orange eyes locked onto Kaladin 's and widened with surprise. "Hey you, where's Michaela!?" it demanded. "what did you do to her?

AHHHHHHH!" Screamed Kaladin, swatting the creature into the desk lamp, sending it crashing onto the floor. "Owwwwww!" yelled the tiny creature, its highlights flaring and flickering like wildfire. "What was that for?" it asked. "You got some nerve kid, hitting the embodiment of destruction like that! Who are you and where am I?"

Kaladin grabbed the tennis racket from behind the door. "Don't come any closer." The creature instinctively shied away from Kaladin's mighty war-racket. "Nonono,please don't hurt me again!" it pleaded with its arms raised over its face. Kaladin lowered the bat just as Kyle's footsteps thundered down the stairs towards them. Kyle hammered on the door.