Frozen Summer

Chapter 34

I was born in the frozen tundra in the furthest north that humans have ever been. I lived in a small village called Polyv, life was hard and we were living each day like it was the last. I never expected to go very far in life but fate had another plan for me, my dad was the sole reason we were still living as my mom could not get out of bed anymore. She contracted a mysterious illness that even the most knowledgeable herborist of the village could not treat, many villagers were whispering that I was a cursed child because of all that happened after my birth. I had three sisters and three brothers, by the time I turned five, the wild beasts and climate had claimed the lives of my sisters and my older brother. When I turned ten, my two other brothers wanted to explore the world, their equipment was found a few kilometers away from the next village and only frozen blood was left. Being the only child left, I was taking care of my mom. One night, my father didn't come back home. We were told he was caught in an avalanche while hunting in the mountains. I saw my mom slowly decline into insanity, her hair had turned white as snow before many of the older villagers, most of the day she was staring at the ceiling mumbling words I could not comprehend, sometimes she would look at me and I could see a glimpse of the woman she was. Most nights she was waking me up with her screams, her condition came with constant nightmares. On the day of my thirteenth birthday she passed away. I kept living alone before the villagers decided to cast me out of the village. They sent me into exile and no other village wanted me, they all had heard of the cursed child that carried the most cold winds with her. I was starting to believe them, I was just hoping to die in the snow but I kept walking, and walking and walking until I reached south.

For the first time in a while I had entered a territory where there was no snow, no giant ice bears, no frost spirits. It was warm, I could see the top of the trees, I was surviving out of berries and mushrooms. I had made a shelter for myself and for a few weeks I stayed out in this forest. One day I went to get water at the nearest river and met a man that was doing the same. His name was Elias, he was living in this forest with his son Torik who at the time was just two years older than me, his wife had passed years ago. They gave me clothes, gave me a roof over my head, they educated me since I did not speak the common tongue and the basics of using different plants so I wrote most of the recipes in another notebook.

I always loved writing, the years I spent at home taking care of my mom forced me to occupy myself while waiting for my father.

One day I went to hunt with Torik and we were attacked by a pack of wolves, I really thought I was living my last moments but when one lunged at me and I put my hands out to protect myself, a spear of flames appeared and pierce it, scared by the fire the rest of the pack scattered. As soon as we came back home we explained what had happened to Elias. This is how I learned I was able to do magic. I tried learning my own limits by myself, I had heard stories about the different applications of magic. So over the years many things grew, my knowledge, my powers, my respect for nature and the thing I expected the least : my feelings for Torik. When I turned eighteen we confessed our feelings to each other, a year later we got married, and another year after that our daughter was born.

Just found this old diary again. It has been a few years since the last time I wrote in here, taking care of Isabella is occupying most of my time. She is only four years old but is already sensitive to the magical arts so I'm making her learn everything I know. Since the last time I wrote we kept on moving south and settled in the Forest of Milivelle.

I have been having nightmares recently, all I can remember is that I'm getting colder and colder. I've been trying to look for clues about it, asking in villages outside of the forest but I got nothing. The only place I can think of for information was Polyv, I left Isabella with her father and departed.