HEXCHILD. arcane

000. snow, frostbite and the arcane

     JAYCE DIDN'T KNOW how much further he could drag his pregnant mother. His feet had already started to go numb, a horrible side effect of the cold. He looked around, his hazel eyes hoping, praying to see someone who could help him but all he could see was a snowy landscape. "Mum, please wake up," he cried as he shook her side. His hands wrapped around her black fingers, "Mummy."

The eleven year old boy fell to his knees, the numb feeling starting to travel up his legs, in a final act of desperation he cried out, "Help! Someone, please! Help us!"

He yelled out for what felt like an hour, his voice strained but Jayce knew that the second he stopped yelling, him, his mother and his unborn sister will have succumbed to the cold. "Please!"

In the distance, a blur appears, a tall man with a large stick in his hand. Jayce took a deep husky deep breath, the chilly air freezing his throat, "Please, help them." The man looked at Ximena, more intensely at her stomach. Her stomach was flat, the thick layers of their winter clothes concealing her heavily pregnant belly. The man held out his hand, a bright blue light shining as he hovered it over Ximena's stomach. Jayce shuffled away from the man, terrified at what the man was doing to his mother.

The man turned around, the sound of his stick piercing the snow drawing the boy out of his frightened state, "Wait— No! Wait!"

The man slammed his stick into the ground, the snow parting ways as he stood in the middle. Runes appeared around him, light blue signs floating in the air. Jayce watched in amazement as the man waved his walking stick around, it glowing the familiar colour that had earlier came out of his hand. Jayce's eyes zoned in on the stone that was in his hand, it was floating! Well more accurately hovering over his hand but still not making contact.

He watched at the man preformed what Jayce could only describe as magic.

The light got so bright that it blinded him, he closed his eyes, trying to shield himself from it. Most people say that when you close your eyes, your other senses are heightened, your smell, your hearing, your touch, it's all meant to be more subtle but it wasn't. Jayce couldn't see the cold anymore, his body actually felt warm, as if he was back at home, sitting next to his father as he worked over his forge. He could no longer hear the howling wind or raggedness of his mother's breath.

Suddenly he felt a lack of contact to the ground, his feet dangling, Jayce opened his eyes and looked down, his eyes widened as he realised both him and his mother were floating. "Woa—OHHH!" He was shot into the sky and then into something kind of strange tunnel.

Jayce gasped as he looked at the walls of the tunnel, runes glitched as he looked down, the world around him a blur. He looked up and saw stars... His mind racing as he tried to figure out how that was right, it had just been the morning.

His eyes went heavy, Jayce tried to fight to keep his eyes open but they went dark.

Slowly he opened his eyes, his head wet as he laid on a pillow of snow. He shot up, panic in his eyes, he thought the man had got him and his mother out, if he fell asleep, how was he alive?! His questions were solved as he noticed a bright flower in front of him, and another, and another. Jayce's eyes widened as he realised that he was in a field of flowers just near the outside of his City, he was home!

Jayce grinned as he looked at her mother, who had also just woken up, "Mum!" He cried, as he hugged, his little arms squeezing her tightly, he thought he had lost her for good.

Ximena laid there frozen as she stared at the tall man, Jayce smiled as he turned to the man, "H— How?"

The man walked up to Jayce, his cloak hiding his face from the mother and son. He didn't say a word as he held out his hand. Jayce held out his hand without hesitation, grateful and willing to do whatever this man asked. The wizard dropped something, a blue gemstone with runes carved into it. Jayce looked at it with curious eyes, was that how? Did that tiny stone have that much power to be able to teleport three people out of a snowstorm?! The wizard pointed at Ximena's stomach behind turning his back to the family. "Thank you!" The boy cried out.

"T—thank y," Ximena tried to say but her voice was gone, a side affect to her dry throat. Jayce gasped, turning to his mother, he had so much to tell her and his father when they got home.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This is only a short chapter, Jayce's flashback from Episode 2, Season 2. Obviously Luz wasn't in this chapter because she wasn't born yet but she is the unborn baby in Ximena. Why, did the wizard take so much interest in Ximena and her baby? I don't know, read to find out 😉

Anyways, don't be a ghost, heart, comment and tell me what you think so far!

910 words