Frosted Ranger: Time's Illusion

Chapter 1: Hesitance

Standing alone in her heavy cloaks lined with thick fur to block out the cold air, the girl shivers while standing outside what appears to be a castle entrance.

The snow falls a little faster with each passing second she stands questioning her choice of coming here. Eventually, the lone stranger makes her war into the castle entrance and through the abandoned halls.

It looks as if no one had been here in decades and that was partially true. An old civilization once lived here.

Walking through out the castle with ease and taking the right paths to a stair case downwards, it appears as if this girl had been here before.

Each step onto the stone stairs spiraling downwards gave a small echo. Boot against stone. Her breathing slows as she walks a little faster down the steps. Her long black hair turning to a shade of white from the snow falling upon it earlier. Her eyes blue like the skies and her cloak looking heavily damaged.

This cloak seemed to be older than her. Carrying with her, a bow that also looks faded in design, but the weird markings on it indicated some sort of traditional design. A sword sheathed and hidden at the moment. Her quiver full of arrows lightly patting her on the back with each step down.

Coming to the bottom of the stairs, in what should be a dark room, Melina could see perfectly fine once putting the hood on. The once unseeable crypt suddenly comes into her vision.

The main tomb however, standing taller than the rest, more clean, more preserved and well kept. Almost honored in a way. Standing atop the coffin, a giant statute of an armored soldier taking aim with their bow.

"Kyladir?" The girl calls out. She steps up to the tomb, standing with her head leveling with the knee of Kyladir's statue. "I know you've been silent." She calls out again. "You did it to Carsin as well from time to time."

The girl wipes away an escaped tear from her eye. "But this mission you gave me. I can't do it." The girl pulls out the sword to reveal cracks in the blade, blood stains that have dried over time. "This was my father's. He looked up to you unlike all the others. He spread your name and suddenly you stopped replying. Then he died. My father, Carsin, would be so disappointed in you. But what god has mortal feelings anyways."

The girl takes a knee and lowers the sword onto Kyladir's statue. Resting at the base of his feet. "I've already lost my father. Please don't make me hunt down my mother. I can't lose her too."

The sadness in her voice finally echoes out. What first felt like empty words turned into words of sorrow and pain. "He always respected you and you abandoned him to die."

The girl turns to leave, but the dark crypt radiates in a golden flash of light. Illuminating the whole area, the girl quickly rips away the hood and shields her eyes.

"Melina..." a voice calls out from the tomb. Melina opens her eyes. She would have recognized Kyladir's voice, but this, this was someone else. "It has been a long time since i've seen you."

Upon opening her eyes to see the person speaking, she sees this golden aura flowing around the faded body of a man with a metallic right arm. "Holy hells.." she reacts.

"No such thing." The man responds. "Trust me." He reaches his hand over the breaking sword. "It served me well."

Melina steps up to the man shrouded in golden aura taking the place of Kyladir. "You're Carsin, my father." Hearing the word father sent Carsin into a state of sadness. "A father actually raises their child. I was robbed of that opportunity, but yes, i'm your father."

Carsin turns to Melina and she tries to hug him, but her arms pass through him like they would against clouds or mist. Sad expressions cross the both of them.

"It probably means nothing, but raising you alongside Melissa was everything I ever wanted."

"No." Melina shakes her head. "That means a lot, dad." She feels the tears coming up and she steps back shutting her eyes tight. "She told me everything good and bad about you. I never once though you would want to die on purpose."

Carsin smiles and notices the armor she wears looks very familiar. "That was my grandfather's armor. I wore it to battle for a long time myself. I never learned the story behind it giving us vision in the dark."

"Yea." Melina laughs. "It's a nice gift when hunting..." Carsin smiles proudly at his daughter. Melina can hardly take her eyes off the person she valued immensely growing up. Her own father that she has never seen till now.

"How do I hunt my mother? The Dark Queen of the Bronze Fortress?"

"A hunt is like life." Carsin crosses his arms and leans against the tomb. "Unpredictable at all times. You can't take shortcuts. You have to track things down. Could run into other monsters on the hunt. You get what i'm saying."

"I do." Melina looks down at the ground radiating beneath her from the flow of the golden aura surrounding Carsin. His golden image flickers and restabilizes long enough for a few last words. "Trust your heart." And with those words escaping last, his image vanishes and Melina is left alone in the dark crypt by herself.

She looks to Radiant Snow resting at the feet of Kyladir. With a strong urge of resistance, she pulls away from it. The weapon was powerful once before when her father wielded it. With him gone, the power slowly faded away from within itself.

Melina looks around to find the stairs and heads out of the crypt and back into the icy world of Noriel. The thought of having to kill her mother still plagued her mind, but she is the Dark Queen now.

Exiting back into the snow and feeling the cold air fill her lungs again, the scarce warmth of the sunlight hitting her pelted armor, Melina trudges towards her horse and friend who journeyed with her.

Sitting atop a blinding white horse that blends into the snow, a tall man with short black hair and brown eyes. Plated armor on his body and a giant sword hanging on his back. A necklace with a shape of three mountains on a shield worn around his neck.

"When do I get to visit Kyladir?" The man shouts from the horse. Melina shrugs her shoulders, pulls off the bow and quiver to place then in the net hanging off the horse saddle. She climbs atop the horse and sits in front of the man.

"Someday, Dayton. I'll tell you more on the way." Melina leans back into Dayton with a huge smile and closes her eyes. Dayton reaches for the reigns of the horse and onward they go. Dayton and Melina both in smiles as the horse crosses the icy bridge back into Neomic where they return home to the Yggdrasil Stronghold.