Behind the Scenes

Teenage years

"Humm. What do you think ice? Take refugee in the cave or brave the mountain tops?" Icefire snorted softly in response. Skyler nodded her agreement. "Mountains it is."

The last few years haven't been easy. After we escaped that hellish place, we have been traveling the world. I knew I could not go back to my home place. My childhood place from years ago. They couldn't help me control any of my powers then and they wouldn't be able to now.

My mum visits me sometimes. She comes to me in dreams to tell me to keep going. She alerted me of a sacred place that's hidden from the world. A place that was destined to belong to someone very special. She told me to search for it and only if I found it, would I ever be safe.

"Ice, how about we set down there for now and I'll go hunting for water and food. We need supplies to build camp. And judging by the sun, we only have a few hours of daylight left." That fact didn't bother me. I am a child of Artemis, the nighttime is my roaming time. Being a 16 year old mini god has its perks.

I have found new abilities hidden from me in my own body. I've been learning to control them. It's not easy but I'm getting there.

Icefire sat down on top of a side cliff that gave a view of scattered trees. The sun hung low in the skyline, as the sky started darkening to put on a nighttime show.

I slid off of Icefire and walked around the small area. "This'll do ice. I'll start out for water, you start out for building shelter." She nodded at me as I turned and started down the small hill.

A cool thing that came with being Artemis's daughter was that I could sense animals near by and hear running streams. I located a small clear stream somewhere down the hill and to the left and me as I could sense a deer somewhere in front of me. I also got along with animals. I could call them to me and they would willingly let me take their life to provide food.

I guess you could say I was the rebel of Artemis's bunch.

I made my way to the stream and unhooked my water flask from my belt. While filling it up, I called to the deer. It made its way to my side and laid next to me. I finished filling my flask and put it back on my belt.

Laying my hand atop the animals head, I sighed.

"I really don't like killing you innocent things." It nuzzled my hand. I raised my eyes to the sky that had gotten much darker and had small specks of light dancing across it. I closed my eyes and focused my energy onto the deer. I felt it's life slip through my fingers as I channeled it to the sky. Once I opened my eyes, I saw a new life dancing among the stars, and fresh food at my side.

This is how I lived my life for years. I returned the spirits of the earth to the sky as a thank you to them for giving me and my companion food. We made camp after camp and never stayed in one place for longer then a week. It wasn't an ideal way to live but it was a life.

As I made my way back to Icefire, I thought about our next move as a team. We could go west and search the inlands, or we could go east and search the coasts. I'd have to ask my mother tonight. I found my way back to see that Icefire had set up a nice tent for us to stay in.

"Nice job ice. You can rest while I get you some water." She laid down next to the tent as I filled a bowl that we stole along with supplies from a ship a few weeks ago, with water. I set it in front of her and she drank some thankfully. I gave her a gentle pat on the head with a smile as I started picking up sticks from the ground and trees for fire wood.

The fire lit up pretty easily and i set out to cut up the meat with my pocket blade. After I had cut a decent amount, I laid it over some bare logs above the fire to cook. Afterwards, I took my place leaning against Icefire. We sat in normal comfortable silence sipping water and waiting for the food.

Tonight would be just like every other night. Soft crackles of the fire as we awaited food. I'd like to think it was a pretty decent travel life.