Melina lays down on the stone table during the early morning of Xrenna 1st. Elisia watching nervously in the distance in the heavily torch lit room. There had to be thirty or more torches lining the walls. She holds a bag full of supplies in her hands.
Twigs rolls up the sleeves on Melina's clothing to make room for the metallic hands. Twigs waves a hand to Elisia and she carries over the bag full of Twig's supplies.
He reaches in and pulls out a wooden box. Sets it down on the stone table next to Melina. "What's in the box?" Melina asks. Twigs Opens it up and his eyes seem to glow upon laying his eyes on the hands inside. "Your friends in the forge must really like you, Melina."
"What makes you say..." she stops her sentence as Twigs lifted one of the hands into her vision. "That's... holy hells.."
The hands are crafted between a Winter Rime Metal and Mithral. Mithral is a common metal, but Winter Rime is some of the hardest material to obtain. Found only in Neomic, but where exactly is unknown to most.
Melina's eyes fill with awe as she admires the hand above her. The hand taking a gray color with a light blue symbol of the Frostguard engraved in the palms.
"I owe Gordon and Taven drinks.." she finally says and Twigs places the hands down next to the correct arms. He pulls them up to the ends of her wrists and have them touch. Sending a cold chill into Melina's arms.
"Now you'll be a little different like me." Elisia winks her fragment eye and Melina laughs. "I think i'm ready to be different."
"Elisia, I need you to channel magic with me." Twigs reaches into his bag and pulls out a stick and places it between Melina's teeth for her to bite down on when the pain kicks in.
Elisia looks at the stick with jealousy. "I didn't get to bite on a stick when the fragment was embedded in my face..."
"Next time." Melina says through the stick in her mouth. Elisia sets the bag down by the stone table and holds a hand with Twigs.
"Hang in there, Frosty. This is seriously going to hurt." Elisia bites down on her own tongue. She keeps telling herself it'll be okay.
"Do it." Melina takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Feeling her arms against the metallic ends of hew new hands.
The two of them walk to the end of the table where Melina's head is. Twigs and Elisia's hands light up a light blue color as they both close their own eyes to concentrate the magic. Elisia opens her eyes back up to hover her free hand over Melina's metal hand resting against the arm. Twigs does the same.
The light blue magic begins to fall from the hands of the spell casters and into the metal hands. The metal hands begin to light up and Melina begins to let out her small grunts of pain as her toes curl and legs flex.
The more magic that falls into the hands, the more pain Melina was feeling as tears began to fall out of her eyes as she let out full cries of pain in short bursts. Grinding her teeth against the stick. The metal fingers began to curl and twitch. Melina kicks out her legs in pain.
Elisia and Twigs keep their focused despite seeing the pain Melina is in. They all knew the pain was going to happen, but it still wasn't easy to witness. Blood begins to drip slowly from Melina's nostrils. Elisia especially was trying her best to keep the magic flowing. The veins in Melina's arm begin to turn blue like the magic running into them.
Elisia looks into Melina's eyes and Melina's eyes began to flicker from blue to red but kept returning to blue. Elisia shakes it off and keeps pouring the magic into the hands.
The hands curl into fists and Melina starts punching down on the table. Melina spits out the stick. "Hurry it up, Twigs. This hurts more than.. losing them." She gives one last punch on the table. Melina's body begins to feel like shutting down. She stops screaming and her arms and legs relax.
Twigs stops his magic and so does Elisia once they see Melina lying there motionless after punching the table. Melina lets out heavy sighs as she calms down from the pain and relaxes her whole body on the stone table.
"Stone has never been... more comfy... in my life.." Melina wipes her eyes and nose and it dawns on her afterwards, she used her hands for that. She looks at the blood of her nose resting on the edge of her hands.
"Thank the gods." She says and her hand falls limp onto her body. "I need five minutes."
"They work?" Twigs admires the metal hands and picking them up. Lifting her entire arm in the process.
"Damn, Frosty." Elisia pats Melina's shoulder. "Had me worried we killed you."
"Not today.. I have at least one more birthday to live through..." she yawns following the sentence and closes her eyes. "Let me sleep here."
Elisia laughs. "I don't blame you. Come on Twigs, we probably have a soldier or two waiting by now."
"Right..." Twigs sets Melina's arm down and walks out with Elisia. Leaving Melina by herself on the stone table.
As she slowly falls asleep a familiar vision comes back to her. The one of her dying with her hand grasping a sword she's never seen. Her mother towering over her with the cold whisper of "Death awaits you, my child."
This time the dream doesn't end and Melissa steps away from Melina's dead body. Her body turns to a clouded mist and fades away to nothing to show Melina leaning against the wall with her metallic hand over a deep wound in her stomach.
Elisia comes up to her and heals it with her hands turning green. "Death isn't greeting me yet." Melina wipes the blood from her hand onto her armor. "She's going to die."
YOU ARE READING
Frosted Ranger: Time's Illusion
FantasyD&D led story based off events coming from a character I play that romanced a NPC and had a child. This story is of that child. "Melina, if you follow your father's footsteps, you'll be right beside him. 6ft under dirt, 2 ft under snow." Melina Se...
