Dark Earth (Male Reader)

14: Lake

You don't know if you can swim or not. Before you sits a massive body of water. It spans out across your vision father than you can see. The water itself doesn't really look like water. Stopping down, you can catch of whiff of whatever it is. It smells corrosive and dangerous.

"What is this stuff?" you ask.

"This is the Grey Lake, one of the things the old world left behind. All their waste and trash was slowly broken and melted down. Now it's just a big pile of acid."

You look at it and kick a rock into the lake. You can hear the dust on it sizzle as it sinks to the bottom.

"Yikes... I'm guessing there's no way to cross it."

"Not safely no. Most everything is just eaten up by the water."

"How long will it take to go the long way around?"

"... A while," she responds, looking out across the lake.

The wind blows her hair, letting you see her soft face. You can still feel where she kissed you. However, you can still feel the pain in your heart from when she had died. It burns, making you sick. The longer you both are traveling, the more chances there are for bad things to happen to Dim. You don't want that.

"Are you sure there aren't any other ways?" you ask, moving up beside her. "No shorter paths?"

"Well, if it were winter, the lake would freeze and we could just walk across it."

"Winter? Wait, what season is it now?"

"Um... I think early spring."

You look back away from the bubbling lake. The earth is brown and dead. Everything looks cold. There's no snow on the ground, but the air is still chilly. You can't imagine how it would look in the winter. However, you would have liked to have been able to cross over the lake.

You can sense something. A feeling in the back of your mind. Looking back again, you can't see anything immediately. From over a large dead tree stump, you see a thin white hand reach over. The empty eyes and gaping mouth of a Bone Lurker greet you.

"Dim. We've got company."

She looks over and sees it, moving behind you, holding onto your shirt. Two more crawl up beside it. They watch you from their spot. You wait for them to attack, readying yourself for a countermove. Instead, they don't engage. They just watch you.

"What are they doing?"

"I think... they're scared of you..."

You look at them, wondering if she's right. You make like you're going to rush them, stopping short. They flinch and cower back, hissing slightly. They bite at the air, frightened and angry at you.

"I guess so."

"Looks like they want to attack but their too afraid. If we hang around for too long, they might try to attack."

You don't want to fight if you don't have to. An idea comes into your head. You don't know the extent of your powers, but you think you can control a few things. You know that you can expel heat from you eyes. You wonder if you can take energy away from things.

"Dim... I'm going to try to freeze the lake."

"What?! Are you serious?"

Nodding slowly, you move up to the acid lakes edge. You lower your hand towards it. You focus on the small fire inside you, putting it your fingers. You start to lower them towards the lake, tapping the surface. Instead of having your fingers burn off, the lake instantly freezes. The whole thing solidifies as you suck out the heat, pulling it into your hand. Dim and the monsters watch with stunned expressions on their faces as you freeze the lake.

"There... I think that does it."

"Wow... that was amazing... It's totally frozen over."

The Bone Lurkers see your powers in action, knowing full well that they wouldn't be able to beat you. You're thankful that they're smart enough to know when a fight would be pointless. They leave, heading quickly back to the boneyards.

"Come on. Let's get going before they change their minds."

You start walking across the frozen lake. You can barely believe that a mass of corrosive acid this size is just sitting out here. Your bare feet don't slip on the ice at all. It's like you're walking on regular ground. You think it's probably another effect of your powers. However, Dim isn't so lucky. From behind, you hear a sudden crash.

"Ah!"

Dim's on her butt on the ice, rubbing it. Her bare feet are trembling. She's having a hard time making across the ice. You move and help her to her feet. She's very unstable, slipping a little as you steady her.

"I don't have my boots anymore... this is really cold..."

"Do you... want me to carry you?"

She blushes and nods slowly. You take her hand and kneel down, letting her climb onto her your back. She wraps her arm around you, kissing your neck slightly.

"Thank you..."

You smile and start walking, happy to help her. The day goes on as you walk through the frozen lake. Along the edges, confused Lurkers poke at the ice, wondering why it was frozen in such a weird time. A few try to walk on it but don't make it very far before falling down. You're glad to have the chance to walk across the lake. You're glad to have the chance to hold Dim on your back.