Ice Kingdom
"My ability?"
Jared's lips pressed together and he nodded.
Eliza blinked. "What about it?"
"Well..." He glanced away and back again, uncertain of where his eyes should meet. "It's... fire..."
"Yep." She swallowed, looking around. "I can create fire from my hands. I have good control over it and can make it blaze up pretty high. Do you think I could get a glass of water?"
No response from Jared.
She sighed and pointed her finger upwards. A stream of fire reached up and hit the ceiling, melting the ice so a stream of water fell into her open mouth. And once she was finished, she stopped the flame and the remaining water froze immediately.
Jared was still in shock. His mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish as he attempted to let out noise.
She looked at him and blinked. "Is that it?"
"Yeah... No. No, it's not." He drew his mouth back together and coherency began to flow. "Have you always had this fire... ability? How come I never noticed it before?" A pause. "Well, I guess I'd never actually seen you use an ability before, but still..." He swallowed. Another pause. "Are you like Bob?"
She blinked again. "What?"
"Like Bob. You know."
"No, I don't know. Does he have a Fire ability too?"
"No, you know... A different ability, an unusual one." A small smile played on his lips. "Is your fire an abstract ability like how Bob can access a variety of knowledge without prior awareness whenever he wishes?"
She shook her, brows coming together. "Wait a second, what? This is... what? Bob doesn't have an Ice ability?"
"No, of course not. What did you think his ability was?"
"I don't know... Creating ice droplets? Breaking ice?" By this point, her face was twisted slightly in confusion.
He shrugged. "I did too at first. Turns out, that comes from sharp strikes to certain parts of the ice." A swallow. He created a small ball of ice and stuffed it in his mouth, talking through it. "Is your ability like Bob's?"
A sigh. "I wasn't born in Ice."
A gasp through a mouthful of ice. Some water went down the wrong way and he started coughing. So, instead, he spoke through coughs. "Is this what happens when someone was born on the Surface?"
"People can't be born on the Surface. The disease thing in the air makes children die when they're born. The same thing happens if people get pregnant on the Surface. Are you alright?"
He waved a hand. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"I was born in Fire. I grew up in Fire. So did Thorn. We came here around five years ago."
Jared frowned. "People from Fire can't enter Ice."
She paused. Pressed her lips together. Unsure of how to answer that. "It is possible... But I can't tell you why or how... Because at the moment Thorn and I are the only people who know how..."
His frown deepened. "So, Thorn's from Fire too?"
"Yes. He's Svorn's older brother."
"Svorn?"
"The Fire Lord."
Jared's face flew wide open. "He's the Fire Lord's brother!?"
Eliza just looked at him. A blink. A small sigh. "Do you want everyone to know that bad?"
YOU ARE READING
Frozen Flame
Fantasy[Finished and being edited] Once captured by a distraught king, a fierce warrior is forced to choose between saving his family or his country. But choices are never that simple. ...
