Indigo Elf

Ch. 35

Ch. 35

Arlen

Scale was more of a village than a town or city, it was incredibly small and surrounded by a large, stone wall. As we approached the village walls, I couldn't help but notice the fields that had been plowed right in front of the village walls. The crops were all dead, frozen from the cold and covered in a foot of snow. The hustle and bustle one would normally hear when approaching any kind of civilization was nonexistent here, it was as silent as death.

As we approached the gates, I noticed the large dragon skulls that were on display on either side of the gate.

"Usually, there's someone here to greet travelers," Gabriel spoke, "Leaving the town unguarded like this is unlike the village chief."

"How are we going to get in if there's no one here to allow us entrance?" Landon asked.

I wondered this as well.

"We're just going to have to force our way in, if there's no one here to greet us, then that obviously means that something is wrong."

"Is it possible that they opted to remain inside to escape the cold? You did say that this continent doesn't experience cold weather," I added.

This time, it was Xana who spoke, "With the number of poachers and pillagers this place gets, leaving their village unguarded is just asking for trouble. Despite its size, Scale is mostly populated by retired adventurers and people who were sent here to protect the dragons. They wouldn't leave this place unguarded."

We fell back into silence as we approached the gates. Standing up, I exited my cloud and walked towards the gate. It was dreadfully cold. Turning towards Seth, I wasn't surprised at all to see him shaking like a leaf. I threw a blanket at him and he caught it gratefully. Stepping in front of me, Gabriel pounded on the gate. The gate was made of thick wood and was covered in a layer of frost.

I didn't know what to expect on the other side of the wall, but what we did see wasn't what I imagined at all. As soon as Gabriel pounded on the gate, it opened with little to no resistance. I stumbled back in shock at the state of the village. There was a reason the village was a silent as death when we first approached, that was because there wasn't anyone alive left. The entire village was frozen solid; covered in a thick sheet of ice, but that wasn't what shocked me the most, the most shocking factor was how the people were frozen in the middle of their day to day lives. Men, women, children, all frozen instantly. People who were walking were left frozen mid-stride, people who were tending to their gardens, children who were playing, people who were enjoying a drink, animals grazing or wrestling with each other, there was even a fisherman in the middle of catching a fish. It was like a painting.

"N-No..," someone whispered tearfully. I went to turn to see who it was but was promptly pushed out of the way as Riza ran through the gates and into the village.

"Riza, wait!" Xana yelled as she chased after her friend. I was a little scared to go running through a mass grave, not to mention that whoever did this could still be lurking around, but leaving the two of them alone wasn't an option. Summoning my cloud, I quickly followed them.

I could her Riza sobbing as she ran towards what looked to be a small house. Like everything else, the house was covered in ice and she was unable to open the door. Leaping off my cloud, I ran towards the house and placed my hand against the door. Using magic, I cracked the ice and Riza quickly ran inside. Xana quickly followed her. I slowly made my way inside the frozen house. Everything was covered in a thick sheet of ice.

"NO!" I heard someone scream. I rushed towards the back of the house where I found Riza and Xana kneeling beside a bed. Entering the room, I gasped at the sight of a man and a woman who was completely frozen while they were still sleeping. In the woman's arms was a small girl who looked identical to Riza. So Riza was born here, I didn't even know. I sighed sadly. Riza was inconsolable. She had her face buried into Xana's chest, her body shaking violently as she cried. I quickly walked out of the room. I didn't like it when people cried and I didn't know how to make Riza feel better.

"I'll kill them!" Riza suddenly roared. I flinched. Seeing as this was my first time seeing Riza in such a state, I was a little bit afraid of her.

--

Hours later, we stood around the graves of Riza's parents and her little sister. Riza knelt on the ground, her ears downcast in sadness. We were all quiet; the only thing that could be heard was the whistling of the wind and Riza's soft cries.

"I'll avenge you," she lowly growled, "I'll kill every single person responsible, I swear it."

After that, we spent hours putting off of Scale's residents to rest, as well as the animals. When we finished that, Yami and I worked together to melt all the ice and restore any damage that might have been done to the buildings. I didn't know if this village would ever see life again, but as of right now, it was a ghost town.

Despite what happened, I was impressed that Riza still found the strength to help us bury the citizens. It made me like her even more than I already had, and made me want to get to the bottom of this tragedy even more.

As night fell, we gathered inside one of the houses. I held Shiro in my lap as Gabriel and some of the others discussed amongst themselves.

"Do you think Slade will, you know," Riddick said quietly as he discreetly glanced at Riza.

Gabriel shrugged, "I don't know, but we'll have to go and find out. If it is, we'll take care of it the same way we did here. For now, Arlen, share some of that junk food with everyone, you'll get fat if you eat it all by yourself."

Rolling my eyes, I did as I was told while Riddick lit a fire in the fireplace. Yami grew some fruit and Melvin and Xana distributed it to all of us. Sphinx scooted next to me, looking at me with those piercing red eyes of his.

Link was also watching me intently from the other side of the room. I sighed, already knowing what they both wanted. Since I refused to have the both of them sucking on my flesh, I got some cups for the both of them and filled it up with my precious blood. Usually, the two brothers would go off and hunt, but with most of the animals here dead as well as any other people, their options were severely limited.

After my hungry guildmates depleted my food stash, we all settled in for the night. Perhaps tomorrow will be better than today.  

_Gieo_