Shadow Cursed

Chapter 21: The Winter Festival

* There will be a little explicit language in this chapter. *

Turning around I saw a girl, a teenage girl about my age standing in front of me. I was almost sure it would of been the librarian stopping me. She had a serious face on making me nervous.

She started laughing, "You should see your face, you looked so scared." She offered her hand, and we shook. Curious she asked, "You're not from around here are you?"

"No I'm not, I'm in a hurry to get to the forest where the snow falls." Time was running out.

Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when I mentioned the forest, "I love the Winter Woods! Their hot chocolate is the best thing you will ever taste."

She had a dirty blond hair with the ends dyed a bluish purple. Her robe was a black jacket with buttons and a purple dress below it. She also was wearing a brown boots. I couldn't help but notice her eyes were a dark sapphire blue, like they were made of magik.

"The entire Winter Festival there is amazing! The music, the food, the hot chocolate, and the games and contests!" She was excited.

"I'm taking it that you know the way there." I hesitated to take out my map of the Realms to ask for directions.

I didn't need to, "I would love to! You came at the perfect time!" She grabbed my hand and started dragging me out of the library in excitement.

"Slow down," I remembered she never told me her name. "I never asked you, what's your name?"

"Oh sorry!" She stopped, "I'm Mystic, the oldest sorceress of my family." I could see that in her eyes. "And while we are on the topic of introductions, you are?"

"Oh lol, I'm Isabella," I almost said Caywood but that's not my real last name, I decided to use Alric's last name instead, "Isabella Varner."

"Lol? Oh well hi Isabella, nice to meet you." She continued walking through the small town streets.

I started explaining, "Lol means laugh out loud." She seemed confused.

Realizing, "Oh, you came from Earth I take it, studying abroad I see." She seemed curious. "Any other slang there that I wouldn't know?"

"Rolf means roll on floor laughing. Lamo means laughing my ass off. Bitch is a female dog, and also a name someone is rude, and goes out of their way to be an asshole." I listed off as many as I could remember as we walked in the snow.

She seemed fascinated, "Wow, how long have you been there?"

"If I were you I wouldn't go around calling someone a bitch though, just letting you know before you do." I took out of my phone, but no signal. Sighing, I put it back in my pocket. "Anyways, I've been there practically my entire life with a foster mother. And a foster mother is not your real mother but someone who raised you not related to your blood."

"We have those, some children lost their parents in the war so they were raised by other parents." She seemed sad, then cheered back up. "Anyways, nice to meet you Isabella." She had a big smile painted on her face.

The rest of the walk we chatted like old friends, kind of weird since I just met her, but we just fit like 2 pieces of a puzzle. It was hard to explain. We chatted about favorite foods and songs. Things were much different between our worlds.

"Okay, we're here!" The snow was falling in flakes now and a giant sign was welcoming us to the Winter Festival. "I'll show you around."

She pointed out all the stands and the types of food they had, some had cookies, pies, and food that looked like food I knew but was totally different.

I was also convinced tried a few things. After trying something weird, I almost wanted to throw up. "Okay, I'm going to be honest, that was disgusting."

She giggled, "I don't like that either. My mom makes me eat it during Christmas."

I felt bad for her, "Really?"

"It's a family recipe in our house, I have to literally swallow it without tasting which is hard." She turned her attention to another stand. "Oh I love these, the best cookies here." She took one and split it in two pieces, handing me one half, "Try it. It tastes better that that trust me."

I took a nibble of the cookie, "What's in this?" I finished my half in two bites. "And can I have another please?" She got me two more cookies, "Thanks."

"I've been told it's chocolate chunks, flour, sugar, and a secret ingredient." She kept walking ahead of me.

I hurried up to keep up with her. "What's next to see?" Then I smelled a wonderful smell, and spotted a line of people. "Are we gonna wait in that line?"

"It's the line for the hot chocolate. It may seem long but it's not that long of a wait." She settled at the end of the line, and I followed after her.

The smell got stronger as we got closer to the front. By the time we got to the front of the line I was dying for a cup.

Mystic ordered first, "A Triple Chocolate with marshmallows, whipped cream, and a little bit of the special spice you have." She took some money out, "This is for our drinks," she then left to the next window.

I stood at the window looking at all the choices on the menu. "Well what do you want?" The person asked me.

Not sure what to pick, "I'll have the Double Chocolate with marshmallows then." Satisfied I stood next to Mystic waiting for her hot drink.

When she saw me, she asked "Which did you get?"

"There were so many flavors I couldn't decide so I got the Double Chocolate with some marshmallows." I looked at the receipt. "This place sure is popular."

"The Winter Festival is the only place to have this drink, and it's the best one of the entire Realm. There are people who come here just for the hot chocolate." She looked at her pocket watch, "It's getting late. We should go soon."

"Oh shoot, I forgot I have to do something. That's why I came here." I felt bad for forgetting about Damien while I was here having fun. I had been distracted, not that a distraction wasn't bad, but it was bad timing.

"You can do it after we drink our hot chocolate then," she smiled as our drinks were ready and we took them.

The first sip was so sweet in my mouth. Did happiness taste that sweet or was it magik? "What do they put in this?"

"A pinch of magik power, it does wonders." She took another sip.

"Can you buy this? I would buy a Winter's supply and use it every time I made hot chocolate." I licked my lips, the chocolate tastes amazing.

"You can buy it in small amount. A little goes a long way, as the saying goes." She finished her cup and I was almost done. "I'm glad you came with me Isabella. I hope to see you again soon? I would really like to be friends."

"Sure." We hugged and then went our different ways. Seeing her leave made me a little sad, but I couldn't be distracted anymore. I had lost a couple hours to a day of time. Damien could but dying atm and I would feel bad for having fun and drinking hot chocolate at the Winter Festival. I pocketed the left over cookie I saved for later, I would give it to him as a get well gift.

I felt the wind pulling me, so I followed it. But something was very wrong it felt. I held my cloak close to my body as I neared the cliff. The air was hot and humid, and the snow was still falling.

The skies were painted various shades of red, when it should of been a pretty Winter sky. It looked like a disastrous storm waiting to happen. I needed to hurry and find Wulfric. If something happened to him I would not know who to ask for help.

I heard the scraping of a sword behind me and I knew I had been spotted by someone. Drawing my sister's sword I smuggled out of her room, out of its case hanging on my belt, I turned and faced a familiar face. Anna. She was here.