Prelude- The Cryomancer meets a wanderer

A fateful day arrives where two very different people's lives intertwine with one another, and change. The only question now is what that change means.

“Hey, Teresa, I’ve finished all of today's exercises, Do you mind if I take a walk around town for a bit? I’ll be back before nightfall.”

“What are you gonna be doing in town? I wouldn’t want you getting into any trouble, now.”

“Don’t worry, I was just gonna go to the marketplace, walk around, maybe buy some books or something.”

“Oh, well don’t take too long, I’ll be waiting for you, I was thinking that it’s time I showed you some more tomes about the elements.”

“Oh, that would be great! I’ll be looking forward for it!” I leave the temple and head to town, though instead of heading to the marketplace, I head towards the entrance. I lied about going to the marketplace, it’s filled with too much people, and I really just wanted some time to myself. The desert is wide and open, I feel so free just walking around, even if I am just barely out of the town's range. Even so, I still find incredibly relaxing. Right before I’m about to get out of the town’s entrance, I get stopped by one of the guards. S**t, he’s gonna say something, isn’t he?

“Excuse me, Claire? What are you doing out here, shouldn’t you be at the temple, studying your uh… magic?”

“I’m done for today. I’d figure that I’d just walk around the desert for a while, no need to worry.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that, Claire. The desert can be a very dangerous place, you know. You should stay in town.”

Geez, this guy’s talking like I’ve never been out in the desert before, or like I’m just some poor defenseless kid. “I can handle myself, sir. There’s no need to worry.”

“I don’t know, Claire. I don’t think Teresa would like it if I just let you leave.”

“Well, frankly, officer, I don’t think it's in your place to decide whether I leave town or not.”

“Oh, um, I suppose it isn’t…”

“Well, I’ll be on my way then. I’ll be back before nightfall.” I walk away from the guard, and head into the desert. F**k, he’s probably gonna tell Teresa, I’m gonna get caught. What if Teresa restricts what I can do now? Ugh, whatever, it could have been worse, I guess. Besides I didn’t come out here to start worrying about whether I’d get caught, I came out here to relax.

I walk out of the town entrance, and smile at the sight the desert. No matter how many times I come out here, I’m always amazed by how vast the desert is. There’s so much out here, I doubt I’ll ever even see a fraction of what Shadaar has to offer. Instead, I’ll be stuck here, in this god forsaken town, learning about some element I’ll probably never be able to control properly. I can feel the water coming into form around me as I continue to walk. Just my f*****g luck, I can’t stop condensing water wherever I am, but the second I try to control the damn thing, it keeps deciding to just F*****G EVAPORATE, F*****G COME ON! Uhh, This is a living hell… I mean I’ve been getting better, at least I can control the mystic water at the temple, but even then, it’s only if I’m putting so much effort that I get aggressive. Teresa’s so damn graceful when she controls water, I wonder how she does it. I wonder if I’ll ever be that good. I hate thinking like this. I continue to walk through the desert, enough so the I can only just see the town.

“F**k! Goddammit!” Someone yells from the distance.

Oh s**t, what was that? It sounds like someone is in some sort of trouble! What should I do, should I go? But what if it’s dangerous? Immediately, as I think that, I’m reminded of the guard warning me, and I decide to go the screaming. I have a knife with me, and some mystic water, I could use that to defend myself, though I doubt I’ll be able to use the water offensively, I’ll probably just end up spilling it. I grab the knife from my bag and head towards the yelling.

“Hello? Anyone, please, is anyone out there, argh F**k!”

“Hey, uh, don’t worry! Someone’s coming for help!” I run through the rough sand, and start making myself up a hill. When I reach the top, I see something that makes my body shiver, blood. Oh, gods, it's a young man laying on the floor, with a pool of blood forming around him! Oh f**k, s**t s**t, f**k, what do I do? Is he dead? As I contemplate what to do, I see the body move a bit and briefly glance towards me. Oh, thank god, he’s alive. I walk up towards him. As I start moving, I feel like something is leaving, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone around me. Huh, strange, I’ll have to keep an eye out for bandits. The bleeding isn’t as bad as I initially thought, though it’s still making  me anxious just looking at it. If I can dress the wound and take him into into town, he should be just fine.

“Oh s**t...You're gonna be alright, just lie still.” I grab a piece of my robe, rip out a chunk, and wrap it around him wound. I think that should do it. I grab him by the arm, and prop him against my shoulder, and immediately began to lose my balance. Okay! F**k f**k f**k, I got this, I got this!(At this point, it becomes clear I do not have this) I regain some balance, though it’s not long till I end up sliding down the hill. I fall to ground, with the man landing right on me. Ooh, f**k, I’m alright, okay I’ve got this. I check the person to make sure they’re alright, though they seem unconscious now. F**k, I hope I didn’t hurt him more. As I begin to stand back up I take a quick glance and I realize that things have gotten worse. There’s a bandit in front of me.

“..... Heh heh, why, hello there. Would you mind?” The bandit then pulls out a dagger and grins nastily.

F**k.... f**k, oh f**k! S**t, f**k, oh s**t! I try to slowly walk away, but the bandit comes walking towards me. “Get away from me!” I try to pull my knife out, but I end up tripping with the wounded survivor still hanging around me. S**t, I’m going to die!

“Oh my, what a nasty fall, heh. Tell you what, if you give me all your things, I might let you head back to town. That sounds fair, right?”

“B-back away from me! I’m not afraid of you!” I let go of the wounded person, and I fumble around for my knife, panicking. I manage to pull it out, though it’s clear I’m still at a disadvantage.

“And what are you planning to do? You not gonna hurt me with that, now are you?” He heads right toward me, laughing.

At this point, I’m just struggling trying to standing up. Come on, stand up, this isn’t the time to freeze up! I stand up, and immediately try to warn him away by slashing my knife around. The bandit just laughs more, and uses his dagger to cut my hand and knock my knife out my hand. Ahh! Blood starts dripping from my hand, and I'm starting to lose it. Oh god, that hurts! I try to run away, but the bandit grabs my arm.

“Don’t be so rude, now! Look, I’m sorry for this, but I gotta do this, it’s me or you in this world, and I’d rather like to see the next day. So, if you don’t mind!” He then pulls me towards him, and I yell stop. I close my eyes, afraid of what’s going to happen. I start to punch him, and as I land the hit, something odd happens…. I’m… wet? I open my eyes, and I see water everywhere. What?

“Wh-what was that? Did.. did you just throw- w-what’s going on here? What’s with all the water?”

Huh? I look around, and I see the waters coming from around me. I must have been creating water without realizing. But… this feels different. Almost like… I can feel the water coming from me, almost like… I’m controlling it? I look to the bandit, who’s been confused as to what happened. I must have hit him with the water as well. I... I’m in control! Okay, I’ve got this! I take a deep breath and focus, concentrating on the water around me. This feeling I have is something I’ve never felt before, for the first time… I kinda actually feel capable… As I continue I can see all the water growing and condensing around me. The bandit is baffled as to what's happening, but before he can do anything, I make my next move, and I envelope him in the water. The water begins to drop in temperature, and soon it starts freezing around him. It becomes harder for the bandit to move, though I stop myself. If I were to keep going, I think I might just kill him.

“What are you doing?! Please, stop or- or I’ll kill you!”

“Shut up!” I tighten the water around him, and I continue to lower the temperature to the point where he can’t move. He continues to yell as his body is trapped by the water, until it covers his mouth, then I stop, and walk towards him.  “Don’t f**k with me ever again. Once the water dissipates, and if you're still alive I want you to turn yourself into a decent f*****g person, understand? Because next time, I won’t give you enough space to breath.” I’m just filled with adrenaline at the moment. I walk towards the wounded wanderer, and sense something new. There’s some kind of aura around him, weird. I look at the wanderer’s wound, blood still seeping out of him, and I focus my powers again, though this time hoping to do something else. I feel body becoming more heavy, and as I push the blood back into his body and seal the wound(with a cloth though, not magic) I begin to feel the wanderer’s body in my control. I can’t help but shiver. Holy s**t...

I start making my way back to town, some break this has turned out to be. I’m so tired now, I can hardly stand anymore. I wonder if I’ll still be in trouble, or if Teresa will even believe what’s happened. I make it to the entrance, and see the guard who told me to stay, and I only now realize it’s nearly nighttime.

“Claire! Oh my god, what’s happened here?”

“Oh, hey, I don’t suppose you could help me? I found this man in the desert, he could use some medical help.”

“Of course, here, I’ll take the body, let’s go to the temple, there should be a doctor there.” The guard grabs the guy, and puts him on his back. “ What happened to this man? What happened to you, you look awful!”

“Oh, thanks for the compliment, I feel just as awful… Hey, you wouldn't mind if I just… just…” And, like that, I fall to the ground.

“Claire, Claire, are you awake? Ah s**t, here, I’ve got you...”

The next morning

I wake up, feeling every single ache in my body. I'm so exhausted I can’t even move.

“Good morning, Claire. Did you sleep well?” Teresa greets me, literally inches away from my face.

“Wha- oh god, Teresa, you scared me!” I yell, almost falling off of my bed.

“I scared you? I wait for you all night, only to find you and some unconscious stranger, being carried by one of the local guards, Faris. I’ve been worried sick about what's happened to you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you or anything, really, I just got mixed up in some mess, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s all right. I suppose it’s for the best that you went out there in the desert anyways, else that person you saved would be dead.”

“Yea… wait, you know about the desert!?”

“Of course I know! What kind of guardian would I be if I didn’t know you've been going too the desert all this time. I thought it would be best to let you have some time to yourself, but I was too careless. I never expected all this to happen, I should have known better.”

“Huh. I guess I’ve just been underestimating you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s not important. What is important however, is that you seem different now. You've awakened your abilities, haven’t you? Tell me, Claire, have you gained control of your abilities?”

“I.. that’s right, I did! Teresa, I can use cryomancry!” I instantly jolt up to hug Teresa, which catches her off guard, and causes me extreme pain. “Okay! Wow, that was not a good idea. Anyways, you could not believe what happened, there was this man who had a weapon and- oh my god, Teresa, that man was about to kill me! I- well, if it wasn’t for… for the cryomancry, I might have died… s**t.”

“It’s okay,  Claire. What’s important now is that you’re safe, and that you made such tremendous progress. Not only that, but you saved a person's life. I’m so proud of you, Claire . You must be tired though, so you should rest, we’ll talk later.”

“No no no, I’m alright, I wanna talk. It’s been such a crazy day, I could use some company.”

“Really now? You usually prefer to keep to yourself, I’m surprised.”

“Oh come on, Teresa, I’m sorry it’s just weird to talk about personal stuff. It makes me feel- ah forget about it.”

“Relax, Claire, I’m only teasing. Let’s talk, I imagine you must have several questions right about now. I admit, I have a few myself.”

“Yeah, right. Well uh, how about we start with what happened after I passed out?”

“Right, about that. Well, not much really, once you fell, Farris, the guard you met, carried you and the injured boy to the temple. He told me what he knew, that you came into town with that man, all bloodied up and tired. He didn’t know much else, but he thinks you were in some kind of skirmish, is that right?”

“S**t, okay, so I’ll tell you everything that happened” I begin to explain all the details, how I ditched town, heard the yelling, met the bandit, and even used some of my abilities. “And yeah, that’s about it. I got to town, Farris caught me, and I guess my exhaustion just got the best of me. I’m sorry, I thought I knew what I was doing. Ah, I screwed up, didn’t I?”

“Of course not, dear. You handled the situation very well. I’m impressed, especially by the amount of skill you shown..”

“Oh right, the dude! What happened to him, is he alright?”

“Yes, they’ll be fine, you did patch him up, you even sealed his blood, not many beginning cryomancers could do that, you know.”

“Really? I didn’t even know what I actually did, it felt so unreal. I didn’t even know cryomancers could, control blood! It seems so crazy. And gross, very gross. Uhh, I can’t even think about it, it’s so freaky. I’m surprised that I was even able to use any cryomancry, I mean, I’ve never been able to really control up until now, so why now?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but it’s safe to say that the reason is because of your fight or flight response. If you were being attacked, it would make sense that your body would do whatever it took to survive, including activating your powers. How interesting. Think of it as a flight or fight response.”

“So my powers have just been sealed up all this time? Well, what the f**k? It took some guy trying to mug me me so I could use my powers? Is that what it’s like for other cryomancers?”

“Well, not exactly. It usually takes most cryomancers years of practice and skill to use their abilities. Though, I’ve heard rumors of some who have been able to use their abilities earlier by other means, like your survival instinct. Though that doesn’t explain everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve only ever been able to control the water at the temple. The reason for that is because the water has been purified by my tomes, so they have special properties attached to them. Without any properties attached, water can be very difficult to control for beginners. So, even if your’e abilities have awakened, it doesn’t explain how you were able to control the water through sheer willpower. Are you sure you told me everything? Is it possible you missed something.”

“No, I don’t think so, I told you everything I knew. Uck, I’m so confused now, this is all so crazy.”

“I suppose this has been a lot to take in. You must still be exhausted, you should get some rest, we’ll talk more later. It should be time for me to check on that person you saved.”

“ I’m gonna get some rest, but I’d like to know about what happened to him, the person I saved.”

Don’t worry, you’ll meet him soon enough. Just get some rest, dear.” Teresa walks out of the room, leaving me to my thoughts. I guess there’s still so much I haven’t learned about cryomancry, but now, it actually starting to feel like I’m making progress! I raise my hand up, and do a little twirl. Nothing happens though. I try a little harder, and some water does come into form, and instantly falls on my face. Aw haha, I guess I’m still new to this. I instantly realize just how exhausted I feel, but decide to fight sleeping for a bit. I look to a table beside my bed, and grab a book standing on it. It’s a journal written by some water adept about her studies on cryomancry. I read a couple of lines, but soon enough, I stop focusing and I end up knocking out again.

Author's Note

This is still a work in progress, so any feedback would be appreciated!