13 :: The World of White

A vast expanse of white greeted Nora as she opened her eyes. Before she had a chance to assess her surroundings, her body was wracked by several waves of intense pain. She flung her arms around her, one of her hands finding its way to cover her mouth to keep her from inhaling. Her teeth clenched as she struggled to bear the pain. She squinted her eyes shut as they welled with tears. It was cold. It was beyond cold. Her hair billowed in the wind sending pieces of it flying into her eyes, her freezing tears gluing them in place.

As she regained enough consciousness to realize the danger she was in, she immediately began pulling whatever items she could find out of her spatial realm and layering them over herself. Traveling cloaks were tied along her limbs, blouses were wrapped around her head and hands. Every square inch of exposed skin was covered as quickly as she could move. Surveying her handiwork, Nora crouched herself into a ball in an attempt to conserve her warmth.

How was she supposed to find shelter in the middle of a storm like this? She couldn’t even see three feet in front of her, she thought to herself. Even when night time came, it would be fairly unlikely that she would be able to see any lights through this snow. Waiting until night would be the most dangerous decision of all. Not only would the temperature drop significantly, but there was no telling what kind of creatures might wake up then. Arctic climates in any realm were typically host to a number of predators. Her home planet of Earth had been no different. There was something about extreme climates that tended to produce extreme food chains, and Nora had no intent of becoming part of that.

Just as she was beginning to contemplate the risks and benefits of moving about during the day, she noticed an abnormality. Through the white haze of the blizzard, there seemed to be a mass of vivid blue flame bobbing up and down as it rapidly approached her position. It didn’t take a speeding ball of inferno to tell Nora that she was in danger. Her hand shot to her waist where her new pistol was waiting.

Nora’s eyes widened in fear as she realized the problem. Both of her hands were wrapped in bulky cloth in an attempt to keep them warm. She couldn’t even hold her guns, much less pull a trigger or aim. She began frantically trying to shake off the hand wraps, looking back and forth between the pistol and the approaching flame-beast.

As the creature neared it became apparent that the hand wraps were not going to be removed in time. Nora cursed under her breath as she turned and began to run. Her feet sunk deeply into the blanket of snow covering the ground and hindered her movement. She raised her knees as high as she could as she struggled to make headway against the snow. This wasn’t working either.

She swore loudly as she raised her hands to remove the wrap around her face. The cold wind burned her flesh and she regretted it almost immediately. She tore at the wrap covering her right hand with her teeth, ripping off scraps of cloth until finally, the cloth shook loose enough to slip her hand out of it.

Thin fingers shone like bone in the twilight created by the thick snow as they darted towards the pistol on her left side. She pulled it from its holster as she spun and faced the flame creature. The beast crashed into her, forcing her pistol to rest parallel against its chest. A thick arm covered in white fur pinned her to its side as it crashed through the place where she had previously stood, carrying on without stopping.

Nora squirmed in its embrace. Thankfully the flames appeared to only cover its back. The front was covered with fur, and if anything, it was warm. She bobbed up and down uncomfortably as the creature carried her away. She could feel the moist heat of its breath as it panted, charging through the snow on a set of stocky legs. While one arm held her, the other pushed snow out of the way as it ran. From what Nora could tell, it was an ape of sorts. The word yeti crossed her mind, but she had never heard of yetis with flaming backs before.

Nora swung her legs in large arcs trying to rock the creature off balance. Every up swing planted a knee into the thing’s kidneys. As she continued her relentless assault on its sides, she twisted her torso, furiously trying to free her arm that was pressed uncomfortably against the creature’s chest. If she could twist her hand just a little bit upward, she could get a clean shot at the beast’s chin and that would mean victory.

Just as suddenly as she had been grabbed, the beast slid to a stop. The snow seemed to give way to an icy plane. The beast ran towards the tip of a boulder that jutted out, marring the smooth surface. As it crossed the boulder, it stooped down and slammed its fist three times against the hard surface of the ground. Nora watched in rapt amazement as a chunk of ice the size of a kiddie pool was lifted by four furred hands. Without even the time to gasp in surprise, Nora was thrust beneath the slab and into the cavern below.

Her body skidded along the packed ice surface as she did her best to roll out of the fall and absorb the impact. Spinning into a kneeling position, she hid her modified pistol away and pulled her standard piece. Glaring at the two creatures raising the ice slab, she waited for the third one to slide in. As soon as its feet hit the floor, she fired a single round into the wall. The three snapped their heads to look at her. Just as she had expected.

“Hoods down!” she demanded, gesturing with her free hand for them to remove their headgear. The three men nervously glanced at each other before obeying, lifting their fur hoods. The one with the flaming back pressed himself up against one of the ice walls before lowering his. It let out a hiss as the flames were extinguished.

The three were very similar in appearance. Each of them had a large, stocky build. Their faces were covered in long hair and bushy beards, all of a pale grey color. Despite the color of their hair, they didn’t seem to be particularly old. In fact, all of them seemed to be in the prime of their lives.

“Speak,” Nora commanded, once again gesturing with her free hand to try and convey the intent of her words. The one that had formerly been on fire obliged, spilling out a long stream of angry-sounding dialogue. Thankfully, Nora recognized it as a close dialect of Old Norse and could understand that he was unhappy with her treatment of them after they had saved her life. Nora did her best to respond in the little Norse she knew.

“Thank you,” she spoke, nodding her head in gratitude, but refusing to lower her weapon. The men raised their eyebrows, surprised that they could understand what she had said. “Where am I?” she asked. This time, there was no chance of her blending in with the natives. She couldn’t even play the lost traveler. She wasn’t sure exactly how they had found her out there in the middle of the blizzard, but the fact that she was still alive was a testament to the fact that she had not been there long and had certainly not wandered there herself. There was no choice but to play dumb.

“You are lost,” the same man spoke. “You arrived here same as the others. One after another, they all appear in that field. Different shapes and colors. Different tongues. We don’t know why. It is considered a sacred place. The elders claim that it is the magic of the storm that draws you, but I do not know. All that I know is that when the ice bed begins to groan, it means that a traveler has been standing still for too long and needs help.” he asserted pointedly.

Nora blanched at the thought of what might have happened had she not been found. She had no idea that the ground had not been sturdy where she stood. The swim she took in the last realm she visited was bad enough. She didn’t imagine she would have lasted long swimming beneath the ice in this kind of cold.

Nora thanked them again as she tucked her pistol back into its holster at her waist. She didn’t take her hand off of it, but she figured she should show at least a bit of gratitude to her saviors.

“You say people appear in this field frequently?” she asked. This was troublesome news indeed. There would have to be some kind of spatial anomaly in the area for things like that to happen, but normally an anomaly would only be connected to one other realm. This man had mentioned that the people who appeared here looked different and spoke different languages. This could imply perhaps that several anomalies had converged, but she had never heard of such a thing. It could also mean that they were being summoned, similarly to what had brought her to the Outer Realms in the first place.

It was unlikely that a Warden was involved in this though. If there was one in this realm, they would have fixed this by now. It would be dangerous to continue investigating, but perhaps she could find some clues to their disappearance in their office. She wondered how long it would take to find one. She highly doubted there was an office hidden away somewhere in this cave. These men had spoken of elders so she reasoned that there must be some kind of civilization nearby. Perhaps they would have a decent school.

“People appear in this field often. Usually, several times in a year. Sometimes in groups,” the same man, who seemed to be their leader answered.

“Where are these people now? Can you take me to them?” Nora asked politely.

“It is where you must go,” the man replied, “All lost ones live together in a community. There you will join a family and attend school.” Nora’s ears perked up at that. Aside from the fact that it sounded like she would be sent to some kind of ghetto, there was a school. This was good news. As long as she could get into that school, even if it was in a ghetto, she would be fine. Nora nodded her assent.

“Please take me there,” she requested. The man nodded and gestured towards one of the other two men. The man stepped forth and motioned towards a tunnel in the back of the cave. The tunnel seemed to be carved from black ice, and aside from the floors, the walls were completely smooth. Nora ran her hand along the surface and confirmed that it was ice. The man motioned once again for her to follow him and they both stepped into the tunnel.

***

So, I just got done talking about how I wasn't going to be posting as frequently, and then I immediately sat down and put four chapters on paper in under 24 hours. I may cut back my postings at some point, but that will not be this week. I guess I got my writing mojo back. :P As usual, please let me know what you think in the comments!