Chapter 11 Frostblood Training

❄Snow❄

“Mom is going to teach us how to use our pow..ers!” Lilly kept chanting the line as she balanced on the lip of the fountain, teetering left and right. Snow, Gravis, and Lussuria were sitting on the frontmost part of the fountain. All the sisters were waiting in the center of the west garden. A week had passed since the attacks in the old district and things seemed to have calmed down. Their mother told them it was time for a more in-depth explanation of their birthright: the Frostblood. As they waited, Snow took a glance at Gravis’ back. She didn’t see any ice protruding from her clothing.

“Gravis, how is your back? Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah, All the ice is gone. I feel like gold.”

“That’s good.”

Lussuria stretched before crossing her legs and joining the conversation.

“Good heavens, I hope mom teaches us something useful, I was in the middle of testing a new spell.”

“Your runecraft magic?” Snow questioned.

“Correct.”

Lussuria and her endless studies of magic for the mage guild, Snow wondered how different the encounter would have been if she was there.

“If only you were there Lussuria, you could have probably blasted those guys off the rooftops or something.”

“They were on the rooftops? A simple wind tornado would have sufficed.”

“You hear that Snow, if only we were accompanied by the great mage prodigy Lussuria. She would have easily thwarted any and all the attacks against us.” Sarcasm emitted from Gravis. Lussuria stood up in response and struck an overbearing elitist pose.

“That is correct, if that eyepatch freak you described ever encountered me, I would subject him to a very painful lesson.”

“Well, if you ever do, be sure to get an extra blast in for me.”

“Will do my dear sister.”

The Screeching noise of the iron castle door was heard as their mother entered the garden. It was finally time.

Their mom brought them to a ‘safe enough’ area behind the garden. To a field away from any castle windows and stationed guards.

“In light of the recent attacks against us, I have decided to start teaching you all on how to better use your Frostblood. A little earlier than when I was planning, but we do not decide when hostilities will occur.”

“It’s about time.” Gravis huffed.

“Yayyy Mom’s going to show us new tricks!” Lilly cheered.

“Okay, I’m interested.” Lussuria shrugged.

Snow, however, stood quiet. Her inadequacies in relation to her heritage had soured her on the subject.

“First and foremost, you all must learn that there are three schools of frostblood. These three schools are similar to schools of magic in that you can only specialize in one; however unlike magic, you do not have a choice with the frostblood. The frostblood is a living energy that has molded to you. Molded to your bodies, minds, and personalities. That’s why each one of you are special. As for the schools themselves, here they are; The three schools of frostblood are: frost creation, frost manipulation and frost empowerment.”

“So we already know our specializations then?”

“Yes, it’s quite obvious which specializations you all are, they revealed themselves the first time you activated your frostblood. Gravis, you will be up first. As a frost creationist, you tend to brute force your way through things. It’s only fitting, for that is that basics of what creation does.”

“That makes sense since with my ‘emerge’ ability…”

“I will show you how to strengthen that ability. As a creationist, you must be able to summon a greater amount of ice. As crude as it may sound it requires both strength and control.” Their mother walked out onto the small field facing away from the castle and gently placed her palm against the ground.

“What did you call it... Emerge?”

A burst of air exploded beneath her feet as the world shook. The sisters were thrown off their feet as a veritable mountain of ice rose from the ground, like the tip of a dagger aimed at the heavens.

“Woah!” Lily exclaimed, while the rest of her sisters stood up, their mouths agape as they stared in awe..

“That’s the power of Emerge?!” Gravis shouted, dumbfounded.

“Yes, one day you may be able to create a glacier of the same size. However, size in this case, is not the point of this demonstration. Did you notice anything different in my activation? In my efficiency with its use?”

“What’s so efficient about that? That’s a glacier, not a wall! It's ginormous!”

“I think so.” Lussuria interrupted, her chin in hand as she thought through the question. “You waited until your hand was already on the ground before activating your power.”

“Correct.” Their mother nodded, pleased at least one of them understood instantly, before continuing the lesson. She snapped her fingers and the glacier of ice started to shatter, breaking into smaller pieces, which broke up even further until nothing remained. Once the courtyard was clear again, she continued speaking.

“How can you tell Lussuria? Her eyes are always blue and there was no increased chill?” Gravis eagerly questioned.

“The burst of air at her feet a moment before. I can only assume that was it.”

“Lussuria is correct. Albeit that activation was ‘fake,’ and used to demonstrate. My real activation is much different, you need not worry about that. Just know there are two ways you can activate your frostblood, actively and passively. Right now, what you are doing Gravis, is both. Instead of activating your frostblood beforehand, try to activate it just as you are casting Emerge.”

Gravis got up, nervous about living up to her mother’s example, but determined to try anyway.

“Okay, here I go.” Gravis slammed her hand on the ground as she closed her eyes.

“Emerge!” Her eyes flashed blue momentarily as a much larger trail of ice spikes erupted and rippled across the ground in front of her, twice as large as those she summoned in the training hall previously.

“Wow! It worked! That’s amazing!”

“Very good, you learned it almost instantly, faster than I thought you would. Have you done it before?”

“…Yeah. I think I did.” Gravis looked angry at the thought.

“I see, you used it in the Old District attack.”

“I still don’t know why you are so dismissive about it.”

“I am not dismissive, what happened that day is precisely the reason for this lesson. You will one day understand Gravis, decisions resulted by anger are foolish ones. Now, Lussuria, you are next.”

Lussuria walked out to the field swapping places with Gravis. Their mother snapped her fingers again as Gravis’s ice wall shattered.

“Lussuria, you have a high comprehension of magic. You’ve explained that activating the frostblood allows you to easily cast harder spells. Am I correct?”

“You are correct Mother. Activating the Frostblood allows me to formulate higher tier spells.”

“Then, your frostblood school is ‘empowerment.’ Just as you described, the frostblood affects not things around you but things within you: Your muscles, your mind, your very senses. Using that, you can comprehend greater magic, even surpassing human limits.”

“I see, that does fit me well.” Lussuria smiled at the possibilities.

“I am no mage, but I know much of their tactics. You have already shown a mage specialization in runic magic. Runic magic is by far the most complex, you have a great many options, allowing you to form a diverse number of spells and runes. However, in combat, runic mages are by far the weakest because all an elemental mage would have to do is blast you in the face with a fireball before your cast is finished. Therefore, your weakness is speed. Instead of using the frostblood to form a more potent spell, use it to recite a low tier spell faster. Now for the test. Line duel me.”

They both walked onto the open courtyard.

“This is my spell.” Their mother formed a hardened snowball in her hand. “The rules are simple, whoever hits the other first wins.”

They stood apart in a straight line from each other, about thirty feet apart. Their mother spoke again.

“On the count of three the duel will begin. Do not hold back:”

Lussuria readied herself as Mother counted.

“‘One’…

‘Two’…

‘Three!’”

She threw the snowball at Lussuria, the pitch was so fast Snow swore it was catching flames.

Lussuria’s eyes flashed blue as she put both her hands up at the oncoming projectile.

“Rune-Power-Ignite-Fire!”

The rune formed and fired in almost an instant, far faster than the incantation itself, creating a purple blast of arcane energy that consumed the snowball. The blast continued onward towards their mother, whose hand glowed a bluish-white before swiping the blast from the air just as it reached her.

“You win. See?”

“Wow! Lussuria, what spell was that? I’ve never seen it before!” Lilly asked excitedly.

“What? I just used runefire?”

“No, you chanted something else! It sounded like ‘Rupire!’ It was only one word! And the rune formed instantly! That blast was so cool!”

“Oh…really? I didn’t notice. What if my chant wasn’t just faster but shorter too?”

“Congratulations, you now have a tool to defeat elemental mages in combat, that speed is also very advantageous against other runic mages. You break the very hierarchy of mage combat with the frostblood, that alone makes you very powerful. Do not forget you have limited uses, so save it for emergencies only.”

“Wow Mom, despite not being a mage, you sure know your stuff.”

“One day I can have Warden Flora teach you some things. She’s the best Frostblood Mage I know and possibly the best mage in the world. Now next up, Lilly.”

“YAY! IT’S MY TURN!” Lilly ran onto the field and started jabbing at the air as Lussuria returned to the group. “What are you going to teach me Mom?”

“Lilly, your current issue is that as well as you can call upon the Frostblood, you have a hard time dismissing it.”

“Yeah...Sometimes I’ll pick up a snack to eat and it will freeze before I can bite it! It happened with an apple one time, and it was like biting a rock. Blegh!” Lilly complained.

“I don’t believe that’s a sign of weakness; I believe it happens because you are so compatible with the frostblood that you are unable to distinguish it from yourself. In fact, you have such a high affinity that you can use two specializations”

“Really?! That’s so cool!” She jumped up and down happily. Mother seemed both exasperated and amused. The rest of them were surprised too.

“Yes, quite ‘cool.’ Your specializations are: ‘Manipulation’ and ‘Empowerment.’ I don’t feel like I need to teach you anything now, but I will show you a technique I think you will like. It’s a manipulation technique.”

“Show me show me show me!”

Their mother took a stance: she turned her body sideways while her head continued to face forwards and slightly bent her knees. Then, she extended her left palm forward in the same direction of her face, while pulling her right hand back in a tightened fist.

“So, what you do is focus the power of the frostblood into your fist. You already know how to do this with your feet when you ice skate; do the same thing but this time with your fist. You want it to build up. Imagine your elbow as the string on a bow, with your fist being the arrow. You “manipulate” the energy into the shape of shards, spears, or whatever you will. Then, wait until your fist begins to slightly tremble and…”

She punched forward, her whole body twisting with the motion, and launched a blast of white mist from her fist that instantly transformed into icy shards the size of spears. They whistled through the air across the field before shattering against the courtyard walls, leaving them cracked and scarred.

“Ohhhhh I see, can I try now?!” Lily exclaimed.

“Go on.”

“Okay, here I go.” Lilly moved her body in the same way she had seen her mother do so, looking adorably precocious as she mimicked her stance.

“Let the energy build up and then ‘fire’.”

Lilly took a big breath and then moved.

“Pow-Pow!” She punched forward with each hand, shooting out balls of snow the size of her head from her knuckles. However, they didn’t fly as far, falling halfway towards the wall.

“Well, it was only supposed to be with one hand, but I guess you can use two. Congratulations.”

“WOW!!!!! SOOOOO COOOOOOOL!!!” Lilly was ecstatic.

“Pow-Pow!” she immediately fired off some at Gravis, hitting her on the shoulder.

“Are you serious Lilly?!” Gravis complained, as she moved to duck behind the fountain.

“POW-POW, POW-POW! I’m the Frost Queen, and you are my subject! Kneel!” Lily shouted as she started to chase Gravis around the fountain, firing snowballs all the while.

Their mother tried hard to hide her chuckle. “Okay Lilly, that’s enough. That move will be dangerous once you learn how to shoot solid ice.”

“But I like it this way! I can hit Gravis as much as I want, and she won’t get hurt!”

“Don’t make me skewer you with Emerge!” Gravis yelled out from behind the fountain.

“Wait so Mother, you can use all three specializations? How is that possible?” Lussuria Realized.

“Yes, I can use all three.”

“How rare is that, Are there other frostblood who can use all three?”

Some powerful ones can use two, But I am the only one who can use all three..”

“Thats incredible, why?”

“That’s a story for another time. Let’s just continue.”

After a few more rounds of Lily chasing Gravis, they all settled down once more.

“Snow.” Her mother called out to her. It was her turn. Snow stood up, walking out on the field.

“I still can’t activate it.” She spoke sullenly.

“That’s what we will try to do right now.” Her mother sighed.

“I’m ready to try anything.”

Her mother approached her.

“I’ve been thinking about you Snow, and I wanted to try something different, but I don’t know if it will work. It may even be dangerous.”

“Just hit me with it, I’ll try anything!”

“Okay. Close your eyes.”

Snow closed them. There was a moment of silence, then a blast of pressure hit her full-on. Like a blast of wind: not strong enough to push her back, but strong enough to press her clothes tightly to the front of her body.

“I feel a constant blast of air pressing against the front of me. Is that what was supposed to happen?”

“Not quite. Open your eyes.”

Snow opened them, only to see her mother was right in her face startling her.

“Woah mom. You look different.”

Her mother’s looked drastically changed: her hair was alive, taking the shape of thin azure snakes of glistening light that wavered around in the air. Small plates of ice covered her neck like scales of a lizard. The scales ran halfway down her arms and chest. Even her hands were different, her fingertips ended in razor-sharp claws that dripped with blue blood. She looked like a frozen demon.

“No response. Oh well.” Her mother rattling voice sounded disappointed.

Snow backed up at her new voice and almost slipped. She looked down and noticed the area surrounding them was coated in solid ice shaped like the bottom half of an eggshell. She looked towards the fountain and all her sisters were hiding behind it, their eyes were shining blue but the emotion in them was that of terror. Her mother noticed her gaze and followed it before explaining.

“This is my true activation. It triggered all your sisters to activate their frostblood instinctively, except for you. I don’t know what to say. How odd.” The ice covering her sunk into her skin, and her hair seemed to steam before reverting to normal. Soon enough she looked like she always did.

“Why are you all hiding?” Snow called out to them.

“You didn’t see it?! She looked like a monster!”

“She didn’t look like a monster to me?” A little weird, sure, and kind of like a demon, but nothing like an actual monster.

“You couldn’t see my real aura because your frostblood wasn’t activated. I tried to shock you into it. But it had no effect. Have no fear girls, I’m not going to hurt you.”

It took some more convincing, but the rest of the girls eventually calmed down and came back over.

They were all sitting around their mother in the middle of the courtyard now.

“Now for the final lesson of today: limits. Most of you learned a new thing or two, and as most of you are aware, there is a limit to how many times you can use your ability per day. Gravis’ Emerge for example, your current use limit is three, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What happens when you pass three times?”

“When I try to use the ability more than that, it’s painful and doesn’t come out right. Not to mention that blasted ice that grows on me.”

“Exactly. Our special ability, our frostblood, is a magic unlike any other. Unlike mana where you simply run out or become exhausted, when we overuse our abilities something different happens.”

Their mom formed a beautiful ice crystal from thin air, before crushing it with her hand.

“The frost blood lives in you, it was born with you and a balance must be maintained. When you use any frost ability the power will grow inside of you, the amount of the growth depends on the user, but if it grows too much, too quickly, it will consume you.”

“Is that what was happening with Gravis’ injury?” Snow asked.

“Yes. What happened to Gravis is merely the beginning of a pushed limit. If you go beyond that, it would be far worse; some fates are worse than death, being consumed by the frost is one of them.”

That statement brought a grim silence over the girls for a long moment, before one of them broke it.

“How do we know if we’re at our limit?” Gravis asked.

“Typically, when you are about halfway to your limit, ice will start growing over you, like you are now familiar with Gravis. This is followed by more drastic transformations. The further you push your limit, the harder it is to come back from. Despite only being able to use your ability reliably three times a day, your actual limit is likely double that amount.”

“How close have you been to your limit Mom?” Lussuria asked.

“Close enough, I’ve seen too many warriors fall to the Frost. It is an extremely strong power, and you need not fear using it, but you should fear overusing it. The pain from approaching your limit should keep you in check, as you really must be purposely pushing to go over it, but you never know what desperate situations you may find yourselves in. Something Snow and Gravis discovered the other day. Plus, I don’t know what the limitations are for frostblooded children. Based on Lilly’s affinity with the frost, you all look like you naturally have more flexibility than some veterans. Once you’re older, we will see.”

“So, we can increase our usable limit, right? I don’t want to be stuck with only three uses a day.” The thought seemed to worry Gravis.

“Naturally. The more control you have, the more power you can use. Your willpower and your personal affinity with the frostblood are all variables that can affect and increase your limit. So, there’s no need to fear using it. Just make sure you stop when ice starts growing on you.”

“Sounds good Mom, I can’t wait to be as strong as you. Even though you can use all three specializations, just you wait. I’ll match your strength in no time!” With a squeezed fist Gravis sounded determined, her eyes glistened at the dream of growing stronger.

Gravis’s dream was interrupted when she was pelted in the face with a snowball.

“POW!” Lilly giggled and ran away.

“THAT’S IT LILY! YOU ASKED FOR IT!” Gravis roared, before giving chase.

The afternoon at that point descended into a cacophony of childish giggles and indignant screams.