Misty
was terrified. Alone on the tundra, only sixteen years old, with hardly any
supplies and an army chasing her. This was bad. She glanced at her fingers and
they were covered in snow but not at all cold. There was a howl in the East,
thundering paws raced towards her from the West and most horrifying of all, in
the South a high cruel laugh. Devil horns sprang from Misty's head, a devil
tail from her bottom and angel wings sprouted from her back. She soared up into
the sky fifty feet... a hundred...a hundred and fifty..... "Oof!" She had slammed
into something. Beady eyes locked onto hers. It had sleek feathers and was made
of ice. She identified it quickly.
"Seriously," she
muttered, "my assassins had to send a peregrine falcon."
The bird lunged.
Dodging, turning, twisting she flew down, the beast right behind her. Suddenly
a crazy idea entered her head. Turning quickly she zipped around an iceberg and
with a shriek the falcon exploded into ice shards.
"Whew. That was
close." She dove into the icy water and checked her surroundings. A
glance inside her backpack showed her that she had enough food for about a
month, ten pairs of clothes, a GPS, and her weapons and potions.
"Great. Just great. I
need to get more supplies soon." Hopefully the- "Ba-bump, Ba-BUMP, BA-BUMP!"
Crud. A sea stalker, huge dragon-like creatures who could breathe
underwater. She kicked up to the surface and huffed indignantly. Who wasn't trying
to kill her?
A few hours later she
was struggling through a blizzard, in the middle of nowhere. Then, all of a
sudden she saw a... Was that a bar? Oh well. At least it was somewhere to rest.
No sooner had she stepped inside than someone had blocked the door and tons of
other people were crowded around her. They all looked about fourteen with wild
eyes like they'd been living on the streets.
"Welcome! You must be a
huntress!" a girl said coming forward. Her hair was so blonde it looked white.
Mascara and black eyeshadow were smudged around her eyes. Otherwise she was
dressed casually in jeans, lace up black boots, a white T-shirt and an army
jacket that was a size too big.
"Stay here! You must
stay forever!"
Misty stepped towards
her. "Whoa back up. Who are you, and why do I have to stay
forever?"
The girl smiled, which
was a horrid sight with her makeup. "Heather, and this is why."
Heather began to change.
Her eyes turned completely black, she grew fangs, and her hair burst into
flames as the color drained from her face. Misty yelped dodging the monster
while it circled her. The others turned as well.
"What- what are you?"
Misty screamed, trying to get out.
"We are Marli," said the
other teenagers as they changed as well. "Servants to death itself. Which way
shall you die?"
She started attacking
the demons. They were harder to defeat than she thought.
When she went outside it
was dark. She flipped out a phone and looked at the date. June 30th. No. No
that couldn't be right. It had been June 9th when she went into the bar. Unless
that was one of the places where time sped up. Yay. She looked around, and the
bar had vanished. Well... she was going to have to find another place to
rest.
Later, she was looking
at the Huntresses of the Ice fort, but something was wrong. She climbed down
from the ice cliff and gasped. Her friends, all of them were ice
statues. Some were frozen in positions of agony. Others had looks of fury on
their faces. A sob built in her chest, but she forced it down. A message
was carved in the wall:
Stay Silent
Fury and anger built up
inside her. Her dagger smashed into the message. For months...years, the
huntresses had delivered messages to villages and cities about the snow queen
to protect them from being turned into ice statues... Now she couldn't if she was
this powerful. Suddenly the statues cracked. Misty stumbled back as her
friends looked around shocked. Hope, one of her most trusted comrades, noticed
her first. "Misty? What ..." she looked around "what happened?" Shila,
another good friend, picked up a note on the ground. Misty peeked at the
note.
Dear Thalia,
If you are reading this, know that
the huntresses are frozen and Misty must be gone. The Marli will have
taken care of her if our assassins didn't. You know the directions. I
have taken over the Lila, remember time is short. It has to be here by sunset
on July 7th. Take care of the wolves.
The
Snow Queen *
Stunned silence filled
the room. "What?" Serafina said making everyone jump. "Thalia is on her side? I
thought she was with us."
Kikil smashed a wall
with her fist. "I think I know what she stole. The Untilo." It
was a weapon of great power that could destroy a city if you even breathed
on it. It was a dagger.
"I'm not on her
side. I'm buying time," a voice behind them said. Misty wheeled around to see a
girl with short hair and freckles.
"Thalia!" Thalia yelped
as Kikil lunged. Hope tackled Kikil and sent her into a wall.
"Where's the Untilo?"
Kikil demanded.
"Here." Thalia unwrapped
a silk package of teal. A dagger that was well polished and had a leather
handle glinted inside. "Let's go find The Snow Queen."
Misty
observed the army at the Lila. There were lycanthropes, demons, phantoms, more
Marli which she was not happy to see and many other horrible creatures.
Most horrible of all, sat a young girl with flowing black hair, silver robes and
deep purple eyes with flecks of pure black.
"The Snow Queen." Thalia
growled in a voice of ice. Misty turned to her friends pausing to glance at a
scar on Thalia's face.
"Okay," Misty said,
taking a deep breath. "Isabella, since you have the silver knives, you'll take
care of the lycanthropes. Kikil, Shila and Hope you try to get the phantoms and
demons. Thalia can you get rid of the Marli?"
Thalia nodded and then
spoke. "Misty, why don't you take the Untilo." Before Misty could
protest, Thalia handed her the dagger.
"Okay." Misty said,
hands clamped on the weapon. "The rest of you take out the others." Eyes fixed
ahead of her Misty sighed. "I'll take The Snow Queen."
The battle
was chaos. Isabella took down the lycanthropes in two minutes, as Hope slashed
down two phantoms. Shila cried out as a werewolf clamped it's jaws down on her
leg. Misty slew the monster and poured a potion on Shila. The wound instantly
healed and fur that had been spreading rapidly on Shila's face fell off and
vanished. Thalia was shouting insults at the Marli. "Your friend called you
pretty! That one is making a face at you! Oh look! They think you're a coward!"
Soon the demons were too busy fighting to do anything. Thalia slew the last
Marli standing. Getting to The Snow Queen was tricky. She had to dodge tons of
monsters but when she got to the iceberg, Misty charged the Snow Queen. She was
quick enough to dodge Misty and draw a sword.
"We meet at last," the
Snow Queen's mouth did not move, but her voice filled her head. Misty thrust
her dagger and the Snow Queen staggered back, white blood dripping from her
arm. Her sneer was worse than salt in a wound. "You do well in combat. A fine
weapon, alas my final lesson is that a dagger is only able to defeat me if the
welder is mightier than me. That is not possible."
Misty smiled. "Then I also have a lesson for you. Nothing is
impossible." Then she stabbed the Snow Queen in the chest and with a long
bloodcurdling scream she dissolved into a small snowflake that was carried away
by the wind. Misty climbed down from the iceberg she was on and helped her
friends take out the rest of the monsters who were gawking at the last place
the Snow Queen had stood. Once the monsters were gone, Misty turned to her
team, "Good job everyone," Misty said with a smile. "Now let's finally go
home."
The group of girls
walked back towards the Huntresses of the Ice Fort such a long way away, until
they were just a dark smudge against the horizon. Before the sun blinked out of
sight, Misty hugged Hope. "You all are the best family I could ever have Hope."
Hope grinned. "Well what did you expect?" Laughter echoed across the frozen
tundra, seeming to brighten the whole sky.
To be continued in next
year's story . . .
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