From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my p4tr0ns: Morpheaus, and RTB <3 <3 <3 Become a p4tr0n too and read up to FOUR chapters ahead!:
h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / t r a s h w i t h g l a s s e s
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Trunk simply pulled the arrow out of his side, and Blizz insisted that he'd be okay once the two of them got to her village, refusing to elaborate anymore, and so, after the surprise attack from the red-masked men, we continued to walk across the snow-covered hills of her homeland. After an hour or so of walking, we finally reached the foot of a high flat-topped mountain, and started climbing it up to the top.
It was hard to move up the snow-covered slope even with my enhanced body, while the rest of the fraternity struggled at every stop to make their way through the pilled snow. Meanwhile, Blizz had an easy time on the shoulders of her tall brother, and teacher Visk Cera didn't even seem to care much about the cold, or the hardships of travel, and actually looked all around us, excited.
Finally, after another hour or so of walking, we got to the top of the mountain, and to the edge of a crater in its center, and from there we could see it all: about a hundred small semi-spherical houses made out of ice blocks.
"This is my home. The hidden refuge."
*
We walked straight through the center of the village, and from the entrances of the houses many faces looked at us… with disapproval. They frowned and shook their head from one side to another. Curiously, each of the icy buildings seemed to shelter at least one abnormally tall person like Trunk.
We finally got to the biggest of the buildings and got down a hole in the ground right before it. There was a small corridor running under the wall of the building, and after a ramp, we were right inside of it. The inside of that particular house was surprisingly spacious, with oil burning in small plates in addition to the light from the window above the entrance, and all the furniture was made out of ice and snow too, from the tables and chairs, to the bed, and food containers, with pelts and rugs decorating and keeping everyone's bodies away from the cold of the furnishing. And in the middle of that all, three people were sitting around a table, as if waiting for us, each with one tall figure behind each of them.
"The heads of the three clans…", Blizz whispered, swallowing hard.
Who else were the remaining three, however? Did everyone in that village have a tall sibling?
"Blizz, Of The Frozen Blood Clan", a shirtless old man with a surprisingly muscular body called, his arms crossed and his eyebrows frowned.
"…Elder Frozen Blood."
"You have violated the village laws by venturing out in the outside world without permission…", another man sitting by the ice table, one wearing a hood with bones sewed into it, said, with his face contorted in disgust.
"And now you even bring strangers into our hidden village!", a third man, whose gloves had claws attached to it, screamed, scratching at the ice table while baring his teeth.
"This calls for a trial", the shirtless old man said again.
"…Indeed, I broke the rules", Blizz gripped her heart over her thick jacket. "But I did it to save the village!", she slapped the air with the back of her hand. "For the past few years, we have been losing more and more fights against the neighboring enemy clans! While we stay here, isolated from the rest of the world, our enemies are out there, making alliances, enlarging their numbers, and developing new spells and techniques! If we stay frozen in here, we will be wiped out in no time! We have to reach out for allies, and improve ourselves!"
"Foolish child!", the Froze Blood elder got up from his ice chair, and uncrossed his arms, tensing his every muscle. "You know our history and still say such things?! We have been persecuted for ages! Forced to migrate an entire world because of the magic we use, and you talk about 'reaching out'?"
"I don't want to disrespect you, love, but we didn't see anything wrong with Blizz spells?", Mari commented, grabbing the girl's hand. Strangely enough, instead of getting mad at the green-haired girl, the shirtless old man smiled.
"Oh, really? And have she showed you what our magic truly is?"
"Now that I think about it…", Mari hesitated.
"Show it to them, Blizz."
"…Elder-"
"DO IT! NOW!"
"…Trunk, take your clothes off", Blizz ordered, and her brother started to pull off layer after layer of clothes, and let them fall to the ground… to reveal an abomination beneath it all.
Multiple patches of different skins were sewn together, his eyes were empty sockets, he lacked nose and lips, and he had an overall putrid and rotting appearance. When I looked with more attention to the clothes the giant cadaveric creature wore, I saw floating white flocks of magic waste, and noticed that they were imbued with a cold spell.
"We use corpses to abide our will. We manipulate their muscles with magic, this way spending minimum amounts of energy to move them around. We do not waste anybody… not even people's", He explained with a large smile on his face, as the four large creatures behind the village elders moved closer to us.
"I don't see any problem at that, they are already dead anyway", teacher Visk Cera said, shrugging.
"Agreed", I nodded.
"Well… A bit morbid, darling, but you do you" Mari exchanged looks with the rest of the fraternity, and replied, scratching her cheek.
"…What?", the three village elders said in unison.
"But the stories of our ancients…"
There was a minute of awkward silence, when the Frozen Blood elder finally seemed to reach a conclusion: "Yo-You may be fine for now, outsiders! But we still have to ponder upon your destiny. And you, Blizz… You are still not forgiven. Go now! The entrance to my clan's child's house has been sealed with snow, but it is still there. You should all wait in there until we decide upon your fate."