#winter powers

[lilzi-art]

[ENG] Mizu, the Lord of Snow ❄

Normally, my OC Mizu is the Water Spirit, but he can transform into a Snow Spirit, as well.

[PL] Mizu, pan śniegu ❄

Moja postać Mizu jest ogólnie duchem wody, ale potrafi również zmieniać się w ducha śniegu.

Mizu, art [c] @lilzi-art

[raven-n-tha-moonlight]

(This is a rough draft. I will edit it later.

A bit of background: Eira just failed her test that is important for summoners. At least she thinks she did. The group outside the door is waiting to take their tests.

Also, warning: death.

Pronunciation guide: Eira= EAR - uh)

ICY FEAR

It was going to be a bad day for everyone in the courtyard.

The doors to the examination hall were thrown open. A girl stomped out, with her dark, braided hair blowing in the personal blizzard surrounding her. Despite the full sun, the girl’s little storm showed no signs of dissipating. Her path left a snail-track of melted snow on the concrete.

The pack of students holding books and binders stumbled as she blew past them, her flurries dusting their clothing. They looked at her in silent rebuke, but she didn’t spare them a glance.

“Eira!”

The girl glanced over her shoulder. It was Morlen. Her stomach did its silly flop. She shook her head, a move so small it was imperceptible. She didn’t need any of this right now. She just needed to get away-

“Eira,” he stepped toward her. Away from the flock of students.

She crossed her bare arms. “What?” She snapped, the sound of a tree trunk freezing and splitting.

His face closed. It had been something close to caring. Now it was blank, like the ground after a snowfall.

“That was rude to push past everyone. Apologize to us.”

The word “us” rang through her. She was her, and they were them. They were a group, and she was alone. She would never be a part of them.

Us. The word clanged around inside, echoing in the hollowness there.

She’s been wrong to think Morlen was any less of a jerk. He was like the rest of them. He wanted her to hurt.

Well, she would show them what it was like to really hurt. She could see what she would do. The terrible images came to her one after another, flickering by so fast they gave her only a taste of the honey-coated vengeance. The hollow in her chest expanded. Her breathing came fast. “You. Are. Not. Getting. Any. Apology. From. Me.” She stared Morlen down. “Ever.”

She turned away. Her fingers burned with cold. She saw the things she wanted to do. The rage, the gut-wrenching emotion, tore her up. She clenched her jaw, blinking the tears from her eyes.

She stilled herself. She wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t-

“Eira, you’re just heartless.” A tall, muscular girl spoke. Nova. “Sometimes I think you might have something in beating in there. Now I realize it’s all just tar.”

Eira’s world went silent. Then it roared. Maybe the sound came from her.

She lunged for Nova, her nails elongating into claws, ice sharpening and hardening. Something blocked her way.

She bowled over someone bulky. They tumbled to the ground. She scrambled away, but hands found her wrists. She snarled and felt the emptiness in her expand, then-

Bang! The weight left her. She panted, rising. Then she sank to her knees. A sob choked out of her.

Morlen lay bleeding on the grass, snow coating his hair. Crimson trickled from his ears.

She crawled to him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. The space within her yawned wider. She felt herself falling. Her palms hit the ground, her claws shattering.

She was numb as the other students rushed past her to huddle around Morlen. Tears streaked her face, which she viciously wiped away.

They don’t care about you, she reminded herself. Your tears are for nothing.

She watched as Morlen was lifted gently. His eyes were glazed with pain, but he was able to wrap his arms around the person who carried him away.

Someone struck Eira across the face. Eira’s claws were back in an instant, gleaming and curved.

“You bitch!” Nova spat down at her, her hand still raised.

Ice radiated from Eira, crackling across the ground toward Nova. Wisely, Nova backed away. The ice halted a few inches from Nova’s sandaled toes.

“Why don’t you look in the mirror?” Said Eira in a low voice. She rose, slowly.

“Stop it, Nova,” protested a blond boy, restraining Nova’s thin arm. “Don’t do this.”

Nova shook him off. “Let me go, Oliver.”

Eira looked again at the blood on the grass. It was brighter than she thought it would be. The metallic odor had a bite that made her want to gag.

They locked eyes, twin sapphires that glittered with anger, and light, cool eyes that were shattered under the surface.

“I don’t care,” Eira said, dully. “Not anymore. Just, stop.”

“You wouldn’t have stopped, if it weren’t for Morlen. You would have killed me.”

Yes. The thought sent a shiver through her. She wouldn’t have just killed Nova. She would have enjoyed shredding her, tearing her life from her body. Then maybe one of them would comprehend the pain, the agony.

“And you didn’t show mercy to Morlen, when he tried to stop you. Now, he might die.”

Eira gave a laugh. It scared her, how empty it sounded. She gave them a smile that wasn’t quite straight. “He’s not going to die.”

“No thanks to you,” muttered a ginger girl. She was small, and she shrank back as Eira’s attention fell on her, as if she hadn’t meant her words to be heard.

“He’s not going to die,” repeated Eira. She was certain of it. There was no way he could be hurt so badly, not by her hand.

A boy jogged up, his shirt stained with blood. “It doesn’t look good, guys,” he reported, his face pale. She remembered him. He had taken Morlen away.

“Liar!” She spit at him. She whirled and raced for the infirmary. Her snow turned to ice under her feet, speeding her steps. The others slipped and fell on the slick surface. She didn’t falter, didn’t wait.

She found him there, bleeding. His heart was slow and heavy. She could hear it the way she could hear the gurgle of the trees during the winter. It was tired, heavy, plodding. It was all wrong. Hearts were supposed to be brisk. They were supposed to be full of life. His was full of the slowness of death.

She sank down beside his bed as the doctor arrived. Morlen’s breathing became shallow. She almost screamed but managed to leash her tone into something more cordial. “What can we do?”

“Nothing, I’m afraid.” The doctor sighed and put away his things. “He is too far gone.”

Eira gaped at him. “You have how many years of medical training, and this is beyond your capabilities?”

“Yes,” he replied, sadly. “This is a fast affliction. If it not treated right away, it is fatal.”

“We did bring him right away,” she said in disbelief. “This just happened.”

“I’m sorry.” The doctor gave her a look of sympathy. “It’s too late.”

That was when Morlen’s friends showed up. Nova, Oliver, the ginger, the one with the bloody shirt. They stared. Nova burst into tears immediately. The boy with the bloodstained shirt tucked her into him. He looked at the ceiling, the ground, anywhere but at Morlen. The ginger talked to Morlen, as if he could still hear her, even though he was long past that stage. He was hovering near the brink, now.

Oliver interrogated the doctor, but came up with as little as she had. They all watched in silence as the chest of the boy on the bed became still, and his heart ceased to beat.

Nova wailed anew. The boy holding her had tears coursing down his cheeks. Oliver and the ginger stared at each other mutely. Eira was the only one who looked at Morlen, or what used to be him. He was so still. So pale. His blood was drying at his ears. His hair was wet from where her frost had melted.

The hollow in her seized, spasmed. She hadn’t meant to. Morlen, the only kindness these past few weeks. Gone. Dead. Because of her.

Her tears turned to crystals and splintered on the tile. Her sobs were silent, but they stole her breath. They reached deep inside of her, like knives scratching at her insides.

She almost felt she deserved it when the boy with the bloodied shirt said, “You will stand trial for this.” That was law. She knew it was.

But at the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She glared up at him. “Say that again,” she hissed in a voice midnight soft.

He didn’t. “Morlen was innocent,” he began. “He didn’t deserve to die. You don’t care about any of that?”

“No,” She replied. “But-”

“But what?” Shrieked Nova. “What possible excuse does a monster like you have for murdering?”

Eira locked her with a gaze chillier than an arctic wind. She said nothing. She didn’t have an excuse because she hadn’t been trying to give one. “I was going to say,” she said, “He didn’t deserve to die, but I don’t deserve to be killed for it, either.”

“Whyever not?” Snorted the ginger. “An eye for an eye. A life for a life.”

“It was an accident!” Eira wasn’t going to plead. She would never plead.

“An accident?” Nova pointed to Morlen’s body. “That doesn’t look like an accident to me.”

The door to the infirmary kicked open and a squad of officers entered. Eira stood.

“We’re arresting all of you,” announced the one with the biggest badge.

Like hell they were. The defiant thought flashed through her mind.

She pulled her power close, condensing it. She shot a ribbon of ice under them, sending them sliding along the tiles. Splaying her fingers, she dropped the temperature. Their breath came out in puffs. She dropped the temperature further. One officer moaned and collapsed. Then another. And another. Finally, all of them were down.

She made her escape. Out the building. Skating down the grassy slope, ice carpeting the grass. She ran, planning as she went.

She could run to the stables and steal a winged steed. From there she could fly to another country, start a new life. An ache rose in her, welling from that same hollow spot in her. A few weeks ago, she had been thinking the same about this one. Too soon, she was already on the run again.

The stables were easy to infiltrate. They were lax here. Nothing compared to her old place. Soon, she was in the skies.

They soared for the afternoon and evening. When the sky began to streak, she brought them back to the ground. Her steed chomped hungrily on the plants. She felt a twinge of guilt for flying the steed so long without food. She brushed it off. The sacrifice was worth it. Once they were away, she would release him, and he could wander free.

And probably get eaten, she thought. But she didn’t have much choice. She couldn’t let herself get caught. Much worse would be in store for her if they found out who she actually was. If there was an inquiry, there was no concealing the truth. It would be over for her.

She patted her steed’s shoulder as it munched on grasses. She gave it a few more happy bites, then jerked its head up.

They went on, through the night, until her eyes drooped from exhaustion. She let them down for the night. She bound the steed to the tree with a makeshift vine rope.

She settled on a mossy patch of ground. Her eyes were heavy. What would she do if she was caught? She snorted in her sleep. Deny all charges. Except one.

She saw his face in her dreams, the blood. In her dream, she saw the judge, who asked, “For the murder of Morlen Haberstark, guilty or not guilty?”

In her dream, she heard herself utter, Guilty. The word was ugly. It unmasked her. She felt exposed. The stands jeered at her. She tossed and turned as the word echoed in a clangor. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

The judge morphed. Nova stood where the judge had been, her sneering face replacing the judge’s blank one. “Evil girl. Murderer. Monster. No one will stand up for you here.”

The ginger haired girl stepped up beside her. “It’s just you. You’re on your own.”

Faces, faces from Eira’s past, blurred together, speaking as one. “You are not one of us. You will never be one of us.” Voices melding with one another. Harmonies of loathing. “You were born unlovable. You cannot change your birth.”

Eira shrieked and cried in her dreams, but her steed only looked at her with disinterest as she writhed silently on the dirt.

In the morning, she was groggy-eyed, but she forced them onward. She was feeling even more paranoid than yesterday. She refused to stop for food or water. Her stomach clenched, but she ignored it. Safety first. Then comforts like food and water. She battled on.

Day went by, turning into night. She stopped. They rested. In the morning, she forced herself up again. That day, she could barely stay seated. In the afternoon, she felt herself grow dizzy. She let them down.

They were a few feet above the ground before she fell. She crashed into a bush and a sharp rock jabbed her side. Her steed whuffled her hair, curious.

Her head spun. Her eyes were blurry. Her mouth was dry. She wasn’t going to make it.

Perhaps it was better this way. She would die without any festivities thrown to celebrate the occasion. She would die, nameless, her body would decay, and she would become one with the ground again. She looked up at the steed. “Go,” she said weakly.

It nickered, as if in question. “Yes, I’m certain.” Her voice was raspy, cursedly weak. “Leave me. You’ll be fine.”

It gave a soft snort, pressing its muzzle against her forehead. Then it backed away, free. It whinnied its triumph and rose into the air. The gusts of wind from its wings faded. She closed her eyes, exhausted.

No sooner had she done this, she heard a crashing through the brush. A large animal. She scrambled to her feet, stars flashing in her eyes. She swayed, then dropped to a knee. She was so pitiful. So vulnerable. She would be an easy meal.

She shouldn’t have gone so long without food or water.

Much good these thoughts did her.

She gritted her teeth. Forced herself upright. She still looked tired, hungry, the perfect meal.

An enormous bear crashed into the clearing. Its sloping shoulders towered to her height. It snarled at her. Its teeth were arcing, ivory canines. She backed away, on instinct.

Suddenly, it changed. It shrank, becoming humanoid. It rushed toward her, and she lifted her hands to use her power for her last time. She thrust a hand toward it, and a few icicles sputtered out of her fingertips before nosediving into the earth. The humanoid watched it all carefully. Then it raised its hands, and she flinched.

It didn’t summon, though. She supposed it was meant to be a gesture of peace. She returned it, cautiously.

Then a wave of dizziness hit her and she dropped to the ground. The humanoid, the male, she realized, crouched over her, concern furrowing his brow. Then her world spun, and spun, until she was engulfed in black.

[memberofthebrotherhood]

Has anyone thought up of how Elsa got her powers? I mean her mom is like cousin or something to Rapunzel so does it have to do with the sun? In that case, why winter? I am curious of this lol