Frozen Memories: Heirs of Ethra

Volatile Dimensions

    His words were set to stun; I could not register what this prince had said to me. Sure, I heard him…or at least, I thought I’d heard him correctly…”Excuse-wha-what did you say?”

    Adanis straightened his shoulders, leaning away with a dominant air as he said again. “You…are meant to mine, and I yours,” He said to me in the language of Ethra. “We are chosen-” He started to continue when I held my hand for him to stop talking to me.

    “Stop speaking in that language! Speak normally!” I was so flustered…frustrated that it hadn’t dawned on me at that moment that I was the one speaking abnormally. 

    “I am speaking normally, princess,” He countered with an annoyed expression upon his face. “You…are the outcast here,” He spoke with frank English. I noticed that there was a subtle accent in his English-one similar to my own.

    I dropped my head, he was right. “I know-I-I apologize,” I took a deep breath, still adamant on him elaborating his words. “Still, I am no one’s to claim,” I said to him. There was obvious displeasure on his face as I said this. “And shame on you for thinking so-”

    “I do not think anything!” He griped. “You and I were promised to one another before we were even born! I-”

    “Wait! Waait a minute!” I snapped back at him. “I-how do you-we do not know one another! I have never even been here before! And upon arrival, you capture me, hold me, prisoner! Poison me with this…this…Amthirion!” I was so angry at this point, that all of my frustrations just spilled from my lips before I could stop it. “Now…you force me here to tell me that I am meant to give you my hand in commitment?!” I could not believe my ears. “How do you even know who I am?! Whether I am the one?!” 

    “Because!” He grabbed my hand and immediately I tried to snatch away, but his strength far outweighed my own. “Just…watch,” Adanis calmed himself to say. He entwined his pale blue fingers in between mine, my wide eyes watching his movements carefully, and then staring apprehensively at him.

    He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. On exhale, a frosted chill began to tingle at the tip of my fingers and straight through my body. I could feel it! This was how the cold felt? Frost? How-how….”How,” I managed to whisper.

    The frost subtly turned into a whirl of wind carrying on its air, flakes of intricately made ice. It then widened and shot out from between us. The whirlwind of chilled air and frost became large as it ascended above us. I looked up with amazement at the display. Then almost as suddenly as it happened, the wind collapsed above us and dissipated into nothing before we could feel the full force of it.

    I was so shocked to see, I couldn’t move for seconds that felt like an eternity, as my mismatched gaze stared shockingly into this dark elf’s. 

    “Do you see now?” 

    His words knocked me out of my reverie. I quickly retracted from him and backed away, shaking my head. “What did you do? Wha-how-”

    With a sigh, Adonis averted his gaze momentarily before he spoke again. “When you took your stand, I do not think that even you understood how weak you truly were,” He said to me. “Because…as soon as I called them off,” He shook his head. “You collapsed,” It frustrated me to see the amused leer across his unimaginably attractive face. “You…really are a spectacle to behold, princess-”

    “Ah, ah-no don’t-” I shook my head. “This does not explain how you knew that…that-that,”  I said, referring to the ice show that had just happened. “Does not explain how that happened-how you knew that that would happen!” I expressed with distrust. 

    “I only touched you,” He replied. 

    “Touched?! In what way?” I began to panic. Did he violate me? I was weak and pained from the raw steel, that I could not tell from feeling whether I had been assaulted or not.

    “Relax,” Adanis lifted his hands up. “I did not touch you in such a way-I would never!” 

    “I don’t trust you,” I griped without missing a beat. I was strong enough to at least stand up at this point. Somehow, whatever had happened in our hands joining, I had regained a bit of my strength again. I wiped the drying blood from my lips and nose shakily. “So why would I believe that you did not take advantage of me,”

    He stood from the floor. “I do not need to take advantage of any femlin that I come into contact with, princess. And I would never taint my future queen with such-”

    “Oh really?!” I cut him off. “If I were, indeed, unfortunate enough to become your future queen-why?! Why was I chained to a wall with the most lethal poison known to my kind?!” This question seemed to stump him. I wobbled closer to him. “Well?!”

    With his head leaned back, he looked down at me, with a raised brow. “When I saw you…with those create weapons from ice…and earth,” He added, his stare growing distant. “Only the royal can manipulate both…ironically not in the way that you did yesterday,” The prince added. “I…was suspicious of you, but I did not know for sure,” Adonis further explained. “It was…when one of my men, picked you up from the ground, that I felt…” He looked up, with a seeming confusion upon his face. “I suddenly felt a need to hold you myself, This…pull was felt-one that I’ve heard of but never experienced until now.” The towering prince seemed to find it hard to stare at me for a moment. He then backed away. “I picked you up myself, but when I felt-” His mannerisms reminded me so much of Roman. “That’s when I witnessed what you did only moments ago. Only…nothing nearly as powerful as what just happened.”

    It was hard to find a response to his words. The only response that I could fathom was further questioning his imprisonment. “Why do you imprison me then?”

    He gestured in amusement. “You still are a stranger from the volatile dimension of Ethra’s alternate above all else…but…I guess too…I was not willing to accept the possibility at the time, princess.”

    “And now?” I asked, still not fully trusting of the dark elven prince. 

    “Now…” He stepped towards me and instinctively, I took another step back. The dark prince only continued to take another step. I tried to move again when he grabbed my hands with his now gloved ones. “I am…willing to see reason,” He returned. 

    “What if I’m not?” I challenged. As far as I was concerned, I still had comrades to find. More than that, I needed to see Max.    

    With his head tilted slightly to the side, he watched me closely for a moment. “I’d be lying if I said that I would be pleased of your rejection-that is the most that I will say on that matter, princess.” 

    “Is that a threat?” I asked.

    “It is a simple answer to your question,” He returned. “But I must inform you…that the Nymph kingdom has not been run properly since the disappearance of the royal family. The kingdom of Ethra needs its heir,”

    “I have a brother,” I started to say. “And he-”

    “Can I be frank with you, princess,” He said to me with a small smirk upon his pale blue lips.

    “What?”

    “I do not care…about anyone else. You are my chosen…you are my life mate and that is where duty lies,” He said to me.

    My heart thumped in my chest at his declaration to me. I did not know what this meant for me, and in truth, I did not have time to figure out what all of this would entail for me in the future. I pushed his words away from the forefront, deciding that I’d figure out my feelings about this overwhelming information later…when I knew that everyone was alright.

    “If your…duties…do lie with me…take me…to see my friends. I need to see that they are alright.”

    Adonis expelled harshly. There was unease in his expression. “Very well,” He said and then dug in the side pocket of his belt. “Understand this, princess,” He pulled me towards him. “Though my duties lie with your well-being, and I am open to a possibility of…us,” he held something in his hand that seemed similar to the shape of a diamond. He pressed his thumb against the base of the small object and immediately the tip elongated into a slightly longer piece with its edge shaped like a snowflake. He placed the flake-shaped edge into a barely visible slip located on the side of my cuffs. “I do not trust you either,” Adonis told me. “However, if you are willing to be cordial, so am I.” With a twist of the key, the cuffs snapped and fell onto the floor.

    I sighed gently rubbing my bruised wrists. The relief of the Amthirion no longer being latched on to my skin was something that I could not even explain. “Thank you,” I begrudgingly glared at him, taking a deep breath. “Now where is my friend?” I asked.

    He stared at me prolongingly without a word before he decided to walk past me. “Come,” I pushed past the ache in my joints and followed his stride. Though I could sense by how slow he was walking that he seemed to have taken my weakness into consideration. “You know,” the dark elf prince started off as we headed for the door of the room. “Any other nymph-or even elf would have probably died from the overexposure of Amthirion,”

    “So you’re admitting that you tried to kill me?” I asked.

    “No,” He chuckled. “It is just standard practice,” He replied. “We usually do not care whether you live or die. A rare few have survived, though barely,” Adanis glanced at me with amusement. “You seem to be faring far greater than any Ethrian who has been exposed to raw Amthirion. "I am quite curious as to how you've built up such a tolerance to such lethal poison."

    "You do not want to know," I said to him.

    "Oh, but I assure you, I do," He pressed. "It is quite impressive to have such strength."

    "Impressive," I scoffed at his genuine curiosity.

    "I am taking you to your friend. Least you can tell me your secret, princess."

     If only he knew. I looked forward. “Well… try being tortured with it and other toxic unknown materials for most of your life," I finally answered with bitter sarcasm. "Guess such abuse has its perks.” I felt the dark prince’s gaze upon me. I glanced up at him and saw the curiosity and concern in his domineering eyes. I scoffed and looked away. “I may have lived on Ethra’s alternate, but I was tortured by an Ethrian,” I told him. “So as far as I’m concerned there are volatile creatures on both planes.”