A Hero Rises

Temo bounced back as Alexen held the royal necklace coiled in his hand. Temo rubbed his only working eyes, trying to shake off the necklace that was now burnt into his memory. He couldn't believe they killed royalty. Surely doing such a thing would have brutal consequences. War may be a big possibility now.

"No, no, no, no," he murmured to himself while he fixed his gaze upon the vast blue sky inhabited by fluffy grey clouds scattered around, desperately pleading to Glacia that they'd be free from this mess.

Alexen stuck the necklace back around the dead guy's neck, then turned to his elder brother. "What do we do Temo? About the body I mean."

Temo stayed on his knees and faced the sky, then looked towards the ground, as he didn't dare to look at that body again. "Maybe we should take it to the barracks, they'd know what to do."

"Are you crazy?! If we take the body there, then we're sure to be punished horribly!"

"Well, if we were to hide the body, the humans would find out eventually and declare war on us, and we'd be punished way worse."

Alexen nodded up and down to his brother's logic, then abides to doing what they planned. They grabbed their wooden oars and rowed back into the bay and back onto the frozen land.

Alexen and Temo hoisted the body off the canoe and carried it inland towards the military zone in Eiraco. People and fishermen looked at them frighteningly, seeing two glacials carry a dead human away. This was sure to cause panic.

The two of them struggled to carry the man for long as his heavy bronze armor weighed him down like he was a magnet to the floor, they had never seen such a thin looking human weigh this much. They slowly carried the body through the shopping center only to be stopped by a Glacial soldier patrolling the store alleyway.

"Hey! Stop right there." His shockingly ear-splitting voice rattled them down to the bones.

Alexen and Temo immediately stopped in their tracks and waited while the soldier menacingly approached them. He walked in front of the two and noticed the dead human laying in their sore arms. His eyes opened wide while his pupils extended and his hands clutched his white wool coat that hugged his torso.

"Don't tell me he's... You guys killed a human?!!" he screamed.

Before they knew it, Alexen and Temo had quite a crowd set up around them, because every person walking out of or around the shops heard the soldier scream out such a claim.

"Oh dear Glacia, is that really a human?"

"Is it really dead?"

"I don't want to go back to war." All these bystanders muttered among themselves.

"What's the meaning of this?" The soldier lifted his hands and began forming an icicle, the fastest weapon that can be produced.

"Whoa, whoa! It was on accident and we were just trying to get it to the Barracks!" Temo tried to reason to the guards, but he stayed hard-headed. Cold gusts of wind blew around them as the fluffy clouds made it obsolete for sunlight to reach them. It was surely a cold day, for the outer body and for the inner soul. No one was quite as waspish as this soldier, for if it was these boys who started a war, he would surely be forced into the front line. Who wouldn't be mad at someone who could possibly ruined their peaceful life?

But just when the two brothers feared for their safety, the soldiers hand closed shut and the roaring wind fainted out. Nion was now standing among the soldier, wrapping his hand over the soldier's and closing his palm,which effectively stopped him from making anything harmful.

"I come out for a lunch break for ten minutes, and trouble's already stirring up? I'm definitely not surprised to see you two as well," he complained while pointing to the brothers.

"Captain Nion!" The soldier put his hand into a fist then had his other hand wrap over it and put it against his chest, then bowed to his superior. This was a common greeting among the Glacials in their culture. Although it was their culture, Nion despised is, for he preferred the greetings that humans give. A simple wave that the humans give each other was way less awkward and embarrassing to him.

"At ease man, now leave. I'll talk to these troublemakers." Nion sent the soldier on his way then bore eyes upon the dead corpse Alexen and Temo were carrying. He inhaled deeply then let it all out immensely, weighted by exhaustion. He knew what that meant.

"Why did you guys kill a human?" Nion took a deeper look, then became more and more grouchy.

"And out of all the humans, why did you guys kill royalty?"

"We didn't know he was royalty! And he tried to kill us first!" Temo protested.

"You can clearly tell. The gauntlets he's wearing is made of gold, which is only worn by the royal family. And only royalty is rich enough to engrave a coat-of-arms on their armor."

Soon after, Nion led the brother into the Barracks where everyone there was as calm as they could be, not as chaotic and out of control when Alexen was here last time. As soon as the boys entered with the corpse, the whole facility began to panic and the guards were on edge, particularly getting ready to pounce at them in a moments notice. While all this chaos ensued, the General sat in his rolling chair quite calmly, smoking his pipe so serenely. He knew war would come soon, but he was ready. He had a plan.

"Young men," he addressed Alexen and Temo, of course he knew Nion's name quite well as he was his right hand man. "Explain yourselves. What did thou spill the blood of royals?"

"Uhm... you see-"

"I killed the royal member of Humania, I'm very sorry," interrupted Temo.

"But it was to protect me!"

The General sat his index finger upon his chin which was infested with a forest of grey hairs, and he did so shaking his head up and down in acceptance.

"I see, I see. No need to be sorry, for it was for a righteous cause."

After a little pep talk from the General, everyone and everything was back in order and the country's top officials gathered around a round wooden table in the middle of the room. The General invited Alexen, Temo, and Nion into their meeting as they discussed suitable strategies to approach the issue.

"Hey! You think this guy was a big shot in the royal family?" yelled out a guy within the crowd, possessing a squeaky voice.

Nion gazed upon the lifeless body that laid stationary on the wooden flooring. "I can bet he was, I mean, he is wearing gold armor which only royalty uses. But I guess we can check." Nion stripped the body of all its armor, until it was just plain tunic and trousers. The man seemed extremely handsome and boasted a sharp jawline and silky blonde hair. His eyes were nearly as blue as the water he was found in.

All seemed well until Nion unexpectedly found something hidden in the pockets of his trousers. It was an identification card made from metal. It said "Sir Johnathon of Humania." Both Nion and everyone else froze still, except for Alexen.

"What's wrong? Who is this guy?"

Temo nudged his side with his elbow.

"Dude, this guy is the prince of Humania! The King's son! We're surely getting attacked if word gets out that he died. We gotta think of something fast."

"There's only one option that we have, but it requires sacrifice," said the General. "Who's willing to make that sacrifice?"

Alexen held to himself. He still felt resentment for having to be saved yet again, which fueled his inferiority complex, but he wanted to be useful to his people. He wanted to give back to his brother and Nion for allowing him to live on... he wanted to do. He felt that if he did, he'd be free from this curse of negativity.

"I'll do it!" Alexen yelled proudly while he raised his hand.

"Are you sure lad?"

"Yes, yes I'm sure."

"Wait are you serious?" Temo opposed the idea, he didn't want to bear the pain of losing more family, and he was scared he'd lose Alexen. "Let me go instead!"

"No! I want to do this. I don't want to be saved anymore, I want to do the saving and rescue our home. Glacia."

The General nodded his head and locked his fingers together. He was not expecting the person to do this task to be this young, but he obliged. When he was Alexen's age, the General had seen terrible battles that resulted in immense casualties, and he participated in some, so he thought it was time for Alexen to do the same.

"Alright lad, I will allow you to go. You must travel to every nation and gather allies so that we may collaborate in fighting off Humania. Please do not fail.

"Yes sir! I will not fail you."

Temo and Nion grew worried of this decision, and have tried to persuade Alexen time and time again, but his mind would not budge. Soon now it would be time for him to depart.

"Take this map." The General passed Alexen a map containing the five nations including Glacia, and pointed to an island nation, similar to Glacia.

"Your first destination should be Beastia since it's the closest. Be careful, for there are frightening beast at every corner."

Alexen seemed ticked off at the thought of having to go to Beastia first and was pissed about it. But nonetheless he gritted his teeth, sucked it up, then snatched the map from him.

The young Glacial held a leather bag filled with necessities like food, water, and clothing, while also wearing an old rough looking leather chest plate over his coat and gauntlets that the General once wore in his younger days. It was time for him to go.

"Alexen!" Temo called to him. "It's not too late, you can still forget about and come home with us? I'm pretty sure someone else can take your place."

Alexen shot a piercing glance at his elder brother, only to say "No" one last time. Temo tried to stop him, but the General prevented him from doing so.

"At least give him an escort group."

"Sorry lad, he wants to do this himself. I was like that once, only doing stuff myself, which was arrogant, if I may say so. But your brother is different."

"He is Glacia's new hero."