[Glacier Rise] by Dispiritor - The Dazzling Lads

Snow. It is seen as a hindrance to most who experience it. It makes people want to sleep in or do nothing. Many would prefer Summer over Winter. This is not the case in Cylestal where snow is a part of their daily lives. Located many miles above sea level and surrounded by peaks in every direction, the large village is blanketed in snow for the majority of the year. It is hidden in the snow.

Many nations have mastered the art of magic. Incantations to conjure a variety of elements. The Cylestian mages have mastered magic in a different manner. Becoming one with nature, they are able to use the surrounding snow and ice to boost their power. Not only that, but they can willingly manipulate the element. Cylestian mages are well respected around the globe and often prioritized for completing quests or bounties. This is the reason why many Cylestians wish to acquire the title of Cylestian Glacier Mage. The requirements are simple - be a Cylestian native and show profound abilities in manipulating the surrounding snow. Despite the simple requirements, only two to four mages ever acquire the title every generation.

Kalev Valk is a seventeen year old who wishes to acquire the title. Kalev drops his snowboard by his feet. He stares down the large hill and takes a deep breath. He places one foot on the board and uses his other foot to push himself. While accelerating, he plants the other foot onto the board and gets ready to manipulate the snow around him. Kalev makes many unnecessary movements. This makes it hard for him to control the board through the snow. He slides down the hill with his face turning red by the powdery snow slapping him along the way. He maneuvers around a large boulder and aims his hand at a forty-five degree angle. A makeshift target is in his sight. A small icicle forms at the palm of his hand and he fires it. His accuracy is off, but he does hit the target. With an incoming tree he adjusts his angle. Rather than the acute angle needed, he turns too much and hits another tree. Kalev falls off his board and tumbles his way down the hill. Not without hitting a few trees along the way.

His momentum comes to a stop and with an upside down view of the world he notices his grandmother standing outside the house. She looks disappointed at him for attempting something so reckless. Kalev turns around and stands up with his board in hand ready to receive an earful.

Kalev has a goal like many his age. Their plans are laid out similarly. Graduate school, pass the snowboarding test, join an expedition team, hone their skills, and acquire the grand title. There’s just one problem. Kalev’s ability to manipulate the icy element falls short of being called average. Not only that, but his skill with the snowboard is quite laughable. This does make it rather difficult to achieve such a goal. Even so, Kalev is determined to see this through.

The next day while in school, Kalev overhears his classmates mention doing a snowboarding race. His gray eyes sparkle brightly with the thought of being able to show off congesting his brain. Once the bell rings, he sprints home to get his board and immediately dashes for the meet up location.

Along the way, Kalev spots his biggest threat, Edvin. Unlike Kalev, Edvin performs excellently when it comes to ice magic. Edvin has snowboarded his entire life, and as such, he holds far more experience. Due to all the praise Edvin gets, his ego is a tad inflated.

All the students line up next to each other. They place their boards down and step on it. Everyone simultaneously counts down as Kalev takes a deep breath. They all launch themselves forward when they reach zero. You can hear the laughter and cheer coming from them as the frozen wind races past their faces. Kalev wears a massive smile while shredding down the side of the hill. Since the snow is packed-in compared to his backyard, Kalev doesn't struggle as much. He notices his classmates infuse magic to speed up. Kalev does the same and boosts himself forward with magic.

This is where the difference in everyone's skills is made apparent. Kalev lags behind along with a few other students. Edvin takes a sizable lead as he avoids every obstacle gracefully. Though Edvin is not without competition. Trailing after him is a young lass named Mavis. With absolute accuracy, she maneuvers herself to be as aerodynamic as possible. Though she does enjoy a thrill and avoids obstacles at the last second.

Kalev focuses everything into boosting his speed. As always, he makes unnecessary movements to avoid the smallest of obstacles. The look on his face reveals he wants more speed, but from the corner of his eyes, he spots a classmate making large ice blocks in front of a few other students. Most of the students barely avoid the trap set in front except one kid who tries to stop and collides into the block. He is launched forward and rolls on the hard snow.  He scrambles to stop himself; from the panic he doesn't think of manipulating the snow around him. Just as he thinks he’s about to hit a tree, his arm is picked up. Kalev holds him up and slows down. He has hit many trees at slower speeds, so he knows this would not have ended pretty.

At the finish line, Kalev and the student he saved, Anton, cross last. Anton thanks Kalev once again and runs off. Kalev looks up the hill and sighs. He is disappointed in himself for being unable to win. He turns around and sees Mavis chatting with her friends as they walk away. Kalev turns to Edvin and sees him leading his pack. Among the three following him is Avrom, who was the one making traps in front of other students. Kalev decides to walk home, but before doing so he spots an old man staring at him. The old man seems to be fit for his age, and isn’t wearing a jacket as most older folk wear to keep their old bones warm. The man has both his hands pressed atop a wooden cane that appears rotted from the heavy wear on it. He takes his left hand off the cane and proceeds to walk away. Kalev is confused about the event, but quickly forgets about it and runs home.

The snowboarding test will be held right after graduation in four months. Though the particular hurdles and obstacles differ yearly, it is always a race down the largest peak down to the base of the mountain. Placing anywhere in the top ten will secure a spot in any of the expedition teams that acts as a stepping stone.

Unable to sleep, Kalev climbs out of bed. He grabs his board and sneaks out of his house as silently as possible to not wake his grandparents. He treks up the hill to reach his usual training grounds. When he reaches the spot, Kalev shakes his head and looks behind at the larger hills. He climbs his way further up the hills to challenge himself further. Walking a mile, Kalev reaches a height he is satisfied with. Before sledding down, he chooses to practice his ice magic. While training, Kalev spots blue and green lights. Kalev is familiar with the aurora borealis, but he also knows it is not the right time of year. He is able to trace the light coming down to the ground further up the hills. Entranced by the beautiful lights, Kalev picks up his board and makes his way up. The snow reaches past his waste, but Kalev continues walking up. His body temperature steadily drops from being encased in snow, and yet his unrelenting will pushes him. Kalev manipulates the snow out of his way, but at this point, only his head is exposed. For a moment, the thought of giving up crosses his mind. Kalev violently nods his head and steps forward. His legs feel like anchors bolted into the ground, yet he finds the strength to move them. Getting closer to the light he sees the silhouette of a person. His eye lids draw heavy and begin to close on him. All his strength is drained and Kalev falls into the snow, buried in it.

Hours later, Kalev opens his eyes. He hears the crackling of wood and smells the smoke associated with a fire. He jumps up immediately and looks around. He spots the old man from before, sitting by the fire. With no explanation whatsoever, the old man demands that it is time for proper training. Kalev has no clue who this man is, but the old man knows who he is. Kalev was raised by his maternal grandparents since his parents passed when he was young. Because of this, Kalev never met his paternal grandparents.

The old man reveals his name to be Kaljo, and he demonstrates the aurora borealis he created earlier. As Kaljo casts his magic circles, Kalev spots the head of a white dragon engraved into the rune. Kalev recognizes that this belongs to one of the greatest Cylestian Glacier Mage to ever emerge from the village. His real name was never known for his title spread far more fame - The Unrelenting White Dragon of Heaven, or White Dragon for short. Completely amazed at the divinity of who this man is, Kalev begs to be trained by him, though he knows a great man such as he wouldn’t waste their time. What Kalev doesn’t know is that grandparents like to spoil their grandchildren.

Four months later, the whole village of Cylestal surrounds the base of the tallest mountain. The 163rd class has graduated and is now attempting to do the snowboarding test. The class of twenty- eight students stand at the mountain top where there is barely enough room for everyone and the starter. The older gentleman raises his left hand in the air and shoots out ice magic. The icicle soars through the sky and pops into a million snowflakes. All of the competitors drop their boards and jump onto them as swiftly as possible. Kalev thinks back to the training and grins. All of the recent graduates shred down the mountain with pure skill and elegance.

Despite the training, Kalev still overshoots the angle needed to avoid obstacles. This causes him to fall behind. Edvin and Mavis are neck and neck with each other. Being at the lead, they get a first shot at potential targets to score extra points. Mavis forms ice needles and fires them. Edvin creates large ice rocks and launches them into the targets. Kalev focuses his magic down by his feet and gets a large boost. With an incoming boulder, Kalev chooses to form an upward ice slope. He takes the ramp at full speed surpassing many of his classmates. Making two finger guns, Kalev shoots ice pellets at targets that haven’t been hit yet. Though his accuracy is still off, he shoots as many as possible before he lands.

His classmate, Avrom, uses his magic to knock a tall tree to block others. Kalev instantly sends a wave of snow to hit one side of the tree to flip it to take less space. The tree spins more than intended and tries to revert back to blocking everyone. Before it can, the tree spins back into place. Kalev looks to his side and spots Anton helping him out. Both of them slide right by the tree branches as they nod to each other. Kalev boosts himself once again getting closer to the top five. With incoming attacks, the competitors fight back to not get hit. A few snowballs get close to Kalev, but he manages to destroy most of them.  He repeats his last strategy and launches himself far up into the sky. He shoots at the incoming projectiles and lands taking the fifth position.

Edvin and Mavis boost themselves, trying to take first place permanently. Creatures made of ice appear on the track to slow down the competitors. Edvin destroys the creatures in front of Mavis to block her view, but Mavis does the same to Edvin. Meanwhile Kalev focuses on the creature in front of himself. Unlike everyone else. He uses the magic ice of the creatures to further speed himself. Kalev takes the fourth position, and quickly goes into third. Edvin and Mavis notice Kalev trailing just behind them. They both force a wave of snow at each other hoping to take the other out and stop Kalev from surpassing them. Kalev goes full throttle into the snow. His vision is completely impaired and as soon as he emerges he witnesses a large dragon made of snow incoming at the three of them. Edvin and Mavis boost themselves even more, but only Edvin speeds off. Ice rises in front of Mavis which slows her. Kalev notices one of Edvin’s lackeys is responsible for it. The dragon is going to hit Mavis so Kalev races to her side. He grabs her arm and shoves her forward.

The monstrous dragon crashes into the ground, raising a lot of snow into the air. Mavis looks back and doesn't spot Kalev anywhere. She looks in front and sees Edvin in first with his lackey in second. She boosts herself to the max to get the lead again. She shifts herself and her board to get the least amount of air resistance. She sneaks behind Edvin’s lackey and passes him while her board spits back snow in his face. Mavis is fifty feet away from Edvin. Something catches her attention. She turns and notices a lane of magic circles with a white dragon’s head engraved at the center. Before she has time to process it, she sees Kalev speed past her at great speeds. Edvin sees the finish line not too far in front, though he does feel someone getting close. He sends a wave of snow backwards  but that isn’t enough to stop Kalev. Running out of magic, Kalev slows right next to Edvin. Infuriated at Kalev catching up to him, Edvin aims at him to shoot a ball of ice. Kalev looks forward then back at Edvin. Once Edvin is done making the ice he attempts to fire it, though as luck would have it, Edvin runs over a small rock which causes him to lose his balance and falls off his board only three feet from the finish line. Kalev crosses the line with Mavis right behind him.

Everyone else crosses the line, most of them cheering at Kalev for his performance. Though Mavis isn’t happy about it, she congratulates him for his win. For the first time Kalev has received praise from his classmates, though this is only just the beginning of his goal.