Awake from the past

This was the end, Kalah thought as she laid swaddled in darkness. Joseph, everyone…I’m sorry but I can’t go on. Her eyes fluttered open and shut until her body said goodbye to this world.

Or at least Kalah thought this was goodbye, until she began to regain consciousness. Her senses felt fuzzy but she could hear a voice calling out for someone.

“A-…Ali-…Alice! Are you ok my Princess!? Say something please!”

Kalah focused her eyes on the face of who called out to her. It was a woman dressed up as a maid with silver hair and hazel eyes.

“Thank goodness your awake! I was afraid you were dead. When you’re feeling better Alice, we must-”

 Kalah stopped her before she could continue talking and said, “I’m sorry, but I’m not Alice. My name is Kalah.”

The maid began to cry. “You reincarnated? No, this can’t be…”

She gently placed her on the floor, since she was holding Kalah in her arms. She sat up and hugged the maid. While Kalah was hugging, she noticed that the floor and walls were made of ice. From what she observed, it looked like she was in some kind of throne room. But she also saw knights that were frozen in mid battle.

“What’s your name? And could you please tell me about Alice, where we are, and what happened?”

She calmed down and wiped away her tears. “My name is Ellen. Currently we are inside the castle of…the former Ice Kingdom. She was this kingdom’s princess and I was her personal maid servant. When Alice was young, she couldn’t control her ice magic well and accidentally froze one of the neighborhood children. She was an emotional child back then, but I helped her understand her abilities and her feelings. I also taught her how to fight and defend herself. She was growing up into a kind and compassionate woman until that horrible day.”

“I was helping Alice get ready that morning, brushing her hair like I always do. Then we suddenly heard people screaming outside and left Alice’s bedroom to find out what was happening. The guards informed us that an army of Nightmares is attacking our kingdom. Alice ran downstairs past me and the guards to her parents. When she got there, a Nightmare giant broke through the castle doors. I was there to witness Alice run into action and deflect an ice magic attack to her parents. The giant laughed and sent out a powerful ice beam at Alice with his hammer. She pushed back with all her might but in the end, it overcame her and froze her in place. No one could stop him, not even me.”

“A while ago, I thawed out and came over here to check on you. I was about to look for more survivors until you thawed out. I caught you in my arms as you collapsed. I…I’m not sure how long we’ve been frozen though if I had to guess, probably for years now.”

Kalah placed her hand on her chest while they sat in silence.

“Alice was a great princess, wasn’t she?”

“…yeah. She would’ve loved to meet you.”

Kalah smiled. They both stood up from the floor.

“So um, Kalah was it? Could you please tell me about how you got reincarnated in the first place?”

***

“How awful for you to fall victim to the same villain. Do you think Joseph’s mother did this to you and him?”

“I don’t think so. She would never hurt her own son like that. Do you think you could help me find Joseph in this world?”

Before she could answer, Nightmare wolves stormed into the room from the main entrance and circled around them until they came to a stop. Then three Nightmare giants appeared.

“Well now, look what we have here!” said one giant.

“Fresh food in Frost Valley? Yes, Yes!” said a second giant who laughed manically.

“Nowhere to run little ones. Give up now, and we will make your deaths nice and quick.” said the third giant.

“This is bad. Ali- I mean, Kalah, use Alice’s daggers! They should be stored in your magic.” said Ellen.

Kalah brought out her daggers. The blade was light blue and the hilt was also blue but of a darker color. Ellen took out her weapon from her magic which was a mace.

The wolves charged at them. Kalah slashed at one of the wolves that pounced on her, the first slash froze it and the second slash shattered the ice and defeated it. Ellen pounded away left and right. All of a sudden, the wolves decided to work together and injured Ellen and Kalah. Ellen was struggling to use her mace because of the injury to her arm, so she stored away her mace and used energy spells to fight. Kalah struggled to dodge each bite and swipe since her leg was injured. Only a small number of Nightmare wolves remained, and the giants leered at them in the background. Ellen touched the bracelet on her injured arm.

“Alvin! This is Ellen. I’m under attack by Nightmares. Please send help to Frost Valley, and hurry!”

The giants who heard this, laughed at what Ellen said.

“Help? You’ll be dead before help arrives!”

Two wolves lunged and Ellen dodged them both, she blasted a counterattack on one of them. A wolf jumped for Kalah’s right arm, but she twirled and double slashed the wolf. Another wolf surprise attacked her, but she thrusted her daggers into it. Ellen toppled to the floor and got pinned down by a wolf. Kalah tried to help her until a club slapped her into the wall. The giant approached Kalah and grabbed her.

Kalah squirmed to free herself from the tight grip, but it just made the amused giant squeeze harder.

“See? I told you that you’ll be-”

“Fire Punch!”

Flames burst forth and the Nightmare dropped Kalah as it fell. Josie swooped down and caught her while Finley jumped off Josie’s back and shot the wolf on Ellen.

“We’re here to help.” said Josie.