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The palace was huge.  The entire thing was made of what I’d been informed was called ice.  Lumi was walking out of the palace when we arrived.

“Are you two ready to go?” she asked.

The sun still wasn’t up yet.  Tae had one of the glowing balls I’d seen in the inn.  It was sitting on the top of an ice stick.  It reminded me of a torch.

“We have quite the walk to get there,” Tae replied. “Should we bring Icy?”

“Is that really a good idea?  We don’t know what kind of creatures are in the forest, and Icy might just make them mad.”

I looked back and forth between them.  Who was Icy?

“Yeah, you’re right.  Let’s not.  We should go now, then.  We don’t want to be walking around in that forest in the dark tonight.”

By the time we reached the forest, the sun was rising.  The light was reflecting off the snow, making it nearly blinding to look down.

“Odelle, do you have the map?” Tae asked.

I handed it to him, and he looked it over. “Looks like we’ll just have to start walking.  There aren’t any specific paths.”

I cringed.  The forest didn’t sound like the kind of place you’d want to just wander around in.

“Let’s go.”

Tae had started ahead of us before either me or Lumi could object.  She looked at me.

“Guess we’re doing this, then.”

I had no choice but to follow her.  Tae had taken the map, so I didn’t even have a clue on how to get back to the village.

☀☀☀☀☀

After about an hour of walking, the forest was starting to fog over.  The sun that had started to shine above us didn’t even do us much good. 

“Are we walking in circles?  I swear I’ve seen that tree before,” Lumi commented as she pointed at one of the trees.

I glanced around.  She was right, but none of the other trees looked familiar.  I approached the tree cautiously, and to my surprise, it moved.  I jumped, and Lumi let out a loud screech.

“This must be one of those magical trees!” Tae reasoned.

I reached out to touch it, but my hand went straight through it.  In an instant, the tree was gone, and in its place was what appeared to be a tiny wisp of smoke.

“Do you know where the center of the forest is?” I asked.  It seemed insane to even be talking to such a thing, but I had no other ideas at this point.

Apparently this had been the right course of action, because the little thing lit up a few times before heading in another direction.  I was quick to follow, quite surprised when I was able to follow it right through a tree.  Tae and Lumi were a few steps behind me.

After what had felt like an eternity, we passed through one last tree.  I glanced around.  There were no more trees in front of me, and I was now standing in a wide-open area.

“Tae, Lumi, we did i-”

I turned around, just to find the two of them gone.  I hurried back through the tree just to find the two of them seated on the ground.  Tae was rubbing his head, and Lumi was patting his shoulder.

“Odelle, you have to do the next part alone.  We can’t join you,” Tae explained with a wince.

I nodded slowly. “All right.  You’ll stay right here, right?”

“Of course.  I can’t leave you alone without a map, and we all need it to get back.”

“I’m sure the wisp could help her back,” Lumi laughed.

Tae nodded to the tree. “Go, Odelle.”

I reentered the wide space just to realize that it seemed pretty bare.  What was I doing in here, exactly?  Was I supposed to look for something?

I wandered around for a while before finding a large ice sculpture in the middle of the area.  I reached out and patted its shoulder.  It looked like a warrior.

“Hey!  Where are your manners?  Haven’t your parents taught you not to touch a stranger?”

I stumbled back in shock, landing on my bottom.  My eyes went wide as the sculpture came to life.  His icy body creaked as he stretched, and I nearly passed out.  This had to be a dream.  A block of ice wasn’t talking to me right now, surely.

“Odelle, I’ve been waiting 196 years for you.”

“What?  Who are you?”

“I’m Findlay.” He seemed to think this was mostly unimportant, because he changed the topic almost immediately. “Don’t tell me you don’t know why you’re here.  You’re the chosen one!”

“Huh?”

He groaned, and the sound came out deep and hefty. “You know about the curse, right?”

“Um, I suppose?”

“You know how the lands were once one and now they’re not and…?” he nodded as I did. “Yes?  Yes, ok.” He cleared his throat. “You’re the one who’s going to fix that.”

I blinked up at him. “Sorry, I think you have the wrong person.”

“You walked through the tree.  You’re the one.  It’s even in your name.  ‘Heroine from the heat’?”

“Excuse me?”

He sighed. “All right, forget it.  I won’t explain it.  I have a quest you must complete, and once it’s done, you will receive your first rune.”

“Ok,” I replied, finally getting up and dusting myself off. “What is this quest?”

☀☀☀☀☀

This ice…man? had to be insane.  He’d given me a bow and arrow, and he wanted me to fight the wisps.  I wanted to know how these arrows would have any effect on them, seeing as even I could walk straight through them.

My first arrow went flying, and it pierced three of the wisps who had been floating about.  In an instant, all three of them vanished into thin air in the same way they’d appeared.  I shot another arrow, and a few more wisps were struck by it.  I was surprised this was actually working.

“You need to defeat fifty of them to receive the rune!” Findlay informed me loudly.

Fifty seemed easy enough.  I’d already hit seven.  I ran around the large icy area, shooting arrows at whatever wisps appeared in front of me.  It didn’t take long for me to hit fifty of them, and once I had, the rest disappeared.

“Very good!” he exclaimed as he crossed the field, his ice joints creaking once again. “You made that look easy!”

“Did I?” I asked breathlessly.  I’d never run so much in my life.

“That’s not nearly enough training for the trials to come, but you will be presented with more opportunities before you get there.  Here, take your first rune.”

He handed me a necklace, and as I inspected it, I realized there was a small blue gem inside it.

“As you meet more of the mystics, they will give you more runes to go in there.  Eventually, they will spell out a word.”

The gem I had currently had a letter I didn’t recognize in it.  How I was supposed to know when they spelled out a word, I was unsure.  I went to hand him back the bow and arrows, but he refused them.

“You’re going to need those.  Keep them.”

Before I could thank him, a large body of smoke surrounded me, and when I could see clearly again, I was standing outside with Tae and Lumi.

“You got the rune!” Tae smiled widely. “This is great!”

“How did you know it was a rune?” I asked.

“Because I’ve been waiting nearly 180 years to see one of those.”

“Did you know?  That I was the chosen one?”

He and Lumi shared a glance, and that was all I needed to know the answer to that question.  I sighed, heading through the tree we’d come through on the way here.  It was time to head back.

“Hey, wait up!  We can’t let you leave on your own!”