𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝

ＥＬＳＡ°

It was odd. I don't know if it's the fact that we are facing danger I have never really experienced before or something else but all I know is that I feel like I'm on the edge.

All my life the battle I've been facing was with myself mostly but now, now we have a real threat to fight and I don't know if I'm ready to face that threat.

"Elsa." Jack called out before entering my tent.

And there's also this.

"Bruni just lead me to this cave and I just found something that-" he paused. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." I said. "Why'd you ask?"

He walked towards me. "You don't look fine to me."

Be still my heart.

"Your face is red, do you have a fever?" He touched my forehead with the back of his arm. "Okay, honestly I can't tell if it's really heat or it's just because my hands are normally cold."

I laughed. "I'm fine, I just feel like it's a little... hot in this tent. Let's go outside." I said heading out as soon as I can.

Sure Elsa, hot inside your tent? It's mostly ice, I'm sure it's hot.

I was immediately greeted by Honeymaren as soon as I got out. "Hey are you-"

"I'm fine, it's okay." I said before Honeymaren could finish.

Soon enough Jack went out as well, Honeymaren then waved at him.

"Oh you saw her already. Alright then, I should head back to work and look after the kids. Make sure to stay safe and be back for dinner okay?" Honeymaren said and walked away from us.

"Right. I'll make sure no harm comes to her." Jack waved goodbye to Honeymaren.

"Don't forget yourself." She laughed from a distance.

Jack laughed along. "I won't." He replied.

Huh, they get along surprisingly well. Who would've thought?

"So anyway, as I was saying earlier." Jack turned to me with an excited face. I nearly forgot he was saying something earlier. Nearly.

"Bruni lead me to a cave that was so odd. Like it was all sorts of magical. I tried to get the Earth Giants to check them out but they were sort of too big and couldn't really get in the cave." Jack explained.

"Magical cave?" I raised an eyebrow.

He nodded his head. "The walls, they had this odd paintings in them. It wasn't like old cavemen paintings but they looked more like magic scripts and-"

"Where is this cave?" I asked instantly.

"Not far from here, I could take you there swiftly." Jack said. "I mean, the wind can but you get my point."

"You think this has to do with the fearlings?" I asked.

"Yes and if we go there maybe we could-" I felt him grab my hand. I pulled away unknowingly. "Oh sorry, I-"

"If it's not far from here we should get the people to move right away." I said running towards the heart of our village. But before I could go farther I felt my hand be grabbed once more.

"Wait, Elsa we don't know if it's really the fearlings yet. Besides where are the Northuldrans going to move now? It's winter and moving might not be the best thing to do right now?" Jack said.

"Well moving somewhere safer is the best thing to do right now. I can't take any risks." I said. "I am the protector of this forest and I have to-"

"Leave it?" Jack asked. I paused, a bit taken aback on what he said.

"It's not like that, I'm not leaving the forest. I'm staying here while the people get to somewhere safe." I explained.

"Then who are you protecting if you're going to leave them?" Jack asked as he gestured to the tents.

I didn't know what to say. I know I'm starting to not make sense but I absolutely can't risk anyone from getting hurt.

"Elsa, listen to me." Jack held both my shoulders. "Do you trust me?"

"What?" I asked him confused.

"Do you trust me?" He repeated.

"Yes but-"

"Then do you trust me when I say that nothing terrible will happen if we check the cave?" Jack asked, looking straight to my eyes.

"How will you know that there won't be anything terrible that'll happen here?" I raised an eyebrow.

He let go of my shoulders and smiled widely. "Well Fifth spirit, there happens to be four spirits here in this forest that will make sure this forest is safe from harm." He pointed out.

"You see, you're not alone in this fight. You have us." He said and as if on cue Bruni jumped on my feet catching my attention.

He had a goofy look on his face but he was smiling nonetheless.

"If you don't trust me yet, then trust them." Jack said looking at Bruni's direction.

I sighed. "I never said I didn't trust you." I pointed out.

"Then, shall we?" He offered his hand.

I sighed and gave in. The moment our hands made contact I felt myself getting swept away from the ground.

My eyes widened and was about to look down until Jack held my chin to face him. "I wouldn't do that if I was afraid of heights." He said.

"I'm not but-"

"It's your first flight so you might want to hold on." He intertwined his hands with mine and before I knew it we were flying in the sky. We were flying fast at that.

"Keep your feet together and don't let go of my hand." Jack said gripping on my hand. I did what he said and felt myself feel a bit more stable.

Everything and everyone looked so small. Is this how Earth Giants feel? Wait, no we're even higher than them.

This is what Jack does all the time. This is what he's used to. Flying. "This is amazing!" I said with a smile on my face.

"I know." Jack bragged with a grin as he looked back at me.

In what I felt like it was just seconds we arrived at our destination.

I wanted to say I had a soft landing but to be honest if not for Jack I would've landed on my face.

"Come on, it's right here." Jack said holding my hand once more as we entered the cave. He lead my to where he said it was and stopped so suddenly.

"You know, we should've brought Bruni with us." He said. "A little light would've been a bit help."

I paused, remembering how Ahtohallan was well lit despite not having anything else but ice. Maybe, just maybe, my ice can also...

"Let me try something." I said and tapped my foot on the cave's floors. Ice slowly formed around my foot, giving a slight blue-ish white glow.

"That'll work." Jack said.

It was then I only noticed that he wasn't really walking earlier, he was actually floating slightly above the ground. He also tapped his foot on the ground but no ice pattern came out.

"Wait, let me try again." He said pointing the g end of his staff to the ground and then using that to tap the ground. His ice pattern instantly appeared.

You can see in his eyes the excitement as he saw the pattern grow bigger.

"Let's go?" He turned to me with a huge grin.

With one hand on this magical staff and the other holding mine, we ventured deeper to the cave. With each step I left an ice trail, following Jack's.

***

There was no paintings. Or at least not anymore.

When we arrived, only smudged walls can be found. A very light trace of what Jack identified as magic scripts showed but it wasn't enough to be readable. Well, not that it was sure that we can read the text but what was sure is that somebody didn't want anyone to be able to.

"I'm going to look around more, maybe there's something left." Jack said flying away before I could even respond.

I stayed where I was, looking around the same smudged wall and now ice covered floor.

My eyes landed on a small part of the floor that hasn't been covered in ice yet.

I walked over and noticed a small doodle on it. My feet grew cold, instantly covering that part in ice as well.

"JACK!" I called out, running to the direction he flew. "Jack we have to go now!"

As I ran I bumped into Jack eventually. He held my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"We have to go. Now." I said firmly. Without hesitation he nodded. He held me by the waist and flew as fast as he could. A few minutes later I felt the wind support me as well, helping me to balance in the air just like earlier.

Our flight back felt like it was too long which was odd considering that rides back home usually feels faster. Maybe it was just my anxiety getting to me, feeling that we won't be there in time.

"Elsa! You're back!" Ryder came running to me.

"Where's Honeymaren? The kids? Where are they?" I asked. At the corner of my eye I saw a group of kids in a circle with their parents.

"Honeymaren is missing." Ryder said, his voice a bit shaky.