Elementally Bound: Part 17
----- Remembrance -----
Ember leaned heavily on her raptor as she approached the empty village. With the war, and the fates those who were here before, it would be some time before the people of Elona would resettled this small village. It was, however, the home of Valandra, and Ember wanted to make sure that no one would ever forget her.
Ember swiped a few magical sigils in the air, strengthening her weak body preparing for the ritual she was about to perform. With Cinder acting as a support, she headed to the fountain in the center of the city, and began to channel magic through relics. She had to focus on her memories and concentrate to get the image just right…
Ember sat drunkenly at the bar in Lion's arch when she heard a figure approach her. She looked up to see a beautiful woman. The woman cleared her throat and said something in Elonian.
"You're in Kryta. Speak some damn Krytan!" Ember scowled at the foreign language. The tongue had brought sorrow to the woman's heart after her time there, and now annoyance stemmed from even hearing the dialect.
The woman grinned from the corner of her mouth at the woman's forthrightness, then nodded. "Ahai, then."
Ember frowned. "Yeah… Hi. So what is it you want?"
The woman gestured regally around at the empty seats. "I was wondering if I could sit with you. Not many else to converse with."
The two exchange pleasantries, and while a bit suspicious, Ember couldn't help losing herself in the woman's sapphire eyes. Yet, the woman's purpose seemed a bit jaded and her suspicions were solidified when the woman let slip her name. Ember stood slowly, eyeing Valandra. "Care to tell me why you are here, ice queen?"
Valandra stood upright, a smirk on her face at Ember's unexpected discovery. A shimmer covered her being as purple distortions rippled over her form. She placed a small mirror on the table; the glimmer spell it created now dissipating. The woman's clothes faded away, replaced by armor of ice and shards. Her boots included spiral crystals of ice wrapping around themselves, meeting the covering she wore around her waist. A further extension of the woman's glacial bodice met the lower half, leaving exposed skin on either side. Her shoulders were ice sculptures of jaggedness, and from her back sprouted wing frames of translucent crystal shards. Her eyes sparkled blue, her body generating the same color aura around her person. Valandra's hair became that of silvery white…
From who she used to be, to the ice queen Ember had grown to love. She knew that that memory led to their fight and Ember's embarrassing defeat, but regardless, nothing could take away the awe of seeing her for the first time. A tear formed in her eye as she remembered, but the spell required the recounts, and she proceeded to the next memory…
Unprecedented in scale, a large red orb of energy shot out from Ember, raced up the beam, over to the other chamber, and drove through the crystals, finally striking Valandra. At once, the ice queen screamed, dropped to her knees from the intensity of the power. She fought back, instinctively sending her own energy to stop the onslaught. Three beams suddenly reversed, sending blue pulses from the ice queen. They used the same path, traveled the opposite direction, and down into Ember…
That memory was filled with agony and Ember inadvertantly winced as she relived the horrors of the machine. But, truthfully, it was that event that led to the pair being linked, and it was that moment that led them to fall in love…
Valandra cried out in frustration, rushed and lunged at the woman. Both toppled back. Her hands were locked instantly around the woman's neck, "I don't need magic to kill you for what you've done!" She tightened her grasp and squeezed. Suddenly her blue eyes grew wide, feeling unseen hands around her own neck, choking the life from her. Bewildered, she let go, held her own throat in shock....
Ember chuckled. She was choked then, but that alone led to a lot of humorous interactions. They also discovered neither could part from each other or they would become sick; which eventually led them to the festival, where things became more… heated. Ember flushed red as memories of removing their suits flooded her mind, and instantly she found herself back at her favorite moment...
"No… No thanks, I got it," Ember blushed, tried to wave the flame away, when a sudden stream of water landed on her. "Hey!" Ember squealed. The ice queen was standing, holding her finger like a water gun, laughing the entire time. "S-Sto…p," Ember tried to battle the downpour, eventually laughing herself. Giving up the futility of fighting the stream, she sprung from the bench, leaped at Valandra, and began to deploy a countermeasure: tickling.
"Ah!" Valandra shrieked at the sudden surprise, began laughing hysterically, obviously vulnerable to the tickle powers Ember possessed. "N-no! S-stop!" Valandra tried to catch her breath. She pushed the woman off, ran away, still giggling. "I escape!"
Ember giggled and ran after her. "Oh no you don’t! Not when I've just found your weakness!"
The two chased each other up the ramps of the cliff's gorge, giggling and laughing as they passed other vacationers. Valandra ran until she came to an embankment, stumbled down into a small pool below with laughter and for the first time in a while, joy. Ember followed behind, teasing the woman, finally pouncing on her like a predator.
"Ah!" Valandra pulled herself from Ember's ticklish grip, retreated back into the pond's waterfall. She grinned. "You wouldn't dare step in here!"
"Hey! That's cheating!" Ember grumbled.
Valandra stuck out her tongue, her icy blue eyes squinting a taunting, alluring gaze.
Ember looked the woman up and down as the water cascaded off her form. She was beautiful in a sensually commanding way, and she blushed at the sight. She took in a big gulp, and with a wince, stepped into the waterfall. The ice queen was frozen in shock and Ember took advantage. She latched her arms around the woman. "Gotcha!" she said playfully.
With a thin seductive smile, Valandra pulled the woman close; their bodies steamed as they touched. "And what if I just decide to freeze this waterfall with you in it?"
Looking into the woman's eyes was like staring into crystals and Ember melted under their gaze. She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to the ice queen's, who returned it. The couple stood, locked in embrace. They could have been frozen in the waterfall; the moment lasted a lifetime
Ember's heart fluttered. That was one of the happiest times of her life, and the moment when she realized that the woman who kidnapped her had her heart. She remembered their trip to Elona, to the Desolation, meeting the Djinn, and finally, when they arrived on the snow covered structure within the northern Desert Highlands. Flashes of magic and blades meeting were seared in her mind. Ember wanted to try and save her and Demitra both, but her indecision cost her Valandra…
"I… don't want to do this," Ember wept as she brought her sword up, pointed to the woman's shoulder. "I… I think I love you."
A genuinely soft smile came to the ice queen. She stepped forward, accepting the point of the ice sword sliding it into her own shoulder. Without a word she pulled Ember toward her, burying the blade to its hilt.
"W-what are you doing?" Ember cried, horrified.
"I… I love you, too," Valandra whispered as she pressed her icy lips to Ember's, who returned the kiss, tears sorrowfully running down her cheeks. "I won't let him win," Valandra said, pulling back. Her hand glided to Ember's gloved hand still holding the sword. "I shall bring Demitra back to you… Don't let him win." She held onto Ember's glove and pulled it off as she stepped backward, off the ledge...
"NO!" Ember screamed, sobbing. She channeled her magic into the relics, combining all the memories she'd recounted into the perfect image. A sand sculpture stood around the fountain, before Ember used her magic to heat it rapidly, creating her final product.
The crystal statue was on the woman she'd loved: Valandra. She was standing proudly in her icy garb, wings floating behind her. In one hand, Valandra held a replica of her icy sword. Her other hand, however was reaching out, palm up as if seeking to pull you to join her. Below her feet, was a very dead looking Palawa Joko, defeated in combat. Valandra's beautiful white hair flowed behind her, as if a breeze kept her face clear... but it was her face Ember was most proud of. The icy blue eyes held the seriousness and fierceness of the woman Ember loved, but it held a kindness that Ember was only lucky enough to see at the end. Her lips were thinly curved in a sly smirk, making it look as if she was about to guide you on the adventure of the lifetime. And, even though Ember knew it was just a statue, she wanted nothing more than to take that hand and run off to new lands.
She fell to her knees, as tear-filled eyes worked on the inscription on the plaque at the base.
Valandra Thaljia Dejarin
Ice queen, Defier of Joko, Okht to the Djinn
Hero to the weak, loved by all who knew her
Ember looked over her work before using her last relic to put into the statue. The fountain around it bubbled to life, keeping a constant flow of cool, clean water. The spring would help bring life back to this town and Valandra's memory would endure. Ember channeled and released all the remaining magic in Valandra's sword and Valandra's magic in herself, putting it into the statue. A icy frost came to form around the glass, eternally cold for those that came in peace. If anyone sought to defile the statue or brought harm to the village, they would be struck with Valandra's powerful lightning.
Ember stared at her completed work for a long time passed before she finally turned to go home. Sword of fire on one hip, an extinguished sword of ice on the other. Valandra's struggles and resistance had come to a close; may she rest in peace.
To Be Concluded...
