Pheoshan Chapter Four The Ice Of The White Demon

 The White Demon

Pheoshan and her companions had been travelling and training for a month after she was exiled by her father. This, she was grateful for, as it helps distract her from what happened. This way she had no time to dwell upon her heartbreak and anger at what her father had to do and Sythvin. In fact she had nothing but boiling rage towards him. Deep in her heart she wished that he would come to a painful and grim end. The more tourturesome the better.

Over the month, she had seen that the snow had not subsided. She had thought that winter ended when New Years ended but Coalphyre had told her that it was about nearer the end of Nimon which was like February. At the moment, he had told her they were in the final two weeks of winter. This, she was grateful for, as she could swear that her fingers and toes would be frozen forever.

They could see that the night was drawing in. So they decided to set up camp and Phyredoor set up the fire as they set out to find a rabbit in hibernation. This was how most of their meals were obtained during winter. They then took the corpse back and Coalphyre skinned them and stewed it. They then handed out the bowls and ate.

Pheoshan spotted a lump of snow in the far distant horizon and they ate. 

They all spotted that the lump of snow was coming closer and closer. Soon, when it was time to clean up the food, the lump of snow was next to them and took the shape of a woman with high cheekbones and long hair and her eyes glowed light blue. She had ice cold beauty that could freeze anyone's heart.

"Hello murderer of my son!" She said in a lyrical and cold voice that welcomed one into icy arms.

Pheoshan frowned slightly. Beginning to wonder what she was on about. That was until she remembered what happened in the Mirror Of The White Demon and it clicked. She looked at her surprised at the fact the White Demon was so beautiful. She could even see a tenderness to her harsh and strict eyes.

This she had to quickly cover up.

"Yes, I am the White Demon, however I go by other names, like the Queen of Winter or Winter Queen. Whichever is easier for you to say, you call me by it. I do not need to say why I am here for, I know that you are intelligent enough to figure it out by yourself. Believe me, I know what I have to do and I know that I will like it even less than you, so I will ask this before I do anything. Will you join me or are we going to have to do what neither of us will like?"

She huffed and shrugged acceptant of whatever she had planned. Seeing this the Winter Queen let out a long light sigh as if he too was acceptant of her choice.

"Then it looks like I will be sending my snow owls to collect the prince and his sister then!" She sighed.

Then she looked up as shock rolled throughout her body.

"What."

Soon she heard a hoot of several owls that were louder and deeper than usual owls. She snapped around and looked up at the sky to see that there was five snow white owls diving towards them! Then as they got closer and closer they became bigger and bigger until to their horror they spotted that the owls were the size of a large door! And as their wings flapped, it blew their hair around so much that it was getting in their eyes.

They tried to blink the strands out as it stung but the act only made things worse as strands got into the upper and bottom lids. Pheoshan took out her knife and had to cut her hair short to stop it becoming a liability. And she did it in time for she quickly spotted the tip of a talon almost reach Coalphyre and she threw her knife into the owl's throat. 

She ran to them and plucked it out. She looked to him who also took out his sword and swung it at one but it's talons dug into his arm and his hand dropped it. Then the Winter Queen smirked.

"That is one of your friends on her way to me." She said as she pointed to the sky. 

They both looked at each other and then realised who she was talking about and they then looked up as if to confirm it.

"Phyredoor!"

They both looked at her in anger as they looked at each other. They soon ran for her. They ran and ran but it was to no avail. Only for a snow owl to dig its talons into Coalphyre and whip him off the ground. 

Pheoshan spotted it and as she went in and tried to cut him free from the owl. Suddenly she was pulled back and stabbed above her and fell and helplessly saw her friends and the last snow owl fly away. 

She heard a weak hoot from behind and in her anger picked up Coalphyre's blade and chopped off its head. She felt nothing but rage at her own weakness and wanted to get back at the White Demon, even if it was small.

"Well that was not very nice or ladylike!" She sang as if she was more mildly amused rather than shocked or angry.

"Well," She sighed like a yawn. "It hardly matters, for my snow owls did their job. I would say that there is a chance, however you already know what I would say. I have decided to give you that chance so I will tell you how and to make it easier I will say it in rime."

"Come to my castle of Ice,

Girl not made of spice, 

Follow my path, 

Hall to frozen wrath, 

From here you must go, 

To the Fields of Snow."

"Now repeat it or you will never see your friends again."

Pheoshan huffed.

Just do as she says. You'll get this over and done faster that way.

"Come to my castle of Ice, 

Girl not made of spice, 

Follow my path, 

Fall to frozen wrath, 

From here you must go, 

To the fields of snow."

She repeated with gritted teeth.

"Good!"

She smiled as the snow dropped leaving her to pack up and quickly clean up. She then spotted a blue scroll as she put out the fire with her foot. She picked it up as she stepped on the pile. 

She opened it and spotted that she was going in the right direction. She walked and walked until she came to an icy road. She spotted a frosty pole with arrow boards with the one that said Fields Of Snow pointing left. She turned and walked on, not wanting to waste her energy that she knew that she needed for fighting.

She soon came to it which was several long fields separated only by ice coated white stones. She walked on and spotted the Castle of Ice amongst the mist of water vapour. She had to admit to herself that it did look beautiful. She took her first step onto the snow as a new coat fell lightly.

She set her foot on the snow feeling slightly guilty that her footprint would taint such a beautiful landscape. Then again, she knew that her friends were more important than beauty and since when had she started to have an appreciation for it anyway?

She heard a crunch after crunch and was able to see that there were blades of grass so frozen that they were broken! She felt a chill run down her spine. 

This grass has not been frozen over the winter! She realised. Then this must have been frozen for a great amount of time... 

She continued hoping that her feet would not get cut by the frozen grass. Then came some odd trembling through the ground and she soon fell. Her hands were only mildly cut but in this weather and shallowness caused them to feel less like cuts but as if her hands were on fire! She then spotted a large shadow in front of her. She tilted her head and spotted something that she did not believe existed, a Yetti!

She scrambled back as it came for her. She knew that it had been sent by the White Demon so she sliced its overly large human-like hand and then as it roared she dug the blade up and deep into its furry guts and pulled it out and as it fell she used her legs to keep herself steady. She quickly dug her hands under her armpits to keep them warm as she walked the rest of the way.

Castle Of Ice

Pheoshan finally arrived the following day at the double doors of ice with an ivy pattern coming from the bottom to the top. It had a triangular shape with seven towers that rose with the upper two connected by a tunnel. The whole thing looked like a life sized beautiful toy palace. Even the towers and walls had the ivy pattern poking out from what would have been the walls! Then she saw that the double doors had white roses as their knobs, however it became clear that the blue and whit walls even though they were clear you could not see through them.

"In awe I see." An ice cold voice that came from behind.

She spun and pulled out her blade before she could even think.

"Well why don't you come and see for yourself?" She asked.

The ice projection chuckled lightly.

"I would rather not!"

"Why? Chicken?"

She chuckled.

"No, I just know better."

"Are you here to gloat?"

"Partly and partly to observe even more of the skills that you have in both combat and plain logic."

"Well, I was known as the street queen back in my dream life!"

"We shall see about that."

Pheoshan smiled.

"Fine by me!"

She ran up to the ice manifestation and slashed her sword diagonally down which was blocked.  She slashed to the left and this too was blocked. She struck to the thought, those to each blocked. The ice manifestation turned her hand into a blade and did the same which was also blocked. 

She knew that she had to get this one over and done quickly. Stopped blocking and started dodging, one sheet the other. She then spotted an opening and soon used this to draw her blade away from her chest and raised her hand to it but before the hand touched she was kicked in the chest. She then drew her blade down, shattering the ice.

"Too easy!"

She spun to the open doors.

Yes, it was...She went easy on me.

Pheoshan's lip curled but making sure that she kept alert. She was going into the lion's den and she knew that there would be other attempts on her life. 

She walked into the open ballroom that led to the ice staircase. This was where she knew that she had to go. As she climbed she wondered why there was not anything that was attacking her yet. Maybe it was because this was the way that she wanted to go. This meant that she was going to be guided by the White Demon to go to wherever it was that she wanted to go.

Her lip curled even more as she felt a flame of anger rise in her chest. A flame that she had to put out before it caused her and more importantly, her friends any harm. No, she should save that for later when she would need it the most.

She looked both ways and started to walk left but that was sealed off and so, she knew that she would have to go right. She walked on and on until she came to a door and pulled but it was locked. Which, she did, the same to every door that she came across, until the doors seemed to melt into the walls. This told her that the White Demon was watching her every movement. 

Ha! Lion's den? More like a spider's web! 

She was going to walk again to the left but it was sealed off. So, again she was to go right. At the end were three stairs that she climbed and was going to go left but was greeted by the window.

She could see the Fields of Snow out and she knew that further on was her father's kingdom. She wondered what was going on there and if he was doing alright and if he had broken the spell over him. She also wondered if her brother was being prepared to undergo the very same spell.

Her eyes closed knowing that she did not have the time for her mind to wonder about those things. After all, they may have been related by blood, and they may even love her, but the truth was she barely knew them at all. All because of that man who she wished for more grim and painful deaths for him to have.

She turned right and climbed the almost flat staircase which she could run up. She then came to the tower that was next to the tower in the middle that connected to it. It was all to clear that this was where she was to go up so that was exactly what she did.

She came to a room with nothing but an ice suit of armour. She walked to the door opposite the staircase. That was when the blade of ice fell to block her way. She looked to her right to see the suit of armour had moved. She sighed slightly already knowing what this meant. She took her blade out and flicked it away already suspecting that that was the trigger. The ice foot stepped down.

She raised her sword as she looked at the helmet almost expecting to see eyes but her gut told her that there would be none which was right. She smiled slightly already knowing what this meant for her. 

The ice knight swung his sword to her left which she found easy to block. He swung it to the right which, again, she blocked. She then pulled it up and spun her blade down and then stabbed where his heart would be but there was no change. That was when she felt the hilt of her temple. She fell down and spun up and her blade met his. She kicked the ice knight's shin and spun to pin him down. She drew her blade down and slammed it into the ice helmet and that was when she felt a knife in her chest. 

She looked down to see a bizarre blade in her chest. It did not draw blood but she could feel it in her heart and as the knight became snow the blade vanished. She placed her hand over where the blade was and she could neither feel any wound nor blood. She looked down to see that there was nothing there. Her eyes widened.

What the hell was that about?

Never mind that! Why did she invent a blade that doesn't leave a wound?

She knew that she didn't want to think about that as she felt a chill in her heart. She got to her feet and moved through the door.

Frost Of Heart

Pheoshan felt cold, like she had taken a light nap. She rubbed her chest to earn her chest up but it did not work. She wondered why she was not getting warmer. She knew that this cold feeling in her chest was bad but she could not place why. 

It must have something to do with that blade. She deduced.

"You're quite right!" Came the White Demon's voice.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, trying to warm her chest up.

"It does have something to do with the blade."

"What-"

That was when she realised what was going on. Somehow, the White demon was reading her mind. Her eyes widened at this thought.

If that's the case then how and when did this happen?

"The moment that blade pierced your heart. It left a small ice crystal in your heart which is only going to grow and nothing, not even true love will stop it. Yet here is the thing, the more that your heart beat increases the faster it will spread." She explained. "And at the rate that it is spreading...Well, I have to say, it is safe to say that you will be dead within a day."

Pheoshan wished that she could punch her at that moment but she forced herself to keep calm. After all, if what she had told her was the truth then that meant that she could not allow herself to get worked up. 

So she kept walking trying to keep herself calm by thinking of things that kept her calm. She started with imagining her sleeping in a field. Then imagined that she was listening to a calming song. This helped her more than she thought, for it helped her feel oddly at peace.

She soon came to the door at the other end and placed her hand on it and pushed, however the doors did not move. She tried it again but nothing. She tried it again but put more pressure onto the doors but again this was in vain. She looked down at the hallway and noticed that there was no other way. So she knew that this must have been the way forward, but the question was, how to get past it? 

So is that it? She taunted me and now she's going to leave me here to die! 

She in her anger hit the doors again but this time she felt it budge. She did it again as if to test that it wasn't just a figment of her imagination. This time she saw the door budged slightly! She hit it again and again until the side of her hand was bleeding but the doors opened. 

She smiled, feeling satisfied until she saw the cloud of water vapour in her eyesight and the coldness in her chest made her cough. She realised that she was panting and her heartbeat had increased. Then she realised, with a strong feeling of humiliation,  those doors would only open when her heartbeat increased. 

She forced herself to think about that field and the song and did not do anything until her heartbeat was the way that it should be. She then walked on to see that there was another spiral staircase.

She placed her hand on the ice bannister and placed her foot on the first step but it seemed to slip and she looked down to see a ramp where the first step was. She looked up to see that the rest of the staircase had suddenly turned into a helter-skelter. 

Now how am I going to get up? She questioned.

Run! Run up to me, my little girl! She heard the White Demon say using her mother's voice. 

She felt her heart skip a beat as her hair stood up on end.

What? Did you think that I was only able to use my only voice. Especially if there are other voices I can use? No, I can use any voice in your mind.

So if you want to save the prince and his sister then, you are going to have to run! She told her in her father's voice. 

Feeling her heartbeat increase she ran up the ramp and the ramp became stairs again. She ran again but she started coughing again and again. She knew that her lungs were crying for her to stop but she had to ignore it. But as she approached the halfway point her coughing had become worse and she had to stop and her hands clutched the side of her bannister as tears stung her cheekbones as they fell. Her lungs felt like they had ice in them. 

She felt the stairs starting to become smooth. So she got hold of herself and ran the rest of the way and she fell at the top of the stairs and felt teeth clash as she shivered. Soon she was coughing again but she tasted iron and came out of her mouth. She looked at it in her blurred vision and saw small specks of red.

Her eyes widened.

She forced herself to calm down and she forced herself on her feet. Her knees became shaky as she had to dig her arms in around her chest to keep warm. She could see the cloud of water vapour becoming thinner in her vision. She knew what that meant and why. She could not allow herself to waste any more time. She came to the doors and opened them.

The White Demon

The first thing that Pheoshan spotted was her friends, the second was the ice chains around their wrists and ankles. She then could see that they were pale with snowflakes in their hair, brows and lashes. Their eyes were unfocused but open and it was all too clear by the water vapour steam, they were alive.

They must have a bit of ice in their system just like me. 

She noticed by looking at how thin the cloud was. Their unfocused eyes slowly moved to her.

"N-no!" Shouted Coalphyre weekly. "Y-you sh-shouldn't b-be here!"

"C-Coalphyre's r-r-right!" Shouted Phyredoor whose voice was just as weak, if not more. "Y-you h-have to g-get out o-of here!"

"No, I mean how the Hell am I supposed to do that? After all, it's all too clear that I don't know this place and I also don't know where you are trying to take me. But you do." She snapped. 

She took out her sword and swung it to their chains and they broke. They then turned to the door to the way out, but it was all too clear that the White Demon had turned it into a wall.

"Well that goes our way out. Looks like we're going to have to fight our way out."

"Precisely Demon Princess. After all, did you really think that I was going to let you leave here after what you did to my son? My, my, my, that would be such an insult to my intelligence!" Came the White Demon as she walked to where the door was with a blade of ice in her hands with a snowflake as the weight.

Pheoshan took her blade out and raised it as did the others. She looked at them and smiled. She raised her hand and soon chains of ice rose from the icy floor and bound her friends and pinned them to the ground. She tried to free them again using her sword but it came to no avail. It was all too clear that the chains that she had destroyed were only just a ploy to lure her and her friends into a false sense of security.

She felt pain in her lungs and started to cough again and she saw that there was more blood coming from her mouth as well as cold icy stinging at the top of her mouth and her tongue. She could feel herself becoming colder and colder. She also knew that the only way that this could ever come to an end was if she killed the White Demon. So she gathered herself and got to her feet.

She looked at her foe with blurred vision but she knew what she had to do, so she ran and drew her sword down but it was blocked. The White Demon slashed the blade towards her neck but she dodged and drew her head up and then drew her blade up and almost hit her but she spun out of the way. She then felt her blade at her back.

She spun too and stuck her blade out and hit her blade repeatedly but she managed to hit her once but it was too shallow a wound. It would not even leave a scar. The Winter Demon sighed as she looked up at her.

"You ruined my dress!" She said, coldly.

"Oh I'm sorry, I w-wasn't aware that you minded." She replied, trying not to sound as weak as she knew that she was becoming. 

She could even feel another bloody coughing fit about to come on. She looked at her and it was all too clear by her calm demeanour that she knew it too.

She slammed down her blade which hit the ground and her head bashed against the ice. She then found herself coughing and coughing as her lungs hurt and her insides felt like ice. She could now see a pool of blood this time. Her focus was becoming more and more dull and she heard herself wheezing. 

She felt the White Demon's hands on her arms.

"Tell me my little Demon Princess Pheoshan, do you care for your friends?" She asked. 

"What-" She asked confused.

What kind of question was that? Of course I do! 

But do I? Do I really? Do I even know what that even is?

But I did all this to rescue them!

But was that done out of care or because you need them?

"N-no." She said out loud. 

The Winter Demon smiled as she pulled the girl back. She was shivering violently now. Her thoughts were becoming more and more cloudy by the second and her eyelids were dropping. She soon found it impossible to think. Her head felt like ice was growing there at an alarming rate. She felt her body become cooler and colder. She knew nothing could warm it.

How? How did I come here? Where am I? I? What is I? What does it mean? What-what-what…

She started to stroke her head.

"Shh, it's alright let it happen. It will be over soon. It will be all over soon." She cooed as she rocked her in her arms. 

At that moment she could not understand what was happening.

"Pheoshan! Fight it! Fight her!" She heard someone say. She could not remember who, but she knew what he meant but it was so much easier this way. For some reason she felt her mind was a blank white slate, like snow had covered all her memories and mind.

Her eyes closed and her body grew cold and her breath ceased. The Winter Demon leaned in and rested her lips on her forehead. Then, as she kissed it, her forehead flared up in a rapid heat. Suddenly her lips felt like they were on fire. 

She quickly pulled away as the body in her arms became hotter and hotter until she had to throw her out of her hands. 

She then spotted there was smoke rising from jet dress. She looked down to see that her dress was singed! She looked down as her eyes opened. 

Her eyes were like two walls of fire with an ever changing slit that looked like you were looking into a void. She was holding a miniature version of Wolfox, the Demon King's weapon. Her body was clothed in darkness. Her body rose and spun to her feet. The cloud of water vapour that came from her was twice as large as normal.

The White Demon shook.

"W-what are you!" She screamed. 

She then felt pain in her gut. She looked down and realised that she was bleeding. She looked at her and spotted that there was blood covering the weapon. She felt her leg back away as she ran to her and this Wolfox Pheoshan slit her head. She was dead before she knew it.

She then returned to normal, however her skin was paler. The weapon vanished and the darkness with it. Her eyes closed and fell into Coalphyre's arms.

Melting Of The Ice

Now that the White Demon was dead, heat came back into Coalphyre and Phyredoor's body. They were about to rest for a moment and think about what happened but then a piece of the roof came crashing down. They then felt the whole castle shake and knew exactly what that meant. So they took up the unconscious Pheoshan and ran to where the exit was and kicked the ice. It crashed down with such ease that it was unnerving. They slid down the melting staircase and then came to the room that led down. They again kicked down the door and ran to the staircase and again slid down the melting bannister and soon the ice cracked and smashed under their weight. 

Their back side hit the stairs hard, but they had no time to attend to them so they had to run down the stairs. Then Phyredoor slipped and hit her younger brother causing him to fall. He then twisted and wrapped his body around them so that only his back would get hurt. He was suddenly glad that he was wearing his armour. So when they came to the bottom hardly any of them were hurt, however they were far from out of the woods.

They had to quickly get to their feet and ran down corridor after corridor and hall after hall until they came to the ballroom entrance. The bannisters had already crumbled and the stairs were getting thinner and thinner by the second. Knowing that it was the only way they forced themselves to run down the stairs and as they applied their weight the ice cracked and when their feet left the ice broke. They almost made it down when a section of the roof fell and smashed the rest of the staircase before them. Coalphyre had to grab Phyredoor and jumped the rest of the way landing with a roll.

They were soon on their feet again and ran and ran to the Entrance when Phyredoor slipped on the ice and Coalphyre picked her up and pulled her away just in time before another section of the roof fell. However, part of her dress got caught under the edge. She tried to pull it out fearing that it would damage her dress but it wouldn't budge. She soon realised that that was inevitable she took out her dagger and slit it. She then caught up with her brother and they left the castle behind.

They would have stayed to see the place crumble, however they knew better than that, for if they stayed when the ice collapsed then they would be crushed under the debris. If not that then they would drown, after all a castle that big, they both knew would leave a large pond or a small lake behind. So they ran and ran and then they looked around for higher ground. They soon came to a hill and they ran up it. They continued to ascend until they felt confident that they were safe.

They looked behind and saw the castle crumble and they saw a white dust cloud rise up from the trees which they soon realised wasn't a dust cloud but water spraying out. They heard all the wildlife fleeing from the  water and birds flying away from drowning trees. Soon the waves were visible from the tops of the trees. The water expanded and expanded seeking destruction as nothing was in the way to stop it and soon the forest was no longer and the birds and the wildlife that were fast enough survived. Only at their feet did it stop and the new lake took its first waves.

Pheoshan woke up feeling exhausted and her body was saw. She looked at the lake and then at Coalphyre and then Phyredoor. Their faces were pale.

Are we dead? 

No...if we were then I would not be feeling so sad.

They spotted that she was awake but they looked at her and for a moment they looked afraid but their features softened.

"W-what happened?" She asked.

They looked at each-other almost as if they were questioning whether or not they should. But regardless they did. Her face went even more pale as her eyes dropped.

"I-I did what?"

"Did you know that you had this?"

She shook her head, her mind racing at a dizzying rate.

"N-no! But when I faced the White Demon's son last month...I felt a dark joy overtake me and...and I thought that what happened after was a dream. Same case with the White Demon. So what you're telling me is that I actually did those things?"

They both nodded. Her eyes dropped as she came to a conclusion.

"So, I have a bit of Wolfox's power."

"That and another thing, your face...It's paler than before. Way paler than before."

"It is?"

Her eyes widened in shock as she looked back and looked into the surface of the water to see that it was true! Then as she looked closer she spotted that there was a blue ring around the iris of both of her eyes.

She looked back as she looked around at the green landscape.

"I wonder, where did all this water come from?"

"It was a big castle, much bigger than what it appeared. See she put a spell over her castle to only appear small when the truth was it was big enough for an entire town to fit in!" Phyredoor explained.

"So it left a small lake…"

"Yeah, wonder what it should be called?" Coalphyre asked.

Pheoshan smiled.

"Deathsnow Lake."