Curselock

Chapter 239: Iceheart

It took an hour for Gelo’s tears to stop and that was only after Jude equated what was happening to birds.

“See, young fledgling, there is a time for everyone to leave the nest.” He pulled the cub in close, sitting with her head across his lap. “And while your mother dove ventured to a new, difficult to obtain, nest, that doesn’t mean you were abandoned. A fledgling has to take flight, to find her own nest. To find her own flock, even.”

Glenny and Leland shared a look. Somehow, out of the three of them, Jude was the most tender and loving. How did that happen?

“B-but! How will I-I make a new n-nest!?” Gelo asked, her throat ebbing from tearful exhaustion.

“I don’t know,” Jude answered honestly. “But the three of us are here to make sure you find it. Even if it takes decades.”

“Your nest is with us,” Glenny quickly added.

Jude nodded along, stroking Gelo’s cold fur. “Exactly right. And if your nest is always with us, so be it. We can take you to the capital, you’ll meet tons of new people. Leland’s girlfriend, for one. She’s the Queen.”

“You’d love Sybil,” Leland said. “She’s really nice. And, in a way, her situation isn’t that different from yours, when I think about it. Her mother left her right when she was going to take the first steps out of her own nest.”

Gelo stared at him. “Truly?” she asked.

He gave a slow nod. “The situation is different, Sybil’s mom didn’t become a Lord. But practically, you two are one and the same. Though Sybil doesn’t like the cold. She stole Isobel’s coat and has yet to return it.”

“Will I meet Isobel again?” the cub asked, memories of the fiery hunter prevalent in her mind. Gelo hadn’t met very many humans, at this point, and Isobel was Isobel. She stood out.

“As soon as she reappears, yeah. You two will meet.”

“Reappear? Where did she go?”

Taking a long breath, Leland gently shook his head. “No one knows. But she… she’s fine. I just know it.” He smiled to himself. “And knowing her, she’s finally evolving.”

“Humans can evolve?”

“Well… no. Not unless you mean evolving one’s Legacy. I just meant, I think she’s finally moving on from her past trauma. Isobel has had a rough life.”

Truthfully, Leland didn’t know if humans could evolve at this point. Everything Floe had taught them about souls and becoming one with the elements made it sound like people could evolve. How that was possible, and how one went about achieving that, he didn’t know. But that sounded like something he should do, right?

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Just another thing to put on the list.

“Why don’t we stop talking about this and start talking about what we are going to do next,” Jude suggested. “I’ll start. I want to learn more about music and time magic. I’m going to be the bestest bard-time-warrior-berserker ever.”

He said the last sentence with such joviality that Gelo’s ears perked up. She still rested across his legs, but at least her mind was off her mom.

“I will adapt to more things and train in the Void. There is much I am missing, I know it,” Glenny said, weighing a few more options in his head. Begrudgingly, he added, “And I will train in my father’s blade dances. Echoes are just too powerful to ignore.”

“Echoes?” Gelo asked.

“Blade echoes. A fighting technique that duplicates attacks by attacking with specific forms.”

“Sounds cool,” she muttered, fidgeting into Jude’s knee.

“It is the coolest.”

Leland cleared his throat. “I’m obviously going to make new contracts. I have an idea for what I’m calling ‘multi-spells.’”

The cub’s eyes flicked up at Leland. The topic of magic was something no mage could ignore.

“The concept is simple,” he said, mainly to Gelo. “I can activate four contracts at once. So, with that in mind, I am thinking of procuring four spells that are incredibly similar, from four separate contracts. I’ll activate them all at the same time, thus creating an ultimate attack!”

Gelo studied him. “An ultimate attack?”

“Well it doesn’t have to be an attack. My first idea was four healing spells. The ‘ultimate attack’ of four healing spells would be more like ‘ultimate heal’ and could prove life-saving.”

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“Oh I see. You could get four ice spells and use them all at the same time. The ‘ultimate ice spell.’”

Leland smiled. “What would that look like to you? You know ice the best out of us.”

She thought for a moment. “I guess, it would look like my mother’s spells. Cold so cold it doesn’t feel cold. Ice so strong it breaks metal and can withstand lava. Depending on the spells you choose, you could focus solely on penetration-like attacks. Icicles or other pointy things. Or you could focus on the cold-aspect, thus creating an area where enemies would be chilled to a standstill. Or you could go with creation and focus on defense. Walls, igloos, stuff like that. You might even be able to compact ice until it is true Iceheart. Or you might—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Leland interrupted, receiving a glare from Jude. “What’s Iceheart?”

“Hmm?” Gelo’s head popped up, her body flopped onto her legs. “That’s what mother called it, at least. Maybe you know it by a different name? It’s ice that is so close to true elemental ice, but not. Very strong, very cold.”

“It’s just strong and cold?” Leland asked. “Any other attributes because that doesn’t seem all that…” He trailed off, Jude’s death glare like a miniature sun.

“No, it is strong. It’s very strong, in fact. Mother had only achieved it once, so she said. She told me it’s nearly black in appearance, the crystals of ice so cold that they absorb all heat like a whirlpool. And when it breaks, all that heat is expelled back out in the form of elemental cold.”

Leland’s eyes were opened wide. “That does sound powerful. And does that mean there is a Fireheart? Coldheart? Hotheart? Uh, Lightheart?”

“Every element has a true form, yes,” Gelo answered, looking at him like he was stupid. “I thought you were a mage, how did you not know this?”

He took a second to answer. “Unless you are speaking of something incredibly obvious and I’m just missing it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing. I mean, there are stories of incredible elemental attacks done by famous mages over the centuries, but they have always just been powerful Legacies…”

Leland looked at Jude and Glenny. “What you, Gelo, are describing is something more akin to how Guardian Spirit Beasts use spells. They don’t have Legacies, remember? So they actually attack with the elements…” He shook his head. “I mean, someone must know something about true-element spells but it’s either impossible for humans or so incredibly difficult to achieve that people either can’t or don’t want to teach others how to do it.”

“I can tell you this,” Glenny said. “The Sightless King did not use true-element spells or attacks. If true blood or true primordial are anything like how Gelo described Iceheart, then surely we’d all be dead, right?”

Out of everyone, Jude looked to be the most in thought. “Do you think… do you think there is a Musicheart? Because if so, I want to do that.”

Leland’s palm was in his face. “Right yeah, you do that, Jude.” He looked at Glenny. “Don’t think about it. You killed the Sightless King. Who cares that he didn’t know Bloodheart or Primordialheart.”

“Well yeah. But I’m just wondering if there is a Voidheart. Because if there is, I’d rather learn that over Primordialheart.”

Biting his lip, Leland said, “If there is, and if humans can learn it, then the first step would be becoming one with the Void. Or, rather, become one with any element – or at least, become more inline with that element. Becoming one seems like an end goal.”

“Can’t build an ice castle without first making ice,” Gelo instantly added before her posture lowered. “Mother used to say that.”

“’Used to?’” Jude asked. “She still does! Gelo, your mom is safe and sound. She’s waiting for you, up in the heavens. So become a Lord and meet her. Knowing you, you’ll do it before any of us figure out how to make Musicheart.”

The cub snorted, creating a sudden deluge of frost from the puff of cold. “Yeah… I guess that’s my goal. To become a Lord. Just… how do I do that?”

Leland considered that. “Pretty big goal. You know what my parents always told me? To do one thing at a time. Break up a big goal into smaller, more manageable ones.”

Now it was Gelo’s turn to consider. “Okay, that makes sense. I think my new goal should be to make Iceheart.”

“I don’t think—”

Jude interrupted, “That sounds like a great plan! And once you figure it out, you’ll have to teach us how you did it so that we can all do it too!”

Leland frowned a bit before shrugging. In his eyes it was a massive goal, but maybe that was what the cub needed right now. Becoming a Lord may seem impossible, but Iceheart? That was simple, right?

“With all of that in mind,” Leland said. “We’ve got a job to do at the Tears. Jude, you’ve got a blessing to collect, and I’ve got contracts to fill. Echoes, Void, Music, Time, Iceheart, and… contracts.”

He sighed, wondering why something as awesome as contracts still sounded the lamest out of everyone’s goals.

“Alrighty then,” Glenny said, standing and stretching. “I think it’s time to leave. The only issue is how do we do that?”

He gestured to the dungeon exit they were standing beside, or rather, were supposed to be standing beside. When Floe ascended, the dungeon exit apparently went with her. Now, they just stood idly on a field of snow and ice while a graveyard of worms rested in the distance, no glowing portal exiting to the real world.

“Huh,” Leland muttered. “How did I miss that?”

He shook his head softly before a bright smile overcame him. He turned to Gelo. “Want to see your mom’s first act as Lord?”

The cub’s eyes widened. “Yes! Yes please!”

“Then watch this!”

Leland rubbed his hands together, looked at where the dungeon exit was supposed to be, and said, “Lord of Dungeons, I send this prayer to you so that you may help us exit this dungeon. Please, if you would kindly, create us an exit.”

A beat passed as everyone held their breath. Then, with a small flourish of divine power, a crack in the air appeared. From that crack, a small bronze sphere fell. The sphere then rolled around, eventually jerking to the side as if a magnet was lowered near it. The sphere then split apart, unleashing a web of blue and red magic.

That magic then formed into the dungeon’s new exit.

“Mom, that was awesome!” Gelo yelled, her voice carrying far across the Void to the Lord of Dungeons’ domain.

There, in that domain, the newly born Lord gladly smiled.