Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel-Chapter 120: The War for the North[8] The Little Lizard and the Ice Goddess
The ruthless night of the North had descended upon the desolate streets of Frosthelm like a shroud.
The wind whistled through the narrow alleys blowing the accumulated snow masses on the roofs and covering the air with white dust.
Cassian lay curled up on the wooden bench in his thin clothes.
The cold no longer burned his skin; on the contrary it had begun to turn into a dangerous and numbing warmth.
While his mind wavered between his regrets and his plans his tired body finally gave out and surrendered him to a restless shivering sleep.
The concept of time had melted away in the cold. He didn’t know how long he had been there. Minutes? Hours?
The only thing he knew was an increasing weight upon him.
In the middle of the night a massive mass of snow breaking off from the roof of the building right next to him piled right on top of him with the help of the wind.
"Pffft!"
Cassian woke up startled by the snow dust filling his lungs and the sudden weight on him. When he opened his eyes everything was white.
He sat up in panic shook off the pile of snow on him and looked around coughing.
His hair his eyelashes his shoulders... Everything was covered with snow. He looked like a wet kitten thrown onto the street.
"Damn it..." he grumbled trying to get the snow out of his shirt. "Even the weather is my enemy in this city."
Just as he was brushing off the snow and looking up to understand where this small avalanche came from a pair of bare feet entered his field of vision.
A pair of feet standing on the snow without leaving any traces as if floating in the air.
Cassian’s gaze slowly climbed up.
A long dress waving in the wind looking as if woven from ice blue... And that ancient being looking down at him with both disdainful and curious eyes.
The Mystical Beast Cryomara. She was in human form and was comfortable in this freezing cold as if strolling in a spring garden.
"Seriously..." Cryomara said her voice as clear and cold as ice crystals colliding. She crossed her arms over her chest examining Cassian.
"After shattering a young girl’s heart trampling her honor... instead of feeling remorse were you sleeping soundly here in the middle of the street?"
Cassian stood up trying to shake off the snow that had entered his collar. His face was red from the cold but that stubborn glint in his eyes had not faded.
"I wasn’t sleeping!" he objected his voice cracking slightly. "I was just... planning. I was lost in deep thought."
Cryomara raised a single eyebrow. A mocking smile appeared at the corner of her lips. "Is that so? From here you looked like a stray cat about to freeze and snoring."
Cassian combed his wet hair back and tried to change the subject. "What do you want Cryomara? Did you come to kill me? Or do you just want to watch me freeze and have fun?"
"No need to be so tense little lizard" Cryomara said softening the threatening tone in her voice. "If I wanted to kill you I would have dropped a glacier on you instead of that pile of snow."
Cryomara glided towards the frozen wooden bench where Cassian had just been lying.
She straightened the hem of her dress and sat gracefully as if sitting on a throne. She didn’t point to the empty space next to her but her invitation was clear.
"I told you to leave here" Cryomara said fixing her eyes on Cassian. "But I see you don’t listen. You are still here. Why didn’t you run away?"
Cassian stood in front of the bench. His hands were in his pockets he squared his shoulders.
"If I were someone who gave up so easily who tucked his tail and ran at the first difficulty..." Cassian said his voice serious. "I would have been dead long ago."
Cryomara examined him for a while. Then she nodded slightly.
Cassian moved to the other end of the bench next to Cryomara without hesitation and sat down.
There was a half meter distance between them but this distance represented the chasm between two different worlds; a mortal and an immortal.
"You are too mature for your age little lizard" Cryomara said turning her eyes to the pale moon in the sky. "Or... you are trying to act like it. You seem to carry centuries of fatigue inside that small body."
Cassian’s breath created white clouds of steam in the cold air.
"I never had the luxury of being a child" he said his voice flat and emotionless.
Upon these words Cryomara sighed deeply nostalgically. Her gaze dove far away beyond time.
"Kaiser too..." she said mentioning that forbidden name again. "Kaiser was just like you."
Cassian turned his head and looked at her.
"He always tried to look cool listened to no one did whatever came to his mind" Cryomara continued.
There was a smile on her face blended with the sweet and bitter memories of the past. "Sometimes he would be so stubborn so arrogant that... I wanted to drown him in his own flames. He was an unbearably annoying selfish creature."
Then her voice filled with sadness.
"I miss him..."
Cassian frowned. He was confused. In the game’s story the Mystical Beasts were described as each other’s natural enemies eternal rivals.
"You... miss him?" Cassian asked in surprise. "I thought you hated him. You told me you had a hand in his death."
Cryomara laughed bitterly. "Adult life is more complicated than you think child. Hate? Maybe. But hate and love are two sides of the same coin."
She fixed her eyes on Cassian’s red eyes.
"Yes I miss him. Because despite all that stupidity all that destructive power... Kaiser was necessary for this world. He was the fire side of the balance. If he were alive... maybe the world wouldn’t be in this state. Maybe... we would be living in a completely different warmer world."
Cassian tried to digest what he heard. Kaiser was not just a destruction machine as he thought.
"Then..." Cassian said gathering his courage. He asked that crucial question. "Why did you kill him? Why did you betray him?"
Cryomara’s face shadowed. The light in her eyes went out. She bowed her head clasped her hands in her lap.
"We had to..." she whispered. Her voice was faint enough to be lost in the howling of the wind. "There was... no other way. He... made a choice and we had to abide by it."
Cassian had hundreds of questions on the tip of his tongue. Which choice? What exactly was Kaiser? But seeing that heavy sorrowful aura on Cryomara he fell silent. It wasn’t the time now. He held back his curiosity for now.
Silence was built like a wall between them.
After a while Cryomara lifted her head. Her eyes had taken on that cold piercing seriousness again.
"What do you think?" she asked suddenly.
Cassian asked "I don’t understand?"
"Frosthelm" Cryomara said raising her hand and pointing to the ruined city around her the darkness behind the walls. "You saw our situation while coming here didn’t you? Those villages those people..."
She fixed her eyes on Cassian.
"Do you think..." she said her voice hesitant for the first time. "Do you think we really have a chance? Be honest Heir of Kaiser. Those armies you bring your big plans... Can they really save us?"
Cassian fell into a deep silence in the face of the question.
No matter how confident strong and planned he tried to act those damned dreams Zevstyle showed him came to life in the dark corners of his mind.
Hundreds of different scenarios. Hundreds of different wars. And the end of all of them was the same: Death. Destruction. Corpses. There wasn’t a single scene where he succeeded where he saved everyone.
Cassian lifted his head looked at the moon trying to hide behind the clouds.
"Do we have any other choice but to succeed?" Cassian said answering the question with a question.
"After all... the moment we lose we will all die. Not just us this city these people maybe the whole world. Our options are not ’Victory’ or ’Defeat’ Cryomara. Our options are ’Life’ or ’Extinction’."
Cryomara listened to him carefully. "Death..." she said slowly. "Does it not scare you?"
Cassian lowered his mask at that moment. He was just a tired child.
"I am scared..." he said his voice honest. "More than anyone."
His eyes drifted away. That white ceiling of the laboratory Dr. Aris’s cold scalpel the moments when his blood was drained came to his mind.
"Once..." he began to tell his voice taking on a nostalgic and sad tone. "My world consisted only of black and white. The only thing I had was four walls. I had never seen the sky. I had never felt the wind. I didn’t even know why I was living why I was breathing. I had no expectations from life. Back then... death was considered only a salvation. A blessing."
He took a deep breath the cold air filling his lungs reminded him that he was alive.
"Until... I tasted true freedom. Until I stepped out of those four walls and saw the outside world for the first time until I saw with my own eyes how beautiful the world could be until that day I made my own decisions for the first time."
Cassian clenched his fist.
"Now... I have a lot to lose. There is a lot to live for. That’s why I am scared. Because death is no longer a salvation but an end."
Cryomara remained silent in the face of this confession. She could see that deep dark but equally life clinging will inside this child.
"So..." Cryomara said smiling slightly. "What is true freedom?"
Cassian looked at the moon shining in all its glory emerging from behind the clouds in the sky. A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Who knows..."
Cryomara slowly reached out her hand. She put it on Cassian’s white messy hair and ruffled it slightly with a motherly affection.
"You are not much different from Cecilia huh..." she said in a soft voice. "You are both... stubborn children carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."
Then she pulled her hand away and stood up using the bench for support. The hem of her dress rustled in the snow.
"Little lizard" Cryomara said looking down at him.
"Come with me."
She turned around and started walking towards the castle.
"Of course..." she added looking over her shoulder. "If you don’t want to spend the night on this cold bench and freeze."
Cassian was surprised. He quickly stood up and called after her.
"Does this mean... you accepted my offer you approved the alliance?"
Cryomara paused but didn’t turn around.
"Not yet" she said her voice becoming serious. "First... you need to apologize to my sweet butterfly."
She raised her finger in the air.
"The price for making her cry would normally be death. But I will give you the chance to redeem yourself."
Cryomara turned and this time winked mischievously at Cassian. That ancient goddess aura dispersed for a moment leaving its place to an experienced big sister.
While starting to walk behind Cryomara Cassian grumbled inwardly.
"But she was at fault too!" he muttered rebelling like a child. "She didn’t even listen to me! She attacked me! Why do I have to be the only one to apologize? What I said was logical!"
Cryomara stopped suddenly as if she heard this murmur and turned to Cassian. There was a wise expression on her face.
"Remember little lizard" she said as if giving a life lesson. "There is an unchangeable rule in this universe: When you argue with a woman... even if you are right you are always the one in the wrong. Especially if that woman is my sweet butterfly."
Cassian opened his mouth was going to say something to object but then fell silent.
He slumped his shoulders. He had no argument to counter this absurd illogical but equally realistic information.
He sighed deeply and accepted this bitter truth.
"Alright" he said submitting. "I will apologize."
The two walked through the snowy and dark streets towards the massive silent gates of the Winter Keep. The storm had subsided leaving its place to a quiet waiting. The alliance was not formed yet but at least the doors were ajar.
