Chapter 1: The Guardian Awakens
SmilingPudding7753
Bug Catcher
- Pronouns
- she/her
The only chance of survival for a small clan is the Frozen Opera, where the froslass perform an anthem as prayer for an almighty blizzard. Dreaming of performing the aria, Arctina is forced to evolve into a glalie to act as a guardian. As she grieves, an outsider arrives, refusing to utter a sound yet prophesied to be their savior prima donna. When the two and the bitter previous diva set off to hold the rite on their own, they create harmony out of discord when they clash with each other and a frigid god.
Content warnings: Blood, violence, child abuse, killing and eating other pokemon
Arctina beholds the Frozen Opera in all its glory. The frost maiden froslass gather and sing their hymn in absolute harmony. Synchronized to the core, they sing to the endless overcast sky and call for a miracle. Just enough snowflakes fall for each of the froslass to partner and dance with. The euphoric symphony beckons Arctina forth, but a guardian glalie bars her from impeding. She hums along in awe, knowing not the melody nor the meaning.
"Listen well, children," the glalie tells the snorunt around him. "This will be your duty when the time comes."
The choir sings until a sharp, frigid gale blows through them. All but one fall back, circling around the lone froslass cloaked in an intricate ice veil while channeling their energy in their hands. The veiled froslass raises her voice and freezes Arctina's heart. In an ethereal solo, the opera's prima donna sings to the skies above with a voice beyond perfection.
At the very climax, when the aria hits an impossibly high note, the other frost maidens cast their energy to the now-empty sky. A howling blizzard follows only once the prima donna does the same. The barren ground is cloaked in white under foreboding clouds. Arctina's fellow snorunt rejoice under the fresh snowfall.
Arctina wishes for this performance to be unending. She locks her eyes on the prima donna and continues to ignorantly sing along, even once the other frost maidens join in and drown her out. A frigid beauty, a chilling voice. Absolutely enraptured by the prima donna, Arctina decides what she wants to do once she grows.
A haunting refrain marks the end of the Frozen Opera. Silence overtakes the clan. As Arctina continues to ogle at the diva, all else turn to the sky with clasped hands and held breaths. The frost-maiden-summoned blizzard rages on.
Once their blizzard quells itself, the clan gazes above with hopeful eyes. In what seems like an eternity, they wait and wait for something that never comes.
"The almighty blizzard… Where is it?" a guardian glalie other than the one wrangling Arctina earlier mumbles. She wonders where the first one went; she was too enthralled by the opera to notice him disappear. The guardian that was talking falls to the ground with a mild splash. "This generation's performance was not enough again."
The Frozen Opera is an abject failure. The frost maidens hang their heads. Their impassioned cries go unanswered, their duet without a partner.
Arctina runs around the glalie and up to the prima donna. She cheers for the aria, begging for an encore despite everyone else's despair.
"We shall have order." The previous prima donna Glaciari approaches the snorunt children with tired eyes. "Gather round."
Arctina is the first to approach the froslass. She bounces on her feet and revels in the elder's heavenly voice.
"It falls unto you children to hold the next Frozen Opera come the next natural snowfall. It marks the appearance of the Frozen Gigant. If your performance can appease the fickle, wondrous one, our home will surely be saved."
The sun beats down on the land bare of snow and ice, lush greenery springing to life around every corner. The temperature threatens to melt them. The chance of delectably lost and weary humans wandering about is nil. Their mountain can scarcely be called home. Yet those who remain refuse to leave.
"We've only so many candidates this generation." Elder Glaciari eyes the eight children before her. "The others, the cowards, have taken the rest and run to uncertain ends."
Their clan has reached an all-time low. Since the last opera, only a fraction of the previous frost maidens and the eight snorunt gathered remain on the warped mountainside in hopes of reclaiming it with the next Frozen Opera. The others had forsaken them.
"No matter." Elder Glaciari spreads her arms at the snorunt. "Such dregs are irrelevant. We can perform the Frozen Opera with what we have.
"We cannot waste time. We know not when the next natural snowfall will come." She glowers at the children. "Seven of you will become the next frost maidens. Us elders must step back and offer solely guidance." Glaciari glares at the sky. "It seems none of us were enough to satisfy Them. We shall not waste time and effort attempting to polish stones into stars."
Arctina stops listening after the elder says maidens. She sees it clearly in her mind. She will lead the others in the opera, and her aria will summon the Frozen Gigant. She will save everyone. She giggles to herself and reaches out to tug on the elder's sash.
Glaciari looks down at Arctina with what can only be described as disgust. She pushes the hounding snorunt away with little concern. "Yes, seven of you will hold the opera. This means one of you will, must become a guardian."
The children whisper amongst themselves pointing fingers. All but Arctina shy away.
"The guardian will become a glalie whose duty is to protect the frost maidens with their life, come what may." Glaciari looks to the three froslass behind her. "The role typically falls to a male, but no more brave sons exist. And with what few candidates we have this time, we can only afford a single guardian."
Arctina bounces on her feet. Who cares about some guardian when the prima donna is so much more important?
"Come the next full moon, we shall begin our preparations for the opera." Glaciari scans the faces of the children. "Enjoy your youth."
Glaciari retreats into the cave behind her where the three other ex-frost maidens wait. Arctina, lost in her own world, mindlessly sings as she bounces on her heels. She watches as the elders converse, pointing in differing directions and nodding.
"I will remain with the children. Do not return without sustenance."
Arctina continues to babble, watching Glaciari without a care. That is, until she is knocked into by someone. "Hey!"
"You're tone-deaf," the other snorunt simply says. She huffs before marching toward their cave.
"I'm not!" Arctina glares through her back. That girl, Shivian, always has something to say. "I'll show you. I'll be the next prima donna!"
Shivian pauses without turning back to say, "No. I will." And she returns to walking away.
"You…" Arctina growls. She grits her teeth and glares.
Giggling snaps her out of it. She whips her head back to the other snorunt who start taking turns tackling her, all echoing tone-deaf.
"Knock it off!" Arctina tries to dodge a hit, but ends up tumbling across the ground.
"But you kinda are," one says.
"You'll only anger the Frozen Gigant."
"Yeah, plus Shivian will obviously be the next prima donna."
"Just because you suck up to Elder Glaciari doesn't mean anything."
Arctina rises from eating the ground. She spits dirt out and can't help herself from charging ahead. She slams into the closest snorunt and sends her barreling into two others, knocking them down. Without wasting a breath, she makes a sharp turn and crashes into another using the point atop her head. The two remaining try to run back to the cave, but trip over themselves.
She triumphs. Having dished out her revenge, Arctina jumps on top of one of the snorunt who tripped and gleefully hops in place. She leaps to do the same on the other. "I win, I win! I always win! So obviously I'll sing the aria!"
Lost in her own world, Arctina continues to celebrate.
"Get off already!" calls from beneath her feet. Just as fast, Arctina falls to the ground once more.
The others surround her more annoyed than harmed. Nonetheless, they close in on her.
She is saved by two arms lifting her above the swarm. She gawks as Elder Glaciari holds her up with a glint in her tired eyes. "Must I remind you all, no roughhousing." She puts Arctina down beside her. "But remember, we are all good for something."
"But I don't wanna be the guardian!" Arctina stomps her feet into the dry dirt. "I wanna be a frost maiden! I wanna sing the aria!"
One swift strike upside her head pauses her whining. "Enough of that. You will be the next generation's guardian. It has been decided. You should be honored."
"It's not fair!"
Glaciari wipes the child's scowl off her face with another hit. "Training will commence now. I expect you to understand before you are gravely injured."
Arctina grinds her teeth before screaming from the pit of her empty stomach. She had to skip lunch because she reacted the same way when she was told she would become guardian that morning. Elder Glaciari would not have any of it.
Before she can shout any more, an icicle whizzes at her face. She throws herself to the right and rolls back on her feet when a shadow ball is lobbed at her. She cannot react fast enough, and it crashes into her to send her hurtling at a tree.
Arctina manages to stand, but finds a storm of icicles greeting her. She collapses back face-down on the dirt and cries to herself.
A circle of froslass surrounds her. The previous frost maidens have neither remorse nor delight written across their faces. As is tradition, guardians will be hunted down by the clan until they evolve into a glalie. It is necessary.
"I don't wanna be the guardian…" Arctina cowers as a volley of attacks rains down on her.
They will not relent. They will attack until she fights back and evolves into a worthy guardian or dies. As is tradition.
It never truly struck Arctina how cruel it was to become a guardian until now. The guardians from the last generation all evolved on their own before it came time to assign roles for the Frozen Opera, so they did not have to be forced to evolve. Plus, they volunteered to be guardians. Previous guardians were just the same, stories tell, and if not, they were gently raised into strong glalie by their elders. So why did Arctina have to become one?
Why did a boy not want to stay with them on this mountain, their home? Why did the frost maidens not steal away a boy when the traitors ran away from home in the dark of night following the last Frozen Opera instead of a couple girls? It is not fair.
Scarlet stains the ground below her. The attacks halt long enough for Arctina to force herself to her feet, tears spewing from her eyes and blood from her mouth and across her body. A trembling mess, she scans the blank faces of her family.
Elder Glaciari stares her down. Arctina cannot force any words out. She meets her elder's gaze and begs desperately with her eyes. Glaciari simply nods, and on her signal, the suddenly shy snorunt charge at their peer.
Shivian leads the pack, the only one with intent. Arctina grits her teeth. Shivian will be the prima donna. The belief of the others echoes in her head and wakes her up. She swallows her sob and clashes head-on with Shivian.
The collision hurts almost as much as being told she cannot be a frost maiden, but Arctina does not yield. She effortlessly pushes Shivian away. Three others come at her in a line. A simple headbutt knocks them down together like nothing. When another comes at her from behind, she forces her jaw open and, before a whimper escapes, she chomps down on their extended arm.
Shivian shoots an ice shard at her, which Arctina shatters with a whip of her head. It leaves another laceration that hurts.
Her body screams at her to stop and rest. But she cannot do that now. The remaining two snorunt who have yet to face her stand by Shivian and snipe at her together with icicles and ice shards. The pain somehow numbs over. Arctina throws herself at the three snorunt in a takedown that knocks away every attack and the two snorunt beside Shivian.
The trio of in-line snorunt rise up together and dash for her. As Arctina charges an ice shard, the three circle her, then split to slam at her from different directions at once. But they are no match for her sheer strength, repelled immediately after she slams her body into each of them.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Glaciari watching them with that dour face of hers. This is "tradition." This is the way it should be… according to the elders.
Spitting out a glob of blood, a way out dawns on Arctina and she makes her choice. She will play along. She will train to become the guardian. But she will not evolve into a glalie. If she can just hold off on evolving until she can make sure she will become a froslass, then she will have to be allowed to be a frost maiden.
She just needs to bide it out. Newfound energy courses through her veins as she launches herself at Shivian at breakneck speed and headbutts her. The composure disappears from Shivian's face as she falls to the ground, carving a rut in the dirt as she shaves against the earth.
Glaciari floats up to Arctina and with a hand to her chin, she says, "That is enough for today. Be sure to keep it up."
Praise from Elder Glaciari should delight her, but Arctina finds herself masking a sour face. Her smile betrays her when Elder Glaciari strokes her head like she does Shivian.
The froslass holds out a berry encased in ice and breaks it in half. She throws one half at Arctina, then gently hands the other to Shivian. Arctina watches as her half picks up dirt as it rolls to her feet. Meanwhile, Shivian elegantly nibbles on hers as Glaciari feeds her. The other children look on in envy, but no one dares say anything.
Arctina drops her smile and huffs before reluctantly taking her berry, ice quickly melting in her hands. The others must think Shivian is getting special treatment because she will be the next prima donna. Arctina crunches through the ice in one bite and glares at the ground. No, it is not that. It is only because Shivian is Elder Glaciari's daughter. The fact that the five previous prima donnas happened to be mothers and daughters to each other is merely coincidence. Arctina will break this trend and save everyone.
When she finishes her berry, Arctina's body does not feel any less battered. She stays in her spot as the elders guide the children back to their cool cave, the other snorunt harmonizing a vague melody with Shivian resounding the most. They echo short phrases the elders feed them and disappear into the cave. Their song follows them as they traverse deeper within.
Arctina falls to the ground and stays staring at the cave, all alone. She tries singing like the others, but she emits no sound. As if barbs line her throat, simply breathing and swallowing her own spit draw a grimace. It feels as if a stone has found a home there. Darkening bruises and open gashes cover her body, most of what she can see marking her throat.
"I'm gonna be a frost maiden…" She musters the words as she forces herself to join the others.
Arctina stares at the stalactite above her that is dangerously close to poking her. Their cave is spacious, but she is relegated to this tiny, pointy alcove. Her sleeping area only just gives her enough room to roll around. Elder Glaciari ordered her to use this as her living quarters to teach her "discipline." Arctina only obeys her elder.
Her body screams despite it getting stronger. She has a high aptitude for battling, the elders keep praising her. What a useless compliment. Her guardian training has been going smoothly, though. Too smoothly.
She stifles a cry as her body emits a blinding light. Her body stretches and pulls against her will, but she refuses to let it take form. The light hides her very being being eviscerated and reconstructed. Resisting with all her might, she slams herself into the rugged stone wall until the glowing stops.
Deep, broken breaths do little to numb her pain. For once, she thanks Elder Glaciari for rolling a massive boulder in front of the small entrance to her sleeping area to prevent her from escaping since it blocks the light from the others. No one can know of this. No one can know that she is ready to evolve into a glalie.
Her body begs her to let nature take its course, but her heart quashes the thought. So what if she is strong? So what if she is just one step away from becoming a true guardian? She is going to be a frost maiden. She is going to be the prima donna.
Bright as her spirit is, it does not change the fact that resisting evolution is draining it. Not even guardian training hurts this much. Not even Elder Glaciari admonishing her hurts this much.
It is suddenly too hot to bear. Her body, soaked in sweat, suddenly shines for a quaint moment before she slams herself into the walls again. The pain from impact does not remotely rival that of evolution, but it manages to hinder it somehow. Her head spins as she shoots up to her feet. She falls back down upon stabbing her head with the overhanging stalactite.
Wailing, losing herself for just a second, Arctina crawls across the ground and to the mouth of her alcove as sweat pours down her face. She pathetically punches at the stone as her body spasms and she babbles nonsensical noises. When she forces a deep breath, she stands and pushes the boulder. Despite its sheer heft, it budges and rolls steadily with her controlled strength.
Guardian training produces results, but what does power mean to anyone? It is useless. As long as Arctina can perform the aria, physical strength means nothing. The frost maidens must learn to dance, but their movements did not appear any more exhausting than spinning a few times. She wonders for just a second, Couldn't a froslass be a guardian?
Stifling the thought in fear of disappointing Elder Glaciari further upon asking, Arctina slips outside of her alcove with the utmost stealth to avoid waking the others and actually disappointing Elder Glaciari. Cool air surrounds her and makes her sigh. She leans against the wall and enjoys the sensation until her sweating stops and her breath steadies.
Before the glow of evolution returns and ruins everything, Arctina skitters back to her alcove and pushes the boulder to try to get it back to how it originally was. She shifts the stone a tad to the right before something catches her eye in the distance: several shadows dancing around the dark. She holds her breath, but releases it once the shadows cross near the mouth of the cave. Against the moonlight, Arctina can tell that they are snorunt.
At least she does not have to wake the others to warn them of danger and face punishment for leaving her alcove afterward, but Arctina finds this situation equally worrisome. She counts all seven snorunt gathered at the mouth of the cave before they take off outside.
Feeling left out, she chases after them, creeping around the elders with utmost caution. She follows from a distance until she sees them, led by Shivian, about to step beyond the border of the trees.
"Stop!" Arctina cries out as she dashes toward them. "We can't go beyond the trees!"
Shivian furrows her brow at her. With a roll of the eyes, she says, "And?"
"It's dangerous!"
Other pokémon have encroached on their mountain ever since it stopped snowing, even though the elders always make it known that this is their territory. Who knew what awaited them beyond the trees? The elders warned them as much before.
"Then protect us." So simple. So matter-of-fact. Shivian turns back to the trees. "You're the guardian, so you're supposed to protect us."
With that, she runs. The others follow, leaving Arctina behind with her jaw dropped. One of the others cries over their shoulder, "Yeah, you'll get in trouble if we get hurt!"
Arctina takes a moment she is not allowed to hesitate. No matter how she rejects the title, to the clan, she is the guardian. She has a responsibility to her family. So she forces herself to trail the future frost maidens.
It hits her as she chases after them: Why couldn't the previous frost maidens become guardians? Or even, why couldn't a froslass be both a guardian and a frost maiden? But the answer rings in her head as Elder Glaciari always says, It is tradition.
Arctina catches up to the others when they pause to look around. She approaches Shivian and plainly asks, "What are you doing?"
Shivian whips her head left and right with her eyes closed. Once she picks up on something, she walks off without saying a word. The others only follow the leader.
"Where are you going?" Arctina begs as she takes careful steps after them.
"We're gonna evolve." A snorunt giggles to herself and throws Arctina a bone.
"The elders hid the special gems somewhere. Shivian knows where they are!" A different snorunt nudges Shivian, who ignores it.
Arctina is on the verge of salivating. She finds herself walking beside Shivian, one step ahead, even. If she can just touch one of the special gems, her dream will be halfway realized. "Where is it?"
Shivian takes a sharp right and remains silent. The others chatter about. How they will evolve, how they will become frost maidens transcendent to the previous generation, how they will restore their clan, how it is all so obvious… Arctina ignores the heresy toward their elders and puffs out her chest. They do not know how she will be the prima donna who saves everyone. Evolving into a froslass is within reach, and she screams in her head for Shivian to go faster.
The childrens' daydreaming is abruptly stalled at something lunging at them from a behind a tree. It shoots for Shivian, who pulls Arctina in front of her to block it. Before she can gasp, Arctina is swatted to the side and slammed into a tree.
Large dancing hands belong to a towering figure with a glowing red eye trudging toward the frozen children. It reaches out for another snorunt. Before it can grab her, Arctina runs out and tackles her out of the way.
She launches an ice shard, but the strange pokémon takes it like nothing. She fires off one more, two, three, but the most it does is make him brush the area of contact with his large hand.
The snorunt shrink back and run away. They blindly shoot off in one direction until they come to a screeching halt before they can jump off a ravine. The children huddle together as the pokémon closes in on them.
Arctina feels several pushes on her body, then finds herself splayed on the ground. The handsy pokémon takes one step, and she sees his lumbering foot stopping shy of stomping her head flat. She looks back over her shoulder to see all but one of the others no longer by the cliff's edge. They must have run off after sacrificing her. Only Shivian remains, fallen to the ground a trembling mess despite her arrogant face.
Choking a sob down, Arctina curses at the others in her head, but can't come up with anything other than You stinky jerks!
Because as much as she blames them for abandoning her, she also cannot blame them. Is this not her duty, to use her life to protect the others? Such is the life of a guardian.
It is not a life she wants, but it is not like she will get her way in the clan. She resigns herself to her fate, shifting over to block Shivian and bowing her head as a massive hand reaches out at her. It seems this is it. This is all she amounts to in her family.
From the corner of her eye, a turquoise glimmer shines from a hole that must have been made by the pokémon's heavy, grinding footstep. She feels it in her bones: those stones must be the special stones that will turn her into a froslass. It must be. Time slows to a crawl as her heart and body move before her head. She lunges toward the gems, exposing Shivian to the enemy and leaving her in the way of its savage punch.
A frigid chill shoots through the air. It freezes Arctina when she is just a few more steps from the gems. When she looks over, the towering pokémon is encased in ice, its fist just shy of Shivian's face. Her breath catches in her throat, and when she faces the sound of shuffling, she sees the elders and snorunt.
It finally hits her, what she had done. Shivian no long looks like herself. She bawls uncontrollably and shrinks into herself. When it seems like she calms down just a little, she opens her eyes and her soul leaves her body upon seeing the frozen pokémon. It is hard to imagine this is the same diva everyone else so adores. But she almost lost her life just now. And it is all Arctina's fault.
Elder Glaciari approaches her. Unable to do anything else, Arctina weeps and throws herself at Glaciari's feet. Before they can touch, Glaciari strikes her down. Repulsion and vexation taint the usual tired look on her face.
Guardian or not, Arctina was scared too. She almost died too. Had she not lunged for the gems, she would have died. Would her death have been lauded or forgotten? She cannot stomach the thought.
Arctina screams unintelligible apologies and wails to the ground as Glaciari treads over her to gently offer her hand to Shivian. The duo walks slowly back to the others. As they pass, Shivian hides behind and holds close to her mother and utters, "You're the worst."
Arctina grovels deeper into the dirt. Elder Glaciari yanks her by the foot and drags her along with her. She cannot dream of protesting as her mouth fills with earth and the friction burns her being.
No one says a word on the way back.
Finally, Glaciari flings Arctina away. They are already back at the entrance to their cave. She coughs out clumps of dirt, staying in prostration.
"Have you not learned anything, child?" Elder Glaciari hovers above her. She grabs Arctina and forces her head against the ground, twisting and rubbing it in. "You not only dare disobey my orders, but you cannot even protect the others? You abandon them for your own selfishness?"
But they disobeyed orders first. And she did protect them… Arctina swallows her words along with some dirt. No, she did not do anything. She was merely a distraction until she left Shivian to fend for herself. She is the one who let everyone leave the cave and go past the trees to begin with. She really is the worst. If she had stopped them like a guardian would have, this would have been prevented. Everything would have been better if she did her duty properly.
Glaciari's touch sears her skin. She hates herself for thinking, I don't wanna be the guardian. They are well past that point now. She hates herself even more for thinking, I didn't do anything wrong.
"We ought to cut you loose. Do you not know your place?" Glaciari continues to grind Arctina's face into the ground. "A guardian is to lay their life down for the others. You are merely a useless, hopeless child. You are the last one who should survive."
Finding herself in a divot in the earth from how harshly she was being rubbed into the ground, Arctina chokes out useless apologies.
Her body pulses, and despite herself, she emits a blinding light once again.
"Oh, can you do something correctly?"
Arctina clenches her entire being. She cannot evolve like this. She will be a frost maiden. She will save everyone. She will repent for failing to protect the others tonight, but she will not evolve into a glalie. Even if Elder Glaciari hates her.
As the glow dims, Elder Glaciari throws Arctina. Bouncing off the ground, she lands battered-face-up. Her body gives out. She cannot bring herself to do anything but lie there and allow her body to betray her. She tries resisting with everything she has remaining when Glaciari comes up to her again.
"Please… I wanna be a frost maiden…" Her words are lost in the wind.
"The clan is suffering while you live in delusion." Elder Glaciari strikes her yet again. "Enough. You will never become a frost maiden. If my aria could not appease the Frozen Gigant, what makes you think your shallow, mediocre effort will?"
The light completely engulfs Arctina as she sobs. She cannot fight it anymore. Her body succumbs to the light as she uses what energy remains to cry a heart-rending screech.
When silence overtakes them, a glalie remains where Arctina once was. She lies unconscious. Glaciari motions for the others, watching from afar, to return to the cave. She seethes and lugs Arctina to a new alcove, one just as cramped but slightly larger than her original one. The glalie can just barely fit inside. Glaciari rolls a large boulder in front of the opening and freezes it in place.
Sensing someone, Glaciari whips her head around. Shivan peers from around the corner with a contorted, undefinable face, eyes set on the alcove. Glaciari floats to her daughter and strikes Shivian upside the head. It immediately rights her daughter, and the two return to slumber.
Arctina gazes at the reflection in the pond. She still has not gotten used to her new body. She never will. An ugly, rotund, horned fiend faces her in the water. She bares her now-menacing teeth and gnashes them.
It is quiet tonight. She is alone. After that night, Arctina became more obedient. Not too long ago, the elders trusted her enough to train alone while they mentored the future frost maidens.
She is sick of seeing this face in the water. No matter how Elder Glaciari praises her for getting stronger, for fending off invaders from their territory, she cannot say she is satisfied or proud. Before, she wondered why the elders could not act as guardians since they were very capable of doing so. Now, as things are, such thoughts are irrelevant.
A harmonizing choir fills the air with music. It is the first verse of the Frozen Opera. Instinctively, Arctina hums along. Just for one note. After that, no other sound comes out, no matter how hard she tries.
She tries desperately to hum along as she did when she was a snorunt. The most she gives is a whimper. Her eyes fall back to her reflection.
Arctina howls.
Her raw wail casts ripples in the water. She shakes, and the next thing she knows, she slams herself into a thick tree. Leaves rain down as she throws herself into another one, then another, and another.
When she rams into a boulder, a sickening crack resonates through her body. Something black stabs itself into the ground. It looks familiar. It looks repulsive.
Arctina calms enough to glance back in the water. Her right horn is now missing. Blood gushes out and pools on the ground below.
She blinks once before it truly hits her. She screams again and flails about. Agonizing pain sears what remains of her right horn, almost immobilizing her.
Falling to the ground, Arctina is forced to face her reflection yet again. She wants to spit at it, but pauses. Blood continues to flow from where her horn was broken. From all her thrashing about, some of it splashed onto her body.
Now she is beautiful.
The crimson stains below her mouth are such a brilliant color. It makes her think of the frost maidens, their gorgeous sashes hung around their waists. She shuffles a bit and sees the red does not completely encompass her body. She must complete it, because if she does…
Compelling herself to rise, Arctina freezes an unyielding layer of ice on the boulder that snapped her horn. Without hesitation, she crashes against it again and again. She does not feel anything except rising exhilaration with each collision.
She charges broken-horn-first, whittling down what remains into nothing to yield more red. It dyes the side and bottom of her body, and when she tears herself away from her fervor, she checks her reflection and cries.
Absolute beauty. Pure resplendence. Utter exquisiteness.
Is this truly her? She rejoices. She looks like a froslass. She looks like a frost maiden.
More. She needs more. She wants to look even more like a froslass. She's going to be the prima donna.
Arctina rises and crashes into the frozen boulder once more. If she keeps up, surely her dream will come to fruition. It must. It will. It is taking form right now. She sees the Frozen Opera. She is singing the aria.
Sheer reverie fuels her, but it is cut short when the elders emerge from nowhere and surround her. They freeze her in place, and she falls to the ground encased in a block of ice. Elder Glaciari shakes her head, and all the froslass work to drag Arctina back to the cave.
Only the back half of her is frozen. Arctina dazedly says, "I'm a froslass. Do I look like you, Elder Glaciari? I wanna be the prima donna."
Glaciari scowls for just a moment. She softly rubs the glalie's head and speaks gently. "No, child. You look like something far more mesmerizing than a silly frost maiden."
"Really? Arctina's eyes dance with delight and hope. "Like what?"
Glaciari signals for the others to stop and put Arctina down. She floats before the glalie and smiles. "Like a guardian. A proud, honorable guardian."
An elder hands a sharp black object to Glaciari, who takes it and holds it above Arctina's head. In an instant, she freezes it back where it belongs. It is only the tip of her horn, most of it having been shaved off by her reckless act. The obviousness of this fact is laughable.
Arctina's delirium starts to subside as she snuggles into the touch.
"Really?" Arctina melts before Glaciari's impossibly warm words, the same words that could never sway her heart in the past.
"Truly."
Author's note: I realized much too late that glalie are just sentient rock monsters. Let's pretend they bleed for this story. This is my first time on Thousand Roads, so I'm learning the ropes. Here's to a good time~
Content warnings: Blood, violence, child abuse, killing and eating other pokemon
Chapter 1: The Guardian Awakens
Arctina beholds the Frozen Opera in all its glory. The frost maiden froslass gather and sing their hymn in absolute harmony. Synchronized to the core, they sing to the endless overcast sky and call for a miracle. Just enough snowflakes fall for each of the froslass to partner and dance with. The euphoric symphony beckons Arctina forth, but a guardian glalie bars her from impeding. She hums along in awe, knowing not the melody nor the meaning.
"Listen well, children," the glalie tells the snorunt around him. "This will be your duty when the time comes."
The choir sings until a sharp, frigid gale blows through them. All but one fall back, circling around the lone froslass cloaked in an intricate ice veil while channeling their energy in their hands. The veiled froslass raises her voice and freezes Arctina's heart. In an ethereal solo, the opera's prima donna sings to the skies above with a voice beyond perfection.
At the very climax, when the aria hits an impossibly high note, the other frost maidens cast their energy to the now-empty sky. A howling blizzard follows only once the prima donna does the same. The barren ground is cloaked in white under foreboding clouds. Arctina's fellow snorunt rejoice under the fresh snowfall.
Arctina wishes for this performance to be unending. She locks her eyes on the prima donna and continues to ignorantly sing along, even once the other frost maidens join in and drown her out. A frigid beauty, a chilling voice. Absolutely enraptured by the prima donna, Arctina decides what she wants to do once she grows.
A haunting refrain marks the end of the Frozen Opera. Silence overtakes the clan. As Arctina continues to ogle at the diva, all else turn to the sky with clasped hands and held breaths. The frost-maiden-summoned blizzard rages on.
Once their blizzard quells itself, the clan gazes above with hopeful eyes. In what seems like an eternity, they wait and wait for something that never comes.
"The almighty blizzard… Where is it?" a guardian glalie other than the one wrangling Arctina earlier mumbles. She wonders where the first one went; she was too enthralled by the opera to notice him disappear. The guardian that was talking falls to the ground with a mild splash. "This generation's performance was not enough again."
The Frozen Opera is an abject failure. The frost maidens hang their heads. Their impassioned cries go unanswered, their duet without a partner.
Arctina runs around the glalie and up to the prima donna. She cheers for the aria, begging for an encore despite everyone else's despair.
"We shall have order." The previous prima donna Glaciari approaches the snorunt children with tired eyes. "Gather round."
Arctina is the first to approach the froslass. She bounces on her feet and revels in the elder's heavenly voice.
"It falls unto you children to hold the next Frozen Opera come the next natural snowfall. It marks the appearance of the Frozen Gigant. If your performance can appease the fickle, wondrous one, our home will surely be saved."
The sun beats down on the land bare of snow and ice, lush greenery springing to life around every corner. The temperature threatens to melt them. The chance of delectably lost and weary humans wandering about is nil. Their mountain can scarcely be called home. Yet those who remain refuse to leave.
"We've only so many candidates this generation." Elder Glaciari eyes the eight children before her. "The others, the cowards, have taken the rest and run to uncertain ends."
Their clan has reached an all-time low. Since the last opera, only a fraction of the previous frost maidens and the eight snorunt gathered remain on the warped mountainside in hopes of reclaiming it with the next Frozen Opera. The others had forsaken them.
"No matter." Elder Glaciari spreads her arms at the snorunt. "Such dregs are irrelevant. We can perform the Frozen Opera with what we have.
"We cannot waste time. We know not when the next natural snowfall will come." She glowers at the children. "Seven of you will become the next frost maidens. Us elders must step back and offer solely guidance." Glaciari glares at the sky. "It seems none of us were enough to satisfy Them. We shall not waste time and effort attempting to polish stones into stars."
Arctina stops listening after the elder says maidens. She sees it clearly in her mind. She will lead the others in the opera, and her aria will summon the Frozen Gigant. She will save everyone. She giggles to herself and reaches out to tug on the elder's sash.
Glaciari looks down at Arctina with what can only be described as disgust. She pushes the hounding snorunt away with little concern. "Yes, seven of you will hold the opera. This means one of you will, must become a guardian."
The children whisper amongst themselves pointing fingers. All but Arctina shy away.
"The guardian will become a glalie whose duty is to protect the frost maidens with their life, come what may." Glaciari looks to the three froslass behind her. "The role typically falls to a male, but no more brave sons exist. And with what few candidates we have this time, we can only afford a single guardian."
Arctina bounces on her feet. Who cares about some guardian when the prima donna is so much more important?
"Come the next full moon, we shall begin our preparations for the opera." Glaciari scans the faces of the children. "Enjoy your youth."
Glaciari retreats into the cave behind her where the three other ex-frost maidens wait. Arctina, lost in her own world, mindlessly sings as she bounces on her heels. She watches as the elders converse, pointing in differing directions and nodding.
"I will remain with the children. Do not return without sustenance."
Arctina continues to babble, watching Glaciari without a care. That is, until she is knocked into by someone. "Hey!"
"You're tone-deaf," the other snorunt simply says. She huffs before marching toward their cave.
"I'm not!" Arctina glares through her back. That girl, Shivian, always has something to say. "I'll show you. I'll be the next prima donna!"
Shivian pauses without turning back to say, "No. I will." And she returns to walking away.
"You…" Arctina growls. She grits her teeth and glares.
Giggling snaps her out of it. She whips her head back to the other snorunt who start taking turns tackling her, all echoing tone-deaf.
"Knock it off!" Arctina tries to dodge a hit, but ends up tumbling across the ground.
"But you kinda are," one says.
"You'll only anger the Frozen Gigant."
"Yeah, plus Shivian will obviously be the next prima donna."
"Just because you suck up to Elder Glaciari doesn't mean anything."
Arctina rises from eating the ground. She spits dirt out and can't help herself from charging ahead. She slams into the closest snorunt and sends her barreling into two others, knocking them down. Without wasting a breath, she makes a sharp turn and crashes into another using the point atop her head. The two remaining try to run back to the cave, but trip over themselves.
She triumphs. Having dished out her revenge, Arctina jumps on top of one of the snorunt who tripped and gleefully hops in place. She leaps to do the same on the other. "I win, I win! I always win! So obviously I'll sing the aria!"
Lost in her own world, Arctina continues to celebrate.
"Get off already!" calls from beneath her feet. Just as fast, Arctina falls to the ground once more.
The others surround her more annoyed than harmed. Nonetheless, they close in on her.
She is saved by two arms lifting her above the swarm. She gawks as Elder Glaciari holds her up with a glint in her tired eyes. "Must I remind you all, no roughhousing." She puts Arctina down beside her. "But remember, we are all good for something."
"But I don't wanna be the guardian!" Arctina stomps her feet into the dry dirt. "I wanna be a frost maiden! I wanna sing the aria!"
One swift strike upside her head pauses her whining. "Enough of that. You will be the next generation's guardian. It has been decided. You should be honored."
"It's not fair!"
Glaciari wipes the child's scowl off her face with another hit. "Training will commence now. I expect you to understand before you are gravely injured."
Arctina grinds her teeth before screaming from the pit of her empty stomach. She had to skip lunch because she reacted the same way when she was told she would become guardian that morning. Elder Glaciari would not have any of it.
Before she can shout any more, an icicle whizzes at her face. She throws herself to the right and rolls back on her feet when a shadow ball is lobbed at her. She cannot react fast enough, and it crashes into her to send her hurtling at a tree.
Arctina manages to stand, but finds a storm of icicles greeting her. She collapses back face-down on the dirt and cries to herself.
A circle of froslass surrounds her. The previous frost maidens have neither remorse nor delight written across their faces. As is tradition, guardians will be hunted down by the clan until they evolve into a glalie. It is necessary.
"I don't wanna be the guardian…" Arctina cowers as a volley of attacks rains down on her.
They will not relent. They will attack until she fights back and evolves into a worthy guardian or dies. As is tradition.
It never truly struck Arctina how cruel it was to become a guardian until now. The guardians from the last generation all evolved on their own before it came time to assign roles for the Frozen Opera, so they did not have to be forced to evolve. Plus, they volunteered to be guardians. Previous guardians were just the same, stories tell, and if not, they were gently raised into strong glalie by their elders. So why did Arctina have to become one?
Why did a boy not want to stay with them on this mountain, their home? Why did the frost maidens not steal away a boy when the traitors ran away from home in the dark of night following the last Frozen Opera instead of a couple girls? It is not fair.
Scarlet stains the ground below her. The attacks halt long enough for Arctina to force herself to her feet, tears spewing from her eyes and blood from her mouth and across her body. A trembling mess, she scans the blank faces of her family.
Elder Glaciari stares her down. Arctina cannot force any words out. She meets her elder's gaze and begs desperately with her eyes. Glaciari simply nods, and on her signal, the suddenly shy snorunt charge at their peer.
Shivian leads the pack, the only one with intent. Arctina grits her teeth. Shivian will be the prima donna. The belief of the others echoes in her head and wakes her up. She swallows her sob and clashes head-on with Shivian.
The collision hurts almost as much as being told she cannot be a frost maiden, but Arctina does not yield. She effortlessly pushes Shivian away. Three others come at her in a line. A simple headbutt knocks them down together like nothing. When another comes at her from behind, she forces her jaw open and, before a whimper escapes, she chomps down on their extended arm.
Shivian shoots an ice shard at her, which Arctina shatters with a whip of her head. It leaves another laceration that hurts.
Her body screams at her to stop and rest. But she cannot do that now. The remaining two snorunt who have yet to face her stand by Shivian and snipe at her together with icicles and ice shards. The pain somehow numbs over. Arctina throws herself at the three snorunt in a takedown that knocks away every attack and the two snorunt beside Shivian.
The trio of in-line snorunt rise up together and dash for her. As Arctina charges an ice shard, the three circle her, then split to slam at her from different directions at once. But they are no match for her sheer strength, repelled immediately after she slams her body into each of them.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Glaciari watching them with that dour face of hers. This is "tradition." This is the way it should be… according to the elders.
Spitting out a glob of blood, a way out dawns on Arctina and she makes her choice. She will play along. She will train to become the guardian. But she will not evolve into a glalie. If she can just hold off on evolving until she can make sure she will become a froslass, then she will have to be allowed to be a frost maiden.
She just needs to bide it out. Newfound energy courses through her veins as she launches herself at Shivian at breakneck speed and headbutts her. The composure disappears from Shivian's face as she falls to the ground, carving a rut in the dirt as she shaves against the earth.
Glaciari floats up to Arctina and with a hand to her chin, she says, "That is enough for today. Be sure to keep it up."
Praise from Elder Glaciari should delight her, but Arctina finds herself masking a sour face. Her smile betrays her when Elder Glaciari strokes her head like she does Shivian.
The froslass holds out a berry encased in ice and breaks it in half. She throws one half at Arctina, then gently hands the other to Shivian. Arctina watches as her half picks up dirt as it rolls to her feet. Meanwhile, Shivian elegantly nibbles on hers as Glaciari feeds her. The other children look on in envy, but no one dares say anything.
Arctina drops her smile and huffs before reluctantly taking her berry, ice quickly melting in her hands. The others must think Shivian is getting special treatment because she will be the next prima donna. Arctina crunches through the ice in one bite and glares at the ground. No, it is not that. It is only because Shivian is Elder Glaciari's daughter. The fact that the five previous prima donnas happened to be mothers and daughters to each other is merely coincidence. Arctina will break this trend and save everyone.
When she finishes her berry, Arctina's body does not feel any less battered. She stays in her spot as the elders guide the children back to their cool cave, the other snorunt harmonizing a vague melody with Shivian resounding the most. They echo short phrases the elders feed them and disappear into the cave. Their song follows them as they traverse deeper within.
Arctina falls to the ground and stays staring at the cave, all alone. She tries singing like the others, but she emits no sound. As if barbs line her throat, simply breathing and swallowing her own spit draw a grimace. It feels as if a stone has found a home there. Darkening bruises and open gashes cover her body, most of what she can see marking her throat.
"I'm gonna be a frost maiden…" She musters the words as she forces herself to join the others.
Arctina stares at the stalactite above her that is dangerously close to poking her. Their cave is spacious, but she is relegated to this tiny, pointy alcove. Her sleeping area only just gives her enough room to roll around. Elder Glaciari ordered her to use this as her living quarters to teach her "discipline." Arctina only obeys her elder.
Her body screams despite it getting stronger. She has a high aptitude for battling, the elders keep praising her. What a useless compliment. Her guardian training has been going smoothly, though. Too smoothly.
She stifles a cry as her body emits a blinding light. Her body stretches and pulls against her will, but she refuses to let it take form. The light hides her very being being eviscerated and reconstructed. Resisting with all her might, she slams herself into the rugged stone wall until the glowing stops.
Deep, broken breaths do little to numb her pain. For once, she thanks Elder Glaciari for rolling a massive boulder in front of the small entrance to her sleeping area to prevent her from escaping since it blocks the light from the others. No one can know of this. No one can know that she is ready to evolve into a glalie.
Her body begs her to let nature take its course, but her heart quashes the thought. So what if she is strong? So what if she is just one step away from becoming a true guardian? She is going to be a frost maiden. She is going to be the prima donna.
Bright as her spirit is, it does not change the fact that resisting evolution is draining it. Not even guardian training hurts this much. Not even Elder Glaciari admonishing her hurts this much.
It is suddenly too hot to bear. Her body, soaked in sweat, suddenly shines for a quaint moment before she slams herself into the walls again. The pain from impact does not remotely rival that of evolution, but it manages to hinder it somehow. Her head spins as she shoots up to her feet. She falls back down upon stabbing her head with the overhanging stalactite.
Wailing, losing herself for just a second, Arctina crawls across the ground and to the mouth of her alcove as sweat pours down her face. She pathetically punches at the stone as her body spasms and she babbles nonsensical noises. When she forces a deep breath, she stands and pushes the boulder. Despite its sheer heft, it budges and rolls steadily with her controlled strength.
Guardian training produces results, but what does power mean to anyone? It is useless. As long as Arctina can perform the aria, physical strength means nothing. The frost maidens must learn to dance, but their movements did not appear any more exhausting than spinning a few times. She wonders for just a second, Couldn't a froslass be a guardian?
Stifling the thought in fear of disappointing Elder Glaciari further upon asking, Arctina slips outside of her alcove with the utmost stealth to avoid waking the others and actually disappointing Elder Glaciari. Cool air surrounds her and makes her sigh. She leans against the wall and enjoys the sensation until her sweating stops and her breath steadies.
Before the glow of evolution returns and ruins everything, Arctina skitters back to her alcove and pushes the boulder to try to get it back to how it originally was. She shifts the stone a tad to the right before something catches her eye in the distance: several shadows dancing around the dark. She holds her breath, but releases it once the shadows cross near the mouth of the cave. Against the moonlight, Arctina can tell that they are snorunt.
At least she does not have to wake the others to warn them of danger and face punishment for leaving her alcove afterward, but Arctina finds this situation equally worrisome. She counts all seven snorunt gathered at the mouth of the cave before they take off outside.
Feeling left out, she chases after them, creeping around the elders with utmost caution. She follows from a distance until she sees them, led by Shivian, about to step beyond the border of the trees.
"Stop!" Arctina cries out as she dashes toward them. "We can't go beyond the trees!"
Shivian furrows her brow at her. With a roll of the eyes, she says, "And?"
"It's dangerous!"
Other pokémon have encroached on their mountain ever since it stopped snowing, even though the elders always make it known that this is their territory. Who knew what awaited them beyond the trees? The elders warned them as much before.
"Then protect us." So simple. So matter-of-fact. Shivian turns back to the trees. "You're the guardian, so you're supposed to protect us."
With that, she runs. The others follow, leaving Arctina behind with her jaw dropped. One of the others cries over their shoulder, "Yeah, you'll get in trouble if we get hurt!"
Arctina takes a moment she is not allowed to hesitate. No matter how she rejects the title, to the clan, she is the guardian. She has a responsibility to her family. So she forces herself to trail the future frost maidens.
It hits her as she chases after them: Why couldn't the previous frost maidens become guardians? Or even, why couldn't a froslass be both a guardian and a frost maiden? But the answer rings in her head as Elder Glaciari always says, It is tradition.
Arctina catches up to the others when they pause to look around. She approaches Shivian and plainly asks, "What are you doing?"
Shivian whips her head left and right with her eyes closed. Once she picks up on something, she walks off without saying a word. The others only follow the leader.
"Where are you going?" Arctina begs as she takes careful steps after them.
"We're gonna evolve." A snorunt giggles to herself and throws Arctina a bone.
"The elders hid the special gems somewhere. Shivian knows where they are!" A different snorunt nudges Shivian, who ignores it.
Arctina is on the verge of salivating. She finds herself walking beside Shivian, one step ahead, even. If she can just touch one of the special gems, her dream will be halfway realized. "Where is it?"
Shivian takes a sharp right and remains silent. The others chatter about. How they will evolve, how they will become frost maidens transcendent to the previous generation, how they will restore their clan, how it is all so obvious… Arctina ignores the heresy toward their elders and puffs out her chest. They do not know how she will be the prima donna who saves everyone. Evolving into a froslass is within reach, and she screams in her head for Shivian to go faster.
The childrens' daydreaming is abruptly stalled at something lunging at them from a behind a tree. It shoots for Shivian, who pulls Arctina in front of her to block it. Before she can gasp, Arctina is swatted to the side and slammed into a tree.
Large dancing hands belong to a towering figure with a glowing red eye trudging toward the frozen children. It reaches out for another snorunt. Before it can grab her, Arctina runs out and tackles her out of the way.
She launches an ice shard, but the strange pokémon takes it like nothing. She fires off one more, two, three, but the most it does is make him brush the area of contact with his large hand.
The snorunt shrink back and run away. They blindly shoot off in one direction until they come to a screeching halt before they can jump off a ravine. The children huddle together as the pokémon closes in on them.
Arctina feels several pushes on her body, then finds herself splayed on the ground. The handsy pokémon takes one step, and she sees his lumbering foot stopping shy of stomping her head flat. She looks back over her shoulder to see all but one of the others no longer by the cliff's edge. They must have run off after sacrificing her. Only Shivian remains, fallen to the ground a trembling mess despite her arrogant face.
Choking a sob down, Arctina curses at the others in her head, but can't come up with anything other than You stinky jerks!
Because as much as she blames them for abandoning her, she also cannot blame them. Is this not her duty, to use her life to protect the others? Such is the life of a guardian.
It is not a life she wants, but it is not like she will get her way in the clan. She resigns herself to her fate, shifting over to block Shivian and bowing her head as a massive hand reaches out at her. It seems this is it. This is all she amounts to in her family.
From the corner of her eye, a turquoise glimmer shines from a hole that must have been made by the pokémon's heavy, grinding footstep. She feels it in her bones: those stones must be the special stones that will turn her into a froslass. It must be. Time slows to a crawl as her heart and body move before her head. She lunges toward the gems, exposing Shivian to the enemy and leaving her in the way of its savage punch.
A frigid chill shoots through the air. It freezes Arctina when she is just a few more steps from the gems. When she looks over, the towering pokémon is encased in ice, its fist just shy of Shivian's face. Her breath catches in her throat, and when she faces the sound of shuffling, she sees the elders and snorunt.
It finally hits her, what she had done. Shivian no long looks like herself. She bawls uncontrollably and shrinks into herself. When it seems like she calms down just a little, she opens her eyes and her soul leaves her body upon seeing the frozen pokémon. It is hard to imagine this is the same diva everyone else so adores. But she almost lost her life just now. And it is all Arctina's fault.
Elder Glaciari approaches her. Unable to do anything else, Arctina weeps and throws herself at Glaciari's feet. Before they can touch, Glaciari strikes her down. Repulsion and vexation taint the usual tired look on her face.
Guardian or not, Arctina was scared too. She almost died too. Had she not lunged for the gems, she would have died. Would her death have been lauded or forgotten? She cannot stomach the thought.
Arctina screams unintelligible apologies and wails to the ground as Glaciari treads over her to gently offer her hand to Shivian. The duo walks slowly back to the others. As they pass, Shivian hides behind and holds close to her mother and utters, "You're the worst."
Arctina grovels deeper into the dirt. Elder Glaciari yanks her by the foot and drags her along with her. She cannot dream of protesting as her mouth fills with earth and the friction burns her being.
No one says a word on the way back.
Finally, Glaciari flings Arctina away. They are already back at the entrance to their cave. She coughs out clumps of dirt, staying in prostration.
"Have you not learned anything, child?" Elder Glaciari hovers above her. She grabs Arctina and forces her head against the ground, twisting and rubbing it in. "You not only dare disobey my orders, but you cannot even protect the others? You abandon them for your own selfishness?"
But they disobeyed orders first. And she did protect them… Arctina swallows her words along with some dirt. No, she did not do anything. She was merely a distraction until she left Shivian to fend for herself. She is the one who let everyone leave the cave and go past the trees to begin with. She really is the worst. If she had stopped them like a guardian would have, this would have been prevented. Everything would have been better if she did her duty properly.
Glaciari's touch sears her skin. She hates herself for thinking, I don't wanna be the guardian. They are well past that point now. She hates herself even more for thinking, I didn't do anything wrong.
"We ought to cut you loose. Do you not know your place?" Glaciari continues to grind Arctina's face into the ground. "A guardian is to lay their life down for the others. You are merely a useless, hopeless child. You are the last one who should survive."
Finding herself in a divot in the earth from how harshly she was being rubbed into the ground, Arctina chokes out useless apologies.
Her body pulses, and despite herself, she emits a blinding light once again.
"Oh, can you do something correctly?"
Arctina clenches her entire being. She cannot evolve like this. She will be a frost maiden. She will save everyone. She will repent for failing to protect the others tonight, but she will not evolve into a glalie. Even if Elder Glaciari hates her.
As the glow dims, Elder Glaciari throws Arctina. Bouncing off the ground, she lands battered-face-up. Her body gives out. She cannot bring herself to do anything but lie there and allow her body to betray her. She tries resisting with everything she has remaining when Glaciari comes up to her again.
"Please… I wanna be a frost maiden…" Her words are lost in the wind.
"The clan is suffering while you live in delusion." Elder Glaciari strikes her yet again. "Enough. You will never become a frost maiden. If my aria could not appease the Frozen Gigant, what makes you think your shallow, mediocre effort will?"
The light completely engulfs Arctina as she sobs. She cannot fight it anymore. Her body succumbs to the light as she uses what energy remains to cry a heart-rending screech.
When silence overtakes them, a glalie remains where Arctina once was. She lies unconscious. Glaciari motions for the others, watching from afar, to return to the cave. She seethes and lugs Arctina to a new alcove, one just as cramped but slightly larger than her original one. The glalie can just barely fit inside. Glaciari rolls a large boulder in front of the opening and freezes it in place.
Sensing someone, Glaciari whips her head around. Shivan peers from around the corner with a contorted, undefinable face, eyes set on the alcove. Glaciari floats to her daughter and strikes Shivian upside the head. It immediately rights her daughter, and the two return to slumber.
Arctina gazes at the reflection in the pond. She still has not gotten used to her new body. She never will. An ugly, rotund, horned fiend faces her in the water. She bares her now-menacing teeth and gnashes them.
It is quiet tonight. She is alone. After that night, Arctina became more obedient. Not too long ago, the elders trusted her enough to train alone while they mentored the future frost maidens.
She is sick of seeing this face in the water. No matter how Elder Glaciari praises her for getting stronger, for fending off invaders from their territory, she cannot say she is satisfied or proud. Before, she wondered why the elders could not act as guardians since they were very capable of doing so. Now, as things are, such thoughts are irrelevant.
A harmonizing choir fills the air with music. It is the first verse of the Frozen Opera. Instinctively, Arctina hums along. Just for one note. After that, no other sound comes out, no matter how hard she tries.
She tries desperately to hum along as she did when she was a snorunt. The most she gives is a whimper. Her eyes fall back to her reflection.
Arctina howls.
Her raw wail casts ripples in the water. She shakes, and the next thing she knows, she slams herself into a thick tree. Leaves rain down as she throws herself into another one, then another, and another.
When she rams into a boulder, a sickening crack resonates through her body. Something black stabs itself into the ground. It looks familiar. It looks repulsive.
Arctina calms enough to glance back in the water. Her right horn is now missing. Blood gushes out and pools on the ground below.
She blinks once before it truly hits her. She screams again and flails about. Agonizing pain sears what remains of her right horn, almost immobilizing her.
Falling to the ground, Arctina is forced to face her reflection yet again. She wants to spit at it, but pauses. Blood continues to flow from where her horn was broken. From all her thrashing about, some of it splashed onto her body.
Now she is beautiful.
The crimson stains below her mouth are such a brilliant color. It makes her think of the frost maidens, their gorgeous sashes hung around their waists. She shuffles a bit and sees the red does not completely encompass her body. She must complete it, because if she does…
Compelling herself to rise, Arctina freezes an unyielding layer of ice on the boulder that snapped her horn. Without hesitation, she crashes against it again and again. She does not feel anything except rising exhilaration with each collision.
She charges broken-horn-first, whittling down what remains into nothing to yield more red. It dyes the side and bottom of her body, and when she tears herself away from her fervor, she checks her reflection and cries.
Absolute beauty. Pure resplendence. Utter exquisiteness.
Is this truly her? She rejoices. She looks like a froslass. She looks like a frost maiden.
More. She needs more. She wants to look even more like a froslass. She's going to be the prima donna.
Arctina rises and crashes into the frozen boulder once more. If she keeps up, surely her dream will come to fruition. It must. It will. It is taking form right now. She sees the Frozen Opera. She is singing the aria.
Sheer reverie fuels her, but it is cut short when the elders emerge from nowhere and surround her. They freeze her in place, and she falls to the ground encased in a block of ice. Elder Glaciari shakes her head, and all the froslass work to drag Arctina back to the cave.
Only the back half of her is frozen. Arctina dazedly says, "I'm a froslass. Do I look like you, Elder Glaciari? I wanna be the prima donna."
Glaciari scowls for just a moment. She softly rubs the glalie's head and speaks gently. "No, child. You look like something far more mesmerizing than a silly frost maiden."
"Really? Arctina's eyes dance with delight and hope. "Like what?"
Glaciari signals for the others to stop and put Arctina down. She floats before the glalie and smiles. "Like a guardian. A proud, honorable guardian."
An elder hands a sharp black object to Glaciari, who takes it and holds it above Arctina's head. In an instant, she freezes it back where it belongs. It is only the tip of her horn, most of it having been shaved off by her reckless act. The obviousness of this fact is laughable.
Arctina's delirium starts to subside as she snuggles into the touch.
"Really?" Arctina melts before Glaciari's impossibly warm words, the same words that could never sway her heart in the past.
"Truly."
Author's note: I realized much too late that glalie are just sentient rock monsters. Let's pretend they bleed for this story. This is my first time on Thousand Roads, so I'm learning the ropes. Here's to a good time~
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