The Ice Chronicles (Section 3 Of Entire Dynasty) CHAPTER 13 THE ICE CHRONICLES BEGIN Din awakes, breathing cold air. He looks around and sees frost on the ground in his tent. Din: No! It’s faster than I thought! He jumps out of bed, dresses, and grabs his equipment. He walks outside and a few of the leaders are gathered around a fire. They spot Din and quickly follow. Hitsu: What do we do? Why is there snow everywhere? Din: He spreads it to power up. We’re going to have to act fast. They walk out into the woods and Din stops. He suddenly strikes his sword into the ground and holds it in place as he squats behind it. He closes his eyes for a minute, and finally reopens them. He lifts it out of the ground and points it northwest through the woods. Din: We leave now. Ready the troops. The leaders rush back to the camp and rally the army. The men were half-expectant something was up already, with the snow and all, so most are prepared quickly. The main force of the army is headed by Din, Yoshiro, Astroth, Shiaro, and Rongu. They are to head west through the woods and go as far as the mountains. Mistrugi is to lead a convoy north to check on forts then meet up in the west later. Kong is to head back with a convoy to Castle Kong to empty it out and bring all the warriors to the newly conquered Lasquien towers. And lastly, Hitsu is to head northwest with a unit to check past the river in the woods. All units set out immediately. Hours pass; Hitsu’s unit of 80 gets through the woods and to the river. It is frozen over, and he tests it to walk on. They walk steadily across and spread out. Hitsu still can’t figure out what is going on. Who is the Ice King? What should he expect? He glances down and notices some kind of movement in the river…He stops walking, but considers he’s imagining it and continues walking. The fog bounds in on the river and it gets harder and harder to see where they are going. Hitsu thinks he sees something again, and stops. He kneels down and wipes the snow off the ice. Then he sees a sharkfin race by. Hitsu: What the--- The ice breaks suddenly and a half-shark half-man figure lands in front of Hitsu. It punches him flying across the ice and turns to bite a soldier’s head clean off. Others start appearing through the fog and killing off soldiers. Hitsu stands back up. Hitsu: Stand together! Attack! They try to fight back but the sharks are too strong. It turns into a bloody massacre all over the ice. Hitsu slays a shark and turns around to dodge another one lunging at him. He trips backwards and falls to the ice hard. The shark in front of him comes close fast about to bite him, but it stops. All of them have stopped. Hitsu looks over where a figure is approaching. It seems things have gotten strange enough; now there is a half-bull half-man standing over him holding a huge axe. Now he realizes he’s heard stories of this creature. It’s the ruthless Rockonto. Hitsu shivers in fear now and he can’t control it. Rockonto grins and makes a grunt noise. Rockonto: Are you the leader of this convoy? (Spits on the ground) Hitsu: I am. Rockonto: Get up and fight. Hitsu looks up, rises slowly. He holds his sword out and Rockonto laughs. Hitsu gets angry and tries to stab him. The fight begins. Rockonto lays back and lets Hitsu keep swinging away. He can’t get through Rockonto’s axe and gets tired from the missing. Soon, Rockonto parry’s Hitsu’s sword away with his axe and with a quick motion, he lunges his hand into Hitsu’s throat and lifts him slowly. The shark warriors chomp their teeth together and shout in praise. Hitsu feels unconsciousness upon him, and Rockonto extends his arm out suddenly and sends Hitsu flying across the ice. He smacks his head against the ice, bounces and hits his face, and slides out of the area, where he can’t see anyone through the fog anymore and loses consciousness. Rockonto: Let the other ones go. The remaining Shang soldiers pick up their weapons and retreat quickly. One grabs Hitsu’s sword and leaves. Shark Warrior: (angrily) Why did you let them go? The other Shark warriors growl with agreement. Rockonto: We’ll be here when they get back. And I’m thinking they’ll bring more… The shark warriors roar in excitement and the scene cuts out. Mistrugi is leading twenty soldiers through Northern territory woods. They have been walking for awhile and are growing restless. They come upon a clear area with a few logs and sit upon them to rest. Soldier: Mistrugi…what is this whole Ice King ideal? Mistrugi: Well…I am not positive…but what I know is…this Ice King is extremely powerful...Before he became his known figure as ruler of ice, he was the… Soldier: Scout! Two soldiers start running after a figure in the woods. The others, including Mistrugi, look right away and follow. They race through and get to a darker part of the woods where they slow down. They are spread out now and stay like that on Mistrugi’s position being about middle of everyone. Mistrugi passes a tree and feels something hit his head. He wipes his hair and looks at his hand, in which he was already half-expectant to see this redness. Then he hears a sudden clink next to him and is rattled by it. He looks down and sees a sword. Then he looks up, and sees two bodies dangling high up, appearing to be the two soldiers that ran for the scout. Mistrugi: Watch yourself! Ambush! Everyone holds their weapons out in fear. Mistrugi slowly draws his and keeps looking around as he walks slowly. They start through the dark woods again cautiously. Soon, Mistrugi hears a sudden gasp behind him and leaves rustling. He looks back and sees nothing, and then hears it again to the front. Now he notices there’s a soldier missing. Mistrugi: Come on! He points his sword to the direction to run and is followed by the remaining soldiers. They start racing through the woods and Mistrugi can hear each of them getting picked off one by one. He finally gets to an odd shaped giant log and stops running. He notices light shining barely through the top of the trees onto the top of the log. Two soldiers catch up and he doesn’t bother to turn to look at them. Mistrugi: Run. Get to the Shang Forts. They look at each other in curiosity, and then run past the giant log and out of sight. Mistrugi: Show yourself, coward! He hears the top of the trees rustle and down onto the giant log comes the half-lizard half-man creature he’s heard somewhat about. The creature draws its sword and points it at Mistrugi, smiling. Tirokan: So, I assume you are the Yomimitsu sword specialist. Mistrugi: I am a general of Yoshiro and it is my duty to vanquish you, enemy. Tirokan: Well, then, I’m interested to see if you can uphold your promise. Tirokan leaps off the log and at Mistrugi. He knocks him back a few feet as Mistrugi got his sword up just in time to block Tirokan’s. Mistrugi wields his away to the left and tries to come back at Tirokan, who easily ducks out of the way and just missed Mistrugi’s head with his sword. They continue the duel as Mistrugi gains the small lead and forces Tirokan backwards a step at a time. Tirokan leaps backwards on the giant log and Mistrugi uses his talisman to help him do the same. Tirokan: This just keeps getting more interesting, eh? He leaps back at Mistrugi and they meet swords once again. Leaping around on the log they try to get the better of one another. Tirokan leaps up to a tree eventually and Mistrugi follows, as they go treetop to treetop in combat. Tirokan eventually dodges Mistrugi and cuts his leg. Mistrugi falls during his jump and crashes to the ground near the log. Tirokan snickers and leaps down onto the log. Mistrugi turns over and reaches for his sword, but Tirokan quickly notices. Tirokan drops down to the ground and shoots his tounge out at Mistrugi’s uninjured leg. He holds his stance and pulls Mistrugi closer and fast. Mistrugi is getting cut up from the sticks on the ground. When he gets about ten feet off from Tirokan, he barely accesses enough strength through his talisman to launch a jump at Tirokan, kicking him in the head to send him flying a dozen feet. Mistrugi lands in a squatting position and rises. He puts his hand in the air and catches Tirokan’s sword, and with his eyes still on Tirokan, he slices down at his ankle to release the tounge. Tirokan roars in pain and brings his tounge back in. Then he leaps back into the trees and escapes into the darkness. CHAPTER 14 STRATEGY OVER STYLE Meanwhile, Hitsu is in the snow covered woods with his remaining 16 soldiers. He is sitting upon a tree stump and looking down. Two of his soldiers are standing, facing him. Soldier 1: Sir, we can’t stay here forever. We must retreat. Soldier 2: They are too strong. Hitsu: They are. Soldier 1: Do you wish me to order the retreat. Hitsu pauses for a minute, coming to realization of what’s going on. Hitsu: Y---yes. The soldier turns around and raises his hand. Soldier 1: Prepare for fall out in two minutes. Both soldiers walk with the other ones to get ready for the retreat. Hitsu remains silet, and motionless. He begins shaking his head left to right. Hitsu: No…no… The two soldiers hear him and turn around. Soldier 1: Hitsu? Hitsu: Damn the retreat. This is a war. We come upon the enemy and put it our all. If they are too tough, we must be faster. If they are faster, we must be strategic… Now I’ll make it an option…you can leave now and head back to safety. Meet up with Castle Kong or the Towers. But for me, I’d rather not return and explain I wasn’t tough enough. I’m going…to glory or death. He stands up, holds his sword out, and begins walking through the soldiers. Then he hears from behind him… Soldiers: To glory! Or Death! Hitsu continues walking and turns it into a run. Hitsu: Let’s GO! The soldiers yell and follow. The shark warriors are sitting around on the ice starving. Rockonto is sitting has one knee on the ice as well, and peers down at the ice with his eyes closed. Rockonto: Hmm…. He gets the attention of a few shark warriors. Rockonto stands and looks straight at the fog in front of them. The fog begins to spread and he nods towards it with his head. The shark warriors start standing up and looking in that direction, then they smile and clash their teeth in excitement. Hitsu: Charge!!! More fog comes around as the Shark warriors go to it to meet for battle. Then the fog clears in that direction again and they are gone. Rockonto is now on alert with his troops and they start looking around in all directions. A rock is thrown against the ice at one side of the ice and as they all turn in surprise five soldiers come from behind and start attacking. The shark warriors retaliate ruthlessly, but they are no match for these enraged warriors. They start getting pushed back as five more soldiers come from the other way and start attacking. The ice kingdom forces are pushed back onto the ice and start losing their edge. Then comes Hitsu from the ice with his original five soldiers and they start attacking. Hitsu runs straight for Rockonto and as he raises his axe, Hitsu drops down and slides on his side. He reaches to Rockonto’s legs and pushes his sword right into Rockonto’s stomach. Rockonto is struck by surprise, and still brings his axe crashing down, way too hard, causing the ice to begin splitting around everywhere. Hitsu slips trying to get up and run and Rockonto grabs him as he starts slipping into the water. Hitsu: RUN! His soldiers reluctantly disappear through the fog towards the land. Hitsu struggles and manages to free up his arm with his sword. He brings it to Rockonto’s shoulder and sticks it in. Rockonto roars and trips back into the water, his body disappearing instantly. He turns to start running across as the ice starts breaking more and more. He races into the fog and notices his soldiers had waited for him and start running along with him now. Ice shatters around everywhere, and soldiers begin piling into the water, but there is not time to help them or it would be suicide. Hitsu tries to keep his eyes forward to get to land. He trips and slides forward, as ice shatters right in front of him. He barely gets to his knee long enough to leap a few feet across the circle of water. He comes to a crash on the other side and continues sliding. Then through the fog he spots land and dives for it. Moments later, he has trouble doing so but manages to get to his feet. He looks back at the ice…no survivors remain… CHAPTER 15 THE ENEMY DIES AT SUNRISE In the very east, Din and the main army has reached the mountainous area. They arrive without any trouble along the way, and as soon as they start setting up camp, a few scouts return to Din. Scout: (out of breath) Lord Din, there is something you must see! They’ve taken our fort! Din: What! Rongu: They must have arrived shortly after we left…Damn, if we were just there to defend it. Shiaro: We would have been killed Rongu. Yoshiro: That’s right… (Turns to the scout) Now, let us see this. The scout nods, and leads them up a steep trail in the mountains. They walk and climb for a few minutes and reach a visible platform. The scout leads them up to it and they stand, towering over the valley below. Din: Un-believable. Yoshiro: Haha, you got that right. They are staring at the outrageously tall Ice Castle. It easily surpasses the height of the mountains. Din: Look, down there. What are those… Yoshiro: I think…polarbears…I have heard of these. The creatures of the Ice Kingdom, half animal half man. Polarbear and Shark alike. Din: There’s tons! How are we going to… Yoshiro: I say for now, my lord, we wait… They retrace back down the trail and get to the army. Set up is going well, and Din notices the arrival of Mistrugi. Yoshiro: Mistrugi! You have returned! Mistrugi: Yes. My convoy was destroyed though. We were ambushed by a lizard creature. Yoshiro: (in awe) Tiro…Tirokan… Din: A lizard warrior? Yoshiro: Tirokan is a general of the Ice Kingdom. There are two sacred warrior generals, Tirokan, and Rockonto. Then, Hitsu appears in the camp from out of the woods. Din: Hitsu! It is great to see yet another friendly face. Hitsu: We were ambushed. On the river. Shark warriors, and--- Yoshiro: A bull warrior? Hitsu looks down and nods. Yoshiro: What of him? You defeated them? Hitsu: He has fallen with the rest of them. Fre Male comes out of the command tent to the other leaders. Fre Male: My lords, I suggest, we get going on a strategy. It grows dark and we must be ready soon. They nod and fill into the command tent, taking their seats. Yoshiro: From the looks of it, we are outnumbered. Easily. Din: Yes, and those shark warriors are huge! I can just guess that they are as vicious as they look. Fre Male: Look, we know they’ll tear us apart. We need to find a weakness. Din: Yes…a weakness… Rongu: I’m just throwing this out there..but…shouldn’t shark instincts make them want to attack whatever’s bleeding, even each other. Hitsu: (He is at the end of the table, looking so beaten and exhausted from battle) No. I have seen it. And I…may have figured it out. Din: What is it, Hitsu? Hitsu: The shark warriors are vicious. They are fast. (Flashback shows the battle at the river and the shark warriors who were near him, in slow motion, while Hitsu talks) They are trained though. I don’t know how…but…they are only attracted to human blood. Din: Great. Eliminate that weakness. Hitsu: No. I have an idea. The enemy…dies at sunrise. Late at night in the Ice Throne Room, an unfamiliar face is mapping out and making a plan for battle. A man with an ice mask, joined by two shark warrior generals and each of the polar warrior and blizzard warrior generals. Sero: These opposing forces have been acknowledged in the mountains. If they do manage an attack, we cannot let them use the high ground against us. We must hold any kind of attack, however, until we figure out a way to destroy them in the mountains. So for now, we hold our land outside the castle and don’t let them gain momentum…. A dark figure at the other side of the table begins to speak. It is the Ice King. Ice King: Sero…take caution…this one…I sense he is special… CHAPTER 16 FIRE VS. ICE The next morning, as the sun rises, the soldiers are set up in the mountains, prepared for Hitsu’s plan. A few soldiers report to Hitsu. Soldier: Lt.Hitsu, it’s as you predicted. They have their shark warriors in the front, then the polar bear warriors and then the blizzards. Hitsu: I see. Thank you. (To Din) When I give the signal, order the firing. Din nods and Hitsu rides his horse along the mountain up to a part where he can see down. He sees the army approaching slowly. When they reach a certain point, he turns to raise his arm at Din, and he is struck by an ice arrow suddenly, and hails off his horse and along the side of the mountain. Din: Hitsu!!! He shakes it off and raises his hand, looks back, and then motions it forward. The shark warriors have momentum and are approaching the mountain. All of a sudden, one sniffs and looks up, then another and then all of them. Above them falls streaks of blood in the air, and it starts landing on each of them. Instantly, they begin ripping each other to shreds. It becomes a massacre. Sero: Haha, they are better than I thought. Behind Din are catapults being loaded up with blood. They have used the blood from their fallen soldiers to put in it and each have given some of their own. Din rides over to one and cuts his hand with a knife, and lets the blood drip in. Then he uses his sword to heat up the blood, fast, and points his blood-tipped sword forward again. Din: Let’s go again! Another barrage of blood streaks through the air and lands on the shark warriors. Archers on the mountainside begin firing arrows down upon the enemy army. Din races over to the mountain trail that leads into the valley. He turns to his cavalry unit. Din: Let’s send them back to hell to melt for eternity! He leads the roaring charge down the mountain trail with his sword in the air shooting up fire balls. Generals Shiaro and Rongu are by his side. The next wave comes immediately, headed by Yoshiro, Astroth, Mistrugi, and Fre Male. The ice army notices and begins charging to the oncoming soldiers. Both sides meet in a huge fury and crash. Din is struck by bad luck immediately as a shark warriors dives into his horse with his teeth first and sends Din flying forward. Din recovers quickly though and lands his sword into a shark warrior’s head immediately. The battle rages on and the shark warriors fight fiercely as expected, but Hitsu’s plan certainly had an effective impact in limiting their numbers. Din and some other make it through to the polar warriors and start battling them. They stronger and fierce but just not as quick. Din cuts the paw off one, then the other paw, and finishes it off with a slice on its neck. He continues through, slicing through the polar warriors. Enemy generals start appearing, as Din comes across two polar generals. Also, Mistrugi comes across Tirokan once again as they start battling, and a reappearing Rockonto is spotted around the area where Hitsu fell. He is looking in the bushes to find Hitsu to finish him off, then he comes across him. He raises his axe to kill him, then it comes down and crashes into nothing in midair. Astroth appears and pushes Rockonto a few feet back, then they start to battle. Yoshiro is still leading cavalry through polar warriors, then they finally reach into the Blizzard unit, which are soldiers with ice armor, ice swords and shields, basically ice everything. They begin cutting through them and all of a sudden Yoshiro goes flying forward. He lands in the dirt and slides a bit, then gets up and realizes no one’s attacking him, just staring. He looks back at his horse, it is frozen solid. Then he looks back towards the castle and a figure leaps from the crowd of enemy soldiers and lands facing Yoshiro. It is Sero, the Ice King’s best general. Sero raises his hand. Sero: You go no further… He shoots out an ice blast and Yoshiro dives back down into the dirt to dodge it. Sero sends another one and it hits Yoshiro, embedding him in a big ice cube. Through the ice, Yoshiro’s eyes light up red. A beam shoots out from his eyes and melts through the ice as he walks out of it. Sero shoots another one and Yoshiro meets the ice blast with full contact with his beam. This is Yoshiro’s talisman power, heat beam eyes. The strength from each force gains and loses momentum. Sero: Ugh….Kill him! They are still holding each other’s blasts off, but a few warriors run up to Yoshiro to get him from behind. He kicks one, then manages to kill a few others with his sword, while he keeps his eyes on Sero. Then more come and Rongu and Shiaro race through, knocking them about. Rongu: Woohoooo. Take that, ice bastards. They start killing the warriors around them. Yoshiro and Sero start walking slowly towards each other. Yoshiro suddenly ducks down as the ice blast skims his head, and he directs his sword at Sero and shoots the handle with his eyes. The sword flies right through Sero and kills a few more soldiers behind him in the distance. Inside of Sero is a swirling blue frost the starts emptying to the ground and making frost on the ground. Yoshiro looks back behind him, and is stricken by terror to see that Sero’s last ice blast hit Fre Male. He starts walking towards the ice form but more soldiers run at him and he begins fighting again. Now, Din has made his way extremely deep towards the castle, killing off everyone around him and shooting fire blasts. He reaches the edge of the castle and gets around to the gate. He is furiously shooting fire through, knocking soldiers out of his way. Suddenly, he starts hearing a voice, growing stronger and stronger. He can’t quite understand any of it but it feels inclined to keep going into the gate. He fights through a few more soldiers and steps inside. The voice grows really loud and says “I’ve been expecting you”. Din looks back right as the gate slams close. It’s empty, dark, and cold inside, and Din figures the only way to go…is up. So he starts climbing the towering flight of ice stairs. Clearly, it isn’t easy to keep balance while going up these never ending and continuing slippery stairs, but Din manages to keep going, falling once in awhile and having to redo dozens of stairs. His continuous struggle eventually pays off as he finally reaches the top. He notices a big door made of ice and squats down before going in, taking a breather. He takes a few minutes until he feels 100% and zaps the door with a firebolt, which quickly melts through and makes the door reachable. He opens the door and walks in, noticing a big darker room of complete ice, thrones, chairs, tables, made of ice. He continues to walk and he spots a figure at the window. The figure turns around and he assumes it is the Ice King. The Ice King is very tall, all made of ice with a glowing scepter in his hand. Ice King: You made it. I knew…you would. Din draws his sword. Ice King: Ah. You don’t like us being here. It makes sense. Protecting a world, that is against you? Would everyone else do the same for you if you were in trouble? Din: That doesn’t matter. Ice King: What does matter, Lord Din? Din: No, you may be right, they wouldn’t help. I’m not up here for them though. I’m up here for my men below who are getting massacred because you want to conquer a land. Your right…it ISN’T fair. The Ice King growls, frustrated. He shoots an ice blast at Din who absorbs it in his sword. The Ice King floats at him and tries to hit him with his scepter, but Din keeps blocking him. Ice sparks shoot off everywhere. Din holds his ground and pushes his sword into the scepter. He tries so hard to do so and starts yelling. Suddenly, the scepter shatters in half and the Ice King goes flying back into the wall and falls to the ground. Back on the battlefield, the soldiers watch as their opponents turn into pieces of ice and snow and rush in a swarming gust of wind back into the castle, and into the scepter. The castle starts melting into the ground, straight down. Din falls to the ground and tries to grab hold of the table to stop slipping. Everything in the room is thrown about though and he falls into a wall and hits the ground. Movement around him stops with a sudden booming halt, as the walls start melting around him and the ice under him becomes earth once again. He looks and notices the Ice King has disappeared, and the blue crystal in the top of his scepter is gone as well. Soon, there is no sign of ice or snow anywhere, just land, sky, and bodies. Shiaro runs up to Din. Shiaro: Are you okay, sire??? Din: All is done. He uses his sword to help him get to his feet and starts walking away.
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