Kindles of War

by Nicol Terra

  The mountain he was on felt mushy and fluid. The snow was wet, sloshing around his shoes. Each step upward, the storm felt denser. The mountainside was littered with black rock spires shooting up from the ground. If he didn't see snow or rocks, he saw frozen glaciers hundreds of feet tall. These glaciers often floated around small lakes, with a few Golems huddled on top of them, ignoring the environment around them. These mini pools of glaciers spiraled around with giant trees, shooting a mile high upward, ignoring the frozen environment. As Ahn looked, one of the golems waved his hand as a small twinkle of water popped out, then suddenly a tree sprouted from in front of him, defying reality. These ones were more intelligent then the others he saw or faced on the island, likely due to their age and the environment around them. There was either lakes of glaciers; or large trees that shot up to the sky that severed the clouds around us. Despite these trees appearing fresh, with water and large pine needles falling in the air with the flakes, these trees were hardy and healthy and strangely resilient to the harsh, wind snapping cold. There was a strange amount of Water Golems on this one island alone. Ahn shrugged momentarily-He felt that in his life of constant struggles, he never once saw one in a Gigapolis. Then again, why would he? What struggles did he even have growing up?

  Ahn shivered and hiked on, his head slinked low to the ground. He felt the wind grow more and more violent. He felt thin slaps of sleet slash across his smile. He felt his smile fade away as he saw a nearly thousand-meter tall wall of ice block his path. Ahn looked down, he was on an unstable sheet of ice that sloshed around his feet, he looked at his pant legs and saw it darkened from the water. He felt nothing, was that normal?

  He created a red streak of energy around his hand and warped it into the shape of a pickax. He repeated the process for his other hand. He stabbed the pickax through the wall of ice and then did so again, starting his ice climb up the wall.

  Ahn remembered his early childhood, he was in the city of Cosmow, the city of never-ending snow. He remembered running down the city streets, each lined with a drainage ditch where the snow would melt, and then fall down to the ground for later use. The roads were paved with white bricks, merging in with the occasional hill of ice and snow. The most significant buildings had cylindrical domes that shot up miles high. Each dome was painted with a variety of different colors. Some of the buildings had Airsails freely fly out of the tips of these domes. The white, blue and gray, relaxing colors. Cylindrical Skyscrappers were the norm or Spherical Homes. The city almost seemed uniform in geometry, as each building connected and merged with eachother through glass halls. Each of these skyscrapers shined a different color, most of which were blue, white or gray. Finally was the wooden shacks that wrapped around these buildings, littering tens of millions of buildings no larger than a small room.

  The snowfall was constant, and the white roads were designed black wells of gravity pulling the snow into the cylinders and washing them down to the ground below.

  Ahn was always told, as someone from a royal family to always avoid the below. ‘The below is for common people,’ said his mom. ‘Only the weak-willed live in the below,’ said his father. He hated walking around the dome of his family houses so he would sneak out. He often just jumped out, often with a simple brown vest and pants. When he landed in the streets below, he always visited the Library, one of the larger wooden buildings. Ahn then plopped his backpack on the wet, soggy winter floor below him. He slipped one of the pockets up. These pockets held inside a few wrapped sandwiches, his library books, and a wallet. He snatched his wallet from the bag and flipped it up. He pulled out a white card and then a small, white Orb. He grabbed his Holosphere as a deep blue image came out. A large, 3D Map with three lights wrapped around glowed for a few seconds. Then, the Holosphere created a blue map with large, cylindrical domes and thousands of wooden houses, some of which are missing doors and windows. Through the sprawling cityscape, a red line dotted from across the city which highlighted his location and his destination. His Destination Distance was 1.4 miles away. He held his Holosphere in his right hand, and his library card in his left hand, as he followed the red line.

  The city of Cosmow had dozens of old houses, some were over ten thousand years old, continually being renovated. These houses, made with wood, insulated by nothing. In the front was dim, black balls kept inside by a veiled liquid bubble, floating freely. Many of these homes had no power, their ‘Fusionbubbles’ burnt out long ago. Ahn was too young to understand this, but the dark lights and snow painted roads were depressing. Some were in front of their powerless houses, gathering wood for inside to keep them warm. Some more were just drinking and smoking their sadness away. Ahn knew the route by heart, but he always put his destination in, lightning his way. Cosmow was a large city, without any trees and ‘nowhere’ as his parents told him, was filled with deadly monsters. Ahn always never left the city, because the city was always safe.

  The Library was a few dozen feet tall, with twelve or so stone pillars in the front of it. These pillars wrapped around a half cylinder, the front half was only held up by pillars. Hundreds of tables, lined up with electric sockets and Holospheres and Holocubes littered the Library. Thousands of people, lined up ready to use up the Holocubes, either to turn in a business plan, academic study or an application for a job. Thousands more wrapped around him. Despite the cold temperature outside, the Building provided heat and complete climate control. The other half of the cylinder was the library itself, with a large glass door with hundreds more leaving in and out. The inside was warm and inviting, blue lights shining down. The front of the interior had a shelf that wrapped around completely like a circle. Then, the next shelf was wrapped in the same way. Ahn always went to the eighth shelf, the one closest to the center. This shelf read ‘Fantasy.’ Ahn smiled greedily as he ran down the aisle, brushing his fingers across book after book. His smile opened as he pulled out a book.

  ‘Raiza, The Revolutionary-Book One’

  He snapped the book to his side, reaching inside his pants pocket as he pulled out a white card as he walked to the center of the building. The center of the room had a single cube that floated freely. The Holocube had four people sitting around the Holocube. The four had a circular light gray wooden desk. The four people always had a book on their desk, often with their Holosphere next to them. Ahn walked up to one of the younger librarians. She had caramel colored hair, her eyes with a fierce blue tint. She was young and had a black suit with black leggings to match. Ahn slapped the book on the desk, the lady giving him a smile as she rose up from her chair, taking his white card and sliding it inside the cube behind her.

  “Welcome Back Ahn.” She said, her voice gentle and quiet as she flipped around and slapping the card back on the book. “This is from your favorite author, isn‘t it?”

  He nodded. “I love Crystal Caroline! She is my favorite.” He said, his eyes big and wide.

  She smiled. “She is a great Author. She used to serve in the military, that is where she got some of her ideas.”

  He raised a brow. “Is that why she is so creative?”

  The librarian smiled and nodded. “Her tales as a soldier, exploring the west led to her stories.”

  Ahn was excited about the west. He felt it was a world foreign to his own. His imagination wandered wildly. He always felt the freedom of what could be there drove him to read worlds that he could never understand. He climbed up to his room, book in hand and opened the window to let himself inside. He slapped the book on his blue bed as he walked over to a small, red cube. The cube was perhaps a foot long and foot tall. The cube had a single, square button on the top, similar to an Holosphere button. Ahn pressed the button on top. An image projected from the top to meet his eyes.

  Reviews for: the Raiza Chronicles

  Crystal Caroline does a beautiful job of creating a world that no one can compare too.

  Caroline has grim detail and an understanding of tragedy

  Caroline view on order and governanc
e is so tricky, and the people that inhabit or fight against it are filled with depth and ingenuity. She nails the story.

  Ahn then heard his doorknob turn to the right, a man and woman walking in to greet him. The man had a sapphire blue suit, with gold rings strapped to his fingers. He had mismatched gold pants with a silver belt around his waist. The woman had a white dress, with a diamond necklace wrapped around her neck. Ahn shuffled his feet as he turned to him. He instinctively snapped his hands behind his back

  “Hello Father, Hello Mother.” He said.

  His father walked up to him as his mother closed the door. Ahn looked too see his father walk to his bed and snap the book from the blanket. Ahn grimaced and felt his throat choke up.

  “What is this?” He inspected. His eyes glued and wrapping around the book curiously.

  “It is a book,” Ahn answered.

  He heard his mother let out a small giggle. Ahn hands still behind his back.

  His father rolled his eyes. “My son, the rich have no time for such…amusement.” He said, shaking his head as his eyes glued up behind Ahn.

  Ahn felt his eyes drip to the floor, he didn't close the window.

  “Where did you get this book?” His father asked.

  Ahn said nothing. His father walked around Ahn, his eyes looking at his son below, he was twice as tall as Ahn with his head lumbering to his son at eye level. Ahn looked away as his father tried to match his eyes.

  “I will ask once more, where did you get this book?”His father said.

  “The Library.” He grumbled.

  His father returned the favor and said nothing. He created a red burst of energy from his hand as he burst the book into flames. Ahn ran over the burning embers, his eyes wide with fear.

  “Dad! That is not my book! That is-” Ahn started.

  “The Library's, yes yes yes I know how that drab place works. Money is by far the issue.” He said, grabbing Ahn’s arm and pulling Ahn towards him. ‘Ahn, we have millions of gold tons and billions of SALT in our Holocubes. We have plenty of money, that is not the issue. I have billions of gold bricks and trillions in SALT. I am not poor, Ahn. The rich do not read. We gather more wealth.” He said. Ahn froze.

  “You are to inherit my family business after all. You are our tool for conquest, I merely cannot have you reading such books.” Ahn’s father said, his tone was callous and cold, his words as unfeeling as his persona. Ahn couldn’t help but feel a tear run down from his eye.

  Ahn grumbled, tears running down his face.

  “But father! I like to read, I like to explore.” Ahn cried.

  Ahn looked to his mother open the door behind his dad. He then felt his body being lifted up, his head hot and his cheeks brittle from tears. He kicked and screamed, trying to get away, only to be brought closer to the door.

  “The world has high expectations for us, you can't defy the fate of your existence.”Ahn felt those words burn inside his hands and head.

  He looked to see his hand, purple and black, dead from the cold. He didn't feel anything, was that normal? He looked above too as he jumped over to the top of the glacier. He felt the snow push down harder on his body. He climbed through the cold snow, he felt nothing. The thought of returning back home hurt more then the ice slinking down from his fingertips. He felt his body grew colder and colder as his eyes closed. He felt his mind collapse under the weight of ice and sleet.

  “Not now.” He said, pulling through the snow. He grumbled and continued to drag his body across the snow. “Not now.”

  He heard a faint screech in the distance.

  “No. I refuse to go back. I will decide where I want to go.” He said. He had a reason to be here. He was given a purpose, a new one. He would take that purpose any time of the week.

  He then felt the screech get closer. He tried to release a blue stream of energy from his body, only for a sharp pain to rise throughout his spine. He used up too much of his Aura. He instead rolled around.

  He saw a dragon flying in the distance, circling around him. His red, scaly skin and his spiny tail flowing with the ice-cold winds. Ahn felt his eyes close, he then heard a loud thud near him.

  He felt his mind flash on and off.

  “This one is bad as well, he is even worse than the girl!” One of them said.

  “Damn Snowcaps! Gonna take our chance to fight back!” Another said.

  Fight back?

  “Load him up on the back of Sasu! Lord Yas and Ioja will want to see him.”

  He felt a faint feeling on his right cheek.

  “Stay with us Kid, We need you!” One of them said.

  What did they need? Ahn couldn't speak, he was too tired, his throat too cold and frozen to talk. He felt his body being lifted. He felt his face on the back of a scaly beast. He heard a faint heartbeat in the back of his head. He groaned once, lucidity fleeing from him.

  He felt his mind go black, and then he looked down below. He saw a white stony road. He looked up and walked down the street. When he reached the end, a single purple and yellow light greeted him. He reached out to the lights, only for his hand to sink through the faint colors. He grumbled once and tried to grab it, failing once. He tried catching it once more and felt his hand wrap around the yellow light. The light was warm, inviting. The light felt familiar to himself. He grabbed the yellow light with his right hand and then the purple light with his left hand. He felt his body act on his own as he smashed the lights together. He then saw nothing and felt nothing.

  He passed out, his mind now too exhausted to fight back against the cold.

  Illevetar woke up quietly, and her eyes slowly opened up. She looked to see herself in a wooden house and shuffled herself inside her bed. “Where am I?” She asked herself, but she had no answer. She was treated with kindness. She still wore the same clothes, and her hands were bandaged up. Illevetar was safe, and a smile wrapped around her face because of that. The house was plain and well built.

  The house had oak floors with wooden shelves packed to the brim with books. Each of the shelves was lined up next to each other. There was no wall, only bookshelves that stretched to the roofs rapidly opened her eyes, her legs moving on its own. Each of these shelves was lined and filled with books. Illevetar blinked, she hasn't seen so many books in place in years. She liked to read, but she was a slow reader. She never even read half the books on her own bookshelf, preferring to instead study stories and politics rather than history or the sciences.

  She walked to one of the shelves; it was made of red mahogany. The slick, carefully crafted shelf was perfectly polished to beautiful touch. The shelf had a blue dragon painted across the side, the long reptilian tail slinking downward, with the head on the other side of the shelf breathing a long stream of red fire. Illevetar couldn't help but admire the design

  "It is said his name was Jaya." A voice said. Illevetar jumped upward, twirling her body around. A man was leaning across her door frame. He had a slim build, easily six feet tall. He was human, his round ears and his rough, angular chin giving that away to her.

  “H-Hi,” She said, that was the only thing she can say. Her mind was drawing a blank; she started to shiver as her legs began to buckle.

  The man just laughed, walking over to her and rubbing his hand on her hair for a brief moment as he shot her a gentle smile. She frowned as her gaze drifted downward.

  “Relax Princess, I ain't going to hurt you.” He said, he too walked over to the bookshelf, sliding his hand down the side of the dragon’s tail. "According to our people, Jaya came down nearly three thousand years ago to save us from the great storm."

  “The great storm?” Illevetar inquired.

  He turned to her, raising a brow. “You surely know of the great storm, do you not?”

  She shook her head; her eyes darted to the side. “Mother kept me away from the history books. She said that as a princess, I didn't need them.”

  The man said nothing, and then he snorted out a single laugh. Illevetar couldn’t help
tilt her head, was this man laughing at her?

  “Did I say something odd?” She tilted her head.

  The man shook his head, letting out a small sigh. “You are Illevetar, Princess of Mysen and first in line to become Queen, correct?”

  “I am.” She added.

  “I am concerned for the royal family if you don’t know basic history.” He said.

  She grumbled to herself and snarled softly. “May I ask what you are doing here?”

  “Oh, how rude, it must appear not to introduce myself.” He said, he then pulled out a black and green pack from his right shirt pocket. Illevetar noticed his hands had a circular, red outline at the wrists. “My name is Yas, and I am the Chieftain of this island nation.”

  Illevetar tilted her head to the side. “I heard this nation was affiliated with Kragg.”

  The man nodded. “Officially, but we have our laws and governance. We are closer to a colony then we are a state or territory.” Yas snapped his pack, revealing twenty cigarettes neatly lined up. He grabbed one, lit it and started to puff on it. Illevetar started to cough, her eyes red and her ears twitching

  “How barbaric!” She exclaimed. She looked at the man, his eyes sorrowed and glued to the ground. She darted her head to the side.

  “Generally speaking, this is why I don’t like Elves. So uptight." He said, taking a puff and exhaling. "You are lucky by the way, your hands and your arms were frostbitten. If it weren’t for Ioja’s abilities, you would have lost your hands, maybe even your life.”

  She said nothing, her cheeks puffed and started to turn crimson.

  “I am sorry for causing you trouble.” She said. Then it came to her; she was with Rachel. Her eyes widened. “There was a blond human with me; how is she?” She yelped, reaching for the man to grab him by the shirt. “I didn’t climb up a thousand feet of ice to see her die! Where is she!”?