PRL Serials

“You are welcomed inside of the subterranean fortress,” the Ice Prince of the White Corruption in the Une-verse says tentatively, as though his own words surprise him, unsure why he feels compelled to utter them. “The tendrils are sluggish here, if you choose not to come with me you will have ample time to plot your journey to find your companions.”

“You won’t join me?” the Halfyn Heir asks. He is in the golden-yellow body suit of Xêvioso with its wards of the Vodun that provides armor impervious to damage, and a three-fold increase in strength.

“Come and see what I will be leaving vulnerable if I were to travel with you,” the Prince says as he turns and floats down toward the large hole in the icy surface of the planet. As he approaches it, the edges of the hole begin to creep toward the center, slowly closing the hole as a flurry of wind and snow swirls around it. The Prince is adept at hand magic and uses formations to control the winds. 

The Heir does follow the Prince and as they pass through the hole, it closes behind them. They descend onto a cozy city of ice and rock, torches of flame on posts along dirt roads to provide light and heat, homes built of stone along the roads. It is expansive and the Heir is speechless as they land in what seems to be a city square paved with stones dug and laid by hand over a long period of time. The buildings at the edge of the square are humble, but they have history and it is obvious that the beings who occupy the streets and roads, laughing and arguing together, have been living this way for a long time. A man with large wings at his back, and a female with the long ears of a hare and a short coating of gray fur all over her humanoid body, both wearing casual shirts and loose pants, approach the Prince and the Heir on the square. 

“That draft almost blew out the torches,” the female says. “Did he cause it?”

They all look at the Heir and he half smiles and waves at them. 

“It was an accident,” he says and launches into a recounting of the journey that brought him here before the Prince interrupts. 

“Very long story short, he thinks that he can defeat her, but his friends,” the Prince says this with an inflection that annoys the Heir, “are somehow scattered across the universe.”

“That is unfortunate,” the female, who introduces herself as Cotto, says. She looks to the Prince with enthusiasm in her warm, black eyes. “Maybe we can finally live under the sky again.”

“How many are in your forces?” the man with the blue-tinted wings says. His name is Jay. 

“Our legions are myriads,” the Heir says with a confidence in his voice that seems to inspire both Cotto and Jay. “As I told your Prince…”

“No one calls me that here,” the Prince says with embarrassment and both Cotto and Jay laugh at him. 

“You are not the Ice Prince?” the Heir asks with confusion.

“I was your Ice Prince, betrothed to the Halfyn Heir, then benedict to the King of Elements, but then you died,” the Prince says angrily and he seems to forget that the two of them are not alone. Cotto and Jay look at one another with curiosity and wonder if they are intruding on something very personal. 

“I am Dae here,” the Prince says and then looks to his friends of the protected ice caverns. “Whatever this Heir and his friends plan to do, we will have no part of it. We are safe here, your children are safe. We thrived long before and we will continue even after this existence devours so many of them.”

“This is the Heir?” Cotto says whistfully. “I was only a girl when he died, but I see it now, he looks just like the pictures, younger even.”

“He’s not so impressive to me,” Jay says and the feathers on the top of his head bristle and extend up. He has pale brown skin that is accentuated with the blue feathers at his head, limbs and his exposed chest that is chiseled with muscle. His arms are strong as well and the muscles tense there as he tightens his hands into fists. 

“Don’t be jealous,” Cotto says and slaps Jay with one of her furry hands. Jay looks at her and his anger dissipates. “It’s not his Heir, he already told us that.”

“I am excited to get to know everyone and the surroundings better,” the Heir interjects, “but I really need to find some way to rendezvous with the others I came with. Time may be crucial, many of us require oxygen to breathe and I fear some may have been randomly transported to empty space.”

“The void is breathable here,” Cotto says. “If your friends did appear in space, they wouldn’t die from a lack of oxygen, it would be the whole stranded in space thing that would likely do them in.”

“And I would like to avoid that if I can. I can fly through the void, but I can’t top the speeds of a good spacecraft, one with advanced technology for tracking beings from other universes. Do you all have one?”

“There are plenty of ships and ship parts,” Cotto explains, “but we don’t have much fuel left. When the refugees arrive here, their ships are always low on fuel and the natural reserves were tapped long ago.”

“Has his arrival caused increased activity with the tendrils?” Jay asks. “Do we need to worry about attacks on the city? It’s been so long since something disturbed the surface.”

“The tendrils have not stirred since his arrival,” the Ice Prince explains. “The psychic buzz that normally permeates space is dulled, like she is sleeping.”

“We came here because she attacked the existence where we were,” the Heir explains. “The Vodun, our leaders, believe that Une is dormant here, that is why we decided to come here, to strike while she is distracted.”

“You mean that Une was attacking and you abandoned your reality to that fate?” Jay asks with disbelief.

“It wasn’t my reality,” the Heir says, “I was recruited there, to the Fonlands, for this very purpose. There are still Vodun and many more powerful beings of the multiversal structure in the Fonlands defending against Une. We have worked long and hard to coordinate this attack.”

“And it seems that you all failed before you could even attack,” Jay says dismissively. 

“I’m sure you know that Une is a fearsome foe, and we may have been caught off guard by the attack on our transportation, but it is only a setback, a fortuitous one considering that there are still allies here who can help that we were not aware of before. I’m not asking any of you to believe in our efforts, I don’t want to give false hope, but trying is better than hiding and this is the best shot that you all will have to take back your existence. There are so many more beings here now aligned with you. Just please, help me find them.”

“I think we should help him,” Jay says, surprising everyone. “I believe in the future he promises, or the possibility of it. I would die for the chance to be free of the fear that looms over us. Our children have never known an existence without it.”

“But the ships are all empty,” Cotto says. “We have never tried to leave this place to look for supplies, we don’t know if there is even other fuel to look for.”

“The only way that we can help him is for me to go with him, to leave Juoil,” the Ice Prince says to Jay and Cotto. “Our elemental powers in tandem can propel us faster than the best ship, much faster, to search space for his friends. But if I do this, Juoil will no longer be protected.”

“But you said yourself that it seems Une is sleeping, the tendrils are dormant,” Cotto says. “This Heir is right that it really does seem that the most opportune time to strike is now. I only wish that I could go with you.”

“If this Heir and his friends attack Une, it will end her dormant state,” the Prince says, “and who knows where I’ll be when that happens. I won’t be here to protect you.”

“Go with him,” Jay says. “Even in your absence, the wards are strong. And we have learned a lot from you.” Jay approaches the Ice Prince and grabs one of his hands in his own. “We will protect everyone just as you have. I know that you want to go with him. He is not your Heir, but spending time with him can be healing for you. And we will be fine. If we ever need you, I will reach out so that you have ample time to save us. We will be fine.”

The decision has been made for him, but the Ice Prince is reluctant even as he and the Halfyn Heir float over the frozen, mountainous surface of Juoil and combine their powers to go in search of hope.