Heart of Stone

Chapter 8: Cold

Heart of Stone

Chapter 8

Cold

Macaque looked up from his tea as he walked out onto the porch. Looking at the snow, seeing the tiny footprints of Bai He. That wasn't bad, children played around the forests all the time. But he couldn't shake the feeling he had, and even if it really was nothing. He'd get a bit of play time with his new daughter. Building a snowman didn't sound too bad, there was plenty of snow.

He didn't have to walk for too long when he spotted her. She looked happy as she hopped along the rocks, and around the trees. The snow wasn't too deep, and it didn't seem like the cold bothered her very much.

Actually that bothered him a bit, she actually didn't seem too cold at all. Chilled perhaps, but never cold enough to go back inside. She'd catch colds, but never so cold that it caused her to go back inside to get warm.

What was this kid? Elsa?

Then it kind of hit him...perhaps some of the Lady Bone Demons powers seeped into her and she would have them for life? Honestly it wouldn't be too bad of a power to have, but she'd need training to help her along...or she'd end up killing someone in the long run.

That was when he noticed it. She stepped off the valley floor and onto the frozen lake. About this time of year the lake was fed by the warming valley and that meant the top part was cold, but the bottom part was warm, and with how cold it was outside the lake would freeze instantly leaving whoever fell in, to drown.

Panic set in and he was running before he was thinking. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be a father?

"Bai He!" He yelled. She turned around to see him. She looked around wondering why he looked so scared. There wasn't anything to feel worried about, it just looked like an ordinary valley and nothing to be afraid of...right?

"Run!" Run? What for? What could possibly cause her to run. When he stopped at the edge of the valley it was when she heard the loud crack and the tone of the water below.

"Macaque?" Oh now it clicks? There was another crack and she slowly began to scoot herself toward him again.

"Lay down...lay down and distribute your weight around the ice." She slowly lowered herself onto the ice. She started to push herself closer.

Macaque was sure, he saw arms push up through the ice and pull her under.

His heart stopped and he couldn't move for a moment.

"Wukong!" He yelled just a few seconds. Jumping in after her was second nature though.

It felt like thousands of knives stabbing into him at one time. He wanted out of the ice cold water. The look of what welcomed him as well as the anger he felt upon seeing him.

"You!" Macaque spat, although he couldn't say much else. The mayor bowed to Macaque and disappeared in a torrent of icy water. His daughter within his arms.

Macaque tried to push up from the lake floor but the frozen muk caused him to sink and get stuck within the mud.

He couldn't feel his body, and he couldn't breath. Although he was immortal, being stuck at the bottom of the lake till spring was out of the question. He had to get out, but the more he thrashed the more he sank deeper and deeper.