Frostbite [II]

The War Has Begun

All I ever seem to do is fight. Fight my Queen. Fight injustice, fight Thomas, fight the ice beasts, fight to live, fight for my child, and now, I had to fight Victor.

Would Elementas ever be free from war? I didn't know. I couldn't know... but every day I prayed for lasting peace. The awards ceremony took place four days after Ashley's funeral... and I know you probably don't want to hear all the boring-as-dirt details, but what happened that day is kind of important, so I'll tell you anyway.

Katrina, Amelia, and I were all outfitted in our best dresses while Jake, Trevor, Levi, and Jason were tailored to their tuxedos. They wore Elemental colored ties. Trvor wore a black tie; Jason a dark blue one; Jake a white; and Levi a gray one. I was wearing a flame-colored halter top dress that draped elegantly around me, probably to convey a queen-like image. Amelia was dressed in a gown as golden as the sunlight with a pleated edge around her knees. Katrina was bearing as much skin as she could with her emerald ( ) neckline dress that only went down to her thighs, Jake's pupils dilated when he saw her.

Of course they did. I thought. Ah, Katrina. Ever the flirt.

Supreme Commander Gerald Day was there too, and he had done an excellent job of running the country while I was away. The ceremony was held in Pyrobia, for Pyrobia had the most glamorous and well-decorated castle.

We came up to the constucted awards stage and lined up. Boy, girl, boy. Trevor, me, Jake, Kqatrina, Jason, Amelia, and Levi. Will refused to prticipate in the awards ceremony since it was Cryosia, his home country, that had started the war; and Thomas, his birth father, that released the ice beasts in the first place. No one really blamed him, but Elizabeth still insisted that he be given an honorable mention.

"We come together today to honor these seven young individuals who saved from what coulld have well been the end of our kind." Queen Elizabeth says clearly into the microphone atop a golden podium. "We would also like to honor Willliam Thomas Rose-Solograv, for helping stop the threat; and Sophia's sister, Ashley Amethyst Rose, who died in the Cryosian War. I would like to present the golden heart to these eight, in honor of their bravery and dauntless courage. When I call your name, please come up and recieve your award." She readies the awards on her shining podium.

"Trevorious Peter Derek Asgravard."

Trevor goes up and gets his award. She slips a golden medallion around his neck. On it is a heart inscribed with 'Bravery. Honor. Courage,' and the symbol of tenexria, a roaring dragon. Next I go up. Mine is inscribed with a blazing phoenix of Pyrobia.

"Jacob Bryan Thompson."

Then Jake, with a soaring eagle of Errivria.

"Katrina Stormy Day."

Katrina, with a gentle doe of Terracia. Unfitting, I know, but we don't exactly get to choose the symbol animals.

"Jason Lucas Black."

Elizabeth does not present this award. A stunning beauty whom I recognize to be Selene does. His medal has both a half-moon and a snarling wolf, probably to signify the Lunavrians' abilites of both shape-shifting and night fire.

"Amelia Hope Williams."

Next Amelia goes up, and again, the award is not presented by Elizabeth, but by Rebekah, Queen of Solestia. She materializes on the stage through light itself.

"Well done, little sister." I hear her warmly say.

Amelia looks genuinely confused, and I remember how Rebekah told us the story of how her and Amelia were seperated in a storm that killed their parents. Amelia goes back with her medal bearing a depiction of a resting gryphon of Solestia.

"Levi Strider."

Levi is the last to go up. No one knows his middle name, and he failed to disclose the information to us. For his medal they had to invent some creature that looks like a smoke monster. You could tell the award engravers were stumped with this one.

After the awards ceremony we are obligated to hang around so people can congratulate us. I end up sulking by the punch bowl until an energetic photographer asks if we will come out side the palace for a photo shoot. We all agree, eager to escape the crowds of royals, officials, and VIP's.

We walk outside and position ourselves how he wants us to and wait for the flash.

"One... Two... Three... Say cheese!"

The camera flashes, and that's when I see it. I immediately double over and retch painfully onto the ground. Jason sees it too, just hanging there with the Pyrobian flag on the flagpole. It is so twisted, so mangled, so grotesque, that I find it hard to even look. By this time, everyone has seen it, even the photographer, who stares up in absolute horror.

Ashley's corpse, rotting and decayed, is dangling a few yards from where we stand... Her head wrenched horribly to one side, and her hands held up to her mouth in shock as birds peck away at her remains. The stench is nauseating.

On the shimmering, polished marble in front of us, smeared crudely in scarlet letters, was the following message:

SOPHIA, YOU COULDN'T SAVE ME. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN SAVE ELEMENTAS?