Land of the Blades

15. Frozen

I was trapped in a box made of gold, with only a small window from where I could see. I could feel the alloy seeping through the cracks in my body, making them even deeper and wider, as if the alloy was trying to tear me apart. It wasn't just terrifying, it also felt absolutely gross.

A new kind of enemy had appeared and attacked Shirou and Antarc, one who looked like us. He was wearing clothes that seemed to be from an animal, one with lots of fur. Under that, he wore a purple suit that was very tight, almost looked like if it was only painted over his skin. His hair was black and tied into disheveled twin tails, but his skin was white, as if he had put powder on himself as we do. His chest was a bit inflated, a bit like Ruler's water bags, but not quite as big or bouncy. He was carrying a red spear, and he was very good fighting with it. At least, I presume he was, because I couldn't see much of the combat from where I stood, I only heard the weapons crashing, and the ice flows screaming and breaking.

Then the Lunarians appeared, and Antarc came back to protect me. I was sorry I ever doubt that he was a cool guy. He fought the Lunarians, and did pretty well, but when he cut the head of the statue in the center, the platform didn't dissipate. Alexi must have informed him about the new types that hid weapons or traps made with pieces of our captured brothers, because he didn't let his defenses down, until there was a flash of light, coming from the direction of the school.

That brief moment of distraction was enough for the Lunarians to activate their trap, and six hooks came out of the statue, one of them being quickly enough to break his hand and take it away. They leave it just at the foot of the statue, obviously as a trap.

—WHAT IF I FORGOT ABOUT SENSEI?!!! —Antarc screamed, and launched himself against the trap.

The hooks took away his sword and chipped a lot of her, but he continued to try to recover his hand at any cost. He got entangled by all of the hooks, but using a titanic force, he managed to tear the statue from its hinges, making the vessel disappear. The impact on the ground made his already torn body to break into more pieces, but even after all that punishment he got up.

—Phos? Are you still there?

—Yeah, I'm inside... and this thing is also inside me...

—I can't say if your inclusions took a liking to it or not.

—Never mind that, where is Shirou?

—He must still be fighting Lancer, and I can't move you, so we can only wait until Sensei-

Before Antarc could finish his thoughts, an arrow hit his in the back, breaking his neck and many other places that were only hanging by a thread.

As his pieces fell to the ground, he took his finger to his lips.

—Shhh, I don't want Sensei to be lonely, so take over the winter duties for me.

I tried to scream, but the alloy was covering my mouth. I could not move, I could only see the Lunarians calmly collecting every piece of Antarc and gathering all on their Sun spot. Where did they even come from? The only time two sun spots appeared so closely was when they dropped Ruler at our door, so these ones... these ones must have been the ones that dropped Lancer.

—MOVE. MOVE DAMMIT! YOU ARE PART OF ME, SO OBEY ME AND MOVE!!! —I screamed, but my voice was muffled by the alloy—THEY ARE TAKING AWAY ANTARC! MOVE YOU PIECE OF SCRAP!!!

I heard my voice say the last line, and so did the Lunarians, as the cube started to release me. I put my feet on the ground, and the weight immediately sent me to my knees, everything in my body was cracking, being filled by the alloy and cracking again. I started walking somehow, dragging all the gold that was still attached to me. First I could barely crawl, but I started to gain speed. The Lunarians started shooting arrows at me, but I was already ahead from where they were aiming. I passed near Antarc's sword and grabbed it, with the brief impression that it had been a bit out of my reach, but I didn't had time to ponder about that. I jumped to their vessel, but before I reach it, they shoot more arrows at me. The arrows stuck to my body without breaking it, digging themselves on the fluid gold between my own shards. The impacts where enough to throw me back to the ground, though.

I jumped to my feet and started running again, running so fast that pieces of me were being broken by the wind. I did not care, they were getting away with Antarc, and I wasn't going to let them! I reach the last cliff and jumped with all my might. I stretched my arm, and the alloy between my cracks kept expanding, allowing me to reach further. But just when I was about to catch them, I started falling.

I stared with eyes wide open the container with all the pieces of Antarc being taken away, it seemed like time had frozen over and that was my punishment for failing, to just continually experience that moment.

Then I heard something like a whistle in the wind, and in a brief instant, I saw a red bolt passing by directly above me, and hitting something aboard the sun spot. Thousands of spikes suddenly emerged from it, destroying everything and releasing Antarc's shards. I was so surprised, overjoyed, and relieved, that I almost forgot to collect them. I used the new elasticity of my arms to gather even the most small of them and covered in a ball of gold, holding it very close to my chest.

Hearing the sound of my body approaching the ground at high speeds, I closed my eyes and braced myself for impact. Best case scenario, I would hit snow and survive. Bad case scenario, I would hit the ground and break in thousands of pieces, be covered in snow, and neither Antarc nor me would be found until spring. I didn't want to consider what would happen if I would hit water or ice, which was the more likely possibility.

Instead of any of that, I was caught by Sensei, and he managed to land himself in a way that allowed him to diminish the impact.

—Sensei... I managed to recover Antarc...

—I'm very glad and thankful —he said, getting me closer to his chest—, both that you did it, and that you are fine yourself.

—Excuse me then... I'll be taking a tiny bit re- AH!! —I almost jumped from his arms—Sensei, Shirou is in danger! There was a new kind of enemy with a spear and-

He put his finger on my mouth.

—Whatever it was, he dealt with it already. He used that spear to destroy the Lunarians...

—So that was that red bolt... where did it ended?

I looked around and caught a glimpse of it just before it sunk on the frozen water.

Sensei carried me all the way to where Shirou was. Cinnabar was there, but turned away whenever I looked at her. Shirou was a mess, his legs were separated of his torso, and his only arm was completely destroyed. There were also some strange burned mark on his body. I asked Sensei to let me down so I could help him gather the pieces, but when I touched his torso I got very surprised and scared.

—W-what? —Cinnabar asked as reply to seeing my face.

—He is cold! —I said very worried, but neither Sensei or Cinnabar could understand what I meant. All winter, even on the coldest day, Shirou had been emanating heat from his body, but now he was laying there in pieces, frozen cold, almost as... as a corpse.