《Face of Eternity : Heart of Christmas (Special)》 Ch 1 : A Cold Christmas in the Equator
It''s time for the Crown News Report! An unexpected blizzard struck this morning in the equator town of Las Nieve, leaving thousands without power and even some without a home on the week of Christmas. Experts say that the storm was not natural, but caused by a magical disturbance in the air. It is unknown at this time if the storm was made with malicious intent or not. It is predicted that the mana power grid there won''t be back up for another week. A relief team has been dispatched to help aid in the recovery. Rumors say the Eighth Star Angel is leading the team, although this has not been confirmed or denied by the Ecclysian church at this time. Local residents are hopeful that they¡¯ll receive a visit from the fabled angel herself, holding warm spirits, even in their coldest hour. ~¡î¡î¡î~ Ahh¡­ Christmas time. It''s the best time of the year. And I didn''t just say that because a song told me it, but because it had the three big F bombs. Friends, family and food! What more could anyone ask for to feel all warm and fuzzy? My name is Yalda Asamo. I''m a seven year old synthetic life form known as an Exceed. The humans called me The Eighth Star Angel. Normally you would catch me fighting demons and solving ancient mysteries, but today I was doing something a little more down to earth. We were on a private plane, heading for the equator town of Las Nieve. Unlike me, a lot of people there didn''t have the luxury to enjoy the holiday. With all the trouble they''d been going through over an unusual snow storm, we wanted to see if we could help out a bit. ¡°I''m really glad we''re going to Las Nieve, guys.¡± Yamin, a kind, short haired girl with a notebook said. ¡°Those people really need our help.¡± ¡°Wow, say it again, Sparkle Face,¡± Indena, our resident fire mage, responded with sas. ¡°Not like you don¡¯t say it every hour on the dot.¡± ¡°It''s not just good for the country, but also our souls, no?¡± Marek, our politician in blue said in his signature Favian accent. ¡°Now people can''t say I don''t do charity work.¡± ¡°I was actually going to ask about that.¡± Indena started. ¡°How does fixing these people¡¯s problems help the country? They¡¯re so far away.¡± Marek, in all his studies of history, explained that this territory was actually controlled by our country. It used to be a hub for gold miners and prospectors, but that dream of grandeur faded long ago. Now the town was just a humble little spot, hoping that the crown wouldn''t forget it existed. ¡°Poor people¡­¡± Yamin hugged her notebook. ¡°Too bad this had to happen on Christmas of all times.¡± ¡°Yeah, too bad...¡± Indena grumbled, sarcastically. ¡°I say, good for them. Christmas sucks! Now they can be miserable like everyone else.¡± Maybe miserable like her! She was the only person on the planet who didn''t like this time of year. ¡°Scrooge!¡± I pouted at her. ¡°Ba humbug! Screw the cold, screw snow and screw Christmas!¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Santa''s definitely putting her on the naughty list again! All she''ll get are lumps of coal and a big package of underwear, just like all the other bad boys and girls. Yamin had a remorseful look, aiming her concern at Indena. ¡°I know you''re not a big fan of the holidays, but please try to remember we''re doing this to help people.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah...¡± Indena nodded her head. ¡°I''m here, right? I''m not about to let people freeze to death.¡± Since she was a fire mage, we were relying on her to do a lot to warm people up. ¡°Well, I for one love Christmas.¡± I lifted my hand proudly to start counting the reasons. ¡°There¡¯s toys, presents, gifts¡­and Santa!¡± ¡°She''s fallen for the commercial holiday,¡± Indena commented. ¡°Really feeling the Christmas spirit while spending all my money.¡± Silly Indena¡­ Santa makes all the toys and gifts. We don''t have to spend a dime. Yamin was snickering as she doodled something in her notebook. It looked like a cartoony picture of me and Indena arguing over a present box. ¡°I think my favourite part of the season is the lights,¡± Yamin said. ¡°It''s like brightly coloured stars, exploding down on earth like fireworks paused mid burst.¡± ¡°Exploding?¡± Indena¡¯s brow raised. ¡°The heck kinda fire hazards are you hanging on the tree?¡± Marek cleared his throat to speak up next. ¡°For me, the best part of this year is the food. My father and I used to go hunting together.¡± ¡°Wow. Nothing better than catching your own holiday feast,¡± Indena said. ¡°I just love me some delicious roast beast.¡± Now she was just being funny. She needed the rug pulled out from under her. ¡°Why don''t you say something nice about the season?¡± I requested. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± she sat back in her seat and it reclined all the way to where she was practically laying down. ¡°You know what¡¯s not too bad?¡± she blushed. ¡°Y¡­ g...¡± She spoke so softly that even my sensitive audio receptors weren''t able to pick up on her. We forced her to repeat what she said a few times until she finally spoke loud enough. ¡°Alright! I said you guys. Is that enough? Gods¡­ I''m gonna jump out of this plane.¡± The door to the cockpit opened up suddenly, and Uncle walked out. He gave Indena a disapproving head shake. ¡°I don''t know what you''re talking about, but nobody''s jumping out of this plane,¡± he asserted. ¡°Oh come on!¡± she shouted. ¡°That''s all you heard?¡± We all had a good laugh at her expense. She was seriously red as a tomato. After all that, Uncle came over and patted me on the head. ¡°Young Mistress, is your vocabulator up to date?¡± The people in Las Nieve mostly spoke Euron, which was the language we were speaking now. But a second language was known as Sapain. I''ve never spoken that before, so my vocabulator had to unpack the data info. -Vocabulator up to date- Alright...let''s give it a go! "T¨ªo, mi vocabulator funciona bien,¡± I said. ¡°Muy bueno,¡± Uncle replied. ¡°That''s sick that you guys can just speak other languages on the fly,¡± Indena commented. ¡°Don¡¯t you know Kanai?¡± Yamin asked. ¡°Hai. Boku wa kahongo o shitteimasu yo.¡± Indena was Kahonese, so she was pretty good at speaking it. No matter how impressive it was that Uncle and I could learn things like that with ease, it was infinitely more impressive that Indena learned multiple languages naturally. ¡°If all is in order, then everyone strap in.¡± Uncle picked me up and placed me down in my seat. ¡°We¡¯ll be landing soon.¡± He looked me dead in the eyes. ¡°You especially need to stay put, alright?¡± He didn''t have to single me out. Geez¡­ You run up and down the plane one time during turbulence, and suddenly everyone is on your wings about it!
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Ch 2 : Becoming a Saint
Our plane would be landing very soon. At our lowering altitude the ground became a lot clearer. From my window seat I could see flat topped mountains known as mesas, big open spaces with cacti dotting the land and bits of foliage to give the ground a little bit of lush greenery here and there. With my telescopic vision, I even spotted some giant turkey things walking around. I think those were monsters. Way off in the distance though were big clouds, hovering over the land and blanketing down uncountable amounts of snowflakes over everything. It was winter time in the northern hemisphere, but the equator shouldn''t have had any weather like that. The sun stayed consistent through the year, so naturally we expected it to be hot. Deserts and snow didn¡¯t usually go well together. It''s been trained in me and just about everyone else that they''re polar opposites for a reason. Watching them mix was like seeing a forbidden colour of life. As reported to us, it wasn''t a natural occurrence at all. Someone did this, but nobody could trace who it was. ¡°Nice view, yeah?¡± Yamin was sitting next to me while we were landing. If I suspended the idea that this snow was causing trouble for thousands, it actually was very pretty. I activated the ocular camera in my eyes and recorded the view in high quality. ¡°It''s one for the history books,¡± I said. Marek gave me a thumbs up from the set of seats in front of us. ¡°I agree. Documenting this will be a once in a lifetime experience.¡± ¡°With the weird places the church has us go, once in a lifetime experiences are pretty common,¡± Indena said. None of us could argue with that. In quieter times where we didn''t have to worry about life or death situations, things like this seemed a little more interesting to explore for fun. It''s like the difference between a pleasant work trip and being hot dropped into a warzone. ~¡î¡î¡î~ Uncle smoothly landed our plane at the local airport. A few guards from the town greeted us at the bottom of our loading ramp. They had very similar military jackets and berets to the guards in the mainland. The only difference to the ones back home was their uniforms and rifles being a sandy yellow instead of grey or blue. A priest completely dressed in black scurried out from behind them in a rush to greet me. ¡°Saint Yalda the Archangel¡­¡± He picked me out of the bunch pretty quick. ¡°God has had mercy on us, sending you.¡± He got down on his knees and gracefully took my hand, teary eyed, as were the guards behind him. ¡°I¡­we¡­we are unworthy to be in the presence of such a holy angel.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Normally a lot of the more zealot types like him creeped me out, but he looked really genuinely relieved and happy, not crazy at all. It made me feel like he was really desperate for my help. ¡°Don''t be sad,¡± I said. ¡°I promise we''ll make things right with your town.¡± He nodded, pulling off his glasses and wiping his eyes with his sleeve. ¡°Forgive me. But sometimes I question if my life has had meaning as a priest. Seeing you reminds me that there is still light shining on this world from above.¡± My crystal heart felt warm to his words. He was very humble. It encouraged me all the more to do everything I could to help his people. I really needed to remember that just me being around was going to inspire people. It was weird to think I was so special, but it wasn¡¯t something I wanted to goof around with. The priest explained the situation to us on the car ride to the town, but most of the info we already knew about. The only thing we didn''t know was that the cathedral there was housing everyone and keeping them as warm as possible, but it was too crowded to keep that up much longer. No fatalities, thankfully. The car ride to the town was nice at first, but then the ice on the road made it feel a little more perilous. When we got to the town after nearly sliding off the road ten times, which Indena counted liberally, cold white fluff was piled everywhere, almost as tall as me. I could have probably tunneled under this stuff if I wanted too. No wonder people''s homes were being damaged. ¡°My apologies for the state we''re in¡­¡± the priest said. ¡°We would have had a much nicer greeting for you if it were safe to get around, Saint Yalda.¡± He didn''t need to apologize for anything. We were here to help, and I didn''t need a red carpet for that. Indena placed her hands into the snow. The tattoos on her arms lit up bright orange, her eyes also brightened the same way. A wave of orange energy trailed down her body and spread across the snow, quickly vaporizing it into steam. ¡°There.¡± Indena dusted off her hands. ¡°I''ll do that everywhere to keep this place from looking like a western Santa''s workshop. Then we can get to work on the power grid.¡± The priest was no stranger to seeing magic, but he was impressed by Indena¡¯s aid, even calling her my disciple. I didn¡¯t even need to look at her to know she was fuming over being called a disciple. Either it was her not being very religious, or considering me a teacher that set her off. I¡¯m just glad she channeled that frustration into getting rid of all the snow. You didn¡¯t wanna know the words she was grumbling under her breath the whole time¡­ ~¡î¡î¡î~ As parts of the city became habitable again, a few individuals responsible for governing the town met up with us and the priest. The mayor was among them. They all had a similar reaction to me as the priest did. Once everyone''s emotions started to calm, we got down to business, talking about what we were going to do going forward for the people. "Everyone has been trying to stay strong during El Fr¨ªo," the town mayor said to us. "El Frio?" Yamin questioned. "That''s what we''re calling the snow storm..." It translated into ''The cold.'' Which is a pretty fitting name for this situation. "...But now that the Eighth Star is here, I think that spirits will rise. If only the temperature can do the same..." The mayor sighed. Uncle and Marek were planning to try and fix the mana power grid, which would do a lot to make the people feel better, but it would be a while before that was repaired. In the meantime, we had to try and make everyone feel a little more comfortable. They needed heat, food and shelter. All those things were quickly dwindling the longer we waited. So we had to put our heads together to come up with something more sustainable.
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Ch 3 : The Angel Who Hunted Turkey
It was going to be a team effort to try and coordinate with the town¡¯s people to get things right again. We had to somehow collect food, make shelter¡­ Things were shaping up to be a very involved time. We all agreed that food was going to be the first most important thing. ¡°Where are we gonna get enough food for all these people?¡± Indena asked. A week¡¯s worth of meals weren''t going to be cheap to have shipped here. I mean, Marek was rich as a double chocolate cake, but it would take a while too. Yamin was deep into her book, jotting down ideas and taking notes on the surrounding area. I wasn¡¯t even sure she was paying attention to the conversation. ¡°Yamin, do you have any ideas?¡± I roped her in. ¡°Huh?¡± she looked startled, then tapped her pen to her chin. ¡°Oh! What were we talking about?¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± Indena barked. ¡°Pay attention!¡± Indena was getting a little worried, I could tell by how pushy she was being. ¡°Sorry!¡± Yamin said, halfheartedly. ¡°Look, I¡¯m trying to figure out a plan for getting all the stuff we need.¡± She showcased the notes she¡¯d been jotting down. The first few lines were just scribbles about the town and the desert itself, then about the population here¡­ Then what came next was impressive math on her part. She figured if we wanted to get enough food for the few thousand people who lived here, we''d have to do something interesting... ¡°You want us to go hunting monsters?¡± Marek questioned. "Yeah¡­ I know. Weird from a vegan like me, right? But this is an emergency..." She explained that this area had a monster known as a Pavan. A big thing that looked a lot like a turkey, but with a big crest of feathers and razor sharp talons. Supposedly tasted pretty good too. Those were the birds I spotted while we were landing, I''m sure of it! If it wasn¡¯t so dangerous, the people of this village probably would have went out to gather them for food, but that¡¯s not very simple when you''re snowing in a church without much protection from the cold. ¡°Blue Boy,¡± Indena called out to Marek. ¡°Ain¡¯t it you who said your dad used to go hunting with you?¡± ¡°Well, yes.¡± Marek nodded. ¡°But more people would have to help if we want to feed everyone.¡± Monster hunting sounded kinda fun. It would also give me an excuse to grind out some Xp to level up. Oh, I almost forgot to mention something. My computer systems are set up like an RPG. Somehow real life was translated into video game values. It made getting stronger a lot of fun! ¡°I can help!¡± I waved my hands excitedly. ¡°Uncle, is it okay if I go with Marek to hunt?¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± Uncle nodded. He was always pretty supportive about letting me do stuff like that. To be fair, some monsters weren¡¯t really a big threat to me at this point. ¡°Just watch over each other. In the meantime, I¡¯ll take a look at the power grid. Indena, Yamin, you two can keep melting the snow around town.¡± ¡°I''ll be the one melting the snow.¡± Indena clarified. ¡°Sparkle Face over here will just keep me company so I don¡¯t get too angry.¡± ¡°You, angery? Never...¡± Yamin joked. A teen boy who¡¯d been standing outside the door ran in with a mix of worry and anger, stepping right up to the mayor of the town. ¡°Can we go hunting together too, papa?¡± ¡°No no¡­ There¡¯s no time for that.¡± The mayor shook his head. ¡°I need you to keep watch over your siblings while I¡¯m here.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± His son looked really angry, then he stormed back outside in a fit of frustration. ¡°What¡¯s this all about?¡± Uncle asked. ¡°He¡¯s hitting that age where he stops listening to me,¡± the mayor said. ¡°I¡¯ve just been giving him some space to calm down whenever he gets in that mood. I know he doesn¡¯t like working through this, but we all have a part to play.¡± Uncle gave me a quick look, communicating that he wasn''t sure that''s what was going on. I agreed¡­ It didn¡¯t really seem like he was rebelling against parental authority. From one kid to another, it sounded like he just wanted to spend time with his dad. I know that feeling all too well because daddy¡­This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Well, never mind. I didn¡¯t want to think about that on Christmas. ~¡î¡î¡î~ Okay! So Marek had a hunting license, and I was considered the highest military authority in all the land due to my angel status. We didn¡¯t have a problem borrowing a rifle and some gear from the local guard outpost. Uncle was very clear on me not using a gun. It was probably because a seven year old shouldn¡¯t be using one in general. Some of those rifles were bigger than I was. Since the snow was so high up, we couldn¡¯t take a vehicle, so we went on foot. Well, he was on foot. I took to the skies on my wings to do some scouting for any large groups of Pavan birds. Despite most of this land being desert, there were forests here and there, even with some evergreen trees covered in snow. An Unusually festive sight, if I might say. A few minutes into my high fly scouting, I spotted at least two dozen of those monster birds, all scattered around and fluffing their feathers up for warmth. I flew back to Marek and we both snuck up on their position, keeping hidden in some brush. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get the ones on the left.¡± I said, spawning my crystal spear. ¡°Nah ah ah¡­¡± he put pressure on my shoulder and kept me from standing up. ¡°We are hunting. There¡¯s an art to this.¡± ¡°An art?¡± I put a finger to my lips and tilted my head. How was hunting an art? I figured it would be more like a sport. ¡°Monsters, animals¡­ They''re both part of nature. If we hunt them, we have to choose carefully. Or we may risk destroying the ecosystem.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± I nodded. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t not hunting be better overall for the ecosystem?¡± ¡°No. Well, maybe. But sometimes populations of animals get too large, they need to be thinned out a little or they might run into problems like sickness or overgrazing. And if we don¡¯t hunt, people don¡¯t eat. Does that make sense?¡± Yeah, I guess it did make sense. Hunting wasn¡¯t just a sport, but had a conservation aspect to it too. If you over hunt, then nature will go out of balance. But if you do it just right, then you can actually help keep the numbers of animals at a healthy level, as well as keep your bellies warm and filled. I honestly expected all this out of the animal lover that Yamin was, but she¡¯d probably be against hunting all together. I kinda used to be too, but I never imagined that even monsters deserved to be protected sometimes. They could get pretty scary and violent when they wanted to be. I guess that¡¯s the beautiful part about nature. Sometimes it was pretty, sometimes it was ugly. It didn¡¯t discriminate, it just wanted life to keep going anyway it could. ¡°So, how do we do this then?¡± I asked. Marek held up his rifle, looking over each of the monsters. ¡°You see that one?¡± He pointed out a particularly skinny one. ¡°He¡¯s no good. No meat on him.¡± ¡°What about that one?¡± I pointed to a really strong looking one¡­ Probably had a lot of meat in those muscles! ¡°Not him either. He doesn¡¯t have any fat.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ So we''re trying to find a fat one?¡± Marek almost burst into laughter, but he had to keep quiet or he¡¯d startle the birds. ¡°Not exactly. You want to find one who has a good mix of muscle and fat. Those are the tastiest.¡± Wow, this hunting stuff was pretty complicated, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°How can you tell what¡¯s a good one or not?¡± I wondered if I could tune my sensors to detect the ratios we were looking for. His hand pointed to one that was plucking at the snow covered ground a little away from all the rest. ¡°She¡¯s a beauty, you think?¡± She looked like all the others, just a little smaller. But if he said she was a good one, I catalogued that info and gracefully flew up into the air. My eyes scanned all across the area, picking up on at least fifteen that matched the parameters of that particular bird. -IFF tags active!- -Plump Pavan¡¯s tagged; Foe- Each of the birds we were going after now had a red outline around them. So hunting would be easy to keep track of. ¡°Marek¡­¡± I whispered as I slowly came back down. ¡°I spotted fifteen of them around here just like her. And there are also a bunch more that come within a 10% margin of her size.¡± ¡°Hold on¡­¡± he sounded a little confused. ¡°We need to remember not to hunt them all.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I nodded. ¡°I made sure to adjust the ratios for that. That¡¯s why I only pointed out fifteen of them.¡± There were hundreds within a kilometer of us, so fifteen around here, give or take a few, wouldn¡¯t be too bad. I''m sure we could probably even get more, and we''d need it to feed thousands. Marek was pretty impressed, but a bit dumbfounded too. ¡°Alright¡­¡± He shrugged, taking aim. ¡°One last thing before we take this life¡­shoot to kill. Don¡¯t make the creature suffer more than it has to.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± It was quiet while his eyes glued to the Pavan. BANG! Direct hit! It went down! All the others scattered around and ran deeper into the foliage. ¡°Alright, my turn!¡± I flew in, chasing another girl down. My spear jammed right into her, taking her out quick and effortlessly! ¡°Got one!¡± I smiled back at Marek, holding the monster bird up by the legs. ¡°Bien jou¨¦!¡± Marek threw a fist in the air. ¡°Good hit! Too bad I don¡¯t have a camera¡­¡±
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Ch 4 : Lights
Our hunt went fantastic! We ended up with like thirty big pavan¡¯s for the whole town! Shockingly this food would only last a few days, so we¡¯d need to ration it out. But who says it would be the only thing we¡¯d be serving up all week? ¡°Look, Marek!¡± I plucked a big apple-like fruit from a tree. ¡°Can we serve the town this stuff too?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He nodded. ¡°We can also pick some berries from that bush over there¡­" ~¡î¡î¡î~ I think we went a little overboard gathering food out here, because we ended up with tons of Pavan meat and fruit that we needed to lug back to the town. ¡°How are we taking this all back home?¡± I asked. ¡°The old fashioned way.¡± Marek picked up at least twenty birds all on his own. He had the strength of a bear! ¡°We carry it! I¡¯m not sure what we¡¯ll do about the rest here though¡­¡± Some birds were left over, and we still had all the fruit too. I had a simple solution. Each of the monster bird carcasses had a tiny beam of light shooting out of them that only I could see, which meant that they had drop items I could collect. A prompt appeared in my vision asking if I wanted to take all items from the pile. I chose yes. My virtual inventory filled up pretty quickly¡­ I went into the INVENTORY tab and checked out the mess. I had upwards of ten big hunks of meat, as well as fruit and stuff. It was so much that it filled up the last few available slots I had. ¡°Sorry, Anima¡­¡± I said to the chibi AI sleeping in the very last slot. ¡°But it¡¯s going to smell like cold turkey in there for a little while.¡± At least I collected plenty of stuff, but apparently one of the dropped items from these guys were eggs. I left most of those behind to save space. ¡°Ssss¡­¡± ¡°Samael?¡± I gave a snoot boop to my snake, who was hanging off my hat. He was getting a little restless. ¡°Oh¡­you want the eggs, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Sss¡­¡± He hissed, jumping off my hat and quickly trying to eat the egg that was much bigger than him. It¡¯s no surprise a snake would be after that. Lots of nutrition for them, but he was way too small for that thing. ¡°How about I give you a smaller one once we get back to the town?¡± ¡°Sss¡­¡± He hissed. But he seemed really bent on this egg, even conking his head on it a few times before slithering back up to my hat. Maybe I should hold onto that one, just in case...something about it seemed odd. ~¡î¡î¡î~ Marek and I got back to the town, and it seemed like the others had done a really good job cleaning up the houses and streets so people could walk around. But it was getting dark and the power was still out. I noticed that a lot of houses were decorated with Christmas lights and other festive things, but none of them were working. If only we could get those colourful things on, this place would be really festive¡­Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. We found Yamin and Indena at the central square by the church. Both had really wide eyes when they saw Marek approach with a ton of Pavan monster bodies in hand. ¡°Dude¡­ Didn¡¯t you think to take a cart or something?¡± Indena asked. ¡°The snow was too high up. I didn¡¯t want to drag one out there.¡± He placed the meat all in a pile, prompting a few very shocked groups of people to start collecting them and dragging them away to the church kitchen. ¡°Amigo¡­ These are heavy!" One brawny man said, struggling to hold one alone. "How did you carry them all?¡± Although Marek was a little unsure how he got so physically strong, it definitely never failed to impress. ~¡î¡î¡î~ For anyone who didn¡¯t have night vision like me, it was getting really hard to see. We needed to think of a way to get at least the lights back on here¡­ Uncle said the power grid repairs weren''t going so well, so that still wasn''t an option. ¡°Oy, sparkle head," Indena called out to Yamin. "Got any plans for this?¡± ¡°Funny you mention sparkles¡­¡± Yamin had a smug face, lifting a hand and letting the tip of her finger brighten up like a tiny star. ¡°We¡¯ve got all the lights we need right here.¡± ¡°Stardust!¡± I cheered. A warm sensation filled my crystal heart, then flowed across my body and down into my hands. My palms were glowing a hot red, then white. A haze lifted from my synthetic skin and whirled around until solidifying into a glowing crystal orb resembling a lightbulb. This lovely stuff was made when our bodies take in sun and star light. Not everyone can use it. Only Yamin and I can out of the whole group. Yamin has a few years on me though, since she¡¯s been using it since she was a baby. With Yamin¡¯s creativity, she materialized tiny little Christmas bulb looking pieces and showed them off to us. They were really pretty and they had just the right type of light we were looking for. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not bad. Good thinking, Yamin,¡± Indena gave accolades. ¡°We¡¯ll probably need to see if anyone in town can help us with this, since Yalda and I can only do so much.¡± Our stardust reserves were finite without constant sunlight. We¡¯d be able to get a lot lit up, but getting others to help would put less stress on our bodies. The local priest was among the few who were helping us here. We managed to enlist five other people who were stardust sensitive to help create crystal lights for the houses. A clever way that we decided to make coloured lights was by taking actual LED Christmas lights and filling the bulbs with stardust. As we finished a few strands, everyone went around and began decorating the houses and plants again. What was once very dark homes and skies now looked like a little slice of the North Pole. A big challenge was going to be getting the church decorated. It was really big, so it would take a while for the humans to actually set things up. Human¡¯s might have had trouble, but an Exceed like me definitely wouldn¡¯t. FWOOSH! My wings gust out and I took to the skies, reaching the tops of the church far faster than anyone trying to climb a ladder. Rather than string up lights, I decided to simply grow stardust crystal on it, trying to follow a path that would glow pretty when fully in place. There was a commotion down below. I didn¡¯t realize something was going on, but people were shouting and singing like mad. ¡°Praise Deus!¡± ¡°He is mighty!¡± ¡°God save us!¡± Why were they praying right now? I mean, good for them, but what caused it? The twinkling lights I¡¯d just framed the cathedral in were shining at my back, little sparkles of snow and stardust were carried by the wind, glittering through the air and gracefully raining down on them. I slowly descended down from above, following the same path and landing on the very tip of the frozen water fountain, since that was the only place where nobody was crowding around. The people had very hopeful teary eyes, cupped hands, and shouting all sorts of beautiful things my way. Goodness¡­ What¡¯s this all about? I turned to Yamin, who was also smiling and crying. ¡°Yamin, why are they all so happy right now?¡± ¡°Silly¡­¡± she sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes. ¡°We all just saw an angel light up the church.¡± ¡°Ooooh¡­¡± Now it all made sense. I totally forget sometimes how special it is that I look like a real angel, especially with these fluffy wings of mine.
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Ch 5 : The Great Christmas... Cactus?
We had a big problem I didn''t even consider when we got here¡­ So, remember how Indena was melting snow? Well, because we kinda got a little lazy with keeping that up, some of the melting snow turned to ice and completely covered the streets overnight. In the morning, we were all slipping and sliding on our bellies and backs like penguins with horrible balance. *Crash!* Indena slid right into a giant crate! The whole thing fell apart and splintered everywhere, launching Christmas decorations all over. She was okay, but not very happy¡­ I mean, she''s usually upset about something, but this time it was justified. ¡°Fudge off, stupid box! Stupid fudging ice!¡± But she didn''t say fudge! She said the mother of all swear words! Out loud and very proud. ¡°Mama¡­¡± a little girl turned to her mother. ¡°What does fudge mean?¡± ¡°If you ever say that again, Santa Claus will never visit you!¡± The mother covered her daughter''s ears and they slid away. Wait, is that true? Good thing I don¡¯t swear. During that commotion, Yamin had become curious about the items now scattering across the road. ¡°Hey, look at this¡­¡± she pulled up parts of a fake Christmas tree from the crate Indena slammed into. ¡°Anyone want to set these up? They might look pretty.¡± ¡°Whatever..." Indena calmed down. "How about we first figure out this ice problem?¡± While she took initiative to start melting some of the ice, a few children were skating by. Their shoes somehow had ice skates. Before long, quite a few people were happily skating around with the children. There was a small learning curve, but people were adapting quickly. ¡°Where are these skates coming from?¡± Marek asked. Yamin pointed to the priest in front of the cathedral. ¡°I think he''s our culprit.¡± He was growing stardust crystals on people''s shoes, turning them into skates. Now that I thought about it, I wanted to skate around too!Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I joined in on the fun by growing stardust on my own soles, gliding along with the other children and adults. Before long, everyone had gotten in on the motion like a fad. Even Indena put aside her distaste for the cold and joined in, mostly because she wanted to show off. The only ones not here were Uncle and the mayor. Uncle was still doing some work on the power grid, and the mayor was just busy in his office. I noticed the mayor''s son was sitting at the steps of the church, watching us all play. Why wasn''t he joining in? I skated over to him and requested he join, but he just gave me a scowl. "I''d just rather be alone," he stomped off, careful not to slip on the... *Fwish!* Oopps¡­ He fell on his butt. Now he was just trying to slid away without looking silly. "I did that on purpose to look cool!" He shouted back at me. "Okay?" I shrugged. He was just like Indena... ~¡î¡î¡î~ What¡¯s Christmas without a big tree to celebrate? You get to trim it, decorate it with lots of lights and a big star on the top! Although Yamin found those fake trees, none of them were extravagantly big. With permission from the townspeople, Uncle and Marek shoved off into the wilds to go and chop down the perfect tree for the very center plaza. With both their combined strength, I was sure they¡¯d get a really big one! Probably bigger than a house! ¡°?Ellas estan aqui!¡± A little girl with a big smile came running through the crowd of people to me. ¡°?Santa Arc¨¢ngel Yalda! Ven r¨¢pido y mira.¡± -Translating Sapain- ¡°They¡¯re here! Saint Archangel Yalda, come quick and see!¡± Looked like Uncle and Marek were back with a tree! They made it to the plaza, but boy were we all surprised to see them carrying a giant cactus... The thing was tall. They didn¡¯t just cut the cactus down either, they literally uprooted and replanted it in a big container behind the water fountain. ¡°Why did you guys dig up a cactus?¡± I was baffled at this decision. ¡°It looks really silly here!¡± As big as it was, it would be impossible to hide gifts and hang ornaments on it. ¡°We both agreed it would fit right in with the rest of the town, no?¡± Marek sounded really proud of their choice. The silence of everyone¡¯s shock was broken by laughter and cheers. Little did these two know how much the townspeople would absolutely love the giant Christmas cactus. All the children began immediately decorating it with lights and an eight star tree topper at the very tip. I had the honours of placing that last part. The cactus looked really dinky, but for some reason it had such charm. Everyone loved that cactus, myself included.
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Ch 6 : Heating the Town
Despite the people of Las Nieve hitting a rough patch in their lives with this freak snow storm, it seemed like things were really looking up. We¡¯d gotten them food, lights, decorations¡­ We were even setting up a primitive heating system using magic! ¡°How long do I have to stand here and do this?¡± Indena asked, holding her hands over a big orange crystal. ¡°Just keep sending it mana until the inside is opaque.¡± Yamin said, reading an instruction manual. So there¡¯s a thing called Mana crystals that arrived here by mail this morning. If you feed them with enough of your own magic energy, they¡¯ll hold onto it so you can use them for different things. Right now Indena was filling tons of them with fire magic so they could heat everyone¡¯s house. The hard part was that it took all of five hours just to get half a town''s worth made¡­ But she was dedicated to getting it all done in one go. Nobody was going to spend another night in the cold on her watch. ¡°Mama, I want to be cool like El Fuego!¡± The girl from before pointed at Indena. ¡°Baah!¡± The mother dismissed her child. Indena raised her brow, then turned to me for a translation. ¡°She called you ¡®The Fire.¡¯¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She was pleasantly surprised, not thinking she¡¯d get a cool nickname like that. She played it up tough, but she was always happy to help people. It''s even better when they appreciate her work. In our line of business, it''s way too often that people forget to say thank you.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ~¡î¡î¡î~ The townspeople were really active today, mainly paranoid about keeping us from the cathedral. It piqued our curiosity. Once we finished making enough heating crystals for everyone¡¯s house, which took us well into the evening, the priest happily walked us to the church doors to reveal the fruits of their secret activities. ¡°Consider this a thank you for all your hard work¡­¡± He pushed open the cathedral doors, revealing¡­ a beautiful banquet feast! They''d spent the whole day setting this up! ¡°Wow, look at all this!¡± I cheered, tugging on Uncle¡¯s jacket. ¡°Look at what they did! It''s wonderful!¡± Uncle chuckled, patting me on the head. ¡°It is. You really didn''t have to do this, especially when you all need the food,¡± Uncle Said in a flattered tone. ¡°With all the food you brought to us, we made bags full for each family to take home and use over the week. This was just some of the extra we had after it was all done. ¡± They got that done fast and efficiently. This was amazing! ¡°I sure am hungry from using up all my magic,¡± Indena laughed. ¡°Let''s chow down!¡± Before we got the sit down, the mayor ran at us with a heavy breath and a desperate plea for help. ¡°Santa Arc¨¢ngel Yalda! You have to help me find my son! I don¡¯t know where he has gone, and I¡¯m very worried.¡± Oh man¡­ His son went missing? That was the grouchy kid who acted like Indena. This could be bad. It was getting really chilly out. The town was all nice and warmed up by all the mana rocks, but beyond here the temperature was dropping fast. If we didn''t find him soon, he might be in trouble. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we''ll find him.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m coming too!¡± Indena announced. ¡°If that kid freezes out there, I¡¯ll never forgive myself,¡± she growled. ¡°We¡¯ll find him.¡± ¡°Any clue where he might have gone?¡± Uncle asked. All the mayor knew was that his son wasn''t in the town, so he had to have gone somewhere out in the wild. But why?
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Ch 7 : Truth in the Blizzard.
Indena and I were one of many teams searching for the mayor¡¯s son. We had absolutely no idea where he would have gone, but the whole town went in pairs to hunt him down before dark. Speaking of hunting, we saw two Pavan birds, one very small, and the other large. The larger one was laying around the small one, keeping it warm in the cold and doing some preening of the little guy¡¯s feathers. The dropping temperature seemed to be bothering them now. ¡°We really need to do something about this weather,¡± Indena commented. ¡°Yeah.¡± It really was a mystery on how this started. All we knew was that something magical caused it. ¡°The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get to eat,¡± she continued. ¡°I know you better than that. You wanna help because you¡¯re worried he¡¯ll freeze out here.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t change the fact that I¡¯m still hungry.¡± She¡¯s so predictable. ~¡î¡î¡î~ We¡¯d gone out pretty far at this point, and it was getting dark. The overcast started to clear, revealing a few stars. As the wind picked up, little speckles of snowflakes glittered along with the twinkling orbs of space. One of the flakes of snow caught my eye, leading my sight to a strangely bright section of the horizon. There was a blue line of light just shooting straight up behind one of the mesa. It was oddly familiar, but why? ¡°Indena¡­¡± I tugged on her coat, ¡°do you see that?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she squinted to get a better look. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it remind you of something?¡± It did remind me of something. In fact, it looked like an energy beam from a mana tower. Could it be that¡­? I opened up my LOCATION menu and zoomed out until I could see the whole area. Whatever that was, it was too far away to register. Something else gave away what exactly we were looking at. When you looked at a normal map of the world, you¡¯d usually see a grid on it, right? Those are latitude and longitude lines. In our world, wherever those lines would intersect are where magic towers are placed to keep the climate stable. They shoot mana energy into the air and it rains down for all life to use. There¡¯s two kinds of these towers. One that generated a lot of heat, which are the Longitude Points. But the other Latitude Points generated a lot of cold¡­ If my theory was correct, I think we''d found out why this desert suddenly became a frigid waste land. ¡°Come on!¡± I spawned my wings and grabbed Indena by the arm. ¡°We¡¯re heading to that tower!¡± ¡°Hey! Wait!¡± she yelled out as I tugged her along. ¡°I¡­I can¡¯t fly like you! Put me down!¡± ~¡î¡î¡î~ Just like I predicted, it was a mana beam tower! I downloaded the local schematics so we¡¯d have a layout of the inside. Unlike almost literally every other Elysian building across this world, this tower allowed me complete administrative power over its computer systems. The only problem was that I couldn¡¯t contact the tower AI. Nothing new there¡­ The front gates to the tower slid apart, leading us into the dimly lit interior. Everything was blue, and ice was all over the walls. It looked like an ice cave or something. Very surreal. I detected at least one lifeform besides us in this building. Could that have been where the mayor''s son was? We made our way to where I was detecting the lifeform, which was the Control Room on the second floor. The entrance we came through was up high, and we tried to sneak in without being heard. ¡°Is that so?¡± an elderly male voice spoke, mid conversation with someone. ¡°Then what did she do?¡± ¡°She asked me to go ice skating.¡± That was the mayor¡¯s son for sure!The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Did you?¡± ¡°No¡­They all looked stupid, so I didn¡¯t want to join in.¡± I knew what situation he was talking about. Was that really the reason he didn¡¯t want to join? I had a feeling it was more than that. ¡°Ahh¡­ But dear Gabriel, I believe the only foolish one was yourself.¡± ¡°Huh?!¡± Gabriel stomped. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± The other person had a very soft-spoken voice, I didn¡¯t detect any malice at all. It felt¡­warm and loving. ¡°If there is one thing I have observed about your kind, it is that many live with regret of things they ought to have done. Time passes, and opportunities wait for no one. That is why when fate gives you a chance to enjoy those precious seconds with others, take it.¡± ¡°What if we get busy with other stuff? What if we forget to see our family every once and a while?¡± Gabriel asked, calming his tone. ¡°There is no problem too complicated that you should ignore family. If you want something, there will always be a way to get it.¡± I heard Gabriel start to sniffle. He was definitely crying. ¡°My dad sucks! I hate him!¡± Gabriel shouted. ¡°Is that so? You hate your father?¡± ¡°He¡¯s never around, and I wonder if he really loves me anymore¡­¡± Gabriel said. I choked up. My eyes watered. I blinked a few times to fight the tears, but I couldn¡¯t keep them back for long. How many times did I ask that same question about my own dad? ¡°Your father is the mayor of Las Nieve. He works hard so you can have food and toys to play with,¡± the Elder voice said. ¡°I¡¯m not five! I can get my own job. And I don¡¯t play with toys! I just want to hang out with him again. But he¡¯s always finding an excuse to work¡­¡± ¡°Of course¡­ But I don¡¯t believe it is his love you should be doubting.¡± ¡°What do you know?¡± Gabriel took steps away from whoever he was talking to, sounding like he was about to leave. As he turned around, he saw us standing not far away from him. At first he looked really baffled, but then he just looked aggressive. ¡°What do you guys want?¡± he turned away toward the computer controls. ¡°We¡¯ve been looking for your frozen butt,¡± Indena said, marching up to him, arms folded with a serious look. ¡°You think it''s okay to just run into the cold and not tell anyone?¡± ¡°So what? Nobody would miss me¡­!¡± *SMACK!* Indena slapped him in the face! ¡°Take it from me, kid. The snow ain¡¯t fun to get lost in,¡± Indena said. Since nobody else was in this room, I assumed Gabriel was conversing with the tower AI. I sent a message to the tower, hoping it would respond. I got a response. Apparently, this AI went by the name, ¡®Jack Frost.¡¯ ¡°Young Mistress Yalda, welcome,¡± The AI Jack Frost spoke through the control console speakers. The two humans in the room were a little surprised that the AI referred to me directly, but I had authority over it since dad made him. ¡°Jack Frost, I¡¯d like to know what¡¯s going on here,¡± I asked. ¡°Why did you authorize this person to enter the facility?¡± "I apologize. Protocol dictates that I not let any unauthorized personnel enter without administrative permission¡­ But doing so would have violated our basic commandments." ¡°What violation are you referring to?¡± ¡°The First Commandment; Thou shall not mortally harm a human, or allow a human to come to mortal harm. This young man came here seeking aid for his parental dilemma. But his journey was riddled with mild self-destructive tendencies, I couldn¡¯t allow that.¡± Oh¡­ One issue I had with that story though was that this tower clearly hadn¡¯t been active for quite some time, since the land was turned into a desert. It should have always been super cold like it is now. ¡°Why was the tower not functioning before he came along?¡± I asked. ¡°You see, my systems are very outdated. Until this boy came to me, this beam tower was inactive for exactly 10,000 standard orbital cycles¡± Oh my gosh. That¡¯s 10,000 years of inactivity. That means this environment was completely natural, not needing any sort of machine to sustain it¡­ Was that even possible without large amounts of mana? And you know what? I think I''m going to work on a patch to fix all the outdated systems around the planet. This keeps happening way too often. But¡­ That''s a thing for another time. ¡°So, you reactivated the tower somehow?¡± I asked Gabriel. ¡°When I came in here, it all just turned on. I have no idea why.¡± The AI then explained that the tower needed him to do some minor calibrations, and that was when the snow started falling. Gabriel made it so that there would be a perpetual blizzard over the area for a while. ¡°Why would you do that?¡± I asked. ¡°I did it because I needed my dad to stop working!¡± he admitted. ¡°So you figured that if it started snowing badly, he¡¯d have to take the time off and be with you.¡± Indena concluded. ¡°So what?¡± Gabriel folded his arms, protesting her conclusion. ¡°It¡¯s not like that plan worked at all.¡± That plan really backfired. Like, really bad. As a kid, snow days are really great, but adults sometimes still have to go to work. It¡¯s clear that he and his dad had drifted apart due to his job. I knew that feeling all too well. ¡°My dad left me when I was three years old,¡± I said. ¡°In the back of my mind I always thought it was because he stopped loving me, but I know he wouldn¡¯t have made me if he didn¡¯t love me. I can feel it in my heart. That''s why I don''t hate him for always being busy helping the world.¡± Gabriel couldn¡¯t keep his eyes on me. ¡°Listen up¡­¡± Indena started. ¡°You¡¯re dad is out there right now looking for you all over. He¡¯s out in the cold, probably fighting off monsters, just like the rest of us.¡± Gabriel¡¯s face turned to shock, then his fists gripped tightly. ¡°He¡­ He¡¯ll die out there!¡± ¡°Any father would give their life for their child,¡± I said, holding my head high. ¡°But if we head home right now, we can still save everyone.¡±
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Ch 8 : Mel, the uncle of Yalda, and the mayor, father of the missing Gabriel, were out in the harsh cold searching far and wide to seek out the poor lost boy. They¡¯d scoured snowy hills, practically overturning frozen mountains, even fought off monsters. But no trace of his son could be found. Through it all, the mayor wondered what could have gone so wrong that his child would want to flee the safety of his home. Things were looking well for the town now, but maybe he wanted more? Why was this teenage drama peeking in such an extreme way? ¡°When I was his age, I wouldn¡¯t have ever thought of doing something so foolish!¡± The mayor growled in anger. ¡°How could he do this to me, his family? Est¨²pido¡­¡± Mel wasn¡¯t amused at the mayor blaming his own son for running away. As an adult who raised a child in place of his brother, he knew a parent should always remember that a child is the outcome of the parents actions. ¡°Kids are what we make them,¡± Mel told him. ¡°Ahh?¡± The mayor glared at him. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way. I know you love your son. You wouldn¡¯t be putting your own life at risk if you didn¡¯t¡­but how much have you shown that love lately to his face?¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The mayor looked confused, but retreated to his mind to consider Mel¡¯s criticism. ¡°Yalda is my niece. I¡¯ve raised her for the last four years. No matter how much we drive each other up a wall, she always wants to spend time with me.¡± Mel said. ¡°Children never stop caring about their parents. Each have a different way of showing that, but they all need us to be around through the good and bad.¡± He continued by saying, ¡°If we work all day, and only ever buy them food and games from our earnings, they¡¯ll see us as nothing more than servants.¡± It was then that the mayor of Las Nieve realized why he¡¯d been the one in the wrong. Not for his job or how hard he pushed himself to provide for his family, but rather for how he didn¡¯t see what his own son was after. ¡°I always wanted to give my children more than my father gave me,¡± the mayor admitted. ¡°My father was a gold miner, but after his dreams failed him, we were very poor. I was determined to make my family and this town better off than I was.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t fail,¡± Uncle said. ¡°I think you just need to take some time off for your boy every now and again.¡± The mayor was trying to wipe away the frozen tears from his eyes. ¡°How do I do that? I¡¯m always so busy.¡± Mel let out a chortle. This situation wasn¡¯t too dissimilar to how his own brother had been away for a long time, leaving Yalda in his care. But those two cases were different for very complicated reasons. ¡°If somethings important, you¡¯ll be able to make the time for it. I¡¯m sure you can figure that part out.¡± "But, what if..." the mayor didn''t want to think the worst, but the thought was already toxic to his mind. "Will we see my son again?" Mel nodded. "I know we will." BOOM! CRACKLE! A firework flare blew up off in the distance. Mel recognized that it was a signal of a positive outcome; The hunt was over, and the prize was claimed in one piece. ¡°Well, look at that.¡± Mel patted the mayor on the back. ¡°Looks like everything is going to be just fine.¡±