Magical Girl City: Empire of Ice

After another night of rest, or so it felt, we arrived. A loud horn blared, the captain’s voice crackled over the intercom.

“All passengers, gather your luggage and please report to the deck.”

After that announcement, the halls were filled with people milling about, filling bags, and so on. Slowly, everyone filtered onto the deck, where the morning sun greeted us. That, and the shore.

Our destination was a port. Nothing like the port I knew, if anything, it looked old, old as in not modern. A wooden pier jutted out, just far enough along for the ship to come in close. Anchors were deployed; ropes were thrown overboard and quickly tied to the pier.

The actual process didn’t take long. The wooden pier creaked and swayed as it struggled to handle the sheer weight and mass of the ship. Once it was secured, a ramp was lowered and we all disembarked. Though, as it came to my turn, I couldn’t help but ask a final question.

“How will we get back?” I asked the nearest crew member. They gave me a look, blinked.

“If you manage to claim the realm, or bring about its end, you’ll get brought back to the city by a portal. If you don’t and if the realm succumbs, well, good luck. You’ll have to find your own way back.”

“That… isn’t very comforting. Is there no other way?” I had to ask.

“If you have a gold coin, it won’t be an issue. You can open a temporary portal back to the city if need be. Otherwise, my advice? Don’t let the realm succumb. Trust me, it’s better that you end it or conquer it.” They replied back, a serious look in their eyes.

“I’ll keep that in mind…” I muttered back.

With a frown, I made my way down, the wooden pier creaked underfoot. It swayed slightly with the waves and whenever the boat shifted. Boards creaked, the pillars anchoring the pier to the ground cracked occasionally from the burden.

Nobody stuck around, each and every one of us hurried along until we were on dry land.

The port, was a small thing overall. A series of buildings, that looked like they were supposed to hold fishing vessels of some kind. Old nets and such were left abandoned inside the structures. Further in, following a path, we came upon the central part of the port, rather, a small town.

A dozen odd buildings were built around the main square. A single well was situated at the center of it all. It was locked and sealed. The wood, metal, and stone showed signs of age and wear.

The whole town looked abandoned at a glance. The buildings were empty and without needing permission, we began to explore. At some point, crates were brought out from the ship. Exactly how, I wasn’t sure. It almost looked like they were being teleported. One moment the square was empty, the very next moment something would be there.

Crew members worked to coordinate, whatever it was they were doing. Only leaving after everything was dropped off. Slowly, as the exploration came to an end, crates were pried open, their contents revealed to the world.

One crate, held within it, a large variety of weapons. One was more a pallet with drum barrels that were filled with what looked like blood. Another had supplies, in the form of food, clothing, and bedding. Another had building supplies, lumber, concrete mix, nails, and such. My own soldiers came out fairly easily, once the shipping container they were in was unlatched and opened.

Fathom came out first, followed by my knights, and next came the soldiers. The soldiers were separated into two groups. One simply held their rifles, and the final one carried the gatling gun. As for the bone golem core and rod, both were on my person. The core having been stuffed into my bag before the event had even begun.

They garnered some attention, especially when they began to assist with unloading the supplies. Nobody argued or complained. Even with my soldiers helping out, it still took the better part of the day to get it all sorted out.

As evening settled in, we moved into the largest building, an inn by the looks of it. The kitchen had been cleaned out and was being used to prep dinner in a large cauldron over a fire. Diana’s people, those from the women’s home, focused on prepping dinner, and preparing the inn’s bedrooms for new occupants.

Chairs and tables were found in a storage room and pulled out. Cleaned, wiped down, and before long everyone was inside. The smell of cooked food, a delicious smell that permeated the space. The warmth of the fire from the kitchen was enough to keep the cool air of the night at bay.

Everyone sat down with familiar groups, chattering broke out, minor conversations here and there. It wasn’t until food was doled out, and everyone was at least a bowl or two in that Diana took the stage.

It wasn’t much to write home about. A quick breakdown of the facilities in the town, how we were going to bunker down. Duties were doled out. More or less, I wasn’t directly involved.

Joan and Serenity were on infirmary duty. Her own people were going to work on prepping meals and cleaning the town. Terra volunteered to bolster the town’s defenses with her magic. Rapidly, a functioning system came into being.

As the night wound down and as the basic responsibilities were finally handed out, it came time for the real discussion.

“What should we do first?” Diana asked, sparking a conversation. Everyone had their thoughts. Generally, everyone agreed that we needed to secure a home base. Beyond that, there was a lot of back and forth.

Some groups wanted to go out and explore the wider world. Others wanted to see if there was anything worth grabbing in the surrounding forest. So, on, so forth. In the end, it looked like we’d stall out here, so I spoke up.

“I think we should have team’s recon the surroundings.” I stated over the chatter. Eyes snapped over to me. “We don’t know exactly what’s out there, which is why I think nobody should go alone, at least, not at first.”

“What should we look for?” A girl spoke, the blood magic user, the same one that was the owner of the drum barrels full of blood. Her hair was red, long, wild and untamed as it draped over her shoulders.

“Our goal should be finding an outpost, city, or signs of civilization. From there we can gather information and expand out. Hopefully, the residents of this realm won’t be hostile, but whoever leads each recon team should be prepared to deal with local leaders, or possible threats.” I said.

There were noises of agreements.

“And when exactly can we start exploring on our own?” Another voice cut in.

“After we make sure we aren’t dealing with something like the second event. If the residents here aren’t hostile, we might be able to cooperate with them, and if so, they might be willing to have us assist them. At the same time, we can use that as a means to gather information on just how big this realm was.”

Again, no direct arguments, though…

“And what if they are hostile?”

From across the room, sequestered in her own little corner, Morrigan spoke up. She was the owner of a crate filled with crows, the moment it was pried open, they flew out to every corner of the town. I had no doubts that she could, in some way, communicate with them.

“If they are, we work together to eliminate them. That’s also why we should travel in groups. That way, if we are caught off-guard, we won’t be caught alone.”

Again, murmurs of assent. No real pushback. Though, if we couldn’t find the inhabitants in a reasonable period of time, I doubt they’d still go along with my plan. For the time being, this would be enough.

Final duties were hammered out and the meeting was adjourned. As everyone filed out, I searched out a familiar face, Liche. She was sitting with Joan, neither doing much. On seeing me approach, Liche evaded my gaze, but didn’t move to leave or flee. A good sign at least.

I sat down at the table, greeted the pair and… “Tomorrow, what’s your plan?” I asked Liche.

“I… I don’t know. I was thinking maybe I’d keep an eye out around town or something.”

I glanced over, Joan’s worry clear.

“Well, I wanted you to come with me tomorrow.”

“With you? Where?” Liche asked.

“Outside. I’m getting my soldiers together and I plan to check out the surroundings, hopefully find someplace.”

“I… but, I’m not going to be that helpful.”

“No, but you are sneaky, and you can help cover our traces if need be. You don’t need to fight, if that’s what you’re worried about. I, or my soldiers can handle whatever comes our way without much issue. And if we do fight something we can’t handle, you are free to leave us behind.”

She bit her lip. Her eyes wandered to Joan.

“I think you should go… I mean, Prima won’t intentionally put you in danger, right?” Joan said and looked over to me with a questioning gaze.

“No, not unless I think you could handle it.”

Liche didn’t look that assured, but in the end she sighed.

“Fine, yeah, I can do that…”

“Good, we’ll leave in the morning.” With that done, I made my way up the steps towards the second floor. Many of the bedrooms had already been taken, and they were, for the most part, fairly small.

A single bed, a small window, with an equally small table and short stool. The room itself was barely bigger than a closet, which meant everything was kind of piled together.

There wasn’t a bathroom. There was no running water. Best solution was to fill a bucket with water and wipe down with a rag. As for where we had to go, each room had a small chamber pot for our needs. Nobody was happy. More than a few slunk out at night, preferring to use one of the outhouses located near the edge of town, though, with company.

Nobody wanted to be alone, especially not with how dark it was at night. Even with the full moon out, it was easy enough to get lost or turned around. Especially in an unfamiliar place.

Noises, cries, bugs. All came from the wilderness surrounding the town. A few people had trouble sleeping, some, like Terra, focused on securing the inn as night deepened.

Come morning though, everyone was up and alert. Work was progressing at a prodigious pace. A town smithy had been cleaned out, the forge prepped. Metal bits were located, along with coal. In storage, long rotted grains were uncovered, along with still viable seeds.

Amanda took charge of that, working to get crops growing, since we weren’t sure how long we’d be here. Serenity, with her water magic assisted with watering, and getting the well cleaned out. A few others milled about, getting wood from the surrounding forest, patching up holes.

With morning in full swing and breakfast in my stomach, courtesy of the women under Diana’s command. I spent time looking over everything. Checking in, exchanging names, shaking hands. People were more willing to network now that we had a task set before us.

As morning came to an end, Liche finally came out. A quick check of our bags, making sure we had food and water for the trip, we made for the entrance, soldiers in tow. Only leaving behind the gatling team behind, and a few other soldiers to help secure the town, with the silver in charge.

Before we could arrive at the entrance, we gained a new member to the party. “Heard you were heading out.” The person in question, wasn’t someone I expected to show interest. That person being Morrigan.

“We are, why?” I asked, somewhat guarded.

“I’d like to tag along, if that’s fine.” She said.

“As long as you don’t get in the way, I don’t mind.”

“Sure thing.”

And with that, a third member was secured. As we were leaving, I found two familiar faces at the entrance. The red-haired blood magic user from the previous night, and Ruth. Both seemed to be on guard duty and were eyeing the entrance.

“Hey, I see you took up guard duty Ruth. How’s it looking?”

“Fine enough as it is.”

“And you? I never caught your name.”

“Raksha. And you must be Prima, yes?” The woman, was the one with the blood magic, the long red hair. She and Ruth made for a good pair. Somewhat aloof, proud. They made for good guards in all honesty.

“I am. I remember seeing you in action during the first event, it was memorable.” I said.

“Really, well, you were quite memorable too. Well, you and your whole group.” She followed up with.

“I could see that, we did make quite an impression. I don’t suppose there are any hard feelings?” I ventured.

“For me? No. I’ve no stake in that whole thing. You guys won fair and square. Lance wasn’t too happy.”

“Lance?” The name was unfamiliar.

“Yeah, he was the one that confronted you guys. It was his idea to get some of us together to see if we could get you to cough up some benefits.” She said.

“Ah, I remember that not going so well…” I said, recalling what had happened near the end of the event. When we’d been confronted after exiting the city hall, after having killed the heart.

“Yeah, it didn’t. Nobody blames him though, and it wasn’t like we were going to break out into a fight, not in hostile territory. And especially not when we still didn’t quite know what a gold coin was.”

“I thought as much back when you confronted us. If we weren’t being chased, I imagine we could have worked something out… by the way, where is he?”

“The forge, I imagine. He wanted to get it going.” She motioned towards the town, more specifically, towards the building now belching smoke.

“Does he have metal magic or something?”

“Nope. Lance has some kind of, dimensional power? I’m not really sure myself, but he works with the trade’s guild, or rather, he’s an apprentice metalsmith.”

“Woah, hell of a job. What do you do Raksha?” I asked, pivoting.

“Well, I wanted to work at the hospital, but that didn’t shake out.”

I thought back to my doctor, and the nurses… “Yeah, I doubt you’d fit in.” I said, knowing full well that yes, she would not fit in.

“Right? Well, with that not being an option, I managed to find a job as a butcher. You’d be surprised how useful blood magic can be when it comes to draining corpses.”

“I could imagine, though I can’t see myself cutting up carcasses all day.”

“I grew up on a farm, it’s not all that. And you?”

“Office job, nothing too fancy.” I answer.

“Is that so? Well, I can’t see myself ever sitting at a desk, so we share that in common.”

“I suppose we do.” We shared a smile, “You getting along with Ruth?”

“We haven’t talked much, but I don’t have an issue with her.” Raksha says, sending a glance over at Ruth. “And I’m sure she doesn’t have an issue with me, right?” She asked.

I glance over at Ruth, she shrugs. “She isn’t a bother.”

“Really?” I say and turn to Raksha, “You know, she told me she’s part of a local baseball league.”

“Really? Baseball?” Raksha asks, turning to Ruth.

“Yeah.”

“I used to play ball with my siblings when we were younger, what team?” Raksha asked and Ruth began to talk, opening up.

I decided then, that I did my job. “Right, I’m going to head out, you two stay safe.”

“Right, see ya.” Raksha says, ripping herself away from her conversation with Ruth to do so.

“Yeah, you stay safe as well.” Ruth replies back, and as I walk away both start an animated discussion on baseball, teams, and such.

I figured the two would make fast friends. As we walked further out, Morrigan spoke out. “Didn’t take you for a busybody.”

“It’s just basic networking. I figured they’d have some shared interest and I made a bet.”

“Looks like it worked out then?” Morrigan said with an odd smile.

“Yeah, and hopefully the pair become friends, or at least familiar with each other. It’ll make it easier going forward.”

“So, you say.”

“So I say.” I reply back. Morrigan doesn’t respond to that, and we just wander out. There was no path, rather, there probably had been a path or major road before, now it was completely overgrown.

The wilderness that surrounded the town wasn’t just open fields, but thick forests. The climate felt, temperate, but as the sun climbed higher in the sky, so too did the humidity. It wasn’t long before I was soaked through with sweat, having to take off my tracksuit jacket and wrap it around my waist. Leaving me in only my tank top.

I pulled at the ice slightly to chill down as the heat took its toll. Which led to both Morrigan and Liche stepping closer to take advantage of the cold air radiating off me.

The forest was thick, dense. Bugs were everywhere, with swarms of flies, and mosquitoes. The cold warded them off for the most part. My own knights radiated a chill that kept my soldiers from melting away. The brush was dense as well, requiring Fathom to act at the front, liberally tearing the forest as we went.

We were anything but subtle. The cries of animals and birds surrounded us. I could even see things shifting in the canopy above. We hardly felt alone, and I could feel Liche’s eyes drifting back and forth. Morrigan, for her part seemed completely at ease. The bird on her shoulder, in direct contrast to Morrigan, had their head on a swivel, moving back and forth, up and down as it took in the surrounding.

Hours passed as we trekked, occasional marks were made on trees with my bayonet to mark our way. That, and the very literal path of destruction Fathom left in his wake. Already, evening was beginning to fall, and it was clear we weren’t anywhere near a settlement.

“Should we be heading back?” Liche asked as it became clear that we hadn’t really found anything.

“Not yet… We should probably settle in for the night and continue tomorrow. If we don’t find anything by the third day, we should head back.” I answer, though, “Unless you have an issue with that?” I glance at Morrigan.

“Hm? Ah, no, that’s fine. I don’t see an issue with that.” She said back, clearly distracted by something…

“Good, we should also have a watch. My soldiers can keep an eye out, but having someone awake would be helpful.”

Both agreed, and a watch was instituted. I just hoped this trip wouldn’t be fruitless.