Tales of Arydryen I: Frozen Hearth

She coughed as she ran, inhaling smoke and dust. Behind her, her hometown burned to ashes in an enormous blaze. Her legs ached, but she had to keep going. Around her, she could hear the cries of the many who had been buried under collapsed buildings. But she did not have the time to help them. As the fire approached, faster and faster, she kept pushing forward. An open plaza, safe from the flames, was just up ahead! She was almost there. As she neared the plaza, she could see the faces of many relieved citizens who were glad to be alive, and others who cried for their families who had not arrived yet. She was so close! She could feel the heat of unnatural flames rushing behind her, chasing her. She picked up her speed, hoping she would make it.

Suddenly, she bumped into something. She stumbled backwards, into the flames. It felt kind of warm at first, but grew hotter until it felt scorching, and it felt agonizing. She cried out in pain, and as the rest of her body burned to ashes, she caught a glimpse of the notorious criminal she had bumped into. Then, she was gone.

Claire woke up, sweating, feeling as if she had just burned to death, which technically had happened, in a nightmare. Or, she would have liked to believe it was just a nightmare. She shivered as she recalled the person she saw at the last second. The infamous pyromaniac, Horacio Nagar, known for burning down District Y twenty years ago. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment in Arydryen’s most secure prison. What was he doing there?

It could have just been an unlucky coincidence that she had the dream. With all the recent criminals who had escaped prison, of course Nagar would be coming soon too. But the previous ones were all a little more low profile, and much less dangerous. However, Claire had a sinking suspicion about these events. There had to be some reason there were so many jailbreaks. Recently, the released criminals were more and more dangerous. Horacio Nagar showing up next would just follow the pattern. Now, if it wasn’t the mysterious dark organization, Shar Yami, Claire had no idea who else could be pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

There was another reason Claire had a sinking suspicion about Horacio Nagar’s release. She usually didn’t have dreams, or nightmares, and when she did, something happened. Although, last time, she was nine, and had a dream about a new child celebrity by the name of Iris Lang. Almost two years later, she met Iris Lang on a national tour. Of course, she hadn’t told anyone about her dreams. None of her family possessed the power of Divination, and while it wasn’t completely uncommon for children to have abilities unrelated to their parents, it was still quite rare. Also, she had already inherited her grandmother’s Clairvoyance power. Not only that, but Divination had S-class rarity for a reason. It was rare. And although Divination could be learned, she did not remember even trying to study it. So, she kept quiet about her newfound ability. She didn’t need anyone at school calling her a freak. However, it now backfired, because she hadn’t told her family either.

Now Horacio Nagar might, no, he would definitely be on the loose in the near future. And no one knew. If it remained this way, her nightmares would become a reality. District I, her hometown, would be reduced to dust and smoke. She couldn’t bear the thought. The innocent civilians who would be buried alive. Her grandmother couldn’t move very quickly and would definitely be one of the victims.

But there was nothing she could do. Sure, with her ability, Clairvoyance, she could keep an eye on Horacio Nagar as long as she was awake. But what if it happened while she slept? Even if she saw him setting fire to the town, it wouldn’t do anything to stop him.

She could always speak up about her new ability, but it would just sound like the ramblings of a terrified child. She wasn’t a child, she was thirteen, a teenager! And it’s not her fault she was slightly shorter than average. No one would believe her. How could Horacio Nagar possibly escape from the nation’s most secure prison?

So then, the last option she could think of. She would have to become stronger, and fight Horacio herself. Obviously, not her first choice, as none of her abilities were combat oriented. Being able to spy on someone definitely did not equate to fighting against them. But if she could learn something, maybe hydrokinesis to counter Nagar’s fire, she would stand a chance.

Claire made up her mind. As she dragged herself out of bed, she called down,

“Grandma! I want to attend magic school!”

Breakfast would have been uneventful, same as always, if not for her sudden declaration earlier that morning. Her grandmother was surprised, as it had long been assumed that Claire wanted to pursue a non-magical career. However, despite her initial shock, her grandmother readily accepted Claire’s resolve, and even tried to offer her own advice.

“Have you decided which magic schools you want to apply for?”

Claire shook her head. As she had decided to attend so suddenly, she hadn’t done any research on schools. To be honest, she didn’t even know the names of any magic schools, besides the most popular ones.

“Well, I’ve heard of Frozen Hearth, Pleasant Rivers, and The Lions’ Den…” she began.

“Oh, you don’t want to attend The Lions’ Den,” her grandmother warned. “They say it’s full of witches.”

“But there’s nothing wrong with witches, right? There are some good witches. And it’s a school…”

Her grandmother shook her head fiercely.

“It’s dangerous. You never know what they might do. Plus, it’s in District J. The crime rate is very high. It’s dangerous, Claire. Please don’t go there.”

Claire sighed, but nodded. She had learned about District J as one of the most dangerous districts in the nation. As she did not have any combat abilities, she’d be better off not attending.

“Then, what school should I go to?” Claire asked. She knew choosing a magic school to attend was very important, and the decision process should be very long and deliberated over. But, she really didn’t know what she wanted in a school.

“The applications for many schools have already closed. The next school term should begin in three months,” her grandmother worried. “Out of all the well-ranked schools, only Frozen Hearth keeps applications open this long!”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, grandmother,” Claire said optimistically. “I’ll just apply to Frozen Hearth, and if I don’t get accepted, there’s always next year, right?”

Internally, she knew she didn’t have time to fail. Horacio Nagar would be there, whether she got accepted into Frozen Hearth or not.

“Plus, one application should make it easier! I can focus on this. It’ll increase my chances of success.”

Her grandmother nodded, still concerned.

“I still have a copy of the application form from when your mother applied to magic schools.”

With that, she left to get the papers.

Claire just wondered what she had gotten herself into.

For now, she’ll just worry about making it into the school. She can worry about Horacio Nagar later. But still, she had absolutely no idea what to do at a magic school. What would she do, besides study? Make friends? If they believed her, they could help with her problems. Though she would really prefer to deal with it herself and not drag anyone else into these issues.

“Here you go!” her grandmother said, handing her the papers. “They always said Frozen Hearth’s application process was unconventional, but I forgot how unconventional it actually was!”

Claire gulped as she accepted the papers. As she looked down, she understood what her grandmother meant. The questions were questions she’d never expected to see on an application form, much less for the nation’s top ranked magic school. And although they did ask for her previous school scores, and the “tell me about yourself” question, as normal applications had, she still wondered at the strangeness of the application questions.

And with a sigh, she began answering the first question, which seemed the most normal out of all of them.

“What would you do when faced with an upside-down zombie, stuck to the ceiling, but still trying to eat you alive?”