Chapter 4

Jason raced down the stairs taking them two at a time, and reached for the kitchen door, deciding not to take his jacket. He just wanted to go out, find the stupid tie and come back as quickly as possible. It was already getting dark outside, the pale moon reflecting the metal on the kitchen door.

He stepped outside, and the cold hit him like a ton of bricks. He cursed himself for thinking he was a superhero and could stand this kind of cold, and went back inside for a jacket. He looked around on the back of the kitchen door, but the jacket was nowhere to be seen. Glancing around he realised he had to go back upstairs to get another one. Aw man, this is not even funny! He thought to himself as he hurried up the stairs to get that wretched jacket.

He was out of the back door again in less than five minutes, the jacket not making a difference, cold still seeping through the opening of the neck making him shiver. In his hurry to just get the tie and get back, he stepped on a lot of things and lost his way more than once. In one of his misdirection’s he ended up on the main road, like a mile away from his house. And on his journey back, a very extraordinary thing happened to him. 

He took a wrong turn, and was trying to right himself, when he saw this thing just glowing in front of him, just hanging there. He gasped, and went closer, trying to make out what it was. When he touched it, it formed a circle, just a glowing circle hanging in the air. He looked at it in confusion, his heart beating fast, and his breathing speeding up. He was about to touch it again when he saw a foot clad in silver pointy office shoes appeared, looking as if it was going to step out. He backed away, and looked on in astonishment as a man stepped out, wearing a silver blue robe and a golden crown with icy blue jewels twinkling away.

Wiping some drool off his face, he blinked again – just to make sure. Yep, the man was still there.

He couldn’t help but start a conversation with him, and was still high on the whole woods thing, and so decided that he was going to be cheeky. 

“Woaaah! Who are you the king of Iceland or something?” Jase smirked, sizing him up, his eyes rolling over him twice.

“Lo and behold, here comes an amateur. Bow down to me you imbecile!” The man retorted, gesturing him to bow down.

“One question,” he paused, “Why?”

The man’s temper flared. “How dare you question my authority you inferior being, I demand you bow down to me this instant, or there will be severe consequences!”

“Oh, I’m sooo scared (!) Can’t you see me shivering?” Jase started shaking his hand over dramatically. “What are you going to do, give me a wittle shmacky on my hand?” He laughed.

The man sighed. “Drastic measures will have to be taken.” He stopped, as if thinking. “We are going to keep track of this scandalous creature.”

“Right whatever. Can you tell me who you are first of all?”

“What kind of a world do you live in, if you do not know me, I am -”

“Earth."

The man’s nostrils flared as he tried to keep calm. “I guess patience is going to have to be a virtue in your case. I am the proud King of Ice.”

“Ha! And I’m the queen of Sheba! Which is kind of funny, considering I am a man.”

 “A man you are not. Just some silly boy who dreams to be one. And you dared to ridicule me. Your punishment is death.” The King of Ice watched as Jase’s face changed instantly to an emotion he was very familiar with. Fear.

“O.k. can you please stop fooling about, I’m getting creeped out here!” 

 “Again, you doubt me you foolish little child! You dare to do it again!” His skin stretched over his face tremendously as his mouth opened to shout: “GUARDS!” 

“Ok, ok, you’re for real, now I have to be somewhere. Bye!” Jase started running, regretting what he had done.

“Keep track of this convict; don’t let him out of your sight. Remove him from this world without arousing suspicion. Understood?” The King said these words with precision, knowing what he wanted to happen.

“Yes your majesty.” An android appeared from nowhere, bowing down to the King. Jase, upon seeing this, shrieked and ran faster. 

And that’s how he got himself in a whole load of trouble.

Chapter 3

As they entered, Charley’s nose instantly detected a very appetizing smell that was drifting its way towards their noses. She sought out the source, and found herself looking at a huge oven with an old fashioned hob to its side. 

The worktops were made of what looked like granite, and there was a big butcher’s block opposite the cooker, which held knives sharper than broken glass. There was a large dining table in the middle of the kitchen which was made of oak finely crafted, with intricate designs on the legs, and it was surrounded with matching chairs. It reminded Charley very strongly of a cottage’s kitchen.

After standing there for a good five minutes, Jase decided to lead the way in the hall way. The hallway was striped cream and white, and it had a big bookcase filled full of stories overflowing with imagination, and was old and also made of finely carved oak.

Jase walked past it like it was a norm (well he did see it every day…) while Charley stood there a while, tracing the covers of the books with her fingers, and smiling as she recognised them from childhood memories.

The stairs were carpeted in a dark blue colour, and were creaky just like every other staircase in this world. The banister held delicate carvings of birds and flowers, worn out by a great deal of use.

Jase led her upstairs, and when they reached the landing, Charley realised that it was the exact same design as the hallway, an oak coffee table taking the place of the bookshelf. This coffee table had decorated legs and was covered with magazines and board games, clearly for a rainy day.

She imagined Jase’s room to have the same sort of style, but in fact it wasn’t. When she entered, the first thing she saw was black walls filled to the brim with posters. Football, rugby, break dance, kung fu, all sort of boyish stuff you would expect to find in a guy’s room. The floor was black, without a speck of dirt and his computer was tidily kept and dust free. His bed was black with gold Chinese writing on it, and he had anime magazines stacked messily on his black beside table. The only thing that stood out the most to her was his wardrobe, which was an eccentric bright red, with crimson outlining it. She searched for the pile of dirty clothes on the floor, on the back of the chair, sticking out of the wardrobe, but it was all non-existent. There was not a spot out of place to be seen. The only untidy thing that made his room look more like a guy’s room rather than a showroom was the pile of messy anime magazines. And that was it.
 
She looked at him in admiration, and he just shrugged his shoulders at her. “Guess I’m a neat freak,” he said. She laughed, secretly wishing she had that attribute, and gave him way to the computer table. He sat down and opened up Mozilla Firefox.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he said, waving his arm behind him.

She took the initiative and sat on the bed, which was surprisingly bouncy, and smelt of mint choc-chip ice cream. She laughed inwardly as she reminisced about her fond memories of mint choc-chip ice cream.

 

“Oh, darn it, I’ve lost my tie!” he said, breaking the awkward silence. “I’m gonna go and find it,” he stood up pushing his chair back, and reached for the door.

As he left, Charley took his place on the computer and typed fire and ice in the Google search engine. The results she got were astonishing. Here are a few examples:

The unruly battle of fire and ice continues

The arch enemies of all time: fire and ice

The truth revealed behind the secrets fire and ice hold

Fire and ice; will they manage to escape?

She stared at the computer screen, mouth open, breathing fast.  This isn’t what normally comes up. She was expecting stories, poems, and of course facts, not headlines! She sighed and got up of the seat, her mind spinning at her surprising find. Sitting on his bed, she pondered over what it might mean, but there was no pondering. It was just one straight answer: She and Jase are supposed to be enemies. And that is something at the time, she was totally fine with.

Chapter 2

“The road’s too busy for you to cross on your own. Here I’ll hold your hand.” Charley looked at the road, which was absolutely empty, then looked at him, eyebrows up. He held out his hand for a bit, and when she didn’t take it, grabbed her hand from its pocket and held onto it tightly, pulling her along the deserted road. She was half dragged, half walking when they reached her shortcut.

The woods were eerily empty, considering the weather: sun filtering through the tall trees, falling on the floor like specks of glitter. The wind was but a breeze, cooling the stuffiness the trees provided.

And then came Jase, barging through like it was his home, hustling past the trees, and leaving the leaves on the lower branches swaying.

He let go of her hand, and picked up a thick branch, swaying it from side to side, knocking the leaves off the trees.

“Erm, excuse yourself, but what are you doing?

“Being a kid,” He grinned. “It’s fun being a kid isn’t it?”

“You don’t have to do that to act like a kid, you look like a one 24/7,” she retorted, smirking.

“Oh ha-ha, very funny,” he said, straight faced. 

“Yeah… can you put the branch down please?”

“Why?” he said, hitting the trees harder. “What you going to do?”

“For your information, I happen to like trees very much, and if you’re killing the leaves, I ain’t going to be very happy.” She said her tone daunting.

“Look, I know you’re a naturist and everything, but calm down! Sheesh kebab!” he turned to face her, his eyes big.

“I’m not angry! And can you stop doing that?!” she said in a very exasperated sounding tone.

“Where are you taking me?” she added in a smaller voice.

“Hold on, naturist means a person that roams about naked and getting tied to trees and stuff isn’t it?” he turned and grinned, “Boy, I hope you ain’t one of them, I don’t want to be seen out with a naturist!” He paused. “Oh and I’m taking you to my house.”

“I don’t want to go to your stupid house! And why do you never listen to me? Aaargh!” her face and hands felt as if they were on fire, burning with rage. She had to take it out somewhere, otherwise she would end up hitting Jase, and so she punched the nearest tree with her fist. 

For a second, time stood still, then, as if in slow motion, the tree flamed a bright orange, and then time went back to normal, and the tree exploded in to little shards of wood, white sparks jumping off, the noise deafening.

The tree disappeared in less than a minute, and in its place, there was an empty space. Jase looked at me mouth open, eyes unblinking. The silence was unbearable, but even she couldn’t bring herself to speak. 

What had I just done? Burnt a tree and made it disappear?  Is that normal? No. She relayed the event that just happened like a video loop. Over and over again, she saw that tree blowing up into thousands of small pieces of wood. Shrapnel you would call it. But no. It wasn’t normal. What on Earth did I just do? I’m a monster!

“What the hell did you just do?!” said Jase, as if reading her mind. He walked into the space where the tree should have been and shook his head. “No. This is some kind of illusion isn’t it? You’re trying to trick me, make me look like a fool, while some idiot over there is filming the whole thing right? Right?!” he was getting heated up, she could tell. “Right?” he said again, “Please tell me I’m right,” his voice quietened. 

“No.” she shook my head, her voice small.

“Well, what did you just do then? Cuz I can tell you straight, this ain’t normal!” He shook his head vigorously and pointed around him, as if that was going to help the situation. Charley looked at the floor, and started mumbling excuses.

“What?! Look at me!” he forced her head up, grabbing her chin.

“I said I don’t freaking know deffo!” she screamed at his face, her cheeks burning with rage.

“Don’t you flippin’ talk to me like that, I ain’t your little brother o.k.?” his voice was menacingly quiet and slow.

“Listen jerk, you’re the one who brings me here, forcing me to go to your house, then you get me mad, and now you’re telling me not to talk to you like that?! How does that work?”

He put his finger on his chin and acted like he was thinking, “Oh, I’m sorry, who just blew the freaking tree up again?! I wonder who! Oh! It was you! I hate to break it to you, but no-one normal can do that, freak!” he was raging now, his face red and he gasped, trying to catch his breath back. 

“Whatever,” she retorted, turning her face and walking away.

“EY! You just gonna ignore it like it was nothing?! Come back here!” he grasped her stood standing on her tiptoes, so close their noses were almost touching.

“You go home, and pretend this never happened, and I’ll do the same.” she was about to turn back around and walk away, as she had intended, when he stopped her again.

“You are a psychopathic freak and you live with it. I can’t. I ain’t gonna go home and pretend it never happened, cuz it did, and that’s that.” He said, super calm. He started stomping back the way they were going, clutching her hand tightly, as if he would never let go.

“Ow, you’re hurting me, let go!” Charley whined, struggling in his tight grip.

“Oh, just shut it, Charley.” He warned, but she continued struggling. Not understanding why she should listen to him.

“Let goooo,” she whined again, annoyed this time.

“NO!” he stamped his foot on his ground, and just like that, ice formed around his shoe, and spread like a fire (ironically enough) in all directions, cracking along the way. All at once, it disappeared.

He let go of her hand slowly. “Whoa...” It was his turn to be speechless.

“And you’re calling me a psychopathic freak eh?” Charley said with a smirk.

“This isn’t normal. Omygod, what are we?” He said with a frown.

“Don’t lie (!)” she said, thinking the exact same thing. “Well, you could say: freak, freako, freakazoid, unnatural, inhumane, abnormal, twisted, mad, nightmarish, barmy, nuts round the bend, irregular, queer, and the list goes on.” she said cheerfully, counting them off on her fingers.

Jase looked at her, his eyes wide in awe. He shook his head once; eyes closed, and then looked at her again. Doesn’t this girl ever get scared?

He pushed the thought back when he saw that she was staring at him and decided to hold her hand once again and start running so she didn’t wander off.

They soon broke into a jog, much to the amusement of Jase. Charley had put up so much of a force, and was so adamant that he let her go; he was surprised that she still went along with him.

Soon after the nice jog through the woods, Jase stopped abruptly, causing Charley to bump into him. She looked around where they had stopped, and saw that they had just come out of the woods, and an isolated house was situated there. It was painted white, with an old fashioned looking back door, and a modernised extension. Charley looked at it and smiled, revelling in how beautiful the house looked.

Jase was bent down, hands on knees to recover from his ‘fast’ jog, and Charley disliked the fact that his face was regaining its normal colour, and in fact going paler than usual a bit too fast for her liking, whereas her face was still a burning red.

He got up, and beckoned Charley to walk with him, approaching the back door of the house very fast. He got out a key, a long, dark grey cylinder with a complicated piece of metal jutting out at the end. Putting it in the lock, he turned it, and pushed the stiff door in.

Prologue

A staff hammered the floor, breaking the formidable silence.

“NO!” The queen roared, “NO WAY IS THAT GOING TO HAPPEN!”

The king looked at her icily. “Yes my dear it’s going to happen, darling.” he spat, his voice laced with sarcasm.

The queen shot him a fuming look, about to burn with anger, when instead, found herself smiling at what she could easily do with a click of her fingers.

Click!

She stood there; sweat dripping from her brow, her eyes blazing with the heat of anger and vigour, with two orbs of fire, one smouldering in each hand. She cackled maniacally, and hurled the fire to the king.

But the king was prepared just as well, throwing his two orbs of ice straight at the fire and watching in anticipation as they slammed straight into each other, exploding into the air.

The king and queen growled alike, and glared at the trumpeter, who played a tune of an introduction to a big speech. However, instead of a big speech, all the trumpeter got was the king and queen shouting simultaneously: “LET THE WAR COMMENCE!”

Hello and welcome to my new story blog.

I have another 2 blogs if you wouldnt mind having a look, Amatullah & Journey To Knowledge.
I hope you like them, and visit them often. This is going to be a blog about a fantasy story which is written completley by me.