Ice Monarch

Lucien Verglas

Pow!

‘Why?’

Pow!

‘What did I do to deserve this?’

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“That’s right, you filthy commoner, stay down. Oh wait… you’re not even at the level of a commoner. You don’t deserve this whole loaf of bread or these coppers, but I’ll leave a few crumbs,” laughed a boy along with his followers.

Pow!

Lucien Verglas, a nine-year-old boy with short white hair and cold blue eyes, laid in the street, tattered and beaten. His clothes were that of rags, barely enough to cover his body, let alone keep his frail body warm.

He slowly sat up and began to gather the breadcrumbs.

Slam!

Lucien coughed horribly as the gang of boys hit him one last time before walking away laughing. Lucien resumed his attempt to gather the breadcrumbs from the dirty stone road. After he finished this task, he slowly stood and began to walk out of the town of Cleardale.

Cleardale was a small town on the edge of the large country of Verglacia, surrounded by farmland. Past the farmland was forest an all sides. Further south after a few miles of forest, towered the Wasanola Ice Tops, a mountain range that rose miles into the sky and was always covered in ice.

The small town was home to around three thousand people. Most of the farmland was owned by one noble and his word was the law in the town. The town only had a few soldiers from the Monarch’s army to enforce the rules.

There was only one road that lead in and out of Cleardale. It stretched to the north through the woods, further inland into the country.

Lucien continued to walk until he was outside of town and continued towards a very shabby cabin. Outside of the cabin, a woman wearing an apron was knitting a shirt, while sitting in a chair.

“Hello sweetie!” called Lucien’s mother. She would have been a beautiful young woman; except she was very much underweight. She, like her son, had white hair, which stretched down to her waist, and cold blue eyes.

“Hello Mother,” Lucien smiled weakly.

“What’s the matter sweetie.” His mother’s voice was so sweet and relaxing it instantly made Lucien feel better. His mother set down the shirt she was making and knelt down beside Lucien.

“Mother, I worked hard today cleaning dishes for Mr. Fuller and he gave me a whole loaf of bread! I rushed home to share it with you and father, but…” Lucien’s sadness returned as a tear escaped out of his eye.

“Did those boys take away the coppers from you again?” asked his mother. Lucien began to cry and hugged his mother.

“I’m sorry, Mother. If I could only fight back… someday. Someday, I’ll come back with bread and money to share mother!” Lucien cried.

His mother hugged her son tighter and smiled, “It’s ok honey. Your father was been working hard too. We might have a full batch of corn to harvest this year and money saved up to buy meat.”

“That’s right my boy.” Lucien’s father emerged from behind the house with a hoe in hand. He was a tall man with short white hair, mustache and beard, along with the same cold blue eyes. He wore the same white cotton shirt with black leather pants. “I’ve been earning my fair share working in the mountains excavating ice.”

Ice was highly valued as people used it to preserve food for later. Most of the towns people men worked in the Wasanola Ice Tops to gather the ice. It was very dangerous work. At least two men each month fell to their death trying to complete their work.

“Hello, Dear.” Lucien’s mother and father kissed then hugged each other.

“So is dinner about ready?” wondered Lucien’s father.

“Yes dear, we have a couple of steamed potatoes and some bread.”

“That’s all? I’ll need to try to go hunting soon. Get us some meat,” Lucien’s father drooled.

“Father, I brought some breadcrumbs we could share!” Lucien held up the breadcrumbs in the palms of his hands.

“Good work son! Every bit counts!” His father laughed. “Those bullies took your loaf and coppers from you again, didn’t they?”

Lucien’s expression saddened again.

“Yeah.”

“That’s alright my boy, I’ll teach you some self-defense tomorrow. After all, tomorrow’s Sunday. I have the day off!”

Lucien’s expression brightened immediately.

“Yes! Thanks, Father!” Lucien hugged his father’s waist before turning and running into the cabin.

“That boy is really something. He has the purest heart I’ve ever seen.” Lucien’s father commented.

“That’s for sure. He deserves only the best.” Lucien’s mother agreed.

“Damn! He doesn’t deserve this! We shouldn’t even be here, we should be in the capital, not those fat pigs disguised as nobles!” Lucien’s father’s anger began to boil up inside.

“Honey there’s nothing we could do.”

“Yes, there was. We were once known for our great ice magic. I could’ve become a great ice mage.”

“Honey, you know you couldn’t do that. Ice magic is banned in all human countries. You would be executed on the spot if the military found out.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

In the country of Verglacia, the military acted as the nation’s defender as well as enforcers of the law.

“Let’s go inside and eat.” Suggested Lucien’s mother. “Dinner will get cold before too long and Lucien is waiting.”

The cabin had one table as that filled the kitchen. To the left of the table was a cast iron pot with a lid hung over a fire. Behind the table was a small room with two beds with straw mattresses, one for Lucien, the other for his parents. His parent’s bed was slightly larger, but still had trouble fitting two people on it.

Lucien was slowly eating his potato, trying to enjoy every bit of it as possible. He didn’t eat much and wanted to savor every bite.

Lucien’s father looked at his plate, then cut his potato in half and put it on Lucien’s plate. Lucien was surprised by this, as he looked up at his father who calmly smiled back at him.

“Go ahead son, a growing boy like you needs his fill of food.”

Lucien looked at the potato, then cut it in half again and put the one fourth of the potato back on his father’s plate.

“And you need your strength to get us more food, Father,” added Lucien.

Lucien’s father and mother looked at each other, smiled, then looked at their son who resumed eating.

“That’s right, you can start school soon,” recalled Lucien’s mother.

“School?” wondered Lucien.

“Yes, you can go to school for four years for free once you become ten years old. They will teach you how to read, write, some of this world’s history, and basic math,” Lucien’s father explained. “After you finish school you wait a year before you can choose a class of warrior.”

“I know all about that part!” exclaimed Lucien. “You get to touch this crystal ball and it tells you which class best suits you!” It was Lucien’s dream to become a mage, but it was almost guaranteed that his magic would be ice magic, since it is based on heredity, and ice magic ran in the Verglas family. The only problem was that ice magic was banned.

“You don’t know all of it son. You can choose to study another class if you want and train under it, or refuse any class all together and just work as a farmer or a merchant,” added Lucien’s father.

“What’s the fun in that? Also, father, what is math?” asked Lucien.

“Oh, math.” Lucien’s father frowned at this subject. “It’s adding and subtracting numbers.”

“It’s more than that!” Lucien’s mother commented.

“Yeah, but we don’t want to frighten him anymore dear.”

“You just weren’t any good at it,” his mother chuckled.

“Who is?”

They both looked at each other and laughed while Lucien sat there confused.

“I have another question.” Lucien announced.

“Yes?”

“How is school free?” asked Lucien. Lucien knew all too well from his life up until this point that nothing is free.

“Well, it’s not really free. It’s payed for by the Monarchy through the taxes they collect,” explained his father.

“Time for bed sweetie.” proclaimed Lucien’s mother.

Lucien pushed his plate further towards the center of the table and skipped over to his bed and hopped on. His mother tucked him in and kissed him on his forehead. His father added more wood to the fire. It got really cold at night due to the wind coming off of the mountains.

Lucien slowly fell asleep as the fire warmed up the house.