becca · @wu_yi_fan
17th Jun 2014 from TwitLonger
Ice Fantasy - Part 1 Chapter 1: My name is Kasuo
Many years later, I stood on a slab of outcropping stone by the shore, facing the vast ocean, facing my kingdom, facing the people who served me, facing the hustle and bustle of the mortal world, facing the snow bird high up in the sky in flight.
And tears streamed down my face.
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My name is Kasuo. I grew up in the Snow Fog Forest, brought up by an elderly sorceress, so old that no one could remember her age. She let me call her Granny, whereas she called me crown prince, the eldest son of the emperor of the Snow Kingdom. My younger brother also grew up with me, and his name was Ying Kong Shi. The both of us were the only two remaining illusionists in the Snow Kingdom.
According to the codes of illusion, my name meant “city of blackness”, and my brother’s name translated to “mirage”. We were born of different mothers but we shared the same father, the Snow Kingdom’s elderly Emperor. My father was the greatest ruler in the history of the Snow Kingdom. Two hundred years ago in a holy war against the Fire Tribe, he led an all out war against the enemy, fighting with all that our kingdom had. However we did not emerge victorious, and in that particular war, our royal family suffered irreplaceable losses. Three of my older brothers and two of my older sisters were lost to this decade-long war, thus leaving behind me and Ying Kong Shi, the only two surviving illusionists in the family. In that battle, countless other illusionists, astrologers and swordsmen lost their lives too.
The war had left deep, never-to-be-touched-again scars in the souls and memories of all our kingdom’s people. In my memory, the skies were filled with the shrill whistling of sharp icicles as they propelled through the air, and the ground was plagued with burning flames. The heavens were as white as a vast expanse of untainted snow while the entire earth was scorching red, consumed by fire. At that time, I was in the palace, seated by the warm fireplace on an luxurious rug made from the fur of a thousand-year-old snow fox, when I saw my father’s solemn expression and my mother’s furrowed brows. Every time someone from the battlefield came back to report the death count, I would see my father’s burly body tremble slightly, and tears would silently stream down my mother’s face. The view of the red flames outside the palace window was the most vivid scene in my childhood memory. The background noise that accompanied this scene was the desperate cries of my older brothers and sisters. Sounds of their cries repeatedly played in my nightmares, again and again, never subsiding even over time. I would struggle to wake up, but I could remember hazy visions of Granny’s aged face, and her rough yet warm palm gently caressing my face. With a smile, she had told me, “My crown prince, they will wait for you at the forefront, and you will eventually meet.” I asked her, “Does this mean I will die, too?” She laughed and replied, “Kasuo, you are the next king, how could you die.”
That year, I was 99 years old. I was still too young, and I did not even possess the requirements for being a sorcerer. This is why, many years later right now, my memories of the holy war are already blurred. Whenever I asked Granny about it, her entire face would break out in a smile and she would say to me, “My beloved crown prince, when you become king, you will know everything.” My younger brother has practically no memories of that battle. Whenever I brought it up to him, he would always smile lightheartedly, as sweet as a young child, and tell me, “Win, and you will be treated like a king. Lose, and you will be treated like an outcast. Ge, this is only justice, you need not be saddened.” After which, he would lean over and tenderly kiss my brow.
After the holy war, Ying Kong Shi and I were exiled to the mortal world for 30 years. I remembered, in the final round of battle, the Fire Tribe had already conquered the lower parts of the Ice Kingdom. At that time, I could see the blazing red hair and eyes of their people, see whole the sky ablaze with the fiery arrows, see countless of our sorcerers melt in the fire. I remembered standing on a high vantage point that overlooked the Ice Kingdom, wind from all directions blowing my robes. I asked my father if we would be killed by them, but he did not reply, his face cold and expressionless. In the end he merely shook his head, slowly yet steadily, his belief as hard and as concrete as the frozen ice on the mystical Ice Mountain.
The 40 sorcerers who escorted Shi and I out of the Ice Kingdom were all killed during the journey, and while traveling in the unicorn drawn carriage, I kept seeing the corpses of the Fire tribe’s elves and sorcerers lying on both sides of the road. Amongst the bodies, I saw Ji Quan, a girl I has grown up with in the Snow Fog Forest. She was cute little girl, who was born with strong spiritual power, but she too, passed on. She died on a cliff, and there was a red trident that was pierced right through her chest, pinning her to the black rock. The breeze blew against her silver hair and white robes gently, lifting up strands of iridescent hair and pale cloth, as if they were in a beautiful dance. I remembered, as the carriage passed the cliff, her eyes were still open, and I could almost hear her telling me with her white, crystal clear pupils, “Kasuo, my beloved crown prince, you must continue to live on strongly.”
I remember that the last sorcerer who was defeated was Ke Tuo, my father’s close and trusted bodyguard. My brother and I had disembarked from the carriage, and Ke Tuo was lying on the ground. Even the unicorn that had been pulling us was also fallen on the ground, unable to get up any more. Ke Tuo stroked my face and pointed to the horizon in front of us and told me, “Kasuo, my beloved crown prince, the entrance to the mortal world lies ahead, but I cannot protect you any longer.” He gave me a smile, while descending snowflakes slowly fell on his young and handsome face. I could see that white blood was pouring out continuously from the gaping wound in his chest, drop by drop, dripping onto the blackened ground, gradually pooling together and spreading out. His gaze became unfocused and his last breath was spent calling my name, “Kasuo, Kasuo, the next king, you have to live on strongly, my beloved crown prince, Kasuo…”
I hugged Ying Kong Shi as we stood amidst the snow covered ground, suddenly feeling a sense of unprecedented fear. Cupping my face in his hands, Shi asked me, “Ge, will we be killed?” I looked down at his small, young face, and said, “No, Shi, ge will protect you. You will surely live on, and become the next king.”
http://wu-yi-fan.com/post/89046129719/ice-fantasy-part-1-chapter-1-my-name-is-kasuo