Phealafarian Frontiers : 27 : Abolish Ice
The river did not relent.
What had begun as a skirmish became a grinding war of attrition as Ice Mephits continued to claw their way up from the black water below. They swarmed in shrieking clusters, circling and diving, their jagged forms bursting apart in flashes of killing cold the moment they were struck down. Tobias and Tosk bore the brunt of it, standing firm on the cracking ice as frost bloomed across their armor and fur.
Tosk, still towering in his giant form, became a beacon for the creatures’ fury. They harried him relentlessly, slashing and shrieking, their blows light on their own but deadly in accumulation. Each icy detonation rattled his massive frame, numbing limbs and stealing breath. Tobias stayed close, shield and blade moving in constant motion, intercepting strikes meant for his companion and taking others head-on as the cold seeped deeper with every passing moment.
The ice groaned beneath them.
More Mephits burst free as the frozen surface split wider, fractures racing outward like veins of glass. On the riverbank, the others fought to keep space between themselves and the chaos, firing into the melee while watching the ground warily for signs of collapse.
One Mephit peeled away from the swarm, drifting low toward Guardian and Eldrin. It inhaled sharply, chest frosting over, then exhaled a blast of killing cold. The air crystallised mid-flight, breath turning to pain. Guardian staggered back as Eldrin cursed sharply, boots sliding across ice-slick stone. They moved without speaking—steel flashing as they closed in together. The Mephit shattered beneath their blades, and Guardian vanished in a blink of magic, reappearing several paces away just as the creature’s death burst tore through the space he had occupied moments before.
Then the river itself screamed.
The ground shook violently as enormous cracks tore through the ice, splitting the battlefield apart. Jagged icicles erupted from the riverbanks, spearing upward with lethal force. Erisa, Thomas, Guardian, and Eldrin leapt forward onto the frozen river to avoid being impaled, boots skidding as the surface buckled beneath them.
From the fragments of shattered Mephits, something new began to form.
Ice shards spiralled together, drawn by an unseen force, fusing into a towering shape of frozen malice. A Greater Ice Mephit rose from the river, its body a jagged mass of compacted frost and translucent ice, glowing faintly from within as it let out a thunderous, echoing shriek.
It dove.
The creature vanished beneath the water in a heartbeat, re-emerging from a fresh裂 directly beside Tobias. Claws of solid ice raked toward him in a blur of motion. Tobias barely managed to turn the blows aside, sparks and shards flying as steel met frozen talons. The impact sent him skidding backward across the ice, boots carving deep grooves as he fought to keep his footing.
Tosk turned to follow—but the swarm would not let him go. Smaller Mephits clung to him, hacking and screeching, forcing him to focus on keeping them at bay while Tobias and the others took on the greater threat.
Ranged attacks hammered into the Greater Mephit. Arrows cracked against its hardened shell. Bolts and spells struck true, but many glanced off, partially deflected by the creature’s thick, icy carapace. Still, the impacts began to tell, fissures spiderwebbing across its surface.
Wounded, the Greater Mephit plunged back into the river.
It erupted again from the ice between the ranged fighters, its body glowing a brilliant, terrible blue. Frost spiralled violently around it, building into a roaring vortex before exploding outward in a freezing torrent. The blast slammed into Thomas, Erisa, Guardian, and Eldrin all at once, hurling them back as ice scoured armor and flesh alike.
As the frost settled, Erisa forced herself upright, vision swimming. She raised her crossbow with shaking hands, eyes narrowing as she spotted a flaw—a chipped fracture in the Mephit’s armour where the ice had already weakened. She fired.
The bolt struck true.
The hardened shell shattered apart in a spray of ice, exposing the creature’s softer, snow-packed core beneath. A howl tore from the Greater Mephit as the party surged forward, redoubling their assault.
Still the smaller Mephits swarmed.
Tobias and Tosk were slowing now, damage finally catching up with them. Tosk drew deep on his reserves, forcing breath back into frozen lungs, while Tobias laid a glowing hand against his own armour, warmth spreading outward—his magic bolstered by the enchanted mitten, the cold’s bite dulled at last.
They exchanged a look.
Then they charged.
Together they barreled toward the Greater Mephit, ignoring the shrieks behind them as smaller Mephits clawed at their backs. Broken ice shattered underfoot as they plunged through slush and freezing water, muscles screaming in protest as the cold tried to seize them whole.
A smaller Mephit darted in to strike at Tosk—but the great mammoth raised a wall of swirling mist in an instinctive sweep of his trunk. The creature’s attack went wide, its frozen claws instead carving into the Greater Mephit’s exposed core.
That was enough.
The Greater Mephit detonated in a catastrophic explosion of cold and shrapnel. Icicles and frost blasted outward in every direction. Eldrin was caught full-on by the blast and thrown hard onto the ice, his body going limp as darkness claimed him.
Silence followed—brief, fragile.
Then the party moved as one.
Tosk and the others finished off the remaining Mephits with brutal efficiency, cutting down the last of the swarm as Tobias dropped to Eldrin’s side, magic flowing once more. Breath returned. Eyes opened. Eldrin gasped, dragged back from the edge by sheer force of will and divine aid.
As the final Mephit fell, the battlefield changed.
Shards of shattered ice began to tremble, vibrating softly before sliding back toward the river as if drawn by an unseen tide. The cracks in the ice sealed themselves, frost knitting back together into a solid surface. Along the banks, the towering icicles melted away with a hiss, collapsing into harmless slush.
The air warmed—just slightly.
Whatever had driven the Mephits to madness had passed. The river lay still once more, frozen, but calm.
