Chapter one: up the hill

I was struggling up a dense body of ice that was constantly moving under its own weight. The accumulation of snow in this area had exceeded its ablation over many years.

From a distance, I might have looked like a doodle crawling up the side of a cup. The Margherita was far below me, the wind increasing as my stature did, blowing powdery specks of snow into my face whilst freezing the damp edges of my thick black hair. Despite my sunglasses, I squeezed my eyes shut at the brightness of the reflected African sunset.I wasn't afraid of falling, with ropes directly attached to my harness, crampons to improve on my mobility, and an axe, I mean how could I fall even though I was at a high altitude.

My name is Iga and am a magus.

I tried to shape and mold the frozen ice under my arms as I climbed but failed. Every frozen handle I made would break before I would take hold onto it. My magic was severely injured, just like everybody's. Good thing I had ropes tied around me, so I struggled my way up.

By the time I reached a cave halfway up this mountain, I was halfway frozen and extremely exhausted from trying to bend the will of heavens to tame earth elements into handholds. It sapped our energy to exert magic continuously, but I would still dare to do so.This cave opened up like a mouth on the mountain ready to devour anything.

It couldn't be seen from above or below. I pulled myself over the edge and took a very deep scattered breath cursing myself for not getting here sooner. And for allowing myself to be tricked.Around the Rwenzori Mountain, people had seen an explosion and whispered under their breaths what it could have meant. This was a block mountain and there was no way it could spit out fire.

Of course, this had to be a signal … or an attack.This cave was full of magi too old to fight or too young, the injured and the sick, mothers of very young children who could not be left—like my own wife and son. They had been hidden away here, in one of the most remote places on earth.Chief Manzi had said they would be very vulnerable that would be used as hostages and I had trusted him.

Then, when our deadliest enemy hadn't shown up on the field to face our champion, the Alur girl upon whom all our hopes had been placed, I realized my mistake. I hurriedly got to Rwenzori Mountain as fast as I could, flying most of the way using the air element that manifested and bodily carried me to my destination.

From there, I made my way up the mountain on foot since our enemy's control of elementals was so unpredictable and stronger than any of us all. The higher I climbed, the more scared I felt. I was also very frightened to the core.

'Let them all be alright.' Was all I could think of as I stepped inside the cave. 'Please, let them be fine, perfectly fine.

'There was supposed to be the sound of little children crying. There should have been a low but noticeable vibration of nervous conversations and the intransitive of somber magic. Instead, there was only the blow of wind as it swept over the isolated Stanley peak.

The cave walls were icy white specked with red and brown colors, probably from the spilled blood. I pulled off my sunglasses in agony and dropped them on the ground where they made a sound I couldn't even hear.I pushed farther into the passage, drawing on the alluvium of my power to keep myself steady. The walls of the cave gave off a rum phosphorescent glow. It was the only light I had to see by since I was a bit away from the cave's entrance, which is why I stumbled over the first corpse and nearly razed to my knees and face.

I jerked away with a wail and then winced as I heard my own echo shout back at me. It was so creepy. The dead magus was burnt beyond recognition but wore a bead wristband that marked her as a second level oracular. She must have been around fourteen years old.

'You should be used to death by now you idiot.' I told myself. we had been at war with our enemy for a longtime now and it felt like a century sometimes. At first, it seemed amiable as we took the enemy to be our friend.

But as the enemy increased in power and control of our area, he turned unto us and referred to us as evil beings. He made our own people to turn unto us in our own land. The threat had become inescapably dire … culminating in this pitiless slaughter of the most helpless and the most innocent.I got up to my feet and moved deeper into the cave, desperately looking for one face above all. I pushed my way past the bodies of the elderly Mzeeis from the oracular, children of acquittances and magi who had fought hard in all battles. Among these lay the broken bodies of the chaos ridden whose eyes had darkened forever.

Though these magi had been unprepared, they had to have put up a serious fight and killed many of the enemy's army. Horror running through his blood, all body tips numb, I staggered through it all until I laid my eyes on her.

Pimer.

I found her lying at the back of the cave against a cloudy wall of ice. Her eyes were widely open, staring at exactly nothing. Her irises looked very dark and her lashes were having frost. Leaning down, I brushed my fingers over her trying to cool down her pretty face. I drew in a deep sharp breath, trying to contain my sob.

But where was our son?

Where