Many years later, I stood on a rock near the coast, facing the ocean, facing my kingdom, facing my people, facing the hustling of the mortal world, and facing the flying snowbird in the sky. My tears couldn’t help but came streaming down my face.

My name is Ka Suo. I grew up in the snow fog forest. The person, who has always been by my side, was an old lady. She was an old spiritualist whom no one could even remember her age.  She told me to call her granny, but she called me prince, the firstborn of the Empire of Snow. Besides the old granny, I also grew up with my younger brother and his name’s Ying Kong Shi. The two of us are the only remaining illusionists left in the Empire of Snow.

On the Code of Illusion, my name means the black city, and my brother’s name is translated as mirage. We have different mothers but of the same father, who is also the ruler of the Empire of Snow. My father is the greatest king in history because he is the one who led the Ice Tribe to victory during the holy war with the Fire Tribe. But this is also the war that caused an irreparable impact to our royal family – three of my older brothers and two of my older sisters died in this decades-long war. This is also why Shi and I are the only illusionists left.

This soul-stirring battle had scarred many people’s memories, but in my memory, the entire earth was filled with sharp icicles and burning flames. The sky was icy white and the earth was flaming red. At that time I was in the palace with my parents. I saw my father’s solemn face and the frown on my mother’s face.  Whenever someone came back to report on the death count, I could see my father’s burly body trembling slightly, and my mother would be sobbing quietly in one corner. The fiery red flame has become the most vivid memories of my childhood picture. And my siblings’ cries of desperation had become the background music of the picture. It was the music that I could never forget, and it never stopped entering my dream. Everytime I struggled to wake up from these nightmares, granny would always use her rough yet warm palm to stroke my cheek, smiling at me and said, “My prince, they will wait for you at the front. You will get to meet them in the end.”

I asked her. “Does it mean I will die as well?”

She just smiled and told me. “Ka Suo, you are the future king. How can you die?”

—

That year I was 99 years old; I was still too young to even qualify as a spiritualist and many years later my memory of that holy war had also become blur.  Everytime if I were to ask granny about the war, she would always reply with a smiling face, “My dear prince, when you become a king, you will know everything.” As for my brother, he almost has no memory about the war. Whenever I mentioned about the holy war, he would flash an innocent and sweet smile at me, saying. “The winner takes the crown, the loser get vilified. This has been the rule, you don’t have to be sad.” With that he would lean over to kiss my eyebrow.

Shi and I were sent to exile to the mortal world for 30 years, and that was after the end of the holy war.  I remembered at the end of the war, the Fire Tribe had already reached the bottom of Ren City of Snow. I saw the flaming red hair and red eyes of the Fire Wizards, I saw the dispersion of the fire and I saw countless ice spiritualist got killed in the fire. And I remembered I was standing on the tall tower when wind from all directions filled my robe. I asked my father. “Father, will we get killed?” He didn’t reply me immediately; his face was full of coldness and arrogance. In the end he just shook his head, his action was slow and the expression was firm.

—

Soon Shi and I were being escorted out of the city by 40 great spiritualists. I remembered I couldn’t stop looking back at the city, and suddenly tears just came streaming down. As the tear fell, I heard a sad wail over the pale sky. I recognized it as the cry of my sister’s unicorn. Shi was holding his snow fox cloak tightly, staring at me and whispered. “Brother, will we get killed?”

I looked at his eyes and lugged him for a hug. “No. We are the best and strongest god race.”

The 40 great spiritualists that were in-charge of escorting us were all killed on our way out of the city. Dead bodies of the fire elves and wizards were seen lying on both sides of the roads. Among them, I saw Ji Quan, a cute little girl whom grew up with me in the snow fog forest, being nailed on the black cliff with a red tricot sword on her chest. She was born with a strong spiritual power but in the end she got killed in the war as well. The wind was blowing at her silvery-white hair and white magic robe lightly as if they were dancing. When the carriage went past the cliff, I could see still see her eyes.  From her glistening white pupils, I could hear her telling me. “Ka Suo, my dear prince, you have to stay strong and live.”

Hector, the last great spiritualist, my father’s trustworthy guard, was the last to fall. I remembered when Shi and I got down from the carriage; the unicorn that was pulling it fell as well. Hector knelt before me, stroking my face and pointed to the horizon ahead of us. “Ka Suo, my dear prince. That is the entrance to the mortal world. I am sorry that I cannot protect you anymore.” He looked up and smiled at me. His young and handsome face was covered with snowflakes. I looked down at the wound on his chest where the blood couldn’t stop flowing and fell to the ground drop after drop. I could see the light in his eyes dying when he mumbled his last words to me. “Ka Suo, Ka Suo, the future king. You have to stay strong, my dear prince, Ka Suo…”

I stood on the snow-filled ground, hugging Shi in my embrace. All of a sudden I felt an unprecedented fear until I felt Shi holding my face with both his palms, asking. “Ge, will we get killed?” I looked at his innocent young face and said. “No, ge will protect you and you will always live, to become the next king.”

Ice Fantasy by Guo Jing Ming

PS: I did my best. I hope you guys understand what I am writing.