Page 92 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“Yes, it’s like… I have a picture of it in my mind, but reality always shocks me again,” Endellion agrees.
They let me roam around, for I don’t know how long. I have lost my sense of direction and am glad that they are with me. We eventually reach the outer border of the forest.
“What is next to the forest?” I ask, while I gaze over the landscape. The Crystal Forest is romantic, like out of a fantasy, out of a dream. And now, next to it, there is another stunning landscape, albeit much scarier… but also breathtakingly beautiful. The land in front of me is empty, deserted, but not like a snow desert… It's full of frozen grass and trees. It looks like a storm once ravished the landscape. Similar to the sand dunes at home, where nothing really grows. I’m speechless at the fact that the Crystal Forest and this rough snow dune are existing next to each other.
“It's a wasteland,” Flinn explains. “There has been nothing growing there for many years.”
“The farmers close to this place always have problems with their harvest, as the climate is rougher and the forest doesn’t give protection like inside the country,” Endellion explains. “We send a lot of supplies here.”
“It looks beautiful,” I say. “But also terrifying.”
“In nature, these two often come with one another,” Endellion says. “Beautiful, but also scary.”
“Can I step onto these lands, or is it dangerous?”
“Go ahead,” Caelan encourages me. “It’s not dangerous. It’s just… dead.”
I carefully step onto the wasteland; the snow feels crunchy beneath my feet. Endellion is right… When we rode past the towns in the inner lands there were lots of greenhouses, even fields protected by fire and blankets. These people have found a way to harvest plants and vegetables in the snow, but Erin’s home town doesn’t have anything like that, and I assume other packs close by share the same fate.
“Why is it like this?” I ask.
“We don’t know,” Endellion says. “But there are a few legends surrounding it.”
“Legends?” I notice how Flinn and Caelan exchange a few gazes and even toss one at Endellion, but he ignores them.
“They say there was a war once between the dragons.”
The dragons!
“Dragons have powers over different elements,” Endellion explains. “I’m not sure if all of this is true, Aza, but I’m starting to believe that at least parts of it are. It’s said that the fire dragons burned these lands down while fighting the water dragons… They answered by letting their icy breath cover these fields. In the end, most of them died in this battle, and the lands never recovered again.”
“What did they battle about?”
“No one quite knows that,” Flinn says.
“And when did it happen?”
“Again, no one really knows. This is very close to the borders, so naturally, not many wolves lived here. It’s said there were riots when our father was still young.”
“Is this where the dragons lived?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Endellion says. “If we believe the rumors, then-” He points at the mountains in front of us. “Then, they used to live in the mountains, stretching themselves from here over to our northern border.”
I follow the direction he points at and gaze into the distance. Large mountains stretch all over the area. It reminds me once more that we are close to the northern border of the kingdom. Even in the distance, the mountains look huge; it’s no surprise that the dragons were able to hide for so long if they stayed there.
“Alana is researching at a place close to it, isn’t she?” I ask.
“Yes, she, Ita and Tynan are further up North and closer to the mountains.” Caelan answers. “Not everything is a wasteland though,” he says. “The packs in the north-west have a lot of forests too.”
“Why are they in danger? Is it the location?”
“All packs at our borders are having it rough,” Endellion explains. “The only exception is the pack you passed through when you arrived. But, we are at peace with the Everlasting Desert, and the no-man’s land there is just a small strip of land.”
I keep walking around the area, but Caelan is right, it's basically dead land. My heart hurts some at seeing the destruction, and that nature wasn’t able to recover. Eventually, though, we move back and once in the Crystal Forest, I feel the warmth in my body returning and feel a little more at ease again.
The destruction of the wasteland lies in the past. Maybe we can find a way to one day fix it again. I feel my mood rising again, and when we are back with our horses, I’m happily making plans with the guys. It’s already night when we reach the inn again, a long day coming to its end, and we just have a swift dinner before we all head to our rooms to get some rest.
After my lesson with Erin, I felt drained, but spending the afternoon outdoors has given me some energy again. My mind feels fresh, just my body is tired.
