CHILDHOOD

“Hoonie! … Hoonie!”

Teukkies voice was barely a hoarse whisper. I slowly turned my head, straining my eyes to make out his face in the suffocating darkness of the dungeon. My fingers slowly dragged across the ragged stone ground in search for his cold hand. They clasped tightly around his knuckles and I could feel him trembling.

“Teuk?”

“I’m here for you, little brother! Don’t lose conscience!”

He came closer and put his lips against my ear shell. Hastily he whispered:

“I’ve heard fighting noises earlier! Be prepared to run!”

I shook my head and whinced when a searing pain shot through my temples.

“Can’t … Teuk. Leave me.”

“Never. How can you say this? After all we’ve been through? Together? Come on, Hoonie, get a grip! We have to survive no matter what!”

I groaned lowly and tried to shift my laying position into a more comfortable one.

“Hold me please, hyung!”

My trembling fingers nudged his cold hand to embrace me, which it did almost instantly. He carefully took me into his arms and cradled my head against his chest. My dry lips pulled up into a small smile when I listened to his steady heart beat.

“I’ll get you out of here, Hoonie! I promise. After all you’ve been through because of me…”

The last sentence he said was so quiet, I almost missed it. My heart ached and I slowly looked up into his eyes.

“Never say it’s your fault.”, I mumbled. Then I lost consciousness.

…

The battle had lasted three winters and seven fortnights and was to go down in history as the Battle of the Great Four. For the first time in history, the four mortal tribes of the Healers, the Dreamweavers, the Spirits and the Mermaids had gathered and defeated the evermighty Tribe of Fire. Teukkie and I were freed. After twelve years of growing up in prison my brother and I left and returned to the Ice Tribe. We built up our city Págos to its former glory. Our father took the throne once again, becoming the Eternal King of Ice and Teukkie and I stood by his side. If only the peace could be maintained the same way as before.

But the Firetribe began to stir in the south again and the Eternal King of Ice pressured us, his sons and heirs to progress in our Ice magic to triumph over the enemy again.

…

“Prince Min Hoon, please focus more. You’re lacking too much in your studies. Just look at your brother! He’s doing exceptionally well. One day he’ll be the best magician of our tribe. Don’t you want to raise up to him? Don’t you want to make the Eternal King proud?”

The voice of my teacher drone in my ears and I cringed slightly. My attempts to get the water in the glass frozen had been fruitless so far. The liquid simply refused to enter the solid state. Or my powers simply didn’t work. Had I ever even had powers? I couldn’t remember. In the Fire dungeons we’d been prohibited to practice our magic, but my brother had found ways to do it secretly still. I’d tried several times then, but failed. Teuk had told me, that maybe it was still too early and that I needed to grow a little more. But now, five years after our victory when I was close to my manhood ceremony, I still couldn’t grasp it.

Frustrated I huffed a white cloud into the cold morning air and gave the table in front of me a strong kick. The glass with water didn’t even budge. I slumped into my seat and stared off towards the snow covered mountains in the distance. My teacher who hadn’t stopped talking and pacing behind my stool, came to a stop and gave a curt bow to the person enterin