From a young age, Tessa did not know why she was born, everyday she would be woken up by five in the morning, taking to the underground lab of the castle and being placed on a small bed where they would put her to sleep and then she would wake up feeling one of her organs cold.
Today, she came back from another round of experimentation. They once again put her in the cell and gave her bread to eat, but this time, she didn't immediately take it. In fact, she couldn't.
She was shivering and shaking all around, she felt cold so very cold, no one was around to see her, no one was around to feel the chilling cold.
Tessa let out a breath, watching as it turned into cold vapour. She felt her body becoming cold as if turning to ice, her heart slowly beating and her lungs struggling to take in the air.
The ground underneath her was slowly freezing, spreading towards the cell and enveloping the room.
Tessa wanted to gasp, but that came out was silence. The cold was increasing. It felt as if her body was freezing, but internally and externally, she could feel her eyes drying up and her scalp turning numb.
And when she thought it wasn't going to get worse, everything ceased, her heart beat, the intake of air into her lungs, her shivering, and her thoughts.
Tessa was in a strange state. She looked like a frozen corpse with no movement, yet her mind was unconscious.
The ice underneath began to crack once more, and something deep within her frozen heart lit up. Above Tessa motes of white and blue light came out from her body and took on the form of a small miniature girl with crystalline blue hair and dress. She had fair skin and dark blue eyes.
Slowly, the motes of light stopped, and the girl landed barefoot on top of Tessa's head.
She blinked as if surprised and then looked down with panic in her eyes and hurriedly entered into Tessa's body in a flash of blue light.
"Achoo?!!." Tessa, who was suddenly out of her u frozen state, sneezed and looked around confusingly while rubbing her nose. She felt cold, but it didn't really feel bad.
She stood up and felt her body feeling better than usual. In fact, this was the first time she felt... good.
'Hey, uhm...are you okay, you Almost froze there Tessa.'
"?!!."
Tessa turned around the room in alert and looked around. Was she hearing things or was thar just her ears.
'Tessa... you're not hearing things, I am an ice spirit formed within your body through the various things done to you... you could say I'm a part of you, like a new organ or brain thay suddenly grew so don't panic'
Tessa's heart started beating with fear. She hesitated for a bit, then spoke. "A-Are you going to hurt me."
'...'
The spirit didn't reply. It decided to appear in front of Tissa with a few particles of spirit energy coming out from her body.
The elemental spirit formed instantly, her ice dress and crown fluttering in the air, making sounds, her crystal blue hair was mesmerising, and her blue eyes resembled that of Tessa. "See, I won't hurt you."
Tessa flinched at the sudden pain she felt when the spirit came out. She ignored that and curiously examined the ice spirit. "You look cute."
The spirit smiled and moved closer to Tessa. "You're cute too, you know. Why don't you give me a name."
Tessa blinked at her words, her mind blanking for a moment. She had never been asked to name anything before—never been given the chance to make decisions about her own life. Her days were controlled, her body was controlled, and even her sleep was controlled. Yet here, before her, stood something that was hers.
"A… name?" Tessa whispered, her voice trembling.
The spirit tilted her head with a gentle smile. "Yes. If you give me a name, then our bond will be complete. I'll be more than just a fragment of power inside you—I'll be your partner."
Tessa's lips quivered. A name… What would it even mean? She wanted something soft, something that made her feel warm—despite the ice. After a long silence, she muttered. "What about Cryally
The spirit's eyes widened, sparkling like frozen lakes catching the first rays of dawn. She covered her mouth with her small hands as if trying to hold back her excitement, but it leaked through in the form of a bright smile.
"Cryally…" she repeated softly, almost reverently. The way she said it made the word sound like a melody of bells chiming in a winter breeze. "I love it. That's my name now."
Tessa blinked, staring at her with disbelief. "Y-You… like it?"
Cryally twirled in the air, her crystalline dress scattering faint glimmers of snowflakes throughout the cell. "Of course! It's beautiful. And it means you gave me an identity. From now on, I'll always be by your side, Tessa. We'll endure everything together."
Tessa's heart beat slightly within her chest. She never had someone say that to her, so she was a little nervous. "R-Really?."
Cryally smiled and tapped Tessa's nose. "Yep, but first, let's leave this place and go outside. Don't you want to see the light of the sun shining across the land up close?."
Tessa scrathed her arm and looked away slightly, she muttered under her breath. "But I have no use but to be...used."
Cryally frowned at her words. She floated towards her ear and sat there. "That's not a good way to think Tessa. You should be selfish, those people that use you are bad, don't you want to leave this place."
Tessa looked down and quietly stared at the floor. What if she did escape, is the outside much better than here? Maybe they'd do far more crueller things to her.
Cryally leaned forward, whispering with a firmness that contradicted her delicate, crystalline frame. "Tessa, listen to me. The outside world might be cruel, but at least you get to choose what happens next. Here, you have nothing but chains."
Tessa's hands trembled as she clasped them together. Chains. Yes, that was what it felt like—the endless bed, the freezing experiments, the tasteless bread. Her existence had been dictated by others from the moment she opened her eyes.
Her lips parted, her voice hoarse. "But… I don't know what it means to live. I don't know what I'm supposed to do if I leave."
Cryally smiled. "Why not look to a brighter future."
Cryally's words lingered in the cold air, soft yet sharp, cutting through the fog that had always clouded Tessa's heart.
"A brighter future…?" Tessa repeated, her voice almost breaking, as if the words themselves were too heavy for her tongue.
She thought about it for a moment and decided that Cryally was right...maybe...maybe she should be selfish a little. "Ok."
Cryally smiled and floated down to her shoulder. "Okay, let's escape, but first, I need to know if you're ready to hurt the people that hurt you so we can escape without them hurting us."
Tessa didn't find anything wrong with Cryally words. She nodded.
Cryally let out a sigh and then turned to the cell bars. They were partially frozen from Tessa's early outburst. Cryally waved her hand, and the bars froze up, turning blue. Frost covered the bars, and with a flick of her wrist, it all shattered into dust.
Cryally turned to Tessa. "Let's go."
Tessa, with a bit of hesitation, nodded her head.
Cryally waited for Tessa to go out. She observed that her steps were hesitant, but as she continued walking, they became more stable by each step. It wasn't that long for her to go out of the cell and once again see the dark hallway of the underground prison with multiple other empty cells.
Cryally followed Tessa from behind as she continued walking forward, passing countless other cells, Tessa was anxious, scared even, as she moved close to the door, her frozen heart began beating. Everything would change the moment she steps out of here.
But she couldn't go back, she didn't want to, so with a steely determination she reached for the door and it froze completely.
SHATTER.
Moments after the door froze, it shattered, and light spilt into the undergone prison. She was surprised by what happened, but she ignored it and stepped out of the dungeon.
Cryally followed behind her.
Once she got out. The light didn't seem all that bright again. She found herself in a hallway adorned with torches on its wall made to illuminate the gaping darkness of the chamber.
Tessa didn't stop but continued walking forward and never looking back, but the strange thing was whenever she walked past a torch, it would extinguish, and darkness would come, but this time, it was accompanied by the deep cold.
Walking barefoot on the ground and her white hair grown past her shoulders and close to her back, Tessa could be mistaken for a lost spirit wandering around...or just a spirit who wishes for freedom.
With every step forward, Tessa felt a mourning to leave this dark place and see what the outside looks and feels like, her steps quickened, her pace now changed to running.
Cryally didn't speak but followed behind her, and when she passed, the chamber was frozen intentionally. In fact, Cryally didn't know what she should do. Being recently born, she is attached to Tessa and is inclined to help her in the right path, but...she was also furious her fury was not that of a blazing inferno, it was that of a cold tundra slowly killing its inhabitants in the endless cold. Freezing them until they shattered into pieces of ice and became glitter that shimmers in the cold air.
Cryally may not be a true spirit per say but she was abnormal, and her abnormality only showed when Tessa was hurt. It was better for Cryally to just freeze everyone in this despicable castle and make every despicable person here die a frozen and despicable death.
It seems she says despicable too much?. It was natural, really. She was born from the elemental nature of ice, which was cold and calculating, merciless when needed and devastating when angered.
She floated up close to Tessa's ears and followed her pace while she whispered. "Tessa, the people that cut you open, if we don't freeze everyone here, they will do it once more, so if someone tries to attack you, I want you to freeze them...is that okay with you?."
Tessa hesitated for a moment, and she almost stopped running, but she didn't because if she did, what is the difference between stopping and going back to be experimented on? She replied. "Ok."
Hearing her confirmation, Tessa was satisfied. The torches were becoming lesser as she ran, and soon she saw a metal black and large metal door in front of her. Tessa had to stop not only because of the door but also because she needed to let out a breath.
Strangely enough, all that running didn't tire her, but the sudden urge to let out a "breath" was strange. Running here, Tessa consumed a lot of oxygen that didn't come out of her frozen longs but stayed there slowly turning into a cold mist.
The moment she let out that "breath," the metal door didn't look all that black anymore. It became white and fragile. At this point, even an infant could probably open it.
The door crumbled, and when it finally did, everyone from the other side looked towards the crumbled door. There, they saw the image of a pale looking girl with white hair and eyelashes. Her eyes were like precious frozen diamonds.
Before they could react, the girl pointed her arm at them and with hesitation she said. "Freeze."