“Wow,” Trent said. “That’s a lot of elementals.”

  His breath fogged in the night air as he looked out from behind a tree.

  “And a big portal,” Brent added.

  “Shush,” Elora snapped.

  Loch shook his head, sometimes regretting bringing the twins. But he agreed with them. There were a lot of elementals and a very big portal. The portal was about twenty feet high but only twelve or so wide. An oblong oval of shimmering white energy bordered in a light blue that Loch could see even in the dark of the night. The elementals all glowed white, showing off their forms made of swirling ice. They were moving cyclones, about twelve feet high and wide, tapering to a point at the bottom that hovered over the ground. The monster spun rapidly, glowing from a point within, whipping shards of ice shooting out from their forms.

  BLIZZARD SHARD ELEMENTALS

  Loch figured they were around Level 15 or so, a dozen of the things moving in random circular patterns around the portal. The portal brightened as another elemental flowed out, joining the motions of the others.

  “That is a Storm Portal,” Cerie said, from where she floated, surrounded by a hat Piper had covered her in to hide her natural glow. As low as she could get it, the green would be visible in the darkness. “They manifest when a storm gets strong enough, gathers enough Spirit to open a connection to the elemental planes.”

  “Can we shut it down?” Loch asked, pulling back behind the tree.

  He’d chosen one large enough for both him and Piper to hide behind. Piper lay against it, Cerie sitting in her lap.

  “Yes. There will be a stone like other portals. You will need to destroy that stone.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Loch said, sighing.

  The swirling ice and flying shards that made up the elemental’s body were going to make it hard on melee fighters, and that was all he had.

  They watched the portal, trying to get a time between summons. Loch measured it at about ten minutes. They couldn’t get a full count of the elementals. There was too much movement as they circled and passed each other. He wished he had brought some ranged fighters.

  “Come on Pipes,” he said. He turned to where the twins and Elora were crouched behind their own trees, getting their attention. He motioned to where the rest waited. “Let’s go make a plan that’ll last all of a minute.”

  Piper chuckled.

  ***

  Loch stepped out from behind the tree, the elementals ignoring him. Summoning Onyx and Bulwark, Loch threw the axe as he Activated Windstep. The axe slammed into the elemental, right above its glowing eyes. Loch appeared in front of it, Bulwark raised. Loch could feel the sharp shards of ice slamming against his shield, bits escaping behind it and crashing against his armor. He could feel the cold coming off the elemental as the wind bashed against him.

  His feet started sliding on the snowy ground. Growling, he pushed his feet down into the snow, holding him in place. He Activated Aura Of Attack, hearing the sound of Abilities and people starting to fight.

  Loch pushed back against the wind, huddling behind Bulwark. With Onyx back in his hand, back at normal size, Loch swung it against the elemental. It was like trying to attack the wind. Loch could feel the swirling body of the elemental pushing against the weapon, trying to lift it away. Loch growled, Activating Cleave. The weapon pushed deep into the elemental, parting the wind that made up its body. With a growl, Loch gave one last push, the axehead cutting into the core that made up the elemental.

  There was a burst of energy, pushing Loch away, as the wind surged. Ice exploded, shooting across the clearing, Loch covering his head with his hands. The ice fell to the ground, clinking against the hard packed snow. Shaking his head to get the ice shards off, Loch looked around the clearing.

  His people were all engaged with the elementals, one on one. They were holding their own, but the icy wind was making it difficult. The hard thing was that it wasn’t a special ability, just a byproduct of the creature’s body. He saw flashes of light from behind the portal as others fought those elementals. The closest fight to him was Piper and her inksummons. Two large ink bears attacked the elemental, the wind and ice shards ripping into the ink that made up the summon’s body. Large holes filled their bodies but it didn’t stop the bears. They tore at the elemental, Piper shooting fireballs from one of her wands. The fireballs did the most damage, parts of the elemental melting off, water dripping onto the ground.

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  Loch threw Onyx, the spinning axe cutting through the icy wind and passing out the other side.

  “Dad!,” Piper yelled out. “This is my fight.”

  Loch smiled, turning and throwing the returned axe at another elemental. Activating Windstep, he crossed the distance, slamming Bulwark into the elemental fighting against Trent. He felt the icy wind and shards crashing against him. Frost spread across his body as Loch felt himself passing through the elemental, falling out the other side. Landing on the ground, forcing himself to stop shivering. The cold spread across his body. Loch pushed himself up, colder than he had ever been in his life.

  “Wow dude,” Trent yelled out, his body covered in dozens of small cuts from the wind driven ice. “That was epic.”

  There was a flash of light, ice exploding out. Loch ducked his head, Trent twisting out of the way at the last second, a large shard of ice cutting across his cheek.

  “Ouch,” he grumbled, then cursed. “There’s a new one,” he yelled out.

  Loch pushed himself up, looking at the portal. A new Blizzard Shard Elemental flowed out of the shimmering circle of energy. Loch cursed.

  “I got it,” Trent said, rushing forward, his spear leading.

  Loch gave the battle another look. His Bannermen were performing as usual. They had the fighting under control. He spent a bit watching Jake Warrick, who was higher up the Ranking Board than anyone else in the Clan. His Aurablade Class gave him an Ability that made the weapons energy become what the target was weakest against. With the elementals, his twin swords were wreathed in flames. It was only the wind and ice that kept him from making short work of the Elemental. The younger man was impressive though. His sword work was some of the best Loch had seen.

  The fighting was under control, which left the portal for him to deal with. Running over, he could feel a strange cold coming from the portal. It leaked into his bones, wanting to slow him down, to stop him from moving. The elemental had been cold, but the energy emitting from the portal was worse. Loch couldn’t hold back the shivering, his teeth chattering, breath freezing instantly.

  He looked around the portal, trying to find the stone. The circle hovered a couple feet off the ground, glowing brightly. Loch couldn’t see anything on the ground that glowed. Nothing indicating where the portal stone was located.

  Cursing, feeling the cold freezing his joints, Loch got down on his knees, pushing at the snow directly under the portal. He dug into the snow, trying to find the stone. His fingers hit something hard. Loch moved closer, feeling the cold from the portal even worse, but he kept digging. LIght was revealed, glowing beneath the snow, revealing the shape of the portal stone.

  Snow and ice had fallen around the stone, burying it deep. Exposing the top quarter, Loch couldn’t get at the rest, not even the strength of his fingers enough.

  “Dammit,” Loch forced out of his chattering teeth.

  He summoned Onyx, turning the weapon over to the hammerhead side. He held the weapon high, swinging it down onto the stone. Again and again, Activating Smash. Cracks spread across the stone. Another smash and more cracks, bigger, a small piece falling off. The light of the stone dimmed. Smash came off cooldown, Loch Activating the Ability again. He slammed the hammerhead of Onyx against the stone, the light flaring and dimming as pieces fall across the snow. Loch fell back, legs too cold and stiff to lift him, watching as the light in the portal started dimming.

  The edges of an elemental appeared, wind swirling in and out of the portal. Then the light winked out, the elemental disappearing. The clearing fell dark without the light from the portal, only the glowing eyes and the cores shining. Abilities flashed in the dark as Loch sat down, arms wrapped around himself as his body shivered.

  He’d never felt such cold.

  He could feel his Health lowering. A flashing in the corner of his vision showed that he had some kind of debuff. A glance showed it as Frost Grasp. Loch didn’t even need an explanation of the debuff. He could feel the intense cold seeping into his bones, spreading through his body.

  The wind still howled, small shards of ice striking his back. Loch tried to move his legs. They didn’t want to but he forced them, first his right, lifting it up and bending the knee. Then his left. He grimaced against the pain, but got them both in position. He pushed himself up, standing unsteadily.

  Trying to walk, Loch took a step and then another. He started moving, lifting his knees, hopping up and down, anything to get circulation flowing again. He felt the cold retreating, warmth spreading through his body.

  Summoning Onyx, Loch looked around the battlefield. There were only a couple of elementals left, his people spreading out to finish them off. The ground was littered with piles of ice, snow and a couple of slightly glowing elemental cores.

  “Dad?” Piper asked, walking over, Cerie floating just above her. “Are you okay? Your skin is kind of blue..”

  Loch smiled, his teeth starting to chatter, but he forced them to stop. He wanted to look at his skin but the only exposed part was his face that he couldn’t see.

  “How bad is it?”

  “It was bluer a minute ago,” Piper said, reaching up and touching his cheek.

  “Your skin is returning to its normal color,” Cerie said.

  Loch glanced at the debuff, seeing it flashing faster and then disappeared. He felt warmer already.