3.26.2025 - The Unmelting Ice of Frozen Joy pt 2
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Parable 2: The Slobbery Squirrel Stampede
[Image: The trio dashing excitedly down a wide forest path, giggling and cheering with Bag of Wonderment bouncing at their sides.]
The trio darted down the mossy middle path of Baccyardigahn Forest, all giggles and gleaming eyes, the Bag of Wonderment jingling joyfully at their hips like an excited puppy. The trees above danced with sparkling dew, casting dappled shadows over their trail.
They passed strange side-paths and glowing groves, but in their excitement, they didn’t even glance left or right. After all, the road ahead sparkled just enough to feel like the right one.
Then, a pause.
Something had shifted.
The path ahead, while still sparkly and mossy, had begun to look suspiciously familiar—like they’d circled through it once before, or maybe that it was watching them back. The leaves glistened just a bit too neatly. The trees stood a little too still. Somewhere between the dappled sunlight and the wayward song of a flute-frog, they realized...
They stuck out.
All around them was a perfectly curated forest aesthetic: curling vines, glowing petals, and puddles that shimmered like storytome mirrors. Their traveling cloaks—patched from a dozen previous quests and streaked with snack grease and pocket glitter—were making them look more like traveling salesbeasts than forest-bound heroes.
Zsolista blinked and she knew what to do.
“Wait... are we even dressed for this quest?”
The three skidded to a dramatic halt. Silence fell. Then—POOF!
They reached into their magical satchel, and with a ripple of sparkles and a burst of celebratory confetti, out came new outfits.
[Image: The trio in silly-but-cool costumes—Boka and Baby dressed as giant acorns, Zsolista in a leafy, enchanted tree-spyrit armor with flowing green vines.]
Boka blinked at himself, horrified.
“I’M AN ACORN?! I’m crunchy and adorable! Boka-boka\~!”
Baby twirled, her leafy belt bouncing with joy.
“I feel like a forest snack. It’s-a-baby\~”
Zsolista laughed, hands on hips. “You are snacks. Magical snacks. Now let’s move.”
Their costumes shimmered—gifts from forgotten festivals, mossy treasure hunts, and enchanted swap meets. Enchanted, silly, battle-tested.
They charged ahead—feet thudding, hearts light.
Trees arched like cathedral windows, letting in filtered beams of dappled gold. Ferns lined the trail with delicate curls, and between the roots of trees were tiny forest pools that mirrored the sky like cracked sapphires. Here and there, through small open pockets in the greenery, they glimpsed other trails—branching paths with odd twists and glowing stones, as if the forest were gently reminding them: There are many ways through.
They followed the path without much concern, they believed that eventually all will be set right and they will make it to where they needed to go. Zsolista almost lost faith until
—SPLUT!
A gooey, greenish blob smacked into Boka’s arm and stuck like warm jelly.
“YUCK! This is not delicious! What is this?! Boka-boka\~!”
They all looked up.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of slobbery squirrels stared down from the branches. Each was the size of a shaggy dog and glistened with sticky anticipation. Their eyes sparkled. Their tongues dangled. Their bellies rumbled.
And to them, Boka and Baby looked like the tastiest walking trail mix they'd ever seen.
Their costumes shimmered in all the wrong ways—glowing just enough to resemble enchanted nut shells and crunchy-forbidden delight. A hush swept through the canopy, as if the whole forest had drawn breath at once. Then, with gleeful screeches and trails of drool, the squirrels launched themselves from the trees like a flood of fuzzy, fangy hunger wrapped in static-charged fur!
[Image: Squirrels with exaggerated cartoonish drool and wild eyes rushing down giant tree trunks as the trio prepares to run.]
Zsolista pointed her staff. “Run and cast spells! We’re not going down like nut-pie victims!”
The forest exploded with chaos.
Boka fired off a bolt of lightning—ZAP! It scorched a branch but missed its furry target.
Baby spun and flung fireballs—FWOOOM!—but the squirrels’ damp, rain-matted fur puffed the flames out like soggy candles.
Zsolista summoned crackling thunder—CRACK!—but it barely made their whiskers twitch.
Above them, clouds darkened. The sky grumbled.
Then—SPLASH! A raindrop the size of a teacup slammed into the ground, carving a crater. Then another. Then dozens.
Baby squealed. “It’s raining squirrels and doom!”
Zsolista's eyes narrowed.
“Then let’s use the rain.”
She swirled her staff and channeled wind magic, sending the falling droplets sideways, straight toward the rampaging rodents. Boka joined her, guiding currents like invisible rivers. Baby added water magic of her own, shaping droplets into tiny tidal waves.
[Image: The trio controlling storm droplets like marbles, guiding them onto the squirrels using wind and water spells.]
The squirrels began to slow. Their thick fur clumped and sagged with soggy weight, transforming them from leaping lightning bolts to squishy, stumbling mop-balls. The soaked creatures skidded and slipped with every step, their furious squeals becoming confused chirps as their once-slick movements turned sluggish and splattery. Some even toppled over entirely, sliding down vines and tumbling off branches with a series of exaggerated flops.
Water streamed from their ears and fluffed tails like tiny waterfalls, and the forest floor squelched beneath their paws. The battle was no longer between predator and prey—it was between gravity and slipperiness.
Zsolista lifted her staff. “Now—ZAP!”
Lightning struck. This time—it worked. The squirrels sparked, jolted, and slipped from branches with dramatic squeals.
But a few seconds later—they shook off the lightning, fluffed up again, and returned with vengeance in their eyes.
Baby huffed. “Lightning's too fast. We need something that sticks.”
She clapped her hands and shouted:
“Frosting Blizzard! …I mean—ICE!”
With a sparkle of frost, she cast an elegant ice spell. One squirrel froze mid-leap, tongue still out. It licked the ice in defiance before toppling over, dramatically frozen in snack-seeking position.
Zsolista’s eyes lit up.
“Perfect! Let’s go full freeze!”
She lifted her staff and sang, the words echoing like a lullaby made of thunder:
“Frozen Sonnet: Dropped Decibels!”
A wave of magical sound burst upward. The raindrops in the air froze instantly—each one transforming into a sharp, shimmering crystal. Then—CRASH! They rained down like glass meteors.
BOOM. CRACK. KSSSHHHH!
[Image: Heroic shot of the trio celebrating while icy squirrel shards sparkle in the stormlight behind them.]
The trees trembled. The squirrels froze in panic.
“NOW!” shouted Boka. “Boka-blast time!”
A massive gust of wind knocked the icy beasts from their perches. One by one, they tumbled like glittering popsicles and shattered into harmless, sparkly shards across the forest floor.
The trio panted. Laughed. Danced in the icy mist.
They collected shiny acorn medals and stored a few snacks from the fallen fluff-beasts. Baby found a fuzzy slipper that definitely hadn’t been theirs and claimed it as treasure.
Around them, the forest slowly calmed. Paths appeared—more now than before, all glowing faintly in the stormlight. But they followed the middle path still, drawn by something steady and unseen.
Their spirits rose like steam after snowfall.
The Mountain of Sheydlandia awaited.
So did the Unmelting Ice of Frozen Joy.
And the forest?
It whispered behind them: Come back soon… we’re still hungry.
Chapters for Unmelting Ice of Frozen Joy
Chapter 1 of 8: The Unmelting Ice of Frozen Joy
Chapter 2 of 8: The Slobbery Squirrel Stampede
Chapter 3 of 8: The Loquata of Desire and Fire
Chapter 4 of 8: The Curse of Forest King Rizzoff
Chapter 5 of 8: The Castle of the Frozen Mountain
Chapter 6 of 8: The Heart of the Frozen Castle
Chapter 7 of 8: The Choice Beneath the Ice
Chapter 8 of 8: The Last Drop of Loquata
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These get me hyped, maybe because theyre so short that I dont have to concern myself with writing a 10000 pages or something and I can take it one paragraph at a time and really hone my skills naturally than trying to force it. I can make mistakes and just keep writing. its very freeing.