The Attack of the Ice Reich

Paul Scheeler

Description

A field trip leads high schooler Peter Smythe into a world of dangerous gods and monsters, where he discovers his true powers and what it really means to be brave.
Peter Smythe always thought he was more of a loser than a hero. That all changes with a high school crush, a field trip gone wrong, and a ring that he never, ever should have put on. Suddenly, Peter’s life of exceptional boredom and insignificance is transformed when he is pulled into Miria, a world on the verge of annihilation.
The sister of “Cog,” the most powerful god in Miria has gone missing. Together, their combined power held back the Ice Reich—an empire of fallen gods and ice monsters—for thousands of years. Now, the Ice Reich is poised to destroy Miria. When it finishes with Miria, it will destroy everything in the Nine Realms, including Peter’s best friend, his favorite teacher, and his family if Peter and his friends aren’t up to the task.
To return home, Peter must forge friendships with the most unlikely of people and master the power of his ring. As he navigates a world of gods and monsters, he and his friends must find Cog’s sister and untangle an ancient plot all before a ticking clock strikes its final hour.

Sujets

• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 24 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663234148
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE ATTACK OF THE ICE REICH
 
THE RECORD OF THE FIVE RINGS
 
 
 
 
 
 
PAUL SCHEELER
 
 
 

 
THE ATTACK OF THE ICE REICH
THE RECORD OF THE FIVE RINGS
 
Copyright © 2022 Paul Scheeler.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
 
iUniverse
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www.iuniverse.com
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-3415-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-3414-8 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021925737
 
iUniverse rev. date: 08/23/2022
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1My Last Moments
Chapter 2Things Were Mostly Better Last Week
Chapter 3How to Make Friends and Enemies
Chapter 4Emily and the Black Dog
Chapter 5The Goddess of Wisdom
Chapter 6Disaster at the Football Game
Chapter 7The Fate of McBooblias and Cheeks
Chapter 8The Girl
Chapter 9Disappearing Dreams and Vanishing Teens
Chapter 10The Bad Bus Ride
Chapter 11The Fateful Field Trip
Chapter 12I Become a Jedi, Sort Of
Chapter 13A Familiar Face
Chapter 14An Extremely Unlikely Escape
Chapter 15The Four
Chapter 16Riding the Wind (Somewhat Successfully)
Chapter 17Awkward Explanations
Chapter 18Disappointments and Dreams
Chapter 19The Toll of a Thousand Bells
Chapter 20The Man in the Lonely Castle
Chapter 21The Quest
Chapter 22The Duty of the Rock
Chapter 23Escape through the Tunnels
Chapter 24Gifts
Chapter 25The Watchman
Chapter 26Decisions
Chapter 27The Keeper of the Mansion
Chapter 28Tales of an Ancient
Chapter 29The Knock at the Door
Chapter 30The Secret Chamber
Chapter 31The Poem and the Knife
Chapter 32A Battle in Darkness
Chapter 33The End of the Beginning
Chapter 34The Sense
Chapter 35I Become One with the Horse
Chapter 36The Talk
Chapter 37The Delegate
Chapter 38The Three Kingdoms
Chapter 39Kalix
Chapter 40Soup and Stories
Chapter 41The Games
Chapter 42An Old Hope
Chapter 43The Fateful Flames
Chapter 44The Phantom Men
Chapter 45Attack of the Stones
Chapter 46The Weeping Woods
Chapter 47Meila
Chapter 48The Big Fall
Chapter 49Learning to Float like a Butterfly
Chapter 50The Laganmorfs
Chapter 51A Dark Tale and a Proposition
Chapter 52Odysseus’s Longing
Chapter 53The Eavesdropper and the Decision
Chapter 54Considerations
Chapter 55An Old Story
Chapter 56A Night’s Changes
Chapter 57Farewell Questions
Chapter 58The Dark Forest
Chapter 59The Shapes
Chapter 60The Chase
Chapter 61The Other One
Chapter 62The Feast
Chapter 63Homer’s Advice
Chapter 64Don’t Look Up
Chapter 65No Retreat
Chapter 66Containment
Chapter 67Meila’s Memories
Chapter 68The Bloodfather
Chapter 69Desert Song
Chapter 70Over Hill
Chapter 71The Return
Chapter 72The Disturbance
Chapter 73The Storm
Chapter 74The Dance
Chapter 75Mist
Chapter 76A Vanishing Choice
Chapter 77The Last Light
Chapter 78The Statue and the Flames
Chapter 79The Riddler
Chapter 80Dulia Decides
Chapter 81The Inner Chamber
Chapter 82The Book
Chapter 83Secrets of the Four
Chapter 84Blood
Chapter 85Discord
Chapter 86Blade and Staff
Chapter 87Tumbling Walls
Chapter 88A Bird of Many Colors
Chapter 89The Tale of the Last Scribe
Chapter 90The Technicolor God
Chapter 91The Twist
Chapter 92The Scheme
Chapter 93The Isle
Chapter 94Among the Stars
Chapter 95True Samjang
Chapter 96Unraveling the Illusion
Chapter 97The Green-Eyed Monster
Chapter 98Five
Chapter 99Journey to the West
Chapter 100The Return of the King
Chapter 101The Secrets of the Pentagon
Chapter 102The Sacrifice
Chapter 103The Double-Duping
Chapter 104Entrances and Exits
Chapter 105The Captain’s Call
Chapter 106The Final Battle
Chapter 107The Return
Chapter 108The Reich
Chapter 109Chains
Chapter 110After Death
Chapter 111One
Chapter 112Tricks and Tickles
Chapter 113A Different World
Chapter 114Farewell
Chapter 115Goober’s Heroes
Chapter 116The Notebook
Chapter 117Beneath the Stars
Chapter 118The Final Chapter

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my sister, Bernadette, and my mother, Ellen, for being the firsts to read.
Thank you to my Dad for pushing me to publish.
To Kat Mason for her thorough editing and insightful feedback. The storyline improved a lot because of her.
To Rachel Croyle, Mae Hickey, and Brandon Woodrum for their support and early comments.
And to Gomdan for everything else.
CHAPTER 1 MY LAST MOMENTS
Have you ever noticed that when you’re about to die, time seems to slow down?
It would be really cool if it weren’t also really terrifying.
Right now, as I say these words, I am about to die. And the way I’m going to die is completely unbelievable.
The hopeful half of me thinks that maybe my best friend put a little something extra in the drink he gave me, and I’m not dying but experiencing the world’s worst trip.
What am I experiencing exactly?
Well, I just fell from a floating castle made of rock, where I learned I could manipulate matter. I landed in freezing water about six inches from a chunk of ice that would have skewered me like one of my mom’s homemade shish kebabs. Now I am floating on said chunk of ice, wondering what will kill me first: the freezing wind blowing across my soaked T-shirt and jeans or the ice monster barreling down at me from about two hundred yards away.
Yes, an ice monster. I don’t know what else I can call a humanoid creature whose skin looks as if it’s made from flexible ice cubes and who is at least four times as big as I am. Maybe you’d call it a Jotun if you’re into Norse mythology. But whatever you call it, I’m pretty sure it wants to kill me.
Suddenly, I remember what I learned a few moments earlier: I can manipulate matter. I’m not nearly as calm as I was when I was in a warm stone room, and my thighs feel a little warmer—and a little wetter—than they should. My heart is beating like a souped-up jackhammer, and my hands shake wildly as I try to do the movements I did above in the floating rock castle, weaving my hands about the way the ring on my finger wants me to move them.
Nothing happens.
Meanwhile, the ice giant is bearing down on me like a quarterback going for the home run. Or is it a slam dunk? I don’t really know—I’m awful at sports. In fact, the only thing I’m really good at is playing video games, and they’re not coming in terribly handy right now. Mom, I take everything back about how video games prepare you for life. It’s not true. They prepare you to get skewered by ice giants from Jotunheim or from your friend’s spiked drink or wherever this monster came from.
I try again with movement; my fingers are stiff from the cold, and my arms are seizing with fear. The giant can’t be more than ten yards away. It’s bounding across the open water as if on land.
I struggle again, reaching for the power, pleading for it to respond the way it did only minutes before, but still, nothing happens. Then the ice giant is upon me, drawing itself up to its full height and gazing down on me.
In a moment of terror, my power finally responds, and a few pebbles and chunks of dirt spit from the rock into the ice monster’s face. Rather belatedly, it occurs to me I might have power not over matter but only over earth. A cold, rumbling sound escapes the monster’s lips, and I wonder if the sound is its version of a laugh. I suppose the situation would be kind of funny from the monster’s perspective, looking down on a wimpy kid whose grand defense is to throw a bit of dirt in its face. So much for the stupid ring. I try to pull it off, but it won’t budge, so guess I’ll die wearing the thing that brought me to this world and ended up killing me.
My eyes move up the monster’s long legs of bluish ice to its thick chest and hoary beard of frost. I last find its face, and I stare up into the inhuman, icy eyes of this giant four times my size. I know I’m about to die, because there is no kindness in those cold orbs, only white rage—as white as hot flames and frozen snow. I wonder how I’ve managed to get myself into this mess. How did it all begin?
It began, I think, with a high school crush, a field trip gone wrong, and a ring I never, ever should have put on.
I don’t know if anyone will ever know these last thoughts, but I figure I ought to tell my story before it’s all over. T