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Jack Frost
A short story I wrote one day while I was trying to work on my book.
When the first snow flake fell, or the first time, I was born. I am Jack Frost. I have existed as the fey always have and I will tell you my story, if you will listen. It is an interesting life I’ve lived, one filled with love, loss and pain. I will not begin at the start, but at the start of my troubles. You see, Man is the true evil in this world. He has always been that way, pure destruction and chaos. We fey have always known this, though some choose to ignore this.
As I said, when the first snowflake fell, I was born. I was fully formed as I am today. I did not grow up to be this figure, none of us did. I have lived far beyond the human race and will live long after it is gone. We alone know the truth and what has happened over the millenniums. For example, there has been a total of three “ice ages”, not two. How do I know this you ask? Because I am the cause of all three.
The first happened over 400 billion years ago. The human race was about what it is today. Advanced in ways that almost parallel today. But they worshipped us, the fey. They knew who and what we were, and respected us. Well, for a short time anyways. The queen of the unseelie court wanted more. You see there are 3 courts in the fey kingdom, the Seelie, ruled by the king of light, the unseelie, ruled by the queen of darkness, and the grey court. The grey court has no real ruler though, we hold our meetings in secret. The other court have been searching for us for quite some time now. But I digress.
As I was saying, the Queen wanted more. She wanted everything, and, at the time, she was my queen. She ordered me to cover the world in ice and snow to teach the humans a lesson. They were to fear us again. And so, I used all my strength and did as she asked. The world froze, killing hundreds of thousands of people, almost to the point of extinction. Those that survived did so only by hiding deep in the earth and getting help for the king of light, and his daughter, Phoenix. They kept those humans alive and warm, but could not keep them fed.
After 100 years of bitter cold and fear, they ventured, once more, out into the world, a shell of their former civilization. Only a few hundred survived that Ice age, but they were still humans and they rebuilt the world. I was so drained of energy that I slept for almost half a millennium. Hidden in the ice up north, safe from the world and its troubles.
When I awoke, I saw again how awful man had become. Killing the earth, our mother, with pollution and war. Blood ran thick in the rivers and smoke clogged the air, but the King and queen were content in the power they had gained. Man now worshipped and feared us. The courts waged wars for territories, while most just wanted peace. I myself, new to this strange world, only wanted to go back and sleep another thousand years and hope that it would all end, but alas, that was not an option.
I watched as man killed man, and fey turned against fey. Watched as men spoke lies about us to turn the tides in their favor. I watched till I could no longer bare it, and then was made to watch more. I had had enough. My strength had returned and my peace was going to be at hand. That’s why the second Ice age began. It started slow at first, rain pouring for the skies as the clouds rang true for me. Then the rain froze into sheets of ice that covered everything, killing man and crops alike. Then snow came, beautiful blizzards all over the world. Covering the planet in snow and ice, none were to survive this time.
My anger burned so deep that I didn’t even care if I survived. My mother would be healed this time. Destruction and chaos ran rampant over the earth, and anything caught in my path was destroyed. Man stopped fighting each other and began fighting me, but to no avail. My rage burned hot in my veins and nothing would stop it, until.
Her eyes were the first things I remember seeing. Reds and oranges dancing in darkness. They reached into my cold heart and touched it in a way I had never known. The rage slowly melted away as the ice and snow seemed to melt around her. Her hair seemed alive of its own accord and danced in the darkness. Her skin a golden tan even though the sun had not shone for months. She was my temptress. She was Phoenix. Yes, the king’s own daughter was who stopped me. She was beauty incarnate and held me in place as I stared at her, watched her move so gracefully.
I wanted nothing more than to please this creature, to make her happy with me, to touch her. The fey saw this weakness and sprung. I was trapped, my love had been my undoing. They bound me and threw me into the pit. The pit of loneliness, as it was called. So deep and so dark that nothing could see or hear your pleas. And there I stayed for years. But my heart still beat, and it now only beat for her. I was determined to be free, to see her, to touch h, and so I began to climb.
For centuries, I climbed. Finding rest when I could, but never for long. Willing myself up higher, and higher into the endless dark. I would reach the top and take my prize, and nothing would stop me this time. My mind went from vengeance to hope and back again many times over. My heart dreamed of her and broke when I’d realize she was not there. Hope turned to pain, to fear, to desperation, till one day I heard her voice once more.
She was calling to me from the mouth of the cavernous hole. Pleading for me to come to her. Hope sprang into my body, she wanted me there with her. I would not let her hope down. Speed and strength bolted through my body as I climbed ever higher and higher. The need for her was greater than any pain my body was feeling. I needed her and knew she felt the same. As I reached the point I could see her silhouette in the light, my heart skipped a beat, and a cry escaped my lips. Her body was aglow and she was the only light I could see. Faster I climbed urging my body onwards.
Just as I reached the top, I heard the most painful sound my ears had ever heard. A cold iron sword erupted from her chest, as the cries caught in her throat. A slow small gurgle was all she could manage as her body fell forward over mine. Shock gripped my very soul as I watched her fall into the very trench I had just barely escaped. Slowly I watched her fall, till her light seemed to extinguish in the darkness.
The rage returned, as I slowly looked about for the culprit. It was the queen. Golden blood covered her hands and the cold iron in her hands. She spoke something about finally finding Phoenix and how she was glad it was her who was the one to finally kill her. She seemed to not even notice me as I crawled out of the pit. Grabbing the queen the throat in pure rage, I felt her neck grow cold and felt that same cold spread through her body.
A pain struck my temple as the lights went dark. I knew immediately who had touched me. He was called the darkness for a reason. The nightmares swirled inside my head till I awoke on a soft bed in the queen’s own chambers. Chains holding me in place as the queen strutted about her chambers with a gleeful look on her face. That is until she realized I was awake.
At first, she just stared at me, finally asking me what she was going to do with me. She knew my power well and was not about to let me cause her anymore problems. The rage returned as I sat there watching her pace back and forth trying to determine her next course of action. It was then that the last ice age began. I drew all the power to my rage and all the strength I had. It built up like a knot in my stomach until I released it in one big, tortured yell. She watched as I cursed her and spoke such profanity towards her, but her face was stone cold, no emotion. It was then that she saw the answer to her questions. And she started to draw on the powers emerging from my body. She drew and drew till I finally realized her plan. She was going to destroy me in the only way possible, drain me of my power and make me human.
That is when I stopped, so drained that she had almost succeeded. I lay there motionless for hours after she left. She knew there was nothing more she could do. Finally, as if answer to my prayers had been answered, the darkness stepped out from where he had been hiding. WE had known each other a while, and I guess he had felt sorry for my predicament, as he reached up and unlock the shackles that held me. He begged me to leave and hide from the queen. I sat in silence from a few moments, and when I finally spoke, it was about her, the phoenix.
We spoke for only a few moments as he relayed to me that there was only one fey who could truly never die. The Phoenix would always rise again. This is what gave me hope. I stole into the dark, using his gifts to keep me hidden. I got to that abyss the fast way I could and waited. For years I waited, cold, lonely, I may have well been in that pit once again. The queen also knew the truth about my beloved and eventually returned to make sure no one would ever see her again. I hid and watched, knowing I was still no match for her power, as she leaned over the edge and laughed at the sight of nothingness. Now was my moment, I rushed towards the queen and threw into the same jail she had sent me.
Watching as she fell out of sight, laughing and cursing me all at the same time. She swore I would never be welcome anywhere ever again. Swore when she got out, she was going to destroy me. But hope began to show through the dark, as my love started to glow. I could see the phoenix in the dark as the queen fell. The same fiery eyes, the glow of her hair against her skin. I lay down on the ground and stretched out to her. What little strength I had left was going to be used to save her. Ice spikes jetted out above her for hand holds. Her feet were going to find the footing I provided. I was not sure how, but I was causing ice to form out of nothing, a gift I never knew I had.
She finally reached the opening and I pulled her to me. Our embrace shook the earth around us, or at least it shook me to the core. It was as though she were sharing her energy with me, and I was rejuvenated. Walking out of the cave that held the pit, I froze the entrance over and covered it with snow. It was not going to be easy for anything to enter or exit that cave. The queen would be hard pressed to find us if she ever escaped. We then began our long quest for hiding.
It was the phoenix who convinced me to stop with the ice ages. She taught me that man was good and if given the proper inspiration, could create such beauty in the world. I would soon be able to give the world a break from the destruction of man by giving the earth winter. I would become Father Winter and be worshipped as the others were. Together we would keep man balanced and help them to become the true people they were meant to be. In the summer months, she would keep the heat high enough for them to worry of comfort and in the winter months, I would blast them with the cold for the same effect. This kept the balance man needed to improve themselves.
As I said before, when the first snowflake fell, for the first time, I was born. But the truth is, I was never really the being I am today until I found the Phoenix. She was my true creator, my companion, my love and my world. She was the true savoir of man and fey alike. And now we are the king and queen of the grey court. Always in hiding and always looking over our shoulder for the unseelie queen to try and take her revenge. But till that comes, the seasons shall be as they are, the balance of man will create beauty and grace. Fire and Ice will dance our dance and love our love.
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Jack Frost
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