Beloi, Russia 1812
The winds howled across the tiny town, people huddled in their cabins as snow pounded outside with the undeniable fury of the winter spirit who sneered at the mortals below. The biting winds and intense cold forced many who had been out to suddenly scramble for shelter, but his anger and swiftness in bringing the storm had caught them off guard. Men, women and children alike littered the streets; their frozen corpses slowly begin buried by his snow. Oh a few had escaped, but only a few. Many had frozen at doorsteps, having slid on his ice and unable to muster the strength to push themselves inside. Once he'd all but buried the town he let the snow subside and as the clouds parted he sneered up at the moon.
"Is this enough to gain your attention you silent cur?" His eyes glared with hatred, but there was no answer to his question. There had never been any answers to any of the questions he'd put to the moon. No matter how much he'd begged, pleaded, cried... nothing seemed to work. No one saw him and the moon stayed silent. His despair had turned into a burning hatred now, as he turned his back from the moon he noticed a movement nearby in the shadows. Curious, he landed on the snow, not leaving even a footprint as he walked towards the shadow he swore he'd seen movement from. There didn't seem to be anything there, he frowned a little. Had he seen perhaps an animal or something? No, not an animal as there were no footprints of anything in the snow here. He turned at the sudden feeling that someone was watching him, he took a step back, pointing his staff at the tall figure he saw before him. The figure was imposing, thin, black from head to toe really, except the skin of the male before him was grey toned and the eyes were a brilliant gold. Slicked back hair was as black as the robes and pants that the figure wore.
"Who are you?"
"An admirer of your work. I can see you're a new spirit still if you don't know me." Came the silky answer. Jack didn't fully relax, but he shifted his staff up a little so it wasn't so menacingly pointed at the man before him.
"I'm sure you've heard of me, however, if you've been around long enough to hear the frightened whispers of children in the night."
"Wait... are you claiming to be... the Boogeyman?" Jack tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing a little as if he couldn't believe it.
"They call me that, yes. My name is Pitch." Jack frowned, leaning on his staff now; apparently the other didn't mean him any harm or they already would have struck.
"So... you like my work?"
"Oh yes, you have such potential... I have never felt such fear as what you have inspired here." Jack blinked, he had... inspired fear?
"You do my boy. What is your name?"
"Jack... Jack Frost." A small smile played across Pitch's dark features.
"Tell me, would you like humans to believe in you?" Jack's eyes widened slowly. How had he known?
"I know too well what it's like. What it feels like to be alone. To not be believed in, to long for... a family." Jack felt himself slowly relaxing hair by hair. Pitch... understood?
"We can create a wonderful world. A world where everyone believes in us, where children are frightened of the dangers of the world!" Jack almost dropped his staff, a small smile played on his lips now.
"That's what I'm talking about. I'm in!" Pitch held out a hand to Jack, the boy stepped forward without hesitation and placed his hand in the other's without hesitation and the two were pulled into the shadows.
Jack floated through the dark place that was obviously Pitch's lair. He wasn't sure he was going to like it down here, but he supposed he could get used to it since he really didn't have a place of his own. He glanced around, there were cages hanging from the ceiling and a golden globe that was in the middle of the room. Near the back was a throne made from stone that sat on top of a set of five steps and was the highest thing in the room. Arches that seemed to lead to nowhere in particular where everywhere above him, just below the cages. The cavern was humungous as far as places went and he estimated that there was at least a few hundred feet between the bottom of the lowest cage and the top of the highest archway that acted as a walkway as well. Jack couldn't help but marvel at the place, despite that there was very little light around the place and shadows were everywhere.
"Some place you've got here Pitch." Jack said as he swooped through the air towards the globe, it sparkled with lights.
"What's this?"
"It's a globe, haven't you ever seen one before Frost?" Jack frowned at the use of his last name, but shrugged it aside. Maybe Pitch was raised in a formal family or something where those who had just met didn't use first names. He'd seen families like those in the hundred years he'd been around.
"Well yeah... but not like this one."
"Those lights show believers in the Guardians. Our enemies."
"Guardians?" Pitch moved over to join the young frost spirit.
"They claim to protect children, but all they have done is kept them from fearing what they should, like the dark or the dangers of the forest like wild animals." Jack shifted to perch himself on the top of his staff.
"So... bringing fear is your thing eh? And you think I can help?" Jack asked.
"I have no doubt you can. Trust me when I say that this will change the world, it will take a while, but soon there won't be a single child who doesn't know our names..." Jack grinned at the sound of Pitch's low chuckle. He liked the sound of that.
