Radioactive
Prologue
The sun broke through the trees in streams of golden light, piercing the cool darkness and beginning to warm the air with the beginnings of a new day. A slight teenage boy wearing weathered pants and a dark blue sweatshirt stood atop a rocky ledge very familiar to him. Water cascaded gently over the expanse of rock and into a small pond that he had seen through every season for the past three hundred years. He grasped the wooden Sheppard's staff tightly in his hands, glaring down at the moving water and trying to hold on to the last shreds of his stubborn will to do his job. The air around his unnaturally pale skin turned icy cold, and his short white hair frosted over each strand with a fresh coat of ice, he was determined to freeze this area as he always had for as long as he could remember.
Getting a firmer grasp on the wooden staff in his hands, his light blue eyes never looked up as he took that step forward. One bare foot off the ledge, and he was falling towards the pool. He could remember just last year, the last time he had done this in early October, his staff would barely touch the water's surface and it would freeze. The wind would carry him across the water and around the pond, freezing it until a layer of ice covered every inch of it. And he would step on the shore, leaving frosted footprints in his wake, and admire his work before the wind carried him off. This was how he brought the beginnings of winter every year. His name was Jack Frost, he knew that because the Moon had told him, and had given him the power to freeze the world each year.
As his staff touched the water, the ice he created was not strong enough, and the wood pierced through the surface of the pond. The wind did not catch him, and he fell into the small pool.
The air was too warm, or his powers weren't working, or both. Jack pulled himself out of the water, and slammed his fist on the ground in frustration, little spikes of ice jolting from the ground as he did so. Why was this happening?
There was no snow on the ground, no frost glistening on the grass, the air was as warm as spring.
And it was December.
TBC