Darkness. That's the first thing I remember. It was dark, and it was cold. And I was scared. But then...then I saw the moon. It was so big and it was so bright, and it seemed to chase the darkness away. And when it did...I wasn't scared anymore. Why I was there, and what I was meant to do - that I've never known. And a part of me wonders if I ever will. My name is Jack Frost - how do I know that? The moon told me so. But that was all he ever told me.
And that was a long, long time ago.
Seventy-five years. That was how long Jack Frost had been alone in the world. The people couldn't see him, animals avoided him, and the only thing that had ever interacted with him was a herd of half horse, half human creatures that he had encountered deep into the wilderness. A barrage of arrows was all he had gotten out of the things before they turned tail and ran deep into the trees. He hadn't tried to follow them.
Without anyone to talk to, Jack took to the wind, exploring the vast world he inhabited. To his delight, there were people all over the world. Even if he couldn't talk to them, and they couldn't see him, he delighted in watching them going about their lives. Even more than that, he loved seeing the children laugh at the snow he brought with him, quickly abandoning their chores to go out and play games with their friends.
His favorite people to watch were the people of the village near the lake he had awoken from nearly a century prior. It wasn't large by anyone's standards, but Jack had always been drawn there for some reason. Even as his travels took him all over the world, he would inevitably return that tiny town and its lake. Sometimes, he even went there outside of winter. Summer was too hot for him, but on a particularly cool early spring or late fall day, he would come back, spreading beautiful, intricate frost instead of his usual ice and snow.
This was one of those times. It was early April, and the last snow had fallen nearly a month ago, but Jack couldn't resist coming back to see the first blooms of the wildflowers. He was being careful, staying off the ground in large trees to avoid damaging the new shoots, but if he stayed in one place too long the leaves began to collect a small layer of ice. Jack usually left once that started, but right now it was night, and the blooms had curled up to preserve heat and wouldn't be hurt by a little frost.
The last of the villagers had turned in for the night hours ago, and the moon in its silent glory had long since risen into the sky. On nights like this, he had taken to sitting in the highest boughs of trees, staring up at the luminous body that had breathed life into his lungs and then immediately abandoned him.
"Why? Why did you put me here? What's am I? Who am I?" he asked, not expecting an answer but hopeful nonetheless. A minute passed, then two, but after five minutes Jack gave up, sighing and leaning back into the trunk.
"I don't know why I even bother," he muttered, looking away from the moon to gaze at the stars.
The night sky was far clearer here than in the continent across the sea, there smoke poured out of coal-fueled fires day and night, casting a thick smog over the sky. There were places in the world where he could get an even better glimpse of the stars, but he contented himself with the view here.
Jack's eyes traced the sky, picking out what few constellations he knew. He quickly saw Ursa Major, and after a little searching, located Leo and Hydra. He was in the middle of looking for Leo Minor when a something caught his eye.
A streak of light so unlike the stationary stars. A thin line of white, dividing the sky with its brightness.
"A shooting star," Jack murmured, smiling just a bit. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this one seemed a little…off.
It was low in the sky, the tail seemed to be thicker than usual, and it looked like it was hurtling towards the earth instead of flying across the sky. Confused, Jack pushed himself up, staring at the star. After a few moments, he could clearly see a bulbous head, and the color began to change from white to a faint reddish-orange.
That wasn't a shooting star he realized. That was a meteor, and it was getting closer. It looked like it would touch down somewhere nearby.
By now it had fallen out of the stars, now it was in a free fall to earth.
Grinning, Jack grabbed his staff and launched off his perch, urging the wind to follow the meteor. He flew above the forest, trees blowing by so fast they blurred together in a giant green mass.
Laughing in exhilaration, Jack looked back up at the sky. It had fallen further, and now he could see the indistinct outline of the actual meteor.
Instead of a circular mass of rock, it was sleek, thin and seemed to have wings like a bird. It was also made of something that was very clearly not stone. If he didn't know better he would have thought it was made of polished metal.
Jack slowed down just a tad as the object began to lose altitude, dropping a hundred feet above the treetops. The winter spirit nearly dropped his staff in surprise when three poles were lowered from the object, black dots with what looked like wheels attached to the end.
The meteor began to slow, to the point Jack could see that the meteor was, in fact, made of metal, and those were really wheels.
Gaping in amazement, Jack sped up, managing to catch up with the thing, keeping far enough away that the heat from burning up in the atmosphere didn't hurt him. Slowly, he came in line with the front of the object.
To his amazement, there was what appeared to be a pane of dark tinted glass covering the front, behind which a humanoid figure was frantically doing something inside the meteor.
The nose-like tip dipped down, and it was then that Jack noticed the spider web of cracks along the glass. It was intact, but it looked like a good solid tap would cause it to shatter.
"Oh shit," Jack said, pulling back on his speed. He might be nearly immortal, but if that broke and flew at him, he wouldn't be walking away easily.
The craft quickly overtook him, but a sudden explosion of fire dropped its speed sharply. It veered right, changing its path towards a break in the trees several miles wide.
Jack recognized the area as having been razed to the ground by a forest fire several years previous. The undergrowth was thick but there was nothing large enough for it to collide with. The craft approached the field with the speed of a hawk in flight.
It managed to touch down a hundred yards from the treeline with a loud bang, kicking up great amounts of soil into the air. It plowed the earth, coming to a violent and unsteady stop. Jack gasped, marveling in both awe and terror at the destruction the crash wrought.
The clearing was destroyed, a trench a hundred feet long, twenty feet wide, and six feet deep was gouged into the ground and the entire area was covered with displaced soil. Being several hundred yards away and shielded by the wind, he hadn't been hit, but after seeing the thing in action, he wasn't sure he wanted to get any closer to the thing.
Now that it was on the ground, Jack could easily see what it was, the problem was he didn't have a clue what he was looking at.
It was obviously made of metal, but it was bulkier than it looked from the air. The entire design reminded of an arrow head. The front was pointed, but the main portion was oval shaped before stretching out like wings towards the back. On the underbelly, almost hidden by dark soil, was a plate of metal that wasn't as polished as the rest of the craft. Compared to the shiny silver that made up most of the body, the panel was a dull gray and wasn't welded to the metal around it. In fact, it reminded Jack of raised bridges he had seen around Europe.
Curious, he slowly floated over, warily keeping an eye out for the figure he had seen within the craft. Jack stopped before he was actually made it all the way, landing and holding tightly to his staff in case whatever was inside wasn't friendly. He walked the rest of the way, eyes on the plate. He assumed that that was how the being he had seen had gotten in, as nothing else he had seen even remotely resembled something that might be a door.
The winter spirit bit his lip as he passed under the overhanging metal, straining to hear any movement from within. Hearing nothing, he stepped forward, reaching up to press pale fingertips against the gray material. The panel came loose under his touch, and he could hear what sounded like a lock disengaging before it began to lower itself.
Jack stepped back, standing on his toes to get a look at what was inside. The creature wasn't in view, but what he could see was very limited. A bare metal wall and door cut off the entryway from the rest of the craft, and there were metal ropes running up and down the walls on the left and right. The panel settled at his feet, acting as a ramp into the craft proper.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Jack yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to try to make himself heard to the person inside.
Once again, silence reigned.
Steeling his resolve, Jack stepped onto the metal gangplank, cautiously walking up. He listened for movement again, but hearing none, he looked around the entrance. Some of the metal ropes were sheathed in something that Jack had never seen before. It was a variety of bright colors, and when he leaned over to touch it, it had a texture, not unlike dried tree sap.
Curiosity piqued, Jack returned his attention to the door. There wasn't a handle, but there was a panel that was exuding a dull blue glow. Confused, but without a better plan, Jack touched the screen. Jack yelped as the door suddenly slid into the wall. Freezing, he stared wide-eyed into the chamber that was revealed.
The creature was still nowhere to be seen, but the room was plenty strange on its own. Fourteen boxes about four feet wide and eight feet long filled the room, and the walls were covered in drawers containing who knows what.
Jack walked up to the nearest box, examining it curiously. The sides of the box were made of the same metal of the ship, but the domed cover was made of something that looked like black glass but wasn't has hard and sounded much different when he tapped it. He decided to examine the other boxes and the drawers later, right now he wanted to find the person behind yet another set of doors.
Luckily for him, the door opened the same way the last one had, but this time, he was far more prepared for the sudden retraction of the door. Jack held his breath as he looked around the bridge.
A single chair was in the middle of the room, a panel of buttons and levers in front of it, some of which flashed as if there was a tiny flame within them. There were more of the metal ropes, and crates were scattered around the room, tied down with stretches of fabric.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" Jack said again. He wasn't expecting a response, being invisible and all, but it helped his nerves too at least say something.
Creeping forward, Jack circled around the chair, trying to get a look at whoever was in it.
"Oh my Lord, what is that!" he yelled, struck dumb by what he saw.
Sitting in the chair, restrained by the same fabric that held the crates was a giant rabbit. At least, that was the closest description he could think of. It looked like it was over six feet tall, with long ears and the strangest coat he had ever seen on an animal. Rather than the usual colorings of browns, blacks, and tans one would expect from a mammal, it was colored like a bird of paradise he had seen in cages in various markets. Rich blues met with emerald green, creating a stark, alien looking creature.
Its eyes were closed, but its head was hanging limply and its neck was bent at an unnatural angle, it was obvious that whatever it was, it was dead.
Hesitantly, Jack approached it, reaching out to touch its pulse point. He couldn't feel the rhythmic thumping that indicated life. Jack sighed, from relief or sadness he couldn't tell.
The spirit turned back to the door, only for the sharp, cool blade of a knife to press itself into his neck. Jack froze.
Another rabbit creature stood before him, anger obvious on its face.
"Rae ouy oen fo shi imonnis?" it hissed.
"You can see me?" Jack asked, bewildered and more than a little scared.
"Eb ieqtu, gneiar," it said.
"What? I can't understand you!" Jack said, yelping as the sharp blade dug a little further into his neck.
"Ti tcnano rnseddtnau ouy, Anev," another voice said.
The creature turned, keeping the knife against Jack's throat.
"Oen tmonme, lte em ndif shotgimne," the second voice called.
The first creature growled, but didn't move.
Jack could hear metallic clanging in the next room. A moment later, the second being came into view.
Unlike his captor, Jack could get a good glimpse of this one. It was obviously the same species as the dead pilot, but it was smaller, and its coat was gray, and the vibrant colors so generously splashed on the dead creature were only beginning to make themselves known on this one. It must be an adolescent, he realized with a jolt.
"Tgo ti!" the newcomer cried, holding up a metal square with a screen of the same black box coverings.
The coverings, he realized, that had disappeared from two of the boxes, one of which was the one he touched. The creatures were in the boxes, and he had let them out.
The gray one touched a few buttons and the box lit up, illuminating the creature's grinning face. "Hello? Can you understand me?" it said.
Jack's eyes widened in surprise. "You speak English?" he asked, bewildered.
"No. I don't speak your language, and neither does Neva there," it said, "This device can translate for us, however."
"How on earth can it do that?" Jack asked, "And why is it lit? Is there a fire inside it?"
The creature cocked its head, obviously confused.
"Oh no, we landed on some backwater planet that doesn't even have electricity."
Jack nearly jumped when the creature threatening him suddenly spoke, sounding more than a little irritated.
The second one grimaced. "It seems so. Still, we're going to need all the help we can get."
"What is electricity? And what do you mean 'backwater planet'?"
The second creature ignored the first's loud groan, answering Jack's question. "Do you know of lightning?"
Jack nodded.
"That is electricity. It can be harnessed to create light without fire," it explained.
"That's amazing," Jack said.
The creature smiled, "Yes it is, and that is the least of its abilities. As for how the translation functions, that is beyond me, though the archives on the ship may be able to answer that for you. Forgive my manners, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet. I am Stellan, and the doe there is Neva."
"Uh, hi? I'm Jack. Jack Frost," he said.
"It is nice to meet you, Jack Frost. Neva, could you let them go, I don't think they'll be a threat," Stellan said.
"Fine," Neva said, taking the knife from Jack's neck and stepping back. Neva walked over to Stellan, fingering the knife and watching Jack warily.
"Who are you? Where are you from?" he asked, rubbing the small cut on his neck.
"We are members of a race called the Pooka," Stellan said, "we are trying to escape the genocide of our species. A man formerly by the name of Kozmosis Pitchner is trying to wipe us out. We are from a planet that is very far from here, in another solar system."
Jack sucked in a breath. "Like I said, I'm Jack, I'm a human, and I've never heard of this Kozmosis Pitchner."
"I'm not surprised. Neva, the records show we have been in stasis for almost a quarter of a billion cycles. It's quite possible that the fearlings have been stopped. Perhaps the survivors of Pitchner's race were stranded on this planet and started civilization over again."
"All the more reason not to trust them," Neva said.
Stellan frowned. "It's obvious that Jack here has never seen one of our kind before, we have to consider that his race is the only sentient species on this planet, and we can't leave with the viewport broken like that. It would shatter under the pressure of take off and we would be sucked into space. We need their help, Jack's help."
Neva sighed. "Fine. Jack, is there a leader of your kind you can take us too? They could help us."
Jack shook his head. "There are a lot of kings, but no one rules over the entire human species, only God does that."
"And they're still in the religion phase of development, just great," Neva muttered.
Jack winced. "And I couldn't take you to someone even if I wanted. All the great kings live across the ocean, and I can't carry you there. And there's the small issue of my being invisible."
The pooke gave him incredulous looks.
"Invisible? We can see you fine," Stellan said.
"I know, you're the first one to see me in seventy-five years," Jack said, "I can't explain it, I'm just invisible."
"You're an immortal then? You don't look strong enough for that," Neva said.
Stellan rolled his eyes. "Hot headed warriors. Can't you sense his magic? He's clearly a powerful ice mage."
"Fine, I guess. They're still too scrawny for a proper immortal in my opinion."
"Why do you keep calling me 'they'? I'm male you know," Jack said.
The two looked at each other. "Actually, we didn't. But that is nice to know. Our race has the ability to switch between sexes, so it is our custom to address strangers with neutral pronouns. Neva is female, but I identify with both sexes, so I switch fairly often, so you may address me with male or female pronouns," Stellan said.
Jack stared at Stellan, bewildered for what felt like the millionth time in the past ten minutes.
"Maybe we should stop overwhelming him with information," Neva said.
"That might be best," Stellan agreed. "Jack, there are ten other kits in this ship with us, all of them younger. Quite a few are very young, and we need a safe place to stay until we can contact others of our race. Will you help us?"
"Of course. I know a few places. But this...thing will attract attention. Some of the people here aren't very friendly, and they might hurt you and the others if they find you."
"I'll check out the engines. I don't think they're too damaged. This ship isn't safe for space travel anymore, but we can store it somewhere out of the reach of the humans while we look for a place to set up a base," Neva said.
"Alright, I'll check on the others. We also need to bury Gemma. She needs to be laid to rest," Stellan said.
Neva nodded and turned to Jack. "Thank you for this, Jack Frost. It appears we are in your debt."
Jack shook his head. "No. It's only right that I help you, you've got kids that need help, and I won't let them get hurt.
Neva smirked. "Good answer, Jack Frost. We may make a decent immortal of you yet."