Alone the child sat, staring up at the moon. Not a whisper of sound was heard throughout the forest. The snow fell silently.
From a standbyers point of view-if they believed, which none ever did- the scene would be perfect. So quiet, so beautiful. But from the child's point of view, nothing was right.
This young boy, maybe fifteen years old-if even that- was alone. Alone in the snow, alone in the woods. Alone for the past seventeen-million years; and then some.
He was a spirit. The spirit of Winter. Not a sprite, not a spirit who specialized in different aspects of winter. No, he was the spirit. Not that anyone cared. Or knew.
Before he existed, the world had been a desert. Well... part of it was a desert, the other part was a tropical jungle with exploding mountains. It was inhabited by giant lizards, dinosaurs- and strange humans. The spirits that existed before him were few and far between. The main one was, obviously, the Moon.
Along with the Moon was Death, Life, Light, and Dark. Before him everything was simple. There was also Mother, but she wasn't near as active as those four previously mentioned. Even then, there wasn't much to be done on the planet.
He himself had been an experiment. The five had asked the Man in the Moon if he could change the world as it was, add a new element- which is exactly what he did.
Jokul found himself rising from a pond. The water was too warm, it scalded him. Before he knew what he was doing, the entire clearing was covered in white glittering stuff. The water itself was now rock solid.
He remembered laughing. He remembered racing around the clearing, touching his fingers against trees and watching more hard stuff form elegant designs. As he continued to play, the moon's light had fallen on him. He remembered hearing a voice, reverberating through his heart. The words Jokul Frosti made him feel light headed.
"Jokul Frosti..." He tested his voice, delighted in how it felt on his tongue. "Jokul Frosti!" He shouted to the sky, with his shout another element appeared. The wind.
Later he had heard how the wind was an untameable force, that even the moon had given up on this wild thing. Yet that night, as he shouted his name to the heavens, it had come to him, and was with him still.
Jokul had gone on from there, doing what he saw fit. He had scattered half of the world with snow and ice, and when Light came to chase away his beautiful creations, he would laugh at her and follow Dark.
Around and around he went. Always one half of the world would have his gift bestowed upon it, sparkling as Light came to chase it away, and thrilling when Dark played with him.
Later on he and Light made an agreement, for one quarter of each Sun passing, he was allowed to cover that part of the world. Both night and day. But as that time grew to an end, he would move further on in the world. After him, Life followed. She sprinkled the cold, wet earth with her very being, and behind her greenery would come.
Sun-passing after Sun-passing, their chase continued. Winter-child and Life-spirit, hand in hand. Death-master and Dark-holder. Mother and Light-bearer. All of these spirits did their duties. Content to be with each other, content to keep their ball of joy spinning in balance.
But... He remembered, the Moon Man grew tired of this endless circle. Without their consent he added new elements. Spring was born, Summer and Autumn. All of these girl-elements brought unbalance.
Spring and Summer both took away Light and Life's jobs, even as Light and Life tried to hold on. Autumn helped them take away Life, and even Dark found himself sorely pressed.
As they fought and bickered, trying in vain to save themselves from these new creatures, Winter found itself running rampant. Without Life, Light, and Dark, Winter began to take over their once-beautiful planet.
Death couldn't help but find himself being pulled into the unbalance. Winter brought cold, and extended cold with no Life or Light, brought Death.
Winter and Death tried to ignore their duties, they tried to stop. But once unbalance occurred, there was nothing that could stop it. Not without all of the elements cooperation.
A time of ice and death swept over the land. Those lizards and strange people disappeared. A time that Jokul once thought would be beautiful, proved deadly and depressing.
He and Death began to argue, they fought and bickered. Their disagreement on trivial matters caused the planet to frost over more and those few creatures that remained to die.
After many Sun-passes, Winter and Death forgave the other. For now they had to deal with new spirits. The king of the Sea being one of them, he was thoroughly upset with his frozen domain, and let Jokul know just what he thought. Time also was born, he called himself Old Man Time, and both Death and Jokul laughed at him.
From there the term Old Man Winter was born. Jokul was not pleased, but Time seemed to believe it fairly amusing. From Time, years and days were made. A way to measure what the original five had lived through.
From how Time spoke, Death and Winter felt affronted. Time acted as if the world was weight on his being, as if he held it up. They looked for their old friends for help, but found them still in the midst of a war, albeit a losing one.
Sadly it was not a war Death or Winter could give them aid in. For many hundreds of years, they watched them fade until they were no more. Dark barely survived, but he did. Jokul and Death greeted him with wide open arms. They nurtured him and called for Mother. She herself gladly held them all within her being.
For years, they lived together. When duty called they were off, but quickly returned.
The Moon was not content with how far he had shattered them. Pitch Black was born. Jokul, Mother, and Death sadly watched as Dark was consumed. This new spirit taking Dark's creations and twisting them beyond their original intent.
Jokul and Death began to spend more time together. Unwittingly they began to cause fear. Dark's 'successor' was drawn to them. He began a war with them. He tried to twist their lives and consume them as he had Dark.
Mother could only watch as they had watched before.
The two fought together, they put all their power together, unknowingly causing more fear- a strange element this Pitch creature thrived for.
Finally, Mother could not bear watching them destroy themselves. She broke an unspoken rule and aided them in a fight that was not her own. She told them what was happening, that by working together, they were causing Pitch to be drawn to them. The only way to survive was to seperate.
The two were heartbroken, but agreed that together they could be no more. For the Moon had cursed those of older times, and he would not deal with them remaining together, possibly plotting his own demise.
To this very day, Jokul had not seen Death since. Though he had seen Death's work, he even caused death to try and contact his once-friend, but ultimately ran away before he could be seen.
This will be a multi-chapter fic. I'll try to update once a week. It will be spotty over summer as I will be at the Boyscout Jamboree in West Virginia for one part of the summer, and 3weeks at a volunteer spot in West PA. The first will definitely not have internet. I may be able to ask the head of White Sulphur Springs if I can use internet 1/week while there.
I hope you have enjoyed the story thus far. Adeiu.
-Kangarooney-
