Frost Bane
Chapter 1: awakening
Ten years had passed since the fall of the Black Citadel. And the fall of Blackthorn, the great tyrant of the North, fell due to the effort of Kann Frostbane, heir to the land's throne. Now, the lives of his friends and comrades were settled, in the valley of peace. Sure there were still bandits and criminals around, but none proved to be a menacing threat.
Marron, Borva and Garon had led their clans and friends to China. Though not very pleased with the coming of a new faction, the emperor, nontheless, accepted to grant them a small piece of land North of China, all thanks to Master Shifu. Now they had built up a nice small city there, and they called it Dain. After Kann's father. And Marron had been running things, along with his trusted advisor, Garon and Borva.
The Jade Palace, now held Sun Mei and Za Shen as permanent residents. Sun Mei, after giving up her title as the grand general of the Imperial Army, was gladly accepted to train here by Shifu. Za Shen, returning from a two-year search for Kann, was accepted as well. The black mamba couldn't just give up on his best friend so easily. He searched tirelessly, through days and nights, trying to find some sort of sign of Kann's presence in the North. If Viper hadn't sent words for him to come back, he wouldn't have just quit like that.
Po and Tigress, now married, still trained in the Jade Palace as well. They had bore an eight year-old panger cub, named Pan. Their cub grew up in a blissful and happy childhood, and with his talent for Kung Fu was increasing rapidly every time he trained with his mother, and also the rest of the Kung Fu masters in the Jade Palace.
All lived peacefully, but they didn't realise, that this was just the calming before the storm.
Ten years, his body was frozen underneath the ruins of the Black Citadel, deep within the Artic Sea floor. But he had never been dead. Ten years his soul traveled aimlessly on the edge between the living and the dead. His mind grew older, but not his body. And in all those years, something in Kann changed.
A stranger emerged from the blistering snowstorm. His cloak covered most of his body, his head wore a hood, and his face hidden from sight. He slid down from a hill, crouching. He traced his paw across the surface beneath. A smile emerged. He then drew out his katana from his waist, and stabbed the blade through the surface. The stranger then summoned his powers, sending pillars of blazing fire straight down into the ice.
The thick layer of ice beneath slowly melted. And the stranger took off his cloak, revealing himself as a white tiger, with battle scars spreading all over his body , wearing a black sleeveless vest, with a blue dragon twisting its way on the back, and with blue trimmings, a pair of black pants, with multiple strapped knives and small blades, up on the waist, there were two black katana shealths. The tiger stretched his back, and dived down into the freezing water. He swam and swam, seeing a Citadel under the bottom. Lucky for him, it wasn't too deep, or else he could just die underneath the pressure. The tiger swam into the tallest building, finding it a grand castle with stone pillars and long corridors, with countless paintings and scruptures. Then he saw something in the middle chamber. Swimming up to the top of the chamber, he fired off with his paws again, this time releasing lightning strikes. The lightning split the particles of water, seperating oxigen and hydrogen from the water, creating a large bag of air up on the chamber's roof. The tiger emerged to take a gulp of air, then dive down again. The tiger swam down, then stopped, in front of a huge wall of ice. In side, he saw three blurry figures in side the ice. Then he saw Kann.
The wolf's body was completely covered in ice, and its condition was perfect. No rotting, no flesh fall off. The tiger then unshealthed his claws, forcing them into the ice. A chunk of ice broke off, and in side it, Kann Frostbane. The tiger digged his right claws into the ice, coming to the air bag for another long breathe, then took off for the surface with the chunk of ice.
The tiger met contact with the air, gasping for it. Then climbed up, bringing the chunk of ice with him. He summoned the fire to warm his own body up, then picked up his katana, and blasted off a long line of fire against the chunk of ice. The ice melted, and Kann's body was drenching wet from the liquidfied ice. But he wasn't breathing. The tiger calmly dropped to his knees beside Kann's body, summoning a small amount of lightning from his palms, then slammed it against Kann's chest.
Nothing.
He repeated the section, slamming his palms again and again. Until Kann finally choked out water from his numb lungs. The white wolf furiously coughed, trying to get as much air as he possibly could. His muscles had shrunk due to the long years frozen inside the ice. He struggled to open his tired eyes, and he saw a blurry face.
A familiar face.
" Ha ha! It's good to see you old friend!" An familiar voice echoed through his eardrums.
The wolf again, struggled to speak. After a few minutes of small mumblings, Kann finally spoke, barely audible:
" Mitch."
Mitch chuckled, " Time hasn't brought it easy on you, has it my friend? Now, let's get your lazy ass up, and we'll be good to go!" The tiger then lifted Kann's seemingly lifeless body other his shoulder, and started walking away from the frozen sea surface.
" Where?" Kann muttered out.
" To the underground fortress. I have been camping there for a month now." Mitch explained, " And once we're there, I'll get you fixed up, my friend."
Kann spoke no more, and quietly laid there on Mitch's shoulder, as if he had a choice!(:P)
A dark figure paced the moist, dark corridor. His hood was up, covering most of his face. He rushed to the side of a white wolf, sitting on a simple wooden chair in a dark room. There were fallen pieces of scuptures, rusty weapons lying around the floor. He came whispered into the wolf's ears.
" Kann has been awakened, my lord."
A synister chuckle escaped the wolf's lips. He scratched the scar on his bare chest, then spoke to himself.
" Now, that boy just can't die, can he? No matter. I have the world in my hands now."
Mitch put Kann down on the cold stone floor. He had chosen this chamber, the main quarter, to camp, just to get a wide view and space. He hated the close space. Mitch lit up his camp fire from yesterday, then came over to Kann.
" Ok, buddy, this is gonna sting a bit. Don't worry, ok?" Mitch reassured Kann before he start the reviving section. Kann slowly nodded.
" Alright. Now" Mitch crossed his paws and snapped his fingers, " Just pull your tongue in."
The tiger gripped tightly to Kann's paws. He summoned streaks and streaks of lightnings, shooting through his palm and into Kann's muscles. The lightning ran all over Kann's body, awakening the sleeping muscle tissues. Kann's body shook violently, his eyes rolled back, his back arched upwards. Mitch held tightly, not wanting to interrupt the section. After five minutes, the tiger finally let go, and Kann's body slumped down on the ground, silent. Mitch shut down the lightnings in his palms, quickly got to his knees to check on Kann's conditions.
" Kann? Kann! Do you hear me? Kann, speak to me!" Mitch shouted at the wolf's face, slapping his face with his paws. Suddenly, Kann's eyes opened wide. The wolf then sat up straight so fast, he almost hit Mitch with his head.
" WOW! What was that!?" Kann yelled out, feeling his muscles rumbling and flexible again. He flexed his arms, checking his arms with his paws. Then he flipped to his feet, feeling alive like never before.
" HAHA! It's good to see you again buddy! How many years was it?" Kann bearhugged the tiger roughly, lifting his body off the ground.
" ARH, it's nice to see you too!" Mitch replied back after Kann finally dropped him down, " Calm down, Kann! You're making it weird!"
" Ok ok. So how's your life huh? Have you ran into anything?" Kann asked,finally calmly down, sat down at the campfire, opposite of Mitch.
" Not much actually. I've finished the Samurai clan wars over Japan! Geez! Those guys never really know how to surrender!" Mitch replied.
" Well, they're samurais in first place."
" Yeah. you're right. Hey wait a minute!" Mitch fused his brows, his paws stretching the lips of Kann's eyes.
" OW! What are you doing?!"
" The last time I saw you, if I remember correctly, you had black eyes! Now, it's blue!" Mitch exclaimed in astonishment.
" What are you talking about?! It's black!" Kann denied.
" Wait, wait, I'll show you" Mitch glanced around, then grabbed an abandoned metal shield, wiped it clean with his paws, and then held it in front of Kann's face, " There, you see?"
" Oh yeah! I have blue eyes. I HAVE BLUE EYES!" Kann repeated, surprised as well, " maybe it's the side effects of my spell." Said Kann, " Well, then, when will we depart?"
" In the morning. We head for China, since, I think that that's the place you miss the most." Mitch replied, grabbing a load of bread from his pack and took a mouth full.
" But where's Marron and the others?"
" You mean the old wolf? He built a small city in the North side of China. Don't worry, He runs it pretty well in these couple of years." the tiger took another bite, " Alright then. Get to sleep. You'll need your energy tomorrow." Mitch said, pulling out a sleeping bag, and quickly slipped into it.
" Good night old friend." Kann said, then he too slipped into slumber.
