In the universe there are three primal forces: anger, fear, and love. These forces intertwine with each other much in the same way that the aurora borealis twists and turns in the night sky in the great white north. Each of the primal forces can be used for good or evil. Yet there is a fourth human force. This force is much greater than any of the others. This primal force can be triggered by fear or love but never anger. Command of this force requires more strength and courage than most humans could ever forge up. Yet the ability to use this force is in all of us. The fourth human force is forgiveness and of all of the human forces it alone is the most powerful. For forgiveness can bring peace to warring nations. Forgiveness can heal tortured souls. Forgiveness can bring peace to multitudes of people.
For all the power of forgiveness, that force can be blocked by anger. Unlike all the other primal human forces, anger is an all-consuming force. Like a fire that is out of control, anger eventually consumes and destroys all that contains it. Just as anger can block the power of forgiveness, forgiveness can block the power of anger. Ever locked in eternal conflict anger and forgiveness constantly conflict with each other.
The night was cloudless and the sky was alive with colors. Blues, reds and greens were constantly shifting in the sky in a brilliant display of colors. Behind the colors were the stars shining brightly. The ground was capped in a bright freshly fallen snow. Something rare was about to happen tonight. In fact it was so rare that only one person knew about it. Grand Pappi was watching the night sky intently when Bulda rolled up behind him.
"The night sky is really active tonight," Bulda said.
Grand Pappi didn't say anything. Instead he was focusing on the intense display of colors in the sky.
"The primal forces are on the move again," Grand Pappi said, "Something is about to happen I have only seen once before."
"And what might dat be?" Bulda asked.
"Two of the primal forces of nature are about to impact magic among us," Grand Pappi said gravely. "When the primal forces of human nature strike, we must beware," he added.
The light show above Bulda and Grand Pappi intensified with a particular concentration of red and blue. To most people, the colors would be beautiful. To Grand Pappi, the colors showed an occurrence that had not happened in generations.
In two separate castles separated in very distant lands, women were in labor. The force of fear descended on one castle and imbued one child with the voice of fear. This child would become Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Her story would become very well known. It was also well known that the force of Love would imbue her little sister with the power of love so strong to overcome fear.
In the other castle the force of anger would descend. However anger would play tricks this evening. Even Grand Pappi's wise eyes could not see what was about to happen for all would be deceived. The woman in the second castle would give birth two identical twins. Anger would give one twin the voice of anger. For the second twin, the anger would imbue with powerful latent magic. Once all was done, the lights left and the sky returned to the normal dancing and brilliant colors in the sky. Only years after the fact would people understand how powerful a trick that anger played that night.
Five Years Later
"Erik!" Leif shouted.
The young prince was now running through the courtyard of the castle pursued by his older brothers.
"Come back here you freak!" shouted one of the older brothers.
Leif was both scared and crying. This was not the first time that his older brothers had decided to terrorize Leif. Erik and Leif were twins and were favorite targets for their older brother. Leif was now at a full run heading to where he thought that Erik was standing. His eyes were full of terror. Right behind were two of his older brothers in full pursuit. Leif was fairly fleet of foot and could keep ahead fairly well, but he was definitely getting tired. At first Leif found a group of barrels to hide behind.
"Come out, come out wherever you are you little freak!" the older princes shouted.
Prince Leif just stood as quietly as he could to avoid his older brothers. Despite his best efforts though, his brothers started to thrown barrels around and eventually spotted him.
"There he is!" one of the princes shouted.
Leif immediately took off for a hay wagon that was located beside the stables. He wouldn't make it. He almost made it to the wagon when one his brothers caught up to him and grabbed him by the collar. Leif knew he was in trouble.
"Erik!" he yelled again.
"Don't bother yelling for that freak again!" the brother yelled.
"Yeah, he won't hear you!" shouted another brother as the pummeling began.
For the next several minutes Leif would be pummeled pretty badly by his brothers.
"That's what you get for being a freak!" shouted one of his brothers as the pummelling continued.
"ENOUGH!" came a shout loud enough to be heard over the din of punches being thrown.
The older brothers looked up as did Leif. By now Leif had a bloody nose and a black eye. He looked as if he had been run over by a herd of horses. Even though his bruised and swollen eyes, Leif could tell from the voice that the other person yelling was Erik.
"Well, well…" said one of the princes, "Look who showed up. It is the master freak himself."
"That is enough of the taunting, Canute," Erik replied angrily.
Erik's temper was infamous. The older princes knew what they were doing. Leif was Erik's identical twin. While Erik had the temper, Leif was more laid back but certainly looked just like Erik.
"What are you going to do about it?" Canute sneered back.
"Let Leif go NOW!" Erik replied with his temper increasing ever more.
"No!" Canute shouted angrily and before turning to resume pummeling Leif.
By now, Erik's anger was continuing to build. Erik quickly clenched his fists until they felt like they were going to explode. Then he released the fists and in the palm of his hands appeared two fireballs.
"LET HIM GO!" Erik shouted his voice full of fury.
The older princes were still pummeling on Leif when the first fireball slammed into the hay wagon quickly catching the hay on fire. The boys immediately turned to look at what happened when the second fireball slammed exploded into by their feet. That fireball quickly caught the straw that was on the ground by their feet on fire. The older boys quickly dropped Leif and they ran. Meanwhile the hay wagon was now completely engulfed in flames. The fire alarms were quickly being sounded. Erik quickly ran up to his brother and grabbed him.
"It is time we get out of here, brother!" Erik yelled.
Erik supported his brother but his brother will still dazed by his pummeling and had now two swollen black eyes so he could barely see where he going. Leif was definitely slowing Erik down. In the meantime a bucket brigade was quickly forming around the two princes and were now fighting the fires.
"Get out of here Erik and Leif!" shouted one of the men on the bucket brigade.
"We are trying!" Erik shouted back.
By now the hay wagon was completely engulfed. Not only that but the straw on the ground was clearly burning from the second fireball. There was some concern by those on the fire brigades about the fire reaching the power magazine if it wasn't contained quickly enough. The bucket brigade would eventually get the fire under control, but it would take several more hours before the fire would be completely extinguished. By now the older princes had already reported what had apparently happened. Of course they left out the chasing and pummeling of Leif conveniently enough.
King Henriken brought his sons in front of him.
"Care to explain to me what happened?" the king asked sternly.
"That freak threw fireballs at us and nearly killed us!" Canute replied angrily.
"And Canute and the three older brothers were beating Leif," Erik sneered back.
"Enough!" the king shouted.
King Henriken could see that Prince Leif had taken a beating. Although the swelling was done, he had two black eyes.
"Who beat him?" the king asked with a fair degree of anger in his voice.
None of the princes answered.
"Whose idea was it to beat him?" the king asked again. This time he asked more impatiently.
When no one would answer him again, the King assumed that all four of the older princes were responsible for the beating of Leif.
"Since none of you will admit to who did that, you will all be punished for Leif's beating. I will deal with you shortly. You are to remain in your rooms until I can deal with you. Now you four may leave. Erik and Leif, you are to remain here," the king commanded.
"Erik, I know what happened," King Henriken started.
"Father, they were beating on Leif," Erik began.
"I know that they were and they were punished. But the power you have Erik is dangerous. There is a reason I have to watch out when I send you out Erik," the king interrupted.
"People will fear you. They will fear that you will kill them. In fact, you caused a considerable amount of damage today and in fact threatened to blow up the power magazine," the king stated sternly. "People will talk, Erik. Whether you want them to or not, they will talk and they will fear you. The more that people fear you, the more the anger will consume you. It is very important not just to you but everyone you love that you control your anger. I know that it was you who threw those fireballs because I saw it," the king started.
"I am sorry," Erik began.
"Leif, you are the identical twin brother of Erik," the king once again interrupted. "You don't have the same active abilities as Erik, but because you are identical twins your powers seem to be more latent than Erik's. You are letting yourself be manipulated and are also manipulating your brother's ability as well. You should be standing up for yourself rather than letting your brother do all your fighting for you." his father scolded. "I shouldn't be sitting here seeing you with two black eyes," the king added.
"Yes father," Leif answered.
"Leif and Erik, I must take actions to protect both you and the rest of the castle. I am isolating the two of you to your own private wing of the castle. From now on until Erik can better control his anger and Leif can stand up for himself, I am keeping you in that wing of the castle," King Henriken stated.
And with that statement the discussion of the day's events came to a close. Going forward Erik and Leif would be staying by themselves in the castle.
"Come on, Leif," Erik told this brother. "Let's get you back to your room and get you cleaned up."
Leif didn't argue with his brother and quickly followed him to his new room. Once back to their new room, Erik took the time to care for Leif and his bruised and swollen eyes.
"Thanks Erik," Leif said sadly.
"Don't worry about it," Erik replied. "Those guys are more scared of me then you."
"Why do you think that they choose to beat me up? I can't control fire," Leif complained.
"But you are my twin, Leif," Erik replied. "You might not be able to control fire now, but you never know."
"Still it seems unfair," Leif replied.
Servants would quickly move their stuff from their old room to their new room over the next several days. While the two brothers might have to remain isolated from their other brothers, they would definitely have each other.
King Henriken was't sure how to handle his son. Erik had abilities that no one else in the kingdom had. If word got out about Erik's abilities or the fact that his identical twin might have the same powers, it could destroy his kingdom. The isolation of the boys from the rest of their brothers would at least help contain the problem. But it couldn't be a cure. Henriken decided to walk in his garden. He had just started to walk in his garden when Henriken heard soft footsteps coming up behind him. He turned around to see Queen Annika coming up behind him.
"You must have a heavy heart today Henrik," his wife said.
"I keep thinking about the twins," the king said. "I want all of my boys to be tough. The kingdom expects that of their princes."
"Yet the kingdom would fear Erik. They would fear that he could destroy the entire kingdom," Annika replied. "Henrik, what happened today should not have happened. Our boys should love each other. Our twins are already going to be feared by the kingdom. If their brothers do not love them, who does?"
Henriken thought about what his wife was saying. "I want to stand by my sons, but what is the best way to help them?"
"I wish I could give you the answer, darling," his wife replied.
"Maybe it is time for us to visit the trolls. They seem to understand magic a lot more than I do. Besides I wouldn't mind spending a few days visiting my good friend King Gustav of Arendelle," the king said.
Annika thought the idea was splendid. If anyone could help, the trolls would be in the best position to do so. It certainly didn't help that her husband's closest friend was the king of Arendelle. Henriken and Gustav knew each other since they were very young boys. Visiting with Gustav and his family would do Henriken a world of good.
Thirteen Years Later
Hans was coming back to the Southern Isles. Neither his father nor any of his brothers were happy by the events of the past several days in Arendelle.
"Hans, you nearly murdered a reigning monarch!," King Henriken was on the verge of shouting.
"Father, please. What Elsa did was threaten the existence of all of Arendelle," Hans replied with a snarky tone.
"Elsa is the daughter of a very good and close friend of mine. I would protect his children with my own life if I had to," Henriken replied angrily.
Hans was extremely manipulative and his father knew that. However one skill that Hans had not mastered yet was wisdom. Challenging his father on the ability of his late and closest friend's children to rule their kingdom was definitely not the wisest course of action for Hans.
"She put me in charge and was threatening the very existence of Arendelle. I did what I did to protect Arendelle. Elsa was a threat to Arendelle," Hans replied with angrily.
"You left Gustav's youngest daughter to be frozen solid in a room. You locked the outside of the door. You then LIED to other royals gathered in Arendelle about marrying Anna thereby claiming rights to the Arendelle throne that you were not entitled to. You LIED the queen and told her that her sister was dead so you could execute her for a treason she did not commit." his father shouted at the top of his voice.
Despite everything going against him, Hans wasn't going to back down. "How long do you think it will be before Elsa is a threat to the Southern Isles, father?" Hans yelled back. "She is like Erik except that she freezes everything that she touches."
That last statement hurt King Henriken immensely. Despite years of trying to get his brothers to see past Erik's abilities, they still feared and loathed him.
"Hans, I sentence you to death!" his father yelled angrily.
The immediate sentence drew immediate gasps from the room. The loudest gasp came from his wife sitting next to him.
"Henriken, you mustn't do that!" Queen Annika said.
"And why shouldn't I? He attempted a coup against a legitimate monarch and daughter of a close friend?" the king replied angrily.
"Because he is your son. Are you putting the kingdom of your close friend above your own son?" Queen Annika replied angrily.
"Father, if I might interject.." Erik began.
"You may not!" Hentriken started to reply.
"Father, while I do not believe that the actions of Hans are defensible I do agree with mother that they are not worth the death sentence," Erik interrupted. Despite Han's behavior towards Erik, Erik stepped up and stood beside Hans.
Henriken didn't like being challenged by both his son and wife and started to become increasingly agitated.
"Why does this son deserve mercy after his actions?" Henriken demanded to know angrily.
"Because anger clouds your judgment. Do you not remember the lessons you taught me father? Do you not remember what Grand Pappi told us when you took me to visit Arendelle? Anger can consume you. The only way to control anger is through forgiveness. Otherwise anger will eat at you until you take actions that you will regret, " Erik replied calmly. "If you issue that sentence now, you will do so in anger. Is that the best decision to make?"
Erik could tell that his statement made an impact on his father. His father was becoming far less agitated.
"Good point Erik," his father replied. "I will consider your argument for mercy."
"Leave me!" the king commanded as he began to calm down and ponder his son's fate in earnest.
It would be another two days before Hans would learn his fate.
"Well Hans, what you did in Arendelle is horrible. The thought of what you did sickens my stomach. However your brother Erik make a very well made case for mercy. It took me days to cool down and consider what you did in earnest. However I won't sentence you to death. Instead I will be stripping you of all wealth and sentencing you to house arrest on Neuvo Island. All wealth that you might have access to through this family is to be surrendered immediately. Your ship to Neuvo Island will leave by sunset today. All rights and priviledges you might have had as a Prince of the Southern Isles are hereby and forthwith stripped from you effectively immediately," the king commanded.
As the king pronounced Hans' punishment for his behavior in Arendelle, Erik stood by his brother. Hans didn't acknowledge the action. Erik would stand by Hans until he was removed from the room by the guards.
"I don't get you Erik," Leif said, "Hans treats us like dirt and you stand up and argue for mercy for him. You stood by him in his initial appearance before father and even during his sentencing. Why?"
"Leif, I remember the lesson that Grand Pabbi taught very well. Anger is a very dangerous force. You can use it for good or bad. The only way to truly control anger is mercy and forgiveness. Even though what my brother was completely and utterly wrong, I still have to forgive him and protect him. He is still my brother after all."