Prologue
The cold November wind howled like a tormented spirit across the frozen desolate landscape of the North Pole. Night had fallen close to three hours ago and the Pole was now shrouded in darkness. The only light that now twinkled in the gloom was those coming from North's fortress nestled deep within an icy crevasse. All five guardians were sitting in North's study sipping mulled wine and warming themselves by the fire that crackled and spat on the hearth. Jack and North sat farthest away from the fire and were dressed in their usual garb. Sandy and Tooth set a little closer and had towels wrapped around their legs. Bunny set closest to the flame and was not only wrapped up in an oversized blanket but also wore woolly socks up to his knees and woolly mittens. The others had laughed and said that he looked ridiculous but he merely snorted back that is was to cold too for him to try to maintain his tough-guy appearance.
The five of them had been working hard all day in North's toy making rooms and were now enjoying a well earned respite. They had talked about the day's work for a time but then Jack had asked each of them about their pasts and North, Tooth and Sandy were happy to oblige by telling him a little bit about them themselves. North had just finished and Jack now turned his eyes on Bunny.
"What?" the furry guardian asked.
"Come on Bunny," Jack said, "it's your turn now; tell me a bit about yourself."
"What's to tell?" Bunny replied, "I'm a pooka, my name is Bunnymund and I became a Guardian after I helped North and the others to get rid of that scum Pitch."
Jack nodded, "I see. What about before that, you know before you came to Earth?"
All eyes were now on Bunny, and he didn't like it.
"You know Bunny," said Tooth, "you never really told us about your past."
"Maybe I didn't want to talk about it," the pooka replied bluntly.
"Oh some on, please," Tooth begged.
"Why should I?" Bunny asked irreparably.
"Well I did save your live a few months back," Jack replied before Tooth had the chance to speak, "You know when you were in baby form."
"I wasn't a baby," Bunny growled angrily, "and if I remember correctly it was your fault I was like that in the first place."
Jack looked at the floor, hurt; he hated being remained of his mistake.
Bunny sighed, "Okay I'll talk but there's only one way to do this and that's to do it right. I'm going to start from the beginning and tell you what really happened during the Golden Age. You may want to get some food before we start, this might take some time"
And so he began.