Chapter One

Jack laughed carelessly as he the wind carried him in between buildings and cars. He was somewhere above Vancouver, Canada, and was quickly making his way Burgess. He wanted, no needed, to see his birth place, his forever frozen lake, and spread winter and joy to his first believers. After all, what kind of guardian of fun would he be if he didn't? So weaving his way through another neighborhood, and spreading snow as he did, Jack slowly, but surely, made his way to Burgess.

Jack continued this way until he reached the Canadian city of Winnipeg. There something caused him to stop abruptly. Jack was laughing as he froze a sidewalk over causing a stray dog to ice-skate wildly down the street, when he saw something that alarmed him.

Jack tuned his attention away from the poor animal to a house nearby. Inside the small cottage there was a little girl no older than eight sleeping, but that was not what caused him to stop. No, what startled him was the girl's dream. There was not a golden unicorn dancing above her head. There wasn't even a dolphin, woven from the sand made by the guardian of dreams, bobbing up and down in lazy circles around her head. Above the little Canadian girl's head was something causing her to toss in disgust and horror. Above her head was nightmare formed by black sand.

Jack gasped in horror and asked the winds to carry him to another house just up the street. In his head he wondered if this was just a mere coincidence, or the start to another uprising. Complying with the urgency in the winter spirit's voice, the winds carried Jack at speeds unimaginable to any human who didn't believe in Jack Frost and his old companion. The all out sprint lasted only a few seconds until he reached his destination.

He peered into an eleven year old boy's room, and patterns of frost started creep up the sides of the transparent glass he was looking through. Within a minute the window was covered in an intricate frost pattern, but not before Jack saw what he need to. Above this child's head Jack saw something that confirmed his suspicions. Above the child's head, there was a black horse steadily galloping in quick circles.

Less than an hour later, Jack had checked every nearly house on the street, with the only account of his trespassing being frosted window panes. After every house, Jack became more and more anxious. All houses on that street had at least one child left tossing and turning in their sleep on account of a nightmare galloping around their heads.

Jack was shivering. Not because of the freezing temperatures. He had grown accustomed to that. Nor was he shivering do to his bare feet. He preferred is feet to be free. No, Jack was shivering because of the children he saw in a small part of Manitoba. He was shivering due to the dozens of nightmares he saw encircling multiple vulnerable children's head.

The newest guardian had to tell the others immediately about the evil he saw arriving. He was about to ask the winds to take him to the North Pole at full speed, but his ears picked up an almost inaudible sound. A low chuckle reached his ears. At first he thought nothing of it, but then a sense of deja-vous washed over him like a tidal wave. He heard that dark laugh before.

When he turned around, Jack found the owner of that maniacal laugh was standing a few feet away, facing a window that Jack's frost patterns had not yet reached. The laugh belonged to a man with grey skin and hair and robes he wore were so black, some might say it was pitch black. His face was twisted into a wicked smile as he saw a 6 year old girl weep silently after a terrible nightmare. His eyes gleamed a faint yellow color as he witnessed the fear he caused the young girl.

Jack stood still from shock when he realized who was standing in front of him. It was his former enemy, but he was gone. It's only been three years, and the guardians promised he would be gone for at least thirty more. That can't be him, can it? Well, obviously it can because Jack only known enemy was standing right there in front of him. Right there in the flesh.

His enemy hadn't noticed him yet. Jack pondered if he should confront the older man, but almost thought better of it. He didn't know of the man's current strength, and the others didn't know of his current position. So, instead of perusing the evil man, Jack silently asked the winds to take him away from this neighborhood as quietly as possible. As soon as the man disappeared in the distance, Jack urgently asked the wind to take him in the opposite direction of his current destination. His new destination was the northern-most part of this Earth, the North Pole.

Going faster than a speeding bullet, Jack reached his destination in less than fifteen minutes. When he reached the North Pole, he saw the work shop of the famed North, or more commonly known as Santa Clause. Finishing the last leg of his little race to the North Pole, Jack silently begged the winds to push him just a little faster. The winds complied with Jack wish, and hurled him at the workshop, at speeds that would leave race car drivers jealous. He sped away, neither noticing nor caring about the immense blizzard he was leaving in his wake.

Jack was moving so fast he did not notice that the window he usually he flew through, was closed. By the time that he did notice, it was too late. Jack was too close, and coming in too fast to stop. Realizing this, the winter sprit did not even attempt to turn or stop. Instead, Jack just braced himself for the inevitable crash.

'Ten seconds till impact,' Jack thought, '9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 3… 2…'

Before he reached one Jack crashed into the window. No, scratch that, Jack crashed through the window. Shards of glass scattered on the flour, causing the unsuspecting yetis and elves to cry out in surprise. Jack rolled on the floor with a small yelp of pain, but he quickly got up and assessed the damage. He had a few scrapes from the broken glass, a bloody nose, and a big lump forming on his left temple, but all and all he was fine.

A startled yeti came up to Jack, and started talking to him in his garbled tongue. Before the yeti reached Jack, however, the winter spirit picked up his staff, and shot down the hallway towards North's personal workshop. Jack pushed the large door open with all his might, and caused it to fly open, and crush a new prototype that the Old Russian was working on in the process.

"Oi! I thought I told you to… Jack! What? What hap-" the guardian of wonder started to say, in a thick Russian accent, but he was soon interrupted by jack.

"North! You need to call the other guardian now!" Jack managed out between gasped. He was exhausted from flying, so far, so fast. Even with the winds doing most of the work, harnessing winds took a lot of physical and mental effort.

"What? Why?" North asked. He was still itching to know how Jack got hurt, but the tone of Jacks voice made Santa realize, that there were more pressing issues. He was preparing for the worst, but what Jack said next made North's blood run cold.

"Pitch is back" Jack said before nearly collapsing from pure exhaustion.