Chapter One: Birth of Glow
Crystal's POV
Darkness. That's the first thing that I remember. It was dark, and it was cold. And I was scared. It was so cold. There was no light at all, not from the sun, not from the moon. Someone could have been waving their hands in front of my face and I would not have noticed. It was so cold. I felt so alone and weak, there was nothing that I could do. So cold. I felt as though I was going to pass into unconsciousness again. Suddenly there was a booming voice that surrounded my whole body, "CRYSTAL DEVONHARR!"
I trembled beneath the power that flowed around me. Somehow, I could tell that the owner of the voice was behind me. I turned around and although I still could not see, I felt a warmth spread from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Regardless of the comfort that I felt, I still remained at attention, prepared for anything that this mysterious person could say.
The person chuckled and said, "Oh silly me! You are still partially human. You cannot see in the darkness yet." Confusion bubbled around me but before I could ask anything, torches were lit and I saw that I was in some kind of chamber. In front of me was an elderly man dressed in a black robe with his left hand outstretched. Despite his age, he appeared to stand quite tall and with strength, as though the age was merely a disguise. In his hand was a swirling ball of glowing dust, different colors blending with each other.
I knew that I should have felt fear at this unfamiliar and strange man, but somehow, I knew that what I needed to do was grab the outstretched hand with the dust. I crossed the distance in five long strides and placed my hand directly in his. As I did, a bolt of warm strong energy flew through my arm and I involuntarily shuddered. I looked into the man's eyes and began to hear a voice in my mind, "What I am about to show you are things of the past, of both your past and those of your great-great-great grandfather's past," he paused for a moment. In this moment I found my voice and it croaked out a single question,
"Where am I?"
Before, the man's eyes shone with an intensity that I had never seen before in my life but also with a spark of kindness. After my question, his eyes lost some of that shine and an unfamiliar emotion was on his face. Was it pity?
I could not ponder it for very long before the dust in our hands began to swirl around both of us in a tornado. I initially shut my eyes because the colors of the dust were so disorienting, but after a moment I reopened them and the dust had formed into an image in front of me. In it, there was a young boy of about ten years old jumping up and down on his bed as miraculously a rabbit made of snow leaped through the air. His brown eyes shone with the wonder that only a child introduced to magic would have. He cried out, "Whoa!" as the rabbit burst into a small snow flurry in his room and began to laugh. I couldn't help but laugh too, it was contagious.
Then the boy stopped laughing and he had a puzzled look on his face. He looked up at the ceiling and murmured quietly, "Snow?" Then a single snowflake landed on his nose and his eyes widened, his jaw dropped open, "Jack Frost?" Now my mouth dropped open too. Jack Frost? He was fake, just a legend to tell kids about the magic of winter when they were young. I guess I was even more surprised when suddenly a teenager around my age appeared in the room across from the boy.
He was extremely pale and thin, not gaunt but definitely thinner than he probably should be. His hair was white and he wore a blue sweatshirt with brown pants. I noted that he was barefoot. He was also holding a hook staff that was laced with ice. Just based on this, I could immediately conclude that this is the famed Jack Frost, not like the Jack Frost in movies. But the feature that I noticed immediately was his eyes. By first glance, they appear to be a crystal blue but on closer inspection, the eyes were multicolored, taking on whatever color was around. In them, I could see an expression of surprise and disbelief. He whispered, "Did he just say…?"
"Jack Frost?" the boy repeated. He was looking around the room, as if searching for something.
Frost's eyes widened, "Oh, he said it again. He said…you said…" he was breathless and clearly on the verge of breaking down in tears.
The boy just now spun all the way around to face Jack, and his mouth somehow dropped even farther open, "Jack Frost," he said in disbelief.
"That's right!" Frost exclaimed, "That…that's me, Jack Frost! That's my name!" He moved closer to the boy nearly crying, "You said my name!"
The boy said nothing, merely staring at Jack with the same blank stare.
Frost's expression turned into one of horror. He began to back away slowly, "Wait, can…can you hear me?" The boy nodded slightly, "Can…can you see me?" The boy nodded again more noticeably. Frost took short quick breaths and his eyes filled with hope and joy. He almost cried out, "He sees me…ah…he sees me!" He began to laugh and flipped backward onto the desk. The scene then stopped. I heard the old man's voice again,
"This is your great-great-great grandfather Jamie. This is his first clear memory of meeting any of the guardians that he knew was real. There was another memory a few days before these events where he encountered Jack Frost as well as the other guardians, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Santa Claus, and Easter Bunny. However, it was perceived as a dream because Sandman made him fall asleep."
I was confused, "Why is this important? I'm sure millions of children have met the so-called guardians."
"Because your ancestor helped to save the Earth in the first battle of Earth." The image in front of me changed into swirling dust again and formed into a new image of a man dressed completely in black, and his eyes glowed with a golden unfamiliar power. Behind him stood thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of black horses made of sand. The image changed perspective and now I saw Jack Frost, Santa, Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny (he was so cute looking!) all standing wearily as though they had no power left. In front of them stood Jamie, looking up fearlessly at the man in black and behind him flanked other children.
The old man's voice continued, "Pitch Black, or better known as the Boogey Man in your world, attempted to take over the world because he was not believed in, and he needed to be believed in. He almost succeeded as well because as children fell under the spell of his nightmares, the more children that stopped believing in the guardians. Through their belief is how the guardians retain their power. Your ancestor was the last child on Earth to have believed in the guardians. When he saw proof, he knew that he would never stop believing."
Just then, I noticed something odd about the scene in front of me and remembered an old story, "Wait a minute. The Sandman is supposed to be the mortal enemy of the Boogey Man, I mean Pitch." I looked around as best as I could in the scene, "But he isn't here!"
"He was not there because he was struck by a Nightmare arrow and seemed to fade into the darkness. Without dreams, the children began to lose belief in the other guardians at a rapid rate. However, Jack Frost was the best defense against Pitch because no children had believed in him for nearly 200 years, yet he was still strong. Unfortunately, Pitch was cunning. He knew Jack's weakness at the time, Pitch had Jack's memories." Before I could ask what that meant, he continued, "Before Jack became Jack Frost, he was just another human teenager like yourself. However, one day, he and his little sister went out ice skating on the lake. She was trapped on some thin ice. Jack quickly managed to pull his little sister to safety, but at a great cost."
"He died?" I suddenly asked. That was weird, how did I know anything about this story?
The old man did not speak again for a long while, then he said, "Yes. Yes, he died. But Man in Moon was there and turned Jack into an immortal for his courageous and selfless acts." I began to pity him. Jack had his whole life ahead of him and he had done the one thing that I had really only dreamed about: saved the person that he cared about.
"Who is Man in Moon?" I asked. The name seemed familiar somehow but I could not put a finger on it.
"He is one of the eldest immortal legends. He basically leads the guardians in their mission to protect the children of the world."
"Are you Man in Moon?" I wondered aloud. He kind of fit the profile that he created.
A laughing sound echoed throughout the space. I could almost feel he smile at me as he said, "Yes and no. I am not Man in Moon. It is difficult for him to communicate in this place alone; however, my job is kind of acting as a bridge between him and here. So I am speaking to you as Man in Moon, but this is not my physical body."
That reminded me of the other question that had been burning at my mind for the past time, "Where exactly is this place?"
"A more correct question is not where this place is, but rather what it is. It exists everywhere at once. You my dear girl are in a special form of the afterlife."
"WHAT?!" I screamed. The afterlife? "This cannot be true! What happened to me and why are you showing me these other memories?"
"I understand that you are confused as is expected. Now I am going to show you as much as your life as I can. My time with you is coming to an end."
I cried out, "Wait! I'm more interested as to why you are showing me the memories in the first place."
The voice sighed and the man said, "You do realize that if I tell you that, you will not be able to access your memories through me. You will have to find another way to see them through someone else."
I nodded, "I understand 100%. Now please, tell me why you chose to show me memories of an ancestor that I do not even remember."
He began, "During the battle of the Earth, after the Sandman had supposedly died, the Sandman, because he was in the world of nothingness, came to see me to ask for guidance in order to help Jack Frost. Jack had lost faith in himself and the guardians no longer trusted him because long story short, he sold out Easter in order for him to get his memories. Of course this is not exactly what happened. Jack was delayed by Pitch because he was baited by his memories long enough for the nightmares to destroy Easter." I shuddered as the image of the demon-like horses reappeared in front of me for just a few seconds. The man continued, "I told him that he had to inspire Jack to view his memories. If he saw his memories, he would regain faith in himself. However, this was not the only thing that I told him. I saw that in the future because of Jamie's interference in the battle, one of Jamie's descendants would become the sixth guardian."
"Me." I realized. That would explain everything up until now, the viewing of my ancestor's memories, learning about the guardians.
"Yes, you are the sixth guardian. Unfortunately you died just before I was going to give you your powers so now I have even less time to explain it all to you." The old man appeared in front of me suddenly and grasped my hands once again, "My time is almost up, if I keep you here for too long you will die. Now it is time for me to give you immortality and your power. What happens afterward is all up to you."
I had one final question, "What if the guardians don't take me in? What if I am turned away?"
"Don't worry, you won't be. I will contact them to let them know the new guardian has been found," the tingling sensation on my arm increasing significantly until it felt as though I was burning. I found that I could not scream despite the pain that was coursing through my body. Just before I lost consciousness, I heard the old man's voice for the last time, "Don't ever lose sight, my little glow."
