Before you read this chapter, I apologise for all OOCness in this chapter and other parts of this story. I always viewed Seraphina as a very emotion driven character that just prefers to hide it best she can. I'm finding it very difficult to write from her point of view.

I know that the story is very slow at the moment, but there are just a few things I want to touch upon first and flesh out before we get moving again. Next chapter should begin a few time skips.

A few OC's will be in this story, but they are not overly important and won't overshadow the main characters and the plot. I simply wanted to add in a few more spirits and characters to make things interesting. If anyone has anything like that that they would like to see, please message me and I will see what I can do.

Another thing, this story is AU and will not be touching upon most things in book 5. Some elements will be put in here, but for the most part, this story is a rewrite of a story that I had writen and abandoned before book 5 came out. I am able to write this due to renewed inspiration and with the help of my wonderful friend, Axta-8. This also means that some things will be added in, like the explanation of the Golden Age in this and the fearlings. I was always a little disappointed that the people from the Golden Age never had many interactions, so this is how I'm going to be doing it. I much prefer the idea of most of them knowing each other in some way. If you have any questions about that, please ask!

I would like to thank everyone who has been giving their comments and reviews for this story. It really helps and means a lot to me.

Updates may be very slow from this point on as school is starting again tomorrow. It is online, but I am likely to be getting a lot of work, so I apologise if it takes more than a week to get only 1,000 chapter out.

Anyway! Thank you again, and please enjoy!

Chapter 9- A Golden past

Seraphina paced from one end of the room to the other.

She had been doing this for hours now, and she knew that it would soon be time to give her story. But she wasn't ready! Despite her usually cold demeanour, Seraphina was always closely tied with her emotions. Perhaps that is why she kept people at a distance, and why she often spoke so harshly.

All these years on Earth as Mother Nature has allowed her to bury her memories and her past and just move on with her life. True, Manny had brought a few of those up again, but that was years ago and he soon learned to drop it. Now, within the span of a few days, everything had been unraveled and she had now been left reeling from it all. Stupid fearlings, stupid Pitch, stupid father and stupid, stupid Nightlight! Where had he been all that time? Did he look for her? Did he know? Did he care?

Really, she wanted to throttle the glowing boy and then give him a huge hug. Did he not recognise her? But why did he look in pain when he looked at her? She remembered the times when she was just a little girl, when she'd hide from the big crowds of people, or get upset and run away from her parents. Whenever he was nearby, he would always comfort her and make her smile. He spoke little, but that hadn't mattered to the small girl. She enjoyed the silence, and the two of them would stare at the stars above them as her sobs subsided and her tears began to dry. She always used to think that those nights were just silly dreams she had, because she would never remember leaving and would always wake up in bed.

But the next time Nightlight visited and she got upset, it happened again. And again. And again. Looking back on it, Seraphina was quite embarrassed by how much she cried as a child, thankfully the Lunanoff guardian never seemed to show much sign of being bothered by it.

She sighed deeply. She missed those times and those starry skies. Everything was so much more simple back then, no one realising the threat that would soon destroy them in a few years time. She remembered how her mother and father would dance together in the secluded gardens, eyes so full of love and happiness as they looked at each other-

No. No, she should not be thinking about this right now. She had enough problems as it is, no need to go diving into that area of the pool so soon.

There was a small knock at the door. "Come in."

"Miss Seraphina?" It was Katherine, the child that Ombric had raised. "Everyone is in the other room. We were wondering if you were ready."

Seraphina inwardly smiled at how polite the girl was. Oh, she had no doubt that this girl could be rude and put someone in their place with words alone, but she also was very good at making people feel comfortable around her. Not to mention the great amounts of magic that the immortal felt from the girl, and she thought Ombric was a prodigy. Honestly, where did he get this child?

Seraphina nodded slightly. "Thank you, I shall be just a moment."

After the girl had shut the door behind her, Seraphina took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She could do this!

Opening the door before her, the Mother of Nature glided softly over the wooden floor as she made her way to stand before the four other occupants of the room. She did not understand why she felt so nervous. It was four people, two of which she already knew!

To her left sat Ombric, an all powerful wizard who had lived for centuries by this point. Next to him, sat Nicholas St. North, a former Cossack and now the most famous bandit in all of Russia. In the chair on the right, closest to her, sat Jack Frost, the spirit of winter who has a serious case amnesia (She needed to talk to him about that later. And maybe Manny too.). And on the very end sat Katherine, an adorable child who could most likely kick serious ass.

All in all, a group of very powerful individuals all sat in a room together discussing world history and how to take down an immortal being with a near endless supply of fearlings.

Maybe their chances might not be so bad.

{~}

Seraphina did not look happy to be there, and Jack honestly couldn't blame her. From what she had told him earlier, Jack had gathered that she did not seem to like talking about her past at all. But they all knew that there were things that they needed to know. That didn't mean they had to enjoy it.

The Mother of Nature, after a few moments of silence, had decided to sit down as she told the story. They were likely to be here for a long time.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled. Everyone was silent around her.

"The golden age was seen as a time of peace, where dreamers and wishers thrived in all ways. People were always inventing something new, as they travelled from planet to planet, discovering new things all the time. It was ruled by the constellation families, or nobles as you would call them today. They governed each section and made sure all was in order. Ruling over them was the Tsar and Tsarina Lunanoff, the two most important people in the cosmos. They presided over everything, and were the ones who led the charge against the fearlings and all that threatened the peace of the Golden Age. For, although it was a time of peace, there would always be those that tried to rule and interfere with chaos.

"The fearlings, no one knew exactly where they came from, only that they had always been there. Humans and all the folk of the cosmos did all they could through the ages to purge the universe from the fearlings, finally pushing them back far enough and allowing the Golden Age to begin and thrive. Some argue that the Golden Age came to be during the reign of Tsar Lunanoff VIII, but I believe that it rose and fell with the Man in the Moon's father, Tsar Lunanoff IX. The man had rallied all of his allies together, and in a long and gruelling war, finally imprisoned the fearlings away. Although I did not see it, I believe that the Golden Age prospered for a few years before… he came. Again, I cannot tell you exactly how it happened, but I believe that something, the leader of the fearlings perhaps, had possessed the gatekeeper of their prison and began to wipe out all the planets in the Golden Age."

"Did you say 'leader'?" It was Ombric who interrupted.

"Yes," Seraphina frowned, "they may not seem like it, but fearlings have some kind of hierarchy. Most of them are the simple ones, born from fear alone and able to create more from such a thing. The more powerful ones are children who have been turned into fearlings. They are not common though, as usually the child simply dies from such an experience. Fearlings of a similar power to that are also those of sentient thought, they have only the same powers as a normal fearling, but are incredibly smart and cunning. The most powerful are those that have properly possessed a person, usually an adult. This procedure is rare though, and only six were ever recorded in the archives, from what I remember. That, I believe, is what Pitch Black has done. A sentient fearling of abnormal power, possessing a human with immense power himself."

It was Katherine this time that interrupted. "Did you know them? The person that was possessed by Pitch Black, I mean."

Seraphina turned silent for a long time, obviously deliberating over what she should say. Eventually, she spoke again.

"Yes, I knew him." She said quietly. "He was also a general of the Golden Armies. The 'Golden General' they called him. A man of great honour and kindness. He held no fear when facing the masses of fearlings, and he brought victory to us all. But, it seems even the strongest of minds can fall eventually."

She slowly shook her head, her long hair hiding her face from view.

"He was your father, wasn't he?"

She looked up again to see Ombric staring at her solemnly. She nodded slightly in confirmation.

"Yes," She whispered, "His name is Kosmotis Pitchiner, and… he is where my favour comes in." She straightened up and a resolute look appeared in her emerald eyes. "I need you to help me save him, and prevent that thing from possessing him any longer. I cannot bear the thought of my father being used like that any more. So please! Promise you will do this for me."

Ever so slowly, a small smile appeared on Ombric's face. "That, my dear, I believe we may be able to help you with. It will be difficult, and it will take time, but I will do everything in my power to make it possible."

"Let me help too!" Katherine piped up. "You helped Ombric and Mr. North, so I will help in any way I can as well."

Jack noticed the resigned slump in North's shoulders when she mentioned him. He had been told that the bandit had attempted to get the girl to drop the politeness, but apparently, the man had yet to achieve such a feat.

"I still have no idea what is going on," North admitted, "But it sounds fun. I'm in."

The former Cossack crossed his arms and lent back in his chair. All eyes fell on Jack, but he simply nodded at Seraphina with a smile on his face. She already knew his answer.

Silence befell the room again as everyone looked around at one another. Despite the great things that had been said recently, none of them could deny their exhaustion, physical, mental or both. It took about two minutes of awkward glances for Katherine to finally crack.

"So! Who wants a cookie?"

{~}

Katherine heaved a sigh as she stood on the balcony. Down below, she could see all the residents of Santoff Claussen starting to go about their days again. Despite still feeling completely exhausted, she also felt restless at the same time. Seraphina's story and plea were saddening to hear, and so she volunteered to help out. Of course, she did not regret her decision, but she keeps thinking she might have suddenly dragged herself into something much bigger than she could imagine.

"That was quite the heavy sigh for someone so small."

Katherine whipped her head around to see Seraphina walking towards her. The older woman looked like she wanted to simply bury herself in the ground and never deal with a single problem ever again. The young girl could only imagine what she was going through.

"Are you… feeling alright?"

"Truthfully? Not at all." Seraphina sighed, before smiling down at Katherine. "But I will be."

The two fell into content silence, watching as the world moved down below. But, as always, Katherine could never stay completely silent for long.

"Who is Nightlight?" She blurted out before properly thinking.

Instead of being offended at the blunt question, Seraphina instead looked amused. "I was wondering if someone may ask me that. Pray tell why you wish to know?"

"He saved my life from a fearling in the forest a few nights ago. I never got to properly thank him."

"What on earth were you doing in a dark forest at night?"

"... something stupid."

Seraphina snorted. "It sounds like it." She leaned her head to the side. "Truth be told, I actually knew very little about Nightlight. I never heard him speak, and he was one of the few people besides my parents to actually get me to stop crying when I was upset. I knew that he fought alongside my father quite a few times, and the two had actually become friends, sort of, during those times. He was known to most as just the Lunanoff's guardian, silently watching over and protecting them. I never knew what happened to him, but I think he had something to do with Pitch Black being trapped after the death of MiM's parents. MiM never told me how the Nightmare King was defeated, only that he was. If you wish to thank him, then you will have to wait. No matter how hard I tried as a child, I could never find him. Even now, I doubt I could without him flying off before I reached him. And yet, he was always a master at finding me, even when no one else could."

Katherine frowned. "He seemed almost afraid of Ombric. Is there a reason for why he might be?"

"That's just typical Nightlight. There was a reason he was always staying out of the way and hiding in corners, and it was adults. They do not scare him, but he is certainly wary of them, and prefers to keep at a distance to them. He only went near the ones he absolutely trusted. He was always an enigma, that little shit."

She murmured that last part to herself, seeming to forget about the innocent little girl standing next to her.

"Pardon?" Katherine prompted. Seraphina's eyes widened as she realised what she had just said.

"I- uh said that he was um…"

"Old William says that girls aren't supposed to swear."

"Huh?"

"He says that it is unladylike that it was inappropriate behaviour." The girl stated, as if reciting from memory.

Seraphina huffed. "Well this 'Old William' can take his opinions and shove them up his… ah…"

"Ass?"

"Yeah- No! No, absolutely not. Nope. definitely not."

Katherine giggled. "It's alright. You should have heard North when I was cleaning his wounds. That man has enlightened me to a whole new vocabulary."

She cleared her throat. "Right, well, just don't go repeating them to anyone else. And if you do… I had nothing to do with it."

Katherine hummed. "Alright. You know, you're actually really nice. You should smile more."

With that, the little girl bounced off back inside.

Seraphina shook her head, a small smile gracing her lips. "Perhaps I should."

Thank you for reading!

Mysstltaiin