Pitch hung onto the shadows, watching from a distance.
A few blocks away, Jack could be seen playing with a little girl. A five-year-old who was bundled up so much that you could only see her little button nose. They were both making a snowman, Jack helping the child roll the large snowball.
Even from this distance, Pitch kept a keen eye on something specific. He waited until they were done, the two of them backing up in order to see their creation. It was a simple snowman with only two main snowballs and a carved face.
"Thanks for the help mister Frost! He's beautiful! Just like I drew him!" The girl flashed an unseen smile, causing the guardian to flash one of his own white smiles. He leapt, running on the wind, and waved good-bye as he flew out of sight.
Acting quickly, Pitch threw out some sand, allowing it to fling across the expanse. The sand stretch out until it was only a few grains wide, too small to be noticed by anyone at the moment. The aim was true and caught onto his target, creating a small dust devil to carry the delicate thing safely back to Pitch.
A snowflake was emanating a faint, blue glow on the fingertips of his hand. One of Jack's magic snowflakes continued to dance around the small twister. Once having it, Pitch called up a small stallion to come. The nightmare was no bigger than his hand, but it was intentional to have it so small.
"I need you to shadow him, but don't allow Jack to see you. Gather three of these flakes then come back."
The horse snorted, then took off to follow it's given orders. While they all had stopped attacking him some time ago, a few stubborn mares would refuse to obey him. This one was an exception, being that it was too small to do any sort of damage. Oh well, they are meaningless now that his new creations are ready.
Crawling on the floor, Pitch slipped through every shadow, stretching across the shadows until he reached his new domain. A hollow tree, a dead tree really, but the winter left all the trees bare. Even though the land was coated with white, it only left the shadows all the darker. So finding a way inside was no hassle.
Down, down, down he ventured. Continuing to spiral down the tallest tower, until reaching the castle that houses the Nightmare King.
It was improved over the years he has resided here, but it was still rather simple compared to his other lair. Of course, it was never meant to be a home just yet.
Pitch went even farther down, passing a multitude of charcoal-colored corridors. This maze was constructed by him, for him. Even if the Guardians were able to find him, they had no hope into passing through this maze to reach his best kept secret thus far.
The man in the moon may have seen him gathering the necessary materials, but has little to no clue on he is planning on doing exactly.
Reaching the last door, the living shadow entered quickly and quietly, leaving the halls as black as the darkest depths of the sea. On the other side, there was light, thought the environment was still plenty dark. There were four different hour glasses spinning in constant motion. All four were the same size, meaning that all four were no taller than Pitch himself. The sand inside was as black as everything else around it, except it felt older, alive almost.
Off to the side, there was a small island table holding two other snowflakes. The light coming from the caged ice was weak against the fog of black, making the atmosphere that the much colder. The third didn't help despite it's glow.
The King of Nightmares rose up to the container, and released the captures from their cages. The snowflakes only had a second of freedom before being snagged by the same tiny twister that the third snowflake was trapped in. All three were now being lead to one of the four large hour glasses.
The sand that was causing the glass to swirl stopped at Pitch's command, allowing him to open a hatch at the top. With no emotion, he poured the three magic snowflakes into the ebony sand. The sand in turn consumed the light, snuffing it, and writhing, twisting, squirming out of the glass chamber.
Pitch stood back as the sand drooped on the floor, split, and rose up in familiar shapes. The three new, but old, forms flew about. Each one looked exactly like the other, with their smiles stretching across their faces like one of a jack-o-lantern, each cackling at one another, watching with icy blue eyes.
"I want you to follow your brothers, and wait. Don't get too exited, but the fun is about to begin." Pitch then cracked as smile, breaking the black of his face.
The creatures screamed in joy, then left in order to wait semi-patiently for the war to start. Leaving a few ribbons of sand in their flight before leaving all together.
The hour glass went back into motion, and for once, Pitch didn't bother to fill it back up. Normally, the glass would be filled up to the rim with sand, but there was only enough to fill a third of it. It didn't matter, it was just enough to prepare another set when the nightmare came back with three more snowflakes. The others, however, where a different matter.
The other three glasses were filled with the sand, so much that it seemed there was nothing inside at all. But Pitch knew better, for he filled them as such. He looked fondly at them all, watching over them.
"I might not have my ideal heir, but these will do just as well…"
Rise of the Guardian and How to Train Your Dragon belong to Dreamworks.
(Inspired by the minds of William Joyce and Cressida Cowell.)
Brave and Tangled belong to Disney.