Chapter 3 - A Flash of Courage and Strength -
It must have been his innate instincts of mischief, alarming and waking him back to his consciousness as the winter prince still did not open his eyes, could hear curious whispers nearby where he was sleeping.
"Shh, I think he's stirring up! Let's leave before it will be too late for us…." The chiding voice continued, hesitating to further join in by putting up tricks with his companion. "Father told us to let our royal cousin be! But no, you and your stupid ideas will get me involved with you again, brother?! I betcha we'll be having our asses whipped again by our father because of your never-ending excuses of wanting to take a closer look at anything that interests you!"
"Are you putting the blame on me again?! You, yourself, told me you curiously want to know more about our cousin too since it's his first time being here and living with us. Besides, we want to play with him. He's from the House of Loki. And we heard that they're having lots of wicked crazy fun down there! It's a way for us of welcoming him the way his House would do with their guests. So, we have to outwit the trickster before he would endlessly prank us back. It's one of the tactics of being a Warrior of Ice - strike the enemy first before he can strike at us …" A courageous but mischievous voice replied back to his brother, controlling not to laugh loudly when he conjured a ticklish wind that lifted the bed covers to tickle their cousin's feet.
Instead of jumping out from bed and hitting the nearby wire tied to the bucket of ice cold water hanging above his bed, which his cousins from the House of Thorleif expected him to be, the unpredictable white haired boy does a silent winter spell which he learned and imitated from Loki - he separated himself through illusions, by cloning his own image.
The bucket of ice cold water did not fell as his own summoned frosts appeared and spread across the ceiling, freezing the bucket into place while his stunned cousins were staring up before they've turned around to view the real Jack wide awake behind them.
Giving the usual wide mischievous smile courtesy from his other House, Jack gave an impish sly look "You call that a prank. Now, this is the real prank."
The two older boys were restrained by Jack's powerful frosts, unable to move before the twins were blown away by strong wintry winds.
Feeling the strong impact of their fall against the thick snowy ground, one of the twins struggled up to his feet, spoke up what he just pondered and realized while his other twin brother stretched his back, checking ridiculously if his back and his other limbs were still attached in his body.
"Damn it! He's pretending to be asleep and that clone image was his decoy while he used his frosts above the ceiling to divert our attention when he had his frosts on the floor boards to restrain us down!"
"Not bad at all for a clever little twig! But all I have to say, it's the first time we've been outsmarted by a genuine prankster from the House of the Master Trickster himself." His brother gave a competitive look that they could do better while his more rational twin was unable to speak again, became motionless when people outside halted working and training, stared at them. Sudden boisterous giggles and laughters burst around them. "Hey, Frain?! You're turning redder than usual…"
Frain forced to reply his twin brother, Squall. "Can't you see?! This is our cousin's real prank?! His winter winds did not only threw us away from our Main House. We're practically bare naked!"
Frain embarrassed, shapeshifted immediately into a white snowy owl and flew as fast as he could while Squall humorously tried to cover what is between his legs before he shapeshifted into a white falcon and tried to fly high only to hit a nearby snow-covered pine tree, returning back into his human shape before he morphed again into another animal, a scampering winter wolf while he was avoiding everyone's look whom he passed by in the cloudy cobblestoned streets of their city high above the skies.
Like what his twin brother had said, their asses were whipped by their father, Hail, who always sees to it that his sons had to be disciplined. And they have received discipline with his harsher warrior training during the rest of the entire day.
The long tied-haired Warrior of Ice with short white beard dismissed his sons when he requested one of his warriors to call his nephew Jack.
As soon as Jack came inside the Thorleif's grand training hall, every warrior was asked to leave while their cobalt blue eyed stoic leader remained standing in solitude and silence, facing the center where their House emblem was forged and engraved by the very lightning of their godly ancestor, Thor.
Upon hearing the towering and thick wooden doors were closed by the last Warrior of Ice who departed with his fellow warriors, Hail turned to face Jack. "I apologize for my sons' rambunctious behaviors. They are from my blood, and from Thor's, and yet, they acted like they from your other godly ancestor's Loki. It must be from their mother's. My long deceased wife, Lady Gale, the Elvish Shapeshifting High Huntress of the Wilderness, was after all from Lysalvheim, the realm of the light elves who are known to be a very playful kind. Since it is your first time of being here with us, and hearing that you were partly from the Royal House of Frosti, like every warrior of my House would feel - intimidated but also challenged."
"I think I had started to get the use of such treatment…" The royal blue eyed boy replied back his uncle. There was no bitterness in his words, but Jack gave his usual plastered calm face. This time, Jack had enough, he was pushing back at the ones pushing him, just like Loki had advised him, but the boy had not completely taken in with the destructiveness and evilness which Loki wanted him to be. His uncle gave a brief mild look, understanding the difficult burden the boy was placed with, just like his sister, the boy's mother was.
"You were wondering where your mother is. She's currently in Asgard, courageously hoping to seek audience with the majority of the elder gods to get into their council, consisting of All-Father Odin himself and the other higher gods." He paused for a moment, reminisced his younger days. "My sister always had this dream. A dream she always wanted to fulfill. She always told me, our parents, and our family, that one day she will make that dream come true. A dream of peace. A peace long secretly yearned by everyone else in Niflheim. And I believed her. I still believe in her. And to have that dream, my sister had you." His words trailed off. His stoic cobalt blue eyes locked in Jack's royal blue eyes as if searching if those words are true, and his belief in him is real. "You belonged from two Great Houses. And you will always be. Since you are partly from Thor, I have to train you as a Warrior of Ice. My father was a Warrior of Ice, so was his ancestors before him, and even my mother, and my younger sister, your mother."
After stating an introduction, Hail placed his hands together before him and an ice cold steel materialized out from nowhere as its long blade glowed blue by his own icy powers.
"Before I train you, I want to know what kind of prince you are. Are you going to be a brainless and useless puppet of a prince to be used by others who will pull your strings in their shadowy ambitions? Or a deceiving and corrupt politician of a prince who knows nothing but to utter worthless speeches and broken promises? What kind of leader will you be someday? A leader who is truly worthy for my House to someday follow as our Winter King. A great and wise King who we will all serve, protect and die for - just to fulfill and to live in my sister's dream of peace. A peaceful Niflheim where our children's children will safely and freely live in." He concluded his words. "Tonight, my sons will guide you to your answer. And if you are successful to have such answer, then you will be trained as one of us - to be a Warrior of Ice."
Jack could barely eat his dinner. He kept thinking what his uncle meant a couple of hours ago. When he was about to take a piece of his sliced steak, one of his cousins darted swiftly beside him, grabbing his full attention inside the large dining hall of the Thorleif's Main House.
"Nice little trick you pulled back earlier by letting our balls froze off for everyone to see, cousin! But that does not mean we surrender ourselves and follow you, even if you are a high-born royal prince!" Stubborn-headed Squall sat near Jack like a raging bully in front of the younger and smaller boy, whispering loathsome words matched by his annoying look and intimidating tone of voice. "And there are three ways how you outwitted us. A - you're an expert trickster coming from Loki's line. Two, you're sleek and fast because you're younger, smaller and thinner. And finally, D - you're just lucky because we allowed you to have your first beginner's luck. But with our next confrontation, you won't be lucky anymore, because of my incredible brawns. Plus, Frain will be helping me how I will be snapping you like a twig when it comes to strength, just look at these lean mean muscles that I inherited from our ancestor, Thor, the powerful warrior god of thunder!"
Jack dropped surprisingly his utensils and stared wide-eyed with his face turning distorted, cringing uneasily at Squall's air-headedness while Frain slapped his open palm on his own face and shook his head in disappointment and humiliation after hearing his twin brother's words, giving a look how he sometimes wanted to be the only child.
"You see, I left you speechless." He looked at his twin, gave an arrogant gaze with his electric blue eyes. "Look, brother, our cousin Jack is speechless because of my strength and power…."
"Wow!" Jack sarcastically interrupted rudely at Squall. "You really did, cousin! Truth is you are so awesome, I was so blown away! No wonder, your name fits you - Squall. Because words that came out from you could really make someone who listened to you ten thousand times dumber than they once were. May the All-Father have pity on you."
"Why would the All-Father have pity on me?! He will be proud of me, just like Odin is proud of his son, Thor?!" Squall scratched his head, turned to face at Frain, asking for his interpretation as if he was hearing foreign words for the first time. But Frain became indifferent and passive like their other companions who remained eating their dinner inside the grand hall while Jack's face twitched with shocked realization.
Living for six years in the Main Capital where the Royal House of Frosti was, Jack was mentored constantly by Loki, also known to be the cunning lord of persuasive words who twisted those same words during flyting, debates and speeches, had passed such expertise skill to his royal descendants. If highest intelligent learning and eloquent words were favored in the lazy, selfish, ambitious, and deceitful House of Loki, what they lack is - action.
On the other hand, in his other House, the House of Thorleif, it differed so much. After staying here briefly, the tousled haired boy observed the prided people here were less of words, more of deeds. And when words were spoken, they were simple but honored. When complicated words were spoken like the way he have spoken to Squall, confusion and misunderstanding arose, and it was replied by suspicion and indifference from them.
And Jack soon realized how the two Houses were completely polar opposites, and how he came from a union of two great but terribly dysfunctional families - a dangerous combination of Thor and Loki.
"Hey! You're unusually silent again! Seemed your silver tongued skill, which you inherited from the Lord of Mischief, had turned to lead?!" Squall snapped Jack away from his thoughts.
"No, I was just thinking." Jack turned somber while Frain left his seat and approached them. "Uncle Hail said you and your brother will be guiding me tonight?" The wind swept haired boy eyed at Frain who placed his hand on Squall's shoulder to listen up. His more dim-witted twin fell silent as Frain spoke.
"Yeah. We will be guiding you where you will be taking your first test. All you need to show is how much you are not like your other ancestor, Loki. Because you have to muster all the courage you have to find your answer to our father's questions."
Loving the strong gust of winds brushed alongside his arms and face, Jack gave a faint sincere smile. He always loved flying, he always felt so free every time he flies.
Six years living in the House of Loki, Jack wasn't able to fly and to feel free as much as he like to unlike he had been experiencing that moment. Even though, he had stayed briefly here in the clouded city in the heavens, Jack felt he belonged here in the skies than in any place he had wished. If life here was austere, and their own home was never filled with splendid wealth but of plain and simple things that could be own for practical use, he felt carefree and light-hearted here. At least, there was no sense of complicated pressures and anxieties which he had always felt in the Capital where the Royal Imperial Grand Palace was in the icy lowlands down below. As for his uncle who was a serious stoic warrior and his cousins who were competitive and insecure towards him, Jack believed he would rather have them as companions than his own overwhelmingly jealous and hateful royal half-brothers, and his ever-busy and always-absent father of a Winter King.
A brief moment of Jack's delight and reflections had come to an end when he felt the weather had changed as the wintry winds were getting stronger and harsher when they went higher. That night, they flew nearby the groups of huddled cotton-shaped greying clouds in the starry skies.
"It's good to know you could fly! Because we will not be carrying you high up here! My brother and I swore when we fly, we will only be carrying girls to impress them." Squall taunted Jack again while Frain was leading Jack to where he needed to be, halted in mid-air when seeing a particular darkening cluster of storm clouds which formed slowly into an enormous tornado upon sensing their presence.
"You need to go through there, alone." Frain floated beside Jack, pointed at the massive tornado that started to be accompanied by numerous streaks of lightning.
"You gotta be kidding me? Do you think I am stupid enough to fly there, I will be electrocuted and melted to death by those-…"
"I told you, brother, our cousin is a yellow-bellied chicken! He's a he-bitch of a loser like his coward ancestor Loki! OK, whiny princess, go back home where you're safe." Squall blurted out, annoying Jack whose lips twisted into an unamused frown.
"Well, that's your problem, not ours!" Frain coldly replied Jack. "Unless, you want to go back to our cloudy home and endure every whisper behind your back, murmuring how dishonorable you really are, even if you are a winter prince." His cousin gave a disrespectful look at Jack. "A winter prince who I will never follow as our next possible Winter King. How could someone follow a coward and a failure, especially those who will follow you are the distinguished Warriors of Ice! We are not elite warriors of Niflheim for nothing! And for great warriors, we need a great leader! Not some fraud from the royal bloodline of a deceitful and lying god!" Frain flew away without saying goodbye at Jack while Squall gave a few obnoxious words of goodbye.
"You're on your own, twig! Besides, girls don't dig boys without balls, even how nice of a gentleman you are! Just think of Thor, our ancestor, and how he ended up with the most gorgeous women. Good luck in extending your royal lineage!" Laughing, Squall flew speedily away.
After his cousins left him, Jack seemed to struggle within himself. His basic instinct of survival and his rational self of knowing the obvious outcome if he will proceed towards his risky trial was clashing against another part of him who was finding the challenge so dangerous, that it had intoxicated his mind and heart into pure excitement. He began encircling the vast stormy skies repeatedly, like a crazed lunatic, loving the idea that he could test his limits to find out what he could really achieve from it.
Jack ceased flying around it, started to observe and study the way the powerful gusts of winds and the lightning currents move. After finding his own strategy by timing his way in, Jack knew that once he had taken the course, there's no way of turning back, he had to keep moving forward, and let courage forever stay in his heart.
Here goes nothing! I am going in! Because I want to know what is inside the eye of that giant storm! And I will!
After crazily talking to himself, Jack gritted his teeth, summoned his powers of frosts to make himself a thick ice armor before he gave a deep breath and timed his entry after the lightning disappeared and reappeared repeatedly.
His armor was not only for his protection, he meant to scattered it into countless pieces as soon as he had entered. Jack shattered his armor of ice and used his own winds to scattered them around him as he twisted around flying against the powerful winds. He viewed his strategy worked for a couple of minutes until there's no more ice for the lightning to strike against. The countless flashes of lightning speedily stormed towards him.
The boy wide-eyed viewed his power instinctively protected him, creating a windy shield, but he knew his shield will not last long as more streaks of lightning bombarded him, making his fading shield to completely vanish. With Jack vulnerable against such power, his last option was to evade and reach the safest area which was the eye of the storm.
As soon as he reached the eye of the storm, Jack felt a lightning powerfully hit him. He thought at first that he will be losing consciousness, or worst, be burning into a melted crisp. But it seemed the lightning itself had no effect at him after he landed on the large floating rock in the center of the eye of the storm and viewed the lightning had just spread harmlessly throughout his body. In disbelief, Jack stared at his arms and torso as if he was being powered up instead, not realizing his very eyes glowed with the bluish lightning.
"Feeling better, don't you?" A familiar voice interrupted Jack who faced Thor. "You never expected lightning does not affect you. Well, I can't blame you for living in my brother's House for six years! Anyone who has my own blood flowing in their veins will never be harmed by my lightning…" He drew near his descendant and gave Jack a welcoming hug. "Glad you passed the test of my own House, Jack."
"And I thought that I'm a melted goner…"
"No, you're never a goner. I'm not my brother, Loki. I do not kill for the pleasure, entertainment, or whatever hidden twisted idea I had. I protect the nine realms, including my people and my family." He smiled for a moment at the boy. "Where did you learned that strategy? No one uses any strategy when entering here, just their courage. I saw everything from here."
"You mean that trick I've just done?"
"That was no cheap plain trick. That is a brilliant tactic! And in every fight, and in every battle in war, every warrior needs more than one strategy. You see, you don't just need your heart when you fight, you need to use your mind when you confront and battle against your opponents."
"I thought when you fight, you need only strength. Squall said brawns-…"
"No one lives by physical strength alone," The god of thunder replied the winter prince. "As time will pass, you will get to know your own style of fighting, you cannot just take everything in, without progressing further. You have to think out of the box too. See the bigger picture. Everyone will have their own self-discovery, I for once did. That my power comes from me, and me alone, and how I had to use it for the greater good of all. Come…" Thor gestured Jack as they both fly higher above the eye of the storm, which was his own created dimension.
The powerful god of thunder and the little god of winter remained floating side by side as soon as they reached the highest skies and came to view the entire cold realm of Niflheim for them to see.
"Once in a while, I will be the one to personally train you as a warrior. Just promise me, you will finished training with your uncle, Hail, as a Warrior of Ice, Jack. To be their leader, one must become one of them, in order for you to understand them and to lead them with justice and compassion. And for them to be your loyal followers." Thor paused before he continued speaking again. "A great king cannot be a king without his great people, and his people will never be a great people without their great king." Thor reminisced with a faint smile. "My father, Odin, and I once spoke about how to be a wise king. A wise king never seeks out war but he must be ready for it. Someday, you will be a great and wise king of your own realm, Jack, and when your time comes, I hope just like your mother had long dreamt of - it will be a golden time of cool peace." After stating such thought-provoking words, Thor faded slowly in front of Jack as Heimdallr, the god-watcher of the rainbow bridge had open the Bifröst to teleport the god of thunder back to Asgard.
As soon as he returned back, Jack was surprised when seeing Hail was waiting for him at the very gates of his cloudy abode. He did not congratulated the boy, but spoke in relation to his questions, which he wanted the boy to answer.
"My nephew, your important answer is what I need before I let you in my House."
Jack noticed the urgent seriousness in his voice, shoved away his fatigue because of his exhausting test earlier.
"A great and wise king cannot be a king without his great people, and his people will never be a great people without their great and wise king." The boy expounded his own enlightened words. "And to be the leader who they wished him to be, he had to inspire the greatness in all of them. And with this deed - it is for him to be great."
After hearing such words, Hail kneeled, bowed and gestured his fisted hand near his chest, while everyone followed behind Hail. The head of the warrior of ice whispered. "Then, please enter my abode, and I will always follow you so does every kin in my House." His uncle let him enter first, then followed him like his eternal guard while Jack frowned faintly of such distinct royal attention until his uneasiness ebbed away when seeing his mother had finally arrived and had left the Main House to meet him. Cornice drew happily near her son who hurried towards her. She was reunited with her son whom she embraced, while Jack replied back by embracing her.
A/N:
Hi my dear readers! It's been more than a month and I see only few had followed and liked my story even though I received more than two hundred views or reads. I would like to thank the recent two reviewers for writing thought-provoking reviews. (My reply to The Universe of Imagination's question – Good question. I have no real idea why so few had followed and reviewed). But you two reviewers gave me the motivation to edit and publish this third chapter. One more chapter to know the results (if I have reached my goal), and everything have to come to an end to this epic-fantasy story, "The Snow Drifter King".
Talking about fanfiction. I was inspired to write it during the height of Jelsa phenomenon, especially after I have read three fascinating fanfictions in 2014, which I would like to pay a tribute for giving me the inspiration of writing my epic-fantasy stories, which were slightly based on their respective stories.
Sadly, one of them was left unfinished (the story had stopped at chapter nine), even how excellent the author had written her/his story, making me write fantasy fanfiction stories in order to quell my thirst of the magical world which she/he had written. (I was left giddy during her story, particularly the Jelsa romantic moments.) Many readers might have guessed that I have based Jack's background as a mythical god of winter in that story (thumbs up to those who got the right answer). I guess the author had long lost her interest to continue her story.
The second fanfiction had ended with a high note. I still remembered Jack and Elsa had married, had children, and even though Elsa died, she became a powerful immortal who had the power of time. And I know some of you know what story I am referring to. (Disappointingly, I forgot the name of the author and the title of the story.)
Lastly, the third fanfiction story recently ended. I found the first part of her fanfiction story truly exciting and wonderful, where Jack's a royal like Elsa, compared from the majority and usual fanfiction stories written about Jelsa.
There are also a handful of brilliant Jelsa stories that I have read, but I don't have the time to summarize each one of them which inspired some of my fantasy stories. To be honest, reading and writing fanfiction stories had helped me improve my grammar and spelling.
Again, thank you so much for following, liking and reviewing my stories. Please feel free to ask or review again, or just PM me if you are interested to know more about the characters in my story or anything about the stories. And if you are very interested in more Norse mythology-inspired epic-fantasy stories, just read my other previous stories.