Welcome to this years' Rise of the Guardians Fanfiction! This years' fic is finally longer than seven chapters! A new chapter every three days, next one coming on the 5th December. I hope you like this first chapter!
Ciao for now,
ABSOL_ute
Jack knew his name, vaguely what his purpose is and that he doesn't remember anything from before he woke up in a lake in a town called Burgess. Admittedly, he guessed his purpose of spreading winter. A few days after waking up near the lake, he was found by a group of winter spirits. To his surprise, they had wings made by icy feathers. Each feather made from ice, rather translucent. They assumed he was like them because he had the same powers, albeit they found it weird he had no memories of a past life. Apparently all spirits had a past life before becoming spirits. He just rolled with it having no idea what to do.
While it was nice to have someone who sees him, he kept a distance from them in a way. Communication, or the lack there of was one reason. He was mute. But he could communicate with signs made out of ice. But only the winter queen could efficiently decipher these. Which was weird, because he could hear his voice when he projected the signs. Because no one could hear this echo, or interpret the signs, he didn't really bother with them. Some tried learning, like Whitaker, Aurelie and Sapphire, but they struggled and were too slow to be worth it for Jack.
On the other hand, he simply didn't want to. He felt to uncomfortable near them, he felt awkward when they spoke about their past lives – something he didn't had – so he couldn't add anything to their talks . The leader, Queen Aurore, of the winters called him a shy guy, it was somewhat of a code name for a while. Until it became an insult. Until they started to shun him, but that is a tale for another day.
In a different place, in a different time, the Guardians of Childhood held a meeting. They all heard rumors of a new spirit who communicates like Sanderson Mansnoozie, the Sandman. Or Sandy for short. Sandy is to nearly all people mute. He communicates with signs made of his golden sand. Even if he doesn't go ten signs a second, he is difficult to decipher. Pretty much only E. Aster Bunnymund can understand him efficiently and even he lacks sometimes. Well, there is Mother Goose who understands him too, but she is busy and no part of the guardians. Otherwise Bunnymund would love to make her their Sandy translator.
"How can that be? Isn't Sandy's language exclusive to the beings of the gold age?", asked Nicholas St. North, known as the Santa Claus but mainly referred as North. Sandy's language is deeply rooted in a form of magic thought to have died with the Golden Age. "I am sure Manny would have introduced other Golden Age survivors to us by now."
"Exactly!", agreed the only girl in the group. She was Queen Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy. She was Tooth. "We need to find this spirit."
"Or find proof they don't exist and are just a rude rumor.", added Bunnymund.
"Ha! Bunny! A rumor doesn't come from nowhere!", countered North. "Even most lies have a core of truth."
Sandy wanted to agree with North. He just wants one spirit who can actually understand him. They don't even have to be from the Golden Age. Just someone who isn't the cursed remains of his brother. Sure, he has Mother Nature, but she is a workaholic, worse than Sandy himself. Not to mention that the wrong words in her proximity can easily cause a blizzard, tsunami or earthquake, something Sandy would like to avoid.
"We'll see, mate.", said Bunny. He can't believe these rumors are true. They can't be true. A survivor of the Golden Age, after so long, they have found them all. It is unlikely that there are any more. Who ever spread that cruel rumor – thinking about it, probably the Deathlings, this is their type of humor if you can call it that – really deserves to feel Bunny's boomerang.
Jack, accompanied by a few other winter spirits who showcased their flight tricks, was surrounding the Spirit of Stories and legends, the legend herself, Mother Goose. Alternatively known as Katherine and the unofficial Guardian of Childhood, Guardian of Fantasy and Imagination. The brunette woman and her giant ride Goose are one of the oldest known spirits. Like Sandy, they are from the Golden Age. Katherine at least. No one is sure about the Goose. That goose is an enigma no one dares to anger, especially the Canadian spirits. She is known to be Mother Nature's best friend and one of the only people to call her by her name, opposed to her title.
She was telling the spirits about the infamous Pitch Black, King of Nightmares. She illustrated her stories with paper figures dancing around in the sky, animated by her ancient magic. They weren't like Origami, they could rip and tear themselves into shape, but also fuse together. The figures were depicting how the guardians fought against Pitch Black at the end of the Dark Ages.
"... They defeated him but knew he would return one day.", ended Katherine her grand tale. "Where light is, there is darkness. And where darkness is, there is light. Opposites can't exist without each other."
"Woah.", said a female spirit, Anastasia. "But for that, we have the guardians?"
"And any other ancient evil. Now, you as elementals, I think you four have a job to do.", said Katherine. "Please leave, before the Ice Queen complains to me again." With that, three of the four winter spirits left Mother Goose. But one spirit remained.
Jack flew to her and made an ice sign, "That was an interesting story."
"Not just a tale, Jack, a history for us spirits.", she said. She stood up from her goose and stepped onto a few floating books. She took a close look at Jack. "You remind me of someone. Now, you're the rumored spirit? I need to introduce you to someone. Climb onto Gunther. I'll send a message to the Ice Queen, to excuse you from your duty." She created a paper air plane. "I can't wait until the mortals invent these."
Normally her goose Gunther complains if anyone but Katherine rides on him. That is because Katherine rarely allows anyone to ride on Gunther. But Jack has her permission, so the goose has nothing to complain about. Both spirits seated on the goose, Gunther started to fly into the air of the pacific ocean. Despite being massive, Gunther is one of the fastest fliers to exist. In the spirit plane as well as the mortal plane.
But Katherine still felt the need to create a portal. She threw a scroll in front of Gunther, and a portal appeared. Flying through, they saw a massive castle split in four. One fourth was surrounded by dying trees, decorated with colorful leaves in warm colors. Following the eternal fall, was the eternal winter. Everything hidden under white, naked trees. There was the eternal spring where everything was colorful with flowers and fresh green. Last but not least was the eternal summer, represented by a beach.
"Oh, Emily listened to my proposal to install a beach.", said Katherine. She asked her friend for a while now to let a nice beach be the representative of the summer. Not only did the summer area look similar to spring, swimming on a beach is so wonderful.
They landed in front of the entrance of the castle. Katherine and Jack climbed off her goose. To Jack's surprise, Gunther shrunk until he was the size of your average Canadian goose. He followed them into the castle. The three walked though a long corridor, each side decorated with two colored windows, depicting a season each. Though that corridor, they walked into the throne room where Mother Nature sat on her throne made from dark roots. Leaves, green and fall colored decorated the top.
Mother Nature was a tall but slim woman. Taller than Katherine who already was tall with nearly two meters. But Mother Nature exceeded the two meter mark. She had dark brown hair, nearly black and gray eyes. She wore a long dark green dress with colorful patterns on the falling skirt. She wore jewels around her neck, a flower crown and carried a scepter made from ice.
"Oh, Katherine!", she said noting her friend coming in. She then saw Katherine's guest. "And you brought a winter spirit? May I ask why?" Like her friend beforehand, she took a closer look of Jack.
"For a good reason, Emily!" Again, Katherine was one of the few spirits to call her by her birth name, Emily Jane Pitchiner. "This spirit is the rumored spirit, the one who speaks the old tongue your uncle speaks." This surprised Emily. "Well, with ice instead of sand. Say something to her."
'It is an honor to meet you, Mother Nature.' Jack conjured a few signs, no thinking necessary, like his second nature.
"Oh my... what is your name, winter elemental?", she asked. She wasn't necessarily skeptical, she was just surprised. "You remind me of someone, winter child."
'My name is Jack Frost, Mother Nature.'
"Jack Frost, Jack... Jack..." Emily was in thought, that name is eerily familiar. She came closer to Jack. She pushed his head up with her thin fingers, starring directly into his eyes.
"Uh, Emily?", asked Katherine. She didn't expect her friend to react like this to Jack. It worries her. Emily is so unpredictable when she acts like this. Well, she is always unpredictable.
"He reminds me of...", whispered Emily. She let go of Jack. "Leave."
"What?", asked Katherine. She just met Jack, he didn't even say something rude.
"I want him to leave!", demanded Emily loudly. Wind rushed around her, signaling her brewing anger.
Katherine knew better than to ask the why. She dragged Jack out of the castle. Out the door, Gunther returned to his normal size.
"Okay, that was... weird.", said Katherine worried.
'Meaning?'
"I have no idea why she reacts to you like that.", said Katherine. "Gunther, fly to North America, we'll bring Jack back to his lake." Gunther honked, recognizing the task at hand, er, wing.
'She seems to hate whoever I remind her of.', said Jack.
"It seems, doesn't it?", she agreed partly, "I assumed she'll like the familiarity and that you know the language of old. Looks like I was wrong. I am so sorry, if I had known she'll react like that..."
Katherine opened a new portal, back to Burgess. Jack jumped off Gunther, and flew directly to the Arctic. The Arctic is famous for two things. Santa Claus' work shop and the castle of the Ice Queen. Said palace looking like it was made from ice. Many spirits assume the domain of the winter elementals is in Antarctica. The truth is, the Antarctica is even for winter elementals too wild, too uncontrollable, and too primal.
Stepping into that palaces throne room, he found one angry Queen of Ice, her ice wings spread out. She was a massive woman. Massive as in Aurore was on the heavier side. Her gown shining as it moved on the queen's heavy frame. Her hair was like a white long veil. Colored ice hanging in it. Not to mention the ice diadem, and the highlight, the palest sapphire. Behind her were massive wide wings, shimmering in different colors like diamonds, each feather of perfect shape.
'Queen Aurore-' His sign was broken by a spear, conjured by the queen herself. As soon as the spear hit, he flinched.
"My informants told me Mother Nature banned you from her castle! What did you do! You got shunned by Mother Nature after one meeting!", yelled Queen Aurore. "One meeting and already, your an embarrassment for us winters! As punishment, I'll rip off your wings and you'll be banished to Antarctica for a decade. You'll be banned from my domain until I change my mind."
'But-'
"Don't you dare arguing with me!", yelled Queen Aurore. She descended from her throne like an angel of death. She flew behind Jack and touched his back, in between his ice wings. He felt them shatter, how the shards fell to the ground. "Now leave, your shunned from the season of winter. Don't you dare being seen in the next ten years.", she demanded.
He walked out the palace, a real walk of shame now that he lost his wings, full well knowing where he has to go. A passageway to the Antarctica, a portal used if the Antarctica goes out of their control. On the way out, he heard some other winters yell.
"Nature shuns you! No one's gonna want to talk to you now! Nature's word is law!"
Started: 2nd June 2023
Edited: 2nd September 2023
Finished: 14th June 2023
Uploaded:
