…In the eye of a raging blizzard, A man stood tall, his lean figure still, as if frozen in time. Until...
"Honey... You do know staying out in the cold isn't good for you?"
A woman looking to be in her 40s appeared behind him, her beautiful dress flapping in the harsh winter breeze as she pleaded with him.
No reaction.
Biting her lower lip, she hesitatingly looked at him before going close. But just as she got in touching distance, the man finally opened his mouth:
"Leave me. I don't know you anymore, nor do you know me,"
His cold, unforgiving tone shocked the woman. Her face contorted in sadness, before breaking down into tears.
"I'm sorry! I should have recognized you earlier, you..."
"Looked like a monster? I do not particularly care,"
The man delivered his response in a neutral, almost hostile tone. But after a few minutes of silence, his expression slightly softened, and the eternal frown he wore finally eased. he spoke once more:
"...I'm sorry. For being angry... For being stupid... And naïve and... I'm sorry for expecting you to remember me... Mom,"
Hearing this, the woman's expression brightened. And she started to smile.
But... Her smile wasn't normal; It was stretched to its limits, forming a weird, frightening visage.
Suddenly, she started crying blood. Their colour so deeply red, you'd figure them for ketchup instead.
She opened her mouth to speak, but instead of the pearly white teeth you'd expect from someone so pretty, they were shattered and broken, while her gums were just a bloody mess.
"Yesss... If onlyyy... You were this smartt... Thenn... Isaiahhh... Clarkkk..."
Horrified by her voice, Isaiah swiftly turned around to look at his mother, only to find a ripped apart corpse, their gender unrecognizable from the damage. And next to it... was him!
Yet the Isaiah in front of him looked younger as if he was from five years ago. Although the average person couldn't tell, his entire demeanour was different from the normally cold and prudent Isaiah.
Past-him was wild, emotional and rash, the complete antithesis of the current him.
"Why... How could you forget me?! How could you not even remember your own son!?"
"HUH!! Just because I was presumed dead, you went ahead and got a replacement!?"
Past-him cried out, his grief was almost palpable. And as his screams died down, his head suddenly swivelled to the side, looking straight at the horrified Isaiah.
"NOOOOO!!"
***
'It was a cold winter's morning, Well... Every day was cold when you're supposedly in the middle of the Antarctic.'
Thought Isaiah, who was sitting comfortably in a coffee chair located on the topmost balcony. His body half-naked, though he didn't seem too bothered by it despite being in a tundra.
When suddenly...
-Whom!-
A yellow beam flew into the sky hundreds of miles away from him. But when Isaiah saw the yellow beam shining inconspicuously in the sky, his expression grew serious.
''I see... So it has come,"
Getting up, he stretched and exercised slightly before sighing to himself and said:
"Call up the army of winter, we are going to conquer once more,"
Despite having said this to the air, Isaiah looked satisfied as he went back inside, his long blonde hair flowing in the wind.
"As for me... I'll pay them a visit,"
With that, the giant door to the balcony closed abruptly, hiding the inner workings of the Castle of Black Ice...
***
Ouroboros Capital(Formerly the arctic and the land 15 miles surrounding it.)
Just like its name suggested, it was a place where infinity lurked just around the corner...
Or to be exact, everywhere. As the Capital was a chained city, above the infinite abyss.
Where it came from, nobody knew. But it was certain that once you fell, you were falling for an eternity...
The capital itself was relatively wide, 15 kilometres by 15 kilometres, having giant metal chains in the four cardinal directions; keeping it from falling down the abyss.
At the centre of all this, was a huge palace made of fire and brimstone... It's humongous and complex walls and corridors made for a very confusing place to navigate, with every single room in the castle containing a surprise.
But all of these rooms pale in comparison to the largest and most important room of them all: The Scarlet Chamber.
The Scarlet Chamber was a large dining room, primarily used as the meeting place for Ouroboros's leaders. 5 men 3 women, 2 unknowns.
Right at this moment, they were all gathered there, with the strongest at the head of the table, while the weakest sat farthest. And right now, the second-in-command was talking:
"It seems we need to have a little discussion... on my baby brother..."
The person speaking was a woman. Not just any woman, but the strongest leader apart from the head.
The woman's demeanour was elegant, almost to an unnatural degree, with every move, step and expression calculated to affect the oppositions mental state as much as possible, even her allies were no exception.
"Yes... It seems he has been looking to expanding his territory,"
"What!? Haven't we given enough concessions? This will not stand-!"
"Shut it, Napolean... Let Diana speak. Sss~,"
The room was quite festive, with 4 different people all speaking at the same time.
The initial speaker, Diana looked almost amused at her colleague's outrage, but when she spoke, no trace of that former fun and glee could be found:
"Let me remind you who he is... He is my dearest brother, and the only family I have left. So anything that doesn't involve giving him what he wants, is the thing that won't stand. Do you understand me, Napoleon?"
"Tch... Spoiling bitch,"
And the one against her, was Napolean, the weakest amongst them. To be frank, he wasn't the weakest, but the one with the least influence.
"Hm, Quite the predicament, don't you think? Sss~"
This gorgeous lady was Madelyn Marionette, the second female leader and close associate of Diana. As her beautiful verdant green messily clung to her head, she began to look at Diana, quite clearly asking her for a solution.
But before she could speak up, another voice spoke for her. this time, it was a person with similar power and influence to her, therefore receiving the third chair, directly opposite to her.
"Yes... I believe we must... Change our ways in dealing with your brother, Diana,"
He was a giant of a man, broad-shouldered with bronze-like skin, his tied up brown hair and sharp eyebrows left all the girls infatuated. Of course, he never seemed to notice, as he always has a book in his hands.
"I... Understand... Prometheus, I will find a way to calm my brother,"
Diana hesitatingly spoke, evident fear in her eyes. Was she faking it? Prometheus didn't seem to care, as he went back to his book after she consented to a compromise. Of course, Diana wasn't scared. No, she was absolutely terrified.
Legend has it Prometheus was a Greek Titan known for his foresight and wisdom. These traits carried on to the man before her, His supreme intellect so astounding, he had developed the ability to mathematically calculate the future.
So even the head of the table had to heed his words, whenever he spoke them, anyways. For you see, this terrifying knowledge was both a blessing and a curse. Whenever Prometheus speaks, some parts of his... No, large parts of his memories would temporarily be sealed, giving him short-term memory loss. Making him an absolute mystery, as apart from his appearance, his origins were completely unknown.
"All in favour of working to negotiate with Isaiah Clark?"
The head spoke out, his deep soothing voice had a strangely calming feel.
Eight hands shot up, while the other two were Diana and Napolean, though for different reasons.
"Good, And we must hurry to that... Place,"
"The Axel-Road? Yes... We might not be the only ones going... After all,"
Saying this, the respective leaders disbanded, before all heading to the same place: London...
So? The answer to Gerald's questions? No, the government's of the world had completely known the power and devastation his family's weapons would cause, And all of them were coming... Let's just hope those with good intentions... Outnumber the bad.