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Here is a story — a legend, really — about a foolish boy who loved a foolish girl.
The name of this legend is *'Jack Frost',* a fitting name for the end of this tale. Though, certainly, most would know it from their literature lessons growing up as *'The First Winter'*...
A long, long time ago there was a normal boy. He fell in love with a normal girl, like any other story.
This was a time lost to the ages; when humanity existed in a still, never-changing world.
Nature existed in a continuous cycle of repeating the same day, over and over. The same deer would be felled by the same pack of wolves, and the same rabbit would always escape the same hawk.
Animals existed to feed humanity, Gaia's beloved dolls, while humans knew nothing of fear toward nature.
Storms did not cut through the sky, tornados did not twist, the earth did not shake or split apart, cold and hot were things never known or heard of before.
In fact, the only change brought to this paradise was the swift, short lives of humanity, passed on from generation to generation roughly every thirty years.
At this point in time, the boy and girl lived their lives in a place far away from the mountains, a place that never ever snowed and was instead filled with lush, beautiful green hills.
But, even so, the girl was sad. She had read dozens of books that told how beautiful and magical snow was — the soft, fragile fluff from the heavens. The snow wasn't cold or dangerous; it was simply a thing of nature, a show of white beauty.
The boy and girl lived a happy life, but always she was dragged back by her wish to see the snow. The boy, who loved her greatly, wanted her to be happy. So, determined, he decided that before he could marry her he'd find a way to grant her one wish.
The girl, having been spoiled and willful all her short life, agreed that if she was to marry the boy, he would have to bring her something she had never seen before to prove his love.
Devoted to and willing to sacrifice anything to his love, the boy readily agreed, determined to ensure his love would never be able to question the depths of his feelings.
The boy set out on a quest, one that lasted many years. He had to journey the world for though snow itself wasn't cold, it couldn't exist for long when it was exposed to body warmth. If he tried to simply carry the snow, his body heat made it melt away.
First, he had to find a way to make his own body temperature lower than normal. This took him five years to accomplish, traveling to the very Far North. There he came across something he had never seen or heard stories of before.
A large, solid block was floating in the sea, made up of a solid mass of white and grey, bobbing gently in the water, towering so high it blocked out the sky from the ground.
A year was spent climbing the glacier, using tools to cut away at the thick, rock-like surface to form foot and handholds. When the boy finally reached the top of the glacier, he stood and screamed into the endless sky, elated. Falling down in exhaustion, he slept on the glacier's jagged surface for a full day and night.
In his dreams, a beckoning voice called out to him. Attracted to that voice, the boy grew closer to hear better in the abyss of his own mind.
"[You wish to carry Snow? I am Ice, the brother of Snow so I should be able to help. First, though, I require payment.]"
"Payment?" The boy asked, curious.
"[Indeed,]" Ice smiled in the darkness. "[Nothing too great, of course. All I ask is for your feet, as well as your blood. That, of course, means your heart as well.]"
Frowning, the boy was quite confused. "My heart? Wouldn't that kill me? If you take my feet, how will I be able to walk for my journey?"
Ice shushed the boy in a gentle manner. "[Hush now, child. You won't die because I will replace your heart. Your feet will not even change, I swear. I need them so that I may escape you when I grow too large in your heart.]"
Not understanding everything but believing Ice with the naivety of a child who had never been lied to or harmed before, the boy agreed.
"[Good. Now, in order for me to keep my end of the deal, you must consume me.]"
"Eat you?" The boy blinked in shock. "H, how can I?"
"[It's simple. You need only eat everything beneath your feet. The tower you climbed is my original body. Once you've eaten all of it, I will reside inside you.]"
Nodding politely, though he truly didn't understand, the boy agreed once more. As long as he was able to bring the snow to Her, what did anything else matter?
Pleased by the innocent, gullible boy, Ice grinned twistedly while the boy was distracted by thoughts of his love.
When the boy woke, insane hunger gnawed him from the inside out.
'Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat!'
The word kept repeating over and over in his mind, blocking out all other thoughts. Like a feral beast, the boy fell upon the glacier he stood upon.
'Consume. Feast! Ingest everything until you tire. Then repeat the process for eternity!'
So it was, four years passed in a continuous cycle of eating Ice until the boy passed out in exhaustion only to awaken again and repeat the process.
By the time he was done eating all of Ice, his heart had frozen over. Instead of warm blood, it pumped sluggish ice shards through his veins.
But, even though the boy no longer had any warmth in his heart, his soul was still warm and filled with the memory of the girl. He remembered he loved Her. Though, by now the boy was a young man.
'What you seek lies to the west,' Ice's voice whispered in the young man's subconsciousness, setting his path. Still determined to complete his quest, the young man left the Far North, at the very top of the world, and went toward the west.
Now he had to find a way to make the air around him colder. For though he could carry the snow, considering he no longer had body warmth, the very air itself could melt the snow. He needed to go to quite a warm climate before he would reach where he had lived with the girl, who was now a young woman.
Silently, mind focused on his one and only task, the young man went looking for a wind strong enough to chase away the warmth of the sun.
He found the Northwind, who greeted him with a mocking sneer in his dreams.
"[I heard that you ate Ice. Well, if you want *me* you'll have to do a whole lot more than *eating*. I answer only to strength and determination. If you can capture me, I shall admit defeat. My price will be your lungs.]"
The young man thought on the wind's offer, quietly questioning the price. "...My lungs?"
"[I am air, which you need to breathe. What better place for me to nestle inside than there?]"
Thinking upon it some more, the young man eventually agreed to the terms. Upon waking, an intense emotion filled him once more.
Thankfully, this time, it was not something akin to insanity.
Another three years were spent wrestling with the wind. He had to hold it down until it eventually admitted defeat and gave in. Once it did, the wind poured into his body through his mouth and nose. It filled him up completely until he was as light as the air itself and gained the ability to fly through the sky.
Done with this task, he started to lie down to rest, but yet another voice distracted him.
Unlike every other time, this voice did not invade his dreams. Instead, it whispered enticingly into his ear.
The voice was a cloud, floating grey and heavy with Snow. It called him up higher into the sky and he followed. "[I watched you fight with Northwind]," Snow explained to him. "[I know not why you would do something so foolish, but I gather that you want more power]."
When the young man slowly agreed that yes, some deep part of him did want more power, Snow continued. "[If you can fill your soul with Cold, you will be very powerful indeed. So powerful, you will no longer be human]."