<[???]>
The young man thought about it. He had been on this journey for eight years now and it was becoming hard for him to remember just why he had started it.
"Who or what is Cold?"
Snow grinned slyly, while Ice snickered deep in the young man's heart.
"[Cold is the father of Ice and I. Water is our mother. Still, even though we are related this way, it should be easy enough for you to obtain Cold. First, you must gather me into your arms and return to where you met Ice.]"
Drawn to the promise of power, the young man agreed to fill his soul with Cold.
Once back at the sea in the Far North, Snow explained the next step. "[You must completely submerge yourself inside Water. Then Ice will be released and Cold will be summoned. Now, this is very important. No matter what, you must not leave Water until you absorb all of Cold into your core—your soul. If you mess up and leave you will die and never be able to keep your promise.]"
Swearing firmly that he would not mess up, to Ice and Snow's delight, the young man descended deep into the water. Immediately Ice burst forth from his feet and froze the sea. Stuck inside the thick ice, the young man was helpless to the dark influences of Ice and Cold, now released from the prison Gaia had locked Cold away in.
For though Gaia could Create Life, all Life came with both positive and negative. Hidden in the far reaches of Her World, She'd sealed away the negative aspects She did not want Her adorable, frail dolls to be exposed to.
Unfortunately, the young man had walked right into a trap created by those aspects of the World which were stuck between positive and negative. Unable to decide if they should be locked away, Gaia had merely banished them to parts of the World humanity would be less likely to tread.
Inside that frozen prison the young man was slowly overcome by Cold and Ice.
His blood sang with thrumming, violent madness, while his heart giggled in rage and bitter hate.
His body was marked forever, millimeter by millimeter every few days as he lost the battle to keep his own will alive.
Similar to white scars left behind from lashes, they crept along his skin, the marks that Cold left behind in its quest to claim the body of the young man. Starting at his feet, it traveled upwards, each passing moment filling him with frightening pleasure and excruciating horror.
Sealed inside this madness for four years, the young man gave in to the dark joy of mind-numbing bliss.
It was in the moment of his sanity's retreat that Cold overcame him.
Rushing in with the furious power of a hurricane, Cold cut through the young man's heart and mind, burying itself in the deepest recesses of his soul. Once there, the young man was swiftly taken over, losing the last of the Humanity he'd never known to cherish when making deals with beings that could be seen as the forefathers of demons.
With his humanity shattered like glass, the young immortal forgot about his life before.
He forgot about the girl, the young woman, he had loved so greatly.
Instead, his mind was filled with Ice, Cold, and Snow.
He traveled all over the world, flying with the wind. Wherever he went those three came with him.
The World was...very confused.
The snow had never been cold before, bringing a chill that could swiftly cause death or illness with no effort at all. The frozen, solidified particles of water called ice were unknown to humanity. Even the animals had no idea what was going on, witnessing lakes and rivers freeze over or plants dying in the cold with amazement and fear.
Without the affection for the girl in the immortal's soul, there was nothing to keep snow warm.
He no longer knew what the beauty of a simple smile could mean, nor the sorrow that tears could cause.
During his travels, the boy had become Winter itself, and there was no love in his heart.
What did it matter to him if the humans shivered and starved — died — in his cold?
Lost inside the bliss of his madness, driven by the need to bring the carnage and violence that had been so cruelly beaten into his own soul, the immortal Winter continued his journey.
He cut across the world and began to freeze everything. Wherever he stepped, wherever he breathed, ice filled the world, the cold snow that he had brought into existence following close behind.
Nothing could stop him!
Gaia was a Creator, which meant that the taking of life was beyond Her capabilities. All She could do was watch as the World She'd spent so much time and energy to carefully craft was shattered in a violent, growing storm of freezing winds and ice.
Her perfect, beautiful Doll House was shattered with the rampage of the very first immortal to have been born.
...
It wasn't until some fifteen years had gone by after he began his journey that Winter saw her.
'Her!'
The girl, who was now a woman….
She died from his cold when he tried to touch her.
The warmth of her body was instantly stolen away, replaced with shivering, hunched cold. Her lips turned blue, her skin white, and her heart stopped beating in her chest.
Breaking through the madness briefly, emotion rushed in.
'Sorrow. Disbelief. Regret.'
Winter cried out in pain, but these emotions were quickly numbed by the cold in his heart and soul, returning him to a state of apathy.
He stared down at his hands and, very slowly, realized what he had done.
He had *destroyed* the one thing the young woman had always loved. He had transformed it from something warm and beautiful to something cold and terrible.
And now…!
Now...he was too broken to even be able to cry tears.
Tears that would have turned into nothing more than ice as soon as they touched his cheeks.
Howling madly in a pain he could no longer feel, Winter stretched out his hands to touch the dead body of the young woman.
His touch was gentle, or he thought as much, but one of her frozen fingers easily broke off with the slightest pressure.
Staring down at the dismembered finger in the snow at his feet, he began to laugh.
It was a low snicker, a mocking chuckle, a side-splitting hilarity that took over everything else.
A heavy euphoria mated with an uplifting self-loathing inside his mind, breaking the last few restraints he had unconsciously kept upon himself.
No longer holding back the true might of his power, the immortal sent the World into a deep winter.
One so deep that the World died away.
Frozen over in perfect, white ice. Nothing moved, breathed, or thought in that silent world.
It was disgustingly beautiful and the only thing that brought comfort to the broken immortal's mind.
If the one he had loved was no longer in the world, what did anything else matter?
Gathering the corpse of his love close to his body, paying no mind to the pieces that broke off and scattered among the snow, Winter kissed her blue lips tenderly.
He formed a throne of ice and sat down, cradling the woman's body to his chest. Brushing her bangs back so that he could better see the terrified look on her face, he didn't even blink at the strands of hair that were broken off.
"Just the two of us, forever and ever. I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes, jhenmu."
Making his vow, searing it deeply into the depths of his frozen soul, young Winter closed his eyes and slept for a very long time afterward.
Millennia passed while the Frozen World remained unmarred by time and change.
Eventually, Gaia gathered enough energy to once again make the World in Her image, though things had been changed drastically from the events caused by Winter.
Gaia created another immortal, just as powerful as Winter, naming the woman Spring. Once created, Spring began to thaw the eternal ice, slowly filling the world with life. After another millennium, Winter drowsily awoke and was met by Spring.
He expected her to rage at him with hatred. Instead, he gained only a single, sad smile.
Spring asked him what his name was and at this point, Winter could remember nothing of what his human life had been like.
Even so...there were those *strange* dreams.
Dreams of a young girl, on the cusp of womanhood, who had visited him during his long sleep.
The faint memories of those dreams quickly began to slip through his grasp as wakefulness took over. But still, there was at least one small thing he could remember.
One lie he would force into being, making it become the truth if it was the last thing he ever did.
After thinking about it for several minutes, he gave his answer.
"My name is Jack Frost."
Spring welcomed him, greeting him warmly. Stepping forward, she gently brushed aside the remains of his once love's dead body and took his hand. "Come with me now, Jack. Gaia, our Goddess, wishes to speak with you."