THE VERY BEGINNING........

Jake 

It is his tears that keep his soul alive in the furnace of this pain. They cannot extinguish what has been, yet only carry him forward until a time comes when that searing pain is distant enough to forget more than remember, and maybe one day erase itself from his brain. So perhaps it may be an oddity to thank his tears and be proud to cry, yet if that's what saves him from becoming a monster, a person indifferent to suffering and sorrow, then crying is the smartest thing he could do.

They say sadness is behind anger, yet anger never comes unless in direct self defence, and so perhaps he could credit this natural passivity with his willingness to cry and feel pain, to let the sorrow teach him more about his true nature.

With pain, he got up from the floor and staggered. In his eyes there were unshed tears,tears that he felt would never come to an end. His tears fell from his face as crystals, shining more than diamonds in the clear moonlight. 

He could not take it anymore, he did not like that was so different. Everything about him is always the opposite of what he sees in other people, what was the use of living in a world where he was not going to be accepted? He cleaned his tears as he opened the door, going into the natural snowy night darkness, disappearing into it as soon as he had entered.

He dragged himself as he walked to no where in particular, his thoughts being inunderstandable. He fell, got up, staggered and fell again but nothing was ever painful than the emotional torture he was going through. He has to get away.....from here...from the world...from everything.

Until he got to a lake, he never rested. 

There are no paths around him and no sign of another person. As far he could tell, he was alone with the birds who make their carefree song around him, and in that sweet melody he felt more alone. This bizarre nightmare is his alone.....his cross to carry. It's worse though than it first appears, usually after this point in waking her did not know who he was and he did not even know if he would want to know either. 

He sat on the sand as he looked around the lake. It was quite a beautiful view from where he sat. Those snow-topped peaks extended their arms of rock beneath the lake, supporting in that way that silences all clocks.

In its reflective blues and greens, the willing canvas of mountain and moon night sky, brought its own artistic watercolour effect to the night time. He could sit here all day and admire this beautiful view. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the fresh air.

Suddenly, Amelia appeared in his thoughts.....His Amelia. He did not know how she got there but he could see her. He saw as she walked closer and closer to him and then pulled him in a hug. It felt so real.....it felt so true.

"Amelia" He unknowingly called as he hugged her tighter.

"Please don't leave me again" He further said as he gave in to the director need to melt in her arms.....to be one with her.

She gently pulled out of the hug and cuppled his cheek.

"I am always here Mate.....In here" She says, pointing to where his heart should be.

"All you need to do is to be strong and fight.....fight for us"

"How will i fight this battle without you?"

"If you love me like you said you did on our first night together then you would do anything to make us together"

"You know i have changed Amelia. Look at me, i am not what i used to look like"

"But i would still love you because what you truly are is right there....in your heart. I don't know what has happened to you my love but all i can say is that you are an Immortal. Please be safe and take care of yourself. I sent a gnome to take care of you and ensure your safety. I cannot risk loosing you"

"Where are you?"

"I wish i can say much but all i could do was enter your thoughts. You are not alone in this Mate, i am here with you.... I will always be here with you. I wish we could stay like this forever but i have to go.

"Amelia..."

But he was cut short as she kissed his cheek, disappearing as she had appeared. And then he opened his eyes into the real world.

What was that all about? How could he speak to Amelia in his thoughts? He did not seem to understand. But it felt so real....he smile....her touch.....it felt she was right there....with him.

He could live each day without her, he could even become a great success. He could find happiness in the simple things, yet he missed her caress.....the timbre of her voice and the solid sense of her soul..... the strength of her embrace and those sweet whispers in his ear. And so as the days stretch out with her so far away, he tries to settle in to the rhythm of time.

But he could see it in her eyes....he could sense it in her voice.....there was something wrong. She looked cheerful but eyes never lie. Thinking of the fact that his mate was in some sort of trouble made his heart skip a bit. Was she fine?

The fear thoughts looped around in my mind until there was no room for anything else. He knew he had to find his mate.

Heaving a sigh, he walked to the lake and squatted. Removing the cloak's head cap from his head, he washed his face, getting rid of the results of his father's beatings. One thing is for sure, he would never return to that house.

He used the water to clean all the blood stains, making sure they were gone. 

He saw his reflection on the water and sighed in confusion. Why all these changes? Was he sick or is this a rare disease he never knew of? But having powers could not be a disease. He looked at his hands again and wondered, what could he do?

And suddenly, he felt someone coming. He quickly wore his cloak properly as he sensed someone approaching. He tightened his knuckles as he discovered he could smell his or her scent; Pine trees mixed with forest leaves. He wondered if it was one of his powers he had yet to discover.

"What do you want?" He asked in a cold voice as he sensed the person coming closer.

"I am sorry for intruding but i smelt your air from a far distance and followed it. I never knew there was another Immortal in the mortal world. Are you here to also seek the Phoenix?" The unknown person said as he came closer. It was a baritone voice and so he knew he was talking to a man.

"I am sorry but i am no Immortal. Please leave" Jake said in an icy voice. He hated being around people.....except his Mate.

"You smell so different and unique. Who are you?"

"No one important" 

"I can see you are not good with people. Well i am looking for a young man. I am not good at describing but I was sent to look after him. Can you be of help"

"I help no one"

"But i thought you were here because of the Phoenix" The unknown person further said.

"Do not joke around, there is no such thing as the Phoenix"

"Please...."

"I said NO" Jake shouted as he turned around in anger, and much to his surprise it was the boy he met earlier who he believed had saved him. What was he doing here?

"It's you" Jake said as he looked at him carefully. The boy was not able to see his face because he had hidden his face in his cloak. What was his name again?.....oh yes!

Sam.

"You know me?" Sam asked as he stepped closer, trying to see through the cloak he was wearing.

"We met earlier ago. Please go away, i really do not like being around people" Jake said as he turned back to the lake.

"Finally! I have been looking for you. You do not know how happy i am to meet you My Lord"

My Lord?

"Why do you hide your face?"

"None of your business?"

"Are you hiding something?"

"No"

"You are unbelievable. You say there is no such thing as a Phoenix and yet you are mated to one without knowing it"

"What do you mean?" Jake asked as he turned to look at Sam.

"I would tell you everything, but right after you tell me what you are hiding. You can trust me you know"

"I do not trust anyone. Why should i trust you?"

"Because i am an Immortal.....Just like you" He said as Jake's eyes widened, but Sam was not able to see it. He was an Immortal?

"You are mistaken. I am not....."

"Your Mate asked me to find you and you are the one i have been looking for, other than your Mate. Please understand"

"You have been looking for me?"

"Yes....."

"I do not know what you mean"

"I could start by you telling me what is wrong"

Jake stared at this man in utter disbelief. Why would he not just go away? Why was he the only one out of the billions of people in this world that he had to find?

"I know that you must be in some kind of dilemma but all i ask from you is to trust me. I am the last person on earth that could hurt you"

"Just go away please" Jake turned his back on him, trying to get rid of this Sam but he could tell that he is a tough one. But why should he trust him?

All his life he had never had a friend, all his life he had tried using the pleasures of life to quench his pain. He never even knew how to interact and here comes this man he hardly knows, trying to break him from the shell he had built since the day he had lost his mother.

He bit his lips as he tries to control the tears that were threatening to fall but somehow he could not. Grief comes in waves, little one, at first they are so strong he could feel so swept away. They come at, replacing a feeling of normalcy with those familiar tears. Yet in time he tries to learn those waves and let the good memories flood in instead, but he knew very well he did not have good memories.  

He felt a hand on his back and turned to meet the eyes of Sam. For some reason he suddenly felt he could trust this man. He was engulfed in a heart warming embrace and then he could not hold it anymore.

He could not pretend anymore.

The pain was just too much to bear. And so he let it all out, making this man see how vulnerable he was at that moment, indirectly telling him how much he had suffered and is still suffering. As if the soul could bleed an ocean through the eyes, that was the enormity of his sobbing.

He patted his back and then released him from his embrace.

"What happened in the past is now in the past and what is directly in the future should matter to us now"

"Everything will be okay"

"Thank you" Jake said as he smiled. Taking a deep breath, he the gardening which covered his body and threw it on the ground. He looked at Sam who gasped in surprise.

"Yes i know, i look different. I do not know how it happened. I felt so weird when i had woken up and suddenly i saw i had changed. And i have powers as well. I do not know how this all happened but i hope you do not see me as a monster" Jake turned his head as he looked everywhere but Sam. He was afraid that he would be rejected....the way he has always been rejected.

"You are beautiful. I love your eyes, they are quite unique. You should not hide what you are but instead you should be proud of who you are. People may hate you but you can never hate yourself" Same said, smiling as he patted him on his back.

"That is the problem....i do not know who i am"

"I do not know how to tell you this Jake but you are the Chosen one, the one our Creator has assigned to merge the kingdom.of the seven protectors to create a powerful kingdom. You are my King Jake, Our Ice King"

His brain stutters for a moment and his eyes take in more light than he had expected, every part of him goes on while his thoughts catch up.  His beautiful ocean blue eyes were trained on some invisible spectre, his heavy glittering eyelids a fraction too slow to blink, his irises too stationary. It was as if his brain was suffering a massive short circuit and was struggling to compute. Sam moved into his line of sight, touching his cheek with the side of his thumb, his lips forming a pensive grin. Jake's head tilted upward to his face, his eyes sliding into focus.

"Ice King?"

"I have so much to tell you but i do not know where to start"

"Start from the  beginning"

"The beginning?"

"The very beginning"