The eternally-stormy skies turned blood-red, churning and raging, twisting and screaming. Odd shapes and swirling limbs and cacophonous echoes surged across the open sky. Phantom faces and laughing figures danced and whirled in the cosmic oddity. The presence I felt was... odd, but powerful. Not like myself. Similar, perhaps, in magnitude, but different. This power was... chaotic. Twisted and malevolent. Another unnatural thing, I decided, much like myself. I stared at the maddening currents of the crimson sea that appeared above the planet, until something came forth, surging through the open air, blazing and red. I slowed down my perception of time and focused on the object. It was a metal capsule, I noted, thick and blocky, mangled. And it was headed straight into the very heart of my being, into the cool void where no life could possibly exist.
Interesting. What was more interesting, I found, was the flicker of life that I felt from within the capsule – an infant.
What was an infant doing inside a capsule? How is it that the sky seemed to spit it right out?
Whatever the case, I couldn't investigate any further as the chaotic mess of crimson colors and twisting shapes and faces on the sky vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. Huh... no idea what the heck that was. The capsule, upon the face of which was the Latin Numeral of the number 11, itself crashed a hundred meters away from my center, close enough for the metal freeze so cold that it simply shattered upon impact, a frozen infant falling right off – not dead, but close to dying. That it lived at all was miraculous.
Almost immediately, I realized that this... thing wasn't at all human. It might've had the appearance of a human infant, but it was... clearly thrice the size of one and possessed a presence, an inner fire that was far greater than what a human should've had.
And that fire was now rapidly fading, flickering away into nothing even as I stretched my perception of the seconds into years. Unnaturally beautiful, I mused, despite its looming death. A single black wing that jutted forth from the right side of its back, curled and cold, the feathers hard as stone and sharp as blades.
This child, I decided, would become my Avatar of ice and frost. I doubt an otherwise normal human infant would do. Though I'd still need the normal ones to turn into my loci, my Others. I reached out with all of my being and gathered the very essence of ice, night, shadow, and death into a single frosty tendril. The infant's eyes snapped open and flashed blue as our essences merged, my entropic emptiness merging with the child's fiery soul to create... something else, a cold fire – a flickering void where no heat could exist, much like my heart, a void where even the very concept of movement was dead.
At last I transferred my very consciousness into the dying child, whose skin and hair were now as pale as freshly fallen snow and whose eyes now shone like glimmering sapphires.
I stood up, staggering in my infant form. I breathed in, but I knew the gesture was futile. This body was both dead and alive, cold and warm. I stretched my limbs and knew that I was strong. Ice and wind and snow and frost responded to my call easily – as though they were extensions of myself. I chuckled as I walked around, glad for the limbs that I now possessed. I touched everything I could get my chubby hands on – the ground, the cold trees, the frozen rivers, even the very air itself.
I called upon my legions of reanimated corpses and commanded them to gather at the center of the frozen storm. I'd call on them if I needed them. I opened my mouth and found that the act of speaking was difficult, but not impossible. "Hello."
The sound of my voice was akin to the cracking and shattering of an iceberg. And the act of speaking and uttering words was enough to release turbulent winds from my lips, freezing cold. Huh, I was gonna have to get used to this
I discovered, quickly enough, that with my heart attached to an Avatar, I could now make my snowstorm move and follow me, make it shrink, or dissipate it entirely, though the presence of so many Wights, each of them possessing slivers of my infinitely greater being and therefore exuding auras of ice and cold and frost of their own, meant that the temperature, at least around them, would remain utterly freezing, still cold enough to cause localized snow and blizzards and turn small ponds as hard as stone – and with hundreds of millions of them, the 'local' area stretched about thousands of miles, which was precisely why I had them stay in the center of the ice storm and why I only shrunk my eternal blizzard of a true form instead of dissipating it entirely.
The Wights were extensions of myself, each of them capable of acting as my eyes and ears no matter the distance. But I could just as easily shut those senses away if I deemed it unnecessary. And it was unnecessary – for now, seeing as no one could possibly be dumb enough to try and march up to them in the heart of a blizzard that stretched on for thousands and thousands of miles, cold enough to freeze entire rivers solid and turn trees into brittle glass.
Another discovery, I noted idly, was that I lacked fine control over my ice and frost in my true form; instead, I needed an Avatar or a Locus to create something I now called True Ice, which was, really, just frost that I condensed and infused with my power, turning its surface milky pale and glossy, shimmering with iridescent colors and crystalline patterns; harder than stone or as soft as young leaves, I was able to shape it however I wanted, creating flowing cloths or durable armor. Seeing as my Avatar seemed to have grown into an adolescent within a mere few days of our merging, I settled for a pure white cloak that seemed to shift colors as I moved about, cover the entirety of my form, save for my head and hair, but leaving enough room so that I didn't have to make yet another article of clothing if I somehow grew even taller than I already was.
True Ice could only be created from inside my storm of frost. Having to walk back and forth would be an annoying thing. I could make my storm move, of course, but doing so would invalidate the whole point of creating an Avatar in the first place.
At the very edge of my frozen domain, I found, just as I walked out, several altars of bone and jagged rock, built upon the very edge of the ice and snow, where the land was green and fertile and far from frozen. I gathered all the cold into myself as I stepped out, mostly as a means of keeping the land from withering and dying in my presence, to keep the green grass and tall trees from freezing solid as I passed by them. The land beyond the frost was comprised mostly of rolling hills and woods. The altars, whereupon lay the forgotten carcasses and old bones of slain animals, I assumed were for me, likely built by the local humans or, at the very least, the humanoids who roamed the green places. Or, at least, I assumed so, simply because these things hadn't been here in the beginning. For what reason they practiced ritual sacrifice, however, I didn't know. Perhaps, they were hoping to keep the ice and snow at bay? It was the most plausible explanation otherwise, since I honestly didn't interact with any of them in any meaningful way.
The corpses were too old to raise, the sinew in their bones long rotted away into nothing. I could reanimate them, but then all they'd do is just lay there with glowing blue eyes and many of them didn't even have skulls anymore.
Shrugging, I moved forward, the untamed winds howling against me and causing my pale iridescent robes to flutter. I had no idea where I was going or what I was looking for. If I wanted to see people, which I did, I suppose a good starting point would be to look for a coastline and just follow it; humans, in general, if my memory of History Class was at all correct, usually built their settlement close to the sea or some other body of water. And, most of the time, villages or hamlets or cities were connected; so, in finding one, I'd find all of them. Or, at least, that's what I hoped would happen.
I knew that the coast was closest from the East. So, I turned east and just started walking in that direction. Ahead of me was a wilderness of trees that I didn't even recognize, titanic things, each one was thick and as tall as a modern building, with branches that were so vast they seemed like forests in themselves, forming an interlocking network, whereupon both large and tiny critters climbed and raced, their shadows darting to and fro as I looked up. My eyes narrowed and, with a simple flicker of a thought, my perception of time slowed to a near-crawl until every single thing in all of existence seemed to pause. Huh... those were interesting-looking primates.
The creatures that darted across the tree branches, now frozen and stuck in the air, held a similar appearance to chimpanzees, but were clearly taller and bigger and bulkier, each of them possessing a height that was close to seven feet, their heavily-muscular forms reminding me of Bigfoot, but lacking the dense and course hair that the cryptid was known for.
I examined the creatures for a moment longer, noting their intricate, braided fur patterns and the glint of intelligence in their eyes, now locked in place by my manipulation of my perception of time. Fascinating. But they were not my primary concern, not now. I released my hold over my senses, allowing the world to resume its natural flow, and continued my eastward journey through the primeval forest.
The path ahead was arduous, the ground uneven and overgrown with strange flora. The air was thick with the scent of pine and earth, a sensory reminder of the untamed nature of this world. My footsteps, though light and deliberate, left a faint trail of frost in my wake, marking my passage through the underbrush. It seemed that, no matter how much of myself I kept contained within my Avatar, traces of it escaped, creating a blanket of frost that, while not deadly, was noticeable. Hm... well, I didn't think I could do anything about that. As long as it wasn't deadly and quickly dissipated, then it wouldn't be problematic.
Hours passed as I moved forward, the forest began to thin, and I could hear the distant, rhythmic crashing of waves against the shore. I quickened my pace, anticipation growing within me. The sight of the coastline, I hoped, would bring me closer to the enlightenment I sought, answers as to how or why I awakened on this world. I doubt I'd find any, truth be told, but I hoped all the same.
Emerging from the forest, I found myself standing on a high cliff, overlooking a vast expanse of ocean. The sea stretched out before me, an endless stretch of deep blue, flecked with whitecaps, each one becoming smaller and smaller until they disappeared over the horizon. The sky above was a brilliant azure, unmarred by the stormy clouds that perpetually roiled over my icy domain. It was a stark contrast to the frozen wasteland I had known for so long. I breathed in and caught the briny scent of the sea, something I'd not smelled in quite a while, even counting the man I used to be. I wish I'd taken more time to appreciate the little things about life, the sound of crunching leaves and grass, the whispers of the trees, the groaning of the mountains, and the softness of the wind; instead, I'd spent my days studying and studying, even losing my girlfriend in the process because I chose my studies over anything else.
To my left and right was a shoreline that seemingly stretched on endlessly – a vast emptiness of rocks and cliffs, raging waves and sands. Shrugging, I picked the leftward direction and stuck to it as I walked, not knowing where it would take me.
Truth be told, the last thing I expected was to be attacked by green-skinned humanoid monstrosities about two hours later. I had no idea what they were, but I'd known of them ever since I began walking the shoreline, following me from the shadows of the trees and the caves, thinking that I wasn't aware of them. I was. I just didn't care. They weren't humans, I knew. But some other primitive form of life that I had little interest in. They were loincloths and bone fragments, patches of tanned hides and bone clubs. There were fifteen of them, each one standing around 6 feet tall, heavily muscled and brutish. They charged me as soon as I walked upon open space, roaring.
I raised a brow at them, wondering why they wished to attack me. I'd done thing to them. Though, I suppose it was entirely possible that I'd flash-frozen their ancestors when I first awakened, but how'd they know it was me?
The first of them reached me, frothing and roaring as it raised a giant, bone club and slammed it down, aiming for my head, I figured. Time slowed down as I sped up my perception of time. I didn't need it, but I liked doing it. I reached up and caught the creature's club with my bare hand, pale and white. Almost instantly, the weapon froze and shattered like brittle glass. I then reached out and placed my hand on the creature's face and its head met the same fate as its weapon, freezing and then shattering into bloody shards. There was a time, I mused, where I would've balked at what I'd done, a time when I would've raged at the very thought of taking the life of a clearly-sapient being. But now... the act of snuffing out the flame of life seemed almost instinctive; it felt right. That which stood against life was death... and I was the embodiment of it. Not just the death of living things, but the death of all energy, of all movement, of all potential.
But, these were just instincts. Ultimately, I had control. Though, I suppose, I could certainly imagine a more instinct-driven version of myself causing a mess, freezing and killing everything, creating Loci without a greater purpose or direction, lacking a proper Avatar, and existing simply as a force of nature, an infinite storm of ice and snow and howling winds and blazing frost – an eternal darkness, a night that never ended. I did not want that for myself.
Still, having said that, I was going to kill anyone or anything that tried to hurt me – successful or not. And so, with a flicker of will, time returned to its natural flow as my perception of it slowed down once more.
The other green-skinned creatures did not seem at all fazed by the death of one of their own, continuing their charge. Hmm... I suppose some more corpses to be turned into Wights wouldn't hurt, though I still haven't found a good use for my army of millions.
"Fall." I said, as softly as I could. The air cracked and whistled and screamed and tore itself apart as I spoke, a thunderous boom, the cacophony of the breaking of a thousand icebergs, surged through and from me, and a wave of ice and snow and darkness and power. The wind swept them from the ground and sent them hurling dozens of meters away, whilst the chill of my voice froze their bones and their flesh solid, and all of them shattered as soon as they hit the ground. For a moment, day turned to night.
Huh... well... no additional Wights for me, then. What were those things, anyway? I'd never seen them before. I knew I didn't, because I was now cursed with the ability to never forget anything I've ever perceived. Humanoids, true, but not the ones I'd seen before. Interesting. Very interesting.
I wondered how many more of those green-skinned things I'd encounter as I continued moving forward. Ultimately, my goal was to look for humans, but I was not opposed to meeting all the oddities and wonders of this world.