Frost's Touch (Book One of the Eternal Warmth Trilogy)

Prologue

                                                                                  Prologue     

                                                          200 Years After the Dawn of Humans

     “Lillian, please,” Jackson begged, a slight tremor in his voice, “I dearly am sorry but you are not my beloved, as I am not yours.”

     Lillian Osyka, the first witch, with hair as white as snow and eyes as black as onyx, looked down at Jackson Frost from her perch on Athena’s temple with such fury and heart break that it was hard for her to reign in her anger. She knew she loved him, she knew, but Jackson did not see it, nor did he try to see it.

     “Though you have tried, you may not woe me Jack,” Lillian gritted out, “I have given you my love time and time, but you do not wish to take it, for this is my last chance for you. You mean nothing to me.”

     Jackson knew otherwise, he could see it in the way her eyes soften and moistened up. He did not want to hurt her, but he did not wish to spend his life with her either. Jackson knew it wasn’t right of him. He would be taking away a part of something unmentionable of himself, and of Lillian.

    “This is not meant to be, nor has it ever been, Lillian,” he said, “deep in my soul I know that I cannot take away your love for me, I am not meant to be yours.”

    “But I am meant to be yours!” She roared, and the wind picked up as thunder clashed at the near cliffs by the temple.

     Jackson shook his head, frustrated with her stubbornness, “no, you are not. If we were to be with one another, it would be a mistake.”

    Lillian tried to speak, but he talked over her, “years or even months from now, one of us, or both, will find the one we are truly meant to be with. I could not stand to see you wither if I found my true life partner, it would kill me.”

    Lillian knew that she couldn’t sway him. There was no way that he would see what she sees, feel what she feels, know what she knows. “Very well then,” she calmly said to him, “if I cannot have you, then no one can.”

    Jackson looked at her, and saw her eyes change from the black they always were to the white her hair is. Lightning shot out over the sky, followed by more thunder. Light droplets of rain fell out of the sky, falling faster and harder the more seconds passed. Jackson instantly knew that it was coming from Lillian. He always knew that she was  a powerful enchantress that served in the eyes of the God’s, especially Athena, but he never thought that she could possess this much potency in her.

    “Lillian, please don’t do anything rash,” he said, but Lillian did not waver from staring out at nothing.

    Then she began to speak.

    “Jackson Frost,” she started, “thest all eternity, you shall perish into the cold confines of one’s loveless heart. You shall not touch anything without the coldness spreading. And when one’s heart and soul find the one living and breathing thing that doesn’t dwindle in your cold and instead embrace it, no matter your fault’s or perfections, shall you be broken the curse of your coldness.”

    Lillian’s body slowly started to elevate off of the perch she was standing on, and the wind circled around her with bits of hay and leafs in the onslaught. Lillian raised her arms toward the sky as if there were someone up there.

    “Athena!” She shouted, “My Goddess of reason!  Arts! Literature! Bless my curse to Jackson Frost! For he does not obey the wishes you and your brothers and sisters seek. Ban him from love for all eternity without the slightest warmth from some ones heart!”

    The arms Lillian held out toward the sky were now pointed at Jackson as she continued to speak.

“Be it with this one’s fear,

Let no warmth come near here.

Until the one who sees his heart,

Shall he perish forever in winter’s start.

Give him frost and give him slate,

For which he uses in his fate.

Let the one take his cold away,

And let them both live forever, another day.”

       With that, a flash of ice speared its way through his heart, freezing everything that was warm and pulsing. Jackson felt like his being was splinted apart, one staying and one fleeing from his body like it was trying to find somewhere else to rest.

“His soul torn in two,

Given to his lively who.

In which he waits for,

Her eternal love like a tide on shore.

And when he finds this love at last,

The coldness surrounding him will be aghast.

She will give him happiness and she will give him warmth,

And his coldness will forever fly north.

Their souls be together pulled,

Their being always a feather of gold.

And when they combine their fleeting hearts,

For eternity they will never split apart.”

     A white orb shot out of Jackson’s chest, temporarily blinding him. He knew from the words Lillian just spoken that it was half of his soul that left his body. He knew by the way it looked so white and pure, though with a twinge of black that instantly came back into his chest again, leaving the orb white. He felt it, like he was missing some part of him, a part of him that he knew he wouldn’t be able to find for a very, very long time.

    “What have you done, Lillian?” He asks, breathless from half of his soul’s departure.

    “Jack,” Lillian cooed, “best not touch anything without your frost spreading through it.”

    “Who is the girl,” Jackson questioned, walking closer to Lillian’s air born form. “Who is she?”

    “Now that you will have to find by yourself.”

    “Lillian!”

    “Yes, Jack?”

     “Why must you do this?” Jackson asks.

     “Why? To show you that there will be no one you can love, no one you can trust.”

     “You will pay! And I will find her! Whoever it is, I will find them! ”

    Lillian cackled a sharp laugh, “no you won’t! That’s the whole reason! Your curse is meant to make you wander the earth forever without the free part of your soul finding that girl. You will always live in anguish and cold for eternity.”

    Light shrouded his view as it engulfed Lillian, then dimmed down to show nothing but the harsh storm that was at its brewing point.

    Lillian’s voice echoed in the sky, “Remember the words of your curse, Jackson, it will come in handy someday.”

    Then she was gone.

    Jackson fell to his knees, and as his palms touched the wet earth, it froze beneath his skin.